Stones in the Stream: An Overview of the Flow of Christian History as Examined Through the Lives of Twenty-Two Men and Women That Altered Its Course

By Rob Wingerter

The history of Christianity flows through time altered by individuals like a stream encountering rocks in its path. Small stones might only make a ripple. Boulders may literally alter the course of the stream. This book takes a look at the flow of Christian history by examining the lives of twenty-two men and women and how they impacted Christianity over the last two thousand years.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Oct 6, 2016
• ISBN: 9781512757613

Rob Wingerter

Rob Wingerter is founder and president of Mahseh Ministries Inc., which has operated a Christian retreat center in northern Indiana since 2006. Rob is a CPA and attorney as well as a graduate of Covenant Theological Seminary. Rob was a partner at Ernst & Young LLP for twenty-five years before retiring in 2012. Rob’s previous book is Regaining Your Spiritual Poise, which explores the need for spiritual retreat in the life of Christians.

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

Polycarp

(AD 69-155)

The fact that Christianity survived from infancy is a miracle from a purely human perspective. On the original Christmas eve, the world of two thousand plus years ago was a place of many gods. Most were undependable and exhibited many of the shortcomings of lesser humanity. They drank to excess, cheated, lied, and in all other ways, fell short of setting an appropriate moral example to those who worshipped them. In fact, these gods often paid little attention to the world around them unless they deemed its inhabitants were paying too little attention to them.

Certainly, there were exceptions. The Jews in the West and the Zoroastrians in the East both opted for a monotheistic god that was morally demanding and intercessory in behavior. However, these marginally insignificant faiths were surrounded by a world that was overwhelmingly pagan.² Among this plethora of options, it is hard to imagine that a newly established faith that had at its core a man who died an ignoble death on a Roman cross would have survived much beyond a generation.

To further compound the issue, to the ruling Romans, Christians (initially a derogatory term for the followers of Jesus Christ) were thought to be nothing more than just one more sect of what appeared to be a schizophrenic Jewish faith. Although Judaism was the only fully developed monotheistic religion within the Roman Empire, there were many sects or divisions within that faith. To an outsider, there would have appeared to be as much religious diversity in Jerusalem as there was in Rome. Out of such a milieu, how did Christianity emerge as the modern world’s largest religion? In particular, how did this upstart religion survive its first few precious decades of existence? Reviewing the life and times of one of these early church fathers, specifically Polycarp of Smyrna, will give us some insights.

The Church at the End of the Apostolic Era

The apostle John was the last of the twelve disciples of Jesus Christ to die. In fact, he was the only one not to be martyred. Although banished to the remote island of Patmos, he was to live a long life, and by church tradition, he died in his nineties in approximately the year AD 100. The church was at a critical juncture, as now the leadership of the foundling church would pass to the hands of individuals who had not been apostles (men taught directly by Jesus Christ.) Fortunately, John had seen the necessity of appointing men who would hold true to the faith. One of those individuals was a young man named Polycarp.

Little is known of Polycarp’s early personal life. His birth year is cited as AD 69. Church tradition has it that he first met the apostle John in Ephesus when he was a teenager and that John adopted him as a personal student. It is known that John was banished to Patmos during the reign of the Emperor Domitian sometime between AD 90 and 95, which would have allowed Polycarp to learn under John’s tutelage for as much as a decade. Church tradition also has it that John appointed Polycarp to the position of Bishop of Smyrna. This was certainly high praise for a man of no more than thirty years of age at the time.

Smyrna was located about thirty-five miles north of Ephesus and had a port open to the Aegean Sea. Originally founded by the Greeks, by the time of the Romans, it had become an important commercial city with a population of more than a hundred thousand. Many believe Paul stopped there on his third missionary journey, and it had a thriving Christian church at the time Polycarp became bishop.

Smyrna is also one of the seven churches to receive a letter from the apostle John in the book of Revelation. As we will see as the life of Polycarp unfolds, the letter clearly foretells of a time of tribulation to come.

Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.³

Persecution in the Early Church

Church history records that from AD 64 and the initial persecution under Nero until the Edict of Milan in AD 313, the Christian church suffered multiple rounds of persecution under the Roman emperors. These series of tribulations were sporadic and not always universal throughout the Roman Empire. Out of the fifty-four emperors that ruled between AD 30 and 311, only about a dozen mounted active campaigns of persecution.

