The Education of the Early Christian Church
The Education of the Early Christian Church




"The gospel, with its simplicity, does not lend itself easily to traditional ideas about study. The notion of an in-dwelling spirit which guides and teaches is simply too much for most people.

It is not thought that Jesus had a formal religious education - he did not require it of his followers, nor did he engage in religious studies..."
The above quote is found in the section The Christian Church: Their Education. This section is an excellent example of the practice of suppressio veri, suggestio falsi which means that to express a half-truth is to suggest something that is false. In this case we see the biblical fact that Jesus had no formal education being used to "prove" that no one needs a structured religious formation. When taken at face value, it is quite true that Jesus neither had a formal religious education, nor did our Lord require it of the Apostles; Prue's statement only becomes false when the surrounding implied anti-clerical context is considered.

Jesus had no formal religious education

No kidding? That would be a bit of a waste of time, don't you think? Jesus didn't just teach and preach the word, He is the Word Made Flesh, the incarnate Logos. He is the Redeemer King, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, "the true light, which enlightens everyone" (Jn 1:9). He is truth (Jn 14:6), the Messiah "who will tell us all things" (Jn 4:25).

Jesus was an observant Jew, following Jewish customs - educated in the Scriptures within the home and circumcised (Lk 2:21), consecrated to the Lord as the Law required (Lk 2:27, cf Ex 13:2, 12). Each year Jesus went with His family to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover (Lk 2:41-42). Our Lord "grew and became strong, filled with wisdom" (Lk 2:40) such that already by the age of 12 He was found in the temple where the adults were "astounded at his understanding and his answers" (Lk 2:47). Although just an adolescent, Jesus amazed the adults, including His parents, with His answers (Lk 2:50), a phenomenon which continued all throughout His adult ministry (Lk 4:22, 4:32). Matthew 7:28-29 says that "crowds were astonished at his teaching,for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes" The difference is that a scribe merely handed down the traditions of earlier teachers, whereas Jesus spoke and interpreted Scripture on His own authority.

Jesus, being perfect God and perfect man, therefore had perfect knowledge - something He demonstrated over and over in the gospels. He knew the thoughts of others (Mk 2:8, Mk 12:15, Lk 5:22, Lk 9:27, Lk 6:8, Lk 20:23, Lk 11:17) as well as their intentions (Jn 5:42, Mt 9:4, Lk 5:22, Mt 12:25). He could see into the future (Mt 21:2-3, Mk 14:13, Lk 22:10, Mk 11:2, Lk 22:21, Jn 13:1, Jn 13:11, Jn 13:21) and even anticipate questions (Jn 16:19). He knew when people wanted to kill him (Lk 6:6-8, Mt 12:23-25, Jn 7:1, and Jn 10:31,33). He predicted His Passion (Mt 15:21; 16:21; 17:9,22; 20:18-19; 26:2; Mark 10:33-34; Luke 9:44; 17:25; 18:32-34). He predicted the fall of Jerusalem (Mt 24:34). He predicted Judas' betrayal (Mt 26:21-25). He predicted Peter's denial (Lk 22:34) as well as his death (Jn 13:36).

Even those who would deny the divinity of Jesus Christ would agree that God the Father is omnipotent. Indeed, "with God all things are possible" (Lk 1:37) and "I know that thou canst do every thing." (Job 42:2). Well, Jesus was given this same power (Jn 16:15, 17:10, Mt 28:18, Jn 5:19-21). "For just as the Father has life in himself, so also he gave to his Son the possession of life in himself. And he gave him power to exercise judgment, because he is the Son of Man." (Jn 5:26-27). Jesus is "able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart" (Heb 4:13) as the Psalm foretold (Ps 44:21), and He demonstrated this to the Samaritan woman at the well (Jn 4:16-25) by exposing her promiscuity. This is why Jesus' disciples eventually came to say, "Now we realize that you know everything and that you do not need to have anyone question you." (Jn 16:30).

