Thursday, October 13, 2005
The struggle with religion in the Early Church
Occasionally I will attempt to tackle some of the foundational philosophical and theological issues concerning Jesus and the End of Religion in a more formal manner. Previously I have posted on "Religion and the division of reality" and "The Struggle with religion in the Hebrew Scriptures".
The first century church interpreted religion and spirituality in the light of Jesus, and from their roots in Hebrew Scripture.
It was their conviction in the resurrection that gave them the freedom and boldness to live as followers of Jesus. In tandem with this was the realization that God was now present with them in the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:32-33). From this foundation they began to express this new world order in very practical ways (Acts 2:42-46).
Rejecting their religion (i.e. Judaism), while liberating for them, was not viewed favorably by the religious establishment that wanted to maintain status quo. The early Jesus-followers began to experience persecution (Acts 6:8-8:1), which led to them fleeing their home base in Jerusalem. As they came in contact with people outside of their religious comfort-zone (i.e. Gentiles) they experienced the tension between the new reality that Jesus brought them and the constraints of their former religion. They had difficulty living out the full implication of Jesus' "Good News", as they had trouble giving up their Jewish practices and accepting Gentiles into the new movement without imposing Jewish religious practices on them (Galatians, Acts 15:1-21).
It was Paul, a former Jew who persecuted Christians, that helped propel the message of Jesus to the Greek, Gentile world. Paul also focused on the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:14, 17), but articulated the anti-religious message of Jesus: Christ is the end of the Law (i.e. religion) (Romans 10:4) and now brings us freedom to live our lives apart from religion (Galatians 5), and the presence of God (i.e. the Holy Spirit) (Galatians 5:18, 2 Corinthians 3:12-18). The Law was considered as having been a temporary necessity leading up to Christ (Galatians 3:19, 23-25). We now live by faith (Romans 1:17), apart from the Law (Romans 3:28, Colossians 2:8-23), in a new way of living before God (i.e. justification). In fact, God is on the side of the ungodly (Romans 5:6-8).
Despite the challenges of incorporating non-Jews into this Jesus movement, the Good News was translated from a Jewish worldview to a Greek worldview (e.g. Acts 17:16-34, Colossians, John, etc.) in order to deal with pertinent philosophical and theological questions (e.g. gnosticism). It was demonstrated that Jesus' message is universal.
Gradually, a new "Christian religion" developed and became entrenched as the expected physical return of Jesus did not occur and persecutions increased (i.e. Timothy, Titus, 2 Peter). The conversion of the Emperor Constantine, and the Edict of Milan completed the evolution from movement to religion. For now the struggle with religion was mostly over. Religion had once again won.
