Jesus - Mosaic StyleThere was no First Century / New Testament “Church”. Yep, that’s right. The “First Century Church”, as we often mean it, did not exist. When someone says: “I think that the church should be more like the church of the first century”, what they really mean is: “I think that the church should match my perception of the church of the first century”. See the subtle difference? Perception.

Usually when we talk about the “early church” we picture of a large group of people who represent a completely uniform way of thinking, acting, dressing, etc. Nothing could be further from the truth. Sure, the Romans brought their culture with them wherever they went, but they also left most indigenous cultures alone. Despite both being in a Roman world, the Christians of Corinth in Greece were in a different culture than the Christians in Alexandria, Egypt. They may have had the same beliefs regarding Jesus, but the way in which they lived those beliefs out was unique.

To put a more modern spin on it: when you look at all the flavours of protestantism, even if you confine your view to the US, you’ll see that they really do agree on most key issues: salvation through grace, the authority of scripture, the divinity of Christ, etc. But are all protestant churches in the US the same? Is a church in Queens, New York exactly the same as a church in Atlanta, Georgia? No. Does the Episcopal Church have the same beliefs about speaking in tongues as the Church of God? No. Christianity isn’t homogeneous now, and it wasn’t homogeneous in the first century, we just wish it was.

Again, I’m not arguing that these people didn’t have a common set of belief systems that defined them as “Christians”. I’m simply saying that our picture of the early church is incomplete if we don’t see the mosaic that made up early Christianity. Which, brings me to the final thought for this post: we have no idea how people in the first century “did” church. Sure, Paul talks to us about preaching, singing, reading, etc. in his letters, but we don’t have any documents that tell us about the everyday life of the “First Century” Church. We don’t even know how “meetings” were carried out. The closest thing that we have is a letter from Pliny the Younger to the Emperor Trajan from the 2nd Century AD. Here’s an excerpt:

However, they assured me that the main of their fault, or of their mistake was this:-That they were wont, on a stated day, to meet together before it was light, and to sing a hymn to Christ, as to a god, alternately; and to oblige themselves by a sacrament [or oath], not to do anything that was ill: but that they would commit no theft, or pilfering, or adultery; that they would not break their promises, or deny what was deposited with them, when it was required back again; after which it was their custom to depart, and to meet again at a common but innocent meal [letter of Pliny the Younger to Emperor Trajan]

Here we have a breakdown of what a normal “Christian gathering” looked like by around 120 AD. They sang, they took an oath, and they ate a meal (i.e. communion). But, don’t forget, this is a sample of a small group of Christians living in Asia Minor. It may or may not represent what other churches were doing.

P.S. This is kind of off the subject, but the Romans thought that when Christians talked about “eating Jesus’ body” and “drinking his blood” they meant it literally. A lot of people thought Christians were cannibals. That’s why the person Pliny interrogates says it was a “common but innocent meal”.