Early church

Lay Preaching in the Early Church

by

Evidence collected about the early church suggests that most of the preaching in hamlets, villages, and rural areas was done by uneducated but devout lay people. The apostolic preaching, as well as the writings of the apostolic fathers of the second century that have been preserved, stand as exceptions to this overall trend.

Informal Preaching

For the greater part of the period from a.d. 30 to 230, after the close of the events in the New Testament, we know very little of Christian preaching. The reasons for this almost entire lack of sermons remaining from the first two centuries are several, the chief one being this: The preaching of the time was, in general, quite informal. The preacher did not make logous, discourses, but only omilias, homilies, that is conversations, talks. Even in the fourth century, there was still retained, by some out-of-the-way congregations, the practice of asking the preacher many questions and answering questions asked by him, so as to make the homily to some extent a conversation. And in this period it was always a mere familiar talk, which of course might rise into dignity and swell into passion, but only in an informal way. The general feeling appears also to have been that dependence on the promised blessing of the Paraclete forbade elaborate preparation of discourses. And this feeling would prevent many from writing out their discourses after they were spoken.

Lay Preaching as the Rule

But we must by no means imagine that there was but little preaching during the first two centuries because no sermons remain. In fact, preaching was then very general, almost universal, among the Christians. Lay preaching was not an exception, it was the rule. Like the first disciples, the Christians still went everywhere preaching the Word. The notion that the Christian minister corresponded to the Old Testament priest had not yet gained the ascendency. We find Irenaeus and Tertullian insisting that all Christians are priests. We learn from Eusebius (History VI.19) that Origen, before he was ordained a presbyter, went to Palestine and was invited by the bishops of Caesarea and Jerusalem to “expound the sacred Scriptures publicly in the church.” The bishop of Alexandria, who was an enemy to Origen, condemned this, declaring it unheard of “that laymen should deliver discourses in the presence of the bishop.” But the bishop of Jerusalem pronounced that notion, a great mistake, appealing to various examples. It was still common in some regions to invite laypersons who could edify the church, to do so; this even when the sacerdotal feeling was growing strong.

In these first centuries, then, almost all the Christians preached. Thus, preaching was informal, and therefore unrecorded. Even of the presbyters at that time, few were educated or had much leisure for study. And, when some able and scholarly man became a Christian, however, he might occupy himself with profound studies and the preparation of elaborate works, as did Justin or Clement of Alexandria, Irenaeus or Tertullian, when he stood up to preach, he would lay his studies aside and speak impromptu, with the greatest simplicity.

The Kerygma of the Early Church

by

The kerygma (preaching) is a summary of the preaching themes of the early church, based on the study of the sermons in the book of Acts. These themes, most visible in Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:14–41), lie at the heart of the gospel:

The prophecies are fulfilled, and the new age is inaugurated by the coming of Christ.
He was born of the seed of David.
He died according to the Scriptures, to deliver us out of the present evil age.
He was buried.
He rose on the third day according to the Scriptures.
He is exalted at the right hand of God, as Son of God and Lord of the living and dead.
He will come again as Judge and Savior of men and women.

The Use of Kerygma in the Early Church

The Greek word kerygma means “that which is preached,” stemming from the root keryssein, signifying “to preach.” For the first-century church kerygma characterized the central power of the gospel. The essence of earliest Christianity was contained in the kerygma’s repeated proclamation.

The term kerygma appears in the New Testament eight times: twice by Jesus making reference to Jonah’s proclamation to Nineveh and six times referring to the apostolic preaching. The term most often has, as its object, the gospel, the glad tidings of the early church. While the word itself is not cited often, the kerygma (the gospel to which it refers) can be found throughout the Gospels, Acts, and the Epistles.

The message to which kerygma refers consisted of the basic evangelistic proclamations of the gospel that brought persons to faith in Jesus. It typically included elements enumerated as evidence of the truthfulness of the gospel. Certain events in the life of Jesus Christ were always present: first, that Jesus was the fulfillment of what was proclaimed by the prophets; second, Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose again; third, God has made Jesus Christ as Lord; fourth, Jesus would reign over a judgment to come; and finally, a call to repentance and an offer of forgiveness.

