Historia ya Kanisa — Sehemu ya 2: Mababa wa Kitume, Mateso, na Watetezi wa ImaniChurch History — Unit 2: Apostolic Fathers, Persecutions, & Apologists

Yohana alipokufa huko Patmo karibu mwaka 100 B.K., enzi ya mitume ilikuwa imekwisha. Watu waliotembea na Yesu walikuwa wameondoka. Watu waliokuwa wameuweka msingi walikuwa wameondoka. Maandiko waliyoyaacha nyuma — tunayoyaita Agano Jipya — sasa yalikuwa kiungo pekee cha moja kwa moja cha kanisa na chimbuko lake. Na kanisa lilikabiliwa na maswali manne kwa wakati mmoja.When John died on Patmos around AD 100, the apostolic age was over. The men who had walked with Jesus were gone. The men who had laid the foundation were gone. The text they had left behind — what we call the New Testament — was now the church's only direct connection to its origins. And the church faced four questions all at once.

Sasa nani ana mamlaka? Mitume ndio waliokuwa na neno la mwisho katika ubishi wowote. Wao wakiwa wameondoka, mamlaka yanakaa wapi? Hasa tunaamini nini? Mitume walikuwa wamejibu maswali ya kitheolojia papo hapo. Wao wakiwa wameondoka, ni nani atakayejibu swali linalofuata? Tutaishije? Milki ya Kirumi ilikuwa ikiukaza mshiko wake, na imani iliyokataa kumsujudia Kaisari ilikuwa karibu kugundua Kaisari alikuwa akiwafanya nini watu wa namna hiyo. Tutaitenganishaje kweli na bandia zake? Wazushi walikuwa tayari mlangoni, na baadhi yao walisikika kama Ukristo kwa kiasi kikubwa mpaka uyasome maandishi madogo ya chini.Who has authority now? The apostles had been the final word in any dispute. With them gone, where does authority sit? What exactly do we believe? The apostles had answered theological questions on the spot. With them gone, who answers the next one? How do we survive? The Roman Empire was tightening its grip, and a faith that refused to bow to Caesar was about to find out what Caesar did with such people. How do we sort the truth from the counterfeits? Heretics were already at the door, and some of them sounded a great deal like Christianity until you read the fine print.

"Hayo uwakabidhi watu waaminifu, watakaofaa kuwafundisha wengine.""Commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also."

Sehemu ya 2 inashughulikia miaka mia mbili na kumi na tatu — kuanzia kifo cha Yohana karibu mwaka 100 B.K. hadi Amri ya Milano mwaka 313, Kaisari Konstantino alipoufanya Ukristo kuwa halali hatimaye. Katika kipindi hicho kanisa litajaribiwa na nguvu tatu: mateso, yaliyojaribu kuliua; uzushi, uliojaribu kulifafanua upya; na kazi ya polepole yenye gharama ya kufafanua imani, ambamo lilipaswa kutambua kile lilichokiamini hasa kabla halijaweza kukitetea. Makundi matatu ya watu yalibeba mzigo mzito. Mababa wa Kitume walitafuta kuyahifadhi na kuyapitisha mafundisho ya mitume kwa kizazi kilichofuata, wakati ambapo kumbukumbu peke yake ingeweza kuyaacha yapotoke. Mashahidi waliouawa na waungamaji waliununua uhai wa kanisa ulioendelea kwa maisha yao. Watetezi wa Imani (Apologists) waliitetea imani kwa hoja za kiakili mbele ya utamaduni wa kipagani wenye uadui na wakalilazimisha kanisa kuziweka imani zake katika maneno yaliyo wazi.Unit 2 covers two hundred and thirteen years — from John's death around AD 100 to the Edict of Milan in 313 when the Emperor Constantine made Christianity legal at last. In that span the church will be tested by three forces: persecution, which tried to kill her; heresy, which tried to redefine her; and the slow, costly work of definition, in which she had to figure out what she actually believed before she could defend it. Three groups of men did the heavy lifting. The Apostolic Fathers sought to preserve and transmit the apostles' teaching to the generation that followed, when memory alone could have let it drift. The martyrs and confessors bought the church's continued existence with their lives. The Apologists defended the faith intellectually before a hostile pagan culture and forced the church to put her convictions into clear words.

Hii si sehemu ya nyota katika karne nne kuu za uhubiri — karne ya pili ilijishughulisha mno na kujaribu kuishi kiasi kwamba isingeweza kumzaa Krisostomo — lakini watu wa sehemu hii waliiweka mimbari ya kitume hai. Walihubiri kadiri walivyoweza, mahali walipoweza, mpaka kanisa lilipoufikia uhuru ambao ungeiwezesha karne ya nne kulipuka. Bila wao, hakuna Augustino. Bila Augustino, hakuna Luther. Bila Luther, hakuna Spurgeon. Kila utukufu wa baadaye katika kozi hii unasimama juu ya utii wa watu ambao majina yao Wakristo wengi wameyasahau.This is not a star unit on the four great centuries of preaching — the second century is too consumed with survival to produce a Chrysostom — but the men of this unit kept the apostolic pulpit alive. They preached as they could, where they could, until the church reached the freedom that would let the fourth century explode. Without them, there is no Augustine. Without Augustine, there is no Luther. Without Luther, there is no Spurgeon. Every later glory in this course rests on the obedience of men whose names most Christians have forgotten.

Mababa wa Kitume walikuwa viongozi wa Kikristo wa mwishoni mwa karne ya kwanza na mwanzoni mwa karne ya pili ambao ama waliwajua mitume binafsi au waliathiriwa moja kwa moja na watu waliowajua. Maandishi yao yanaunda daraja kati ya Agano Jipya na theolojia iliyokomaa zaidi ya karne zilizofuata. Si Maandiko — kanisa limetambua hilo siku zote — lakini ni ufafanuzi wa kwanza wa Maandiko uliotolewa na watu waliosimama karibu na waandishi wake kiasi cha kujua walimaanisha nini.The Apostolic Fathers were Christian leaders of the late first and early second centuries who had either personally known the apostles or were directly influenced by men who had. Their writings form a bridge between the New Testament and the more developed theology of later centuries. They are not Scripture — the church has always recognized that — but they are the first commentary on Scripture by men who had stood close enough to its authors to know what they meant.

Klementi wa Rumi (takriban 96 B.K.)Clement of Rome (c. AD 96)

Klementi alikuwa mzee wa kanisa la Rumi mwishoni mwa karne ya kwanza. Kanisa la Korintho lilipoingia katika mzozo wa uongozi — Korintho ileile ambayo Paulo alikuwa ameiandikia miaka arobaini kabla kuhusu matatizo ya aina hiyohiyo — Klementi aliwaandikia barua tunayoiita sasa 1 Klementi. Ndiyo maandishi ya Kikristo ya zamani zaidi nje ya Agano Jipya. Barua hiyo inasihi unyenyekevu, utaratibu, kuwatii wazee, na umoja ambao Kristo aliuombea katika Yohana 17. Klementi ananukuu mifano ya Agano la Kale, anazitaja barua za Paulo kuwa zenye mamlaka, na anaandika kwa sauti tulivu ya kichungaji ya mtu aliyejifunza kazi yake akiwatazama mitume wakiifanya. Kanisa la Korintho liliipokea barua hiyo na kuitunza. Waliisoma katika ibada kwa karne mbili zaidi. Kizazi cha kwanza baada ya mitume kilijua hasa ni maandishi ya aina gani kilichokuwa kimeyarithi.Clement was an elder of the church at Rome at the end of the first century. When the church at Corinth fell into a leadership dispute — the same Corinth Paul had written to forty years earlier with the same kinds of problems — Clement wrote them a letter we now call 1 Clement. It is the oldest Christian writing outside the New Testament. The letter pleads for humility, order, submission to elders, and the unity Christ prayed for in John 17. Clement quotes Old Testament examples, cites Pauline letters as authoritative, and writes in the calm pastoral voice of a man who learned his craft watching the apostles do it. The Corinthian church received the letter and kept it. They read it in worship for two more centuries. The first post-apostolic generation knew exactly what kind of writing it had inherited.

