But by the time Paul wrote his letters to the churches, Christians realized the need to organize their work. The New Testament does not give us a detailed picture of this early church government. Apparently, one or more elders (presbyters) presided over the affairs of each congregation (cf. Rom. 12:6-8; I Thes. 5:12; Heb. 13:7,17,24), just as elders did in Jewish synagogues. These elders were chosen by the Holy Spirit (Acts 20:20), yet apostles appointed them (Acts 14:13). Thus the Holy Spirit worked through the apostles to ordain leaders for the ministry. Some ministers called evangelists seem to have traveled from one congreation to another, as the apostles did. Their title means "men who handle the gospel". Some have thought they were all personal deputies of the apostles, as Timothy was of Paul; other suppose that they gained their name through manifesting a special gift of evangelism. The elders assumed the normal pastoral duties between the visits of these evangelists.
In some congregations, the elders appointed deacons to distribute food to the needy or care for other material needs (cf. I Tim. 3:12). The first deacons were the "men of honest report" that the elders of Jerusalem appointed to care for widows in the congregation (Acts 6:1-6).
Some New Testament letters refer to bishops in the early church. This is a bit confusing, since these "bishops" did not form an upper tier of church leadership as they do in some churches where thetitle is used toady. Paul reminided thelders of Ephesus that they were bishops (Acts 20:28), and he seems to use the terms elder and bishop interchangeably (Titus 1:5-9). Both bishops and elders were charged with the oversight of a congregation. Apparently both terms refer to the same ministers in the early church, namely the presbyters.
Paul and the other apostles recognized that the Holy Spirit gave special leadership abilities to certain people (I Cor. 12:28). So when they conferred an official title upon a Christian brother or sister, they were confirming what the Holy Spirit had already done.
There was no earthly center of powerin the early church. The Christians under stood that Christ was the center and source of all its powers (Acts 20:28). Ministry meant serving in humility, rather than ruling from a lofty office (cf. Matt. 20:26-28). By the time Paul wrote his pastoral epistles, Christians recognized the importance of preserving Christ's teachings through ministers who devoted themselves to special study, "rightly dividing the word of truth" (II Tim. 2:15).
The early church did not offer magical powers to individuals through rituals or any other way. The Christians invited unbelievers into their group, the body of Christ (Eph. 1:23), which would be saved as a whole. The apostles and evangelists proclaimed that Christ would return for His people, "the bride of Christ" (cf. Rev. 21:2; 22:17). They denied that individuals could gain special powers from Christ for their own selfish ends (Acts 8:9-24; 13:7-12).
Patterns of Worship. As the early Christians worshipped together, they established patterns of worship that were quite different from the synagogue services. We have no clear picture of early Christian worship until A.D. 150, when Justin Martyr described typical worship services in his writings. We do know that the early Christians held their services on Sunday, the first day of the week. They called this "the LORD's Day" because it was the day that Christ rose from the dead. The first Christians met at the temple in Jerusalem, in synagogues, or in private homes (Acts 2:46; 13:14-16; 20:7-8). Some scholars believe that the reference to Paul's teaching in the school of "one Tyrannus" (Acts 19:9) indicates that the early Christians sometimes rented school buildings or other facilities. We have no evidence that Christians built special faciliies for their worship services for more than a century after the time of Christ. Where Christians were persecuted, they had to meet in secret places such as the catacombs (underground tombs) in Rome.
Scholars believe that the first Christians worshiped on Sunday evenings, and that their service centered on the LORD's Supper. But at some point the Christians began holding two worship services on Sunday as Justin Martyr describes - one in the early morning and one late in the afternoon. The hours were chosen for secrecy and for the sake of working people who could not attend worship services during the day.
Order of WorshipGenerally the early morning service was a time for praise, prayer, and preaching. The Christians' impromptu worship service on the day of Pentecost suggests a pattern of worship that might have been generally used. First, Peter read from the Scriptures. Then he preached a sermon that applied the Scriptures to the worshippers' present situation (Acts 2:14-42). People who accepted Christ were baptized, following the example of Christ Himself. The worshippers shared songs, testimonies, or words of exhortation to complete the service (I Cor. 14:26).
