Hi, my name is David Bercot, and tonight we're going to be talking about what happened after Acts. The Book of Acts covers events only to about the year AD 61, with Paul under house arrest in Rome. So naturally, we all wonder, well, what happened after that? Well, that's what we're going to be talking about tonight. To begin with, I want to explain my sources.
Now, there are a lot of legends floating around about the apostles and their ministries, and many of these legends probably have an element of truth in them, or even a considerable amount of truth. However, for the purposes of this message, I'm going to be relying only upon the written historical sources, works such as The Writings of Josephus, the history that Eusebius wrote, and the writings of the pre-Nicene Christians.
In fact, the events I'm going to be telling you about have as much or more historical support as virtually any other event from this same time period. Well, let's begin with Acts. The first thing that we should all recognize about Acts is that it doesn't purport to be a history of everything happening in the Christian world up to the year AD 61. No, it covers the events in Jerusalem connected with the founding of the Church.
It goes on to describe the evangelism of Samaria and the conversion of the first uncircumcised Gentile, Cornelius. And then it quickly moves to the conversion of Paul, and soon after that it traces the missionary journeys of Paul. As a result, a lot of Christians have come away with the mistaken idea that the Twelve Apostles, and I'm including Matthias here as the 12th apostle, never did much of anything, and that Paul almost single-handedly spread Christianity to the world outside of Judea.
However, that's not the way it happened at all. All 12 of the apostles, including Matthias, eventually left Jerusalem, and they were all active in spreading the good news of Christianity throughout the ancient world. In fact, all 12 of them were not even necessarily present at the Jerusalem Council described in Acts 15. Some of them, like Thomas, may have already permanently left Judea by that time. Eusebius writes this about the missionary work of the apostles. I want to read to you from his writings.
He said," Thus, under a celestial influence and cooperation, the doctrine of the Savior, like the rays of the sun, quickly radiated the whole world." Presently, in accordance with divine prophecy, the sound of His inspired evangelists and apostles had gone throughout all the earth and their words to the end of the world. Throughout every city and village, like a replenished barn floor, churches were rapidly found abounding and filled with members from every place.
Those who in consequence of the delusions that had descended to them from their ancestors had been fettered by the ancient disease of idolatrous superstition, were now liberated by the power of Christ through the teaching and miracles of His messengers, and as if delivered from dreadful masters and emancipated from the most cruel bondage, on the one hand renounced the whole multitude of gods and demons, and on the other confessed that there was only one true God, the Creator of all things.
So like rays of light from the sun, the good news of Christianity was spreading throughout the whole world. After all, it was to the twelve apostles before Paul was even converted that Jesus gave the commission to go throughout the whole world, making disciples of Jesus and baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And those apostles obeyed the commission that Jesus had given to them.
One of the earliest outreaches, perhaps preceding the missionary journeys of Paul, was Thaddeus' evangelism of the city-state of Edessa, which lay between the eastern boundary of the Roman Empire and the western boundary of the Persian Empire. During the lifetime of Jesus, King Abgar of Edessa was afflicted with a severe illness which his physicians were unable to cure. However, being close to the land of Palestine, King Abgar had heard about the miraculous healing powers of Jesus.
And so he had sent a messenger to Jesus asking him to come to Edessa to heal Abgar's sickness. Well, Jesus, of course, didn't travel to Edessa. However, after the resurrection and ascension, Thomas did send Thaddeus to Edessa to bring them the gospel. Thaddeus successfully preached the gospel there, converting a large number of the population, including King Abgar. He was also able to heal Abgar from his infirmities.
Now all of that may sound like some sort of legend, except that Eusebius records it in his history of the Church, and he says that he was actually there in Edessa, and he saw the official records of the city that talked about these things. And so it comes from pretty high authority. From Edessa, Thaddeus continued to travel east on into Persia. There he preached Christ to the Persians and was able to establish a native Persian church, which church is still in existence today.
However, since Christianity was a religion that had started within the Roman Empire, which was the great enemy of Persia, the Persian rulers immediately tried to eradicate Christianity. Thaddeus was martyred in Persia, as were many of his first converts. However, God did not allow the Persians to wipe out the newly planted Christian church there, so the Persian Church continued to grow despite persecution.
Decades later, when the Roman government started persecuting Christians, the Persian government stopped persecuting them. Apparently, they concluded that anyone the Roman government was persecuting must not be so bad after all. Well, meanwhile, after commissioning Thaddeus to go to Edessa and beyond, Thomas himself struck out for India, where he successfully established a native church, which church is also still in existence today.
Sometime during this period, the gospel reached the countries of Armenia and of Britain. There's a persistent legend that Joseph of Arimathea brought Christianity to Britain, but there really is no historical record to back it up. It may have happened, but we really don't know. By the middle of the first century, the gospel had also reached Egypt. Now, according to Eusebius, it was Mark who brought Christianity to Egypt, establishing a number of churches in the largest city there of Alexandria.
