The tiny and close group of original disciples – all of whom had seen, heard, and been taught by Jesus Himself (including the human mother of Jesus and family members) – had swollen to form many small groups and congregations across the Roman Empire, stretching far beyond the tiny conclaves in Judea to modern-day Europe, Africa, and Asia.
Everywhere the Gospel was carried, so were miraculous acts muscularly boosting the credibility of the message. Some opponents were struck blind, speechless, and in some cases divinely put to death, while adherents were miraculously healed, saved from disaster, granted divine favor in front of high-level government officials, and much more. Disciples were powerfully “turning the world upside down”.
At one time, the growing assembly of disciples – led by 12 men to all corners of the Roman Empire and beyond (plus a special appointment from a previous adversary) seemed unstoppable.
But now, a different kind of “growth” was occurring. Serious issues of contamination were seeping in.
The tenets and focus of the teachings of what had become known as “The Way” were rapidly diminishing in the face of contagion of another sort. Different influences and traditions cunningly inserted themselves, splitting groups apart, especially in groups geographically far away from the original assembly (ecclesia) in Jerusalem. As these new teachings diluted the original scope, adherents began to attract negative attention from the local government authorities as potential political rivals, capable of undermining Roman order.
Leadership vacuums in the fledging groups opened up. By the mid-60s in the first century, Peter, an apostle and critical leader who powerfully carried the Gospel from Jerusalem to modern-day Turkey and beyond, was dead. So was Paul, a highly educated and theologically trained “Hebrew of the Hebrews” who delivered the Gospel message throughout the Roman Empire, likely even to Spain and beyond. Paul’s high-profile and high-impact delivery of the Gospel had earned him the ire of Jewish groups and subsequent execution by the Roman authorities, leaving behind multiple dozens of hybrid Jewish-gentile groups across the Mediterranean.
Political upheaval of another sort galvanized Roman military action at the highest level, marching on Jews in Judea who fomented open rebellion. That expansive military enterprise spawned the unthinkable – the burning and razing of the completely revamped Herodian Temple in Jerusalem in A.D. 70. As a result, Jews scattered across the Empire in an all-new diaspora.
With the destruction of the Temple also came the destruction of a critical link to the international growth of the movement known publicly as The Way (Acts 9:2, 19:9 and 23, 22:4, and 24:14).
As this weakening spread, power struggles in local groups opened up, especially following the annihilation of a central crucial point of connectivity in Jerusalem. By the end of the century, John, an eyewitness of Jesus Christ and an original apostle, was even barred from visiting congregations he had established (3 John 9-10).
Writing in the time around the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple, Jude, a brother of Jesus, summed it up: “Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.”
What terrible thing had happened that a high-level leader would write such a thing? “For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”
The critical trend? In just a few short decades after the death and resurrection of the prophesied Messiah, the movement of disciples known as “The Way” was being cut apart and diminished. In its space – at different times, regions, and instances – was emerging a new movement, one that was supplanting “The Way” and laying a foundation for a hierarchical religious organization.
A central theme of “The Way” was the high-level expectation of the establishment of the Kingdom of God, a sweeping new order and replacement of all human authority. Also called “a sect of the Nazarenes” (Acts 24:5), the movement was deeply reflective of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ (the prophesied Messiah), whose teachings the disciples were directed to embody and preserve.
What did that look like?
“In the first century of the Common Era, Jesus of Nazareth lived as a Jew among Jews. He prayed in the synagogue, observed Jewish law (including the dietary laws)…His earliest followers did the same,” writes scholar Phyllis Goldstein. “By all accounts, Jesus lived as a Jew and, like other Jews, obeyed the laws of the Torah.”
As Jesus Himself is quoted in an account attributed to an Apostle, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17, ESV). Further, Jesus also set this standard for His followers: “A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher” (Luke 6:40, ESV).
But, as Jude, a human brother of Jesus, wrote toward the end of the first century, dramatic theological contagion was sweeping through the assemblies of believers across the Empire. New mashed-up versions of pagan, Hellenistic, and quasi-Jewish beliefs (including non-biblical allegorical tenets from Jewish philosophers like Philo) began to compete for authoritative space among adherents.
As Goldstein writes: “By the end of the fourth century, Jesus’ followers had left the synagogue and established a new religion known as Christianity.”
The separation of beliefs and teachings from the Way into this new Hellenistic- and increasingly politically influenced “Christianity” happened in different ways in different regions and “did not happen simply or quickly.”
“It was not,” as Goldstein continues “a single event, but rather a sometimes painful process that took generations to complete.”
As the first century ended, a dramatic metamorphosis toward profound error was underway, a sweeping change whose tenets impact multiple millions today. The Way was suffering multiple splits in leadership, organization, and belief, but still enduring in small groups. Jesus, as the living Head of the assembly He had established, declared that it would exist throughout the reminder of the human age: “I will build [Greek: oikodomeō “establish, found, build, confirm (be in)”] my church [Greek: ekklēsia “assembly, gathering of people”], and the gates of hell [Greek: hades – “the grave, death”] shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:17-19, ESV).
Coming up – what did The Way embrace? And what supplanted the biblical truth of The Way, including truth that is vital to understand in the 21st century? Check back for updates.
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