Ignatio wa Antiokia (aliuawa kwa ajili ya imani takriban 110 B.K.)Ignatius of Antioch (martyred c. AD 110)

Ignatio alikuwa askofu wa Antiokia — Antiokia ileile ambako wanafunzi waliitwa Wakristo kwa mara ya kwanza, Antiokia ileile ambako Paulo alianzia safari zake za kimisionari. Karibu mwaka 110 B.K. alikamatwa na kupelekwa Rumi chini ya ulinzi wa askari wenye silaha ili afe uwanjani. Njiani, akiwa katika minyororo, aliandika barua saba kwa makanisa aliyopita karibu nayo. Barua hizo zinamfunua mtu mwenye shauku ya kufa kwa ajili ya imani: "Niacheni niwe chakula cha wanyama wakali, ambao kupitia kwao naweza kumfikia Mungu," aliwaandikia Warumi, akiwaomba wasiingilie kifo chake. Alisisitiza uhalisi kamili wa kufanyika mwili kwa Kristo dhidi ya walimu wa mwanzo wa Udoketi waliodai kwamba Yesu alionekana tu kuwa na mwili. Alisisitiza mamlaka ya maaskofu kama kinga dhidi ya machafuko. Na alikufa huko Rumi, karibu mwaka 110 B.K., hasa kama alivyokuwa ameomba.Ignatius was bishop of Antioch — the same Antioch where the disciples had first been called Christians, the same Antioch from which Paul had launched his missionary journeys. About AD 110 he was arrested and sent to Rome under armed escort to die in the arena. Along the way, in chains, he wrote seven letters to the churches he passed near. The letters reveal a man eager for martyrdom: "Let me be food for the wild beasts, through whom I can attain to God," he wrote to the Romans, asking them not to interfere with his death. He insisted on the full reality of Christ's incarnation against early Docetic teachers who claimed Jesus only seemed to have a body. He insisted on the authority of bishops as a hedge against confusion. And he died in Rome, somewhere around AD 110, exactly as he had asked.

Polikarpo wa Smirna (aliuawa kwa ajili ya imani takriban 155 B.K.)Polycarp of Smyrna (martyred c. AD 155)

Polikarpo alikuwa mwanafunzi wa mtume Yohana. Litafakari hilo. Mtu aliyeandika 1 Yohana, mtu aliyeegemea kifuani mwa Yesu katika Karamu ya Mwisho — mtu huyo ndiye aliyemfundisha Polikarpo. Polikarpo alikua akawa askofu wa Smirna, ambayo leo ni Izmir katika pwani ya magharibi ya Uturuki, na alilitumikia kanisa lake kwa uaminifu hadi umri wa miaka themanini na zaidi. Karibu mwaka 155 B.K., Polikarpo alipokuwa na umri wa miaka themanini na sita, mamlaka ya Kirumi yalikuja kumchukua. Walimpa njia ya kuepuka: kiasi kidogo cha uvumba kwa sanamu ya Kaisari, kumkana Kristo haraka, naye angeweza kurudi nyumbani na kufa kitandani mwake.Polycarp was a disciple of the apostle John. Let that sink in. The man who wrote 1 John, the man who leaned against Jesus's chest at the Last Supper — that man taught Polycarp. Polycarp grew up to become the bishop of Smyrna, modern-day Izmir on the western coast of Turkey, and he served his church faithfully into his eighties. About AD 155, when Polycarp was eighty-six years old, the Roman authorities came for him. They offered him a way out: a pinch of incense to Caesar's image, a quick denial of Christ, and he could go home and die in his bed.

Polikarpo alikataa. Liwali (prokonsuli) alimsisitiza: aufikirie umri wake, aifikirie heshima yake, amlaani Kristo tu na aishi. Polikarpo alijibu kwa maneno ambayo yamekumbukwa kwa karne kumi na tisa: "Miaka themanini na sita nimemtumikia, wala hajanitendea ubaya wowote. Basi ninawezaje kumkufuru Mfalme wangu aliyeniokoa?" Walimchoma motoni akiwa amefungwa kwenye mti, na moto ulipoonekana kukataa kumgusa, askari mmoja alimalizia kazi kwa upanga. Simulizi ya mashahidi walioliona, iitwayo Kifo cha Kishahidi cha Polikarpo, ndiyo simulizi ya kwanza yenye maelezo ya kina ya kifo cha kishahidi cha Kikristo tuliyo nayo nje ya Agano Jipya. Ikawa kielelezo cha jinsi kufa kwa Kikristo kunavyoonekana kunapofanywa vyema.Polycarp refused. The proconsul pressed him: think of his age, think of his dignity, just curse Christ and live. Polycarp answered with words that have been remembered for nineteen centuries: "Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He has done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King who saved me?" They burned him at the stake, and when the fire seemed to refuse to touch him, a soldier finished the job with a sword. The eyewitness account, called the Martyrdom of Polycarp, is the first detailed Christian martyrdom narrative we possess outside the New Testament. It became a model for what Christian dying looks like when it is done well.

Mnyororo wa mafundisho ya kanisa haujawahi kukatika — kwamba kutoka kwa Kristo hadi kwa mitume, kutoka kwa mitume hadi kwa watu kama Polikarpo, kutoka kwa Polikarpo hadi kwa mwanafunzi wake Ireneo, kutoka kwa Ireneo kushuka katika kila kizazi tangu hapo, siku zote kumekuwa na kiungo kilicho hai. Unaposimama katika mstari wa walimu wa Kikristo leo, huo ndio mstari unaosimama ndani yake. Polikarpo ni mojawapo ya bolti zinazoushikilia pamoja.The church's chain of teaching has never been broken — that from Christ to the apostles, from the apostles to men like Polycarp, from Polycarp to his student Irenaeus, from Irenaeus down through every generation since, there has always been a living link. When you stand in the line of Christian teachers today, that is the line you are standing in. Polycarp is one of the bolts that holds it together.

Maandishi mengineOther writings

Nyaraka nyingine kadhaa za mwanzo zinakamilisha picha ya kipindi hicho: Didache (au "Mafundisho ya Mitume Kumi na Wawili"), kitabu kifupi cha mafundisho ya Kikristo kuhusu ubatizo, Meza ya Bwana, maombi, na kuwapima walimu wanaosafiri; Waraka wa Barnaba, ufafanuzi wa vivuli (mifano) vya Agano la Kale vilivyotimizwa katika Kristo; na Mchungaji wa Herma, kazi ndefu ya maono kuhusu toba. Vitabu hivi vilisomwa sana, wakati mwingine vilikaribia kuhesabiwa kuwa sehemu ya Maandiko katika baadhi ya maeneo, lakini kwa wakati wake kanisa lilitambua kwamba vilikuwa vya kundi tofauti na maandishi ya mitume. Mababa wa Kitume walikuwa mwangwi mwaminifu. Mitume wenyewe ndio waliokuwa sauti ya asili.Several other early documents fill out the period: the Didache (or "Teaching of the Twelve Apostles"), a brief manual of Christian instruction on baptism, the Lord's Supper, prayer, and the testing of traveling teachers; the Epistle of Barnabas, an exposition of Old Testament types fulfilled in Christ; and the Shepherd of Hermas, a long visionary work on repentance. These books were widely read, sometimes nearly canonical in some regions, but the church in time recognized that they belonged in a different category from the apostolic writings. The Apostolic Fathers were faithful echoes. The apostles themselves were the original voice.