Mark also developed a close relationship with Peter, and it was under the influence of Peter that he wrote his gospel of Mark. So I hope you can see that this idea that Paul was the only missionary among the apostles is not at all accurate. All of the apostles were out planting churches the same as Paul. The fact that the Book of Acts doesn't cover their ministry is no reason to think that they merely sat around idle. Acts doesn't purport to cover what the other apostles were doing.
It's not a comprehensive history of the Church up to the year AD 61, and it doesn't pretend to be. Now I want to switch gears for a moment and talk about what was happening in Rome. Have you ever wondered why the Romans didn't initially persecute the Christians? Most commentaries say that it's because the Romans viewed them simply as a sect within Judaism. And since the Jews were tolerated, the Christians were tolerated. And there's probably some truth in that.
But apparently the primary reason why Christians were not persecuted by the Romans at the start is that Tiberius Caesar had formed a very favorable impression of Christ. I'd like to read to you what Eusebius writes concerning Him.
He writes," Our Savior's marvelous resurrection and ascension into heaven were by now everywhere famous, and it had long been customary for provincial governors to report to the holder of the Imperial Office any change in the local situation so that he might be aware of all that was going on. The story of the resurrection from the dead of our Savior Jesus, already the subject of general discussion all over Palestine, was accordingly communicated by Pilate to the Emperor Tiberius.
For Pilate knew all about Christ's supernatural deeds, and especially how after death, he had risen from the dead and was now generally believed to be a god. It is said that Tiberius referred the reports to the Senate, which rejected it. The apparent reason was that they had not gone into the matter before, for the old law still held good that no one could be regarded by the Romans as a god, unless by vote and decree of the Senate.
The real reason was that no human decision or commendation was required for the saving teaching of the divine message. In this way, the Roman Council rejected the report sent to it about our Savior, but Tiberius made no change in His attitude and formed no evil designs against the teaching of Christ. These facts were noted by Tertullian, an expert in Roman law and famous on other grounds, in fact one of the most brilliant men in Rome." End quote. Now let's talk a moment about James, the brother of Jesus.
From Acts, we know him as one of the more prominent leaders of the Jerusalem Church. But unlike the twelve, James never left Jerusalem. He stayed there the rest of his life. James was a strong Christian, but he also remained a devout Jew. He lived by the law, and there's some indication that he even took a Nazarite vow. He knew that his salvation didn't come from the law, and he certainly did not try to impose the law on the Gentiles. Nevertheless, he did live a godly life as a Christian Jew.
He spent much of his time at the temple, praying for the Jewish people and for the rapidly spreading church. In fact, he spent so much time on his knees praying that he developed thick calluses on his knees, and witnesses say that his knees were as hard as those of a camel. He was well respected among the Jews because of his godliness, and he was known among them as James the Just. As a result, he was able to lead many Jews to Christ.
Well, one day when he was praying in the temple, the scribes and Pharisees took him out on one of the temple walls and instructed him to tell the people that Jesus was not actually the Messiah. They knew if James renounced Jesus, this would have a tremendous impact on the Jewish people. So in front of the people, having James up there on the wall, the religious leaders asked James to explain to the crowd what it means that Jesus is the door.
That was an expression that was being heard throughout the streets of Jerusalem at that time. Now the Pharisees, I don't know why, were expecting James to dissuade the people from Jesus. However, in a loud voice, he answered the Pharisees saying," Why do you ask Me respecting Jesus, the Son of Man? Is He not now sitting in the heavens on the right hand of the great power and is about to come on the clouds of heaven?" Of course, when the Pharisees heard this, they realized that their idea had backfired on them.
So they threw him down off the temple wall and began stoning him. Still alive, James prayed out loud with similar words that Jesus had used, saying," I entreat you, O Lord, God and Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." After this, someone clubbed James in the head, and he died. The year of his martyrdom was around A.D. 62. Interestingly, the martyrdom of James is not only recorded in Christian writings, but it was also recorded by Josephus, the Jewish historian.
In fact, concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, which happened in AD 70, about eight years after James had been martyred, Josephus wrote this in his history. He said," These things happened to the Jews to avenge James the Just, who was the brother of him who is called Christ and whom the Jews had slain, despite his preeminent justice." A few minutes ago, I read to you Eusebius' passage about Tiberius Caesar and his favorable attitude toward Christ, and the fact that he had no desire to persecute the Christians.
And the Roman government continued to leave the Christians unmolested until the time of Nero. In fact, at first, even Nero didn't persecute the Christians. However, all of this changed with the great fire that engulfed Rome. I want to read to you a passage from Tacitus. He was a first-century Roman historian, a secular historian, not a Christian, what he writes about the Great Fire of Rome. He writes," Whether it was accidental or caused by a criminal act on the part of the Emperor is uncertain.
