The early church experienced rapid growth from the 1st to 4th centuries despite facing persecution. Hellenism had spread Greek culture and ideas widely, including in Palestine. Between exile and 70 AD, five major Jewish sects formed including Christians. Common elements united early Christian Jews, like keeping the Sabbath. Christianity also spread due to the Roman Empire's infrastructure and Greek language. Persecution under Nero and Domitian was horrific, leading to the martyrdoms of the apostles and other early Christians like Polycarp and Ignatius. Further persecution under emperors like Septimius Severus and the edicts of Diocletian sought to destroy Christian buildings and books.

1. THE EARLY CHURCH
1ST – 4TH CENTURIES
From Pentecost to the Edict of Milan

2. There are differing views as to when
the church began.
Nation of The Day of
Israel Pentecost
The first
person John the
saved Baptist

4. Hellenism
• Hellenism spread after Alexander’s conquests.
• Hellenism is the admiration for and adoption of
Greek ideas, style, or culture.
• It denotes the social, political, economic, and
mainly cultural/religious influences on Europe and
the Near East.
• Alexander spread Hellenism by combining other
cultures with his.

5. Palestine in the time
of Christ was
Hellenistic
The Greeks
enforced all their
laws.
They forced a tax
the Jews had to pay
if they wanted to
practice their
religion.

6. Between the return
from exile and
70AD, five major
sects formed within
Judaism:
Pharisees
Sadducees
Zealots
Essenes
Christians

7. Common Elements of Christian Jewish Sect
• The Christian Jews kept the Sabbath and worshipped in the Temple.
• They also observed Sunday in remembrance of the victory of the Messiah’s
resurrection.
• They practiced partaking a “common meal” as described in Acts 2: 46. “Every day
they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their
homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts . . . ”
• Fasting took place on Wednesday (to morn the betrayal of Christ) and Friday (to
remember the crucifixion).
• James, the Lesser (brother or cousin of Jesus, leader of church in Jerusalem),
Peter (the Rock and Chief Apostle), and John (led after Peter’s death) were the
official leaders of the church.

8. The Roman Empire contributed to the spread of
Christianity . . .
• Ease of travel because of paved roads between cities (urban areas)
made travel easier for the evangelists.
• Urban life was well-populated and fluid due to sea ports; and imports
and exports brought together people from all over the world.
• Common language, Greek, made communications easier between
people from different cultures and unified the areas, as did common
rule.
• The miserable conditions of plebeians and the poor in the Roman
Empire drew them to Christians who gave support to the destitute
and modeled an organized and courageous defiance.

9. 1st Century Jews in Diaspora

10. The Mission to the Gentiles
• The Hellenistic Jews were the
first to be persecuted in
• For I am not ashamed of
Jerusalem.
the gospel of Christ: for
it is the power of God • They were the first to scatter
unto salvation to every one throughout the neighboring
that believeth; to the Jew towns.
first, and also to the
Greek. • They were the first to take the
Romans 1: 16 (KJV) Christian message to those
areas.

11. SEPTUAGINT

12. Philo of Alexandria in Egypt
• PHILO sought to
combine Greek
philosophy with
Judaism and was
therefore a
forerunner of many
of the Christian
theologians

13. Roman Empire in 54 AD

14. Emperor Worship
An imperial cult is a form of state religion in
which an emperor or a dynasty of rulers are
venerated as messiahs, demigods or deities.

15. PLATO
SOCRATES

16. Plato and Neo-Platonic Influences

17. Platonic Dualism

18. Christianity Based on Platonism

19. STOICISM
stressed duty . . . through reason
mankind can come to regard the universe as governed by fate
fundamentally rational
one can emulate the grandeur of the calm and order of the universe
learning to accept events with a stern and tranquil mind
achieving a lofty moral worth

21. THE SEED OF
CHRISTIAN
MARTYRDOM

23. The Death of the Twelve Apostles
Andrew: Martyrdom Bartholomew (Nathaniel): Martyrdom
James the Greater: Martyrdom James the Lesser : Martyrdom
John: Died of old age Jude (Thaddeus): Martyrdom
Judas: Suicide Matthew: Martyrdom
Peter: Martyrdom Philip: Martyrdom
Simon: Martyrdom Thomas: Martyrdom
Evangelists Mark (Martyrdom) and Luke (Natural Causes)

24. The Evangelist, Saint Luke
• Luke was a Greco-Syrian
physician who lived in the
Greek city of Antioch in
Ancient Syria.
• Luke was a historian, an
artist painting the first
depiction of Virgin Mary,
Peter and of Paul.
• Luke died at age 84.