Kwa nini Rumi iliwachukia Wakristo? Rumi ilikuwa imezimeza dini zote za mataifa iliyoyashinda na kuziingiza katika jamii ya miungu yake kwa miaka mia tano; mungu mmoja zaidi, ibada moja zaidi, havikutarajiwa kuwa tatizo. Wakristo walikuwa tatizo. Sababu nne ziliwafanya kuwa hivyo.Why did Rome hate the Christians? Rome had absorbed every conquered religion into its pantheon for five hundred years; one more god, one more cult, was supposed to be no problem. The Christians were a problem. Four reasons made them so.

Kwanza, Wakristo walikataa kushiriki katika ibada ya kumwabudu kaisari na dhabihu za kipagani. Kila tukio la hadhara katika ulimwengu wa Kirumi — sikukuu za kiraia, viapo vya kijeshi, vyama vya biashara, hata mikutano ya vyama vya mafundi — lilijumuisha dhabihu ndogo kwa miungu au kiasi kidogo cha uvumba kwa kaisari. Wakristo hawakufanya hivyo. Waliitwa wasioamini Mungu (atheists), si kwa sababu walimkana Mungu, bali kwa sababu waliikana miungu — kila mungu ambaye milki iliutambua. Pili, uvumi ulienea kuhusu kile Wakristo walichofanya katika karamu zao za upendo. Walisalimiana kwa busu takatifu, walikula pamoja, na kuitana "kaka" na "dada." Umbea wa Kirumi uligeuza hilo kuwa kujamiiana kwa ndugu wa damu. Tatu, Meza ya Bwana ilihusisha maneno kuhusu kuula mwili na kuinywa damu ya Kristo. Umbea wa Kirumi uligeuza hilo kuwa ulaji wa nyama ya watu. Nne, moto au tauni au kushindwa vitani kulipoikumba milki, ilibidi mtu fulani alaumiwe. Miungu ya zamani ilionekana kuwa na hasira. Kwa nini? Kwa sababu Wakristo hawakuiheshimu. Wachome Wakristo, na huenda miungu itatulia.First, Christians refused to participate in emperor worship and pagan sacrifices. Every public event in the Roman world — civic festivals, military oaths, business associations, even guild meetings — included a small sacrifice to the gods or a pinch of incense to the emperor. Christians would not. They were called atheists, not because they denied God, but because they denied the gods — every god the empire recognized. Second, rumors spread about what Christians did at their love feasts. They greeted each other with a holy kiss, ate together, and called each other "brother" and "sister." Roman gossip turned that into incest. Third, the Lord's Supper involved language about eating the body and drinking the blood of Christ. Roman gossip turned that into cannibalism. Fourth, when fire or plague or military defeat struck the empire, someone had to be blamed. The old gods seemed angry. Why? Because the Christians were not honoring them. Burn the Christians, and maybe the gods will calm down.

Mkondo wa mateso uliendelea kwa karne mbili na nusu. Baadhi ya makaisari walikuwa wakali mno; wengine walijifanya hawaoni. Majina makubwa yanaonyesha mabaya zaidi ya mateso hayo.The persecution arc ran for two and a half centuries. Some emperors were ferocious; others looked the other way. The big names track the worst of it.

Nero (64 B.K.)Nero (AD 64)

Rumi iliungua kwa siku sita mwezi Julai mwaka 64 B.K. Lawama ya watu wengi ilimwangukia Nero mwenyewe, aliyehitaji mbuzi wa kafara haraka. Alimpata katika Wakristo. Mwanahistoria Tasito, ambaye hakuwa rafiki wa Ukristo, aliandika kwamba Nero aliwafanya Wakristo wafunikwe kwa ngozi za wanyama na kuraruliwa na mbwa, wapigiliwe misalabani, au wachomwe moto ili kuangaza karamu zake za bustanini usiku. Petro na Paulo karibu kwa hakika walikufa katika mateso haya ya Nero, Petro akisulubiwa (kwa mapokeo, kichwa chini) na Paulo akikatwa kichwa kama raia wa Kirumi.Rome burned for six days in July of AD 64. The popular blame fell on Nero himself, who needed a scapegoat fast. He found one in the Christians. The historian Tacitus, no friend of Christianity, recorded that Nero had Christians wrapped in animal skins and torn apart by dogs, nailed to crosses, or set on fire to light his garden parties at night. Peter and Paul almost certainly died in this Neronian persecution, Peter crucified (by tradition upside down), Paul beheaded as a Roman citizen.

Trajani (takriban 112 B.K.)Trajan (c. AD 112)

Liwali Plinio Mdogo, aliyekuwa akihudumu katika eneo ambalo sasa ni kaskazini mwa Uturuki, alimwandikia Kaisari Trajani akiuliza afanye nini kuhusu idadi ya Wakristo iliyokuwa ikiongezeka. Trajani alijibu kwa maneno mashuhuri: usiwatafute, lakini wakishtakiwa na kukataa kukana imani yao, waadhibu. Hii ikawa sera ya Kirumi kwa karibu karne nzima. Iliufanya Ukristo kuwa hatari lakini haukuwa ukiwindwa kwa bidii.The governor Pliny the Younger, stationed in what is now northern Turkey, wrote to the Emperor Trajan asking what to do about the swelling Christian population. Trajan replied with a famous line: do not seek them out, but if they are denounced and refuse to recant, punish them. This became Roman policy for nearly a century. It made Christianity unsafe but not actively hunted.

Marko Aurelio (161–180)Marcus Aurelius (161–180)

Kaisari huyu mwanafalsafa aliruhusu milipuko ya mateso ya kimaeneo. Justino Mfiadini aliuawa huko Rumi karibu mwaka 165. Mateso makali huko Lyon mwaka 177 yalimzaa kijakazi mtumwa Blandina, aliyepigwa mijeledi, akatupwa kwa wanyama wakali, akachomwa juu ya kiti cha chuma cha moto, na hatimaye akauawa ndani ya wavu mbele ya fahali — wala hakuikana imani yake kamwe.The philosopher-emperor permitted local outbreaks of persecution. Justin Martyr was executed in Rome around 165. The brutal persecution at Lyons in 177 produced the slave girl Blandina, who was scourged, thrown to wild beasts, roasted on a hot iron chair, and finally killed in a net before a bull — and she never recanted.

Desio (250–251)Decius (250–251)

Desio alitoa agizo la kwanza lililohusu milki nzima: kila raia lazima atoe dhabihu kwa miungu ya Kirumi na apate cheti (libellus) kuthibitisha kwamba ametii. Mateso hayo yalikuwa ya kiutawala, yaliendeshwa kwa makaratasi, na yaliangamiza vibaya. Mfumo wa libellus uliacha kumbukumbu za maandishi zilizoliandama kanisa kwa miaka mingi.Decius issued the first empire-wide demand: every citizen must offer sacrifice to the Roman gods and obtain a certificate (a libellus) proving compliance. The persecution was administrative, paperwork-driven, and devastating. The libellus system left a paper trail that haunted the church for years.

