Hi, my name is David Bercot, and tonight we're going to be talking about evangelism in the early church. Now, when I use the term tonight early church, I'm referring to the Church that existed, the Body of Christians, between the year 100 and 311. The reason I'm starting at 100 is that the New Testament Church covers the period basically from AD 33 to the year 100.
And I'm ending this period at 311, because that's when the Edict of Toleration was issued that made it legal to practice Christianity after centuries of persecution in the Roman Empire. And in just a period of a few years, Christianity went from being legally tolerated to becoming the religion of the Roman Emperor himself, Constantine, and the methods of evangelism changed dramatically after that. Now let me set forth what my basic plan of action is going to be this evening, what we're going to talk about.
I'm going to begin by establishing the fact that Christianity did expand rapidly, extremely rapidly, during the period I'm talking about. It had also expanded extremely rapidly during the New Testament period as well. First, we're going to look at some of the methods they didn't use that Christians use today in evangelism. Then we will be talking about what methods they actually did use. We'll be looking at four specific things: martyrdom, informal witnessing, lifestyle witnessing.
That is, creating interest in Christianity because of the way Christians lived. And then finally, we'll be talking about men who were full-time missionaries and full-time evangelists. That is, people who made that their primary occupation of life was witnessing to others. Okay, after we've looked at the methods they used, we're going to talk about why they evangelized, and how none of the methods they used would have worked without God's power behind it.
Finally, I want to share with you some testimonies of conversion from some of the early Christians. Now, if you've listened to other messages of mine, I'm sure by now you know my basic methodology, and that is to always go to primary sources. In other words, I'm not going to be quoting to you tonight from books people have written about the early church and its expansion. Rather, I'm going to be reading you some excerpts tonight from early Christian writings that demonstrate the very things I'm saying.
So let's begin by talking about the fact that early Christianity expanded rapidly. You know, that's one issue in which there is no disagreement between secular historians and Christian historians. They both agree that Christianity spread rapidly during the period of the early Church. Now, secular historians might view that as something that wasn't good, and Christian historians view it as something that was good. But no one denies the fact that the early Christians were very effective at evangelizing.
Notice some of the statements that the early Christian writers make. Justin Martyr, who wrote about the year 150 or 160, said, " There is not one single race of men, whether barbarians or Greeks, or whatever they may be called, whether nomads, vagrants, or herdsmen living in tents, among whom prayers and giving of thanks are not offered through the name of the crucified Jesus. " Now this is just 50 or 60 years after the last apostle died.
And this was a statement that Justin Martyr made in his defense of Christianity addressed to the Roman Emperor. If that wasn't a true statement and something that even the pagans recognized, it would have destroyed his whole argument before the Roman Emperor to make some absurd claim that would be easily dismissed, and then everything else he said would be dismissed with it.
Irenaeus, writing about the year 170 or 180, and writing to Christians, says this: " 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.
For the churches which have been planted in Germany, do not believe or hand down anything different, nor do those in Spain, nor do those in Gaul, which would be modern-day France, nor those in the East, nor those in Egypt, nor those in Libya, nor those which have been established in the central regions of the world.
But just as the Son, that creation of God is one and the same throughout the whole world, so also the preaching of the truth shines everywhere and enlightens all men who are willing to come to a knowledge of the truth. Now, Irenaeus was not trying to impress anybody with this claim. He wasn't writing to the pagan Romans.
Rather, he was defending Christianity from heretics from within, people who claimed to be Christian, and who were teaching doctrines radically different than those we would find in the New Testament. Again, he would have destroyed his whole defense of orthodoxy if what he said wasn't immediately acknowledged as being true by both heretics and Christians alike. They knew, yes, there are churches everywhere, and the Church could say they all believe the same thing. The heretics couldn't make such a claim.
Tertullian, writing about the year 197, and he's addressing this to the Romans, to the pagans, and he says this, " We are but of yesterday, and we have filled every place among you cities, islands, fortresses, towns, marketplaces. The very camps, tribes, companies, palace, senate, forum. We have left nothing to you but the temples of your gods.
" Now, when he mentions the palace and the Senate, he's not saying that there were Christians who were rulers in Caesar's Palace, or who were members of the Senate, but rather the household of the rulers and the households of some among the senators had Christians among them. Tertullian goes on to say, " Day after day, indeed you groan over the increasing number of Christians. Your constant cries at the state is beset by us. You groan that Christians are in your fields, your camps, and in your islands.
