EVANGELICAL BIBLE COLLEGE OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA
EVANGELICAL BIBLE COLLEGE OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA
COURSE NOTES – CHURCH HISTORY 531
DIPLOMA IN THEOLOGY.
BY
DR JOHN C McEWAN
[BOOK 6 OF 13]
Revised December 2010
WHO IS JESUS CHRIST?
Professor Simon Greenleaf was one of the most eminent lawyers of all time. His “Laws of Evidence” for many years were accepted by all States in the United States as the standard methodology for evaluating cases. He was teaching law at a university in the United States when one of his students asked Professor Greenleaf if he would apply his “Laws of Evidence” to evaluate an historical figure. When Greenleaf agreed to the project he asked the student who was to be the subject of the review. The student replied that the person to be examined would be Jesus Christ. Professor Greenleaf agreed to undertake the examination of Jesus Christ and as a result, when he had finished the review, Simon Greenleaf personally accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as his Saviour.
Professor Greenleaf then sent an open letter to all jurists in the United States saying in part “I personally have investigated one called Jesus Christ. I have found the evidence concerning him to be historically accurate. I have also discovered that Jesus Christ is more than a human being, he is either God or nothing and having examined the evidence it is impossible to conclude other than he is God. Having concluded that he is God I have accepted him as my personal Saviour. I urge all members of the legal profession to use the “Laws of Evidence” to investigate the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and if you find that he is wrong expose him as a faker but if not consider him as your Saviour and Lord”
HOW CAN I BE SAVED?
Salvation is available for all members of the human race.
Salvation is the most important undertaking in all of God's universe. The salvation of sinners is never on the basis of God's merely passing over or closing His eyes to sin. God saves sinners on a completely righteous basis consistent with the divine holiness of His character. This is called grace. It relies on God so man cannot work for salvation, neither can he deserve it. We need to realise that the creation of this vast unmeasured universe was far less an undertaking than the working out of God's plan to save sinners.
However the acceptance of God's salvation by the sinner is the most simple thing in all of life. One need not be rich, nor wise, nor educated. Age is no barrier nor the colour of one's skin. The reception of the enormous benefits of God's redemption is based upon the simplest of terms so that there is no one in all this wide universe who need be turned away.
How do I become a Christian?
There is but one simple step divided into three parts. First of all I have to recognise that I am a sinner (Romans 3:23; 6:23; Ezekiel 18:4; John 5:24).
Secondly, realising that if I want a relationship with Almighty God who is perfect, and recognising that I am not perfect, I need to look to the Lord Jesus Christ as the only Saviour (I Corinthians 15:3; 1 Peter 2:24; lsaiah 53:6; John 3:16).
Thirdly, by the exercise of my own free will I personally receive the Lord Jesus Christ as my Saviour, believing that He died personally for me and that He is what He claims to be in an individual, personal and living way (John 1:12; 3:36; Acts 16:31; 4:12).
The results of Salvation
The results of this are unbelievably wonderful:
My sins are taken away (John 1:29),
I possess eternal life now (1 John 5:11,12),
I become a new creature in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17),
The Holy Spirit takes up His residence in my life (1 Corinthians 6:19),
And I will never perish (John 10:28-30).
This truthfully is life's greatest transaction. This is the goal of all people; this is the ultimate of our existence. We invite and exhort any reader who has not become a Christian by trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ to follow these simple instructions and be born again eternally into God's family (Matthew 11:28; John 1:12; Acts 4:12; 16:31).
