Chapter 6 Course Notes - History of Christianity

RELG 330 - History of Christianity

Course Notes

Chapter 6

Page 55 - The statement that the first Christians were all Jews requires clarification. Jesus' first disciples were all Jews, but on the Day of Pentecost, some of the hearers and probable converts were Jewish proselytes (Acts 2:10) - they were not ethnic Jews, but had joined the Jewish religion as adults. A short time later there were the exceptional cases of the Samaritans (Acts 8:5-25), the Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8:26-39) and the Centurion Cornelius and his household (Acts chapter 10). However, it is clear that the majority of the first Christians were Jewish.

Pages 55-56 - Jews and Christians separate - In AD 49-50 the Council of Jerusalem was called because Paul had started accepting Gentiles as Christians, without making them get circumcised as Jews first. Some of the Pharisees who had become Christians were saying that Gentiles had to be circumcised in order to become Christians. Peter, however, recounted the conversion and baptism of the Roman centurion Cornelius, with the conclusion that God accepted him without being circumcised. Paul and Barnabas described how the Gentiles had responded to the Gospel. James (probably the "brother of the Lord" rather than the apostle James (who had already been killed by Herod) gave his advice that the Gentiles should be told to abstain from pollution, fornication (sex outside marriage), and eating things with the blood still in them (this was one of God's instructions to Noah, and so pre-dated the Ten Commandments and the Jewish Law).
Consequently, the council wrote letters to the Gentile converts with these conclusions, and told them not to worry about getting circumcised and keeping all the little aspects of the Jewish Law. Acts 15:1-21

In AD 66-70 the First Jewish Revolt (also known as the First Jewish War) resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Romans, and caused many Jewish people to leave the country and settle in other parts of the Roman Empire. The Romans devastated the land - they cut down all the trees, put salt in the ground of Jerusalem so that nothing would grow there, and also changed the name of Jerusalem to Aelia Capitolina - it was re-dedicated to the Roman god Jupiter Capitolinus. The Jews blamed the Christians because the Christians had not joined in the fight against the Romans.

After the Fall of Jerusalem to the Romans in AD 70 the Jewish Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai called the Council of Jamnia. He saw the need to establish a basis for Judaism without the Temple (which had been destroyed), and to make a break between Judaism and Christianity by ruling that only Hebrew writings could be "scripture", and by adding a Jewish prayer against the Christians.

Page 56 - The Ebionites (meaning "poor men") were a group (or groups) of Christians who still kept Jewish traditions. However, they appear to have been centered on the Holy Land and maybe moved further East, becoming isolated from the main Christian Church and developing heretical ideas. Justin Martyr referred to Jewish Christians who had broken away from the Church - some kept the Mosaic Law but did not require other Christians to do so, others insisted that all Christians should keep the Mosaic law (which would include circumcision).
Irenaeus described them as denying that Jesus was God or was born of a Virgin, regarded St. Paul as an apostate (someone who has fallen from the true faith), and used only a Gospel of Matthew.
Origen described two groups of Ebionites - some who accepted, and some who denied the Virgin birth of Christ, though both groups denied His divinity. There was also a later group with the name Ebionite Gnostics, who taught that people could be saved by Knowledge, by believing in God as Teacher.
After the Bar Kochba revolt, and the expulsion of Jews from the Holy Land, many Jews and Jewish Christians moved Eastwards out of the Roman Empire and into Arabia and Persia, and the Ebionites disappeared from the historical accounts.

Pages 57-59 - The Gnostics - Not all Gnostics were Christians - they were part of a Hellenic (Greek) movement which was widespread at the time of the New Testament, and some of them infiltrated the Church. The main feature of Gnosticism was the claim to have "special knowledge" (the Greek for "knowledge" is "gnosis"), such as magic words to say to angels or demons so that they would obey you, or special initiation rites which would let you get spiritual control over demons or become part of a secret society. It usually involved having to pay money to a teacher/guru/temple etc. The Gnostics tended to think that they were much more "spiritual" than others, and were not about to give away their "special knowledge" for free.

Page 59 - Docetism, pronounced DOSS-et-ism, gets its name from the Greek word δοκεω, pronounced dok-EH-oh, which means "I assume, suppose, think". Docetism held that people had only assumed that Jesus was a human being, and that He only "seemed" to be crucified and die on the Cross.
Ignatius of Antioch countered the heresy of Docetism by pointing out that Jesus, the true Word of the Father, is the full revealer of the Father. Jesus speaks as the Father's 'mouthpiece', and Jesus is truly God (not just an apparition or a phantom).
It came to be realized that Jesus' death on the Cross wasn't just a way of dying so that He could rise from the dead, but that it was the way in which He paid for the sin of everyone in the whole world.

Page 60 - The Septuagint, pronounced SEP-too-ah-jint, is the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures. It gets its name from the tradition that seventy Jewish scholars worked on the translation requested by King Ptolemy II Philadelphus of Egypt for the Library he founded at Alexandria. It contains several books which are not part of the Hebrew Bible as we now have it, and a series of books which were composed in Greek rather than in Hebrew (eg. the Books of Maccabees, Tobit, Susanna and the Elders, Judith, the Letter of Baruch). There are sone differences, particularly in the Book of Jeremiah, between the Septuagint version and the Hebrew Masoretic text. Jews of the diaspora (those who did not live in the Holy Land) used Greek rather than Hebrew in their daily lives, so tended to use the Septuagint rather than Hebrew texts.

