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2.3.1 - A History of Christianity in the Apostolic Age
Primitive Jewish Christianity
The Life of the Primitive Disciples - Privilege in Poverty
The life of the early Christians of Jerusalem was in strictest accord with the conceptions that have been described. Their recognition of Jesus as the Messiah did not result in their neglect of the rites and ceremonies of Judaism, nor make them any less zealous than before for the religion of their fathers. They continued to discharge the various religious duties that devolved upon them as Jews, including participation in the temple worship and in the offering of the regular daily sacrifices. [Acts 3:1. Also: Acts 10:14, 15:5, 21:21]
We know also from Paul's experience with the Judaizers, that for many years after the death of Christ, there were multitudes of Christians zealously devoted to the laws and traditions of the fathers. Indeed, it may fairly be supposed that the effect of their Christian faith was to make all of the early disciples more devout and earnest Jews than they had ever been; for, as the consummation was at hand, it behooved them to prepare for it by the strictest and most scrupulous discharge of all their religious duties.
It was fitting that they, who were the representatives of the Messiah, should reveal in their lives the mighty influence of the principles that they preached, and that their righteousness and piety should commend themselves to all beholders. The idea that they constituted the elect portion of the people, called by God to be heirs of the coming kingdom, would naturally lead them to feel the necessity of observing God's law with especial scrupulousness; would make them sensible of a peculiar obligation, such as they cannot have felt while they were simple Galileans, on the same footing with all their fellows.
Such utterances of Christ as that recorded in Matt. 5:19, "Except you righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in nowise enter into the kingdom of heaven," doubtless influenced them greatly at this time, and it must have been their conviction that, all other Jews, even the proudest Pharisees of Jerusalem, in their devotion to the national faith. That Jesus had intended to abrogate the Jewish law, or release his followers from its control, occurred to none of them. [On Christ's view of the law, see Jesus - His framework for observing the Law above]
These early Christians, then, were thoroughgoing Jews and never thought of departing from the customs of their fathers. But their Judaism had a new element in it, which modified their lives and marked them off from their unconverted countrymen. They were bound to each other, and distinguished from all without their circle, as disciples of one whom they, and they alone, believed to be the Messiah, and as heirs of the Messianic kingdom which they expected him soon to establish.
Their expectation of Christ's speedy return dominated all their lives. They felt themselves to be citizens not of the eon, but of another and their interests centered in the future.
Doubtless this expectation had much to do with the comparative indifference toward the things of this world which many of them exhibited. It could not fail to foster an unworldly or otherworldly disposition and it may have had something to do with the poverty that so long prevailed in the mother church.
Interested, as they all were, more in the future than in the present, and expecting shortly to receive blessings greater than any that could be acquired by human effort, it is not unlikely that many of them neglected their common occupations, and spent their time largely in prayer and praise, and converse respecting the future. This at least is the impression made by the early chapters of Acts, and it is exactly what we might expect. Poverty under such circumstances was neither a disgrace nor a hardship. To be indifferent to the comforts and luxuries of life was not a duty merely, but a privilege as well. [Very likely Jesus' words to the rich young man in Matt. 19:21, and his declaration concerning the rich man's difficulty in entering the kingdom (vs. 23) tended to promote their contempt for worldly possessions. And doubtless their evident disregard for the things of the present, and their expectation of enjoying the richest blessings in the near future, proved very attractive to the poor, and helps to explain the fact that they won converts especially from that class].
Used by permission of the publisher.
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