Timeline of Christian Church History Persecution Early Christian History Timeline

Throughout the ages, Christianity has experienced both great growth and great persecution, often in the same breath. In fulfillment of Christ's words, In this world you will have trouble. From generation to generation, God's faithful remnant has experienced trial, even at the hands of others who declared Jesus as Lord. Who is faithful Israel? In this lesson, we journey across history to survey the arc of the people of God, even as they face terrible persecution. Writing in the late 50s AD, Paul quotes 1 Kings 19.8 as an encouragement to the young Roman church. His message? But what did God say to answer him? Throughout the age of the Jews, ending in 70 AD with the destruction of the temple and the dissolution of the Mosaic rites, and continuing to today, the times of the Gentiles, per Luke 21.24 and Romans 11.25, God continues to call his elect. But who are God's elect? They were defined by the prophet Malachi when he spoke of a day of the Lord sifting following the reappearance of Elijah. Malachi 4, 5-6 Compare Matthew 11.14 where Jesus refers to John the Baptist as Elijah. God's elect are seen again in Revelation 12.17 when John's vision tells us the dragon, as in Satan the enemy, was furious with the woman, faithful Israel, and went to make war with the remnant, the faithful church, of her seed, being Jesus the Jewish Messiah. Those who keep the commandments of God and who have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Our definition is clear then. God's elect are those who remain true to God, following him and the one he sent, the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth. Division enters the early church. Though it's often proposed the fracturing of Christianity began with the formation of the Roman state church, denominationalism, also known as sectarianism, had taken root in God's holy people long before. Denominationalism can first be seen in the division between the Jews and Samaritans, and again as the Jewish cult continued to splinter, first into the Pharisees and Sadducees, then the Essenes, and soon after the Zealots. In fact, as Christianity exploded onto the scene during the Pentecost of Acts 2, both Jew and Gentile viewed Christianity as simply another sect of Judaism. In its earliest days, the church was, after all, a mainly Jewish population, believing the prophecies of Israel's Messiah had been fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth. Indeed, Judaism had split again, this time between those who believed Jesus was the Christ, criminalized and crucified upon a Roman cross, and those who still awaited another. This explains why persecution from Jewish religious leaders was so fierce. Christianity was seen as a blasphemous aberration, threatening to consume those faithful to the law of Moses. It had to be stamped out. Throughout the New Testament, evidences of this division can be seen. Likely the result of the ongoing conflict between Jews and Christians, the Roman historian Suetonius writes about the expulsion of Jews from Rome under Claudius Caesar, also seen in Acts 18 too. He banished from Rome all the Jews who were continually making disturbances at the instigation of one Crestus. Crestus was a popular Greek and Roman variation of the word Christus, meaning anointed one, an obvious reference to Jesus. Perhaps Galatians 4, 22 through 31 best illustrates the division between old and new covenant Judaism. For it is written, Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid and the other by a free woman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh, but he of the free woman was by promise. This is an allegory, for these are the two covenants. The one from the Mount Sinai bearing to bondage is Hagar. For this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and represents Jerusalem, which now is and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem, which is above, is free, which is the mother of us all. Verses 22 through 26. So maybe it should come as no surprise when we see the early stages of division creeping into the Christian church by the time Paul writes his first letter to the church in Corinth. A mere 20 years after Jesus, Paul has become aware of quarreling within the Corinthian body and has exhorted that there be no divisions among you. Now I say this, that every one of you says, I am Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you but Crispus and Gaius, lest any should say that I had baptized in my own name. 1 Corinthians 1, 12 through 15. In 2 Peter 2, Simon Peter counsels against false teachers and deceivers creeping into the church. But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you. They will secretly bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Many shall follow their depraved ways. Because of them the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. Through their greed these teachers' lies shall exploit you. Their judgment has been long lingering, yet their destruction slumbers not. 2 Peter 2, 1 through 3. In the third epistle of John, we see the apostle addressing a wayward church leader, Diatrophes, who likes to put himself first and does not want to subject himself to the apostle's authority. 