© Evangelical Bible College of Western Australia 2004 - PO Box 163 Armadale Western Australia 6992
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CONTENTS
LECTURE / SUBJECT / PAGE1 / INTRODUCTION / 3
2 / THE EARLY JEWISH CHURCH / 10
3 / THE POWER OF LOVE / 13
4 / MARTYRDOM THE ULTIMATE WITNESS / 17
5 / THE IMPORTANCE OF THE HISTORICAL JESUS / 19
6 / THE CANON OF SCRIPTURE / 23
7 / THE GREAT EPISCOPY / 28
8 / THE APOLOGISTS AND THE INTELLECTUALS / 33
9 / CONSTANTINE AND THE CHURCH – THE MIXED MULTITUDE / 36
10 / THE TRINITY DEBATE / 41
11 / THE NATURE OF THE LORD / 45
12 / MONASTICISM / 49
13 / AUGUSTINE / 53
14 / THE PAPACY / 56
15 / ICONS / 59
16 / THE MISSIONS TO THE BARBARIANS / 62
17 / GREGORY THE GREAT – THE MASS / 66
18 / THE CHURCH AND STATE IN MEDIEVAL TIMES / 69
19 / CRUSADES AND CATHEDRALS / 72
20 / SCHOLASTICISM / 75
21 / POVERTY AND WEALTH / 78
22 / PRELUDE TO THE REFORMATION / 82
23 / LUTHER AND THE REFORMATION / 86
24 / EARLY CONGREGATIONALISM / 90
25 / JOHN CALVIN / 93
26 / THE ENGLISH SOLUTION / 97
27 / THE COUNTER REFORMATION / 101
28 / THE PURITANS / 104
29 / THE AGE OF REASON / 107
30 / PIETISM / 110
31 / METHODISM / 113
32 / THE GREAT AWAKENING OR REVIVAL IN THE USA. 1720-1760 / 116
33 / PAPAL INFALLIBILITY AND THE WORSHIP OF MARY / 119
34 / SOCIAL CONCERNS / 122
35 / WORLD MISSIONS / 126
36 / THE RISE OF AMERICA / 128
37 / EVOLUTION AND LIBERALISM / 131
38 / COMMUNISM AND THE SOCIAL GOSPEL / 136
39 / THE HARVEST OF LIBERALISM / 139
40 / THE BATTLE FOR THE BIBLE / 142
41 / CHURCH UNION / 144
DOCTRINE INDEX / 147
TEXT BOOK - Church History in Plain Language - B Shelley
Those without access to this text should refer to the EBCWA website or CD, and open the file titled, “Church Age History and Study Books”. You will find seven volumes of study notes to use to cover all periods of the Church Age, as well as additional specific topics; including; Antioch, Alexandria, Byzantium, Canterbury, Hymn Writers, Leaders, Emperors, Popes, and Missionaries. Instead of reference to a passage from Shelley, simply refer to the appropriate volume and draw your teaching notes from the entries therein.
LECTURE 1 - INTRODUCTION
The key set text for the course is by Bruce Shelley – “Church History in Plain Language” [CHS]. It was written to teach the subject in an African context. Another good textbook is “Christianity through the Centuries” by Cairns. Erdmans Handbook “History of Christianity” is also good. Reference to text book page numbers throughout these lectures will be made to these books, but if you are unable to get them, simply look up the topic we are studying in the index at the back of whatever texts you are able to find and read about the subject at hand there, or read through the ample notes provided on the CD and website “Church History Notes” file.
There are many liberals in Church History so you have to discern where the person writing textbooks is coming from. Many who become specialists in Church History are liberals. Bruce Shelley is a neo evangelical, so while he is good, he does not accept some historical points that I would. In history it is often more what these authors have left out rather than what they have included that is the important thing to see.
History is the record of man's past. What is history is what has survived from the past and what is left after the historian has decided what he wants to say. There is no such thing as unbiased history; you cannot pick up any book, other than the Bible, and say this is what really happened. What you can say of a history text is, this is what the historian believes is important from the facts that were known to him. Your Bible is required on your desk all the time when you are working with Church history and we will be basing our discussion of each period firmly in the scriptures.
