THE CHURCH WINS AND LOSES

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1 THE CHURCH WINS AND LOSES J O H N 1 7 : THE GLORY THAT YOU HAVE GIVEN ME I HAVE GIVEN TO THEM, THAT THEY MAY BE ONE EVEN AS WE ARE ONE, 23 I IN THEM AND YOU IN ME, THAT THEY MAY BECOME PERFECTLY ONE, SO THAT THE WORLD MAY KNOW THAT YOU SENT ME AND LOVED THEM EVEN AS YOU LOVED ME. AD PERSECUTED TO PREFERRED After decades of experiencing vicious persecution, Christianity suddenly became the preferred religion of the Roman Empire! The story goes that Emperor Constantine saw a vision in the sky, chalked a Christian symbol on his soldiers shields, then began crediting the God of the Christians for his military victories. Constantine actively promoted Christianity and even convened the first church-wide council in which Christian leaders from across the empire met at Nicaea to deal with heresies but these changes came at a cost. When it came to maintaining the purity of the gospel, imperial favor wasn t always as favorable as it had seemed at first. SESSION 3 OUTLINE HOW ROMAN PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS ENDED: 1. Emperor Diocletian planned for peace by splitting the empire into East & West (AD 286). 2. On his deathbed, Emperor Galerius decreed that the persecution of Christians should end (AD 311). 3. Constantine conquered Rome with a Christian symbol on his soldiers shields (AD 312) and his Edict of Milan legalized Christianity (AD 313). THE PROBLEM WITH ARIUS 1. Arius taught that Jesus was a lesser being than God the Father. Pastor Dillon Evans New Hope Baptist Church 1 P a g e

2 2. Council of Nicaea rejected Arius teachings (AD 325). 3. Athanasius stood up to Emperor Constantine when Constantine wanted to allow Arius back in the church. THE RAPID SPREAD OF THE GOSPEL The development of Christianity from a persecuted sect of Judaism to the preferred religion of the Roman Empire occurred in a relatively brief period of time. The relative stability of the Roman Empire had allowed Christians to travel freely and share their faith. God, in his sovereignty, initiated the coming of Christ to take place at a time when the gospel could spread through a land with a central government and common language. With this rapid spread of the gospel also came rapid confusion concerning the truth about Jesus and rapid conflict with established powers. The challenges of heresy and persecution demanded that believers find unity in essential, orthodox beliefs. If people were dying from their beliefs, it was vital to know what truths they were dying for. THE DONATIST CONTROVERSY Unity within the body of Christ was a specific prayer request of Jesus. But unity hasn t always come easily among God s people! When ancient Christians faced persecution, not everyone stood strong. In fact, some church members denied their faith to save their lives. Others obtained forged papers to protect themselves and their families. When persecution ended, some church members confessed their sin, repented, and asked to rejoin their churches. This pattern led to some difficult questions in the churches! When church members denied Jesus to save their lives, did this mean they hadn t truly been Christians? Or were they true believers whose faithfulness had faltered in a moment of weakness? What do you think? Pastor Dillon Evans New Hope Baptist Church 2 P a g e

3 J O H N 1 3 : A NEW COMMANDMENT I GIVE TO YOU, THAT YOU LOVE ONE ANOTHER: JUST AS I HAVE LOVED YOU, YOU ALSO ARE TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER. 35 BY THIS ALL PEOPLE WILL KNOW THAT YOU ARE MY DISCIPLES, IF YOU HAVE LOVE FOR ONE ANOTHER. When is it appropriate to seek unity over beliefs and behaviors and when is it not? THE COUNCIL OF NICAEA Arius, an elder in Alexandria, taught that Jesus was not God! Instead, Jesus was God s first creation. Many church leaders strongly opposed these false claims from Arius. Constantine called a council of church leaders to prevent division in his empire. He called the council to meet in the village of Nicaea, near his military headquarters. When the council began, Constantine proclaimed himself a church overseer and an apostle, then declared the council ready to do business. The council denounced Arianism, and Constantine enforced the ruling by exiling overseers who stood with Arius. Shortly afterward, it became clear that Constantine s concern was imperial unity, not doctrinal purity. Constantine commanded that Arius be brought back Pastor Dillon Evans New Hope Baptist Church 3 P a g e

