Apostolic Age
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Apostolic Age

APOSTOLIC AGE

ap-os-tol'-ik aj.

1. The Mission:

(1) When the disciples realized that they had seen the risen Christ for the last time and that it had now become their duty to spread His message, they gathered themselves together and restored the number of "witnesses" to the appointed Twelve. Immediately afterward the outpouring of the Holy Spirit gave them the signal to begin work. At first this work was rigidly centered in Jerusalem, and the first journeyings were the result of forcible dispersion and not of planned effort (Acts 11:19). But pilgrims to the feasts had carried away the gospel with them, and in this way Christianity had been spread at least as far as Damascus (Acts 9:2, 19). The dispersion itself widened the circle to Cyprus and to Antioch and marked the beginning of the Gentilework (Acts 11:19-20). Here the extreme prominence of Paul's ministry in the New Testament should not obscure the success of the other missionaries.

When the apostles began their journeys we do not know but at the time of Galatians 1:19 only Peter represented the Twelve in Jerusalem. Paul mentions their extended work in 1 Corinthians 9:5, 6 and it seems certain that Peter was in Rome shortly before his death. The troubles caused Paul by the Judaizers at least give evidence of the missionary zeal of the latter. Barnabas and Mark worked after their separation from Paul (Acts 15:39) and GentileChristianity existed in Rome long before the latter's arrival there (Romans 1:13). By the year 100 it appears that Christianity extended around the Mediterranean from Alexandria to Rome (and doubtless farther, although data are scanty), while Asia Minor was especially pervaded by it.

(2) Many factors cooperated to help the work: Peace was universal and communication was easy. Greek was spoken everywhere. The protection given Judaism sheltered from civil interference. The presence of Judaism insured hospitality and hearers for at least the first efforts to convert. The Jews' own proselytizing zeal (Matthew 23:15) had prepared Gentiles to receive Christianity. And not the least element was the break-up of the old religions and the general looking to the East for religious satisfaction.

(3) For the methods, Paul's procedure is probably typical. Avoiding the smaller places, he devoted himself to the cities as the strategic points and traveled in a direct route, without side-journeys. In this way a "line of fire" (Harnack) was traced, and the flame could be trusted to spread of its own accord to each side of the road. So as fruits of Paul's work at Ephesus there appear churches at Colosse and Laodicea some hundred and twenty miles away (Colossians 2:1; Colossians 4:16). The churches founded needed revisiting and confirming, but when the apostle felt that they could shift for themselves, he felt also that his work in the East was over (Romans 15:23).

2. Jerusalem Church:

The members of the earliest Jerusalem church thought of themselves simply as Jews who had a true understanding of the Messiah and so constituting a new "way" or "party" (hardly "sect") in Judaism (Acts 22:4, especially). At first they were suffered to grow unmolested and their right to exist was apparently unquestioned, for the Sadducean actions of Acts 4:1; Acts 5:17 were in the nature of police precautions. And it is significant that the first attack was made on a foreigner, Stephen. He seems to have angered the crowds by preaching the impending destruction of the Temple, although he was martyred for ascribing (practically) Divine honors to Jesus (Acts 7:56). Yet the apostles were not driven from the city (Acts 8:1) and the church was able to continue its development. In 41 A.D., the Roman representatives gave way to the Pharisaically inclined Agrippa I and (for reasons that are not clear) persecution broke out in which James was martyred and Peter delivered only by a miracle (Acts 12). With the resumption of Roman rule in 44 A.D. the persecution ceased.

Some peaceable mode of living was devised, as appears from the absence of further allusions to troubles (compare Acts 21:17-26) and from the accounts of Josephus and Hegesippus of the esteem in which James the Lord's brother was held. His martyrdom (in 62 A.D.?) was due to the tension that preceded the final revolt against Rome, in which the Christians of Jerusalem took no part. Instead, they retired across the Jordan to Pella (Revelation 12:13-17), where they formed a close, intensely Jewish body under the rule of the descendants of Christ's brethren according to the flesh. Some mission work was done farther to the east but in the 2nd century they either were absorbed in normal Christianity or became one of the factors that produced Ebionism.

3. Judaists:

Many members of this body (and, doubtless, other Jewish Christians outside it) showed various degrees of inability to understand the Gentile work. The acceptance of an uncircumcised Christian as "saved" offered fairly slight difficulty (Galatians 2:3 Acts 15). But to eat with him was another thing and one that was an offense to many who accepted his salvation (Galatians 2:12, 13). The rigorous conclusion that the Law bound no Christian was still another thing and one that even James could not accept (Acts 21:21). At the time of Galatians 2:9, the "pillars" were as yet not thinking of doing Gentilework. Paul's controversies are familiar and probably the last friction did not end until the fall of Jerusalem. But the difficulties grew gradually less and 1 Peter is evidence that Peter himself finally accepted the full status of Gentiles.

