The Church must have had a glorious and exciting beginning with all the miraculous healings and the subsequent supernatural phenomenon which gave it the necessary confirmation and validation in the early beginning. There was an “Apocalyptic” fervor and expectation of a cataclysmic final battle between good and evil, culmination in the end of the world and a resurrection of those who died to stand before the great God and Judge of Heaven and Earth, to receive the reward of damnation or everlasting life. This belief was bolstered by persecutions and the martyrdom of many saints as well as those who were eyewitnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ and Savior when he walked and taught among those in the region of the Sea of Galilee. The preaching of the gospel and a resurrected Jewish rabbi put to death by Pontius Pilate but believed to be the Son of God spread not only throughout Judea, but as far as Turkey, Italy, the Balkans, Yugoslavia, Northern Africa, the Adriatic Seacoast and the Mediterranean.
Like any great religious or social movement, there has to be a continuity plan in place for such an event to continue its momentum and not run out of steam; becoming nothing more than a footnote in history and a momentary distraction from the real problems people might have been facing at that time. The Apostle Paul mentions James, Cephas, and John as ‘pillars’ of the Church (Galatians 1: 9), but his importance to what we know as Christianity cannot be overstated and is of enormous value because much of what is known and taught doctrinally is largely based upon his letters in the New Testament. Over the span of Paul’s [Saul of Tarsus] life, some interesting changes had taken place. At first, he had an almost irrational zeal bordering on insanity (Acts 26: 9-11; Galatians 1: 13) to destroy it but became instead one of its greatest defenders.
Paul becomes acquainted with Barnabas after arriving in Jerusalem from Damascus, after his conversion to the faith (Acts 9: 22-31). Paul and Barnabas work together until they have a serious blowup over taking John Mark with them on the “SECOND EUROPEAN MISSION”; who was coincidentally, Barnabas’ cousin (Cp. Colossians 4: 10). From this point the Biblical record does not mention anything more about Barnabas and Paul having any more contact with each other; nor is there anything more about Barnabas other than he parted from Paul and set sail to Cyprus with John Mark (Acts 15: 40).
Next, he teams up with Silas next (Acts 15: 40) and they work together for several years, and Silas and Timothy came down to Paul in Ephesus (“ASIA”) from MACEDONIA (“Thessalonica”) as recorded in Acts 18: 5-11. The last time any correspondence from Paul that mentions Silas is in II Corinthians 1: 19; which means, that Silas and Timothy must have joined Paul in Corinth after the work in Ephesus. Interestingly, Silas (“Silvanus”) shows up again, but this time he is associated with the Apostle Peter who assists in the writing of this letter (I Peter 5: 12). The dating between the Corinthian letter and the epistle of Peter is around ten years, so it is curious why Silas is spending time with the Apostle Peter instead of continuing to accompany Paul; although Paul it seems, didn’t suffer from a lack of having a supply of people to choose from to help him in the ministry.
As the years roll on, the mortality of its pillars become a reality, as with the Apostle Paul (II Timothy 4: 6; Philemon 9), and the Apostle Peter (II Peter 1: 14), and with some departing from the ‘faith,’ how would the Church be guided in the future, and by whom? There aren’t any Scriptural records of the activities of the Church in Judea, Galilee, Samaria, Syria beyond the little information presented in the book of ACTS in those early years, and with the death of the Apostles and prophets of that generation, the Church might have reverted wholly back to orthodox Judaism, rabbinic, Talmudic, Essenes or some other religion altogether. The same might be said about a few of the congregations started by the Apostle Paul, but there is some indication that a few individuals might have carried on the work; namely, Timothy, Aristarchus, Tychicus, and Titus. Timothy and Titus were addressed to in letters called ‘Pastoral Epistles,’ which seem to indicate that Paul expected them to exercise some kind of ecclesiastical authority among the believers as they went to correct false teaching or ordain church leaders. Tychicus must have been someone of importance because he was mentioned quite often as well as Aristarchus.
Perhaps what is not so readily apparent is that all of the aforementioned individuals are Greeks, and the unforeseen consequences is that a Greek conceptual framework will encompass Jewish theology that is most probably different from the original Aramaic or Hebrew thought. It is indeed ironic that someone who considered himself as in his own words, “A Hebrew of Hebrews” (Cp. Philippians 3: 5) and brought up in the strictest sect of the Pharisees (Cp. Acts 26: 5), would have entrusted the interpretation and teaching from the Jewish Sacred Scriptures to those who were not even proselytes or God-fearing Greeks, to be some of the ones responsible for the dissemination of this ‘TRUTH’ to future generations of believers; Jews and Gentiles alike.
Robert Randle
776 Commerce St. #B-11
Tacoma, WA 98402
July 25, 2008
pbks@hotmail.com
