Why do Christians go to buildings, sit in rows, and watch one person preach? Is this biblical or just traditional? These are a few of the questions that I began to ask some years back. When I began to seek the answers first Biblically then historically, I put aside my traditional mind set and began to seek truth. Let me show you what I discovered. 

 

The Beginning of the Church 

In the book of Acts 1:4-8, Jesus gave His disciples a commandment to wait in Jerusalem for the baptism in the Holy Spirit. He told them specifically in verse 8, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you: and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.”  

In Acts 2:1-4, the day of Pentecost came and the promise was fulfilled as the disciples were wonderfully baptized with the Holy Spirit. This powerful event is what birthed the church age.  

In Acts 2:41-47, we get our first insight into the habits of the early church. They were daily in the temple and daily in houses. The most interesting fact is that they would not leave Jerusalem. They were addicted to the temple. 

In Acts chapters 6-8, the Bible records the martyrdom of Stephen the deacon. In chapter 8:1 the Bible says, “Now Saul was consenting to his death. At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.” It took an outbreak of persecution to cause the church to obey what Jesus had commanded in Acts 1:8, the persecution forced them to go to Judea and to Samaria. I believe this persecution was a judgment from God against the church for their refusal to go to Judea and Samaria. It is interesting to note that the apostles still did not leave Jerusalem. This is further evidence of how addicted to tradition even the most devoted can be.  

After Acts 8, we have no Biblical evidence that the church worshiped at the temple or in synagogues. They certainly preached Christ there but it is not where the church assembled. As a matter of fact, the overwhelming Biblical evidence is that the church met in homes from Acts 8 until A.D. 317.

Constantine 

Persecution continued in the church world throughout the first three centuries. There is some evidence that when persecution would ease up in certain areas that the early church would gravitate to larger gatherings that would require buildings larger than homes but for the most part the church met in houses. 

In 317 A.D. Constantine, the emperor of Rome, in response to his mother’s conversion to Christianity passed a law known as the “edict of tolerance” and later became known as the edict of Milan. For the first time since Acts 8 Christianity became legal. 

As the persecutions against the church eased Christians began to enter the public life. No one realized just how many Christians there were until now. The Church had not only survived persecution but had thrived! In HOUSES! 

Constantine being a shrewd politician quickly understood the political advantages that it would bring to him to have the masses of Christians on his political side. So he passed another law that made it illegal not to be Christian. He himself was now claiming to be born again. This new law infuriated the pagans who were now being forced to worship with the Christians. In order to appease them, Constantine allowed them to bring their idols into the temples. Constantine built temples and theological institutions at taxpayer expense to advance the cause of Christianity. Then he made it illegal to preach unless you were licensed by the state. Churches rapidly moved from houses to congregations.  

Augustine 

As you can imagine the early church leaders were not easily convinced to be married to the state and their were many skeptics and resistors. But a powerful orator named Augustine rose up who was totally on the side of Constantine. His doctrines are still very influential even to this day. Here is one that is most noteworthy:

The Doctrine of the Two Swords 

This doctrine was taken from Luke 22:35-38, where Jesus instructed His disciples to sell their garment and buy a sword. And the disciples said in verse 38, Lord, look, here are two swords.” And He said to them. “It is enough.”  From this Augustine concluded that the church had two swords, the sword of the church and the sword of the government. This argument was reinforced from another passage from the book of Luke 14:16-24, where Jesus tells the parable of the great supper. When people began to excuse themselves from the feast the master was angry and said in verse 23, “Then the master said to the servant; “Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.” The word “compel” became the key to Augustine’s argument to the doctrine of the two swords that people should be forced by the sword to be Christian. This began a blood bath. The church would march into an area with the Roman soldiers. The clergymen would preach the gospel then threaten with death to all of those who would not be baptized. This is how Rome and the church served their insatiable appetite for control. 

A Question that all Christians should have to Answer: 

Were Constantine and Augustine sent from heaven or from hell? I personally believe that this was from hell! Also, I don’t believe for one second that this is just the Roman Catholic Church; this structure has been adopted by all religions. I believe that the restructuring of the church in 317 A.D. would rightfully be called Babylon.