You grieve over it as a calamity that each gender, every age group, in short every rank, is passing over from you to us. " He then continues, " I know very well with what answer you usually counter the argument from our rapid increase. You say that something should not be hastily accounted as a good thing, simply because it converts a great number of persons. " Again, an amazing statement.
Tertullian points out the very thing that they were all aware of, that they were constantly groaning, that Christians were increasing so rapidly. And that they were already having to try to counter it with arguments by saying, " Well, just because something grows rapidly doesn't mean it's true. " And of course that's a true statement.
But the fact that they were having to say that demonstrates the truth of the fact that Christianity was like a huge tsunami wave that was just engulfing every society, every place around the earth as it spread. And if anyone was inclined to think, well, Tertullian was exaggerating things, the course of history demonstrates that what he said was true. Because just a little over a century after he wrote those words, the Roman Empire basically said, " Okay, we surrender, you win.
We're not going to persecute you any longer. " In fact, the Roman Emperor even asked for their prayers. And then a few years later, Christianity became the religion of the Roman Emperor. Now a lot of corruption came in with that, but that's another subject. The point is, there's no way that these Roman emperors would have embraced Christianity if Christianity was some tiny group.
Now writing about 50 years after Tertullian, close to the year 250, Origen, who was one of the greatest intellectuals of his day, wrote this, he said, " Almost the entire world is better acquainted with what Christians preach than with the favorite opinions of the philosophers. " For who is ignorant of the statement that Jesus was born of a virgin, that He was crucified, or that His resurrection is an article of faith among many?
Who does not know that a general judgment is proclaimed to come, in which the wicked are to be punished according to their deserts, and the righteous to be duly rewarded? Again, a remarkable statement. He's saying that around the year 250, Christianity had so infiltrated Roman society that even though it was still a decided minority, that most people knew what Christians believed.
That Jesus was born of a virgin, that He was crucified, that Christians were saying there would be a resurrection of the dead and a judgment. Finally, we move up to the year 305, just a few years before the Roman Emperor Diocletian of Pagan, who had tried to stamp out Christianity, just gave up and said, " Okay, not only is the persecution going to stop, you're going to be given legal recognition for the first time.
" We have a Christian writer named Arnobius, and he says this: " If the Christian record of events is false, as you say, " in other words, this was still during the time when they were trying to stamp out Christians, how is it that in so short a time, the whole world has been filled with such a religion? Or how could peoples dwelling widely apart and separated by climate unite in one conclusion? Arnobius goes on to say, " The baptismal oaths of this vast army have spread abroad over all the earth.
Already there are no people so backward and fierce that they have not been changed by His love. " There are no people that have not subdued their fierceness, and have become mild in disposition, with a tranquility previously unknown. Men who are endowed with great abilities seek to learn these things men such as orators, critics, rhetoricians, lawyers, physicians, and those who delve into the mysteries of philosophy. So this wasn't just an easy believism Christianity.
It wasn't a matter of people saying, " Yes, oh, I believe in Christ. I've adopted a certain statement of beliefs. " But he's talking about how Christ has changed people, has changed races who have been known for centuries to always be fighting, who prized violence and warfare. And suddenly they've been transformed into a peaceful, tranquil people.
And this transformation was so remarkable, and it was in so many places that he said the pagan lawyers and critics and orators and doctors, they're all looking into this to figure out what's causing this. Well, as I said, in a few years, they finally came to the conclusion what's causing it is that Christianity is the true religion. That Jesus Christ is indeed the very one that Christians are saying He is, that He's the Divine Son of God.
In fact, the rapid spread of Christianity in the first few centuries is without parallel in human history. Now, there have been other movements that have spread rapidly, such as Islam, but it was done through the force of the sword. It was spread by armies conquering other people and imposing Islam on them. But the spread of Christianity in the first few centuries was totally the opposite.
It was spread by people who denounced war, who wouldn't use the sword, who wouldn't even defend themselves when they were persecuted, and beaten and killed by mobs. They had no prestige, no wealth, nothing except the truth that Jesus Christ had given them. And the fact that they were serving a person who was exactly what he said, the Son of God, the one who's been made king of the entire earth. Now let's talk about their methods of evangelism.
