THE ORIGIN OF THE CHURCH.
It is a question of great interest in history, if nothing more, when and
where it was that the Christian Church, in the form in which it has come
down to us, had its origin.
To be sure, there are many who are satisfied with an orthodox belief
on the subject, because they have never questioned their sources of
information. But the world has grown to that age when traditional
dogmas, or whatever they may be called, must be subject to the test
which advancing knowledge imposes. Tried by this test, what is true will
appear brighter; what is false will be thrown off; and man, relieved of
a burden which only weighed him down, will move on to an improved and
better life. Man is not doomed by the condition of his nature to be
eternally tugging at the stone of Sisyphus--nor is it consistent with
the laws of a wise and beneficent Creator that mankind, in order to
be prosperous and happy, should be compelled to live under a perpetual
delusion. Like the source of some river, often traced to a mountain
rill or the oozing waters of a morass, so the beginning of the church
or churches of our own day is to be looked for in some obscure corner of
history, covered by the _debris_ of ages.
Located on a narrow isthmus between the AEgean and Ionian seas stood
Corinth, one of the principal cities of Greece. Situated where the
commerce from the East and the West meet _in transitu_, it grew in
opulence and wealth, and was distinguished for the arts, and for the
luxury and licentiousness of its inhabitants. Here Venus had a temple,
presided over by a thousand priestesses, whose attractions increased the
numbers who came from all parts of Greece to assist in celebrating the
Isthmian games. It was at this place Paul planted a church, between
the years A.D. 51 and A.D. 53, and where he remained eighteen months,
working as no one but himself could work to build up and strengthen it.
Paul left Corinth for a time for other fields of labor, because he
belonged to no one place, but his mission embraced the world. The
commerce of Corinth attracted to the place people from every part of
the empire, east and west, and with others a large number of Alexandrian
Jews. Among them were many of the Thera-peutae, who brought with them
into Greece the doctrines of Philo.
During Paul's absence there came to Corinth Apollos of Alexandria. He
was an eloquent man and learned in the Scriptures. It is a subject of
regret that we do not know more of his history than we find in the Acts,
and in the Epistles of Paul. What were the doctrines he taught when he
first appeared in Ephesus, where he spent some time before he went
to Corinth, we cannot tell, but he was fervent in spirit, "and taught
diligently the things of the Lord." He had heard of John the Baptist,
for he was a historic character, and Josephus tells how he baptized
multitudes in the waters of the Jordan; but he seems to have known
nothing about Christ or the doctrines he taught. He spoke in the
synagogue, which proves that what he taught did not give offence, to the
Jews. In Ephesus he attracted the notice of Aquila and Priscilla, Jewish
Christians, who had been expelled from Rome by the Emperor Claudius on
account of some disturbance growing out of quarrels between Jews and
Christians.* Under their instructions Apollos was made a convert to
Christianity.
* See Appendix A.
The Jews, as has been shown, were divided into three sects--Pharisees,
Sadducees, and the Essenes. Every Jew belonged to or connected himself
with the one or the other. Those who went to Alexandria, in time took
the name of Therapeutae, which, it is claimed, was the same as the
Essenes. However this may be, Philo describes them as a Jewish sect.
That Apollos was one of them may be claimed with great reason. A Jew,
born in Alexandria, he could scarcely escape being one. Raised under the
shadow of the college of Alexandria, of a fervent spirit and a man of
thought, he could not fail to be impressed by the doctrines taught
by that celebrated school. They were the prevailing and fashionable
doctrines of the day. That he brought with him to Ephesus the Logos
idea of Philo is clearly proven by what took place after his arrival.
It seems his conversion to the Christian faith under the instruction of
Aquila and Priscilla was easy, which proves that the difference which
separated them in the first place was not great. Like all Jews, he was
looking for some kind of Saviour or Deliverer, and they convinced him
that Christ was the one. He now undertook to convince others. "For
he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publicly, shewing by the
Scriptures that Jesus was Christ." (Acts xviii. 28.) But the Alexandrian
notions of the Logos or Son of God soon began to show out in his
discourses and make trouble. Some began to cry, I am for Paul; and
others, I am for Apollos (1 Cor. iii. 4).