Diokletiani (303–311)Diocletian (303–311)

"Mateso Makuu," shambulio kali zaidi dhidi ya Wakristo lililohusu milki nzima ambalo kanisa limewahi kukabiliana nalo. Diokletiani aliamuru Maandiko yachomwe, makanisa yabomolewe, makasisi wafungwe gerezani, na waumini wa kawaida walazimishwe kutoa dhabihu. Yaliendelea kwa miaka minane na yakakoma tu pale warithi wa kaisari walipoanza kutambua kwamba wasingeweza kuliua kanisa haraka kuliko lilivyokua.The "Great Persecution," the most severe empire-wide attack on Christians the church ever faced. Diocletian ordered Scriptures burned, churches destroyed, clergy imprisoned, and the laity forced to sacrifice. It went on for eight years and ended only when the emperor's successors began to grasp that they could not kill the church faster than it grew.

Kwa nini mateso yalishindwa? Mwanasheria wa Afrika Kaskazini Tertuliano, akiandika karibu mwaka 200 B.K., alitoa jibu mashuhuri zaidi katika historia ya kanisa: damu ya mashahidi ni mbegu ya kanisa. Kila kunyongwa hadharani kulikuwa tangazo la bure. Umati wa kipagani ulikwenda uwanjani kuwatazama Wakristo wakifa vyema, na baadhi yao walirudi nyumbani wakiwa Wakristo. Mateso yalilitawanya kanisa lakini hayakulizima. Mateso yalilisafisha kanisa lakini hayakuliharibu. Mateso yaliwaua Wakristo mmoja mmoja lakini yaliuzidisha Ukristo.Why did persecution fail? The North African lawyer Tertullian, writing about AD 200, gave the most famous answer in church history: the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. Every public execution was a free advertisement. Pagan crowds went to the arena to watch Christians die well, and some of them went home Christians. Persecution scattered the church but did not extinguish it. Persecution refined the church but did not corrupt it. Persecution killed individual Christians but multiplied Christianity.

Huo ni mtindo unaostahili kukumbukwa raha inaporudi. Kanisa liko hatarini zaidi si wakati wa mateso bali wakati wa ustawi. Kanisa chini ya Nero lilikua. Kanisa chini ya Konstantino, kibali cha kifalme kitakapowasili mwaka 313, lingekabiliwa na jaribu tofauti na la hila zaidi — jaribu la kupendwa. Tutalitazama jaribu hilo katika Sehemu ya 3.That is a pattern worth remembering when comfort returns. The church is most vulnerable not in persecution but in prosperity. The church under Nero grew. The church under Constantine, when imperial favor would arrive in 313, would face a different and subtler test — the test of being liked. We will watch that test in Unit 3.

Neno uzushi (heresy) kwa Kigiriki linamaanisha uchaguzi — uamuzi wa kuchagua kipande kimoja cha kweli na kukiinua juu ya kweli yote. Katika matumizi ya Kikristo, uzushi ni kulikana rasmi fundisho la msingi la imani. Uzushi si kutokubaliana kwa uaminifu juu ya mambo madogo. Ni kukataa au kupotosha kimsingi jambo ambalo kanisa limeliamini siku zote.The word heresy in Greek means a choice — the choice to pick out a piece of the truth and exalt it above the whole. In Christian usage, heresy is the formal denial of a core doctrine of the faith. Heresy is not honest disagreement on minor matters. It is the rejection or fundamental distortion of something the church has always believed.

Kwa nini uzushi ulilipuka katika karne ya pili? Kwa sababu wakati ulikuwa mwafaka kabisa kwa ajili yake. Mitume walikuwa wamekufa, hivyo marekebisho ya moja kwa moja kutoka kwao yalikuwa hayawezekani. Orodha ya vitabu vya Agano Jipya ilikuwa bado haijakusanywa rasmi, hivyo kumaliza ubishi kwa kusema "niache nikusomee alichosema Paulo" kulikuwa vigumu kuliko inavyosikika. Theolojia ilikuwa bado ikielezwa kwa maneno, hivyo mwalimu yeyote mjanja mwenye mfumo mpya angeweza kupata wasikilizaji. Aina tatu za uzushi zilitawala kipindi hicho, na zote tatu bado zipo nasi katika mavazi ya kisasa.Why did heresies erupt in the second century? Because the timing was perfect for them. The apostles were dead, so first-hand correction was impossible. The New Testament canon had not yet been formally collected, so settling a dispute by saying "let me read you what Paul said" was harder than it sounds. Theology was still being articulated, so any clever teacher with a new framework could find an audience. Three heresies dominated the period, and all three are still with us in modern dress.

UgnostikiGnosticism

Uzushi uliotawanyika zaidi na wa hatari zaidi wa enzi hiyo. Ugnostiki haukuwa harakati moja bali familia ya harakati zilizoshiriki mtazamo mmoja wa ulimwengu. Ukweli wa mambo, walifundisha Wagnostiki, umegawanyika kwa ukali kati ya roho (njema) na maada (ovu). Kwa hiyo Mungu wa Agano la Kale, aliyeuumba ulimwengu huu ovu wa kimaada, lazima awe mungu wa daraja la chini mwenye kasoro — Wagnostiki walimwita Demiurge (fundi-muumba). Mungu wa kweli aliye juu kabisa yuko mbali sana juu yake, hajulikani kwa akili za kawaida. Wokovu ni kutoroka kutoka kwenye maada hadi kwenye roho safi, nao unapatikana kwa njia ya maarifa ya siri — kwa Kigiriki, gnosis — ambayo walimu wa Kignostiki walidai kuwa nayo na kuyagawa kwa walioingizwa katika siri zao.The most diffuse and dangerous heresy of the era. Gnosticism was less a single movement than a family of movements that shared a worldview. Reality, the Gnostics taught, is divided sharply between spirit (good) and matter (evil). The God of the Old Testament, who created this evil material world, must therefore be a lower, flawed deity — the Gnostics called him the Demiurge. The true high God is far above him, unknowable to ordinary minds. Salvation is escape from matter into pure spirit, and it is achieved through secret knowledge — in Greek, gnosis — which the Gnostic teachers claimed to possess and dispense to initiates.

Kristo, katika mafundisho ya Kignostiki, asingeweza kwa kweli kuchukua mwili halisi wa kibinadamu, kwa sababu maada ni ovu. Kwa hiyo Wagnostiki wengi walikuwa Wadoketi: walifundisha kwamba Kristo alionekana tu kuwa na mwili, kwamba alikuwa kivuli au taswira tu. Msalaba, katika mfumo huu, ulikuwa ama udanganyifu wa macho ama kufunguliwa huru. Ufufuo wa mwili ulikuwa jambo lisilowazika. Wokovu ulikuwa kwa ajili ya nafsi peke yake.Christ, in Gnostic teaching, could not have actually taken on a real human body, because matter is evil. So most Gnostics were Docetists: they taught that Christ only seemed to have a body, that He was a phantom or projection. The cross, in this scheme, was either an illusion or a release. The bodily resurrection was unthinkable. Salvation was for the soul alone.

