I
Our drift into profound disunity—
assimilating to the world instead
of heeding what the Scriptures plainly teach—
was with us from the Church’s early days.
Born from a wedding of the law of sin
and unacknowledged pride, disunity
and worldly ways became established in
the Christian movement in the heady years
that followed Constantine’s “conversion”. All
at once, new foci came in view, old threats
dissolved, new challenges appeared, and strange
winds blew against the Church’s sails and changed
her course. From the simplicity and one-
ness the apostles worked so hard to keep,
the Church in the fourth century began
to drift from that clear, worthy path set down
in Acts and the Epistles and maintained,
for the most part, up to the Edict of
Milan. The threat of persecution gone,
or mostly gone, and with a friend decked out
in Roman purple on her side, the Church
took full advantage of the New Day in
ways foreign to her roots and provenance.
II
The churches that we read about in the
New Testament were taught to guard against
the strong allure of property. To give
to one another and the poor, to share
with strangers, and to be content with what
the Lord provided daily was the norm.
The measure of a true believer or
a church was not found in the things they had
but in the works they did, in how they used
their time and property to meet the needs
of others. They assembled in the homes
of members, scattered all throughout each town
or city where the Gospel came with power.
When necessary, or to gather all
the “households” into one, the churches might,
as Paul in Ephesus, seek out a hall
or other place to rent. Their worship was
both simple and profound, and everyone
participated actively. There were
but few facilities that bore the name
of “church.” Their pagan neighbors worshiped in
grand temples or, if one were rich enough,
basilicas constructed for the use
of family and friends—a private club,
called a “society.” Their pagan faith
became associated with their place
of worship just as much as with their gods
or rites. The Christian churches, meeting all
throughout the empire in believers’ homes,
spread everywhere, despite Rome’s efforts to
destroy the faith through persecution. It
appeared the template which the early Church
established would be followed everywhere
the Kingdom of our Lord took root. There were,
as mentioned, Christian “churches” to be found,
especially in large towns and cities. But
the house church was the basic unit of
the Christian movement, just as Pliny, in
his letter to the emperor, observed
in Asia Minor in the century
beyond all the apostles and those who
succeeded them. When Constantine declared
the faith legitimate, perhaps to lend
a hand, he undertook, together with
his mother, a grand effort to erect
church buildings all around the Roman world.
The churches jumped on board, and soon the face
of Christendom was changed, as buildings, like
the ones the pagans gathered in, began
to be the norm for churches, too. Before
long, buildings came to be the center of
the Christian world. The house church ceased to be.
With buildings came elaborate liturgies
and rites—just like the pagans—and a wealth
of art and other paraphernalia to
adorn the buildings and establish their
importance as the centers of the faith.
Meanwhile, the Church’s missions effort stalled,
then halted altogether. Doctrine and
church politics took center stage, as Rome
vied for supremacy and rule of all
the churches. Pride and ego, whetted by
the lust for property and place, propelled
a backlash and regrouping that would break
apart the unity Rome sought and send
the churches down a most unworthy path.
Absimilation had set in, the drift
that happens when the Christian Church turns from
the Scriptures and her ancient heritage
and sets her sails not for the leading of
God’s Spirit, but the spirit of the age.
For reflection or discussion
- The word “church” is never used in the New Testament to refer to a building. Does that matter?
- Yet we are called to build the church, the body of our Lord. What does that entail, if not building buildings?
It’s not sinful to have a building where a body of believers gather for worship, fellowship, and equipping. But when the building becomes “the church”, we show how far we have drifted from the pattern revealed to us in the New Testament. For more insight to the theme of our series on Absimilation, order a copy of our book, The Church Captive from The Ailbe Bookstore, either in book form or as a free PDF for your e-reader. Share today’s podcast with a friend, then get together to discuss it. For the complete text of Absimilation in a free PDF, go to The Ailbe Bookstore.
