THE APOSTLES DIED—WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?

Did Christ's church disappear—or did Christians continue following Christ after the apostles were gone?

In our previous study we asked whether the New Testament predicted a complete apostasy.

We found something important.

The New Testament certainly predicted apostasy.

False teachers would arise. Christians would fall away. Congregations could become corrupt. Even church leaders could lead disciples away from the truth.

But we did not find a prediction that every faithful Christian and congregation would disappear from the earth.

Now we need to ask a historical question.

What actually happened after the apostles died?

Did Christianity disappear?

Did Christ's church cease to exist?

Or did Christians continue worshiping, teaching, baptizing, observing the Lord's Supper, reading Scripture and spreading the gospel?

Let's look.

1. The Apostles Really Did Die

The first generation couldn't last forever.

James was killed in Acts 12.

Peter and Paul eventually died.

The other apostles also passed from the scene.

By the end of the first century, the church was entering a new situation:

Christians were living without the original apostles.

That much isn't controversial.

But here's the important question:

What happened to the Christians they left behind?

2. Christianity Did Not Disappear

This is one place where history becomes extremely important.

We possess Christian writings from the period immediately following the apostles.

They aren't Scripture.

They aren't inspired merely because they are old.

And they don't always agree with one another.

But they provide historical evidence that Christian communities continued to exist.

We hear from Christians in places such as:

Rome.

Corinth.

Ephesus.

Smyrna.

Philippi.

Antioch.

And other parts of the Roman world.

Christianity didn't vanish when the apostles died.

It continued spreading.

That doesn't prove those Christians got everything right.

But it does establish something important:

Christians were still there.

3. Clement of Rome

One of the earliest important Christian writings outside the New Testament is commonly called 1 Clement.

It was written from the church at Rome to the church at Corinth, probably near the end of the first century.

Think about what that means.

The apostles were passing from the scene, yet Christians in Rome were communicating with Christians in Corinth about problems in a congregation.

They talked about Christ.

They quoted or echoed Scripture.

They discussed elders.

They urged humility, faithfulness and proper conduct.

Whatever conclusions we draw about every detail of Clement's teaching, we are clearly looking at continuing Christian communities.

The church hadn't simply vanished.

4. Ignatius of Antioch

Early in the second century, Ignatius of Antioch was being transported toward Rome, where he expected to be executed.

On the journey he wrote letters to several Christian congregations.

And those letters are fascinating.

He writes to Christians in:

Ephesus.

Magnesia.

Tralles.

Rome.

Philadelphia.

Smyrna.

And to Polycarp.

Once again, whatever we think of everything Ignatius taught, something is historically obvious:

There were organized communities of Christians spread across a large geographical area after the apostolic generation.

They were talking about Jesus.

They were worshiping.

They were observing the Lord's Supper.

They were dealing with false teaching.

They had recognized leadership.

Christianity hadn't disappeared.

5. Polycarp Gives Us an Interesting Link

Polycarp was a Christian leader at Smyrna in the early second century.

Later Christian testimony associates him with the apostle John.

We should be cautious about making more of later historical traditions than the evidence permits.

But Polycarp himself is unquestionably early.

He wrote to the Christians at Philippi.

Notice again what we're finding:

Rome.
Corinth.
Antioch.
Ephesus.
Smyrna.
Philippi.

We're only a generation or so beyond the apostles, and Christians haven't vanished.

They're communicating with one another across the Roman world.

6. Then There Is the Didache

Another very early Christian document is called the Didache, meaning “Teaching.”

Its exact date is debated, but it reflects very early Christian practice.

It discusses:

Christian morality.

Baptism.

Fasting.

Prayer.

The Lord's Supper.

Traveling teachers.

Prophets.

Bishops and deacons.

Once again, we don't treat the Didache as Scripture.

In fact, differences between it and later Christian practice can themselves be quite interesting.

But historically it demonstrates something important.

Christians were still trying to live as Christian communities after the apostles.

7. Were They Already Changing Things?

Now we need to be fair.

Yes.

The fact that Christianity continued doesn't prove that every Christian remained faithful to apostolic teaching.

We already know from the New Testament that they didn't.

Changes were occurring.

Different ideas were developing.

Church organization was beginning to develop differently in some places.

Arguments arose over doctrine and practice.

False teachers appeared.

Different understandings of Christian teaching competed with one another.

Some developments became much larger in later centuries.

So we should not make the opposite mistake and say:

“Christians existed after the apostles; therefore everything they believed and practiced must have been apostolic.”

That doesn't follow either.

8. Something Was Happening to Church Leadership

This deserves special attention.

In the New Testament we commonly find local congregations with elders, also called overseers, serving the flock.

Compare Acts 20:17 and 20:28.

Paul summons the elders of Ephesus and then tells those same men that the Holy Spirit made them overseers.

Titus 1:5–7 similarly moves from “elder” to “overseer.”

But fairly early after the apostolic period, we begin seeing a clearer distinction between:

one bishop

and

a group of elders or presbyters.

Ignatius provides particularly clear evidence of that development.

That's important.

Something was changing.

But historical change is not the same thing as proving that Christ's entire church disappeared.

We need to examine each development separately.