Soma Wakolosai 2 kwa makini na tayari unaweza kumwona Paulo akishindana na walimu wa mwanzo wa mwelekeo wa Kignostiki. Soma 1 Yohana na unamkuta Yohana akisisitiza kwamba "Yesu Kristo amekuja katika mwili" — dhidi ya watu waliosema hakuja hivyo. Ugnostiki ulishambulia nguzo tatu kwa wakati mmoja: wema wa uumbaji, uhalisi wa kufanyika mwili, na ufufuo wa mwili. Jibu la imani ya kweli (orthodoksia), lililofuliwa na Ireneo na wengine katika kipindi hichohicho, lilikuwa kwamba Mungu aliumba maada na akaiita njema, kwamba Neno alifanyika mwili kweli kweli, na kwamba Kristo aliyekufa atawafufua watu wake kimwili siku ya mwisho.Read Colossians 2 carefully and you can already see Paul wrestling with proto-Gnostic teachers. Read 1 John and you find John insisting that "Jesus Christ has come in the flesh" — against people who said He had not. Gnosticism attacked three pillars at once: the goodness of creation, the reality of the incarnation, and the bodily resurrection. The orthodox response, hammered out by Irenaeus and others in this very period, was that God created matter and called it good, that the Word truly became flesh, and that the Christ who died will bodily raise His people on the last day.

UmarkioniMarcionism

Markioni wa Sinope, tajiri mwenye meli aliyekuja Rumi karibu mwaka 140 B.K., aliudhika na vifungu vikali zaidi vya Agano la Kale na tofauti aliyodhani anaiona kati ya Mungu wa hukumu wa Agano la Kale na Mungu wa neema wa Agano Jipya. Kwa hiyo Markioni alilitatua tatizo kwa kukata. Alilikataa Agano la Kale lote. Alilikataa sehemu kubwa ya Agano Jipya. Alibakiza toleo lililohaririwa la Injili ya Luka na barua kumi za Paulo zilizoondolewa mambo ya Kiyahudi, na akatangaza kwamba hiyo ndiyo orodha ya kweli ya Maandiko ya Kikristo. Mungu wa Yesu, alisema Markioni, hakuwa Mungu wa Musa. Hao wawili walikuwa nafsi tofauti. Agano la Kale lingeweza kutupwa.Marcion of Sinope, a wealthy shipowner who came to Rome about AD 140, was offended by the harsher passages of the Old Testament and by the contrast he thought he saw between the OT God of judgment and the NT God of grace. So Marcion solved the problem by amputation. He rejected the entire Old Testament. He rejected most of the New Testament. He kept an edited version of Luke's Gospel and ten of Paul's letters with the Jewish elements scrubbed out, and he announced that this was the true Christian canon. The God of Jesus, said Marcion, was not the God of Moses. The two were different beings. The Old Testament could be discarded.

Kanisa lilimtenga Markioni mwaka 144 na halikuangalia nyuma tena. Lakini Markioni alilifanyia kanisa jambo moja jema bila kukusudia: kwa kuchapisha orodha yake ya Maandiko iliyokatwa, alililazimisha kanisa la imani ya kweli kuanza kuuliza, "Orodha yetu ya Maandiko ni ipi?" Kufikia mwisho wa karne ya pili, viongozi walikuwa wakisambaza orodha za vitabu vilivyokubaliwa. Kipande cha Muratori, kinachokadiriwa kuwa cha karibu mwaka 170 B.K., kinaorodhesha vitabu vingi tunavyoviita sasa Agano Jipya. Uzushi wa Markioni haukuiharibu orodha ya Maandiko. Uzushi wa Markioni uliharakisha kuundwa kwa orodha hiyo.The church excommunicated Marcion in 144 and never looked back. But Marcion did the church one accidental favor: by publishing his amputated canon, he forced the orthodox church to start asking, "What is our canon?" By the end of the second century, leaders were circulating lists of accepted books. The Muratorian Fragment, dated about 170 AD, lists most of the books we now call the New Testament. Marcion's heresy did not damage the canon. Marcion's heresy accelerated the canon.

UmontanoMontanism

Karibu mwaka 170 B.K., huko Frigia, mwongofu mpya aitwaye Montano alianza kutoa unabii akiwa amezama katika hali ya kupagawa kiroho. Wanawake wawili, Priskila na Maksimila, walijiunga naye wakiwa na unabii wao wenyewe. Waliiita harakati yao Unabii Mpya. Dai lao lilikuwa kwamba enzi ya mafundisho ya kitume ilikuwa ikipita na kumwagwa kupya kwa Roho kulikuwa kukija kupitia wao. Walidai maisha ya kujinyima kupita kiasi, walikataza kuoa au kuolewa tena baada ya kifo cha mwenzi, na wakatangaza kurudi kwa karibu kwa Kristo katika mji mmoja wa Frigia uitwao Pepuza, ambako Yerusalemu Mpya ingeshuka.About AD 170, in Phrygia, a recent convert named Montanus began prophesying in ecstatic trances. Two women, Priscilla and Maximilla, joined him with prophecies of their own. They called their movement the New Prophecy. Their claim was that the age of apostolic teaching was passing and a new outpouring of the Spirit was coming through them. They demanded extreme asceticism, forbade remarriage after the death of a spouse, and announced the imminent return of Christ to a town in Phrygia called Pepuza, where the New Jerusalem would descend.

Wamontano hawakuwa wazushi kwa maana ya Kignostiki. Mafundisho yao kwa sehemu kubwa yalikuwa ya imani ya kweli. Hatari waliyoileta ilikuwa tofauti: walidai kwamba ufunuo wa Roho uliendelea kwa nguvu kamili ya kitume kupitia manabii wao wenyewe, jambo ambalo kwa vitendo liliweka pembeni Agano Jipya lililokuwa likikusanywa wakati huohuo. Jibu la imani ya kweli lilikuwa kwamba amana ya kitume imefungwa. Roho bado anafundisha, bado anahakikisha dhambi mioyoni, bado anatia nguvu, lakini hapingani na mitume wala hayaongezei mafundisho yao. Mstari ulipaswa kuchorwa, na ulichorwa.The Montanists were not heretics in the Gnostic sense. Their doctrine was largely orthodox. The threat they posed was different: they claimed that the Spirit's revelation continued at full apostolic intensity through their own prophets, effectively superseding the New Testament that was just then being collected. The orthodox response was that the apostolic deposit is closed. The Spirit still teaches, still convicts, still empowers, but He does not contradict or supplement the apostles. The line had to be drawn, and it was.

Tanbihi moja kuhusu Umontano itakayokuwa muhimu baadaye: Priskila na Maksimila walipokuwa manabii wanawake mashuhuri katika harakati ya kizushi, kanisa la imani ya kweli lilijiepusha na wanawake katika nafasi zinazoonekana za aina hiyo. Kufikia mwishoni mwa karne ya pili, mtindo wa uongozi wa wanaume ambao haukuwa wa watu wote katika karne ya kwanza ulizidi kuwa kawaida. Kanisa la karne ya kwanza lilifuma karama za wanawake katika maisha yake kwa uhuru. Kanisa la baada ya Umontano likawa la tahadhari. Hiyo ni mojawapo ya gharama za uzushi ambazo hazizungumzwi mara nyingi.One footnote on Montanism that will matter later: when Priscilla and Maximilla were prominent female prophets in a heretical movement, the orthodox church recoiled from women in similar visible roles. By the late second century, the male leadership pattern that had not been universal in the first century became increasingly the norm. The first-century church wove women's gifts into its life freely. The post-Montanist church grew cautious. That is one of the costs of heresy that does not get talked about often.

