Church History & Renewal
- James Collazo
- May 31, 2021
- 18 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
Introduction
While traveling through the district of Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asked his disciples who people said he was. After the others struggled to answer, Simon, son of Jonah, correctly declared, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God" (Matt. 16:16). Jesus responded by saying, "You are Peter" (Greek: Petros, G4074) and identified him as the "rock" (Greek: petra, G4073) of his church, which will withstand all forces of evil (Matt. 16:18). This passage is the first New Testament passage to speak explicitly about the church, making it foundational for later Christian ecclesiology. This article examines early church history as a guide to church renewal by engaging with the faith and practices of the first-century church.
After Peter's confession, the early church built its foundation on recognizing Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of the living God. This moment not only established Peter as a leader among the disciples but also set the stage for the growth of the Christian community. As the church spread across the Roman Empire, it faced many challenges, including persecution, doctrinal disputes, and cultural opposition. Yet the dedication of early Christians to Jesus' teachings and the gospel enabled the church to endure and flourish. By studying the faith and practices of these first believers, Christians today can learn how to navigate the modern world while remaining faithful to timeless truths. Today's church can draw inspiration and guidance from this rich legacy in discipleship, community, and mission.
Why the First Century?
Since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the mid-twentieth century, many biblical scholars and Christian theologians have reevaluated some longstanding assumptions. This discovery came soon after World War II, when the world learned that Nazi Germany had killed about six million Jews across Europe. Both the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Holocaust prompted scholars to reconsider long-held scholarly assumptions that had caused them to overlook the first-century contexts of Jesus and the gospel accounts (see "Auschwitz & Biblical Studies"). Many theologians in the West, Roman Catholics and Protestants alike, began reexamining supersessionist interpretations.
Supersessionism is the idea that the church has replaced ethnic Israel as God's chosen people (see "Israel: Election & Identity"). The Holocaust also prompted many Christians to reconsider theological traditions that had contributed to antisemitism. This event awakened a new awareness: Jesus and his original disciples were Jewish. Many Christians increasingly emphasized Jesus' first-century Jewish identity rather than traditional European artistic portrayals. Many Christian scholars studied the historical Jesus in the gospel accounts and consulted Jewish scholars and rabbis to recover Jewish perspectives that had been overlooked for nearly two thousand years. They also examined first-century customs and ideas that still shape Judaism today.
To develop a proper understanding of the church, Christians should look to the first century and recognize that Jesus was a Jewish man living under the Roman Empire. Over the following centuries, Christianity spread across the world and took on many different forms. Richard C. Halverson, a Presbyterian minister who served as the sixtieth United States Senate chaplain, observed:
In the beginning, the church was a fellowship of men and women centering on the living Christ. They had a personal and vital relationship with the Lord, and it transformed their lives and the world around them. Then the church moved to Greece, where it became a philosophy. Then, it moved to Rome, where it became an institution. Next, it moved to Europe, where it became a culture. Finally, it moved to America, where it has become an enterprise (in Dunnam, pp. 31–32; Larson, p. 50).
Simply put, the first disciples of Jesus were Jews and Gentiles who came together in unity after encountering God himself. As Christianity spread to new regions, it often absorbed local customs and practices. While this diversity might seem positive, it sometimes made the teachings of Jesus and the apostles more confusing or vague. In line with Halverson's observation, the church assumed a slightly different identity each time it entered a new territory. Considering Jesus' words, "My yoke is easy to bear, and my burden is light" (Matt. 11:30), this issue demands our attention.
God sent his Son, Jesus, to the Roman province of Judea in the first century for a specific purpose. From a biblical perspective, Jesus entered history at a time when Judea stood under Roman rule and possessed a well-developed religious and legal tradition. According to the traditional Hebrew calendar, Jesus was born between 3757–3762 AM (4 BC–1 BC). The term "first century" is a later estimate based on the Gregorian calendar, whereas Jews reckon years from the creation of the world, as described in Genesis.
Jesus entered history at a pivotal moment, just before the Romans destroyed the temple and scattered the Jewish people across the world. The prophet Daniel was understood by many Jews and Christians as predicting that an empire stronger than Babylon, Persia, or Greece would conquer Israel and desecrate the temple (Dan. 9:27; Matt. 24:15). In AD 70, Roman general Titus sacked the temple, an event still remembered today: Jews mourn at the Western Wall, and the Arch of Titus in Rome commemorates the destruction.