What triggered these outbursts of hostility? To best understand, it is important to comprehend the mind-set of most of these emperors. Most of these men suspected that almost everyone was plotting against them, which is likely correct. Of the seventy-six emperors who ascended to the throne from the reign of Augustus in 44 BC to Constantine in AD 306, only nineteen died of natural causes. Seven were killed in battle. Forty-four were murdered, and six were forced to commit suicide.⁴

One way the emperors hoped to control the empire was through promotion of a civil type of piety to the empire and the emperor. Although generally tolerant to all religious beliefs, the one thing that the emperors did fear was a piety to some other power to the exclusion of the power of Rome. As such, this new faith of Christianity was viewed with great suspicion and mistrust because its singular focus was on one true God that had redeemed mankind through the sacrifice of His Son on a Roman cross. At various times this mistrust exploded into outright persecution. It is for Polycarp’s place in history as a victim of such persecution that he is particularly well known.

The Persecution and Death of Polycarp

Trajan was the Roman Emperor from AD 98 to 117. In AD 111, one of his appointed governors (Pliny the Younger) wrote to him from what is now Turkey, asking him for direction on how he was to deal with Christians. When he arrived in Bithynia, he found the pagan temples almost deserted and the Christian faith flourishing. Trajan’s response was brief and politically practical. When it comes to punishing Christians, there is no general rule that is valid in every situation. By the nature of the crime, it wasn’t necessary or prudent for the governor to seek out those who professed to be Christians. However, if people were brought before him and accused of being a follower of Christ, they would be given the chance to recant. If they did so and agreed to honor the emperor with a simple pledge of obedience, then no punishment was required. If they refused to see the errors of their ways, then some degree of punishment was required depending on how belligerent the individual became. Furthermore, anonymous accusations were ignored, as they represented bad legal precedent, but officials acted upon verified accusations when pressed.

Trajan’s response surely had a certain political expediency about it. By the mere fact that they existed, Christians were not committing any crime against society or the state. Therefore, taking up the precious resources of the state to pursue potential violators was not efficient. However, if people were brought forward and failed to recant and honor the state, they had to be punished, as they were affronts to the power of the state and the emperor. Trajan’s approach was to stand as the official policy of the Roman Empire through the end of the second century.⁵

We have a detailed account of how this policy was eventually applied to Polycarp in the Ecclesiastical History written by Eusebius of Caesarea. Eusebius is referred to as the Father of Church History and is said to have compiled his writing based on letters of eyewitnesses of the events.

As the story goes, a group of Christians had been rounded up by the local Roman proconsul Statius Quadratus. As outlined in Trajan’s law, they were requested to recant and offer worship to the Roman gods. All of them refused and were subjected to torture. However, even under torture, they refused to turn away from their faith and instead preferred resting in Christ. Eventually, the group was brought before the crowds at the arena in Smyrna and offered one last chance to repent. Again, they refused, saying that they would prefer death to continued life in a world that would allow such injustice to occur. This only further inflamed the crowds, and they cried out, Death to the atheists! (that is, those who had no visible gods) and, Bring us Polycarp!

Initially, on the advice of members of his church, Polycarp fled into hiding. However, when he was discovered a few days later, he decided it was the will of God that he should not run and hide, and he remained until the Roman soldiers came to arrest him. In fact, when the arresting officers came, it was mealtime, and he invited them to sit and dine so that they would not go hungry. Plus he could spend the hour in prayer.

When Polycarp was brought before Quadratus, he was asked to simply state, Caesar is Lord, and then he would be released. However, he refused. Quadratus continued to press him, pointing out his advanced age and the futility of dying. He then requested that Polycarp say to the angry crowd around him, Out with the atheists! To which Polycarp pointed to the crowd and repeated the words, Yes, out with the atheists. Again, the infuriated Quadratus asked him to deny Christ and praise the emperor, and Polycarp replied, For eighty-six years I have served Him, and He has done me no evil. How could I curse my King, who has saved me?

Now angered and encouraged by the shouting crowd, Quadratus threatened to burn him alive if Polycarp did not recant. He simply answered that the flames he might suffer would be out in an hour, but the flames that awaited those who failed to follow Jesus Christ would burn for eternity.

Quadratus then ordered that Polycarp be nailed to a post and burned alive. Polycarp replied that there was no need to nail him, for he would not seek relief from the flames. He then stated just prior to his being tied to the post, Polycarp play the man. As the flames were being lit, he shouted Lord Sovereign God … I thank you that you have deemed me worthy of the moment … so that I might share in the cup of Christ!⁶

Eusebius account is supplemented by church tradition that states once the flames started, a mysterious wind came up that kept the flames from actually touching Polycarp. Quadratus then ordered that Polycarp be pierced by a sword, and when he was, a flood of blood came forth that extinguished the flames at his feet. Polycarp was dead, but his impact on the early church was to live on.