Wakati Mababa wa Kitume walihifadhi mafundisho ya kitume kwa ajili ya kanisa, Watetezi wa Imani (Apologists) waliitetea imani mbele ya ulimwengu. Walikuwa Wakristo wasomi, mara nyingi waliofunzwa kwa kina falsafa ya Kigiriki na usemi wa Kirumi, waliotoa hoja za kuutetea Ukristo mbele ya makaisari wa kipagani, wanafalsafa, na wasomi wa tabaka la juu. Watatu kati yao wanastahili kuangaliwa kwa namna ya pekee.While the Apostolic Fathers preserved apostolic teaching for the church, the Apologists defended the faith to the world. They were educated Christians, often classically trained in Greek philosophy and Roman rhetoric, who argued the case for Christianity before pagan emperors, philosophers, and intellectual elites. Three of them deserve special attention.

Justino Mfiadini (takriban 100–165)Justin Martyr (c. 100–165)

Justino alikuwa mwanafalsafa wa Kigiriki aliyejaribu Ustoiki, Uplatoni, na Upythagora bila kupata amani, mpaka mzee mmoja ufuoni mwa bahari alipomwelekeza kwa manabii wa Kiebrania. Justino akawa Mkristo na akaendelea kuvaa joho la mwanafalsafa akiwa Mkristo, akionyesha kwamba Ukristo ndiyo falsafa ya kweli aliyokuwa akiitafuta muda wote. Utetezi wake wa Kwanza (First Apology), ulioelekezwa kwa Kaisari Antonino Pio karibu mwaka 155 B.K., uliwatetea Wakristo dhidi ya masingizio ya watu wengi ya kujamiiana kwa ndugu na ulaji wa nyama ya watu kwa kueleza tu kile Wakristo walichofanya hasa katika ibada: walisoma Maandiko, mzee aliyafafanua, walishiriki mkate na divai, waliwahudumia maskini. Mazungumzo yake na Trifo yalitoa hoja kutoka Agano la Kale kwamba Yesu ndiye Masihi aliyeahidiwa. Justino alifungua shule ya Kikristo huko Rumi. Alikatwa kichwa karibu mwaka 165 B.K. pamoja na wanafunzi wake kadhaa. Alikuwa amelistahili jina lake la pili.Justin was a Greek philosopher who tried Stoicism, Platonism, and Pythagoreanism without finding peace, until an old man on a beach pointed him to the Hebrew prophets. Justin became a Christian and continued to wear the philosopher's cloak as a Christian, signaling that Christianity was the true philosophy he had been seeking all along. His First Apology, addressed to the Emperor Antoninus Pius around AD 155, defended Christians against the popular slanders of incest and cannibalism by simply describing what Christians actually did at worship: they read the Scriptures, the elder explained them, they shared bread and wine, they cared for the poor. His Dialogue with Trypho argued from the Old Testament that Jesus is the promised Messiah. Justin opened a Christian school in Rome. He was beheaded around AD 165 along with several of his students. He had earned his second name.

Tertuliano (takriban 160–220)Tertullian (c. 160–220)

Tertuliano alikuwa mwanasheria wa Afrika Kaskazini kutoka Karthago aliyeongokea Ukristo alipokuwa na umri wa miaka thelathini na kitu na akaja na kalamu yake ya kisheria. Aliandika kwa Kilatini (Justino alikuwa ameandika kwa Kigiriki) na akaipa theolojia ya Magharibi sehemu kubwa ya msamiati wake wa mwanzo. Neno Utatu (trinitas) ni ubunifu wake. Maneno nafsi tatu katika dutu moja ni kanuni yake. Aliandika dhidi ya Markioni katika juzuu tano kubwa. Aliandika dhidi ya Mgnostiki Hermogene. Aliandika dhidi ya desturi ya kuwa askari katika majeshi ya kipagani. Aliandika dhidi ya mavazi ya kifahari ya wanawake na dhidi ya Wakristo kuhudhuria michezo ya uwanjani. Kalamu yake ilikuwa kali; hoja zake zilikuwa kali zaidi. Na ni kutoka kwa Tertuliano tunapata maneno makuu kuhusu kukua kwa kanisa: "Damu ya Wakristo ni mbegu." Karne ishirini za uhubiri zimeifafanua sentensi hiyo kwa maneno mengine na hazijawahi kuiboresha.Tertullian was a North African lawyer from Carthage who converted to Christianity in his thirties and brought his lawyer's pen with him. He wrote in Latin (Justin had written in Greek) and gave Western theology much of its early vocabulary. The word Trinity (trinitas) is his coinage. The phrase three persons in one substance is his formula. He wrote against Marcion in five massive volumes. He wrote against the gnostic Hermogenes. He wrote against the practice of soldiering for pagan armies. He wrote against women's elaborate dress and against Christians attending the games. His pen was sharp; his arguments were sharper. And it is from Tertullian that we get the great line about the church's growth: "The blood of the Christians is seed." Twenty centuries of preaching have paraphrased that sentence and never improved it.

Ireneo wa Lyon (takriban 130–202)Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 130–202)

Ireneo ndiye mtu anayefunga mzunguko. Alizaliwa Smirna, ambako alimsikia Polikarpo akihubiri alipokuwa mvulana. Polikarpo alikuwa amemsikia mtume Yohana. Kwa hiyo Ireneo alikuwa hatua mbili tu za kupeana mikono kutoka kwa Kristo Mwenyewe. Akawa askofu wa Lyon kusini mwa Gali, ambako aliitumikia jumuiya ndogo ya Kikristo iliyokuwa huko. Karibu mwaka 180 B.K. aliandika kazi yake kuu ya vitabu vitano Dhidi ya Uzushi (Against Heresies), jibu kamili dhidi ya Ugnostiki lililofupisha kila mfumo wa Kignostiki aliouweza kuupata na kisha kuuvunja kwa Maandiko na kwa kanuni ya imani — muhtasari wa msingi wa imani ya Kikristo ambao kila kanisa kila mahali lilikuwa limeupokea kutoka kwa mitume. Hoja ya Ireneo ilikwenda hivi: Wagnostiki wanadai mapokeo ya siri; sisi tuna mapokeo ya hadharani. Wagnostiki wanadai maandishi ya siri; sisi tuna Maandiko ya hadharani. Wagnostiki hawawezi kuwafuatilia walimu wao hadi kwa mitume; sisi tunaweza. Tazama mnyororo. Polikarpo alinifundisha. Yohana alimfundisha Polikarpo. Kristo alimfundisha Yohana. Wewe, Bwana Mgnostiki, unaonekana wapi hasa katika mstari huo?Irenaeus is the man who closes the loop. He was born in Smyrna, where he heard Polycarp preach as a boy. Polycarp had heard the apostle John. Irenaeus, then, was just two handshakes away from Christ Himself. He became bishop of Lyons in southern Gaul, where he served the small Christian community there. About AD 180 he wrote his great five-book work Against Heresies, an exhaustive refutation of Gnosticism that summarized every Gnostic system he could find and then dismantled it from Scripture and from the rule of faith — the basic summary of Christian belief that every church everywhere had received from the apostles. Irenaeus's argument went like this: the Gnostics claim secret tradition; we have public tradition. The Gnostics claim secret writings; we have the public Scriptures. The Gnostics cannot trace their teachers back to the apostles; we can. Look at the chain. Polycarp taught me. John taught Polycarp. Christ taught John. Where, exactly, do you appear in that line, Mr. Gnostic?

