to present it to himself a glorious church, without stain or wrinkle or any such thing, but holy and blameless [Ephesians 5:27]
The Greek word translated English versions ecclesial church, which comes from the Hebrew word chalking [I call]. In secular literature ecclesial word refers to any assembly of people, but in the New Testament the word has a meaning specialized. Secular literature ecclesial used this word to denote any tumult, political rally, an orgy, or any meeting for any purpose. But the New Testament ecclesial used to refer only to the gathering of Christians gathered to worship Christ. Therefore the Bible translators use the term church instead of a more general term such as assembly.
What is the church? Who makes up this assembly? What does Paul mean when he calls the church the body of Christ?
To answer these questions we need to understand fully social and historical context of the New Testament church. The early church was born at the crossroads of the Hebrew and Hellenistic cultures.
In this article we turn our attention to the history of the early church itself. We'll see what the first Christians understood as its mission, and how the considered unbelievers.
I] - FOUNDATION OF THE CHURCH
A] - The community in Jerusalem
B] - The murder of Stephen
II] - MISSIONARY EFFORTS
III] - CHURCH GOVERNMENT
IV] - MODELS OF WORSHIP
A] - Order of worship
B] - The Lord's Supper
C] - Baptism
D] - The church calendar
V] - New Testament concept of
CHURCH A] - The body of Christ
B] - The new Israel
C] - Common features
VI] - New Testament doctrine
Living in Christ teach correct doctrine
The doctrine of redemption
Creator God
Fallen man
Salvation, Redemption, Justification
Salvation, Redemption, Justification
The nature of sin
Hell Fire Lake
Hell Fire Lake
sacrificial death of Jesus' resurrection
Jesus
The Kingdom of God
I] - Foundation of the church. Forty days after his resurrection Jesus gave his final instructions to his disciples and ascended into heaven [Acts 1.1-11]. The disciples returned to Jerusalem, and retreated for several days to fast and pray, waiting for the Spirit Holy Jesus said would come. About 120 followers of Jesus expected in that group.
Fifty days after Easter, on the day of Pentecost, a noise like a mighty wind filled the house where the group was gathered. Tongues of fire resting on each person, and they began to speak in other languages \u200b\u200bas the Spirit gave them utterance. Foreign visitors were surprised to hear the disciples speak in their native language. Some mocked the group, saying they were drunk [Acts 2.13].
But Peter silenced the crowd, explaining that what they were was witnessing the outpouring of the Holy Spirit who had announced the prophets of the Old Testament [Acts 2.16-21] [Joel 2.28-32]. Some foreign visitors asked what to do to receive the Holy Spirit. Peter said: Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit [Acts 2.38]. About three thousand people received Christ as personal Savior that day.
For several years Jerusalem was the center of the church. Many Jews believed that the followers of Jesus were just another sect within Judaism. They suspected that the Christians were trying to start a new religion of mystery about Jesus of Nazareth.
is true that many early Christians continued to worship in the Temple [Acts 3.1], and some insisted that Gentile converts must be circumcised [Acts 15]. But Jewish leaders quickly realized that Christians were more than a cult.
Jesus had told the Jews that God would make a new covenant with the people that it was true [Mt 16.18] He had sealed this covenant with His own blood [Lk 22.20]. So the early Christians had boldly proclaimed that inherited privileges that once belonged to Israel. They were simply a part of Israel was the new Israel [Rev 3.12] [Rev 21.2] [Mt 26.28] [I 8.8] [I 9.15]. The Jewish leaders shuddered with fear that this strange new Jewish teaching was not close, but extending to all men the privilege of Israel in the highest revelation of a Father of all.
A] - The community in Jerusalem. The early Christians formed a close community in Jerusalem after Pentecost. Expected Christ to return very soon.
This group shared their material goods [Acts 2.44-45]. Many sold their property and gave the church the proceeds of the sale, which distributed resources [Acts 4.34-35].
Jerusalem Christians still went to the temple to pray [Acts 2.46], but began to celebrate the Lord's Supper in their own homes [Acts 2.42-4]. This symbolic meal reminded them of their covenant with God, which Jesus Christ had to sacrifice his own body and blood.