25. Wood Board
Blessed by Mary, from the table
Mother of God during of the family
her lifetime
ICONOGRAPH
Y
BY THE
EVANGELIST
LUKE

26. 1st Century Persecution of Christians was horrific
under . . .
NERO
DOMITIAN

27. Domitian, Mark of the Beast
• When the book of Revelation was written, emperor worship was in full swing.
• Domitian, emperor at this time, legally documented those who worshipped him and
acknowledged him as God, thus the mark.
• Before a person could shop, he or she was required to declare that Domitian is
god at the public altar.
• He or she was required to participate in festivals, give an incense offering, make
sacrifices in honor of the deified emperor, and recognizing the emperor as the
provider before drinking from public water fountains.
• To accept Domitian as God and to follow his requirements was to take on the
“mark of Domitian.” It was a documentation of privilege that was received
annually.
• The Jews of Domitian’s time nicknamed Domitian “the beast.”
• “And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free
men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead,
and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has
the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name”
(Revelation 13:16, 17 NASB).

28. The Early Christian Martyrs
“The blood of Christians is seed.”
. . . Tertullian

29. Polycarp, disciple of Apostle John , “Eighty-six years I have
served him, and he never did me any wrong. How can I
blaspheme my King who saved me?” was burned to death in 155
CE
Polycarp was Bishop of
Smyrna (today known as
Izmir), a city on the west coast
of Turkey. The letters to the
“seven churches in Asia” at
the beginning of the book of
Revelation include a letter to
the church in Smyrna,
identifying it as a church
undergoing persecution.

30. Ignatius of Antioch, disciple of Apostle John, sentenced to
die in the Coliseum, was eaten by lions in 108 CE.
“From Syria even to
Rome I fight with wild
beasts, by land and sea,
by night and by day,
being bound amidst ten
leopards, even a
company of soldiers,
who only grow worse
when they are kindly
treated.” —Ignatius to
the Romans, 5.

31. Justin of Gaul
beheaded in 165 CE • Even after he became a Christian, he wore
his scholar's robes and walked and talked
with philosophers. In Rome, he opened a
school of philosophy. All his life he had
studied the works of Aristotle, Pythagoras,
Plato, and the Stoics. Then Justin
discovered the wisdom that is of Christ. He
did not think that should disqualify him as
a scholar.
• Justin had drew attention to himself by
sending open letters to the emperor and to
the Roman Senate condemning the state
for persecuting Christians. He was brought
before the city prefect about the year 165.
After a bold confession of faith, he was
condemned to be scourged and beheaded.

32. Persecution continued under Emperor
Septimius Severus
(193-211)
Condemned All
People Of Exclusivist
Religions to Death

33. Perpetua and Felicitas
Perpetua and Felicitas,
were executed in the
arena in Carthage on 7
March 203.
The story is recorded as The Passion of SS.
Perpetua and Felictas and claims to contain the
autobiographical account of Perpetua, edited
and/or commented on by Tertullian of Carthage;
they were all North African.

34. Diocletian ordered buildings and sacred
books destroyed.
Trajan Decius
(249-251)
Diocletian
(284-305) Valerian (253-260)

35. The Christian Martyr’s Last Prayer
by Leon Gerome

36. Persecuted Servants
• The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the
church.
• Tertullian—“We multiply whenever we are
mown down by you; the blood of Christians
is seed.”
• Jerome–“The church of Christ has been
founded by shedding its own blood, not that
of others; by enduring outrage, not by
inflicting it. Persecutions have made it grow;
martyrdoms have crowned it.”

37. THE APOLOGIST
The Defenders and Shapers of the Faith

38. North African Fathers, the Apologists
Cyprian of
Carthage
Athanasius
of Alexandria
Clement of
Alexandria
Tertullian of
Carthage
Augustine of Hippo

39. Apologetics is the discipline of defending a
position . . .
• Christian apologists defended the faith against critics
and rumors.
• Christian apologists also recommended the faith to
others.
• To show that the faith was more than “nonsense”,
the apologists clarified the relationship between
Christian faith and the ancient Greco-Roman culture.

40. Apologists Had Opposing Views
Anti-Greek Pro-Greek
• Some apologists were hostile • Some apologists found value
to Greco-Roman culture. in pagan culture.
• They believed the culture • Plato must have gotten his
was not worthy of respect. knowledge from Moses.
• Knowledge came from the
Word of God, Logos.

41. The rapid growth of the church led to diverse
interpretations and the condemnation of . . .
HERESY

42. Gnosticism was the most important heresy . . .
• Gnosticism was a whole • A negative attitude
conglomerate of ideas toward the material
and schools that world
differed among
themselves on many • Salvation was attained
points, but had certain through special
points or elements in knowledge
common.