Jesus amazed the people with His parables and confounded the Pharisees with His answers to their questions designed to trap Him. He taught in their synagogues and was praised by all (Lk 4:15). He walked on water, healed the sick, drove out unclean spirits, raised the dead, calmed the seas, multiplied the loaves and fishes. "He spoke to them only in parables, to fulfill what had been said through the prophet: "I will open my mouth in parables, I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation [of the world]" (Mt 13:34-35). Clearly Jesus was talking over the heads of most people, as He said to Nicodemus:
"You are the teacher of Israel and you do not understand this? Amen, amen, I say to you, we speak of what we know and we testify to what we have seen, but you people do not accept our testimony. If I tell you about earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?" (Jn 3:10-12)
His knowledge was not merely of Scriptural passages but rather the absolute, unequivocal, perfect fulfillment of them: "I have food to eat of which you do not know." (Jn 4:32); and again, "How do you not comprehend that I was not speaking to you about bread? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees." (Mt 16:12).

Although "the Jews marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?" (Jn 7:15), Peter knew the answer to that question, saying "...Lord, thou knowest all things..." (Jn 21:17). Jesus knows all things; therefore, to point out that Jesus had no formal education is an inexplicable overstatement of the obvious - Jesus didn't need a formal religious education to learn about God - He is God!

Jesus did not require formal education of His followers

It is tempting to wonder if Prue's incredibly superfluous statement about Jesus' lack of formal religious education is contrived in order to suggest that because the Apostles did not receive formal seminary training, then neither do the Workers. Now that it has been sufficiently shown how irrelevant the absence of Jesus' formal education was, the same will be done for the Apostles.

As Rob pointed out in his excellent article on this subject, there was no such thing as a Christian seminary for the disciples to attend. The reason for this, so obvious as to be overlooked by people with Prue's anticlerical bias, is that there was no need for a seminary or School of Theology, because they had intimate contact with Jesus and His teachings while He walked on this earth for nearly 3 years! There is no need for such an anachronism when you have our Lord explaining and instructing you in person! "And you also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning"(Jn 15:27), and "you are witnesses of these things" (Lk 24:48).

The full revelation of the gospel took place after the crucifixion; on the road to Emmaus our risen Lord appeared to Cleopas and his companion: "Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them what referred to him in all the scriptures...Then they said to each other, "Were not our hearts burning (within us) while he spoke to us on the way and opened the scriptures to us?" (Lk 24:27, 32). "Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures." (Lk 24:45) Luke opens his Acts of the Apostles by reminding Theophilus that Jesus taught not only before His crucifixion but also after it - for 40 days, in fact, before His glorious ascension into heaven:
"In the first book, Theophilus, I dealt with all that Jesus did and taught until the day he was taken up, after giving instructions through the holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. He presented himself alive to them by many proofs after he had suffered, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God." Acts 1:1-3)
It is interesting to note the difference in behavior of the Apostles before and after. Before our Lord's death and resurrection, the Apostles were confused, lacking understanding of His teachings, arguing among themselves who would be first in the kingdom, fleeing when Jesus was arrested, etc. Even Cleopas and his traveling companion didn't recognize Jesus at first until He broke bread. Furthermore, in only the second time God ever breathed on man (the first being life being breathed into Adam in the Creation story), Jesus bestowed upon them the Holy Spirit (Jn 20:22). After that, they were courageous and inspired preachers of the gospel, performing miracles like Jesus did (Mk 16:20) and "they were continually in the temple praising God" (Lk 24:53). They were so inspired that during Peter's sermon in Acts 2 the Holy Spirit physically appeared as tongues of flame and thousands of people were able to understand him in their own language. Clearly there was a special annointing of the Spirit upon them that has never been replicated. Many people, "observing the boldness of Peter and John and perceiving them to be uneducated, ordinary men, they were amazed, and they recognized them as the companions of Jesus" (Acts 4:13, cf 4:31, 5:42). In addition, the bible tells us that there was even more that Jesus did to teach them that was never recorded. (Jn 20:30, Jn 21:35)
Jesus said to them, "All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age." (Mt 28:18-20)
"The irrelevancy of higher education"

"A good example of the irrelevancy of higher education was shown in Paul...Paul's formidable religious education proved a hindrance to him. It is likely that his education went no further than helping him to reach out to Jews who only knew the Law."
Paul's education "went no further" than helping him reach out to Jews who only knew the Law - what other kind of Jews were there? How much further was he supposed to go - is Prue suggesting that Paul did not reach out to Gentiles? The above statement lacks merit when analyzed from Scripture, because I can find no biblical evidence that Paul's "formidable education" hindered his preaching to either Gentile or Jew. Any resistance encountered by Paul was not because of his education, it was because of the resistance by the people to whom he preached. "For Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles" (1 Cor 1:22-23)