Jesus warned Israel's leaders that the temple was in its final days, as he explained at the Mount of Olives (Matt. 24:1–25:46; Mark 13:1–37; Luke 21:5–36). He also predicted that Gentiles would occupy Jerusalem until God determined its fate (Luke 21:24), a situation that changed significantly from a geopolitical standpoint with the establishment of the modern State of Israel in 1948, coinciding with modern discoveries like the Dead Sea Scrolls. The temple mattered because it symbolized God's dwelling presence (Hebrew: Shekinah, H7931). The Jewish people enjoyed the privilege of having God dwell within their borders, unlike other nations. Jesus changed the way God's presence worked. He no longer limited himself to a single location or nation but revealed his will to everyone (John 4:21–24). Jesus warned the Jewish leaders that the Romans would soon destroy the temple and taught that God wants everyone to worship him in spirit and truth, no matter where they are (John 4:24). In Christian theology, Jesus embodies God's presence among his people.
For this reason, Jesus promised, "For where two or three gather in my name, there I am with them" (Matt. 18:20). A later rabbinic saying expresses a similar idea: "If two sit together and there are words of Torah [spoken] between them, then the Shekinah abides among them, as it is said" (m. Avot 3:3). The first-century Jewish historian Josephus recorded events surrounding the temple's fall in AD 70. He reported a brilliant light shining around the altar in the Holy of Holies for about thirty minutes before it vanished. He also reported that the brass temple gate—so heavy it took twenty men to move—opened on its own around midnight. Josephus presents these events as extraordinary omens preceding the temple's destruction. According to Josephus, a booming voice in the inner court declared, "Let us remove hence" (B.J. 6.5.3), i.e., "Let's get out of here." Many Christians have understood these reported signs as indicating that God's presence had departed from the temple before its destruction.
A Galilean Fellowship
Christians traditionally understand Pentecost as the birth of the church. The Holy Spirit gave each apostle spiritual gifts and inspired them to witness boldly to Christ. The apostle Peter preached a powerful sermon to many Jews from the Mediterranean and the Near East. As a result, the earliest disciples met in fellowship and shared their possessions (Acts 2). Although this practice lasted only a short time, it set a precedent for shared meals and giving that the church would continue for generations. The disciples began preaching to other Jews immediately after Pentecost, fifty days after Passover (Acts 1–2). The movement came to be known as "the Way," likely echoing Jesus' words, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (Acts 9:2; 18:25–26; 19:9, 23; 22:4; cf. John 14:6).
Breaking bread was the most unifying practice in the first-century church. Jesus instructed his followers to remember his death and resurrection in the partaking of bread and wine, which signified his body and blood (Luke 22:19; 1 Cor. 11:24). The disciples whom Christ met on the road to Emmaus only recognized him once he broke bread for a shared meal, not when they were walking with him (Luke 24:13–35). In Luke's account, Jesus breaks bread but is not described as drinking wine (Luke 24:30–31). Likewise, he taught his disciples about this kingdom in a series of parables, in which marriage banquets were the central theme (Matt. 22:1–14; 24:42–51; 25:1–13; Mark 13:34–37; Luke 12:35–48; 14:7–24). The marriage dinner was a symbolic sign of God's kingdom, and the love feasts the early church shared also represented its joy in anticipation of a final victory with Christ. The wedding meal at Cana, where Jesus turned water into wine (John 2:1–12), also foreshadowed the church's meeting with him on the last day.
So when the apostle Paul observed how the wealthier members exploited the poorer ones through the love feasts, he rebuked them harshly for abusing God's image (1 Cor. 11:17–22). By this time, the Way had moved from its center in Jerusalem to all of Galilee, Judea, Phoenicia, and Samaria (Acts 9:31; 15:3). Luke consistently portrays the church (Greek: ekklēsia, G1577) as the complete assembly of God's people rather than merely its leaders. Although the adjective katholikos ("universal" or "according to the whole") does not appear in the New Testament, it derives from the Greek preposition kata (2596, "according to") and the adjective holos (G3650, "whole" or "entire"), literally meaning "according to the whole." This concept is reflected in the Acts of the Apostles as the church spreads across regions while remaining one body (Acts 9:31). Likewise, during the Council of Jerusalem, Paul and Barnabas were welcomed not only by the apostles and elders but also by the church as a whole (Acts 15:4). In Luke's account, the church is the entire fellowship of believers united in Christ, with its leaders serving within that community rather than constituting it.