The LORD's Supper. The early Christians ate the symbolic meal of the LORD's Supper to commemorate the Last Supper, in which Jesus and His disciples observed the traditional Jewish Passover Feast. The themes of the two events were the same. In the Passover, Jews rejoiced that GOD had delivered them from their enemies and they looked expectantly to their future as GOD's children. In the LORD's Supper, Christians celebrated how Jesus had delivered them from sin and they expressed their hope for the day when Christ would return (I Cor. 11:26).
At first, the LORD's Supper was an entire meal that Christians shared in their homes. Each guest brought a dish of food to the common table. The meal began with common prayer and the eating of small pieces from a single loaf of bread that represented Christ's broken body. The meal closed with another prayer and the sharing of a cup of wine, which represented Christ's shed blood.
Some people speculated that the Christians were participating in a secret rite when they observed the LORD's Supper, and they fabricated strange stories about these services. The Roman Emperor Trajan outlawed such secret meetings in about A.D. 100. At that time Christians began observing the LORD's Supper during the morning worship service which was open to the public.
Baptism. Baptism was a common event of Christian worship in Paul's time (cf. Eph. 4:5). However, Christians were not the first to use baptism. Jews baptised their gentile converts, some Jewish sects practiced baptism as a symbol of purification, and John the Baptist made baptism an important part of his ministry. The New Testament does not say whether Jesus regularly baptized His converts, but on at least one occasion before John's imprisonment He was found baptizing. (It may, however, have been John's baptism that He was administering.) At any rate, the early Christians were baptized in Jesus' name following Jesus' example (cf. Mark 1:10; Gal. 3:27).
It appears that the early Christians interpreted the meaning of baptism in various ways - as a symbol of a person's death to sin (Rom. 6:4; Gal. 2:12), of the cleansing from sin (Acts 22:16; Eph. 5:26), and of the new life in Christ (Acts 2:41; Rom. 6:3). Occasionally the entire family of a new convert would be baptized (cf. Acts 11:16; I Cor. 1:16), which may have signified the person's desire to consecrate all that he had to Christ.
Church Calendar. The New Testament gives no evidence that the early church observed any holy days, other than holding its worship on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7; I Cor. 16:2; Rev. 1:10). The Christians did not observe Sunday as a day of rest until the fourth century A.D., when Emperor Constantine designated Sunday as a holy day for the entire Roman Empire. The early Christians did not confuse Sunday with the Jewish Sabbath, and they made no attempt to apply Sabbath legislation to Sunday.
The historian Eusebius tells us that Christians celebrated Easter from apostolic times; I Corinthians 5:6-8 may refer to such a celebration. Tradition says that the early Christians celebrated Easter at the time of Passover. Around A.D. 120, the Roman Catholic church moved the celebration to the Sunday after the Passover, while the Eastern Orthodox church continued to celebrate it at Passover.
New Testament Concepts of the Church. It is interesting to survey the various New Testament concepts of the church. Scripture refers to the early Christians as GOD's family and temple, as Christ's flock and bride, as salt, as leaven, as fishermen, as a bulwark sustaining GODD's truth, and in many other ways. The church was thought of as a single worldwide fellowship of believers, of which each local congregation was an outcrop and a sample. Early Christian writers often referred to the church as the "body of Christ" and the "new Israel". These two concepts reveal much of the early Christians' understanding of their mission in the world.
The Body of Christ. Paul describes the church as "one body in Christ" (Rom. 12:5) and "His body" (Eph. 1:23). In other words, the church encompasses in a single communion of divine life all those who are united to Christ by the Holy Spirit through faith. They share His resurrection (Rom. 6:8), and are both called and enabled to continue His ministry of serving and suffering to bless others (I Cor. 12:14-26). They are bound together in a community to embody the kingdom of GOD in the world.
Because they were bound to other Christians, these people understood that what they did with their own bodies and abilities was very important (Rom. 12:14; I Cor. 6:13-19; II Cor. 5:10). They understood that the various races and classes become one in Christ (I Cor. 12:3; Eph. 2:14-22), and must accept and love each other in a way that shows this to be so.
By describing the church as the body of Christ, the early Christians emphasized that Christ was head of the Church (Eph. 5:25). He directed its actions and deserved any praise it received. All its power to worship and serve was His gift.
The New Israel. The early Christians identified themselves with Israel, GOD's chosen people. They believed that Jesus' coming and ministry fulfilled GOD's promise to the patriarchs (cf. Matt. 2;6; Luke 1:68; Acts 5:31), and they held that GOD had established a new covenant with Jesus' followers (cf. II Cor. 3:6; Heb. 7:22; 9:15).