The Influence of Polycarp

Polycarp occupies an important place in the history of the early Christian church. As one of the pre-Nicene fathers, he provided a direct link between the apostles and the next generation of theologians and apologists who were to formulate and record the orthodox doctrine of the church. One such man that Polycarp heavily influenced was the great second-century apologist Irenaeus of Lyon (AD 130–202). Irenaeus as a young man had heard Polycarp speak and had been greatly impacted by him. As he states,

I can even describe the place where the blessed Polycarp used to sit and converse … his general way of life and personal appearance, even the lectures he delivered to the people. I remember how he would speak of his familiar interchange with John and the rest of those who had seen the Lord. He would call their words to remembrance, anything he had heard from them concerning the Lord, both with regard to his miracles and his teaching. What Polycarp received from the eye witnesses of the word of life, he would recount in harmony with the Scriptures.⁷

Irenaeus would go on to defend the faith against the first great heretics—the Gnostics—in his pivotal work Against Heresies.

Polycarp was also an early theologian of the Christian faith himself. We know from Irenaeus that Polycarp also distributed letters to the other churches in the region in an attempt to keep the newly founded religion true to the doctrines of the Scriptures. Only one of these letters has survived to this time—his Letter to the Philippi. However, even when reviewing just this one short document, we can get a sense of the depth of his spirit and his blend of wisdom and a caring heart. The letter is full of exhortations to the members of the church to remain faithful during times of trial. The heart of a shepherd urging the saints on to faithful living is evident throughout the letter.

As a theologian, Polycarp helped to ground the early church in doctrine that is accepted by all branches of the Christian faith. This is evident in how Polycarp is held in wide esteem by the Eastern Orthodox churches, Oriental Orthodox churches, Church of God groups, Sabbatarian groups, mainstream Protestants, and Catholics alike. His universal appeal speaks to the foundational message of the doctrines of the Christian faith he espoused.

The Spread of the Christian Faith

Returning to the first question of this chapter, how did the actions of Polycarp and others like him aid in the spread of the Christian faith? Before examining this question, it would be helpful to examine (in terms of numbers) the spread of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire during the first three hundred years after the birth of Christ.⁸

Once the conversion of Constantine occurs in AD 312, followed by the Edict of Milan the subsequent year, Christianity became socially acceptable among the elite, and it is estimated that by AD 350, the majority of the Roman Empire (as many as thirty million people) were at least nominally Christian.⁹

This chart helps illustrate both the precarious position of the early church as a tiny minority of the citizenry and the compounding effect of a growth rate of 40 percent per decade. As such, individuals such as Polycarp were critical in not only sustaining the faith but in preserving orthodox doctrine. Why did Christianity persevere from a human perspective? Historians have offered several answers.

1. The Christian church was different from all other religions in more ways than just its monotheistic bent. The gospel message of a personal God that cared for His creation and loved them was unique. The promise of an afterlife that envisioned eternal happiness and communion with this loving God offered hope that no other religion did.

2. In a world almost entirely lacking in social services, the Christian example of caring for one’s brother offered fellowship and security in a world full of pain and suffering. The impious Galileans support not only their poor, complained pagan emperor Julian, but ours as well.¹⁰ Consequently, Christians were living longer and healthier lives.

3. Women greatly outnumbered men among the early converts. In this society men greatly outnumbered women because of the practice of female infanticide. Christians practiced neither abortion nor infanticide. In fact, women in Christian communities enjoyed an elevated status and more security than women in the community at large. Women also held positions of leadership within the church as deaconesses. This equalizing treatment appealed too many of the women who saw nothing in the pagan religions that would offer them hope.

4. The Christian church offered a strong sense of community in a disorganized and chaotic world. This was particularly important in the urban centers of the time. Greco-Roman cities were terribly overcrowded, and living conditions were horrid. For those who were members of the Christian faith, the subculture they created offered relief from this day-to-day misery. In addition, when individuals arrived in a new city, often Christians were the only ones to reach out and offer precious food and shelter, further adding to their reputation as a hospitable and loving people.