And first I want to talk about how it contrasted with the methods that are generally used today. And in doing this, I'm not saying that the methods of today are wrong. I'm not saying that at all. I'm just saying that it's amazing that they spread so rapidly, and yet their methodology was considerably different. One of the chief methods of evangelism today are through revival meetings and large rallies.
Ever since the time of the Great Awakening in the 1700s, you've had people like John Wesley and George Whitefield and Charles Finney, D.L. Moody, Billy Sunday, Billy Graham. And then thousands, literally thousands of other men whose names are not as well-known, who have held huge meetings, well-organized evangelism crusades, and they've been fairly effective. Perhaps the early Christians would have done that if Christianity had been legal. I don't know.
But the spread of Christianity in the first three centuries featured none of that. The last thing that they were free to do would be to have large rallies. That would be an easy way to invite the death of hundreds or thousands of Christians. The other thing that they didn't have were organized missions. There were no mission organizations. There's no record of anything that was organized by the Church in sending out missionaries. I'm talking about during those first few centuries.
And yet, as we read from various early Christian writers, Christianity was spreading throughout the whole globe. And we're going to talk a little bit later how that was done. But like I say, there were no missionary societies, organizations, training schools, anything like that. Again, that doesn't mean that those things are wrong. They've been fairly effective in the last several centuries. And then finally, they had no literature, other than the Scriptures themselves.
And since the printing press had not yet been invented, the Scriptures had to be hand-copied, and so their supply was rather limited. Now, each congregation generally would have had a copy, that is, one copy, of the Scriptures. But most of the members of the congregation would not have had their own personal copy in their homes, let alone additional copies that they could go out and hand out to people. And yet, without any literature, Christianity spread rapidly. Again, I'm certainly not condemning literature.
It's been very effective. And I've often bemoaned the fact that there's such a shortage of good literature that presents Kingdom Christianity rather than the easy believism that has become so popular today. Anyway, so that's what the early Christians didn't do. The methods that we generally use today, for whatever reason, were not the methods that they used. So now let's talk about what they did do.
But first of all, you have to recognize that they were building on a remarkable foundation that had already been laid by the apostles and by associates of the apostles, men like Philip and Timothy and Titus and Barnabas. In fact, Paul makes the rather startling statement in Colossians 1:23. He says, " The gospel which you heard was preached to every creature under heaven. " Now, I'm not certain exactly what Paul meant by the expression that it had been preached to every creature under heaven.
I'm guessing that that was a figure of speech. There's certainly no evidence that during the time of the apostles that the gospel was preached in the Americas or in Australia or way down south in the very far south of Africa. Rather, it appears that he was meaning that it had been preached throughout the entire world that was known to his readers and to himself, the civilized world, both in and outside of the Roman Empire.
So when the second century Christians were evangelizing, they weren't having to start out from scratch. The apostles had already built the foundation. Christianity had already spread throughout the entire Roman world and beyond its boundaries. And the Christians of the 2nd and 3rd centuries just kept taking it further and further, and also more and more intensified within the Roman Empire and within other places where it had been preached. Justin Martyr wrote, " From Jerusalem, twelve men went out into the world.
These were uneducated and of no ability in speaking. But by the power of God, they proclaimed to every race of men that they were sent by Christ to teach the Word of God to everyone. Irenaeus made a similar comment. He said, " After our Lord rose from the dead, the apostles were empowered from on high when the Holy Spirit came down upon them. They were completely filled and had complete knowledge. They departed to the ends of the earth, preaching the glad tidings of the good things sent from God to us.
Now during the New Testament period, Christianity was not illegal in the Roman Empire. Not until we get to about the time of the Book of Revelation, when Christianity was outlawed by Domitian. Now, Nero had persecuted Christians in Rome, but he had not initiated an empire-wide persecution, nor made Christianity illegal. So the apostles were often able to go out and speak in public in the marketplaces, in the temple, places like that, because it wasn't illegal.
During the 2nd and 3rd centuries, those avenues had generally been closed. And so remarkably, one of the most effective methods of evangelism for the early Christians was martyrdom. I think the most famous quotation from any of the early Christian writers is Tertullian's statement that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. And what he said was exactly true. Now, the Romans had simply put Christians to death in dark dungeons out of the way.