GOD, they held, had established His new Israel on the basis of personal salvation, rather than family descent. His church was a spiritual nation that transcended all cultural and national heritages. Anyone who placed his faith in GOD's new covenant by surrendering his life to Christ became Abraham's spiritual descendant and as such a part of the "new Israel" (Matt. 8:11; Luke 13:28-30; Rom. 4:9-25; 11; Gal. 3-4; Heb. 11-12).
Common Characteristics. Some common qualities emerge from the many images of the church that we find in the New Testament. They all show that the church exists because GOD called it into being. Christ has commissioned His followers to carry on His work, and that is the church's reason for existence.
The various New Testament images of the church stress that the Holy Spirit empowers the church and determines its direction. Members of the church share a common task and common destiny under the Spirit's leading.
The church is an active, living entity. It participates in the affairs of this world, it exhibits the way of life that GOD intends for all people, and it proclaims GOD's Word for the present age. The spiritual unity and purity of the church stand in bold contrast to the enmity and corruption of the world. It is the church's responsibility in all the particular congregations in which it becomes visible to practice unity, love, and care in a way that shows that Christ truly lives in those who are members of His body, so that their life is His life in them.
New Testament Doctrines. The Bible sets forth the fundamental teachings of the Christian faith. The early church lived according to these doctrines and preserved them for us today. Let us focus our attention on how the New Testament presents Christianity.
Living in Christ. First of all, we are told that GOD the Father brings Christians into fellowship with Himself, as children in His family, through the death and risen life of Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of GOD. As Paul wrote, "GOD was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself" (II Cor. 5:19). So the eternal Son took on human flesh. Jesus of Nazareth, fully GOD and fully man, revealed the Father to the world. The early Christians saw themselves as people "who through him are believers in GOD" (I Pet. 1:21, NASB). They found new life in Jesus Christ, and came into union with the living GOD through Him (Rom. 5:1).
Jesus promised that, by being "born again", men and women would find their proper relationship with GOD and savingly enter the kingdom of GOD (John 3:5-16; 14:6). The early Christians proclaimed this simple but startling message about Jesus.
Every major religion of the world has claimed that its "founder" had unique insight into the eternal truths of life. But christians claim far more, for Jesus Himself told us that He is the Truth, not just a teacher of the Truth (John 14:6). First-century Christians rejected the pagan religions and philosophies of their day to accept GOD's Word in the flesh.
Teaching Right Doctrine. The pagan religion of Rome was a rite rather than a doctrine. In effect, the emperor declared: "This you must do, but you can think as you please". Roman worshippers believed hey needed only to perform the proper ceremionies of religion, whether they understood them or not. As far as they were concerned, a hypocritical skeptic could be just as "religious" as a true believer, so long as he offered sacrifice in the temple of the gods.
On the other hand, the early christians insisted that both belief and behavior are vital, that the two go hand in hand. They took seriously Jesus' words that "true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth" (John 4:23). What a Christian believed with his mind and felt in his heart, he would do with his hands. So the early Christians obeyed GOD (I John 3:22-24), and they contradicted and opposed so-called Christians who tried to spread false teachings (cf. I Tim. 6:3-5).
This is essentially what we mean when we speak of Christianity. It is a new life in Jesus Christ, which brings genuine obedience to His teachings.
The article on "Jesus Christ" describes His teachings in detail. Here we will point out the basic differences between what Jesus and His followers taught, and what their pagan neighbors taught.
The Doctrine of GOD. Nearly every major religion teaches that some Superior Being rules the universe, and that nature demonsrates this all-powerful Being at work. These religions often describe such a Being in terms of natural forces, like the wind and rain. But the early Christians did not look to nature for the truth about GOD; they looked to Christ. The Christians believed that Jesus fully revealed the heavenly Father (Col. 2:9). So they understood GOD in terms of Jesus, and they based their doctrine of GOD upon the life of Christ.
The Trinity. Many scholars believe the doctrine of the Trinity is the most crucial element in the Christian understanding of GOD. The early christians confessed that they knew GOD in three Persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - and these three fully share one divine nature.
Many scriptures show that these apostolic Christians understood Jesus Christ in trinitarian terms. For example, Paul said, "Through him [Christ] we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father" (Eph. 2:18) - describing our relation to the three Persons of the Trinity. The New Testament contains many statements like this.