4 into the church s fellowship, even though Arius still taught Jesus was not fully and uniquely divine. How should believers respond when the church becomes a means to achieve political goals instead of a community that makes the gospel visible to the world? ATHANASIUS BAPTISTIC SPIRIT Athanasius, the leading pastor in Alexandria, faced opposition from Emperor Constantine and from his successor. Emperor Julian. Despite persecution, Athanasius refused to waver when it came to the orthodox teachings of the Apostles about Jesus. He became known as Athanasius Contra Mundi: Athanasius against the world. He became the symbol of the Nicene faith, and his repeated exiles and returns serve as a weather vane to show which way the doctrinal and political winds were blowing. IT IS ONLY ON THE CROSS THAT A MAN DIES WITH HIS HANDS SPREAD OUT. THUS IT WAS FITTING FOR THE LORD TO BEAR THIS ALSO AND TO SPREAD OUT HIS HANDS, THAT WITH THE ONE HE MIGHT DRAW THE ANCIENT PEOPLE AND WITH THE OTHER THOSE FROM THE GENTILES AND UNITE BOTH IN HIMSELF. - ATHANASIUS Maintaining faith can be difficult in times of trial. List some Scriptures that could be particularly encouraging to you during difficult times. Pastor Dillon Evans New Hope Baptist Church 4 P a g e

5 AUGUSTINE MANKIND IS DIVIDED INTO TWO SORTS: SUCH AS LIVE ACCORDING TO MAN, AND SUCH AS LIVE ACCORDING TO GOD. THESE WE CALL THE TWO CITIES. THE HEAVENLY CITY OUTSHINES ROME. THERE, INSTEAD OF VICTORY, IS TRUTH Barbarians surged into the empire, threatening the Roman way of life as never before. The Christian church also faced attack from internal heretics. The potential destruction of culture, civilization, and the church was more than an occasional nightmare it was perceived as an immediate threat. And Augustine answered with such wisdom, his responses are still considered by some to be the church s most important writings after the Bible. Sex and fun From his birth in a small North African town, Augustine knew the religious differences overwhelming the Roman Empire: his father was a pagan who honored the old Punic gods; his mother was a zealous Christian. At age 17, Augustine set off to school in Carthage the country boy in the jewel of North Africa. There the underachiever became enraptured with his studies and started to make a name for himself. His studies completed, Augustine returned to his home town of Thagaste to teach pagan rhetoric. But Monica, who had dreamt her son would become a Christian, continued to pray and plead for his conversion and followed him to Carthage when he moved there to teach. When Augustine was offered a professorship in Rome, Monica begged him not to go. Augustine told her to go home and sleep comfortably in the knowledge that he would stay in Carthage. When she left, he boarded a ship for Rome. Darkness vanquished His mother finally caught up with him and set herself to find her son a proper wife. Augustine had a concubine he deeply loved and who had given him a son, but he would not marry her because it would have ruined him socially and politically. For years he had sought to overcome his fleshly passions and nothing seemed to help. It seemed to him that even his smallest transgressions were weighted with meaning. Later, he Pastor Dillon Evans New Hope Baptist Church 5 P a g e

6 reflected, Our real pleasure consisted in doing something that was forbidden. The evil in me was foul, but I loved it. One afternoon, he wrestled anxiously about such matters while walking in his garden. Suddenly he heard a child s sing-song voice repeating, Take up and read. On a table lay a collection of Paul s epistles he d been reading; he picked it up and read the first thing he saw: Not in reveling and drunkenness, not in lust and wantonness, not in quarrels and rivalries. Rather, arm yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, spend no more thought on nature and nature s appetites (Romans 13:13 14). He later wrote, No further would I read; nor needed I: for instantly at the end of this sentence, by a light as it were of serenity infused into my heart, all the darkness of doubt vanished away. From monk to bishop In 391, Augustine traveled to Hippo to see about setting up a monastery in the area. His reputation went before him. The story goes that, seeing the renowned layman in church one Sunday, Bishop Valerius put aside his prepared sermon and preached on the urgent need for priests in Hippo. The crowd stared at Augustine and then pushed him forward for ordination. Against his will, Augustine was made a priest. The laity, thinking his tears of frustration were due to his wanting to be a bishop rather than priest, tried to assure him that good things come to those who wait. Within five years, after Valerius died, Augustine became bishop of Hippo. Barbarians Sack Rome The barbarian general Alaric and his troops sacked Rome. Many upper-class Romans fled for their lives to North Africa, one of the few safe havens left in the empire. And now Augustine was left with a new challenge defending Christianity against claims that it had caused the empire s downfall by turning eyes away from Roman gods. Augustine s response to the widespread criticism came in 22 volumes over 12 years, in The City of God. He argued that Rome was punished for past sins, not new faith. His lifelong obsession with original sin was fleshed out, and his work formed the basis of the medieval mind. Mankind is divided into two sorts, he wrote. Such as live according to man, and such as live according to God. These we call the two cities. The Heavenly City outshines Rome. There, instead of victory, is truth. One other front Augustine had to fight to defend Christianity was Pelagianism. Pelagius, a British monk, gained popularity just as the Donatist controversy ended. Pelagius rejected the idea of original sin, insisting instead that the tendency to sin is humankind s own free choice. Following this reasoning, there is no need for divine grace; individuals must simply make up Pastor Dillon Evans New Hope Baptist Church 6 P a g e