5. Martyrdom played a crucial role in solidifying the faith of early believers. In reality, over the first 250 years of the church, the actual number of martyrs was not as great as today’s Christians might have imagined. Using the chart previously outlined, at Polycarp’s death the entire Christian population in the empire was only approximately forty thousand people. The actual number of martyrs would have been in the hundreds, not the thousands.¹¹ But Christians would recognize that to follow the tenets of the faith was to potentially result in significant persecution. This would eliminate those who were not serious about their faith. The shared emotional experience during the house worship services that occurred in the early church would have had a great impact on those sharing a common risk and seeking a common reward.

Behind all of these tangible, sociological, and intellectual reasons for the growth of the church stood, of course, the real reason for the growth. Christianity is true, and for those who seek and follow Jesus Christ, the power of the Holy Spirit acted in their lives to change them and the world around them. Christian conversion is a spiritual event after all.

The reality of this faith is testified by eyewitnesses of Polycarp who in turn preserved and passed the good news on to the next generation. He truly was a man who loved the Lord.

CHAPTER 2

Origen

(AD 182-254)

Today’s Christians often take for granted many of the foundational doctrines of their faith. What is considered orthodox teaching in their church or denomination is typically well settled and noncontroversial. Certainly, the tenets of the Christian faith are openly challenged by nonbelievers, but among those who are professing Christians, certain key doctrines of a triune God, nature of the person of Jesus Christ, and fundamental inerrancy of the Bible are assumed. But a quick review of church history would certainly evidence that this has not always been the case.

Even a partial list of the heresies that plagued the church over the centuries validates that the fight over orthodoxy was long and arduous. Particularly prone to misinterpretation is the true person of Jesus Christ and defining His divine and human nature. These heretical interpretations varied from positions that argued that Christ was fully divine (Docetists, Apollinarians, and Modalists) to those who argued He was fully human (Ebionites, Adoptionists, and Arians.)¹² In chapter 3, we will look in detail at how Athanasius combated the particular heresy of Arianism.

There were numerous heresies that attacked the nature of God and his relationship with man. Gnostics believed that only those who had been gifted with special mystical knowledge could have the insight to eternal salvation. The followers of second-century Marcion held that the creator Jehovah of the Old Testament was not the God of Christianity since all material things were evil and a righteous God would not have created the tangible world.

Other critics of orthodoxy set forth alternatives to the ideas of how man was reconciled and came to saving faith. Late-fourth-century monk Pelagius argued that original sin applied only to Adam and Eve and that modern man was born sinless and with a free will to choose not to sin and lead a holy life and thereby earn his salvation. Augustine of Hippo, who we will study in chapter 5, spent his later years combating this heresy.

You may begin to wonder with all of the competing heretical positions floating around how Christianity as we know it today (and as espoused in sacred scriptures) survived intact. This is especially a miracle when you realize that all of the heresies listed previously were in their heyday during the first few hundred years of the church. A heretical statement adopted early in the life of the church would have served to deflect the Christian faith off the course of orthodoxy. Like an arrow released just a degree off course early in flight will miss a large target entirely within fifty yards of travel, so too might the modern Christian faith have looked substantially or entirely different if diligent and God-fearing men had not fought for orthodoxy.

Collectively, these men are referred to as church fathers, and in this chapter we will look at the most prolific writer and one of the most controversial figure of these church fathers—Origen.

Origen’s Early Life

Origen was born in Alexandria in AD 185. His father, Leonidas, was a leader in the Alexandrian church as was his mother, whose name is not known.

At the earliest age possible, Origen was placed in the Catechetical School of Alexandria. The school had been founded by the famed Clement of Alexandria (also recognized as a church father) as a training school for Christian converts. Clement had been educated in classical Greek philosophy and literature and was influenced by the philosophy of Plato and the stoics. He employed many of the teaching principles utilized by the earlier Greek schools of philosophy and adopted them to the study of Christian theology. Origen was Clement’s brightest student, and he showed tremendous intellect from an early age.¹³

In AD 202, sporadic Christian persecution broke out again in the Roman Empire. Clement’s school was closed down, and Origen returned home. Shortly after his return, his father, Leonidas, was seized by Roman soldiers in his home for the crime of sharing his Christian faith. Then current Roman policy allowed Christians to meet and gather by themselves, but proselytizing of non-Christians was strictly forbidden.

An indication of the devotion of Origen to his faith is evidenced by his response to his father’s arrest. Seeing his father being taken away, he jumped from bed and ran to bid his mother farewell as Origen was determined to run after the soldiers and die with his father. His mother pleaded with him not to go, but Origen was determined. Since he had arisen from bed wearing only undergarments, his mother knew that her modest son would not run naked into the street. While he was saying good-bye