Martyrdom may not have been such an effective tool of evangelism, but they thought to intimidate Christians by making their execution public spectacles. And the Roman people were used to having public spectacles. That's one of the things the government did provide for them, whether it be gladiator games, or chariot races, or wild animal hunts. Throngs of Romans would crowd into their arenas and coliseums to watch this gory entertainment.
And the Roman government decided, well, this is how we will stamp out Christianity. We will not only put them to death, but we'll do it in the arenas with everyone watching, and that will intimidate anyone else from wanting to be a Christian. Well, it had just the opposite effect. Yes, it was intimidating, but people began to wonder, first of all, what is it about Christianity that would make these people suffer these horrible tortures and then death rather than to renounce it?
I mean, the person sitting there in the arena would have, in an instant, renounced Zeus, or Diana, or any of the pagan deities. You'd be hard-pressed to find someone who would have been willing to die for their pagan religion. So people began to wonder, what is it about this that makes it so special, number one? And number two, why does the government view it as something so dangerous that they have to work so hard to try to stamp it out?
And of course, the third thing, it meant everyone became familiar with Christianity. I mean, there were small religions that probably the average Roman never even heard about. But even if they didn't want to hear about Christianity, it was brought before them the equivalent of television in their days, bringing these people to the arena, demanding that they denounce Christ, and then the Christian gives his bold witness.
In a way, you could say the arena with the execution and torture of Christians served the same place that an evangelism crusade, a revival meeting, a tent meeting would have today. If it wasn't Christians inviting the people to come, it was the Roman government, and then the Christians were put on display. And the word " martyr " is the same word in Greek as witness. It's one and the same. So it's certainly not coincidental when Tertullian said the blood of the martyrs is seed.
It could be just as well translated, " The Blood of the Witnesses is Seed. " Justin Martyr, who had been a pagan philosopher, wrote this after his conversion to Christianity. He said, " When I was delighting in the doctrines of Plato, I heard Christians being slandered. Yet I saw that they were fearless in death and unafraid of all other things that are considered fearful.
And I realized that it was impossible that they could be living in wickedness and pleasure for what sensual person or intemperate person could welcome death, which would deprive him of his enjoyments. Such a person would prefer to continue always in the present life. See, this is what the Romans were saying. Well, these people, they have these orgies and these cannibalistic festivals every week, and they live these wicked lives. Well, I'm sure a lot of people thought the same way that Justin Martyr did.
Well, if they're so wicked, well, then why wouldn't they denounce that so that they could live? Why would they rather die, thereby losing all earthly pleasure, if that's really what their religion was about? As Tertullian put it, he said, " The more often we are mown down by you, the more in number we grow. The blood of Christians is seed. " For who that contemplates it is not excited to inquire what is at the bottom of it? And who, after inquiry, does not embrace our doctrines?
So by trying to stamp out the Christians, the Roman government ended up spreading it instead. Because people wondered, why are these people so willing to die, so willing to suffer rather than to denounce their religious beliefs? And so the next step, then they would start asking, " Well, what is it that these people believe? " And then once they find out, a large number of them would decide, " Hey, this is the truth. " Another very effective tool for the early Christians was informal witnessing.
Now by that term " informal witnessing, " I'm referring to every Christian sharing the gospel with his neighbor, or with a workmate, or even to a total stranger. In fact, this is how Justin Martyr became a Christian. He had been a pagan philosopher, and he liked to go to a certain isolated place in the countryside, so he could ponder and wonder about the universe and God, things like that. Well, one day he was there at this favorite spot of his when another man came walking towards him.
Well, Justin wanted to be left alone, and so he was annoyed at being interrupted by the presence of somebody else. Well, regardless, the stranger, who turns out was a Christian, struck up a conversation with Justin. Justin asked him what brought him to such a lonely place, and he replied that he was searching for someone. Well then this Christian man asked Justin, " What brought him to such an isolated place? " And Justin replied that he was a philosopher, and he had come here to meditate.
Well, rather than just saying, " Okay, that's interesting and going on with his business, " the Christian man asked him whether he was content to simply think and ponder about what is true, or whether he had the courage to actually live out what is true. Well, this led to a lengthy discussion between the two.
