Learning from Our Christian Past

Christianity is rooted in history which we need to be aware of:

Sadly far too many believers in the West today tend to think and act as if the Christian church has only been around for the past half century or so. They tend to think that what we do and what we believe as Christians has come about just in recent times, and they are basically oblivious to all that has gone before.

They really seem to not understand that the Christian church today in places like Melbourne or London or Los Angeles may or may not be anything like what the church has been over the past two millennia. And when we ignore or are unaware of the past 2000 years of church history, we will have a very skewed view of things.

A church in 2024 in New Zealand or France or America only exists because of all that has preceded it. If we want to be faithful Christians who serve the Lord to the best of our ability, we must know something about our very long history.

Being aware of the early church and the church fathers is an important part of all this. While not everything done in the first few centuries of the church is meant to be a template for us, we still have so much to learn from them. So discernment is needed.

For example, some believers today might claim that the early Christians were not involved in things like politics. Well, when you are a persecuted minority simply trying to stay alive, you have neither the time nor the ability to enter into politics or engage in great works of art or so many other things.

Learning more about the early church will help us all. Three years ago I listed a number of key volumes on early Christianity: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2021/01/09/early-christianity-persecution-and-lessons-for-today/  

Here I want to look at just one book on this matter, one that appeared after I wrote that article. I refer to Wisdom from the Ancients: 30 Forgotten Lessons from the Early Church by Bryan M. Litfin (Harvest House, 2022). I list his two previous books on the early church in my 2021 article.

I want to simply highlight a few of his chapters. Speaking of what is and is not to be normative for all believers for all times, consider his discussion of Christian art, as well as church buildings, in Chapter 26. Again, the new believers living in a hostile environment could not spend a lot of time and effort on artistic endeavours, nor could they construct elaborate houses of worship.

As to Christian buildings, the early church met wherever they could – in homes, in shops, in forests, and so on. But by the end of the third century, these smaller casual meeting places no longer sufficed, with so many converts coming into the churches. Wealthier bishops began purchasing buildings for larger public worship gatherings.

And in Constantine’s rise to power, he helped in church-building programs. Even old pagan temples were converted into Christian churches. Most Greek and Roman towns had a royal hall (a basilica), and soon many of these were used for Christian worship. So over the centuries things certainly changed.

As to art, we think of so much great artwork today made by Christians, such as the Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo. But earlier on – by the late second century – Christian art was just developing in places like the catacombs. Themes such as the resurrection were commonly featured (Christians were burying their dead in the catacombs).

And I for one cannot pass over what he says about the need for believers to have a good library! As we read in Chapter 11:

Christians have always recognized the importance of books. Our faith has a longstanding relationship with words on a page. Not every religion is like this, nor every culture. When European colonists first landed in the New World, the native people had no written language. They communicated solely through speech and folklore. Even today, many cultures in Africa are characterized more by orality than literacy. Usually, when Christianity comes to such lands, it fosters the invention of a script and the dissemination of written communication. This has been true from the beginning of church history. In fact, it could even be said that the early church was what made books become so widespread in the world. It’s an interesting story that’s well worth telling.

Litfin looks at the importance and development of books and libraries in church history, and reminds us of one key feature from the past:

The ancient church had a pastoral office that few churches still have today. This person was called a lector, literally, a reader. His job was to stand up in church and read the Scriptures aloud. The lections weren’t just short snippets of the Bible, but large portions drawn from both Testaments. Such readings took a long time to proclaim. Sometimes the accounts of martyrs or other holy people were read aloud as well.

Consider also Chapter 6 which reminds us that Christians have always been misfits. The early believers knew that they were strangers in a strange land. While they always sought to have a positive impact on the world around them, they also knew that their real home still awaited them.

But because most Western countries have been so thoroughly Christianised – at least until recently – many believers today have forgotten that we are only visiting this planet, to cite a Larry Norman song. We have grown too comfortable here.

