Facing the Giants Within

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On the home front, with no Apostolic authority to turn to, the doctrinal battle lines from within became even more tense. As already mentioned, Gnosticism was a growing concern. Long gone was the admonition to “not trouble those from among the Gentiles who were turning to God” with Jewish law — or the newly organized Christian Law.

“[A] marked featured of this period was the development of doctrine. In the apostolic age faith was of the heart, a personal surrender of the will to Christ as Lord and King, a life in accordance with his example, and as a result the indwelling of his Spirit. But in the period which we are now studying, faith had gradually come to be of the mind, an intellectual faith, believing in a hard and fast system of doctrine. Emphasis was laid on correct belief, rather than on the inner, spiritual life … doctrine was becoming more and more the test of Christianity.” (1)

With the growing “organized” church structure (bishops, elders, deacons) — and the division of clergy and laity — came the responsibilities of enforcing Church law.

If We’re Going to Get Together — 
There’s Got to be Rules

Have you ever noticed that no matter what the group — organizations have rules.

Your neighborhood association has bylaws, monthly meetings, and recourse administered to those who act contrary to rules of the association.

Committees have meetings, they “judge” by consensus, and designate responsibilities to members involved.

Even being a member of a sports-oriented club such as fishing, will require attendance at meetings, participation in club dues and a certain number of competitions, and most importantly — an adherence to club policies.

If you want in, you’ve got to sign on the dotted line. Apparently, it’s no different with church. As Christianity, moved from the shadows of persecution, into the limelight of “official” religion, the pressure for more structure would only increase. But in the meantime who writes the rules and on whose authority are those rules based?

You might answer, “Why, they would have been based on the Bible, of course!” Ultimately yes. But how do you base your rules on an authority that does not yet exist?

Church with No Bible? Not my Church!

The Bible holds such a central place in today’s Christian faith, that it’s hard to imagine “church” without it. Sure, in modern-church settings, Scriptures are projected across mega screens illuminated somewhere near the front of the sanctuary, so many leave their personal Bibles at home. But the Bible is universally central to the Christian life (regardless of denomination) providing guidelines for Christian living, moral standards, and historical beliefs.

So what would church look like without a Bible? I pose the question, because during this slice of history, there was none — at least not in the “Old” and “New” Testament form that we have it today.

“It is a neglected fact, perhaps, but the Church had been preaching the gospel, saving souls, and founding congregations all over the Near East for at least ten years before a single line of the New Testament was written. She had been doing these things for over fifty years before the final line was completed. At the time of Clement’s conversion a new believer might possibly have been introduced to Matthew’s Gospel and perhaps one or two letters from Paul — but even these would have been circulating loose as individual works; over three hundred years would have to pass before they ever came to be bound together in one authoritative canon. So clearly, the traditional appeal to the Christian Bible as we know it today just was not an option.” (2)

So, again I ask you, “On whose authority would the rules be written?”

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Next up: The Emerging Role of Bishops
If new to this blog, begin here to read subject sequentially.

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Footnote References:

(1) Jesse Lyman Hurlbut, The Story of the Christian Church, page 48-49, emphasis mine.

(2) Rod Bennett, Four Witnesses: The Early Church in Her Own Words, (San Francisco, Ignatius Press, 2002), page 54, emphasis mine.
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