AN EARLY CHURCH OF CHRIST.
LET us endeavor to picture to ourselves an early church of Christ, planted in the midst of heathendom. We must draw the materials to form our picture almost entirely from the Acts of the Apostles and the earlier epistles, for tradition or testimonies of the heathen can render us but little assistance. One thing is important to begin with. We must divert our thoughts from what we see around us in Christendom, and not fancy that the churches of Christ in apostolic days were just like the churches of our own times. In the early days men and women were called the church, now, buildings as well as persons are so designated. The apostles and the early Christian workers labored to find living stones for God in the quarry of paganism, and these were built up together upon the one foundation—Christ Jesus. So St. Peter addresses the scattered strangers in many parts of the world “as living stones, built up a spiritual house," (1 Peter 2:55Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:5)), and St. Paul teaches that believers, whether Gentile or Jew, "are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit" (Eph. 2:2222In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:22)).
We can easily understand that some time must have elapsed, and the ideas of heathendom must have been greatly affected by the teaching of Christians, before the buildings in which Christians assembled began to be called churches.
So far as buildings are concerned, wherein Christian service is conducted, we may gain an idea of the early days of the church from the efforts of missionaries among the heathen in China. There a missionary will penetrate into the dense darkness of paganism, perhaps one lone Christian in a huge city of idolaters. He speaks of God and Christ to one and another. Some are turned to God from their idols; they hold together, they have one God and Father, one Lord and Savior, one Holy Spirit amongst them. A cottage, the shelter of some trees, a secluded spot on a river's side; such are die places where the persons who form the church of Christ in that special part of China assemble together.
Then they went to the home of one of these women, the devout Lydia (vers. 14, 15). His own hired house in Rome, was the great preaching station for St. Paul for the space of two years, and there he “received all that came in unto him" (ch. 28:30, 31) Sometimes, if a Christian had a house of his own, the church of Christ would assemble there, as was the case with Nymphas (Col. 4:1515Salute the brethren which are in Laodicea, and Nymphas, and the church which is in his house. (Colossians 4:15)), or, if there was ability, and number sufficient, the church would assemble in an appointed spot, as they did in Troas, in the upper chamber. (Acts 20:88And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were gathered together. (Acts 20:8).)
At Athens, Paul preached in the open air, standing in the midst of Mars Hill, with the loveliest of heathen temples near, and the wisest of men for his audience, whose wisdom had not taught them to worship God save ignorantly (ch. 17:22-31) Anywhere, everywhere, was the word proclaimed. Frequently, a heathen city would have a Jewish synagogue in it, and thither usually St. Paul would first go, but, alas! too often to find there greater enmity to the Fatherland the Son than amongst the heathen.
There was nothing outwardly great in the church-nothing in early Christianity to answer to the pomp and processions of the heathen temples and worship. But there were words—divine, holy, beautiful—that had come from heaven, from God Himself, and by which the heathen might be saved. Words of life, of light, of love, never before breathed on earth; words of forgiveness, of glory; words of holiness, of peace.
In those early days, heathendom in a marked way had failed to give men's hearts rest. And this many among the heathen acutely felt.
Similarly we hear today of heathen in China sighing for rest of soul; yet not knowing, or in any way guessing what rest is as God gives it. The State religion exists, but often as a mere empty show, so that the moment the service to Buddha is ended, the very priests that chanted it together throng around the foreigner to hear him preach Christ. The pagans of Rome's olden days, like the pagans of China today, were dissatisfied, and this condition of mind was one preparation used by God for their reception of His salvation. However, the State religion, even if not really believed, had to be obeyed, and not to do this often entailed suffering even to death.
The Jews held the early Christians in supreme hatred; they called them The Way. To them Christ crucified was a stumbling-block. The Gentiles despised the gospel—to them it was foolishness—simple nonsense. They neither believed in the cross of Christ meeting the need of man—for they had no notion of God's righteousness—nor in Christ's resurrection, for they had no idea of God's power. But the contempt in which the Christians were held by the heathen began to be changed for hatred of them. The Christians had no State religion—no religious position whatever—and no religion the State could own, for they affirmed they belonged to heaven! They had no glorious temples; they were themselves stones of God's temple! They possessed no signs of greatness the world could recognize; the sign of their union was their love one for another.
It was urged against them, that they had no gods to worship, but one Christ who had died, whom they affirmed to be alive! And the strange puzzle of the heathen of this day, when they see Christians pray to the unseen God and not to or before an image, picture, or relic, helps us to comprehend this old pagan difficulty. Idols are the “abomination” of Scripture, they are the works of man's hands, and misrepresentations of God, and "what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God." (2 Cor. 6:1616And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. (2 Corinthians 6:16))
Then it was said of them, They were moody and sour, and haters of mankind, they would not join in the homage of the gods, or partake in the shows and displays of the times. They were not fit to live who so regarded life. .Ah! if some of those ancient pagans could now visit Christendom, and see the theatrical performances and other gaieties there proceeding in church or chapel room, under the presiding care of Christian teachers, they would not be able to recognize the Christianity they hated.
But the sour and moody Christians loved one another, cared one for another, served one another, and they worshipped God in Spirit and in truth, and waited for His Son from heaven.
How came this strange and new faith to grow upon the earth? What was it that caused these churches of Christ, like stars in the rents of a cloudy midnight, to shine in the gloom of paganism, holding forth the word of life? God the Holy Spirit was among them! The Holy Spirit of the living God dwelt in the church! Hence the psalms and hymns and spiritual songs; hence the joy unspeakable and full of glory. The word of God was proclaimed in the energy of the Spirit by the apostles and their coadjutors; the hearts of men were opened to it to believe the things spoken, and "joy in the Holy Ghost” filled them.
Never let us forget, as we look back upon the early days of the church, that God the Spirit was the power by which the " word of God grew mightily and prevailed," or that the early church was supplied with divine power to effect its mission. In it were men who had spiritual gifts; some to speak in tongues, and thus ability to proclaim Christ and Him crucified in various languages ; others to heal the sick, others to cast out demons, and thus to show what Christ's kingdom will be like when He establishes it upon the suffering earth. No picture that we can portray of an early church of Christ could be of the slightest practical value, did it not appear before our eyes glowing with the power and the grace of the Spirit of God; so let us seek to think more and more of the Holy Spirit in His wonderful ways in those early days.