Both versions have supporters. Now started the most terrible and destructive fire, which Rome had ever experienced. It began in the circus, where it adjoins the Palatine and Caelian Hills, breaking out in shops selling inflammable goods and fanned by the wind, the conflagration instantly grew and swept the whole length of the circus. There were no walled mansions or temples or any other obstructions which could arrest it.
First, the fire swept violently over the level places, then it climbed the hills, but returned to ravage the lower ground again. It outstripped every countermeasure. The ancient city's narrow, winding streets and irregular blocks encouraged its progress. Terrified shrieking women, helpless old and young, people intent on their own safety, people unselfishly supporting invalids or waiting for them. Fugitives and lingerers alike all heightened the confusion.
When people looked back, menacing flames sprang up before them or outflanked them. When they escaped to a neighboring quarter, the fire followed. Even districts believed remote proved to be involved. Finally, with no idea where or what to flee, they crowded onto the country roads or lay in the fields. Some who had lost everything, even their food for the day, could have escaped, but preferred to die. So did others who had failed to rescue their loved ones. Nobody dared fight the flames.
Attempts to do so were prevented by menacing gangs. Torches, too, were openly thrown in by men crying that they had acted under orders. Perhaps they had received orders, or they may just have wanted to plunder unhampered. Of Rome's 14 districts, only four remained intact. Three were leveled to the ground. The other seven were reduced to a few scorched and mangled ruins. To count the mansions, blocks, and temples destroyed would be difficult.
Neither human resources nor imperial munificence nor appeasement of the gods eliminated sinister suspicions that the fire had been instigated. To suppress this rumor, Nero fabricated scapegoats and punished with every refinement, the notoriously depraved Christians, as they were popularly called, their originator, Christ, had been executed in Tiberius' reign by the governor of Judea, Pontius Pilate.
But in spite of this temporary setback, the deadly superstition had broken out afresh, not only in Judea, where the mischief had started, but even in Rome. All degraded and shameful practices collect and flourish in the capital. First, Nero had self-acknowledged Christians arrested. Then on their information, large numbers of them were condemned. Not so much for the fire, but because the human race detested them.
Their deaths were made farcical, dressed in wild animal skins, they were torn to pieces by dogs, or crucified, or made into torches to be ignited after dark as substitutes for daylight. Nero provided his garden for the spectacle and exhibited displays in the circus at which he mingled with the crowd or stood in a chariot dressed as a charioteer.
Despite their guilt as Christians and the ruthless punishment it deserved, the victims were pitied, for it was felt that they were being sacrificed to one man's brutality rather than to the national interest. So that was the first Roman persecution against the Christians, and it was quite savage. Sometime before this fire had occurred, both Peter and Paul had come to Rome and were active in the church there. And so both of them fell victim to Nero's savage persecution. Paul being a Roman citizen was beheaded.
Peter, who wasn't a citizen, was crucified. Eusebius states that Peter asked to be crucified upside down, as he didn't feel worthy to die in the same position as his Lord. Both Peter and Paul were buried in Rome, where their remains stay to this day. Peter's wife was martyred at this time also, right before he was. Eusebius mentions that Peter called out words of encouragement to her as she was being led away. After the death of Nero, the persecution against the Christians abated.
The next three Caesars, Galba, Otho, and Vitellius, together only ruled for a very short period of time. And when Vitellius died, the Roman general Vespasian was waging a campaign against the Jews in Palestine. But his troops immediately declared him as the new emperor, and so he returned to Rome to secure his position. And he left the Jewish campaign in the hands of his son, Titus. Although the apostles had all left Jerusalem to fulfill the Great Commission, there were numerous Christians in Jerusalem at the time.
Eusebius tells us what happened to the church there." The members of the Jerusalem Church, by means of an oracle given by revelation to acceptable persons there, were ordered to leave the city before the war began and settled in a town in Perea called Pella." To Pella, those who believed in Christ migrated from Jerusalem. As if holy men had utterly abandoned the royal metropolis of the Jews and the entire Jewish land.
So before Jerusalem was ever under siege, some of the early Christians were given a prophecy to tell everyone to get out of Jerusalem. These were obviously genuine prophets, not people just imagining they had a message from God. And everybody obeyed them and left Jerusalem, left Judea, in fact. And so the Christians totally survived what came upon Jerusalem, which we're about to talk about.
The destruction of Jerusalem that followed was a terrible tragedy, and it's described to us quite graphically by the Jewish historian Josephus. He tells us that before the siege, thousands of people had flocked into Jerusalem thinking that it was impregnable, and it would be a safe place of refuge for them, because the Romans were laying siege to all the other cities of Judea, and one by one, they were falling. Furthermore, it was the time of the Passover, and so a lot of travelers had come down to Jerusalem.
And so the city, according to Josephus, maybe had 3 million people in it, which was two to three times its normal population. And then when the Roman armies laid siege to it, pretty quickly they ran out of food, and there was severe famine within the city. I'll read to you now from Josephus.