Whereas exhortation and Didache (teaching) had origins in the early church for instruction, the kerygma served solely as a public announcement that Jesus is the Christ in whom salvation is to be found. Modern preaching has become more exhortative and teaching in nature. In contrast, the early church reserved the moments of proclamation for the kerygma in order that men and women might be won to faith.

Of primary importance to the kerygma was the one who proclaimed. The Greek word keryx could be a town crier, an auctioneer, or a herald. Usually, the keryx would be someone given authority to announce that which was heralded. Also, the herald would draw public attention to the message. The keryx would bring an edict from another party sovereign over the subject matter. For the early church, the proclamation of the gospel in power was delivered by those worthy of its content.

Essentially, the Christian faith did not exist until there was the kerygma, the message to be believed and embraced. Nearly all of the New Testament relates to and expands on the meaning of the kerygma.

References to the Practice of Jewish Worship in the New Testament

by

The New Testament records a number of occasions on which Jesus, the apostles, or the early Christians are found taking part in Jewish festivals or other acts of worship. The accounts of these events involve terminology descriptive of Jewish worship.

Jesus and Jewish Worship

As an infant, Jesus was presented in the temple; since he was the first child of Mary and Joseph, they offered the mandatory sacrifice (thusia) to redeem the firstborn (Luke 2:21–24). As a young man, Jesus went with his family in pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover (hē heortē tou pascha), as was their annual custom (Luke 2:41–42). At the beginning of his public ministry, he would teach in synagogues (sunagōgē, “assembly”), including the ones in his hometown of Nazareth (Luke 4:14–16) and in Capernaum (John 6:59), where he later seems to have made his home. The synagogue was an institution not primarily for worship but for prayer and instruction in the Scriptures. But on one occasion, at least, Jesus also attended the Jewish Feast of Booths or Tabernacles (hē heortē tōn Ioudaiōn hē skēnopēgia) in Jerusalem; Jesus sent his brothers on without him but later went up privately and began to teach in the temple in the middle of the feast (John 7:2–14). On the last day of the feast (“the great day of the feast,” tē megalē tēs heortēs), Jesus spoke of the river of living water, the Holy Spirit, which was to flow from those believing in him (John 7:37–39). His imagery may have been drawn from the ceremony of the “drawing of water,” a post-Mosaic addition to the Feast of Tabernacles in which the priest at the altar poured out a pitcher of water drawn from the pool of Siloam.

Jesus and the Passover

The best-known of Jesus’ observances of the feasts of Israel is, of course, his participation in the Passover (Greek pascha, cognate to Hebrew pesaḥ) with his disciples on the night of his arrest (Matt. 26:17–30; Mark 14:12–26; Luke 22:7–38). As head of the “family” of his followers, Jesus gave instructions for preparation of the meal on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (hē prōtē tōn azumōn, Matt. 26:17), when the Passover lamb was to be sacrificed (Mark 14:12). At the end of the meal, Jesus and his disciples sang a hymn (humneō, “sing a hymn,” Matt. 26:30), no doubt the “Egyptian Hallel,” Psalms 113–118, an act of praise that was traditionally sung at Passover and on other festive occasions. Within this outward framework of the meal celebrating the old covenant, Christ instituted the sacred meal of the new covenant, transforming the bread and wine of the feast into the symbols of his body broken and his blood shed for the forgiven people of the kingdom of God (Matt. 26:26–29).

