Church History Week One Ppt

The Church Since Pentecost Pentecost to The Council of Nicea, AD 30 – 325 Beal Heights Presbyterian Church Adult Sunday School Class December, 2009 – February, 2010

Course outline 12/06/09 What Is Church History? Why Study It?

01/24/10 The next 200 years

12/13/09 The earliest churches

01/31/10 The New Testament Canon

12/20/09 The crazy '60s

02/07/10 Defining the Faith

12/27/09 The end of the apostolic age

02/14/10 The Late Persecutions

01/03/10 The early church fathers 01/10/10 The practices of the early church 01/17/10 Early heresies

02/21/10 Constantine 02/28/10 The Council of Nicea

Early Church History

12/06/09 What Is Church History? Why Study It?

1. What is church history? The Church Defined: The Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 25 What is the church? WCF 25 1. The catholic or universal church, which is invisible, consists of the whole number of the elect, that have been, are, or shall be gathered into one, under Christ the Head thereof; and is the spouse, the body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.

The Church 2. The visible church, which is also catholic or universal under the gospel (not confined to one nation, as before under the law), consists of all those throughout the world that profess the true religion; and of their children: and is the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, the house and family of God, out of which there is no ordinary possibility of salvation.

The Church

3. Unto this catholic visible church Christ hath given the ministry, oracles, and ordinances of God, for the gathering and perfecting of the saints, in this life, to the end of the world: and doth, by his own presence and Spirit, according to his promise, make them effectual thereunto.

The Church 4. This catholic church hath been sometimes more, sometimes less visible. And particular churches, which are members thereof, are more or less pure, according as the doctrine of the gospel is taught and embraced, ordinances administered, and public worship performed more or less purely in them.

The Church 5. The purest churches under heaven are subject both to mixture and error; and some have so degenerated, as to become no churches of Christ, but synagogues of Satan. Nevertheless, there shall be always a church on earth, to worship God according to his will. 6. There is no other head of the church but the Lord Jesus Christ. Nor can the pope of Rome, in any sense, be head thereof.

The Church ●

Visible / invisible

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Visible

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The Marks of the church

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Word, Sacraments, Worship, Discipline

More or less faithful

2. Why Study Church History? ●

Spiritual growth

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Understanding the issues of our day

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Knowledge of how Scripture came to be

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Theological tools which allow you to evaluate and combat errors Practical tools which you may not have heard of before

Why Study Church History? (cont'd) ●

Knowledge of how your particular church tradition came to be

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Humility and perspective and charity

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Caution when confronted with "new" ideas

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Why this topic can never be covered adequately in this class

3. Source Material For Church History ●

Historical sources –

Scripture

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Inscriptions

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Documents

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Art

Ways of interpreting history ●

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Secular/materialistic –

Optimistic

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Pessimistic

Sacred –

Roman Catholic

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Orthodox

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Catholic Protestant

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Denominational Bias

4. Periods of Church History ●

Ancient –

Apostolic 30-100

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Ante-Nicene 100-313

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Nicene 313-590

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Medieval 590-1517

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Modern  –

Age of Reformation 1517-1648

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Age of Reason and Revival 1648-1789

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Age of Progress 1789-1914

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Age of Ideologies 1914-

5. Background of the NT Church ●

Very cultural and cosmopolitan

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Recently established Empire

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One Empire, one law.

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Free movement all around the Mediterranean

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Roman system of roads

Greek as a universal language (and culture)

Background of the NT Church (cont'd) ●

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Greek philosophy had also weakened the old religions New religions, superstitions, magic and astrology were on the increase in the empire

Background of the NT Church (cont'd) ●

Jewish residency throughout the Empire helped the Christians in several ways –

The Greek Scriptures became the Bible of the early Christians

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Legality of their religion aided the early Christians since they were seen as Jews

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The synagogue system was a ready made model for the early churches