The church as a fellowship was not without its leaders. When the Jewish believers disagreed with Paul over the admission of Gentiles, they went to Jerusalem to meet with James. At the council that met around AD 50, James oversaw the debate among the apostles and elders and presented his resolution based on the guidelines for foreigners living in Israel as outlined in the Law of Moses (Acts 15; cf. Lev. 17–18). James functioned as the leading elder of the Jerusalem church. As Jesus' brother, he held considerable authority, even among the twelve apostles (Gal. 1:18–19), primarily because he remained in Israel's holiest city to lead the church there. However, most of the overseers (Greek: episkopos, G1985) in the first century were local, overseeing a network of home gatherings (Acts 20:28). Whenever the New Testament writers used the word "church," they referred to all the Christians living in a given city.
Paul addressed his letters to the "church at Corinth," the "church at Ephesus," the "church at Colossae," and so on. In this context, the ekklēsia was simply a gathering of believers in Christ. Moreover, the apostles knew that for the overall church to survive, they needed to appoint elders in each local congregation who would preserve the Way for future generations (Acts 14:23; Titus 1:5). The deacon (Greek: diakonos, G1249) helped the overseers and elders with the everyday concerns of individual believers (1 Tim. 3:8–13). The New Testament reflects the emergence of a threefold pattern: overseer, elder, and deacon. However, these offices were intended as functions rather than hierarchical positions. Jesus expressly forbids the apostles from seeking rank in God's kingdom (Matt. 20:26; Mark 10:43), and even Paul routinely downplayed his apostolic role in finding churches (1 Cor. 9). He also described a fivefold ministry of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers (Eph. 4:11).
At the close of the first century, John addressed the seven churches of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea (Rev. 1:11). The number seven in Judaism represents completion, fulfillment, and perfection, as God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. Many interpreters understand the seven churches to symbolize the common church for all time and space (see "A Saga of Seven Churches"). Jesus told each of his disciples to stay the course and repent as soon as they fell into error. He was the cornerstone upon which the prophets and the apostles—the foundation and the pillars—built the church of God on the "rock" of Peter's confession (Eph. 2:19–21; Gal. 2:9; cf. Matt. 16:18). In other words, Christ laid out the template for his people to follow well into the future.
A Greek Philosophy and Roman Institution
Formulating the doctrine of the Trinity marked the church's expansion into Greece and Rome. Between the second and eighth centuries, bishops from the five "apostolic" churches played leading roles in six ecumenical councils to agree on what all Christians should believe about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. All five cities originated within the Roman Empire, although the eastern part of the empire evolved into the Byzantine Empire around AD 330. Metropolitan bishops—a hierarchical office that emerged in the second century—governed the church alongside each city and met regularly to maintain institutional orthodoxy. Greek-speaking bishops focused on linguistic nuances, often claiming to understand Scripture better than their Latin-speaking peers simply because the New Testament authors wrote in Greek.
By contrast, the Latin bishops sought to govern the church through law, maintaining close ties between the bishop of Rome and the emperor following the Edict of Milan in 313. When Greek and Latin bishops met at the councils of Nicaea, Chalcedon, Ephesus, and Constantinople, their cooperation proved fragile. The Latins pressed for swift decisions to strengthen the authority of the bishop of Rome, while the Greeks took time to debate technical language. For example, in defining the doctrine of the Trinity, the five leading churches took nearly two hundred years to agree on the term homoousios (G3674 / G3776, "of one essence") to describe the bond between the Father and the Son (see "Trinity: Jewish & Gentile Views").
However, this uniformity of doctrine failed to unite the church, instead creating further divisions. Rome emphasized its primacy, using Jesus' identification of Peter as the "rock" of his church (Matt. 16:18) to assert authority over the wider church. The Greek-speaking bishops of Antioch, Alexandria, and Constantinople also had ties to emperors, but they usually kept their churches independent of imperial control. Laypeople suffered most from this mix of Greek philosophical debate and Roman legalism.