Years later, writing about this experience, Justin said this: " When this Christian had spoken these and many other things, which there's no time for mentioning at present, he went away, exhorting me to think about them. And I have not seen him since. But immediately a flame was kindled in my soul. And I was possessed by a love of the prophets and of those men who are friends of Christ.
So merely by taking the opportunity to talk about Christ to a stranger, it resulted in the conversion of this man, Justin, who later became quite an evangelist himself and eventually died for Jesus Christ. The Christian apologist Minucius Felix, who wrote around the year 200, described a debate between a pagan and a Christian. Now, I'm not sure if the debate he writes about is simply a literary device, or if it's based on an actual debate that did take place.
But even if it's a literary device, it evidently reflects what was a common occurrence. That is, a Christian talking about his faith and looking for opportunities to witness to someone else. The debate between the Christian and the pagan in this work of Minucius Felix comes about from a discussion the men were having that day. The scene is that there were two Christians who were good friends who were visiting an ancient seaport near the city of Rome.
And one of the Christians, this was Minucius Felix, he brought with him a friend from his workplace who was still a pagan. Well, while the three men are walking down the beach, they walk past a statue of one of the gods, and so the pagan man blows a kiss towards the god to show reverence towards it. Well, this prompted Felix's friend to remark about the foolishness of worshiping stones, even if the stones have been carved into the shape of a human.
Well, as you might expect, the pagan man reacted to the Christian statement, and soon the two men were discussing the relative merits of Christianity versus classical Roman religion. Well, in the end, the Christian shows the emptiness of pagan religions and the truth of Christianity. And this friend of Felix, the man who had been a pagan, he embraces Christianity at the end. You see, when everyone in a congregation is looking for an opportunity to witness, the gospel spreads rapidly.
Now, I realize that at the same time it takes courage and boldness to witness to others, but what excuse do we have to lack boldness in sharing the gospel when the early Christians did it, knowing that just the fact of witnessing to someone could lead to their arrest and torture and execution. And despite the great danger, they managed to continue to witness boldly. Now, along with informal witnessing, the everyday Christian helped to spread the gospel through what I call lifestyle evangelism.
And what I mean by this phrase is that because Christians lived a lifestyle that was notably different from that of the typical Roman, people took notice of them. And many of the things that Christians lived out would have been values that the Romans would have said these are good things. But they themselves didn't live what they saw as being a good way to live, but the Christians did. As a result, many people inquired as to why Christians live so differently.
Let me read to you just some of the excerpts from early Christian writings that show the impact that their lifestyle had on the pagan world. Athenagoras, who wrote about the year 175, says this when he wrote an apologetic work to the Romans. He said, " Among us you will find uneducated persons, laborers, and old women. " They may be unable in words to prove the benefit of our doctrine. However, by their deeds, they demonstrate the benefit arising from their accepting its truth.
They don't rehearse speeches, but they exhibit good works. When struck, they don't strike back. When robbed, they don't go to law. They give to those who ask of them, and they love their neighbors as themselves. So this strikingly different way of life of Christians, particularly in the area of non-resistance, whether it was in going to war, personal fights, going to court, things like that. They really stood out from the pagan world.
Origen wrote later, he said, " When false witnesses testified against our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, he remained silent. For he believed that his whole life and conduct among the Jews were a better refutation than any answer to the false testimony. " And yet, even now, he continues silent before these charges and makes no audible answer. Rather, He places His defense in the lives of His genuine disciples who are a preeminent testimony.
Did you ever think about that, that when people attack Christ today, he's not here to defend himself. I mean, he could move from heaven and defend himself in all sorts of miraculous ways, but he chooses to remain silent. Instead, he depends upon us, upon our lifestyle, upon what we live, to be his best and only defense. Well, I've mentioned how non-resistance made the Christians stand out. But there were other areas as well that were somewhat revolutionary.
Clement of Alexandria wrote, " He who sells or buys should not name two prices for what he buys or sells. Rather, he should state the final price and endeavor to speak the truth. " See, that was something quite remarkable in that day and age, just as it would be in many countries today that have open marketplaces. Where you go and you ask what an item costs, and they always give you an artificially high price.
And unless you bargain with them, that's the price you're going to pay, which you'll end up having paid too much if you pay that price. Now, it was the same way in the Roman world, so you can imagine how people would prefer to do business with a Christian. Hey, he names one price, which is a fair price. And that's it. I don't have to go there and haggle over the price or worry about if I've been gypped. I can always trust it to be a fair price when I buy from a Christian.