God worked miracles of healing through these early Christians. The patients are met in the temple so that the apostles could touch them to make the prayer [Acts 5.12-16]. These miracles convinced many that Christians were truly serving God. The temple officials arrested the apostles, in an effort to suppress the people's interest in this new religion. But God sent an angel to save him from jail to the apostles [Acts 5.17-20], which produced more excitement.
The church grew so rapidly that the apostles had to appoint seven men to distribute supplies to needy widows. The leader of these men was Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit [Acts 6.5]. Here we see the principle of church government. The apostles had to delegate to other leaders some tasks. Over time, church services were held in a rather complex structure.
B] - The murder of Stephen. One day a group of Jews arrested Stephen and brought him before the council of the high priest, accusing him of blasphemy. Stephen made an eloquent defense of the Christian faith, explaining how Jesus fulfilled the ancient prophecies about the Messiah who would free his people from slavery to sin. He denounced the Jews as betrayers and murderers of the Son of God [Acts 7.52]. Looking at the sky said he saw Jesus at the right hand of God [Acts 7.55]. This infuriated the Jews, who brought outside the city and stoned him [Acts 7.58-60].
This began a wave of persecution that forced many Christians to leave Jerusalem [Acts 8.1]. Some settled among the Gentiles in Samaria, where he converted many [Acts 8.5-8]. Established Gentile congregations in various cities such as Antioch in Syria. At first the Christians hesitate to welcome Gentiles into the church because they saw it as a fulfillment of Jewish prophecy. However, Jesus had instructed his followers to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit [Mt 28.19]. So the conversion of the Gentiles was nothing more than fulfilling the Lord's commission, and the natural result of all that had happened before. So the murder of Stephen began an era of rapid expansion of the church.
II] - Efforts missionaries. Christ established his church at the crossroads of the ancient world. The trade routes brought traders and ambassadors to Palestine, where he came into contact with the gospel. So in the book of Acts we see the official conversion of Rome [Acts 01/10/1948] Ethiopia [Acts 8.26-40] and other lands.
Shortly after Stephen's death began a systematic effort to bring the gospel to other nations. Peter visited the principal cities of Palestine, preaching to both Jews and Gentiles. Others went to Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch in Syria. Hearing the gospel was well received in these regions, the Jerusalem church sent Barnabas to encourage new believers at Antioch [Acts 11.22-23]. Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for a young convert named Saul. Barnabas brought Saul back to Antioch, where he taught the church for more than a year [Acts 11.26].
A prophet named Agabus predicted that the Roman empire would suffer a great famine in the time of Emperor Claudius. Herod Agrippa was persecuting the church of Jerusalem had executed James, the brother of Jesus, and had cast Peter into prison [Acts 12.1-4]. So the Christians of Antioch collected a monetary gift to send to the believers in Jerusalem, and sent through Barnabas and Saul. They returned to Jerusalem with a young man named John Mark [Acts 12.25].
then several evangelists had emerged within the church at Antioch, so the church sent Barnabas and Saul on a mission trip to Asia Minor [Acts 13-14]. This was the first three great missionary journeys Saul [later known as Paul] made to bring the gospel to the corners of the Roman Empire.
The first Christian missionaries focused on the teachings on the person and work of Jesus Christ. Declared that it was the Servant and Son of God, without sin, he had given his life to atone for the sins of all who put their faith in Him [Ro 5.8-10]. God had raised him to defeat the powers of sin [Rom 4.24-25] [1Cor 15.17].
III] - Government of the church. At first the followers of Jesus saw no need to develop a system of church government. Expected Christ to return soon, so that solved the internal problems as they arose, usually very informal.
When Paul wrote his letters to churches and Christians realized that they needed to organize their work. The New Testament gives no detailed picture of the government of the early church. Apparently, one or more elders [priests] presided over the affairs of each congregation [Ro 12:6-8] [1Th 5.12] [I 13.7, 17, 24] and presiding elders in the Jewish synagogue. These elders were chosen by the Holy Spirit [Acts 20.20], but the apostles appointed [Acts 14.13]. Thus the Holy Spirit was working through the apostles to order ministry leaders. It seems that some ministers called evangelists traveled from one congregation to another, and the apostles. Its title means men who handle the gospel. Some have thought they were personal representatives of the apostles, as it was Timothy Paul, others assume that they earned the name to express a special gift of evangelism. Elderly normal pastoral duties assumed between the visits of these evangelists.