He says," Many secretly exchanged their possessions for a measure of grain, wheat if they happened to be rich, barley if they were poor." Then they shut themselves up in the darkest corners of their houses, where some, through extreme hunger, ate their grain as it was, and others made bread, necessity and fear being the only guides. Nowhere was a table laid. They snatched the food from the fire while still uncooked and ate like wolves.
The sight of such misery would have brought tears to the eyes, for while the strong had more than enough, the weak were in desperate straits. All human feelings alas yield to hunger, of which decency is always the first victim. For when hunger reigns, restraint is abandoned.
Thus it was that wives robbed their husbands, children, their fathers, and most horrible of all, mothers their babies, snatching the food out of their very mouths, and when their dearest ones were dying in their arms, they did not hesitate to deprive them of the morsels that might have kept them alive. This way of satisfying their hunger did not go unnoticed. Everywhere, the zealots were ready to sweep even on such pickings. Wherever they saw a locked door, they concluded that those within were having a meal.
And instantly bursting the door open, they rushed in and hardly stopped short of squeezing their throats to force out the morsels of food. They beat old men who held onto their crusts and tore the hair of women who hid what was in their hands. They showed no pity for gray hairs or helpless babyhood, but picked up the children as they clung to their precious scraps and dashed them on the floor.
If anyone anticipated their entry by gulping down what the zealots hoped to seize, the zealots felt themselves defrauded and retaliated with worse savagery still. Terrible were the methods of tortures they devised in their quest for food. The Jews unable now to leave the city were deprived of all hope of survival. The famine became more intense and devoured whole houses and families. The roofs were covered with women and infants too weak to stand, the streets full of old men already dead.
Young men and boys swollen with hunger haunted the squares like ghosts and fell wherever faintness overcame them. To bury their kinfolk was beyond the strength of the sick, and those who were fit shirked the task because of the number of the dead and uncertainty about their own fate, for many while bearing others fell dead themselves, and many set out for their graves before their hour struck. In their misery, no weeping or lamentation was heard. Hunger stifled emotion.
With dry eyes, those who were slow to die watched those whose end came sooner. Deep silence enfolded the city, and a darkness burdened with death." End quote. So it was a time of unprecedented woe, just as Jesus had prophesied. Now Josephus makes mention of an interesting supernatural event that preceded the siege of Jerusalem. He says this, this is again before the siege. He says," A few days after the feast on the 21st of the month, a supernatural apparition was seen, too amazing to be believed.
What I have to relate would have been dismissed as an invention, had it not been vouched for by eyewitnesses, and followed by disasters that bore out the signs. Before sunset, there were seen in the sky over the whole country, chariots and regiments in arms speeding through the clouds and encircling the towns.
Reading that made me think of Jesus' prediction where he said," When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, know that her end is near." Then he said," Flee to the mountains." And there's always been a puzzle because, of course, once the armies of Titus surrounded the cities, you couldn't flee to the mountains even if you wanted to. It was too late. So perhaps this was the prediction he was referring to. When they saw these supernatural armies in the sky surrounding the city, then they knew it was time to leave.
So the Christians not only had the prophets within them who told them to leave the city, but they also had this other sign. Anyway, they all left. None of them suffered the horrible fate that the Jews did there in Jerusalem. Christians were not persecuted by either Emperor Vespasian or by his son Titus when Titus became emperor. When Titus died in AD81, his younger brother, Domitian, took over as emperor.
Now at first, Domitian was a very good emperor, brought about a lot of improvements in the empire, even though he was not a morally upright man himself. However, after there was an unsuccessful rebellion against him, he began a reign of terror. He revived the ancient laws against treason, and just about anything could be labeled as treason if the emperor so decided. He encouraged people to turn in others, and he had secret informers out there spying on people.
As a result, thousands of leading citizens were executed or banished. Domitian took on the title Lord and God, which of course the Christians refused to apply to him. So he began persecuting the Christians, at least in Rome and also in Asia Minor. Around the year AD 95, Domitian had the Apostle John arrested in Ephesus and exiled to the penal isle of Patmos, which is off the coast of modern-day Turkey. It was here that John received the apocalypse.
Unpopular for his tyranny and his disregard of the Senate, Domitian was finally killed through a conspiracy of high-ranking persons, including the emperor's own wife. And he was succeeded by Nerva. Well, one of the first things that Nerva in the Senate did was to overturn most of the judicial sentences handed down by Domitian. So those who had been banished by him were allowed to return to their homes. As a result, John was released from imprisonment, and he returned to Ephesus.
John spent his last years in Asia Minor, in and around Ephesus, appointing elders, strengthening the churches, and fighting the major heresy facing Christianity at the time, which was Gnosticism. Gnosticism had begun during the time of Paul's ministry, but it was held in check by the presence of the apostles. However, by the end of the first century, when only the apostle John was living out of the original apostles, the Gnostic teachers had become quite bold.