Tertullian wrote, " We are the same to emperors as to our ordinary neighbors. For we are equally forbidden to wish ill, to do ill, to speak ill, or even to think ill of any person. The things we mustn't do to an emperor we mustn't do to anyone else. " So when Christians treated their neighbors with respect and dignity, that they were a creation of God, that they were a brother being a fellow descendant of Adam.
This was notably different from the way the world treated other people, particularly people in a lower class than oneself. And then the lack of crime among Christians. Nobody could deny that. Tertullian writes, " We call your own acts to witness. You who daily are presiding at the trials of prisoners and are passing sentences upon crimes.
When in your long lists of those accused of many and various atrocities has any assassin, any purse snatcher, any man guilty of sacrilege, seduction, or stealing bather's clothes, ever had his name entered as also being a Christian? Or when Christians are brought before you on the mere basis of their name, is there ever found among them an evildoer of this sort? No, it's always with your people that the prison is steaming. You find no Christian there unless he is there for being a Christian.
You don't think that had an impact on judges and magistrates and governors and other rulers? When they realized, hey, this is interesting. You know, it's never Christians who are here in our courts because they've stolen from another person or robbed or beaten somebody. It's our people. We say we are practicing the true religion, so why is it that our people are the ones filling up the prisons and not the Christians except for the ones who are put there for merely being Christians?
Tertullian commented, " It is mainly the deeds of a love so noble that leads many to put a mark upon us. " They say, " See how they love one another. " Does the world say that about Christians today? Tertullian further remarked, " Even among those who are not of his religion, the Christian is noted for his fidelity. " You see, even though pagan Romans practiced adultery often, they didn't view it as a noble thing. In fact, at one time, under Caesar Augustus, it was actually a crime to commit adultery.
Tertullian continued, " You're accustomed in conversation yourselves! " To say in disparagement of us, " Why is someone so deceitful when Christians are so self-denying? " Or, " Why is he merciless when they are so merciful? " Thus he says you bear your testimony to the fact that this is not the normal character of Christians. For you ask it in the way of a retort, how men who are considered to be Christians could be of such and such a disposition.
Yes, the godly lifestyle of Christians impacted the society of their day, and many became Christians because of the wonderful witness of the lifestyle of just the everyday Christian. Now up to this point, I've shown how the everyday brother or sister was involved in evangelism through martyrdom, informal witnessing, and their lifestyle. At the same time, there were men who served as full-time missionaries and evangelists. They generally lived on very little, and quite often, they ended their lives as martyrs.
Yet, like the New Testament evangelists, they had a great impact on the world of their day. Origen wrote, " We do desire to instruct all men in the Word of God, so as to give to young men the exhortations that are appropriate to them. We desire to show to slaves how they may recover freedom of thought and be ennobled by the Word. And those among us who are the ambassadors of Christianity sufficiently declare that they are debtors to Greeks and barbarians to wise men and fools.
So you notice that Origen refers to certain Christians who served in a special way as ambassadors of Christianity. Of course, in a general sense, we are all ambassadors of Christ. But some Christians in Origen's Day made their ambassadorship a full-time ministry. Origen continues: " Christians do not neglect, as far as it lies in them, to take steps to disseminate their doctrine throughout the whole world.
Accordingly, some have made it their business to travel not only through cities, but even to villages and rural houses in order to make converts to God. " And no one would claim that they do this for the sake of gain, for sometimes they do not accept even necessary sustenance. Or if at any time they are oppressed by a necessity of this sort, they are content with the mere supplying of their needs. So, in the early Church period, you had everyone in the Church bearing witness in whatever way they could.
But you also had full-time evangelists who traveled from place to place like Paul did, and who helped to plant churches all throughout the ancient world. Justin Martyr was one such person. After his conversion, he never married. Rather, he devoted his entire life to evangelism. And he risked his life by writing some of the earliest apologies or defenses of Christianity, addressing one of them to the Emperor himself. And he managed to convert many persons who had formerly been philosophers just like himself.
Of course, this infuriated other pagan philosophers, who finally were able to have him arrested for being a Christian, and he was put to death. So when we talk about martyrdom, which was a very common thing in that time, the logical question becomes, since it put the Christians in so much jeopardy, why did the early Christians risk their lives to spread the gospel? Particularly when so many of us today do very little to evangelize.
