The Path of Apostasy

1
ThePath of Apostasy

• History of the Church (4)

2
1 Timothy 41-6

• Defection from
• The faith
• The truth
• The words of faith
• Good doctrine
• Departure from divine standard
• Rooted in lack of respect for Christs authority,
  Col. 317

GOD
APOSTASY
3
APOSTASY IN ORGANIZATION
Acts 1423 1 Pet. 52

Bishop
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New Testament
Acts 2029-30
4
The Bishop

• In the college of equal and co-ordinate
  presbyters, some one would naturally act as
  moderator or presiding officer age, talent,
  influence, or ordination by the apostles, might
  give one an accidental superiority over his
  fellows, and appropriate to him the standing
  office of president of the presbytery.

5
The Bishop

• To this office the title of bishop was assigned
  and with the office and the title began to be
  associated the authority of a distinct order.
• Lyman Coleman
• The Church, the Falling Away and the Restoration,
  
• J. W. Shepherd, page 54

6
Bishops Extend their Authority

• In the fore part of the second century the
  picture began to change. While no single form of
  structure as yet prevailed, we now hear
  indisputably of what soon came to be the accepted
  pattern, a bishop governing a particular church
  and of at least one bishop, that of the church in
  Antioch (Ignatius, jrp), acting as though it were
  his acknowledged right to address himself with
  authority to other churches.
• A History Of Christianity, Latourette, I116

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APOSTASY IN ORGANIZATION
Acts 1423 1 Pet. 52

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New Testament
Acts 2029-30

The Bishop (Metropolitan)

• Formation of Clergy -Distinct office,
  title, authority recognition

Country Church
Country Church
Country Church
8
Metropolitan Bishops

• Gone were the days when in at least some
  churches presbyter and bishop were
  interchangeable terms and when there might be
  several bishops in a church, or, perhaps, a
  church without a bishop. Now bishops were
  becoming a characteristic feature of the Catholic
  Church, with a single bishop in a given city or
  area. If a city had more than one bishop, others
  beyond the one would be assistants.

9
Metropolitan Bishops

• The bishop was more than an administrator. He
  also was in charge of the worship and supervised
  the entire life of the church within his
  territorial jurisdiction.
• A History of Christianity, Latourette, I132

10
Authority of Metropolitans

• In the course of the years the bishops in the
  larger cities began to exercise authority over
  the bishops in their vicinity. In 341 the
  Council of Antioch ordered that in each province
  the bishop in the chief city, or metropolis,
  should have precedence over the other bishops in
  the province, and that the other bishops should
  do nothing extraordinary without him. (Ibid.
  185)

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APOSTASY IN ORGANIZATION
Acts 1423 1 Pet. 52

Bishop
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New Testament
Acts 2029-30

Authority of Metropolitans
The Bishop (Metropolitan)
Country Church
Country Church
Country Church
Province Diocese
Province Diocese
Province Diocese
12
Church Councils

• Councils are legally convened assemblies of
  ecclesiastical dignitaries and theological
  experts for the purpose of discussing and
  regulating matters of church doctrine and
  discipline.
• General Councils
• New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia

13
Ecumenical Councils
325
381
Constantinople
Nicea
680-681
Chalcedon
553
Ephesus
451
431
The Catholic Church Develops
14
Acts 15First Church Council?

• Confirm what was already being taught
• Agreement already existed among the apostles and
  elders
• Clearly identify the false teachers
• Did not decide doctrine (orthodoxy)
• Did not write Church Law

Acts 152, 4, 6, 22-27 Gal. 21-10
15
Patriarchs

• The bishops in the chief cities of the Empire
  had positions of outstanding prestige, a
  prestige, which, with modifications, has
  persisted into our own day. Especially prominent
  were those of Jerusalem, because of its historic
  associations with the beginning of Christianity,
  Antioch, the chief city of Syria and where the
  disciples were first called Christians,
  Alexandria, Constantinople, and, particularly,
  Rome. The bishops of these sees were eventually
  known as Patriarchs. (Latourette, op. cit.)

16
PATRIARCHS
Constantinople
Rome
Antioch
Jerusalem
Colossians 118 Acts 1423 1 Peter 52
Alexandria
The Catholic Church Develops
17
The Papacy

• In the year 588, John, Bishop of Constantinople,
  surnamed the Faster, on account of his
  extraordinary abstinence and austerity,
  assembled, by his own authority a council at
  Constantinople, to inquire into an accusation
  brought against Peter, Patriarch of Antioch and
  upon this occasion assumed the title of
  ecumenical, or universal bishop.
• (Ecclesiastical History, Mosheim, I145)

18
The Papacy

• Gregory the Great (540-604) Bishop of Rome
  called it apostasy anti-Christ
• He obtained a renunciation of the wicked title
  from new bishop of Constantinople in 596
• Boniface III (606) Bishop of Rome was conferred
  title of universal bishop by the Roman emperor
  (Phocas)
• Papal supremacy was introduced

19
Bishop of Rome Universal Bishop
Rome
Constantinople
The Papacy 606 A.D.
The Catholic Church
20
Eastern Orthodox Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Great Schism 1054 A.D.
21
Church and StateJohn 1836

• The policy of Constantine (ca. 306-337) was one
  of toleration. He did not make Christianity the
  sole religion of the state. That was to follow
  under later Emperors. He continued to support
  both paganism and Christianity.

22
Church and State John 1836

• He had his children instructed in the Christian
  faith...he built and enlarged churches...he
  forbade any attempt to force Christians to
  participate in non-Christian religious
  ceremonies. He took an active part in the
  affairs of the Church, thus establishing a
  precedent which was to be followed by his
  successors.
• (Latourette, I92-93)

23
Monasticism

• It was partially as a reaction against this
  laxity and partly because of the dissatisfaction
  which the teachings of Jesus and the apostles
  aroused with anything short of perfection that
  monasticism arose.
• Although it has been prominent in the churches
  in which the majority of Christians have been
  enrolled, monasticism was unknown in the first
  two centuries of Christianity. (Ibid.,
  I221, 223)

24
Schools of Theology

• there were beginning to flower in Alexandria a
  school of Christian thought which was to
  contribute even more...to the intellectual
  formulation of the Christian faith.

25
Schools of Theology

• In Alexandria the main focus and stimulus to
  Christian intellectual life was in a catechetical
  school, made famous through two of its heads,
  Clement and Origen. This catechetical school was
  already in existence late in the second century.
  As its name indicates, its primary purpose was
  the instruction of candidates for Church
  membership in the principles of the Christian
  faith. (Ibid., I146-147)

26
ThePath of Apostasy
Doctrine of Christ 2 John 9, 4, 6

• Away from old paths Jer.
  616-17 2 Tim. 316-17
• Grows worse worse, 2 Tim. 313