7 their minds to do the will of God. The church excommunicated Pelagius in 417, but his banner was carried on by young Julian of Eclanum. Julian took potshots at Augustine s character as well as his theology. With Roman snobbery, he argued that Augustine and his other low-class African friends had taken over Roman Christianity. Augustine argued with the former bishop for the last ten years of his life. In the summer of 429, the Vandals invaded North Africa, meeting almost no resistance along the way. Hippo, one of the few fortified cities, was overwhelmed with refugees. In the third month of the siege, the 76-year-old Augustine died, not from an arrow but from a fever. Miraculously, his writings survived the Vandal takeover, and his theology became one of the main pillars on which the church of the next 1,000 years was built. INFLUENCE OF AUGUSTINIAN IDEAS: Listed are ideas that we find origins in the writings of Augustine. We should be hesitant to any teaching that we can t find support for in the scriptures. Some we can find in scripture, others it s much harder to find justification. Christian Anthropology: He saw the human being as a perfect unity of two substances: soul and body. He argued to respect the body on the grounds that it belonged to the very nature of the human person. Augustine's favorite figure to describe body-soul unity is marriage: your body is your wife. Initially, the two elements were in perfect harmony. After the fall of humanity, they are now experiencing dramatic combat between one another. Slavery: First to publicly demand Rome to end slavery in the empire. Meticulous divine providence: God is supreme and sovereign and nothing happens without God willing and permitting it. Original Sin: His view taught that all humans present and participant in the first sin. This was not the orthodox view which was that through Adam all of humanity has sinned. It s a subtle but serious variation. Original Guilt: Eternal damnation spread to all humanity via real-participation in original sin. Unconditional Election: Some to salvation based upon God s choice alone. Irresistibility of the grace of God: God s grace is irresistible regarding the call of repentance unto salvation. Pastor Dillon Evans New Hope Baptist Church 7 P a g e

8 Amillenial Eschatology: Augustine originally believed in premillennialism, namely that Christ would establish a literal 1,000-year kingdom prior to the general resurrection, but later rejected the belief, viewing it as carnal. He was the first theologian to expound a systematic doctrine of amillennialism, although some theologians and Christian historians believe his position was closer to that of modern postmillennialists. The mediaeval Catholic church built its system of eschatology on Augustinian amillennialism, where Christ rules the earth spiritually through his triumphant church. At the Reformation, theologians such as John Calvin accepted amillennialism. Augustine taught that the eternal fate of the soul is determined at death, and that purgatorial fires of the intermediate state purify only those that died in communion with the Church. His teaching provided fuel for later theology. Just War: Some war being justified by God. Allegory Interpretation: Takes anything in the Bible that appears to be contradicted by science or human reason to have a spiritual meaning as opposed to literal. For example, Augustine claims the 1000-year reign is allegory for the time period of Christ reigning in heaven from His ascension till the day of judgment. Sacraments: Lord s Supper - Taught that the Lord s Supper bread and wine are the literal body and bread of Christ. That if administered by the Catholic Church the sacraments impart grace from God. If done outside of the church, it does not impart grace until the believer is part of the Catholic Church. Baptism (Infant & Adult): Taught that baptism was necessary for salvation unless you were a child of Christian parents. Women in ministry: Prohibited women from teaching, leading or even being a witness. Views on Sexuality: Priests must be unmarried and celibate. This derived from his lifelong struggle with sexual desire. Mariology: 1 st to view Mary as ever Virgin and gives her the title the Mother of God which would lead to cultic worship of Mary. Descent into Hell: See the apostle creed below APOSTLES CREED Nicaea Creed aka Apostles Creed (AD 337) Pastor Dillon Evans New Hope Baptist Church 8 P a g e