Paul says that he did everything he could to reach converts, even altering his preaching to accomodate different audiences:
"To the Jews I became like a Jew to win over Jews; to those under the law I became like one under the law--though I myself am not under the law--to win over those under the law. To those outside the law I became like one outside the law--though I am not outside God's law but within the law of Christ--to win over those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, to win over the weak. I have become all things to all, to save at least some" - 1 Cor 9:20-22
Paul was unsurpassed in humility, calling himself "the least of all the holy ones (Eph 3:8). If he had any boldness, it was because of faith in Christ, not in his own intelligence or debating skills (Eph 3:11-12), in his zeal for them to know the love of Christ that surpasses all knowledge (Eph 3:17-19, Phil 4:7). He took care to let the people know that his preaching was not his own, but from directly from God, "Now I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel preached by me is not of human origin. For I did not receive it from a human being, nor was I taught it, but it came through a revelation of Jesus Christ" (Gal 1:11-12); and again, "for the weapons of our battle are not of flesh but are enormously powerful, capable of destroying fortresses. We destroy arguments and every pretension raising itself against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive in obedience to Christ" (2 Cor 10:4-5, cf 1 Th 1:5).

He addresses the issue of his lack of personal forcefulness, "Not that we dare to class or compare ourselves with some of those who recommend themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding. But we will not boast beyond measure but will keep to the limits God has apportioned us" (2 Cor 10:12-13).

"The testimony of our conscience that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you, with the simplicity and sincerity of God, (and) not by human wisdom but by the grace of God. For we write you nothing but what you can read and understand, and I hope that you will understand completely" (2 Co 1:12-13).

There is no evidence in either Paul's epistles or in Luke's Acts of the Apostles to support the statement that Paul's "formidable education" was an obstacle. Paul told the Corinthians:
"When I came to you, brothers, proclaiming the mystery of God, I did not come with sublimity of words or of wisdom. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified and my message and my proclamation were not with persuasive (words of) wisdom, but with a demonstration of spirit and power, so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God." (1 Cor 1:1-2, 4-5)
Over and over Paul states that he was not interested in engaging in Prue's academic pretensions, preaching "not with words taught by human wisdom" (1 Cor 1:13) but by merely laying a foundation (1 Cor 3:10). In fact, he warned, "Let no one deceive himself. If any one among you considers himself wise in this age, let him become a fool so as to become wise" (1 Cor 3:18). He reminded the church in Corinth, "I fed you milk, not solid food, because you were unable to take it. Indeed, you are still not able..." (1 Cor 3:1-2).

The evidence from Scripture demonstrates that the gospel was sufficiently preached, it's just that some Jews chose not to receive it: "What Israel was seeking it did not attain, but the elect attained it; the rest were hardened" (Rom 11:7), as Paul quotes the prophet Isaiah:
"I was found by those who were not seeking me; I revealed myself to those who were not asking for me." But regarding Israel he says, "All day long I stretched out my hands to a disobedient and contentious people."
It was the result of that disobedience and contentiousness that the gospel message was rejected, not because of Paul's academic credentials. Recall that Paul himself was once one of those "zealous observers of the Law" (Acts 21:20) living his life as a Pharisee "the strictest party of our religion" (Acts 26:5) who rejected Christ, even going so far as to actively persecute Christians himself before his own conversion, "breathing murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord" (Acts 9:1). Some Jews were so obstinate that many plotted to kill him, not because of Paul's education, but because he "spoke out boldly in the name of the Lord" (Acts 9:28).

Even though he had many opponents (1 Cor 16:8-9, Acts 18:6, Acts 18:12-13, Acts 19:9, Acts 20:3, Acts 20:23-24, 1 Th 2:14-16), opposition was not due to Paul's education, but rather for his "inducing people to worship God contrary to the Law" (Acts 18:13). Evan after two years in jail the animosity toward Paul in Jerusalem had not subsided (Acts. 25:2). Regardless, "the word of the Lord continued to spread with influence and power" (Acts 19:20). His ministry was very fruitful (Acts 11:25-26), and Paul's converts included both Jew and Gentile, from Crispus the synagogue official and his family (Acts 18:8) to Jews in Ephesus (Acts 18:20), Thessalonica and Beroea (Acts 17), Some of the Pharisees even argued vigorously for Paul (Acts 23:9). Paul commended the church at Corinth for their "eager willingness" (2 Cor 8:11, cf 18, 9:2) having success among the Gentiles, too (Rom 1:5-6, Acts 18:6, Acts 17:4,32, 1 Th 1:5, Acts 28:23-38) - even King Agrippa was impressed enough during Paul's trial to say, "You will soon persuade me to play the Christian" (Acts 26:28). When Paul and Barnabas when to Iconium, the result of their preaching was that "a great number of both Jews and Greeks came to believe" (Acts 14:1-2).