Paul's ideas on some points did not suit the Alexandrian school. The
birth of Christ from human parents, in the speculative minds of this
people, stripped him of all mystery; and with them, on subjects like
this, where there is no mystery there is nothing real. There could be no
other difference between the followers of Paul and Apollos, except as to
the origin and nature of Christ, and his relations to the Creator;
and there was none. The strife grew to such dimensions that Paul is
constrained to write an epistle to the church, in which we can see
what was at the bottom of the trouble. In his First Epistle, to the
Corinthians, Paul names four parties whose quarrels disturbed the peace
of the Church: the Paul party, who maintained the doctrines of Paul as
to the human origin of Christ; the party of Apollos, who, without doubt,
taught the doctrines of Philo; the party of Cephas, which held to the
doctrines of circumcision; and the Christ party. We infer that the last
was composed of negative men, or those who occupied neutral ground--the
_fence_ men of our day. It could not have been of much importance, for
we never hear of it again.
It was neither the first, third, or fourth of these parties that called
out the letter to the Corinthians. It was the wisdom of the Greek school
and Apollos' "excellency of speech" that disturbed Paul, and continued
to do so to the end of his life. But see with what force he opposes to
the wisdom of the Greeks the revelations which came to him from God This
letter displays all the characteristics of Paul. "And my speech and
my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in
demonstration of the Spirit, and of power: that your faith should
not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. But God hath
revealed _them_ unto us by His Spirit; for the Spirit searcheth all
things, yea, the deep things of God. Now we have received, not the
spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know
the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we
speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the
Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the
natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they
are foolishness unto him: neither can he know _them_, because they are
spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet
he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord,
that he may instruct him? But _we have the mind of Christ_" (1 Cor. ch.
ii.) Here it is not Paul that denounces the wisdom of the Greek school,
but it is God himself. Such is Paul.
It is not difficult to tell to which of the four parties at Corinth this
epistle was addressed. That the difference between Paul and Apollos grew
out of opposing opinions as to the nature of Christ admits of little
doubt, and is rendered certain by the first, second, and third chapters
of his First Epistle to the Corinthians. He says: "For other foundation
can no man lay than _that is laid_, which is Jesus Christ." That is, I
have taught to you Christ as he is, and it is not for any other man to
teach anything different. He declares that "according to the grace of
God _which is given unto me_, as a wise master-builder, I have laid the
foundation.".... "let every man _take heed how he buildeth thereon._"
Here is a plain intimation that the Christ of Paul rested upon a
different foundation from that of Apollos--the one divine, the other
human. "I have planted, Apollos watered." That is, I have planted the
seed that will produce the true fruit, and it is for others only to
cultivate and nourish what I have planted.
He tells the Corinthians that they were born unto a knowledge of Christ
through his gospel--that is, through his preaching; and that if they
had ten thousand instructors, of these there would not be many who, as
spiritual fathers, could reveal to them the truth as he had. "Wherefore,
I beseech you, be ye followers of me. For this cause have I sent unto
you Timotheus, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who
shall bring you into remembrance of _my ways which be in Christ, as
I teach everywhere in every church_." (1 Cor. iv. 16, 17.) What more
conclusive evidence could be asked that Apollos was preaching doctrines
different from those of Paul as to the nature of Christ, than that the
latter sent Timothy to counteract them? and what other doctrines was the
former teaching than those of the Alexandrian school? When Paul says all
Asia had turned against him, it could only be on the questions which
had sprung up between himself and Apollos. It could not be on account of
circumcision, because on this point the Greeks would agree with Paul.