Many of the issues that became large in Church History did so because the people in the past forgot the teaching of God's Word relative to that issue. The flame of truth always burns throughout history and that is one of the things that I will refer to throughout our study. Sometimes, as you study a period and look at what we know of it, you will wonder if there are any real Christians there. Sometimes the historian does not mention them and you are left wondering what was going on.
You must remember that God's people are there all the way through. However in historical study we examine the evidence that has remained for us to study, and the real work of God may have been done by simple people who left no lasting trace of their work and words upon the earth. What survives for the historian to study is the books written by the rich and powerful, and they are nearly always the apostates and the disobedient. God’s people may be the small people of a society, but their story is the one we are searching for. In your own society think of what will remain after several hundred years, and what records will survive. Will the story of your church be told on the earth? In heaven alone we will fully know what truly happened in church history. Many times in our study we will see people in church garb who are with Satan and not the Lord. The doctrine of the remnant is an important one to remember here. In many periods of church history there is only a small faithful remnant of true believers, but they are still there.
FOUR POINTS OF INTRODUCTION
[1] Most people captured by the cults and isms do not know their Bibles or Church history.
[2] Most of the heresies, or false teachings on specific subjects, are things that have occurred in the past. After the first few hundred years you will find no new heresies arise. In church history we will meet the Christadelphians, Mormons, Seventh Day Adventists, and Jehovah's Witnesses. They are all there, even if their title in the early church is something different. Satan has not had an original thought in 2,000 years, and deviations from the truth and straight lies abound early on. If you know church history you are prepared to face all the cults and all the false views of scripture, for they are simply recycled by the enemy.
[3] Christianity is an historical religion. If you can split Christianity from history you have destroyed it. The liberals try and split the Jesus of History from the Christ of faith. History however shows that Jesus Christ is historical and also God.
[4] The facts of the Lord Jesus Christ and His work on the Cross are historical or your faith is vain and you are lost. If it is not so the men who recorded the story of Christ were fools and liars. Refer back to the notes on Pastoral Theology – Apologetics for a good discussion of this subject.
SOME POINTS TO NOTE
2 Peter 1:16 - 18 - Peter faces the issue of the historicity of Christ. He is either telling the truth or lying. Either what we are studying is true or is false. If you can prove what you are studying about Jesus Christ in Church history is false, then you have disproved the Christian faith because without an historical Christ you have no basis for your gospel and for your faith.
Luke 1: 1- 4 - Luke never saw the Lord Jesus Christ in person. He was a doctor and as a professional man he started out as an historian. There were many books that were written about the sayings of Jesus but only four of them were ACCEPTED BY THE CHURCH as canonical (refer to a later lecture). Luke is writing to Theophilus, who was a convert, and possibly Paul’s lawyer for his trial in Rome. Luke records for us that he had written the facts down so that all that happened could be understood. He is going from eyewitnesses from the beginning of the church. Luke was the first true reporter and historian, and he took time, during Paul's imprisonment in Caesarea, to travel around Palestine to talk to the many eyewitnesses of the events he describes. Luke was the only one who took any time with Mary. That is why you have got more in Luke about Mary and Elizabeth than anywhere else. He says to his convert that he is being accurate and these are the facts that he sees are important.
Joshua 4:20-24 - This passage states an important principle. Here we see the importance of having physical evidence of things that shows definitely that there is reason for belief. Faith is based on evidence, faith in things that can be seen, heard or touched. All Christians can look back to the Scriptural record with confidence.
Everything that can be seen from archaeology has reinforced rather than disproved the Bible. The only way unbelievers can try to disprove the Scriptures is to ignore the best scholars. If you look at all the evidence you will be converted as was the great Scottish historian, Sir William Ramsey was, and this has happened to many others.
When they have studied history they have seen that the evidence is incontrovertible. There is a book called, “Evidence that Demands a Verdict” and that is what we have in the Bible we hold. Do not be afraid that you will discover things that undermine your faith; only ignorance will do that. The thing that you should be afraid of is not studying enough.