3 John 9. Diatrophes was apparently allowing his position over his local church to go to his head. Paul warns the leaders at Ephesus to be watchful when he says, I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. And from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. Acts 20, 29 through 30. See also the second and third chapters of Revelation, where Jesus himself admonishes the local churches of the day for drifting into error, and warns them of his impending judgment. Revelation 2, 5. Christian persecution increases. Not only was Stephen stoned by the Jewish authorities within a few short years of the birth of the Christian church, Acts 7, we see by Acts 12, James killed by the sword and Peter imprisoned under Herod. Paul tells of his own beatings and stonings, 2 Corinthians 11, 25, before he was eventually beheaded in Rome in 66 AD, possibly about the same time as Peter's crucifixion. According to church tradition, many of the disciples met grisly deaths during this time. Stephen was stoned, Matthew was slain in Ethiopia, Mark dragged through the streets until dead, Luke hanged, Peter and Simon were crucified, Andrew tied to a cross, James beheaded, Philip crucified and stoned, Bartholomew flayed alive, Thomas pierced with lances, James the less, thrown from the temple and beaten to death, Jude shot to death with arrows, Matthias stoned to death, and Paul beheaded. Joining the Jewish affliction and growing in-house division was a mounting crescendo of pagan persecution coming down from the highest levels of the Roman state. Though state-sponsored persecution seems to have begun with Claudius Caesar, the trophy for most infamous goes to his successor, Nero. Nero and the Roman-Jewish War Following Claudius' poisoning by his fourth wife, Agrippina the Younger, the way was made clear for her 16-year-old son Nero to ascend the throne. Initially guided by wise counsel, the first five years of Nero's reign were marked by prudent changes for the Empire, including an empowering of the Senate and a reduction of secret political trials. Alas, his last decade spiraled into insanity and depravity. Among other evils, Nero is credited for exiling and murdering his first wife, murdering his brother and mother, kicking his pregnant second wife to death, and then castrating and marrying a boy who looked like her, and engaging in a reign of terror over Christianity following the famous Great Fire of Rome. Tastus writes, following the fire, an arrest was first made of all Christians who pleaded guilty. Then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much for the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as nightly illumination when daylight had expired. As seen in the example of Pharaoh and King Nebuchadnezzar, men were positioning themselves and their pagan gods for worship long before the Roman emperors ever were. Like his predecessors, Nero also promoted emperor worship, which was an intolerable idolatry for committed Jews and Christians. Though many compromised their faith in order to continue to participate in local commerce, increased taxation and forced pagan worship, mixed with messianic expectation, eventually kindled Jewish rebellion. During the Roman-Jewish War, 66-73 AD, the Judeo-Christian community further separated themselves from their Jewish heritage by not answering the call to arms. Instead of throwing in on the revolt against Rome and rushing to the aid of Israel's besieged cities, the Christian community heeded Jesus' Olivet Discourse warning to flee Judea. Matthew 24-16, Luke 21, 21-22, taking up residence in the mountain wilderness of Pella, east of the Jordan River. This was the fulfillment of Revelation 12, 6 and 14, where the woman fled into the wilderness having a place prepared by God where she will be nourished for 1,260 days, three and a half years, or time, times, and half a time, per verse 14. After the fall of Jerusalem and the raising of the temple in 70 AD, the war devolved into a three-year manhunt for any remaining Jewish rebels still clinging to their messianic fervor. The last Jewish stronghold to fall was the mountain fortress of Maceda, where Josephus reports 960 people consisting of Jewish families and an extremist faction of zealot rebels called Saqqari took their own lives rather than face capture by the Romans. Domitian Though paling in comparison with Nero's terror, at the close of the first century, it seems Jews and, by proximity, Christians may have experienced renewed persecution under Emperor Domitian. However, if there was state-sponsored oppression of Christianity under Domitian, it has not been well recorded by history. In his Church Fathers, Eusebius does say, Domitian having shown great cruelty toward many and having unjustly put to death no small number of well-born and notable men at Rome and having without cause exiled and confiscated the property of a great many other illustrious men, finally became a successor of Nero in his hatred and enmity toward God. He was, in fact, the second that stirred up a persecution against us, although his father Vespasian had undertaken nothing prejudicial to us. Church Father Tertullian reports that Domitian's persecution was brief and that he even recalled those whom he had banished. The Great Persecution Around the late 2nd century, Tertullian writes of the rising popularity of Christianity even in the face of civil persecution. We are but of yesterday, and yet we have filled all the places that belong to you, cities, islands, forts, towns, exchanges, the military camps themselves, tribes, town councils, the palace, the senate, the marketplace. We have left you nothing but your temples. Like the early Hebrew nation in the land of Goshen under Pharaoh, this growth alarmed the pagan Roman Empire. Though laws against religious minorities were already being partially enforced across the Empire, in February 303 AD, Caesar Galerius persuaded Emperor Diocletian to initiate civil persecution of Christians as enemies of the state. By 304, Galerius passed an edict forcing all Roman citizens to sacrifice to the Empire's pagan gods under threat of arrest, forced labor, or execution. Eventually succeeding Diocletian as Emperor, Galerius continued his savage hostility towards Christians in what became known as the Great Persecution. This oppression