Hoja hiyo ya urithi wa kitume (apostolic succession) — wazo kwamba mafundisho halali ya Kikristo husafiri katika mnyororo usiokatika kutoka kwa mitume hadi leo — ilikuwa silaha yenye nguvu zaidi ya kanisa dhidi ya Ugnostiki. Mnyororo ulikuwa muhimu kwa sababu ujumbe ulikuwa muhimu. Fundisho lililotengwa na amana ya kitume halikuwa na haki yoyote juu ya kanisa.That argument from apostolic succession — the idea that legitimate Christian teaching travels in an unbroken chain from the apostles to the present — was the church's most powerful weapon against gnosticism. The chain mattered because the message mattered. A teaching disconnected from the apostolic deposit had no claim on the church.

Mateso ya Desio ya mwaka 250–251 yalisababisha mgogoro wa kimaadili ambao kanisa lilikuwa halijawahi kuukabili kabla. Mateso hayo yalikuwa ya kiutawala, si ya kubahatisha. Kila raia alipaswa kupata libellus — cheti cha kutoa dhabihu — kutoka kwa hakimu wa Kirumi. Mateso yalipokoma baada ya karibu miezi kumi na minane, kanisa lilitazama pande zote na kugundua kwamba washiriki wake walikuwa wamefuata njia nne tofauti kabisa.The Decian persecution of 250–251 created a moral crisis the church had not faced before. The persecution was administrative, not random. Every citizen had to obtain a libellus — a certificate of sacrifice — from a Roman magistrate. When the persecution ended after about eighteen months, the church looked around and discovered that her members had taken four very different paths.

Mashahidi waliouawa walikuwa wamekataa libellus na kufa kwa sababu hiyo. Waungamaji walikuwa wamekataa libellus, wakateswa, na wakanusurika. Wakawa kumbukumbu hai za uaminifu wa kanisa, wakiheshimiwa sana maisha yao yote yaliyobaki. Wakimbizi walikuwa wamekimbia nje ya milki kusubiri dhoruba ipite. Na kisha walikuwepo lapsi — walioanguka — waliokuwa wamekubali kushindwa. Waligawanyika katika makundi madogo. Sacrificati walikuwa wametoa dhabihu kweli. Thurificati walikuwa wamefukiza uvumba. Libellatici walikuwa wamewahonga maafisa ili wawape cheti bila kufanya ibada hiyo. Wengine walikuwa wamewatuma watumwa kutoa dhabihu kwa niaba yao. Wengine walikuwa na makasisi waliotia sahihi kwa ajili yao.The martyrs had refused the libellus and died for it. The confessors had refused the libellus, been tortured, and survived. They became living relics of the church's faithfulness, revered for the rest of their lives. The fugitives had fled the empire to wait out the storm. And then there were the lapsi — the lapsed — who had given in. They split into subgroups. The sacrificati had actually offered the sacrifice. The thurificati had burned the incense. The libellatici had bribed officials to issue them a certificate without performing the ritual. Some had sent slaves to sacrifice on their behalf. Some had clergy sign for them.

Mateso yalipokwisha, lapsi walianza kurudi kanisani na kuomba kupokelewa tena. Swali hilo liligawanya kanisa. Kundi la wakali lilisema hapana — ulimkana Kristo mbele ya watu, naye atakukana mbele ya Baba yake. Kundi la wapole lilisema ndiyo — kanisa ni hospitali, si jumba la makumbusho, na lapsi wanahitaji msaada. Kundi la kati, likiongozwa na Kipriano wa Karthago, lilisema ndiyo pamoja na nidhamu: kipindi cha toba ya hadharani, kisha kurejeshwa. Suluhisho la Kipriano kwa sehemu kubwa lilidumu. Wadonato katika karne iliyofuata wangelifungua jeraha hilo tena (tutakutana nao katika Sehemu ya 3), lakini kanisa lilikuwa limejifunza somo gumu: mateso hayazai mashahidi waliouawa peke yao. Mateso huzaa makundi yote manne, na kanisa lenye hekima hujiandaa kwa hilo.When the persecution ended, the lapsi began coming back to church and asking to be readmitted. The question split the church. The strict party said no — you denied Christ before men, He will deny you before His Father. The lenient party said yes — the church is a hospital, not a museum, and the lapsi need help. The middle party, led by Cyprian of Carthage, said yes with discipline: a period of public penance, then restoration. Cyprian's solution mostly held. The Donatists in the next century would reopen the wound (we will meet them in Unit 3), but the church had learned a hard lesson: persecution does not just produce martyrs. Persecution produces all four groups, and a wise church plans for that.

Katika kipindi hichohicho orodha ya vitabu vya Agano Jipya ilikuwa ikichukua umbo lake la mwisho. Orodha ya kizushi ya Markioni ya mwaka 144 ilikuwa imelilazimisha swali hilo. Kufikia karibu mwaka 170 Kipande cha Muratori kiliorodhesha vitabu vingi tulivyo navyo sasa. Kufikia mwaka 200 Injili nne, Matendo, barua kumi na tatu za Paulo, 1 Petro, na 1 Yohana vilikubaliwa kila mahali. Vitabu vichache — Waebrania, Yakobo, 2 Petro, 2 na 3 Yohana, Yuda, Ufunuo — viliendelea kujadiliwa katika baadhi ya maeneo hadi karne ya nne. Kanuni iliyokuwa nyuma ya kuthibitishwa kwa vitabu ilikuwa asili ya kitume: kitabu kilikuwa Maandiko ikiwa kiliandikwa na mtume au na mtu aliyefanya kazi chini ya mamlaka ya moja kwa moja ya kitume, na ikiwa kanisa kila mahali lilikuwa limekipokea. Kanisa halikuiunda orodha ya Maandiko. Kanisa liliitambua orodha ya Maandiko. Kufikia wakati Atanasio angechapisha Barua yake mashuhuri ya Sikukuu ya mwaka 367 iliyoorodhesha vitabu vyote ishirini na saba vya Agano Jipya, kwa sehemu kubwa alikuwa akithibitisha kile ambacho Wakristo wengi walikuwa tayari wanakijua.Through this same period the New Testament canon was taking final shape. Marcion's heretical canon of 144 had forced the question. By about 170 the Muratorian Fragment listed most of the books we now have. By 200 the four Gospels, Acts, the thirteen Pauline letters, 1 Peter, and 1 John were universally accepted. A handful of books — Hebrews, James, 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, Jude, Revelation — remained debated in some regions until the fourth century. The principle behind canonization was apostolic origin: a book was Scripture if it was written by an apostle or by someone working under direct apostolic authority, and if the church everywhere had received it. The church did not create the canon. The church recognized the canon. By the time Athanasius would publish his famous Festal Letter of 367 listing the full twenty-seven New Testament books, he was largely confirming what most Christians already knew.

Sehemu hii inafungwa kwa tafakari moja tulivu. Karne tatu baada ya Pentekoste, kanisa lilikuwa limestahimili mawimbi kumi makubwa ya mateso, limeshinda aina tatu za uzushi zenye kuangamiza, limeona maandiko yake ya msingi yakikusanywa, na limezaa mnyororo usiokatika wa walimu kutoka kwa mtume Yohana hadi Polikarpo hadi Ireneo hadi ukingoni mwa enzi ya Konstantino. Halikuwa na makanisa makuu. Halikuwa na nguvu za kisiasa. Halikuwa na utajiri. Lilikuwa na Neno tu, Roho, na utayari wa ajabu wa kufa. Na lilikuwa karibu kushinda.The unit closes with one quiet observation. Three centuries after Pentecost, the church had survived ten major waves of persecution, defeated three devastating heresies, watched her foundational text get collected, and produced an unbroken chain of teachers from the apostle John to Polycarp to Irenaeus to the verge of Constantine. She had no cathedrals. She had no political power. She had no wealth. She had only the Word, the Spirit, and a remarkable willingness to die. And she was about to win.

