Please Help Us Keep These Thousands of Blog Posts Growing and Free for All
$5.00
Philip Schaff was a Swiss-born, German-educated Protestant theologian and ecclesiastical historian, who spent most of his adult life living and teaching in the United States.
To see clearly the relation of the Christian religion to the preceding history of mankind, and to appreciate its vast influence upon all future ages, we must first glance at the preparation which existed in the political, moral, and religious condition of the world for the coming of our Savior. Look for future articles under the tab Early Christianity under the main tab History of Christianity that builds on this one by the author Philip Schaff.
Some two thousand years ago, the birth of a special male child moved a “multitude of a heavenly army of angels praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among people with whom He is pleased.'” (Luke 2:8-14) Thirty years following that momentous event, that child, who was then an adult, began a ministry that would last just three and a half years and alter history like no other. The noted 19th-century historian Philip Schaff was touched to the point to say of this young man: “Without writing a single line, he set more pens in motion, and furnished themes for more sermons, orations, discussions, learned volumes, works of art, and songs of praise, than the whole army of great men of ancient and modern times.” That extraordinary young man was, of course, Jesus Christ. Schaff would also write, “Christ stands . . . solitary and alone among all the heroes of history.” Also, “a character so original, so complete, so uniformly consistent, so perfect, so human and yet so high above all human greatness, can be neither a fraud nor a fiction. . . . It would take more than a Jesus to invent a Jesus.” From the Pentecost 33 A.D. to 150 A.D., Christianity grew from 120 to over one million Christians. How? Philip Schaff writes, “Every congregation was a missionary society, and every Christian believer a missionary.” They accomplished this in the face of hostility from both Jews and the Roman Empire. Philip Schaff writes, “The conscientious refusal of the Christians to pay divine honors to the emperor and his statue, and to take part in any idolatrous ceremonies at public festivities, their aversion to the imperial military service, their disregard for politics and depreciation of all civil and temporal affairs as compared with the spiritual and eternal interests of man, their close brotherly union and frequent meetings, drew upon them the suspicion of hostility to the Caesars and the Roman people.”
As religion is the deepest and holiest concern of man, the entrance of the Christian religion into history is the most momentous of all events. It is the end of the old world and the beginning of the new. It was a great idea of Dionysius “the Little” to date our era from the birth of our Savior. Jesus Christ, the God-Man, the prophet, priest, and king of mankind, is, in fact, the center and turning-point not only of chronology, but of all history, and the key to all its mysteries. Around him, as the sun of the moral universe, revolve at their several distances, all nations, and all important events, in the religious life of the world; and all must, directly or indirectly, consciously or unconsciously, contribute to glorify his name and advance his cause. The history of mankind before his birth must be viewed as a preparation for his coming, and the history after his birth as a gradual diffusion of his spirit and progress of his kingdom. “All things were created by him, and for him.” He is “the desire of all nations.” He appeared in the “fulness of time,” (Mar_1:15; Gal_4:4) when the process of preparation was finished, and the world’s need for redemption fully disclosed.
This preparation for Christianity began properly with the very creation of man, who was made in the image of God, and destined for communion with him through the eternal Son; and with the promise of salvation which God gave to our first parents as a star of hope to guide them through the darkness of sin and error. (Gen_3:15) Vague memories of a primitive paradise and subsequent fall, and hopes of future redemption, survive even in the heathen religions.
With Abraham, about nineteen hundred years before Christ, the religious development of humanity separates into the two independent, and, in their compass, very unequal branches of Judaism and heathenism. These meet and unite at last in Christ as the common Saviour, the fulfiller of the types and prophecies, desires and hopes of the ancient world; while at the same time the ungodly elements of both league in deadly hostility against him, and thus draw forth the full revelation of his all-conquering power of truth and love.