When Paul had problems it was because of the mindset of those receiving the message, not Paul's education (2 Cor 6:12) - like the owners of the slave girl with an oracular spirit who profited off of her telling the future until Paul cured her (Acts 16:19) and the silversmith named Demetrius who made miniature silver shrines of Artemis and became angry because Paul was converting all the pagan Gentiles (Acts 19:24-40). In both cases, Paul was taking away their customers! Both the Jews in Beroea and Thessalonica searched the Scriptures, it's just that the Bereans were more receptive to Paul's teaching in Acts 17.

When more than forty Jews swore not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul, no mention of his education being the problem was made. Rather, it was because "he creates dissension among Jews all over the world and is a ringleader of the sect of the Nazoreans" (Acts 24:5). Even Festus understood the source of opposition to Paul. It was not his education but, as he told King Agrippa in Caesarea, "Instead they had some issues with him about their own religion and about a certain Jesus who had died but who Paul claimed was alive" Acts 25:18-19). Indeed, Paul was "on trial for hope in the resurrection of the dead" (Acts 23:6).

Any antagonism Paul met was the same as what Peter encountered, regardless of his own education (Acts 4:1-2). The motive for the second action taken by the Sanhedrin against Peter was their jealousy of the popularity of the apostles (Acts 5:17) over religious officials. Similarly, Stephen was martyred not for his education, but for "speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God" (Acts 6:11).

It should not be said that Paul did not acknowledge Moses' covenant and ministry, but that he reminded them that the Old Covenant was imperfect and temporary. The Israelites of Moses' time are like the unbelieving Jews of Paul's time, through a veil that causes spiritual blindness (2 Cor 3:14-14)
2 Cor 4:3-4 "And even though our gospel is veiled, it is veiled for those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, so that they may not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God".

2 Cor 3:14-15 "Rather, their thoughts were rendered dull, for to this present day the same veil remains unlifted when they read the old covenant, because through Christ it is taken away. To this day, in fact, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts".
Despite the fact that the Gentiles had none of Israel's messianic expectations, or the various covenants God made with Israel (Eph 2:12), or the hope of salvation and knowledge of the true God, they were now included in God's household (Eph 2:19) - this appalled many Jews. The refusal to believe frustrates God's plan for his chosen people, so Paul says "It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first, but since you reject it and condemn yourselves as unworthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles" (Acts 13:46).

He was always sensitive to the right way to preach and behave: "We cause no one to stumble in anything, in order that no fault may be found with our ministry" (2 Cor 6:3). He reminded the Thessalonians how he acted "devoutly and justly and blamelessly" (1 Th 2:10). He counseled the Colossians, "Conduct ourselves wisely toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you know how you should respond to each one" (Col 4:5-6). He passed on advice to Timothy (1 Tim 5:1-4) as well as to Titus (Titus 1:7-9). Such general advice included:
"A slave of the Lord should not quarrel, but should be gentle with everyone, able to teach, tolerant, correcting opponents with kindness. It may be that God will grant them repentance that leads to knowledge of the truth, and that they may return to their senses out of the devil's snare, where they are entrapped by him, for his will." (2 Tim 2:24-26)

"proclaim the word...through all patience and teaching." (2 Tim 4:2)

"For a bishop as God's steward must be blameless, not arrogant, not irritable, not a drunkard, not aggressive, not greedy for sordid gain, but hospitable, a lover of goodness, temperate, just, holy, and self-controlled, holding fast to the true message as taught so that he will be able both to exhort with sound doctrine and to refute opponents" (Titus 1:7-9)

"...showing yourself as a model of good deeds in every respect, with integrity in your teaching, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be criticized, so that the opponent will be put to shame without anything bad to say about us" (Titus 2:7-8)