43. Marcionism, 2nd Century Heresy
Marcion created a New
Rejected the Old Testament Testament Canon
• Marcion claimed that the • The true and Supreme God
God of the Old Testament is is loving and forgiving.
not the same as the Father of
Jesus, but rather an inferior • Marcion believed the good
being. God could not have created
this material world.
• Yahweh is vengeful and
cruel

44. The church responds to heresy
The church responded to heresy with a focus
on:
•Canon
•Creeds
•Apostolic Succession

45. CANON . . .
Heresies led to the point of insistence on certain books to be considered Scripture.
This is referred to as canonization.
Tertullian claimed Marcion was the first to separate the New Testament from the
Old Testament. But, Tertullian spoke out against Marcion’s canon which rejected
the Old Testament, as well as the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of John.
The Councils of Carthage in the 4th and 5th centuries finalized the canon under the
authority of Augustine. It was basically the canon as we know it today.
However, official finalizations of the canon by individual groups were not made until
the Council of Trent of 1546 for Roman Catholicism, the Thirty-Nine Articles of 1563
for the Church of England, the Westminster Confession of Faith of 1647 for
Calvinism, and the Synod of Jerusalem of 1672 for the Greek Orthodox.

46. CREEDS . . .
• NT religion was decidedly confessional.
• Jesus witnessed before Pilate and the Sanhedrin.
• Paul; “‘If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your
• heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart
that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are
saved.” (Romans 10: 9-10)
• Where heresy troubled the church, it was natural for the leaders to look for a
creedal subscription to guarantee orthodoxy.
• There were several councils that addressed the creeds:
– Apostle’s Creed
– Chalcedonian Creed
– Constantinople I
– Council of Ephesus
– Council of Nicaea/ Nicene Council

47. Apostles Creed . . .
Ecumenical Version
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by
the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he
descended into hell. On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and
he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of
saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life
everlasting.
Amen.

48. The Shield of the Trinity is informed by the
Nicene Creed.

49. Apostolic Succession . . .
This is a doctrine, held by some Christian denominations, which
asserts that the chosen successors (properly ordained bishops) of
the Twelve Apostles, from the first century to the present day,
have inherited the spiritual, ecclesiastical and sacramental
authority, power, and responsibility conferred upon them by
the Apostles, who in turn received their spiritual authority
from Jesus Christ.
Ordination or Holy Orders of church leaders was performed by
“laying on of hands” from the time of the early church. It refers to
the offices of bishop, priest, and deacon.
However, many Protestants consider the authority given to the
apostles as unique, proper to them alone. They reject any
doctrine of a succession of their power .

50. The First Great Teachers and Shapers of the Faith
• Irenaeus-
• Born in Smyrna, Asia
Minor
• Became Bishop of Lyons
• Student of Polycarp
• Dedicated Pastor
• Writings emphasize
doctrinal authority,
episcopate (Papal
authority), Scripture, and
tradition.

51. The First Great Teachers and Shapers of the Faith
• Tertullian-
• Born in Carthage, Africa
• Prolific writer and apologist
• Father of Latin Christianity
• First to use “Trinity”
terminology
• Originator of “three persons,
one substance”
• He wrote the Trinitarian
formula accepted as
orthodox.

52. The First Great Teachers and Shapers of the Faith
• Clement of Alexandria-
Egyptian born in Athens
• He asserted that men
lived first as citizens of
heaven and second as
earthly citizens,
• He defended the right
of an enslaved people
to rebel against its
oppressors.

53. The First Great Teachers and Shapers of the Faith
• ORIGEN- Born in Alexandria, Egypt
• Origen studied philosophy, traveled
widely as a preacher
• He was imprisoned and tortured
during the persecutions of the
emperor Decius.
• Origin was prolific writer
• His writings, influenced by Neo-
Platonism and Stoicism, the
centrality of the Word (Logos) in the
He held that even Satan cosmos.
was not beyond repentance
and salvation

54. The First Great Teachers and Shapers of the Faith
• Born in North Africa
• Bishop of Carthage
• Apologist
• Supported restoration of the
lapsed with sincere repentance
• “No bishop of bishops”;
equality of all bishops
• The people and their bishop
constitute the church

55. The church is organized . . .
• Communion • Tripartite order had appeared:
• Baptism deacons, elders, and bishops,
• There were also specific
• Renewal of baptismal vows
ministries for women,
(Lent)
especially within nascent
• Divinity of Christ established
monasticism.
• Roman Empire had hundreds
of bishops, some of them
(Rome, Alexandria, Antioch,
"other provinces")

58. CATACOMBS
IN THE
ROMAN
EMPIRE