Jesus and Mosaic Institutions

During his ministry, Jesus evidenced a respect for the institutions of Mosaic worship, though he often criticized the Pharisees and their scribes for their superficial and casuistic approach to the Torah. After healing a leper, Jesus instructed him to follow the Mosaic procedure outlined in Leviticus 14:1–32, showing himself to the priest and making the required offering (Mark 1:44). In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus spoke of the need to be reconciled with a “brother” member of the covenant community before offering worship. “Leave your gift there in front of the altar [thusiastērion].… First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift [prosphere to dōron sou]” (Matt. 5:24). Jesus told of the respected Pharisee and the despised publican, who collected taxes for the Roman administration, both of whom entered the temple to pray; he commended the publican, who threw himself upon the mercies of God, rather than the Pharisee, who saw himself as spiritually superior (Luke 18:9–14). In an extended diatribe against the Pharisees, Jesus utters a remarkable statement concerning the temple and its altar. The Pharisees had taught that the worshiper’s gift is more important than the sanctuary, so that one is obligated if he swears by the gold contributed to the temple or by the gift on the altar; to the contrary, Jesus declares it is the temple (naos) that makes the gold holy and the altar (thusiastērion) that sanctifies the gift (Matt. 23:16–22). Jesus’ high view of the Israelite sanctuary—the destruction of which he nevertheless predicted—is foundational to an appreciation of the depth of temple symbolism in the New Testament’s picture of the body of Christ as the temple of the Holy Spirit (2 Cor. 6:16) or of the Lord God and the Lamb as the temple in the midst of the people of the new covenant (Rev. 21:22).

The Early Church and Jewish Worship

Luke concludes his gospel by mentioning that, after the resurrection, the followers of Christ “were continually in the temple blessing [eulogeō] God” (Luke 24:53 rsv) and continues this theme into the book of Acts in recording that the earliest Christians of Jerusalem frequented the temple for prayer (Acts 2:46). This attendance in the temple was not participation in the sacrificial rites conducted by the Jewish priesthood. Christians understood that the crucifixion of Christ had fulfilled these and brought them to an end. However, a number of synagogues met within the precincts of the temple for study and prayer; these were the assemblies in which the Christians participated. According to Acts 2:42, the early Christians of Jerusalem applied themselves “to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer,” literally “the prayers” (hai proseuchai); these were probably the traditional public prayers of the Jewish assembly, since Acts 3:1 records that Peter and John were going up to the temple “at the ninth hour, the hour of prayer” (nasb). The importance the early believers attached to participation in the worship of the Jewish community is signified by the fact that it was on the day of Pentecost, one of the three annual feasts mandated in the Torah (Lev. 23:16; Deut. 16:10), that the apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit and for the first time publicly proclaimed the crucified and risen Jesus as “both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36). The Greek term for the Hebrew “Feast of Weeks,” hē pentēkostē, literally means “the fiftieth,” as it falls fifty days after Passover.

Separation from Jewish Institutions

As time went on, the participation of Christians in Jewish worship decreased. In the early stages of Christian missionary expansion, the apostles used the synagogues of the Jewish diaspora as forums for the preaching of Jesus as the Christ (Acts 9:20; 13:5; 13:14–43; 14:1; 17:1–4). As opposition developed within the Jewish community, however, Christian involvement in the synagogues became a less attractive proposition. Theological factors, of course, played their part in the separation, along with persecution. In time the radical departure of the new covenant faith from the traditions of institutional Judaism became more readily apparent to Christian thinkers. In the teaching of Paul, Christian faith is the true and free “Jerusalem that is above” (Gal. 4:26), whereas “the present city of Jerusalem … is in slavery with her children” (v. 25) and is persecuting those born “by the power of the Spirit” (v. 29). The book of Acts (Acts 21:23–28) records that Paul undertook a Jewish vow of purification and paid the expenses of four other Jerusalem Christians who were under an oath or vow (euchē). Paul thus showed his willingness to please the Jerusalem church by participating in strict observance of the Law. Some Asian Jews, however, seeing Paul in the temple and knowing of his affiliation with Gentiles, led an attack on Paul for defiling the temple, which resulted in Paul’s final imprisonment. Troubled relations with synagogues persisted in the first century and, in places like Smyrna, generated great ill-feeling (Rev. 2:9).