9. This Is Where History Can Help—and Mislead Us

There are two opposite mistakes we can make.

One says:

“The early Christians did it, therefore it must be biblical.”

The other says:

“The early Christians changed some things, therefore the entire church became apostate.”

Neither conclusion automatically follows.

History tells us:

what people believed and practiced.

Scripture must still help us determine:

whether they were right.

That's an important distinction.

10. The Earliest Christians Were Not the Apostles

This may be one of the most important principles in this study.

Suppose Ignatius wrote something around A.D. 110.

That's extraordinarily early.

But:

A.D. 110 is still not A.D. 60.

Ignatius isn't Paul.

Clement isn't Peter.

Polycarp isn't John.

The Didache isn't Scripture.

Their closeness to the apostles makes their testimony historically valuable.

It does not make it inspired.

That is precisely why we should read them—but also test what they say.

11. We Already Know Error Can Develop Very Quickly

We don't even have to leave the New Testament to prove this.

The Galatian churches began accepting a distorted gospel while Paul was still alive.

Corinth developed serious divisions and doctrinal problems.

Some Corinthians denied the resurrection.

Colossae faced dangerous teaching.

The churches in Revelation included congregations tolerating serious error.

So this argument doesn't work:

“This teaching appeared very early, therefore the apostles must have taught it.”

Error didn't require hundreds of years to develop.

Sometimes it developed before the apostles had even died.

12. But the Opposite Argument Doesn't Work Either

Neither can we say:

“Some Christians departed from apostolic teaching, therefore nobody remained faithful.”

Paul never reasoned that way.

Jesus didn't reason that way in Revelation 2–3.

Within the same period some congregations were faithful while others were in serious trouble.

Some Christians compromised.

Others endured persecution rather than deny Christ.

The historical picture is messy.

And perhaps that's exactly what the New Testament led us to expect.

13. What About Persecution?

Christians certainly suffered persecution.

Some were imprisoned.

Some were executed.

Some abandoned their faith.

But persecution didn't eliminate Christianity.

In fact, during the second and third centuries Christianity continued spreading throughout the Roman world despite periods of persecution.

That doesn't prove every Christian teaching remained unchanged.

But it makes the idea that Christianity simply disappeared historically difficult to maintain.

There were Christians.

There were congregations.

There were Scriptures.

There was preaching.

There was baptism.

There was the Lord's Supper.

There was persecution specifically because Christians still existed.

14. So What Actually Disappeared?

Now we reach the important question.

The LDS claim isn't merely:

“Christianity changed.”

There is considerable historical evidence that Christian doctrine, organization and practice developed in various ways.

The stronger LDS claim is that after the apostles died, priesthood authority was taken from the earth, eventually making a restoration necessary. Official LDS teaching continues to make that distinction. Church of Jesus Christ

History can show us Christians continuing to exist.

History can show us what they taught.

History can show changes in church organization.

History can show controversies.

But can history show us that God removed His authority from every Christian everywhere?

That's a different kind of claim.

And it requires evidence.

15. Where Did Jesus Say Authority Would Disappear?

This brings us back to Scripture.

If the death of the apostles meant that God's authority necessarily vanished from earth, we should ask:

Where did Jesus say that?

If no congregation could continue after the apostles without a new prophet restoring authority, we should ask:

Where did the apostles teach that?

And if God intended the church to disappear for many centuries, we should ask how that fits Jesus' promises:

“I will build my church.”

and:

“I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Those questions cannot be answered simply by saying that later Christians made mistakes.

We already know they made mistakes.

Christians were making mistakes while apostles were still alive.

16. So What Happened After the Apostles Died?

The simplest historical answer appears to be:

Christianity continued.

Christians continued meeting.

Congregations continued existing.

The Scriptures continued being read.

The gospel continued being preached.

People continued being baptized.

Christians continued observing the Lord's Supper.

Christian leaders continued teaching.

And Christianity continued spreading.

At the same time:

Changes occurred.

Errors appeared.

Church organization developed.

Traditions accumulated.

Doctrinal controversies arose.

Some teachings moved away from what we find in the New Testament.

That picture actually looks remarkably similar to what the apostles had warned would happen.

17. Therefore We Need a Better Question

Perhaps the question shouldn't simply be:

“Which church can trace its organization farthest back?”

Nor should it simply be:

“Which church claims that everybody else became apostate?”

Our question should be:

WHAT DID THE APOSTLES TEACH?

Then, when we encounter Clement, Ignatius, Polycarp, Augustine, Luther, Joseph Smith—or anybody else—we can ask:

Does what this person teaches agree with the apostolic message preserved in Scripture?

Age alone doesn't make something true.

Newness alone doesn't make something false.

Tradition doesn't settle the question.

Claims of restoration don't settle it either.

The teaching still has to survive the text.

THE APOSTLES DIED.

CHRISTIANITY DIDN'T.

But Christianity's continued existence doesn't prove that everything Christians later believed was correct.

And the existence of error doesn't prove that Christ's church completely disappeared.

That leaves us with a much more interesting question:

How early can a tradition be—and still be wrong?

That's where I think our next page should go.

TEXT B4 TRADITION
Read First. Conclude Later.

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