As Christianity is the reconciliation and union of God and man in and through Jesus Christ, the God-Man, it must have been preceded by a twofold process of preparation, an approach of God to man, and an approach of man to God. In Judaism the preparation is direct and positive, proceeding from above downwards, and ending with the birth of the Messiah. In heathenism it is indirect and mainly, though not entirely, negative, proceeding from below upwards, and ending with a helpless cry of mankind for redemption. There we have a special revelation or self-communication of the only true God by word and deed, ever growing clearer and plainer, till at last the divine Logos appears in human nature, to raise it to communion with himself; here men, guided indeed by the general providence of God, and lighted by the glimmer of the Logos shining in the darkness, (Joh_1:5; Rom_1:19, Rom_1:20; Rom_2:14, Rom_2:15) yet unaided by direct revelation, and left to “walk in their own ways,” (Act_14:16) “that they should seek God, if haply they might feel after him, and find him.” (Act_17:26, Act_17:27) In Judaism the true religion is prepared for man; in heathenism man is prepared for the true religion. There the divine substance is begotten; here the human forms are moulded to receive it. The former is like the elder son in the parable, who abode in his father’s house; the latter like the prodigal, who squandered his portion, yet at last shuddered before the gaping abyss of perdition, and penitently returned to the bosom of his father’s compassionate love. (Luk_15:11-32) Heathenism is the starry night, full of darkness and fear, but of mysterious presage also, and of anxious waiting for the light of day; Judaism, the dawn, full of the fresh hope and promise of the rising sun; both lose themselves in the sunlight of Christianity, and attest its claim to be the only true and the perfect religion for mankind.
The heathen preparation again was partly intellectual and literary, partly political and social. The former is represented by the Greeks, the latter by the Romans.
Jerusalem, the holy city, Athens, the city of culture, and Rome, the city of power, may stand for the three factors in that preparatory history which ended in the birth of Christianity.
This process of preparation for redemption in the history of the world, the groping of heathenism after the “unknown God” (Act_17:23) and inward peace, and the legal struggle and comforting hope of Judaism, repeat themselves in every individual believer; for man is made for Christ, and “his heart is restless, till it rests in Christ.”
Ah the loss of ancient scholarship. Excellent article. I am reminded of what Paul said in Galatians 4:4, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”
Jesus came at a time that had already been prepared by God. The Roman Peace, Pax Romana, had finally taken hold. The Septuagint helped with the spreading of the very themes that would appear in the NT. The Koine Greek being spread via the Septuagint and by commerce. The Greco-Roman world was yearning for a hope that would relieve the despair. This despair led to the abundance of mystery religions.
Time wise, Jesus was born “of a woman.” The first reference by Paul to the Incarnation (cf, also Philippians 2:6-7; II Timothy 3:16). This birth of a woman would counter that found in the various Greek and Roman mythologies. “Under the law,” places the emphasis that the Law of Moses was still in effect at the time of Jesus’ birth. This would place Matthew 1-27; Mark 1–15, Luke 1-23; and, John 1-19 under the period of the Law. The NT would not begin until Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, John 20-21, and Acts 1.
Dear Edward,
Ah the loss of ancient scholarship. Excellent article. I am reminded of what Paul said in Galatians 4:4, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”
Jesus came at a time that had already been prepared by God. The Roman Peace, Pax Romana, had finally taken hold. The Septuagint helped with the spreading of the very themes that would appear in the NT. The Koine Greek being spread via the Septuagint and by commerce. The Greco-Roman world was yearning for a hope that would relieve the despair. This despair led to the abundance of mystery religions.
Time wise, Jesus was born “of a woman.” The first reference by Paul to the Incarnation (cf, also Philippians 2:6-7; II Timothy 3:16). This birth of a woman would counter that found in the various Greek and Roman mythologies. “Under the law,” places the emphasis that the Law of Moses was still in effect at the time of Jesus’ birth. This would place Matthew 1-27; Mark 1–15, Luke 1-23; and, John 1-19 under the period of the Law. The NT would not begin until Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, John 20-21, and Acts 1.
Yes, timing is everything. Thank you for your well thought out reply that is as informative as the article itself.