It was not on account of different views on the subject of the
resurrection, because that was retained and became the foundation of
the Christian faith. There was but a single point upon which those who
professed Christianity at that day could turn upon Paul, and that is
his "ways which be in Christ" as he taught them in all the churches. The
quarrels of Paul with the Jews on the subject of circumcision died away
in the church not long after his death, drowned out by the Greek and
Therapeutae element; but the cause of the strife between the followers
of Paul and Apollos has continued down, in some form, even to our own
times.
It could not be long after his letter to the Corinthians that the
doctrines preached by Apollos spread through all the churches of Asia
Minor and became the established orthodox faith. Paul, in the Second
Epistle to Timothy, says: "All Asia has turned against me." A mere
change of name--Therapeutae to Christian--and the revolution was
complete. It was made so rapidly that the world scarcely noticed it. The
Therapeutae, who were spread over Europe, Asia, and portions of Africa,
disappeared so suddenly that it has always been a problem in history
what became of them. But we can find here and there, in the history of
the times, evidences that the few friends of Paul did not give up the
contest with their powerful foe without a struggle. These struggles come
to the surface of history like the bubbles from the mouth of a drowning
man.
But little change in doctrines was required to justify the Therapeutae in
taking upon themselves the name of Christians. Christ, with Paul, was a
Mediator, and so was the Logos of Philo. "What intelligent person," says
the latter, "who views mankind engaged in unworthy and wicked pursuits,
but must be grieved to the heart, and call upon that Saviour God, that
these crimes may be exterminated, and that by a ransom and price of
redemption being given for his soul, it may again obtain its freedom.
It pleased God, therefore, to appoint his Logos to be a Mediator. To his
Word, the chief and most ancient of all in heaven, the great Author of
the world gave this especial gift: that he should stand as a medium (or
intercessor) between the Creator and the created; and he is accordingly
the Advocate of all mortals." (_Jacob Bryant, quoted in Clarke's
Commentaries on St. John's Gospel_.) As the Therapeutae of Philo were
the descendants of a Jewish colony who had settled in Egypt, and
still retained in some degree their Mosaic ideas and belief in the
Old Testament, under the light of the school of Alexandria, where the
doctrines of Philo were taught, they readily adopted the Alexandrian
ideas of the Logos. The belief in some intermediate or mediatorial power
between God and man was common to the Jews as well as most other
people. Adam, by his disobedience, had broken the law, and if he or his
descendants are ever to be restored to the favor of the Creator, it is
to be done through the office of a Mediator. The notions of Philo on the
nature of the Logos suited the Therapeutae much better than did those of
Paul, and after a short struggle we will discover the Alexandrian dogmas
to be the creed of the orthodox. Christ's appearance on earth, his death
and resurrection, are what Paul preached, and what the Therapeutae, who
were converted by him, believed. These features were retained in the
church after the Philo ideas of the Logos had displaced the Christ of
Paul. It was only Paul's doctrine of the descent of Jesus from Mary and
Joseph after the flesh that was thrown aside by them. The intervention
of the Virgin, at a later period in the history of the church, was the
means by which the Christ of Paul was made the Son of God in the sense
of the Alexandrian school.
The transition of the Therapeutae to Christianity was easy. Little or no
change was made in the form of the services in the church. According to
Eusebius, they sang hymns. They read sacred books and made comments
on them as well after as before the change. Like the first Christian
community, they held all their property in common. They said grace at
table both before and after meals, according to Josephus, which they
continued to do after they took the name of Christians. They made no
change in their fasts and festivals, and retained the monasteries. The
transfer of the form of the Therapeutae church government to the new
church was the work of time, and was not fully effected until the second
century. The influence of Paul's name, with other causes, was too strong
during the first to permit the change.