Well, the first reason is because they saw it as the work Jesus gave all His disciples to do. He had commissioned His apostles saying, " Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations. " But the early Christians recognized that that command didn't apply only to the apostles, and therefore it ended once the apostles died. After all, Jesus had foretold, " And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.
" So obviously, the preaching of the gospel would continue and continue and continue until it filled the whole earth up until the time of the end. So the work couldn't stop just because the apostles died, no, it had to continue on. Another reason they evangelized was because they understood that they shared in blood guilt if they didn't warn their generation of the judgment to come. Quoting from the book of Ezekiel, Justin Martyr explained this to the Romans. He says, " His blood I will require at your hand.
But if you warn him, you will be innocent. " Again, as I said, he's quoting from the book of Ezekiel. He continues, " For this reason, out of fear, we are very earnest in desiring to witness according to the Scriptures, but not from love of money, of glory, or of pleasure. " Now, it's important that you understand that Christianity would not have spread so rapidly if it had all depended upon the human efforts of the early Christians.
As zealous and bold as they were, more was needed than what their human power could supply. After all, Jesus had told His disciples, " Without Me you can do nothing. " And he'd also said, " No one can come to Me unless it has been granted to Him by the Father. " And so the early Christians recognized their dependence upon God. And that's why they weren't afraid to take on the task of sharing the gospel with the whole world, because they knew it didn't just depend upon them alone.
Origen wrote, " The Word of God declares that the preaching is not sufficient to reach the human heart, even though it is true and worthy of belief, unless a certain power is imparted to the speaker from God. " He continued, " Could it have come to pass without divine assistance? That Jesus could have been so successful that everywhere throughout the world, many persons, Greeks as well as barbarians, educated as well as ignorant, adopted his teachings?
In fact, they have even met death in its defense, rather than to deny his teachings. " No one has ever related the same thing to have been done for any other movement. So as he pointed out, the pagan philosophers, they certainly weren't willing to die for their beliefs, not most of them. Nor was anyone willing to die, as I've said before, for Zeus, or Diana, or Mercury, or any of those kinds of gods.
Now, the changes in people's lives that were brought about by the power of the Holy Spirit were in turn in themselves a witness to the truth of Christianity. As Origen continued, " No improvement ever takes place among men without divine help. " How much more confidently will a person make the same assertion regarding Jesus when He compares the former lives of many converts to His teachings with their later conduct?
This is especially so if He reflects on what acts of licentiousness, injustice, and covetousness they formerly indulged in. Yet these same persons from the time that they adopted Christianity have become in some way meeker, more spiritual, and more consistent. Now as the final section of our discussion tonight about evangelism in the early Church, I'd like to just share with you some of the testimonies that the early Christians shared about their conversions.
The first one I want to mention was a Christian named Tatian. Now, he had been discipled by Justin Martyr, who I've talked about several times tonight. And he said this about his conversion. He said, " Retiring by myself, I sought how I might be able to discover the truth. " And while giving my most earnest attention to the matter, I happened to meet with certain barbaric writings, too old to be compared with the opinions of the Greeks, yet too divine to be compared with their errors.
And I was led to put faith in them by the unpretentious nature of the language, the candid character of the writers, the foreknowledge displayed of future events, the excellent quality of the teachings, and the declaration that the government of the universe is centered in one being.
Now when he mentions that he happened to come across these " barbaric " writings, he's talking about the writings of the Old and New Testament, which since they were not written by Romans or Greeks, were considered writings of barbarians. Now, it's unlikely that he just happened across them, I mean, like they were in a library somewhere. I'm sure it was the witnessing of a Christian who brought them to these writings, and then when he read them, he could see for himself their divine nature.
That's interesting, the conversion power of the Scriptures themselves. Again, there was no other literature available, but just by reading the Bible alone, this man came to Christ. Now, Theophilus was an early Christian apologist who was himself a convert from pagan. And he mentioned in his testimony how he used to scoff at the thought of a future judgment and a resurrection which the Christians were preaching. He writes, " I myself also used to disbelieve that this would take place.