"Whoever teaches something different and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the religious teaching is conceited, understanding nothing, and has a morbid disposition for arguments and verbal disputes. From these come envy, rivalry, insults, evil suspicions, and mutual friction among people with corrupted minds, who are deprived of the truth, supposing religion to be a means of gain" (1 Tim 6:3-5). <
Some Jews were defiant because of disagreement over Jesus as the Messiah (2 Cor 3:14-15). When Gentiles resisted, it was because they were "darkened in understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance" (Eph 4:18). There was even resistence to God' will among Christians: "some preach Christ from envy and rivalry" (Phil 1:15). Despite all the opposition, "day after day the churches grew stronger in faith and increased in number" (Acts 16:5).

Prue attempts to use the fact that some people have academic pretensions as justification for her stance against what she calls "the irrelevancy of higher education". This is patently ridiculous. I know many physican colleagues with academic pretensions, but that doesn't make their medical higher education "irrelevant", does it? What is a person with an intracerebral hemorrhage from a ruptured middle cerebral artery aneurysm causing a midline shift and uncal herniation of the cerebellum supposed to do instead, go to a plumber for this problem? The same dynamic exists in theology as well. Just as I wouldn't ask an accountant for advice on how to build a swimming pool, religious leaders should have some kind of formative education. I say this as opposed to the standard Worker education which seems to be little more than an apprenticeship of the misguided leading the blind. There is more to being a leader than being able to parrot some bible passages that the Friends will recognize and feel comfortable with - a member of the clergy should also learn how to counsel those with all different kinds of problems, how to organize and shepherd and serve a congregation, etc. For this reason I would have little confidence in going to a Worker for help when his only magisterial qualification is that 3 weeks ago he was accepted by an overseer and *poof* - now he's a Worker.

I say this knowing full well that there are honest, sincere, faith-filled and knowledgeable Workers out there. It's just that one of the problems with this method of "training" Workers is that it makes too many assumptions about the ability of the Holy Spirit to guide them. Now, let me be clear - any miscommunication between a Worker (or anyone) and the Holy Spirit is the result of a problem with that particular person, not the Holy Spirit. Those people who would be comforted by the platitude of quoting John 14:26 which says the Spirit will guide us in everything often do not acknowledge the many obstacles to comprehension that exist within the hearts and minds even of God's people. It is obvious that there are differing opinions between different religious groups as to what the Holy Spirit is trying to tell them; however, there is even confusion within the Friends & Workers Fellowship. There is no formal statement of faith, because they don't know what it is. This leads to doctrinal confusion within the Workers, and subsequently, among the Friends. Lack of a coherent belief structure results in Workers who are reduced to little more then falsely glorified enforcers of 2x2 legalisms - really good at making sure the women wear dresses and that there are no televisions in professing homes, but woefully unprepared for dealing with difficult moral, ethical, and theological problems that inevitably arise. Many of Jesus' teachings were hard, as the Jews murmured during His Bread of Life discourse in John Chapter 6. The Ethiopian eunuch, when asked if he understood what he was reading, said, "how can I, unless someone teaches me?" (Acts 8:31). Both the Bereans and the Thessalonicans searched the Scriptures, but only the Bereans were able to finally understand the Old Testament prophesies of Jesus as the Messiah - and this was only after Paul explained it to them.

Conclusion

Yes, Jesus had no formal religious education - He didn't need it. Unless you are Jesus this exception most certainly does not apply to you.

Yes, the Apostles had no formal education - they didn't need it either because they spent three years with our Lord in person. Furthermore, the bible as we know it didn't even exist, let alone the fact that not everyone could read it even if they had one.

Yes, there are those with academic pretensions - this does does not excuse the average believer (and most certainly not the aspiring clergyman) from not just reading the sacred Scriptures, but studying them. There are several exquisite ironies here. Prue's site when printed is itself forty-eight pages of "academic pretension". In this section she asserts that Genealogies; legalisms or history have no relevance to the relationship which God seeks to engender with His people.", while at the same time devoting at least half the content of her site geneologies of the first Christian Church, legalisms of their standards of dress and home worship and conventions and the pattern of preachers going out two by two, and the history of Christianity in general.

Ultimately, the reader should realize that ostentatious claims to favor "love of the simplicity of the Gospel" over anything remotely resembling intellectual activity is itself a form of pretension.

- Clay Randall, June 6 2006

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