In some congregations the church appointed deacons to distribute supplies to the needy and to meet other material issues [1Ti 3.12]. The first deacons were men of good reputation that the elders of Jerusalem appointed to tend to the widows of the church [Acts 6.1-6].
Some letters of the New Testament refer to the bishop of the early churches. This term is misleading, since these bishops were not the senior leadership of the church as in some churches that use that title today. Paul reminded the Ephesian elders were bishops [Acts 20.28], and it seems that old man uses the terms interchangeably and Bishop [Tit 1.5-9]. Both bishops and elders were in charge of supervising the congregation. Apparently both terms refer to the same ministers of the early church, ie priests.
Paul and other apostles recognized that the Holy Spirit gave some people some special ability to lead [1Cor 12.28]. So when a believer gave to an official, were confirming what the Holy Spirit had already done.
In the early church had no earthly center of power. Christians understand that Christ was the center and source of all powers [Acts 20.28]. Ministry meant to serve in humility, rather than issuing orders from a exalted office [Mt 20.26-28]. When Paul wrote the Pastoral Epistles, Christians and recognize the importance of presenting the teachings of Christ through ministries that engaged in special study using [n] either the word of truth [2Ti 2.15].
The early church did not offer magical powers to individuals through ritual or otherwise. Christians invited unbelievers to their group, the body of Christ [Eph 1.2] which would be saved as a whole. The apostles and evangelists proclaimed that Christ would return for his people, the Bride of Christ [Rev. 21.2] [Revelation 22.17]. They denied that individuals could gain special powers of Christ for their own selfish ends [Acts 8.9-24] [Acts 13.7-12].
IV] - Models of worship. When the first Christians gathered to worship established patterns of worship that were very different from services in the synagogue. We do not have a clear picture of early Christian worship until the year 150 AD, when Justin Martyr in his writings described the typical cult worship. We know that early Christians held their meetings on Sunday, the first day of the week. They called the Lord's day, because it was the day Christ rose from the dead. The early Christians met in the temple in Jerusalem in the synagogues and in the home [Acts 2.46] [Acts 13.14-16] [Acts 20.7-8]. Some scholars think that the reference to Paul's teaching in the school of Tyrannus [Acts 19.9] indicates that the early Christians sometimes rented schools and other buildings. For more than a century after Christ we have no evidence that Christians have built special buildings for their worship services. Where they were persecuted, they had to meet in secret places, such as the catacombs [underground tombs] in Rome.
Scholars believe that early Christians worshiped on Sunday evening, and that his cult revolved around the Lord's Supper. But at some point Christians began having two services on Sundays, as described by Justin Martyr, an early morning and late afternoon. The times were chosen in secret and to encourage people who worked and could not attend services during the day.
A] - Order of worship. Usually the morning service was a time of praise, prayer and preaching. The spontaneous worship Pentecost, suggests a model that may be used in general. First, Peter read the Scriptures. Then he preached a sermon that apply Scripture to the present situation of the faithful [Acts 2.14-42]. People receiving Christ was baptized, following the example of Christ himself. The faithful participated in songs, testimonies and words of encouragement to complete the worship [1Cor 14.26].
B] - The Lord's Supper. The early Christians ate the symbolic meal called the Lord's Supper to commemorate the Last Supper, where Jesus and his disciples celebrated the traditional Jewish holiday of Passover. The themes of the two celebrations were the same. At Passover, Jews rejoiced because God had delivered them from their enemies and looked forward to her future as children of God. In the Lord's Supper, Christians celebrate how Jesus had saved from sin and expressed their hope for the day when Christ would return [1Cor 11.26].
At first the Lord's Supper was a meal that Christians ate at home. Each guest brought a dish to a common table. The meal began with a common prayer, and eating bits of a single loaf of bread representing Christ's broken body. The meal concluded with another prayer and share a glass of wine representing the blood of Christ.
Some people speculate that Christians were involved in a secret rite to observe the Lord's Supper, and invent strange stories about these cults. Around 100 AD the Roman emperor Trajan banned secret meetings. Then the Christians began to celebrate the Lord's Supper during worship services in the morning, open to the public.
Continued. . .
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