Early Church

Scope and Background

The early church is the church of Christianity's first period: the community of faith that formed around the disciples after Jesus was crucified (an event commonly dated to around AD 33) and rose again, together with the church of the following several centuries. When this period ends depends on one's perspective. In the narrowest sense, the term refers only to the first century, when the apostles were active. More commonly, it extends to the legalization of Christianity in 313 or to the Council of Nicaea in 325. It is also sometimes applied to the entire church before the East–West Schism of 1054.

Development

The Apostolic Age

According to the Acts of the Apostles, the disciples experienced the descent of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost while praying in Jerusalem (Acts 2). The number of believers then grew greatly. This community "continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers" (Acts 2:42), and its members shared their possessions with one another. Without purpose-built houses of worship, they often met in believers' homes.

• After the martyrdom of Stephen (Acts 7), persecution scattered the believers, and the gospel spread beyond Jerusalem.
• In Antioch the disciples were first called "Christians" (Acts 11:26).
• Paul founded churches in Asia Minor and Greece, and the letters he sent have been preserved as the Pauline epistles.
• The Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15), generally held to have met around AD 49, decided not to require circumcision of Gentile believers.

The Post-Apostolic Age and Legalization

The period after the apostles, from roughly 100 to 313, is sometimes called the post-apostolic age, that is, the age that succeeded the apostles. During this period Clement of Rome and Ignatius of Antioch wrote letters, and documents such as the Didache (The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles) were composed. Church Fathers (leaders who established the doctrine of the early church), such as Irenaeus of Lyons, systematized Christian teaching in opposition to heresies. Believers suffered repeated persecution under the Roman Empire. In 313 the Edict of Milan, issued under Emperor Constantine, granted Christianity legal recognition, and in the fourth century Theodosius I proclaimed Christianity the state religion.

Outcomes and Influence

• The apostles' letters, which circulated among the churches, were later gathered into the New Testament.
• The custom of gathering on Sunday, the Lord's Day, rather than on the Sabbath became established. How this came about is also treated in the Sabbath and Lord's Day debate.
• The early forms of baptism and the Lord's Supper are studied through ancient documents such as the Didache.
• Orthodox doctrine was refined through controversies with sects such as Ebionism, which denied the divinity of Jesus.

Assessment

• The Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church, on the basis of an unbroken succession of bishops from the apostles (apostolic succession), understand themselves to be the direct continuation of the early church.
• Protestantism generally takes the church as it appears in the New Testament as its standard. Presbyterianism cites, among other things, the fact that "elders" and "overseers" in Acts 20:17, 28 refer to the same people as grounds for church government centered on elders. The Pentecostal tradition emphasizes that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2 and the gifts of the Spirit are a model that should continue today.
• Some caution against excessive idealization of the early church, noting that it too experienced conflicts, such as the dispute over the distribution of relief in Acts 6 and the factionalism addressed in 1 Corinthians 1.
• In Korean Protestant churches, the slogan "Back to the early church" is frequently invoked in discussions of church renewal. The Korean church historian Choi Jong-won has summarized the early church as a community that transcended ethnic and racial boundaries and has proposed that the meaning of this slogan be reexamined from the standpoint of the present day.