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Evidence in the New Testament

As you read through the New Testament, you see early attacks inside and outside of the church that correspond to what happened at that juncture of history in the world. Revelation 2 and 3 provide a good example of how churches in the first century degrade through changes in doctrine and practice in areas appropriate to the occurrences of the time, diverting from Jesus Christ and His commands. The Lord Jesus Christ gave many various means to keep His churches:  faithful pastors edifying, preaching, admonishing, warning, and protecting, church discipline, the Lord’s Table, and personal and ecclesiastical separation.

All of the tools for preserving churches intact revolve around the sufficient, canonical words of scripture.  The Word of God is like a purifying fire, like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces, and like water that washes away filth.  The fire burns away dross, the hammer shapes something ugly into the beautiful, and the water cleanses away sin and false doctrine.  All of this keeps a church or churches on track to extend to another generation.

False Tradition and Human Philosophy

Scripture itself never loses its power, but it becomes something different when someone mixes it with false traditions and human philosophy.  In the Old Testament, pagan religion from surrounding foreign nations perverted Israel’s doctrine, practice, and worship.  In the New Testament, Gnosticism, a collection of religious ideas and systems that emerged in the late first century AD, had a significant impact on the church by infiltrating it.

One can see in the New Testament reactions to proto-Gnostic false teaching that arose during the history of the first century.  It reshaped doctrine, especially regarding the nature of God, creation, and salvation. Gnostic beliefs posited a dualistic worldview where a supreme, hidden God existed apart from a malevolent creator deity (the Demiurge), which some Gnostics identified with the God of the Hebrew Bible.  They believed that material existence was flawed or evil, leading them to focus on personal spiritual knowledge (gnosis) as the path to salvation rather than faith in Christ’s sacrificial death and resurrection.

First century Gnosticism emerged from various sources, such as Jewish mysticism and Hellenistic philosophy.  Scripture teaches its own sufficiency in part to combat adding and taking away from its teaching.  The additions and subtractions emerge from the woof and the warp of that historical period.

Platonism

Debates over doctrine early in church history hinged on philosophical issues.   These debates did not and would not occur from solely influences of scripture.  Teachers familiar with the dialogues of Plato relied on the writings of the Greek philosopher in their interpretations of the biblical text.  To recognize how they arrived at their teachings, one must understand how neo-Platonic Greek philosophy mixed into their doctrinal views.  Plato represented a distinct view of the world seen in the type of teaching espoused by those hearkening to his ideas.

Church leaders believed Christians could appropriate the world’s philosophy and culture, where this seemed right to them.  Augustine of Hippo provides an example, when he writes:

If those who are called philosophers, particularly the Platonists, have said anything which is true and consistent with our faith, we must not reject it, but claim it for our own use.

Plato’s writing contributed to the shaping of early doctrine of professing Christianity, including in systems of interpretation of scripture. The Alexandrian Jewish scholar Philo was a key figure in developing allegorical interpretations of the Hebrew Bible, aiming to reconcile biblical texts with Platonic philosophy.

Schools of Theology

Schools of theology arose, many times organizations separate from church authority.  Origen was a student at the catechetical school in Alexandria, which had a strong tradition of allegorical interpretation, and likely studied under Clement of Alexandria who was known for relating Christian teachings to Greek philosophy. Origen didn’t invent allegory but he significantly advanced and popularized it, drawing on the influence of Greek philosophy.  He often distinguished between a literal and a spiritual or allegorical meaning of scripture.

Doctrines did begin to change and false ones spread to various churches even in the first century, as seen what occurred in the seven churches of Asia (Rev 2 & 3).  John expresses concerns over the doctrine of Christ that reflect the introduction of proto-Gnostic heresies (1  & 2 John).  The Apostle Paul confronts Greek philosophy in 1 Corinthians 6, that presented a lax view of sexual immorality.  In 1 Corinthians 15 he addresses something undoing the doctrine of the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The Roman Empire

Most professing Christians and churches could not resist the power of the Roman Empire’s embrace of Christian religion and modification to the religious power of the state.  The emperor Constantine possessed his own experience of Christianity and then used his position to affect faith and practice.  He promoted his imagination of Christianity with construction of cathedrals, Bible translation, and the calling of official councils for discussion of theological issues.

Like a Rome emperor wanted unity in his empire for its resultant strength, Constantine and then others after him pushed for cohesive doctrine and practice across the empire.  He organized and structured Christianity around his own aspirations for Christianity.  This conformed Christianity beyond the New Testament to a state religion.  Doctrine and practice became malleable to the state.  The emperor and the state hierarchy used its authority to use its power to mold Christianity according to the same means by which it ordered the political and secular.

Influence of the State

State endorsement brought safety and great influence.  It was difficult for small churches to resist the current of state power, getting swept into the flow of its governance and acceptance.  Churches could sell their freedom and autonomy for security and prominence.  Anyone could conceive of the opportunities that could come with the immensity of the state and the size of its resources.

The state would endorse those with its position and finally punish those resisting it.  It published and propagated what it approved.  At many different points it would destroy anything in opposition.  What remained available was what the state affirmed.  During many various periods, the state kept what it ratified and eliminated what it didn’t.  This was a means  to maintain cohesion.

More to Come