persisted for eight years until Galerius fell seriously ill in the winter of 310 AD. Recognizing years of formal persecution had only yielded growth among the Christians, and possibly suspecting his failing health was a judgment by the Christian god, Galerius issued a formal edict of toleration on April 30, 311, granting the Christians recognized freedom to pursue their faith openly. This Edict of Certica was the first formal legalization of Christianity in history. Christianity Legalized and Compromised Through the Civil Wars of the Tetrarchy, a series of conflicts between Rome's co-regents in the early 300s, Constantine I eventually emerged as the Emperor Supreme in 324 AD. Eusebius reports Constantine was moved by an open vision of a red cross in the sky Constantine took this vision to mean that he would conquer and unify the known world through Christianity. Subsequently, he re-established dynastic rule under himself and, with the first Ecumenical, as in Empire-wide, Council of Nicaea in 325, he instituted church-state cooperation that would eventually lead to Christianity's takeover as the official religion of the Holy Roman Empire. What could go wrong? The downside? The secular state influence in church government would invite syncretism and political compromise from this point forward. Additionally, local churches began trading in their self-governed executive autonomy, thereby abandoning the New Testament model, and looked instead to the Roman state for legislative direction and support. Yet, as Constantine pushed for the favor and unification of all Christians under the Roman banner, the pagan Roman Senate pushed back. This opposition led Constantine to establish a second Roman capital at the eastern city of Byzantium. Gratuitously renamed Constantinople, this move foreshadowed the future denominational split from Rome, which would establish the center for Greek Orthodox Christianity centuries later in 1054 AD. Doctrinal error advances. Through these centuries of tribulation, doctrinal error continued to creep into the Christian church. Beside the merging of church and state, one of the first tenets to fall was baptism. New Testament baptism was a believer's baptism, requiring one to hear and understand the gospel message, repent of sin, and make their public declaration through immersion. Romans 6, 3-5, Acts 2, 38, Acts 8, 12, Acts 8, 38-39. Nonetheless, the writings of Irenaeus, Origen, and Tertullian all seem to indicate baptism of children began among the local churches as early as the 2nd century. One of the causes for this shift may have been the developing idea that baptism enabled salvation instead of simply being a symbol of it. This thinking also encouraged infant baptism during a time when infant mortality was high. Though not doctrinally sound, some Christians today still hold infant baptism as a continuation of its predecessor, infant circumcision, as it was portrayed in the Mosaic Law. Genesis 17, 10-14, Leviticus 12, 2-3. As Paul points out in Galatians 2.16, however, the works of the flesh accomplish nothing. Circumcision was always intended to lead to circumcision of the heart. Deuteronomy 10.16, Romans 2.29. To be clear, it is the belief in the finished work of Christ that saves, not baptism. Romans 10.9 plainly states, if we confess with our mouths Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts God raised him from the dead, we will be saved. Disagreement with salvific and infant baptism among the local churches, coupled with a healthy distrust of Rome after centuries of abuse, led to many churches staying away from the Ecumenical Council meetings. Undeterred by 418, the Roman Catholic Church signed infant baptism into law, thereby making it compulsory across the empire. In effect, forced paganism had been exchanged for forced Christianity, casting a shadow over religious freedom once again. The Middle Ages, 500-1500 AD. The downfall of Rome in 476 created a power vacuum that could not be recovered by the weaker nations and tribes that rushed to fill it. It was during this decline of state rule and the rise of feudalism that the Roman Catholic Church rose to power. Though the term Middle Ages refers to the time roughly between 500 and 1500 AD, the expression Dark Ages refers to the first 500 years where darkness reflects either a lack of cultural advancement or merely the weak historical documentation surrounding the period. As the gap between New Testament teaching widened, many errors became encoded into the Catholic Church during these years. Ratified through ongoing council meetings, these errors included Hierarchical Legislative Government, 325 AD The Official Marriage of Church and State, 380 AD The Suppression of Religious Freedom, 391 AD Infant Baptism as a Means to Salvation, 418 AD Worship of Mary as the Mother of God, known as Mariolatry, a play on the word idolatry, 451 AD Image and Saint Worship, 787 AD Purgatory and Indulgences, payments to the Catholic Church for heavenly mercies, 1095 AD Forced Celibacy of Priests, 1123 AD Inaugurated the Inquisition, 1184 AD To stamp out all heresy, which included Jews, Muslims, pagans, and non-Catholic Christians, a ratcheting up of the Catholic Church's bloody religious wars, known as the Crusades, already in progress. Confession to Priests and Transubstantiation, the doctrine that the communal bread and wine was not a symbol but the literal body and blood of Christ, 1215 AD And finally, made possessing copies or fragments of the Bible illegal so as to reduce private interpretation, 1229 AD The condemnation of particular Christian groups who refused to join the Catholic Order was a frequent topic at these councils. Christians rejecting the Catholic institutions, with its pharisaical laws and increasingly pagan doctrines, found themselves