One of them named Cerinthus was openly teaching that Christ had not come in the flesh, but that the Son of God, the heavenly Son of God, had merely descended upon the man Jesus at his baptism, and then left him at the time of the crucifixion. Polycarp, who was a companion of John, relates the incident that one day John was entering one of the public baths with some other Christians when he spied Cerinthus there.
John then immediately yelled to his companions," Let us fly, lest even the bathhouse falls down because Cerinthus, the enemy of the truth is within." In fact, John's first two epistles are specifically addressing Gnostic teachers and their false teachings. I'm not going to go into a lot of detail about the Gnostics since I recently recorded a message focusing just on them and the Nicolaitans, another group that the Apostle John had to combat.
Clement of Alexandria relates to an interesting incident in John's life that shows that even as an old man, John still had considerable spiritual and physical vigor. We read," When the tyrant, Domitian, finally died, John left the island of Patmos and returned to Ephesus. He was then asked to travel throughout the surrounding provinces. In one place, he would appoint overseers. In another, he would set whole churches in order. And still another, he would ordain those who were indicated by the Holy Spirit.
Along the way, he stopped at one of the cities not far from Ephesus. Some have said this city was Smyrna. After he had settled some other matters, he noticed a strong, handsome young man who was enthusiastic and devoted. Looking at the newly appointed overseer, he said," I commit this youth to you in all earnestness, in the presence of the Church and with Christ as witness." When the overseer accepted the charge and promised to fulfill his obligation, John gave him instructions and testimony.
Then John returned to Ephesus. The elder took the youth who had been committed to him to his own home. He reared him, cherished him, and finally baptized him. After this, he relaxed his stricter care and guardianship. He thought that the seal of the Lord had set on the youth, talking about baptism, had given him complete protection. But when the youth obtained this premature freedom, some other young men his age, who were idle, immoral, and adept at evil, corrupted him.
First, they enticed him by providing expensive entertainment. Later, when they went out at night and robbed people on the highways, they took him along. By degrees, he came to accept their life. In time, he entirely despaired of salvation of God. He no longer desired to do small acts of evil, but great ones. Since he felt he was lost beyond all hope, he made up his mind to accept the same fate as the others.
Taking them and forming a band of robbers, he quickly became the captain of the bandits, the fiercest, bloodiest, and cruelest of them all. Time passed. Some necessity emerged in the church so that they sent for John to come to them again. When he had settled this other matter, John said," Overseer, return the deposit which I and the Savior committed to you in the presence of the Church over which you preside." At first, the overseer was puzzled, thinking John was wrongly accusing him of mishandling money.
Finally, John clarified the matter, saying," I demand the young man and the soul of our brother entrusted to you." The elderly overseer, groaning deeply, burst into tears and said," He is dead." How did he die?" He is dead to God," the overseer said." He turned wicked and abandoned the faith, and at last he became a robber. Now he and his band have taken possession of the mountain across from the church.
John tore his clothes and pounded his head with great lament." I left a fine guard in charge of this brother's soul," he finally cried. Recovering, he said," Someone please bring me a horse. I need a guide to show me the way." He rode away just as he was straight from the church. As he approached the robber's hideout, he was grabbed by their sentry. Neither fleeing nor begging, he cried out," I came here so that you could waylay me. Lead me to your captain." Meanwhile, the captain who was fully armed was waiting.
But as soon as he recognized John, he was overcome with shame. He quickly turned and fled. John followed him with all of his strength, forgetting his age, and cried out," Why, my son, do you flee from me, your old and unarmed father? Son, pity me. Do not fear. You still have hope of life. I will give an account to Christ for you. If need be, I will willingly endure your death, as the Lord endured death for us. For you, I will surrender my life. Believe, Christ has sent me.
The youth finally stopped and stood looking down. He finally threw down his weapons, and he trembled and began to weep bitterly. When the old man approached, he embraced him. Though the young man could hardly speak because he was crying so much, he expressed his regret for his actions. That day he was baptized a second time with tears. John assured him that he could find forgiveness from the Savior. Begging him and falling on his knees, John kissed him, then he led him back to the church.
There John prayed profusely, striving beside the young man in continual fasting. Through hours of instructions, he subdued the young man's mind. In fact, John did not depart until he restored the young man to the church. He presented the young man as a great example of true repentance and a token of new birth. So that's quite a remarkable account. If you're like me, you have trouble picturing the apostle John riding a horse.
Somehow I want the apostles to only walk wherever they travel, preferably in sandals, or maybe take a boat. Maybe I can picture them on a donkey, but it's hard for me to picture them on a horse. Well, of course, that's just our own foolish notions. Of course they traveled about on horseback like other people did. But sometimes we create these romanticized views that don't really reflect reality. Well, John finally passed away around the year 100.