Bishops too often equated the church with their office, ignoring the voices of ordinary Christians. They imposed rules on baptism and catechesis that the apostles never taught—for instance, requiring newcomers to complete two years of instruction before baptism. In the first-century church, the apostles baptized initiates as soon as possible (Acts 2:41; 8:36–38; 9:18; 16:15, 33). Writing around AD 110, Ignatius of Antioch illustrated how closely some early Christians identified the church with the episcopate: "Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude [of the people] also be; even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the catholic church" (Smyrn. 8.2). Ignatius' use of katholikos built upon the earlier Christian understanding of the church as the whole people of God, but he further emphasized unity under the local bishop as the visible expression of that catholicity. His argument reflects an early belief that bishops served as the legitimate caretakers of the apostolic church. Anyone who agreed with the bishops of Jerusalem, Antioch, Rome, Alexandria, or Constantinople was deemed ecumenical or "inhabiting" the common worldwide church (Greek: oikoumenē, G3625). Those beyond their control were anathema (G331, "given over" to the devil, cf. 1 Cor. 5:5)—pending destruction at the world's end.
A European Culture
The Great Schism of 1054 marked another stage in the church's expansion into Europe, as Greek and Latin bishops excommunicated one another. The Greek branch adopted the name Orthodox, while the Latin branch took the name Catholic. They split Europe nearly in half, with the Latins in the west and the Byzantines in the east. Each side usually stayed separate, though areas like the Balkans became flashpoints of conflict due to overlapping influence. The modern ethnic differences among Bosnians, Croats, and Serbs reflect their former state religions, shaped by alliances with the Ottoman, Roman, or Byzantine Empires. Because the Ottomans—and by extension, Islam—threatened the Byzantines, Rome often exercised unchecked control in Europe until Byzantine missionaries Cyril and Methodius converted the Slavs. After that, the Byzantines ceased to be the primary Orthodox power, and the Russians rose as the new Orthodox stronghold—the "third Rome."
During the Middle Ages, the Catholic and Orthodox churches had a profound influence on every aspect of European culture. They founded the first universities, and the bishop of Rome—known as the "Pope" by Catholics—served as an influential figure, often acting as a kingmaker throughout the Western world. Meanwhile, Muscovite bishops grew closer to the Russian emperor, the new "Czar." Over time, the Christian church became a collection of national and ethnic churches, focusing more on internal politics than on Jesus' teachings.
Even after the sixteenth-century Reformation, when thousands of Western Christians broke away from the authority of the Pope, Protestants continued to organize their churches along national and cultural lines. Martin Luther led the Germans, John Calvin the Swiss, Johannes Polyander the Dutch, John Knox the Scots, and Thomas Cranmer the English. The Reformation, however, did not restore a "first-century faith." Instead, it sparked nearly two centuries of unprecedented violence and warfare across Europe, including the Peasants' War (1524–1525), Schmalkaldic Wars (1546–1547), Eighty Years' War (1568–1648), French Wars of Religion (1562–1629), Dutch Revolt (1572–1609), Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), and the English Civil War (1642–1651).
Many factors caused this violence, but the involvement of clergy and theologians shows how compromised the church had become. Jesus taught his disciples, "Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. . . . Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them" (Matt. 7:17, 20). The church's adaptation to local culture contributed to the rise of warfare and eventually led to a gradual secularization.
An American Enterprise
The "prosperity gospel" that many Christians are familiar with today originated primarily in the United States and spread to other parts of the world mainly through American missionaries. The American expression of the church as an organized enterprise began with the Massachusetts Bay Colony, where Puritans and other Protestant minorities fled from Britain to escape religious persecution. While continental Europeans endured nearly two centuries of almost constant war, many Britons migrated to overseas colonies to escape persecution.
From the start, the Puritans were a sect within the Church of England that combined Calvinist and Anabaptist ideas. They opposed the Articles of Religion, especially the one that reads, "The riches and goods of Christians are not common, as touching the right, title, and possession of the same; as certain Anabaptists do falsely boast. Notwithstanding, every man ought, of such things as he possesses, liberally to give alms to the poor, according to his ability" (Art. 38). They wanted all Christians to follow the apostles, who shared everything in common (Acts 2:44–45). When Thomas Cranmer, the author of the Articles, sided with the land-owning gentry, he drew Puritan scorn for generations. As a result, approximately 15,000 Puritans migrated to America between 1620 and 1642 to establish a society based on their beliefs. Most families in Britain were middle-class and prosperous. They founded Massachusetts with a clear religious goal: to create a "city on a hill," following Jesus' call for the church to stand as a visible example of righteousness (Matt. 5:14).
