The Zoom Congregation: Text, Context, Consequences – Part 5

Von Christian

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In the previous episodes, we had begun to examine the text of the New Testament in relation to the structure of the congregations. Always with the claim in mind: “We are doing exactly as the Christians in the 1st century did”.

In doing so, we touched on the organization of the congregations and the topic of donations, as well as baptism and peaceful coexistence. We could look at other specific aspects, but that would make this a rather long series. Let’s rather take a look at the historical context of what we have read so far.

The historical context

In fact, the congregations did not arise in a vacuum, but in very specific historical contexts with very specific needs of the disciples. Let us take a closer look at this context and then ask ourselves whether we have the same needs today and whether we can simply transfer everything to our own situation.

We often tend to see the history of the followers of Jesus in the first century as a homogenous thing – the first-century congregation. As if there was only ‚the one congregation‘ in the first century that lived this way or that. The following graphic is intended to show us some important aspects.

The development over time

At the top, I have drawn ‚generations‘ of 40 years each. This helps us to get a better sense of how much time really passed back then. Think about it in terms of ‚me‘, ‚my father/mother‘, ‚my grandfather/grandmother‘, ‚my children‘ and ‚my grandchildren‘. How much do you know about your grandparents? What did they tell you about their youth? For most of the followers of Jesus in the first century, the events in the life of Jesus were at best the accounts of the grandparents or great-grandparents‘ generation. And many were later pagans whose parents and even grandparents had not heard of Jesus, let alone met him.

Perhaps we also have the idealistic idea of ‚the congregation in Jerusalem‘ in mind. This may be because we can read the texts in the New Testament in minutes or a few hours. We completely lack a sense of the many years that pass in the accounts. And we have virtually no account of the second part of the first century in the New Testament.

An apostle Peter, James, the brother of Jesus, or an apostle Paul were no longer alive less than three decades after Jesus‘ death! It would be as if Jesus had been around in the early 1990s and today Peter, James, Paul and others had passed away.

And what happened in the time in between? Perhaps as early as a year after Jesus‘ death, Stephen was stoned and the congregation in Jerusalem was scattered. That would have been even before the year 2000.

The ‚Council at Jerusalem‘ (Acts 15) would have been as early as 2010, and in a few years the Temple and Jerusalem will be destroyed. Then those in Jerusalem and Judea will have to flee. But before that, persecution by the world power of Rome has already begun.

Meanwhile, the children and grandchildren have grown up and Jesus still has not returned. The gospel has been proclaimed throughout the Roman Empire, as far as Rome and beyond.

Perhaps we are now aware of the changes that have taken place during this time and how ‚the congregation‘ has changed dramatically in the first century.

It would also be interesting to take a closer look at how other apostles (missionaries) and overseers were appointed after the 12 apostles. That is, after the time when these apostles still laid their hands on them. And was there already monepiscopacy in Rome, that is, the leadership of the congregation by a bishop? In the first two centuries, it cannot be said with certainty when and where there was leadership by a group of elders and when one person in particular took the lead and was called a bishop.

Could it be that we have an idealized notion of ‚the congregation‘ in the first century? One that never existed in this form in early Christianity? Incidentally, the German term Urchristentum – meaning ‚early Christianity‘ – has only been used in German-language literature since around 1770 (see Wikipedia German Urchristentum, English ).

And we have not yet discussed the gradual detachment of Jesus‘ Jewish disciples from their religion, culture and environment.

The social context

The structure and changes in the congregations of followers of Christ in the first century must also be viewed in their social context. I would like to recall just a few facts:

• Initially, the congregation in Jerusalem consisted only of Jews, and they were also initially perceived as such by others. It was only after some time that they could no longer go to the synagogues or the temple. In Acts 21:26, we read that Paul went with others to the temple in Jerusalem. It was only seven days later that he was seen and arrested in the temple by Jews from the province of Asia.
• In the beginning, the 11 apostles personally chosen by Jesus were the most authoritative figures when it came to teaching about Jesus. Then James, the brother of Jesus, also appeared. As the congregation in Jerusalem grew and the gospel spread to other congregations, and as the apostles died, other ‚elders‘ had to take on their role as ‚overseers‘, even if they did not have the same authority.
• Most of them could not read, let alone write. It had to be read out loud in the congregation. Or someone had to quote – either from the scriptures or from oral tradition.
• The oral tradition became more and more difficult because the eyewitnesses died. And then those who still knew the eyewitnesses. At some point, many had never met Jesus, nor an eyewitness, nor those who knew them.
• The various congregations had to deal with very different cultural contexts and local religions.
• With the disciples from the Gentiles, completely new philosophical ideas and explanations came into the congregation that did not even exist in the Jewish context. Even if everyone heard the same thing, they did not necessarily understand the same thing because of their different personal backgrounds.
• According to Acts 1:8, the apostles hoped that they would soon see the establishment of the kingdom. And Jesus did not tell them that it would not be so. Only that it was not their business to know. So this hope remained. But the decades passed. And that raised the question: If you were wrong about this, what might we have misunderstood?

As we have seen, the New Testament essentially describes the first half of the first century. How did the congregations develop? To answer that, we would also have to look at the other writings from that time, then those of the ‚Apostolic Fathers‘ and the Patristic period. Although that would help us to better understand the development of the congregations, it is beyond the scope of this article. In the next few episodes, I would like to take a closer look at just one important writing.