Introduction
Every religion has a beginning and story that has been passed on to the following generations and written in manuscripts. Similarly, the early church in Christianity began with the death of Jesus Christ and gradually spread to various regions. Therefore, the early church began with the apostles spreading the teachings through oral tradition, and toward the fifth century, it became a more complex system with a specific hierarchy and principles.
Beginning of the Early Church
The beginning of the early church is connected to the failure of the pagan system. With all of their diversity, the pagan faiths could not connect morals to religion, and their irrational worship could not fulfill the everlasting need of mankind or liberate man from sin (Mattox, 1961). By letting the pagans try every method they could think of to achieve redemption, God demonstrated to humanity that man, left to his own devices, was unable to meet the need for his own salvation (Mattox, 1961). Therefore, the early church began with the disciples of Jesus Christ, and with apostles being the first leaders, the teachings were spread through oral tradition.
The first century CE was the moment that set the rapid growth of religion (Andrews, 2022). Around one million Christians were dispersed around the Roman Empire at the start of the second century (around 130 CE) (Andrews, 2022). With the growth and spreading to different areas, manuscripts were handed from one community to the next, and wealthy Christians ordered private copies (Andrews, 2022). Therefore, the beginning of the early church is connected to the oral tradition and the spread of teachings in the first two centuries.
Teachings of the Early Church
As for the teachings, there are both primary and secondary sources. The New Testament documents are the main sources for the origins of the Christian faith (Petruzzelli, 2022). They offer primary sources or direct oral histories by witnesses of the initial Christian church and its customs and beliefs in the first century AD (Petruzzelli, 2022). The gospels of Jesus Christ and the documents of the New Testament may all be regarded as primary historical documents since they were each written in the first century, while witnesses to Christ’s life and actions were still present (Petruzzelli, 2022).
However, there are additional secondary sources that have been shared for centuries. Oral tradition, incorporated into the works of the early Church Fathers, is another source used by secondary sources of early church history (Petruzzelli, 2022). It is a helpful source that provides details about the original church. Since they were associated with Jesus’ apostles and disciples, the Apostolic Fathers, who lived in the first and early second centuries, were particularly affected by this (Petruzzelli, 2022). Consequently, verbal teachings were passed to their descendants in the latter part of the first century, which were shared in the following centuries.
Heresies in the Early Church
Heresies were an essential part of the early church as well. Initially, Christians called themselves true Gnostics with the idea that they had discovered real knowledge through Christ (Mattox, 1961). Yet, this term is typically used to describe people who disregard divine revelation in favor of human knowledge (Mattox, 1961). They were religious rationalists who used their own style of speculative philosophy to solve issues via mental exercises (Mattox, 1961).
Aside from Gnosticism, there was Docetism, which is the view that Christ only seemed to suffer while hanging on the cross rather than actually going through pain (Mattox, 1961). According to the idea, since the matter is fundamentally evil, Christ was not tainted by anything from the physical world (Mattox, 1961). Therefore, the views of this group relied on the notion that all of the provided details of Christ’s existence only seemed like a reality, and neither event actually occurred.
In the following century, another kind of heresy took place. In the second century, there were concerns about the rising superficiality, coldness, and rigidity in the church from a variety of sources (Mattox, 1961). A certain despair and unease accompanied the loss of spiritual powers (Mattox, 1961). The desire for some of these talents may have been so great that they tricked themselves into believing they possessed them (Mattox, 1961).
The Montanist movement emerged as a result of this turmoil. The founders of Montanism, a movement centered on prophecy, held that it included the Holy Spirit’s enlightenment for this present time (Mattox, 1961). Thus, heresy stemmed from human frustration or a lack of trust and belief.
Persecutions of the Early Church
Nevertheless, while the religion and church were being built, persecutions by Roman emperors began. Persecutory acts started happening across the Roman Empire under the reign of Marcus Aurelius (Mattox, 1961). In 166, Justin and many other Christians were executed in Rome (Mattox, 1961). The oldest known account of a Christian martyr is found in this period (Mattox, 1961). Then, from Trajan’s rule until Emperor Severus’ (193-211) restriction on adopting Christianity in 201, no new laws were issued that discriminated against Christians (Mattox, 1961).
However, in 303, Diocletian ultimately started abolishing every religion that was not recognized by the government (Mattox, 1961). For the church’s benefit, Diocletian abdicated the same year, and the persecution eventually subsided (Mattox, 1961). Despite such persecutions, the early church continued to grow and develop, and its members remained committed to their faith.
Developments in the Early Church
The next several centuries, up until the fifth century, the early church saw several developments. The most significant one involves the Nicea Creed, which came with several modifications. In 381, the Nicene Creed, which is its most popular name, defined the church’s beliefs about the Trinity and the divinity of Jesus Christ (Rea & Cone, 2019). The assembly additionally adopted six canons, and, in the first, the 318 priests of Nicea’s beliefs were reiterated, and many heresies were denounced (Rea & Cone, 2019).
Since Constantinople was the New Rome, the third Canon gave the bishop of Constantinople supremacy of respect after the bishop of Rome (Rea & Cone, 2019). However, bishops and territories outside of Nicene did not instantly alter, and it took decades for the regions to progressively grow more orthodox (Rea & Cone, 2019). Another development was a hierarchical structure, with bishops overseeing local churches (Rea & Cone, 2019). As a result, the alterations and developments in the fourth and fifth centuries made the church system more refined.
Conclusion
Hence, the apostles first disseminated the teachings by oral tradition, and by the 400s, the early church had developed into a more intricate structure with a clear hierarchy and set of guiding principles. The collapse of the paganism system led to the founding of the early church. The beginning of the first century CE marked the beginning of the religion’s exponential rise.
There are both primary and secondary sources for the teachings. The primary sources for the early development of the Christian religion are the writings of the New Testament. The early church was also rife with heresies, such as Montanism, Docetism, and Gnosticism. Beginning in the second century and lasting into the third, Christians were persecuted. The early church underwent a number of developments over the following few centuries, up to the fifth century, including the Nicea Creed and a hierarchical organization.
References
Andrews, E. D. (2022). The original text of the New Testament. Christian Publishing House.
Mattox, F. W. (1961). The eternal kingdom. Gospel Light Publishing Company.
Petruzzelli, M. (2021). Rudiments of Christian history: An outline of persons, events, and teachings. Christian Faith Publishing, Incorporated.
Rea, R. F., & Cone, S. D. (2019). A global church history: The great tradition through cultures, continents and centuries. Bloomsbury Publishing.