The modern prosperity gospel is closely associated with a form of Christian sacralism—the belief that America's national identity and divine favor are inseparable (see "Sacralism: Patriot or Pilgrim"). This ideology misuses Christianity to sanctify the state and justify national exceptionalism. The predominantly middle-class Puritans valued their work ethic, which was rooted in Calvinist theology. They followed Paul's instruction to work for God rather than seek praise from human supervisors, trusting in the promised reward and inheritance (Col. 3:23–24). Theologians and historians later associated this outlook with the Protestant work ethic, which linked diligent labor, vocation, and material success to Calvinist social ideals.
American civil religion grew from this sacral vision, claiming that God chose the United States as his "city on a hill" and led his new people out of war-torn Europe—a new exodus for a new Israel. This ideology drew from supersessionism, the belief that the church replaced Israel as God's chosen people. By merging Christian sacralism with the Protestant work ethic, national leaders advanced the doctrine of manifest destiny, asserting that God willed the United States to rule the best lands of North America. This narrative justified slavery, the genocide of Native Americans, the exploitation of workers, and racial discrimination. John D. Rockefeller, a Baptist and one of the world's wealthiest men, embodied the church as an American enterprise when he said: "I believe the power to make money is a gift from God . . . to be developed and used to the best of our ability for the good of humankind. . . . I believe it is my duty to make money and still more money and to use the money I make for the good of my fellow man according to the dictates of my conscience."
A Renewal of Fellowship
In the Psalms, King David praised, blessed, and thanked God in the "great congregation" (Ps. 22:25; 26:12; 35:18; 68:26). He testified to God's saving help, faithfulness, salvation, and steadfast love (Ps. 40:10) and celebrated the "good news of righteousness" (Ps. 40:9). In the Septuagint, the Greek word ekklēsia—the term English translators render as "church"—refers to the great congregation of Israel over which David ruled. Paul and other New Testament writers chose ekklēsia rather than sunagōgē (G4864, "synagogue") because it expressed the Way as an expanded Israel, not just a physical building.
Similarly, the church praises and thanks God for his faithfulness, salvation, steadfast love, and the gospel of deliverance in the name of Jesus Christ. The church represents the enduring fellowship of Jesus' disciples and the eschatological wedding feast of God's kingdom. Christ works through the church to honor God and inaugurate his eternal Sabbath. Christians, then, should seek the Holy Spirit even in difficult times, striking a balance between sound teaching and genuine care for others. As the saying goes, "the law of prayer is the law of belief" (Latin: lex orandi, lex credendi), meaning the church fulfills God's intent when it maintains regular connection with him. This connection is established through common prayer guided by the Holy Spirit (John 14:15–21), the sacraments of baptism and communion, particularly the forgiveness of sins (Acts 5:31), and care for the poor (Matt. 25:31–46).
The true church is not a hierarchy or a building but the temple of Jesus' body, where God reveals his presence (John 2:21). His disciples are smaller temples of the Holy Spirit, forming a unified whole (1 Cor. 6:19). On the last day, Christ will marry his church in God's heavenly city, the new Jerusalem, where he will never remove his presence (Rev. 21:2, 9). Meanwhile, Christians should stay alert for Jesus, their bridegroom (Matt. 25:1–13).
To do this, they should become faithful disciples, not just followers of a religion. The Greek mathētēs (G3101, "disciple"), which derives from the Greek verb manthanō (G3129) meaning "to learn," refers to someone who makes a personal commitment to Jesus (Luke 14:28). To belong to God's kingdom, one should adopt the story of Jesus' life and teaching as one's own. Renewal should call the church to rise. Jesus commissioned this community to baptize and make disciples, immersing them in God's long history of deliverance and healing (Matt. 28:19–20). The church that deserves revival is not an organization, culture, or business but a fellowship of God's people living under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
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