FRONT-PORCH GOSPEL: The history of the church (part 2)

Good day to all. Welcome to the “front porch.”

The case we have before us here may best be stated in the form of a question: What happened from 33 A.D. – when Christ establishes His church on the Day of Pentecost – to 2020 when we have hundreds of denominations across the world.

We know by our reading of the scriptures that the church of the first century was united. It was one. Denominations did not sit on every corner. The Thompsons didn’t leave the house Sunday morning and go to one denomination of the Christian faith, the Millers to another, and the Wrights still another. What caused things to change so that such a picture is commonplace today?

The answer lies in about fourteen centuries of history. But here’s the beginning of that answer.

AN EARLY TRANSGRESSION

The underlying cause for the splintering up of the church into many denominations is that error and transgressions entered into the church. Even in Bible days, the apostles continually fight many false doctrines. I mean, between Judaism and paganism, they have to fight tooth and toenail to keep the church pure. But after the death of John, men quickly begin to deviate from the pure “apostles” doctrine of Acts 2:42; and unscriptural changes in the church increase.  

Church historian Robert Brumback wrties, “Human philosophy and paganism crept into the church, and it became difficult for the church to preserve the simplicity of the gospel, the purity of the worship and the form of government that existed in the church in the beginning” (History of the Church through the Ages, p. 16).

One of the first deviations begins fairly innocently, perhaps. When small churches would have trouble, often a group of elders from surrounding congregations would step in to help. Eventually, as a result, instead of having elders presiding over one congregation, as the Bible’s pattern is (Titus 1:5), certain elders – also called bishops – begin to rule over other congregations. City congregations often would expand and parent new, rural congregations, so an elder or bishop from the city church would look after the affairs of the smaller, rural church.

Note that the Bible does not endorse any man from outside of a local congregation to rule over that congregation. The government of the church lies with the local church. Paul, remember, instructs the evangelist Timothy to “ordain elders in every city” (Titus 1:5).

But when men began to expand the authority of an elder – or bishop, since the Bible uses the terms synonymously – this practice gave rise to the elevation of elders or bishops to Archbishops and other unscriptural positions in the church. The apostasy does not stop there, either. When the dust settles – in 533 A.D. – the Roman emperor Justinian had named one man, the Bishop of Rome, to be over the entire church on earth.

By this time, the church of the New Testament is unrecognizable and has gone into an apostate state. The book of Revelation, of course, prophesies that such would happen and that the faithful church would take the wings of a great eagle and “fly into the wilderness” (Rev. 12:14).

1200 YEARS OF DARKNESS

Mr. Brumback writes ominously about this period that begins there in the sixth century, pointing out that as this apostasy developed, “the authority of the word of God was rejected, (and) an ecclesiastical hierarchy began to form by which the church was swept into a midnight of darkness where it remained for twelve hundred years” (p. 18).  

Note that the 1200 years of darkness and apostasy also aligns with the book of Revelation, as John writes again in Revelation 12 that the “woman clothed with the sun… fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days” (vs. 1, 6). Understanding that a day in Revelation is likely a “year,” we begin to see a picture of a long dark period in which the New Testament church in its purity was nowhere to be seen.

But regardless of how a man views Revelation, we know that, historically, we have little if any history of the true church for more than a millennium.  When we say “true church,” we mean the church of the New Testament that was comprised of many local congregations, all of which were autonomous and were governed only by elders and deacons in that congregation.

The only “head” of the true church is Jesus Christ” (Eph. 1:22-23). The Lord never gave any man on this earth the authority to be over the Lord’s church.

The “dark ages” – these 1200 or so years – do not last forever. For that, we are thankful. And the church that has flown into the wilderness will not stay hidden away forever, either. More of that story as we move on, the Lord willing.

Coach Steven Bowen, a long-time Red Oak teacher and coach, now enjoys his time as a full-time writer and preacher of the gospel. In addition to his evangelistic travels, he works and writes for the Church of Christ of Red Oak at Uhl Road and Ovilla. Their worship times are 10 a.m. Sundays and 7:30 pm. Wednesdays. Email coachbowen1984@gmail.com or call or text 972-824-5197.