Matumizi matatu ya kichungaji yanatokana na kipindi hiki na kamwe hayapitwi na wakati.Three pastoral applications drop out of this period and never go out of date.

Kwanza, uzushi hujirudia. Kila harakati "mpya" ya kitheolojia inayoingia kupitia mlango wa kanisa lako ina babu wake wa karne ya pili. Ugnostiki wa kisasa hujivika kama "hali ya kiroho" isiyo na mafundisho, hisia ya maarifa ya siri bila nidhamu ya mwili. Umarkioni wa kisasa hujivika kama Yesu aliyevuliwa muktadha wake wa Agano la Kale, upendo wa Agano Jipya bila utakatifu wa Agano la Kale. Umontano wa kisasa hujivika kama ufunuo unaoendelea ambao kwa vitendo unaiweka Biblia pembeni na kumweka nabii wa karibuni zaidi mahali pake. Mchungaji anayeijua karne ya pili anaitambua mitindo hii wala haingiwi na hofu. Ameliona hili kabla. Ireneo alilijibu. Naye anaweza pia.First, heresies recycle. Every "new" theological movement that walks through your church door has a second-century ancestor. Modern Gnosticism dresses up as "spirituality" without doctrine, the secret-knowledge feeling without the discipline of the body. Modern Marcionism dresses up as a Jesus stripped of His Old Testament context, a New Testament love without an Old Testament holiness. Modern Montanism dresses up as a continuing revelation that effectively replaces the Bible with the latest prophet. The pastor who knows the second century recognizes the patterns and does not panic. He has seen this before. Irenaeus answered it. He can too.

Pili, mateso ni mwalimu, si kikatizo. Kanisa ambalo halijateseka ni kanisa ambalo halijajaribiwa, na kanisa ambalo halijajaribiwa bado halijui linaamini nini. Henrietta Mears alikuwa akisema kwamba raha ni hatari zaidi kwa kanisa kuliko msiba. Litazame kanisa linaloteswa huko China, huko Iran, huko Nigeria leo. Si dhaifu. Lina nguvu kuliko sisi. Damu ambayo Tertuliano aliiita mbegu bado ni mbegu. Panda mahali ambapo damu imemwagwa, nawe utavuna mavuno.Second, persecution is a teacher, not an interruption. The church that has not suffered is the church that has not been tested, and the church that has not been tested does not yet know what she believes. Henrietta Mears used to say that comfort is more dangerous to the church than crisis. Watch the persecuted church in China, in Iran, in Nigeria today. They are not weak. They are stronger than us. The blood that Tertullian called seed is still seed. Plant where blood has been shed, and you will reap a harvest.

Tatu, mnyororo wa walimu ni muhimu. Husimami katika mimbari yako peke yako. Unasimama katika mstari unaotoka kwa Kristo hadi kwa mitume, kutoka kwa mitume hadi kwa Polikarpo, kutoka kwa Polikarpo hadi kwa Ireneo, kutoka kwa Ireneo kupitia Augustino hadi Luther hadi Spurgeon hadi yeyote aliyekufundisha. Mnyororo huo ndio mamlaka yako, na pia ndio uwajibikaji wako. Unapofundisha, fundisha kile ulichopokea. Unapompokea mwanafunzi, mkabidhi kile ulicho nacho. "Hayo uwakabidhi watu waaminifu, watakaofaa kuwafundisha wengine." Paulo alimwandikia Timotheo maneno hayo katika karne ya kwanza. Angeweza kukuandikia wewe asubuhi hii.Third, the chain of teachers matters. You do not stand in your pulpit alone. You stand in a line that runs from Christ to the apostles, from the apostles to Polycarp, from Polycarp to Irenaeus, from Irenaeus through Augustine to Luther to Spurgeon to whoever taught you. That chain is your authority, and it is also your accountability. When you teach, teach what you received. When you receive a student, hand him what you have. "Commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also." Paul wrote that to Timothy in the first century. He could have written it to you this morning.

Kufikia mwaka 311, Kaisari Galerio, akifa kwa maumivu makali ya ugonjwa usiojulikana, alitia sahihi amri iliyokomesha Mateso Makuu. Kufikia mwaka 312, Konstantino alikuwa ameshinda Vita vya Daraja la Milvio chini ya kile alichoelewa kuwa msalaba wa Kristo. Kufikia mwaka 313, Konstantino na Lisinio walikuwa wametoa Amri ya Milano iliyowapa Wakristo uhuru kamili wa kuabudu. Enzi ya mateso ilikuwa imekwisha. Enzi ya kibali cha kifalme ilikuwa imeanza.By 311, the Emperor Galerius, dying in agony of an unspecified disease, signed an edict ending the Great Persecution. By 312, Constantine had won the Battle of the Milvian Bridge under what he understood to be the cross of Christ. By 313, Constantine and Licinius had issued the Edict of Milan granting full freedom of worship to Christians. The age of persecution was over. The age of imperial favor had begun.

Kanisa lililotoka katika karne zile mbili na nusu lilikuwa kanisa tofauti na lile lililoziingia. Lilikuwa na orodha yake ya Maandiko. Lilikuwa na kanuni zake za imani katika hali ya mwanzo kabisa. Lilikuwa na mnyororo wake wa walimu. Lilikuwa na orodha yake ya aina za uzushi na majibu ya imani ya kweli dhidi yake. Lilikuwa na mashahidi wake waliouawa, ambao habari zao zingelisha kumbukumbu yake kwa karne nyingi. Lilikuwa na hekima ya Kipriano juu ya jinsi ya kuwashughulikia lapsi. Lilikuwa na msamiati wa Tertuliano kwa ajili ya Utatu. Lilikuwa na hoja ya Ireneo ya urithi wa kitume. Na lilikuwa na tatizo jipya la ajabu likija kwake: lilikuwa karibu kupendwa. Karibu kwenye Sehemu ya 3, inayofunguliwa na Konstantino na Amri ya Milano, inapitia ubishi wa Ario na mitaguso mikuu ya kiekumene, na inafika katika karne kuu ya pili ya uhubiri: Krisostomo, Wakapadokia, Ambrosi, na mwana wa askofu mmoja wa Afrika Kaskazini aitwaye Augustino.The church that emerged from those two and a half centuries was a different church than the church that had entered them. She had her canon. She had her creeds in embryonic form. She had her chain of teachers. She had her catalog of heresies and the orthodox answers to them. She had her martyrs, whose stories would feed her memory for centuries. She had Cyprian's wisdom on how to handle the lapsi. She had Tertullian's vocabulary for the Trinity. She had Irenaeus's argument from apostolic succession. And she had a strange new problem coming her way: she was about to be liked. Welcome to Unit 3, which opens with Constantine and the Edict of Milan, walks through the Arian controversy and the great ecumenical councils, and arrives at the second great century of preaching: Chrysostom, the Cappadocians, Ambrose, and a North African bishop's son named Augustine.