The fact is, there never was a golden age of the church. The New Testament church was just as messed up as the 21st century church. And I take that as an encouragement rather than a rebuke from the past. The early church was full of greedy, bickering, sinful people who did not get along with each other, did not listen to their leaders and even split off from one another when disagreements became too heated. And sometimes their leaders said bad things about each other. Let's not forget that all of Paul's opponents were not non-believers, but followers of Jesus who happened to disagree with the apostle. Not unlike what we experience today.To all those attacking disputes within modern day churches: they are simply being true to their aims in restoring the church of the NT.
Cf. Craig L. Blomberg, "The New Testament Definition of Heresy (or when do Jesus and the Apostles really get mad?)", JETS (2002) 45/1 59-71
Thanks for the plug and the link to Blomberg's article I had not seen it before.
ReplyDeleteJohn
No problem. I came across it in 2009 re reading everything mentioning Bauer's Orthodoxy and Heresy. Fun times
ReplyDelete"To all those attacking disputes within modern day churches: they are simply being true to their aims in restoring the church of the NT."
ReplyDeleteBy making sure the church has just as many disputes? ;p
Well it is bigger now, so more
ReplyDelete