In no way did the Christian doctrine of the Trinity agree with the pagan teachings of the Egyptians, Greeks, and Babylonians. Nor did it fit in with the abstract philosophies of Greece. None of these ideas - religious or philosophical - could compare with the Christian understanding of GOD, for the early Christians knew that GOD was neither the capricious hero of fictional legends nor an impersonal "Force" (I Cor. 1:9). They knew He was a living personal Creator and LORD; in fact, He came to them as three Persons. Yet He was still one GOD.
GOD as a Personal Father. Jesus taught His disciples that GOD is "My Father, and your Father" (John 20:17). In other words, He showed them that GOD cared for them personally, just as a human father cares for his children. He dared to speak of GOD the Creator as a child speaks to his parent, and He told His disciples GOD had given Him "all things" (Matt. 11:27).
Jesus explained that GOD loves the people who accept Him (Jesus) into their lives (John 17:27). He reminded His followers that their Father-GOD cared for the smallest details of their everyday needs (Matt. 6:28-32).
Jesus Christ taught that His Father is holy, and that He and the Holy Spirit share the same divine holiness and act accordingly (John 15:23-26). Unlike the gods of Greek and Roman myths, who were short-tempered and immoral, the true GOD is just and righteous (Luke 18:19). He intervenes to save His people from sin. Jesus explained it was to this end that GOD had sent Him into the world; He brought GOD's mercy to a sinful and dying humanity, and in Him we see GOD's holy purpose fulfilled (John 6:38-40). So this holy GOD does not stand aloof from the affairs of men! He suffers their pain and even submits to the power of death to save His children (John 15:9-14). Again, we see Jesus emphasizing the personal love that GOD has for every human being.
Jesus demonstrated this love in His own ministry. He went out of His way to find people who were suffering from the effects of sin, so that He could deliver them. C. G. Montefiore says, "The rabbis welcomed a sinner in his repentance. But to seek out the sinner...was...something new in the religious history of Israel". (C. G. Montefiore, Some Elements of the Religious Teaching of Jesus [Folcroft, Pa.: Folcroft Library Editions, 1910], p. 57.) Jesus was willing to pay any price - even the price of death - to save mankind from the clutches of sin. In fact, when one of His disciples advised Him not to do it, He retorted, "Get behind me, Satan!" (Matt. 16:23). Jesus proved that GOD is the great Rescuer that the Old Testament prophets had described (cf. Isa. 53).
Jesus also broke down the narrow national limits that the Jews had erected around GOD. Jesus extended the love of GOD to all people, of all races and nationalities. He sent His disciples "into all the world" to win men back to GOD (Mark 16:15). The early Christians obeyed His command, carrying the gospel "to the Jew first, and also to the Greek" (Rom. 1:16).
The Doctrine of Redemption. Jesus taught that GOD redeems individuals as well as nations. This was a radically new thought in the Jewish world. Yet the doctrine of personal salvation was the heart of Christian teaching.
The Creator GOD. The Christian doctrine of salvation stood upon the fact that GOD created the human race. Even this was an unpopular idea in Jesus' day.
Many Greek philosophers and cultists insisted that GOD could not have made this evil world, and that it "emanated" from GOD by some natural process, as ripples "emanate" from a pebble dropped in a pond. But the Old Testament showed that GOD created the world on His own initiaative. He chose to do it. And because GOD chose to create the world, He could deal with it in any way He wished (Isa. 40:28; cf. Rom. 1:20). Cultists taught that evil forces had distorted the "emanations" from GODD, making the world corrupt. The Bible teaches that GOD created the world perfectly and made man in His own image, but man chose to rebel against GOD (Gen. 3). The Greeks believed that the forces of good and evil held the world in a stalemate; they thought evil had corrupted the good, and good kept evil from gaining absolute control of the world. The Christians rejected that idea; they taught that the world still belongs to its Creator, and that evil forces cannot finally prevail. Evil has only as much influence as GOD permits (Rom. 2:3-10); 12:17-21).
Fallen Man. Jesus gave the world a new understanding of man. His followers came to realize that each person is a lost child of GOD that the Father is trying to restore to the family through Christ (John 1:10-13; Eph. 2:19).
Greek myths said that man is a strange mixture of spirit and flesh, swept about by the unpredictable forces of the world. Orphic myths (stories involving the Greek god Orpheus) insisted that man had an inner nature like the gods. Plato had picked up this idea in his philosophy of the World-Soul; he felt that human beings had a spark of divine intelligence, and that a man becomes more god-like as he develops his intellect and his ability to reason.