He was the last surviving apostle, and he was the only one who died a natural death. All of the others were martyred. Now I'm going to briefly return to the time of Domitian's reign. As you'll recall, Domitian was the emperor who banished John to the Isle of Patmos. Hearing that the Christians viewed Christ as their king, he became alarmed that the Christians might be planning a rebellion to overthrow him. So he sought to find all of the relatives of Jesus who were still living, planning to put them to death.
But the only ones he could find were the grandchildren of Jude, Jesus' half-brother. So he had them arrested and they were brought before him. Eusebius recounts what happened. Domitian asked them whether they were of David's race and they confessed that they were. He then asked them what property they had or how much money they owned. And both of them answered that they had between them only 9,000 denarii.
And this they had not in silver, but in the value of a piece of land, containing only 39 acres, from which they raised their taxes and supported themselves by their own labor. Then they also began to show their hands, exhibiting the hardness of their bodies and the calluses formed by incessant labor on their hands as evidence of their own labor.
When asked also respecting Christ in His kingdom, what was its nature, and when and where it was to appear, they replied that it was not a temporal nor an earthly kingdom, but celestial and angelic, that it would appear at the end of the world when coming in glory he would judge the quick and dead, and give to everyone according to his works.
Upon which Domitian, looking down upon them, made no reply, but treating them with the contempt as simpletons commanded them to be dismissed, and by a decree ordered the persecution to cease. Thus freed, they continued to lead the churches both as witnesses and relatives of the Lord. When peace was established, they continued living even to the times of Trajan. Now we enter the period that is sometimes referred to as the sub apostolic age. This began about the year 100.
The apostles had all died, as had all of the other disciples who had personally seen Jesus. Yet the apostles had prepared the Church for this very thing. For example, the instructions that Paul had given Timothy, 2 Timothy 2:1 and 2.
He said," You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also." So the church didn't continue on always having the apostles with them, but rather they trained a generation of men and equipped them to be able to train the next generation. So when the twelve apostles and Paul had all died, they were men ready to continue to lead the churches without any gap.
Now during the age of the apostles, new churches were often ministered to by traveling teachers who went about and either planted churches or helped to minister the churches that had been planted by somebody else. After all, Paul and Timothy and Barnabas and Mark were not the only traveling teachers.
As I've mentioned previously, all of the 12 apostles were out planting churches, and there were literally thousands of other ordinary Christians whose names we don't know who traveled about and helped to plant and help to teach and strengthen churches that were in existence. These traveling men were usually called teachers or prophets. And by that, I don't mean that all teachers or all prophets traveled, but many of them did.
Now, the Gnostics and other false teachers were able to use this situation to travel about from church to church, pretending to have been companions of the apostles, and they spread their poison this way as well. That's why in his second letter, John instructed the Christians that if anyone comes to their home and doesn't confess that Jesus came in the flesh, not to let them in, or even say a word of greeting to them.
Now I said earlier I wasn't going to go into much detail about the Gnostics, since I explained all about them on another message, and I don't want to have too much overlap between these two messages. However, I think I should explain a few basics so that you'll understand who the Gnostics were, if you haven't already listened to the other message. The basic claim of the Gnostics was that the material world was not created by the true God, that is, by the Father of Jesus.
Rather, it was created by either a fallen angel or by a lesser divinity whom they referred to as the Creator, and the Greek word they used was" demiurge." Because of his own imperfect nature, the Demiurge created a flawed world, rife with evil. And our bodies are the creation of this Demiurge, so they are therefore inherently corrupt and beyond salvation. However, according to the Gnostics, our souls were from the ultimate divine realm, from the true God Himself.
Therefore, as to our souls, we have the right after death to pass beyond the Demiurge up to the abode of the Father. Or in some Gnostic sects, the ultimate deity was the father/mother. But to make this journey, we first have to have knowledge. The Greek word for knowledge is gnosis of all of these things, and we have to know the secret passwords or the declarations we must make to the lower spiritual powers in order to pass through them.
Now because the flesh is depraved, the Gnostics taught that Jesus did not actually become man. That is, he didn't actually come in the flesh. He only had the appearance of being a human. Or in some of their teachings, he simply possessed somebody else's body. And because of their view of the body, the Gnostics believe there will be no resurrection of the body either.
Now the Gnostic teachers claim that they receive these special teachings, either privately from the apostles or by direct revelation from Jesus Himself. Partly because of the danger of these traveling Gnostic teachers, the role of traveling teachers greatly diminished after the apostles died. One of the earliest writings we have after the New Testament is a work known in Greek as the Didache.
It was written during this time of transition from wandering teachers and prophets to the establishment of permanent elders and deacons. Now, in many churches, that had already been done decades before. But in churches in new areas that had only recently been evangelized, churches were still ministered to by these traveling teachers and prophets. I want to read to you just one passage from the Didache.
