"As I have already observed, the Church, having received this preaching and this faith, although scattered throughout the whole world, yet, as if occupying but one house, carefully preserves it. She also believes these points just as if she had but one soul, and one and the same heart, and she proclaims them, and teaches them, and hands them down, with perfect harmony, as if she possessed only one mouth."
Irenaeus, Against Heresies I:10:2, c. AD 185
It's commonly believed that the church fell away and grew cold after the time of the apostles. Often, Jesus' letters to the churches, found in the Revelation of John, chapters two and three, are cited as evidence of this, as well as some of the problems found in Paul's and John's letters. For example, 3 John speaks of a church leader who had rejected the apostle John and the brothers with him.
It is true that the gnostic heresy--which taught that the earth was created by an ignorant god, called the Demiurge, and that Christ was a spirit who descended temporarily on Jesus of Nazareth in an attempt to turn people from material interests to spiritual ones--gained a large foothold in the early churches. However, history testifies that the churches responded well to the letters of John and to Jesus' admonishment through John. Letters from Ignatius, bishop of Antioch in the late first and early second centuries, show the battle he was fighting against gnosticism in the churches. In fact, the work quoted above, Against Heresies, gained its name from the battle that still raged with gnosticism.
However, Ignatius' battle was not a futile one. Sometime in the early 2nd century, the gnostics were driven out of the churches, and Irenaeus' late 2nd century work was directed against gnostic influence that came from outside. Inside the church, however, we see that the churches had settled into a time of unity and peace. This was not a lazy peace. Athenagoras, writing just a decade before Irenaeus, boasted that the testimony of Christians of his day was much better than that of the philosophers:
"[The philosophers] never cease with evil intent to search out skilfully the secrets of their art, and are ever bent on working some ill, making the art of words and not the exhibition of deeds their business and profession. But among us you will find uneducated persons, and artisans, and old women, who, if they are unable in words to prove the benefit of our doctrine, yet by their deeds exhibit the benefit arising from their persuasion of its truth"
Athenagoras, A Plea for the Christians 11, AD 177
Their testimony was not marred by the efforts of the Roman empire to turn them away from the faith. Minucius Felix, a Christian of the second or early third century, wrote:
"Do I compare men with [your Roman heroes]? Yet boys and young women among us treat with contempt crosses and tortures, wild beasts, and all the bugbears of punishments, with the inspired patience of suffering."
M. Felix, The Octavius 37, AD 130-230
There are many who have heard how the early Christians endured persecution. Less realize the kind of patience, peace, holiness, and honesty with which they lived among their neighbors. The first century is noted for apostles like Paul and Barnabas and evangelists like Philip and Stephen, but there are no famous evangelists of the second century. Instead, Justin describes the way Romans were converted in his day:
"Many...were of your way of thinking, but have changed their violent and tyrannical disposition, being overcome either by the constancy which they have witnessed in their neighbours lives, or by the extraordinary forbearance they have observed in their fellow-travellers when defrauded, or by the honesty of those with whom they have transacted business."
Justin Martyr, First Apology 16, c. AD 150
If it is not many who realize the sort of unity, love, and good works practiced by the early church, almost none realize that the intimacy of life that extended even to the sharing of possessions seen in Jerusalem continued throughout the second century churches. It was already the beginning of the third century, when Tertullian, a lawyer from North Africa, wrote:
"'See,' they [i.e., the Romans] say, 'how they love one another,' for they themselves are animated by mutual hatred; 'how they are ready even to die for one another,' for they themselves will sooner put to death....the family possessions, which generally destroy brotherhood among you, create fraternal bonds among us. One in mind and soul, we do not hesitate to share our earthly goods with one another. All things are common among us but our wives."
Tertullian, Apology 39, c. AD 200
This is what the churches of the second century were like. Should this surprise us? These are the churches of the apostles, who gave them the Gospel that is "the power of God unto salvation." They had received the grace of God, bringing salvation and "teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age" (Tit. 2:11,12). Being possessors of that grace, this is exactly what they did.
My prayer is that their words create in you the same deep longing that they create in me. Dear Father in heaven, how may I live as they lived? The answer lies in a rich source of grace: the church. When the church of Acts was 'one in heart and soul' and 'did not hesitate to share their earthly goods with one another,' it was then that "great grace was upon them all" and the apostles bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus with great power (Acts 4:32,33).
Again, this should not surprise us. Even King David, a thousand years before the New Testament was put into effect, knew this truth. "Behold," he said, "how good and pleasant it is for brothers to dwell in unity." But his words do not stop there. "For there," he says, "the Lord has commanded the blessing--life forevermore." The blessing of life is commanded "there," in the place where brothers dwell together in unity.
It is high time for those of us who long for that life to experience unity. In the next post, I will deviate a bit from historical posts to talk about what is necessary to have that unity.
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