The Scriptures contradicted this Greek idea of man. They knew that the most important test of a man's character was his moral fiber, not his intellect; and in those terms, man certainly could not claim to be like GOD! "As it is written", Paul told the Roman Christians, "there is none righteous, no, not one" (Rom. 3:10). The early Christians believed that, even though man is totally unworthy of GOD's love, GOD keeps on reaching out to man and trying to bring him back into holy fellowships with Him (Rom. 5:6-8).
The early Christian preachers spoke clearly of man's fall from GOD's favor in the Garden of Eden. "Death reigned from Adam", Paul wrote, "...even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression..." (Rom. 5:14). "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive" (I Cor. 15:22; cf. 15:45). The Christians believed that Adam's sin in Eden was the first key event of human history. It meant that man was a fallen creature who needed to come back to GOD.
The Nature of Sin. Greek and Roman writers criticized the immorality of the ancient world, but they had no definite concept of sin. They feared that reckless living would destroy the harmony of their society, but in no way did they think immorality offended the gods. Why should they? According to their myths, the gods were more lustful and greedy than man would ever imagine.
Jesus taught that sin (defined in I John 3:4 as lawlessness) is rebellion against GOD; it is man's decision to abuse GOD's love and reject His way, and it brings judgment. "...For if ye believe not that I am he (i.e., the Redeemer), ye shall die in your sins" (John 8:24). Jesus predicted that the Holy Spirit would convict the world of sin "because they believe not on me" (John 16:9). Man chooses to sin, and he is fully responsible for his position in GOD's sight.
Jesus' Sacrificial Death. The Old Testament priests sacrificed animals and sprinkled their blood upon the altar for the people's sins. Jesus told His disciples that He would shed His blood "for the remission of sins" (Matt. 26:28). GOD Himself, in the person of Jesus Christ, was willing to give Himself to die for man's sins. In this way, He bridged the gap that sin had opened between Him and man. The incarnation of the eternal Son of GOD enabled Him to be the final sacrifice for sin.
Jesus surrendered Himself to Jewish authorities who resented the message He brought to the world. They charged that He was "perverting the nation" by teaching His followers that He was the long-promised Messiah (Luke 23:2). Jesus had not broken any Roman law, but the Roman governor Pontius Pilate allowed his soldiers to execute Jesus to appease the Jewish leaders. So Jesus was not guilty of breaking GOD's law or man's; even His betrayer Judas Iscariot confessed, "I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood" (Matt. 27:4). Yet Roman centurions nailed Jesus to a cross as if He were a common criminal. In fact, He became GOD's pure sacrifice for the sin of man, and the early Christians emphasized this in their preaching and teaching (cf. Heb. 10).
Jesus' Resurrection. The Christians declared that Jesus' ministry did not end with the cross, because GOD raised Jesus from the tomb. He ministered among His disciples for several weeks until GOD took Him up to sit at His right hand in heaven (Acts 7:56).
The early Christians told the world how they had witnessed Jesus' death, resurrection, and ascension. This electrified the roman Empire, and caused many people to regard the Christians as a group of fanatics (Acts 17:6). But Paul told his Christian friends, "If Christ be not raised, your faith is in vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished" (I Cor. 15:17-18).
. We have noted that Jesus focused upon GOD's salvation of the individual; but He also taught that GOD brings His people into a great community of the redeemed - the realm of GOD's saving sovereignty, which Jesus called "the Kingdom of GOD". In this Kingdom (presently expressed in the church), GOD required His people to live a life of brotherly love. They were to practice the ethics of Christ and work for the redemption of all mankind. Jesus did not limit the Kingdom to the Jews; He explained that everyone who was "bringing forth the fruits thereof" belonged to the Kingdom of GOD (Matt. 21:43). The Gospel of Matthew in particular records many parables (true-to-life illustrations) about the Kingdom; see especially Matthew 20:1-16; 22:2-14; 15:1-30).
Notice that many of these parables point to the end of time, when GOD will gather all the people of His eternal Kingdom to reign with Him forever. The early Christian evangelists stressed Jesus' message about the end of time, because they believed they lived in the last days. This spurred the Christians to take the gospel to the far corners of the Roman Empire. They had a burning desire to win lost souls for Jesus Christ before the end came.
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