accused of heresy. Many groups were targeted, including the Paulicians, Cathari, Paterines, Donatists, Anabaptists, Petro-Russians, Arnalists, Henricians, Waldenses, and Albigenses. Though some of these strains really were heretical, like the Cathari, the Paterines, and the Albigenses, the Catholic response was decidedly more in step with the Jewish authorities of Jesus' time than with Jesus himself. Still, God was keeping a people unto himself who had not departed from the New Testament teachings. Reformation, 1400-1600 AD Following these centuries of brutality and bloodshed, we now enter a period of, well, more bloodshed. With its lust for oppression, legalism, and corruption, the need for reform within the church was becoming painfully obvious to Catholic piety who still had access to scripture. Reformation became the cry from within, but the Catholic hierarchy rejected that cry. They wanted to protect their power. Change was led by devout Catholics like John Wycliffe and John Huss, and like Martin Luther and Philip Melanchthon, who went on to begin the Lutheran Church in Germany, and Ulrich Zwingli and John Calvin, whose work launched the Presbyterians of Scotland. Even so, within several short decades, these churches joined their Catholic mother in securing state sponsorship, achieving both power and compromise. During all this upheaval, the Catholic church in England was having its own trouble. King Henry VIII, motivated by his desire to divorce Catherine, his wife, in exchange for her maid of honor, Anne Boleyn, broke from the Roman church so he could have his marriage annulled. This placed Henry as the head of a new church of England, Catholic though it was. Reformation entered the English church at this time, but was soon reversed when Catherine's daughter Mary took the throne and placed the church back under papal authority. In doing so, she burned hundreds of Protestant heretics at the stake, earning the name Bloody Mary. She died five years into her reign and was succeeded by Elizabeth, Anne's daughter, who returned the Church of England to its Protestant arc. Recognized as established state churches, these new Protestant churches of England, Scotland, and Germany joined the Roman Catholic and the Greek Orthodox churches in persecuting any churches that were outside their doctrinal borders. Without governmental authority, religious liberty was withheld from those who worshipped apart from the established institutions. Imprisonment, fines, beatings, banishment, and loss of property still fell upon those who preached the gospel or opposed child and infant baptism. In 1611, the King James Bible was made available to the commoner, further eroding papal power. The growing number of independent churches, now called Congregationalists, began to return to New Testament conduct. These self-governed churches adopted policies for remaining separate from state influence, held themselves apart from worldly values, esteemed the Bible as their standard, and considered Jesus their head. Still, abuse by the larger state-sponsored denominations continued. As colonial migration amped up during the 17th century, families fleeing religious persecution joined the exodus to America. Unfortunately, Europe's established churches were also migrating to the New World, bringing with them the same intolerance that those religious refugees had hoped to escape. In time, the Church of England began to recognize that the religious oppression of fellow Protestants was not in the Crown's best interest. Through a series of formal toleration acts from 1688 to 1854, the pressure on dissenters, all who remained apart from the Church of England, turned to liberty, eventually including even Catholics. Christianity had finally attained religious liberty from itself. Mostly. Represented by the Acts 2 Church of the first century, the 7,000 who refused to bow the knee to Baal, and the persecuted people of God who have remained steadfast across the ages, the faithful remnant continues to grow with every generation. They are not marked by denomination, nor by national heritage, nor by geographic location, but by faith and obedience. As Galatians 3, 7-9 reminds us, Therefore know that they who are of faith are the children of Abraham. The scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, first preached the gospel to Abraham, saying, So then they who are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. Today, Christianity remains the world's most predominant faith and the most persecuted. According to Open Doors, an organization that tracks Christian oppression across the globe, 5,621 Christians were killed for faith-related reasons in 2022. Over 2,110 churches were attacked, and 4,542 Christians were detained. Since the time of Noah, there has been a faithful remnant, God's elect, who have stayed true to God and His commandments, even in the face of persecution unto death. As I've illustrated in this brief survey of doctrinal erosion and religious persecution, it is on every believer to cleave to the tenets of God's word. We must regularly compare our congregational doctrines and our liturgies with the biblical record, for we see historically, apart from the guidance of the Holy Spirit, drift happens. The models for church conduct and sacraments were clearly established in the New Testament. Throughout the ages and even within the word itself, we have seen what happens when men take matters into their own hands, soon departing from God's standards. And so, beloved, when persecution comes, from within or without, let us take comfort from the words of Peter. The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of trials, and to reserve the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment. Remember, it's the truth that sets you free.