Pages 62-63 - Montanus and the Montanists - We do not know exactly when Montanus was born, but he came into prominence around AD 156 when he started preaching and "prophesying" in the Phrygian region of what is now Turkey. He claimed to be the incarnation of the Holy Spirit, and sometimes spoke as "The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit". He did not acknowledge clergy such as bishops and priests, but appointed two women as prophetesses. It is reported that the women had left their husbands to follow Montanus, and that they used eye-make-up, dyed their hair, and played dice (these may be false reports by adversaries). The three of them spearheaded what was known as "The New Prophecy". Their prophetic utterances were described as being frenzied, or trance-like, or incoherent babbles.
They claimed to supersede the apostles and the teachings of Jesus and Paul in the New Testament.
They claimed that the "New Jerusalem", as seen in the Book of Revelation, was going to descend to a mountain near the town of Pepuza in Phrygia.
Montanus taught a very strict code of behavior, with fasting and prayer in order to achieve ecstatic visions.
At first, the Church leaders were undecided as to whether or not Montanus and his followers were genuine. Montanism spread throughout the Empire - reaching as far as Western Europe, where it was condemned as heresy by one of the popes - probably Pope Eleutherus (174-189). It spread to North Africa, where Tertullian was caught up for a while in the sect and started to preach that Christ was about to return, and even stricter life-styles were enforced.
The "New Jerusalem" did not descend as Montanus had prophesied.
We do not know exactly when Montanus and Prisca (one of the two prophetesses) died, although we do know that they died before Maximilla (the remaining prophetess). There is a tradition that Montanus hanged himself.
After the deaths of Montanus and Prisca, Maximilla prophesied that there was going to be a time of wars and troubles. She died in AD 179, and the Roman Empire was at peace for at least thirteen years after that, so the Montanist prophecies were discredited and the movement started to decline.
The sect had died out by about the sixth century.

Page 63 - The Didache (pronounced di-dah-KHAY) is an actual document, probably written in the first century. Its full title translates as "The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles". It is a book of instructions for how to do things in Church, eg. how to baptize.

Page 66 - Justin Martyr (ca.AD 100-ca.165) was an early "apologist" It does not mean he went around apologizing for being a Christian - originally it meant someone who could present a reasonable case for something - in this case, Christianity.
He took the Greek concept of "Logos" (which is used also in John's Gospel) and applied it to Christ before He was born as Jesus on earth.
Justin Martyr grew up in a pagan family, and by his account he studied under several philosophers of various types - the Stoic could teach him nothing about God, the Peripatetic asked for money (thus demonstrating that he was not a true philosopher), the Pythagorean told him to learn music, astronomy, and geometry first, the Platonist influenced him, until he met an old man and had a long discussion. The old man told him that human knowledge alone could not bring anyone to the knowledge of God - one must be instructed by the Prophets who had been inspired by the Holy Spirit to make God known.
He was also impressed by persecuted Christians facing death for their faith, and he himself became a Christian some time around AD 130. He traveled to Ephesus, and eventually to Rome, where he taught in a school. In 165 Justin and six of his students were ordered to make a sacrifice to the Roman gods. They refused, and were tortured and beheaded.

Page 68 - Ignatius of Antioch (ca.AD 35-ca.107) was a bishop of Antioch in Syria, who may have been appointed as bishop by St. Peter, and who also probably knew St. John the Apostle. He survived the persecution under Domitian, but was arrested by the Emperor Trajan in Antioch and ordered to perform a sacrifice to the Roman gods. Ignatius refused, so Trajan ordered that he be taken in chains to Rome and thrown to the wild animals. The journey was a long one, and Ignatius had time to write many letters to churches throughout the Empire, encouraging the Christians to stand firm in their faith. His letters dealt with keeping the unity of the Church under the headship of Christ, under the guidance of a bishop who preached the gospel. He stressed the Eucharist as a central part of the community of Christians. He also warned against the divisiveness of heresies, and wrote to combat Docetism, which was the leading heresy of the time. When he arrived in Rome he was martyred in a public show. His body was taken back to Antioch for burial, but was later transferred to St. Clement's Church in Rome.
He is the author of a number of hymns giving glory to Jesus. Here are a couple in translation :

Page 70 - Irenaeus of Lyons was probably born in Asia (what is now Turkey), though his date of birth is not known - some sources say between AD 115 and 125, others say between 130 and 142. As a young man he heard Bishop Polycarp (d. 155) preach in Smyrna. He moved to Gaul, and became a priest of the Church in Lyons (in what is now France). He survived the persecution under Marcus Aurelius (ruled 161-180) and became Bishop of Lyons when his predecessor was martyred in 177. Gnosticism was spreading into Gaul, and Irenaeus was active in writing to combat it. He died sometime around the end of the second century AD.

Page 70 - the Monarchians are more often called Sabellians, after their leader Sabellius. Their belief that God could exist in several 'modes' is called 'Modalism'. Their belief that the Father suffered along with Jesus Christ at the crucifixion is called 'Patripassianism'

Page 73 - Hippolytus (ca.AD 215) was probably a leader of a church in Rome - he may have had some heretical ideas. He wrote a document on how Church liturgy should be performed, which influenced the development of the liturgy. He also wrote many other books, most of which have not survived.

Pages 74-75 - The "Catechumenate" (pronounced cat-eh-QUEUE-men-ate) refers to the process of instruction and preparation for Baptism as a Christian. A person who was going through the process of instruction and preparation was called a "catechumen"

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Last Updated : July 12, 2022

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