One of the things I love about studying church history — our family heritage — is realizing that some of the challenges and problems we face today existed many years ago. This is comforting, since we have a tendency to think that we are the only ones who have had to deal with these challenges and thus we can easily become discouraged or lack hope. When we see that we are not the first to deal with these issues, we can look to see how others handled the situation and have confidence that the God who has brought His church this far will continue to guide the church into the future. Two challenges that emerged in the first 300 years of the church (a significant shift happened in the church in the 300’s, as I’ll discuss in the next post) were how to relate to culture and ideas of the world and what to do when Christians (especially leaders) fall into sin and/or leave the faith. Looking at both of them hopefully helps us as we deal with similar questions.
Relating to Culture and Ideas of the Time
A topic that early Christians (and contemporary Christians) disagreed about was how much to study or discuss the popular philosophical ideas of the time; this division can be seen in the apologists of the early church. On one side was a man named Tertullian (c. 155-240) who was very critical of philosophy. He asked the question, “What does Jerusalem have to do with Athens?” and answered it in the negative, saying that the Christian writers and thinkers should not draw upon the ideas of philosophers and that Christianity and philosophy should be kept separate. While he would make statements that might make him sound like he believed Christianity was irrational (i.e. that the belief in a crucified Savior was credible because it was absurd), he did not advocate for a thoughtless Christianity, as he sought to show the coherence of Christian beliefs. He wanted to be careful about borrowing ideas and insights from non-Christian philosophy, however, as he thought it would lead to compromise of the faith (which is what he thought led to the heresy of Gnosticism). He also saw warnings from Paul about philosophy (such as Colossians 2:8 and 1 Corinthians 1:18-2:6). While Tertullian was critical of using contemporary philosophical thought, when we examine his writings we can see that he was more influenced by the thought of his time than he likely realized (which is true of all of us).
On the other side stood thinkers such as Clement of Alexandria (c. 155-220) and his successor Origen (c. 184-253). These men, along with other apologists, would draw upon philosophical thought in their explanation of the faith. In fact, at times they would say that Greek philosophers prepared people to believe in the Christian faith, much like the Old Testament paved the way for Jews to believe in Jesus, and even made these philosophers into Christians. They believed that Paul’s discussion of philosophy in Colossians 2:8 was against bad philosophy, not all philosophy. In addition, they would point out that Paul used philosophy as a starting point in Acts 17 and also said to become like people to win them to Christ (1 Corinthians 9:19-23); they believed they were faithfully following in the footsteps of the apostles in using contemporary concepts to explain the Christian faith. These writers believed in the authority of the Bible and would start with key beliefs, but would also use philosophy as they thought through deeper theological concepts. In doing so, there might be times in which their formulation of what is true actually came from philosophy rather than the Bible and may even undercut or change truths taught in the Bible.
Dealing with Lapsed Christians and Leaders
The recent public falls of numerous Christian leaders (and you might have some less public, but no less real stories in your own life) leads to the question of what to do when someone walks away from the faith or engages in continual conduct that calls into question their confession. The early church faced this same question because people would fall away under persecution (we highlight stories of martyrs who died for their faith, but many did not, as they recanted their faith when tortured or threatened with death). For example, there was great persecution around 249-251 AD when many Christians were put to death, but some abandoned the faith and made sacrifices to Roman gods. At times, it might have been three-fourths of a congregation that fell away. Some people wanted to let the lapsed Christians come back to the community either immediately or after a period of repentance, while others wanted to see a tougher road (Most notably, a man named Novatian who believed that God can forgive, but the church cannot). In addition, some leaders also saw sexual immorality and murder as sins that would not allow someone to return to the church. Ultimately, the majority of the church did not take the hard line that people could never return, but did note that there needed to be repentance (some had it as a period of 7-10 years); part of the reason for letting them return to the church was the key role that the church plays in our life as followers of Christ; we can’t follow Christ outside of a local community. One needs to see repentance in the life of one who has walked away from the faith, but the gospel would point to the possibility of them being restored when repentant.
A related issue was how to process the fact that some leaders (elders, bishops, etc.) abandoned the faith. Does this invalidate their ministry? What happens to someone who was baptized by one of these lapsed leaders? A group called the Donatists believed that those who had compromised no longer had authority, and thus those who had been appointed or baptized by these leaders had been “defiled” in a certain way and these appointments and baptism were invalid. The church (ultimately with the leader Augustine playing a key role) eventually noted that there is a difference between office and authority, with humans as instruments through whom grace comes to people, but a tainted instrument (person) does not pollute or destroy the actions. Therefore, baptisms and appointments by these fallen leaders are still valid. This is a good reminder when we see leaders fall; it does not invalidate their work or impact on us as God still used the person, regardless of their moral and/or spiritual disposition at the moment. (For more on understanding when leaders or key influences in your life are found in sin, see this post I wrote in Fall 2018.)
Debates Today
Seeing how early Christians handled these issues hopefully can help us navigate them today. In fact, one helpful thing from history is perspective, as we can often see the extremes of positions not as clear to the time. For example, we can see how our faith will interact with ideas of our culture and will need to affirm (but also deny) certain truths of the time; we must be guided by Scripture while also showing how our faith connects to other ideas. In addition, we see that there needs to be grace given to those who fall away while also making sure repentance (and confession) is genuine. Our family heritage helps us continue their legacy to this day.
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