" However, now, having taken these things into consideration, I believe. At the same time, I met with the sacred scriptures of the holy prophets. By the Spirit of God, they foretold the things that have already happened, just as they came to pass. They also predicted the things now occurring, and future things in the order in which they will be accomplished. Acknowledging this proof of events happening just as they were predicted, I no longer disbelieve, but I believe.
In fact, nearly all of the writers that I have quoted to you today were people who were converts from paganism to Christianity. Origen is the only one who was raised in a Christian family, out of the ones that I've been quoting today. Cyprian, who died around the year 250, was a convert from an upper-class background. And once he found the kingdom of God, he sold everything he had, gave it to the poor, and devoted his life to serving Christ, just like the man in Jesus ' parable who found the pearl of great price.
He eventually served as bishop in the North African city of Carthage, but like so many other Christians, he was eventually arrested and put to death. But he wrote this about his conversion: " I used to indulge my sins as if they were actually parts of me and native to me. But after that, by the help of the water of new birth, the stain of former years had been washed away, and a light from above, serene and pure, had been infused into my reconciled heart.
Then, by the agency of the Spirit breathed from heaven, a second birth had restored me to a new man. I was unable to acknowledge that I had been previously living in the practice of sins, being born only of the flesh, and that this was of the earth and was earthly. But now it had begun to be of God, and I was enlivened by the Spirit of Holiness. What a testimony to the power of the new birth. I've read from Origen several times this evening, and as I just mentioned, he was raised in a Christian family.
But he himself brought many other people to Christ. At one period in his life, he supported himself by being a private tutor, because he was a very educated man. And he had such a reputation for wisdom and for learning that pagans sent their children to him to be schooled. And of course, Origen did teach them the things that they needed to know about geometry, and science, and all of those sorts of things, but he also taught them about Christianity. And as a result, many of his pupils ended up becoming Christians.
One of them was a man known as Gregory Thaumaturgus, who later became a prominent Christian himself. Speaking about both himself and other of Origen's pupils, he wrote, " Like some spark lighting upon our inmost soul, love was kindled and burst into flame with us, a love for the Holy Word, the most lovely object of all, who attracts everyone irresistibly toward Himself. " Now the Holy Word He's talking about isn't the Bible, but Jesus Himself, the Living Word.
Well, in conclusion, let's go over the points again about how the early Christians evangelized. The four methods that are referenced in their writings are, first of all, martyrdom. Secondly, informal witnessing. People just talking to their neighbors, talking to somebody at work. We've talked about lifestyle evangelism, how their way of life made Christians stand out differently from the society around them.
And then we talked about people who made the spread of the gospel their full-time work, who were given a gift by God of evangelism, and they used it to the utmost. But it's important, as I've said, that we remember that they built their foundation upon the apostles and the New Testament evangelists. They didn't have to start from scratch. The seed of the gospel had already been planted all throughout the ancient world.
And it's important that we remember that they were bold and zealous about witnessing because they knew that God would supply the power. That doesn't mean that they didn't apply themselves to be able to witness in the most effective manner, just that they knew they weren't in this alone, that the power would come from God if they would be faithful in doing their part. So what about us? Are we willing to boldly witness for Jesus when it doesn't even cause us to risk our lives, or even risk imprisonment?
Do you realize that most of us, most of you listening to this message, that we are believers today because of what those early Christians did? I mean, the fact is, if they hadn't converted so much of Europe, it's unlikely that we would have grown up in a society where the opportunity to hear about Christ is everywhere. If they hadn't evangelized so effectively, we perhaps would have had no better opportunity to embrace the gospel than do the people in Japan, or Thailand, or Saudi Arabia.
I mean, the gospel is preached in all of those places. But people living in parts of the world that were not reached by the early Christian witnesses have a much steeper uphill climb than do we, people who are from European ancestry, where the gospel had been so thoroughly preached by the early Church. But what are we going to say to the early Christians when we get to meet them someday?
Are we going to have to say, " Well, brothers and sisters, it was through your labors that the gospel reached the home of my forefathers, and I realized that you spread the gospel at the risk of your very lives. " But we today just found it too inconvenient and time-consuming to devote so much of our lives to evangelism as you did. Is that what we're going to have to say to them?
Or will we be able to say, " And you know, we picked up right where you guys left off, and we took the gospel to our neighbors, and in fact to the farthest corners of the earth. "