Salvation: The Origin of Confusion
Introduction:
In John 17:6-26, Jesus prayed his disciples would be as one with him as he was with the Father and further, He prayed for “…those who will believe in me through their message …” would be as one with them as his disciples were with him, which includes us. This clearly meant that he wanted unity among all believers. Instead, however, as we saw in previous writings, there is a serious lack of unity among Christian believers, which leads us to the question: How did this happen? How did we get to this point?
Interpreting the Holy Writings
According to historical Christian documents, early Christians had a tough time trying to figure out what the holy writings meant, and this caused problems that split Christian groups apart. As more and more people joined the early Christian group and they spread to different places, they started to see the holy texts in different ways. This caused arguments and divisions about what the texts really meant.
One big problem was that the early Christians came from all sorts of backgrounds and places. Some were from Greece, some from Rome, and some from the Near East. These places had their own beliefs and ideas, and when they mixed with Christian teachings, it made people think about the texts differently.
Locating and Organizing Available Information
Another problem was that there weren’t many written texts available in the early years of Christianity, and they didn’t have a set list of what should be in the holy books. It took a long time, several centuries, to decide which books were really from God and which ones weren’t. People argued about this, making different Christian groups believe in different things.
Also, in the early Christian Church, there wasn’t one person or group that everyone agreed was in charge. Some leaders and bishops were important in some places, but not everywhere. This caused fights over ideas about God, like what Jesus was really like, the idea of the Trinity, and how sacraments should work. Different groups had different ideas, and they wanted to be the ones in charge.
Disagreements Led To Schisms
All these arguments and different ideas led to big splits and the creation of different Christian groups. One of the most famous splits happened in 1054, called the Great Schism. It separated the Eastern Orthodox Church from the Roman Catholic Church because they couldn’t agree on things like who had the most power, how they should pray, and the details of their beliefs.
Other splits and divisions happened too, like the Protestant Reformation in the 1500s. It caused many different Protestant groups to form because they didn’t agree with the Catholic Church.
In Summary
In short, the early Christians had a hard time understanding their holy texts because they came from different backgrounds, didn’t have a set list of holy books, and didn’t have one leader everyone agreed on. These arguments and splits shaped the different Christian groups we have today, each with its own beliefs and ideas. And, the lack of unity among Christians continues.
For further reading, please see:
Salvation: How Can I Be Saved?
Wilken, Robert Louis. The Spirit of Early Christian Thought: Seeking the Face of God. Yale University Press, 2005.