It says this:" Appoint for yourselves therefore bishops and deacons worthy of the Lord, gentlemen, not lovers of money, true and approved, for they minister also to you the ministry of prophets and teachers. Therefore, do not despise them, for they are to be honored among you along with the prophets and teachers." So like I say, you had this transition period, and then in a few decades after that, practically all of the churches were led by permanent bishops or overseers and deacons.
The Roman Emperor who followed Nerva, Nerva was the one who followed Domitian, you may remember, was Trajan. We just read about the two grandchildren of Jude, and it says they lived until the reign of Trajan. Anyway, with Trajan, who was otherwise a very good emperor, there was a renewed persecution of Christians. However, this wasn't an official empire-wide persecution. Rather, local officials or local mobs instigated persecution against the Christians at differing times in different places.
On a day-to-day basis, most Christians weren't persecuted. But at any moment, persecution could suddenly flare up and thousands of Christians would be put to death. It was quite unpredictable. One of the local governors named Pliny wrote Emperor Trajan a letter asking him what he should do about the Christians. It seemed to Pliny that Christians were harmless enough, so he didn't feel right in putting them to death or even imprisoning them, but he wanted to find out what the Emperor had to say.
Eusebius records the letter that Pliny sent to the Emperor and the Emperor's reply. That is, he records a summary of it, and I'd like to read to you what he says. So great was the intensification of the persecution directed against us in many parts of the world at that time, that Pliny the Younger, one of the most distinguished governors, was alarmed by the number of martyrs and sent a report to the emperor about the number of those who were being put to death for the faith.
In the same dispatch, he informed him that he understood they did nothing improper or illegal. All they did was to rise at dawn and sing hymns to Christ as a god, to repudiate adultery, murder, and similar disgraceful crimes, and in every way to conform to the law. Trajan's response was to issue a decree that members of the Christian community were not to be hunted, but if brought forward, they were to be punished.
This meant that though to some extent, the terrifyingly imminent threat of persecution was stifled, yet for those who wanted to injure us, there were just as many pretexts left. Sometimes it was the common people, sometimes the local authorities, who devised plots against us, so that even without open persecution, sporadic attacks blazed up in one province or another, and many of the faithful endured the ordeal of martyrdom in various forms.
So Trajan's policy, which was followed by the emperors after him, was that Christians weren't to be hunted down. But it still was a crime to be a Christian. So if somebody brought you forward and could establish that you were a Christian, or you would acknowledge, of course, that you were one if asked, then it was perfectly legal to put you to death. So, Christians everywhere in the Roman Empire had this death sentence hanging over them, never knowing when it might strike.
I mean, in many places, Christians met in the open because no one was persecuting them, but that could change overnight. So for the next two centuries, in virtually every decade, somewhere in the Roman Empire, Christians were being put to death. Two of the most famous martyrs of this period were Ignatius and Polycarp. They were both bishops or overseers, and they both had been companions of the apostle John, and they had been appointed by him in their places of leadership.
Ignatius, who was the bishop or overseer of Antioch, was arrested around the year 105 during the reign of Emperor Trajan. He was taken overland to Rome for trial. On his way to Rome, in the company of soldiers, Ignatius wrote letters to seven different churches, encouraging them to remain strong in the faith. His letters reveal why Rome's effort to stamp out Christianity through persecution was doomed to failure because Ignatius was perfectly ready to die for Christ.
Their threats of death didn't scare him the least bit. He was looking forward to leaving this earth and being with Christ. There was not the least bit of hesitation in Him. In fact, in a letter to the church in Rome that they received before he got there, he asked them not to try to intervene on his behalf. He preferred to die as a martyr than to languish in prison somewhere.
As I mentioned, with the last apostle, who was John, having recently died, the Gnostic teachers presented a particularly serious danger to the church. So to combat the danger of these Gnostic teachers, which were very much on Ignatius' heart, Ignatius encouraged the Christians in the congregations to whom he wrote, not to do anything without their bishop being present or someone he designated.
Because in his day, at that particular time, all of the bishops in these churches that he was writing, he knew they had been appointed by the apostles or by apostolic men like Timothy. So I knew if the church just stayed around their bishop, they wouldn't be led astray by the Gnostic teachers. Now, Ignatius goes a little bit to the extreme in seeing how important it was for them to obey their bishop.
His letters probably represent good advice for that immediate situation, even though his language is a little bit excessive. But his letters don't constitute good advice for Christians throughout all ages in all places. Because the time did come when it was the bishops themselves who were departing from the faith. And so to walk faithfully with Jesus Christ, you had to go against the bishops and the other clergy.
I think Ignatius' letters very aptly reveal the difference between human works, human letters of godly Christians, which often don't apply in every age and in every circumstance, or that sometimes contain errors, and the inspired works of the New Testament, which do apply in every age and in every circumstance, and do not contain errors. So we never want to elevate the writings of the early Christians like they are on a level close to Scripture because they're not.