9 We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen. We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen. There is a separate creed called the Nicene Creed which adds that Jesus descends into Hell until His resurrection. This change appears in AD 359 but is rejected as being tinged with Arianism. Eventually the Latin Church, which will become known as the Roman Catholic Church embraces it in the year 750. The teaching is that Christ descends into hell to put unbelievers to shame and to preach hope to those believers in purgatory. The passage comes from 1 Pet 3:18-19, most modern day Evangelical scholars hold that Jesus did not descend in what we think of as hell but rather declared in His death victory over the demonic spirits. KEY TERMS ARIANISM (FROM ARIUS, FOUNDER OF THE MOVEMENT) HERETICAL BELIEF THAT JESUS WAS CREATED AND THAT HIS DIVINITY WAS NOT EQUAL TO GOD THE FATHER. CHI-RHO IN THE 4 TH CENTURY, EMPEROR CONSTANTINE POPULARIZED THE CHI-RHO SYMBOL. IT IS A CHRISTIAN SYMBOL MADE FROM TWO GREEK LETTERS, CHI (X) AND RHO (P), WHICH ARE THE 1 ST TWO LETTERS OF CHRIST IN GREEK. THESE TWO LETTERS WERE ALSO THE 1 ST 2 LETTERS OF A COMMON NAME THAT MEANT USEFUL. CONSTANTINE MAY HAVE USED THE CHI- RHO BECAUSE IT HAD A DOUBLE MEANING THAT CHRISTIANS SAW Pastor Dillon Evans New Hope Baptist Church 9 P a g e

10 AS AN EXPRESSION OF THEIR FAITH, WHILE OTHERS WOULD SIMPLY SEE IT AS A REFERENC E TO STRENGTH OR USEFULNESS. COUNCIL OF NICAEA (AD 325) FIRST ECUMENICAL (CHURCH-WIDE) COUNCIL CALLED BY EMPEROR CONSTANTINE IN THE CITY OF NICAEA (IN MODERN-DAY TURKEY) TO DEAL WITH THE TEACHINGS OF AN ELDER NAMED ARIUS. THE COUNCIL OVERWHELMINGLY DENOUNCED ARIANISM AND FORMULATED THE CREED OF NICAEA. EDICT OF MILAN (AD 313) LETTER SIGNED BY EMPERORS CONSTANTINE AND LICINIUS THAT LEGALIZ ED ALL RELIGIONS IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE, INCLUDING CHRISTIANITY. THIS EFFECTIVELY ENDED CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION BY EMPERORS. HERESY (HAIRESIS, CHOOSING A SECT ) A TEACHING THAT CONTRADICTS THE ESSENTIAL TRUTHS ABOUT JESUS AS BELIEVED AND PROCLAIMED BY THE APOSTLES. MONK (FROM MONAKHOS, ALONE ) IN THE 4 TH CENTURY, A MAN WHO ISOLATED HIM SELF IN THE DESERTS TO DIMINISH TEMPTATIONS AND TO BECOME CLOSER TO GOD. ORTHODOX (ORTHOS [STRAIGHT] + DOXA [OPINION, EXPECTATION]) THE ESSENTIALS TRUTHS ABOUT JESUS THAT WERE PROCLAIMED BY THE APOSTLES AND PRESERVED BY EARLY CHRISTIANS. TRINITY CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE THAT TEACHES THERE IS ONE GOD WHO EXISTS ETERNALLY IN THREE PERSONS: GOD THE FATHER, GOD THE SON, AND GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT. Pastor Dillon Evans New Hope Baptist Church 10 P a g e

KNOW YOUR CHURCH HISTORY (6) The Imperial Church (AD ) Councils

KNOW YOUR CHURCH HISTORY (6) The Imperial Church (AD313-476) Councils A. Introduction 1. The Imperial Church was the period of church history between these two significant events: The Edict of Milan in