A Bishop in a Christian church is the work of the second century. Like
every other new feature in its history, we find the first Bishop at
Alexandria. Gibbon says: "The extensive commerce of Alexandria, and its
proximity to Palestine, gave an easy entrance to the new religion. It
was at first embraced by great numbers of the Therapeutae, or Essenians
of the lake Mareotis, a Jewish sect which had abated much of its
reverence for the Mosaic ceremonies. The austere life of the Essenians,
their fasts and excommunications, the community of goods, the love of
celibacy, their zeal for martyrdom, and the warmth though not the purity
of their faith, already offered a very lively image of the primitive
discipline. It was in the school of Alexandria that the Christian
theology appears to have assumed a regular and scientific form; and when
Hadrian visited Egypt he found a church, composed of Jews and of
Greeks, sufficiently important to attract the notice of that inquisitive
prince." (Ch. xv. (162) (163), vol. I. p. 283.)*
* After the author had written out his views as above, he
met with the following passages from the writings of
Michaelis, the great German critic, quoted in Taylor's
Diegesis. Of the Therapeutae, he says they are a "Jewish
sect, which began to spread itself at Ephesus, and to
threaten great mischief to Christianity in the time (or
indeed previous to the time) of St. Paul, on which account,
in his epistles to the Ephesians, to the Colossians, and to
Timothy, he declares himself openly against them."
(Diegesisy 58.)
Again: "It is evident from the above-mentioned epistles of
Paul, that, to the great mortification of the apostle, they
insinuated themselves very early into the church." (60.) The
writer does not wish to be understood that the disturbances
created in the church were confined to Corinth, and that
Apollos was the only one who taught during the life of Paul
the doctrines of the Alexandrian school. Wherever Paul had
founded a church, there the Therapeutae element was at work.
Apollos, by his superior eloquence and learning, was
distinguished from a host of agitators, and called forth the
special notice of Paul. element was at work. Apollos, by his
superior eloquence and learning, was distinguished from a
host of agitators, and called forth the special notice of
Paul.
It is safe to say that it was the Therapeutae who caused the troubles
in the churches in Paul's time and afterwards, because no other sect or
society was so extended, and had the power to make the disturbance so
universal. Paul could complain of no other, and it was this sect that
turned all Asia against him. There is no way to account for the sudden
and wonderful increase of Christians in a few years before Paul's death,
unless we can refer the cause to the sudden conversion of the Therapeutae
to the new religion. When they are suddenly lost to sight, the small
churches of Paul have grown great in numbers, and spread over Europe and
Asia in an incredibly short space of time.
Before going to press, the writer came into the possession of the works
of Michaelis, where we find the following passage: "But even before
Apollos had received the instructions of Aquila and Priscilla, he taught
publicly in the synagogue at Ephesus concerning the Messiah. Hence it is
not improbable that the Essenes introduced themselves into the church
at Ephesus by means of Apollos, who came from Alexandria, in the
neighborhood of which city, according to Philo, the Essenes were not
only numerous but were held in high estimation." (Vol. iv. p. 85.) It
would seem from this that Apollos only continued to do at Corinth what
he first began at Ephesus.
No man of any age suffered so much abuse, nor was there ever one whose
memory labored under such a weight of obloquy as that of Paul--first
from the followers of Apollos; and afterwards from the Catholics of
the second century, when the mother of God rose like a new star in
the heavens. The first half of the Acts was written, as will be shown,
expressly to exalt Peter over him and degrade him from the rank of an
Apostle. The Revelation ascribed to St. John is nothing but a bitter
tirade of denunciation against Paul and his followers. He is called a
liar, "the false prophet," who with the beast was cast alive into a lake
of burning fire. He is the great red dragon who stood before the woman
ready to devour the child Jesus as soon as he was born, and who warred
with Michael and the angels. Paul is not only denounced, but Christ
himself is made to declare his status in the Godhead. "I Jesus have sent
mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches." (xxii.
16.) What the things were to which the angel was to bear testimony,
sufficiently appears in every portion of the book of Revelation. Why was
Paul the subject of so much abuse? There can be but one answer. It was
because of the way in which he taught Christ in all the churches,
which he had learned from the Apostles in his interviews with them
at Jerusalem, and probably from Joseph and Mary themselves, for they
occurred about the year A.D. 40.