But they are extremely valuable writings written by people who live close to the time of the apostles. Now Polycarp was a friend of Ignatius, and he served as the bishop or overseer of Smyrna. He lived a long and very fruitful life, but when he was an old man over 80 years of age, he was finally arrested by the Roman authorities and taken to the arena to be put to death. His brave testimony before the Roman consul served as an inspiration for countless Christians after his death.
And after he was put to death, it seemed to satisfy the crowd and the church in Smyrna had a relatively long period of peace after that. Polycarp is a significant person because he was a personal disciple of John, and yet he lived until around the year A.D. 156. So he furnished the church in the middle of the second century with a link all the way back to the days of the apostles. Now before closing, I want to talk just for a couple of minutes about church government at the close of the apostolic age.
The scriptural evidence would strongly indicate that the original form of church government featured only two offices that of Presbyter or Elder and that of Deacon. In fact, in the New Testament, the terms Bishop or Overseer and Presbyter or elder are used interchangeably. For example, Titus chapter 1 verses 5 through 7 says," For this reason I left you in Crete that you should set in order the things that are lacking and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you.
If a man is blameless, the husband of one wife, etc. For a bishop must be blameless as a steward of God. So there Paul in his letter to Timothy is using bishop and elder or Presbyter as interchangeable terms. Also in Acts chapter 20 verses 17, 18, and 28, we read," From Miletus, he sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church.
And when they had come to him, he said to them,' Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among whom the Holy Spirit has made you overseers or bishops to shepherd the Church of God. Evidently then, Ephesus had a plurality of overseers or bishops. They were the same people as the presbyters. And Peter bears witness to this as well in 1 Peter chapter 5 verses 1 and 2.
He said," The elders who are among you, I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed. Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, or as some translations say, as bishops. Well, two of the earliest writings that we have after the New Testament likewise seem to know of only two classes of leaders, bishops or overseers and deacons. And they too use bishop and presbyter or overseer and elder interchangeably.
For example, the letter of Clement of Rome, which was written to the church in Corinth, which had risen up and expelled all of the men whom the apostles had appointed as elders there and selected their own slate of elders. Anyway, the ones who were put out of office for no good reason, and those in the congregation who supported them, who perhaps were the majority, wrote to the leaders in the church at Rome, which was the largest church in the world, and asked them for help.
And so the church in Rome, acting through Clement, one of their elders or presbyters, wrote a letter to the church in Corinth. Anyway, in the letter, Clement writes," Preaching throughout countries and cities, the apostles appointed the first fruits of their labors to be bishops and deacons of those who would believe afterwards." Then in another passage, he says," Our sin will not be small. If we eject from oversight or from the Episcopate, those who have blamelessly fulfilled its duties in a holy manner.
Blessed are those presbyters who have obtained a fruitful and perfect departure, having finished their course before now." So just like the New Testament scriptures, Clement uses Bishop and Presbyter interchangeably. And then the Didache says," Appoint therefore for yourselves, bishops and deacons worthy of the Lord." We had read that passage earlier.
On the other hand, the letters of Ignatius, which were written during the same time period as the letter of Clement, know of three offices: Bishop, Presbyter, and Deacon.
For example, Ignatius writes," I have had the privilege of seeing you through Thomas, your most worthy bishop, and through your worthy presbyters, Bassus and Apollonius, and through my fellow servant, the Deacon Socio." In another letter, he said," There is one bishop, along with the presbyters and deacons, my fellow servants." So Ignatius knows of a threefold ministry, and it should be noted that Ignatius didn't institute this threefold order.
It was already in place in some of the churches to whom he wrote his letters. So it would appear that by the year A.D. 105, some churches had the three-fold system, and some still had the original two-fold system. Clement's letter to the Corinthians would indicate that both Rome and Corinth still had the twofold order of Presbyters and Deacons at the time that it was written.
So, the question becomes, was the threefold system a human corruption that came into the church, or was it a legitimate apostolic development? Well, that's a question I'm not going to try to answer in this message. Those who feel that it was a corruption point to the original New Testament usage. Those who feel that it was a legitimate apostolic development point to the fact that the region where it was first developed was Asia Minor, the very place where the apostle John had spent his last years of ministry.
So they say, if it was a human corruption, why would it grow up in the very region that was last ministered to by one of the apostles? Anyway, those are the two sides. They both have strong arguments, and I'm going to leave it at that. Well, in conclusion, I think we've seen that the Church kept growing after the period described in Acts, and that all of the apostles were involved in fulfilling the Great Commission, not just Paul.
By the end of the first century, Christianity had been planted throughout the whole Mediterranean world, including Egypt and North Africa. Churches had also been planted in Britain, Gaul, Armenia, Edessa, Persia, and even India. Indeed, the kingdom of God had proved to be like a mustard seed, that it started off very small, yet in less than a century, was rapidly filling the whole known world.