AD 150

 

AD 284 - 305

 

AD 318

 

Early Church Fathers

Emperor Diocletian

Emperor Constantine

 

 

AD 150   Early Church Fathers  Church Fathers AD 150 - AD 400

 
The Early Church Fathers were:

1. Justin Martyr  AD 100 - 165)

2.  Irenaeus  (AD 130 - 202)

3.  Clement of Alexandria  (AD 150 - 215)

4.  Tertullian  (AD 160-220)

5.  Origen  (AD 185 - 284)

 This group became known as "Apologists"  --  they wrote against false accusations, tried to explain and lost the simplicity of the Gospel preached by the Apostles in AD 33.  

Out of this period came three historical important results:

1.  Apostles' Creed,   2.  Canonization of Scripture,   and   3.  Church Organization

 

By AD 150 there were two main heresies in the church:

 
1.  Montanism

     + enemies wrote about it (only)

     + possibly last vestiges of Apostolic Truth

 2.  Gnosticism

    + very much like modern Christian Science teachings

 

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AD 284 - 305  Emperor Diocletian

 

Church Severely Persecuted

 
The Jews in the Temple at Jerusalem were the first persecutors of the Church; but in approximately AD 60, Nero began his persecution of the Christians throughout the empire.  He was the first to do so...

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 
The last persecution of Christians by Rome was the most severe.  Under Diocletian, so many Christian bodies (mostly scraps of human flesh) were left from the martyrdoms that it was chopped up and sold like hamburger to the Romans to feed their household pets.  Human flesh was sold in the shops...

With the advent of the Pentecostal experience breaking forth upon the world in the early 1900's, they no longer believe the early Christians were singing Quo Vadis  as they breathed their last breaths, but rather they were:  SPEAKING IN TONGUES... Acts 2:4, Acts 2:38

   
Diocletian divided his empire into four parts.  Among his successors were:

CONSTANTIUS CHORUS  -- father of Constantine

GALERIUS  -- responsible for the "Edict of Galerius"   =  1.   this edict allowed Christians to worship freely

2.   Christianity was recognized as a 'lawful religion'   3.   this decree was also called the EDICT OF TOLERATION

 
 

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AD 313   Emperor Constantine

Persecution Stopped!!!

 
At the Battle of Milvan Bridge, Constantine supposedly saw the sign of a cross in the sky and heard the words:  "By This Sign Conquer!"

 

 

As a result, 

he issued a decree 

THE EDICT OF MILAN

That resulted in:

1. Christianity being made the official religion of the state

2.  All persecution of Christians ceased immediately

3.  The title "Christian" became a passport to political gain in the Roman Empire

4.  Thousands of pagans joined the Christian Church  -- without experiencing conversion!

 

Thousands of pagans 'joining' the church politically because of their Emperor embracing Christianity, making it desirable  could only result in one thing.  They were not spiritually converted to the God of the Old Testament, nor the visible manifestation of that God in the flesh of Jesus Christ in the New Testament.  The promise of the Comforter by Jesus and the receiving of same in Acts 2:4 and throughout the book of Acts WAS NOT EXPERIENCED!

RESULT:  Thousands of pagan practices were woven into the fabric of Christianity, adulterating it to an unrecognizable status of that which the Apostles knew.  The church began very quickly evolving into a 'Developed Christianity' not known by the early Christians nor the Apostles.  Unfortunately it remains to this very day!

Influence of the Church Fathers was felt heavily from  AD 150 - AD 400

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Christology

 
Christology:    The first four Church Councils in history were totally given over to:  Who was Jesus Christ?   Was He human?  How much human?   Was He Divine?   How much divine?   They did not know.  The great revelation of the Mighty God In Christ, the Invisible God of the Old Testament being made Visible in the New Testament was lost...     The opinions of the church leaders were varied and it led to the greatest apostasy of all time  -   ( the Triune concept)  -    which has nothing to do with Apostolic Christianity.  The Triune concept  relates only to Church Father Christianity which gave birth to it and most unfortunately  was retained by the Reformationists in their development of Reformation Christianity!!!