Your Sons & Daughters Shall Prophesy - Prophetic Gifts Today In The New Testament Church

When Bishops Replace Prophets

The First Three Centuries

The first three hundred years of the Christian era both fascinate and frustrate the student of Church history. Fascinate because of the imperial persecutions, colorful personalities, societal changes, religious heresies and the astounding transformation of the simple, richly gifted Church of Jesus into a religious institution. Frustrate because we lack information in many areas and must often second-guess the meanings and implica tions of the extant writings of the time. The developing Church of this period faced certain problems unknown to us. Sluggish communication, transportation and lack of electronic gad getry slowed things down immeasurably by our standards. Few people possessed a Bible manuscript, many were uneducated, many were slaves. The Holy Spirit was "not yet a topic of great theological discussion; con sequently, the treatment of the Spirit in this period suffered from imper fect formulae and a lack of precise terminology." 21 In addition: • The Church lived under constant threat from the Roman state. • Other religions competed actively for the allegiance of the people. • Secular philosophers challenged the validity of Christianity. • Heresies broke out periodically within the Church itself. • The doctrine of the divinity of Christ was not fully developed. • The Church leadership was kept busy with local congregational problems. It is reasonable to conclude that the gifts of the Spirit, including prophecy, remained important to the Church throughout the first and second cen turies and even into the third. Ronald A. N. Kydd, in his careful analysis, records the references of the time to prophecy and spiritual gifts, offering this poignant conclusion: "These three centuries saw dramatic changes in the Christian Church. In the midst of all this, the gifts of the Spirit van ished. There came a point around A.D. 260 at which they no longer fitted in the highly organized, well-educated, wealthy, socially powerful Christ ian communities. The Church did not lose its soul, but it did lose these spe cial moments when God broke into the lives of men and women." 22 Since many of the extant writings of the first three centuries mention prophecy and spiritual gifts, I have included an abbreviated chart that shows where some of these references (particularly concerning prophecy) can be found. Prophecy, although declining, was clearly active in various forms. The Notes on p. 252 particularly reference the works of Bruce, Burgess, Kydd and Robeck-four capable, sympathetic scholars who have researched this material extensively and made thought-provoking comments. 251 •