While Christianity lasts forever, cultures do not. The West has now gone full circle, from pagan, to Christian, to pagan again. So we need to learn once more how the early Christians survived and thrived in such an environment. Jesus of course was the ultimate counter-culturalist. By claiming to be Lord, that put him at odds with the powers that be.

The state was seen as a rival lord back then, even a religious body. This is still the case today, and 21^st century Christians need to learn how to be good citizens on the one hand while resisting the false religion of statism on the other.

Chapter 27 looks at the issue of missions and evangelism. Litfin reminds us that “every Christian is called to be a witness, but not every Christian is called to be a missionary.” Indeed, most of the believers in the early church remained within the Roman Empire. Sure, they shared their faith throughout, but not everyone was called to head to faraway lands.

Of course some, like Patrick, did go far away – all the way to Ireland. But whether God calls you to overseas missionary work, or to stay at home, holding a regular job, we all are to be witnesses. The point is to be a voice for the gospel, wherever you are.

The matter of worship is discussed in Chapter 25. When we think of contemporary worship (often complete with rock bands, strobe lights and smoke machines), you might think we are a long way from worship in the early church. Well, yes and no. Litfin reminds us that worship DID evolve over the centuries.

But some basics do remain. Early on the shape of the liturgy was drawn from Jewish worship. That included these items:

-Exclamations of praise and thanksgiving (“Blessed be the LORD forever! Amen and Amen” Psalm 89:52 NASB)”

-Recitation of a “creed” (the Shema, Deuteronomy 6:4)

-Priestly blessings (“The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine on you…” Numbers 6:24-26)

-Readings of Scripture, with exhortations (like Jesus did in Luke 4:14-21; see also Acts 13:15)

-Hymn singing or chanting (more on that in a moment)

-Meal liturgies (such as the Passover Seder, which is what the Last Supper was)

 

All these Jewish observances had counterparts in ancient Christian worship. We have ample evidence for each of them. The practices of Judaism gave a basic coherence and structure to the liturgy of the early Christians.

 

Over time, the worship practices of the ancient church became more standardized and ritualized, especially as Christians began to meet in dedicated church buildings….

Speaking of worship, the Lord’s Supper is examined in Chapter 17. Litfin says communion had five key components: remembrance, spiritual nourishment, charity, table fellowship, and a heavenly banquet. Today we tend to overlook altogether the last three. Says Litfin:

We should notice here that the Lord’s supper wasn’t a tiny wafer and an itty-bitty juice cup. These ancient people were eating actual meals—and this meant more than you might realize. When Jude described the “love feast,” his Greek term was agape, or sacrificial love. Even today, some Christians still celebrate an “agape,” a potluck supper enjoyed as a time of harmonious fellowship and brotherly love. But for the ancient church, this meal was about more than just friendly relations over good food and drink. Consider that the Latin word for agape was caritas, or “charity.” The meal was about charity in every sense of the word: not just the emotion of love, but literal charity for the poor, whose bellies were often empty. One day a week, these impoverished Christians knew that their stomachs would cease growling and they’d have the same full feeling that the rich enjoyed.

And as to the heavenly banquet:

All believers wait eagerly for what John described as the “wedding supper of the Lamb” (Revelation 19:9). For the early Christians, communion was a foretaste of that great eschatological feast. Jesus made this connection clear when he said that his cup of wine at the Last Supper was his last until God’s kingdom would arrive: “I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom” (Matthew 26:29).

 

When the ancients partook of communion, they were displaying their unity with all Christians who had put their hope in the Lord’s glorious return. Everyone awaited this common destiny, even if they weren’t physically present for the ritual….

These and many other lessons looked at by Litfin can tell us much about the early church, and how it compares or contrasts with today’s church. As mentioned, not everything done back then is normative for us today. But many of the things we have lost need to be recovered, and many of the things we have twisted and skewed may need to be restored.

A book like this will greatly assist us in seeing how close or far we are from where we should be.

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