4. Relations with Rome:

From the Roman power Christianity was safe at first, as the distinctions from Judaism were thought too slight to notice (Acts 18:14-16; Acts 25:19). (Troubles such as those of Acts 17:9 were due to disturbance of the peace.) So the government was thought of as a protector (2 Thessalonians 2:7) and spoken of in the highest terms (Romans 13:1 1 Peter 2:13, 14). But, while absolute isolation was not observed (1 Corinthians 10:27), yet the Christians tended more and more to draw themselves into bodies with little contact with the world around them (1 Peter 4:3-5), so provoking suspicion and hostility from their neighbors. Hence they were a convenient scapegoat for Nero after the burning of Rome. It is uncertain how far his persecution spread or how far persecutions occurred from his time until the end of the reign of Domitian (see PETER, THE FIRST EPISTLE OF), but in Revelation, Rome has become the symbol for all that is hostile to Christ.

5. "Hellenism":

Influence of the "pagan" religions on Christianity is not very perceptible in the 1st century. But syncretism was the fashion of the day and many converts must have attempted to combine the new religion with views that they held already (or that they learned still later). Apparently little attention was paid to this attempt, if restricted to entirely minor details (1 Corinthians 15:29), but in Colossians 2:8-23 a vital matter is touched. The danger is more acute in the Pastorals (1 Timothy 1:4; 1 Timothy 4:3 Titus 3:9) and in Revelation 2 great harm is being done. And Jude, 2 Peter, and 1 John contain direct polemics against the systems so arising, the beginnings of what in the 2nd century appeared as Gnosticism.

For further details see the separate articles, especially MINISTRY; NEW TESTAMENT CANON; and (for life in the Apostolic Age) SPIRITUAL GIFTS.

LITERATURE.

Seethe separate articles. Works with the title Apostolic Age are by Gilbert (brief), Bartlet (useful), Purves (very conservative), Ropes, McGiffert, and Weizsacker. The last three are for critical study.

Burton Scott Easton

Library

The Women of the Apostolic Age
... PART FIRST. WOMEN OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE II THE WOMEN OF THE APOSTOLIC AGE.
THE leaven of Christianity worked speedily and powerfully ...
/.../brittain/women of early christianity/ii the women of the.htm

Chronology of the Apostolic Age.
... CHAPTER III. THE APOSTOLIC AGE Section 23. Chronology of the Apostolic Age. See
the works quoted in Sec. ... Chronological Table of the Apostolic Age. ad. ...
/.../history of the christian church volume i/section 23 chronology of the.htm

The Heresies of the Apostolic Age.
... SECTION II. THE LITERATURE AND THEOLOGY OF THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH. CHAPTER
III. THE HERESIES OF THE APOSTOLIC AGE. The Greek word ...
/.../killen/the ancient church/chapter iii the heresies of.htm

Worship in the Apostolic Age.
... CHAPTER IX. WORSHIP IN THE APOSTOLIC AGE. Literature. Th Harnack: Der christliche
Gemeindegottesdienst im Apost. und altkathol. Zeitalter. Erlangen, 1854. ...
/.../schaff/history of the christian church volume i/chapter ix worship in the.htm

Period i. The Apostolic Age: to Circa AD 100
... Period I. The Apostolic Age: To Circa AD 100. The period in the Church before
the clash with Gnosticism and the rise of an apologetic ...
/.../ayer/a source book for ancient church history/period i the apostolic age .htm

Period ii. The Post-Apostolic Age: AD 100-AD 140
... Period II. The Post-Apostolic Age: AD 100-AD 140. The post-apostolic age,
extending from circa 100 to circa 140, is the age of the ...
/.../a source book for ancient church history/period ii the post-apostolic age .htm

Sources and Literature of the Apostolic Age.
... CHAPTER III. THE APOSTOLIC AGE Section 20. Sources and Literature of the
Apostolic Age. I. Sources. ... II. Histories of the Apostolic Age. ...
/.../history of the christian church volume i/section 20 sources and literature.htm

The Critical Reconstruction of the History of the Apostolic Age.
... CHAPTER III. THE APOSTOLIC AGE Section 22. The Critical Reconstruction of
the History of the Apostolic Age. "Die Botschaft hör' ich ...
/.../section 22 the critical reconstruction.htm

Heretical Perversions of the Apostolic Teaching.
... The heresies of the apostolic age are, respectively, the caricatures of the
several types of the true doctrine. Accordingly we distinguish ...
/.../section 73 heretical perversions of.htm

History of the Christian Church, Volume I
... Section 19. The Resurrection of Christ. CHAPTER III. THE APOSTOLIC AGE. Section
20. Sources and Literature of the Apostolic Age. Section 22. ...
//christianbookshelf.org/schaff/history of the christian church volume i/

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Apostolic

Apostolic Age

Apostolic Fathers

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