07 Old Doctrine Repackaged

Old Doctrines Repackaged

Calvinistic writers trace Calvinism to Augustine of Hippo in the early fifth century. Augustine died in 430 A.D. John Calvin and the Protestant Reformers simply resurrected the doctrine of Augustine. But Augustine did not spin those notions out of thin air; the fundamental principles of Calvinism had been developing for centuries before Augustine came on the scene. Calvinism developed against the background of Judaism and the pagan philosophies of that day, and it drew many of its notions from those two systems. So if we would learn something of its origin and development, we must learn something of Judaism, and the philosophical thought at that time.

You might spend a lifetime studying every piece of religious and philosophical literature available, and regardless of however ancient, or however modern, your material may be, you will discover in all of it the same notions, and the same arguments. New features, new ideas, new eccentricities, are added; but the fundamental principles are always the same. Suffice it to say, the adversary constantly changes his face, but he never changes his ways. No really new religion, no new philosophy, no fundamentally new doctrine, ever comes on the scene. It is always a different version, a modification, a new combination of old doctrines. The Bible provides all the material you need to answer any false doctrine you will ever face. It will always be some variation of a doctrine that was faced by Christ and the Apostles. The first trials of the church came at the hand of their own countrymen, the Jews. After the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. the Jews were no longer able to persecute. Before the Lord went away, he told the disciples, “They shall put you out of the synagogues, yea, the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.” They soon learned what that meant. The history of the church has been one long trail of blood. At the time of Christ’s public ministry, the Jewish people had long since replaced the Law of Moses with what Paul calls the Jews’ religion-with Judaism. Till this day Hillel, Shammai, and Gamaliel are three of the most revered names in Judaism. They developed Judaism to its greatest heights, and they all lived during the time of Christ and the Apostles. Jewish tradition was well entrenched, and they claimed the power of life and death over those who opposed their teaching.

During his public ministry the Lord was constantly harassed by the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the scribes-by unbelieving Jews. “The common people heard him gladly” (Mark 12:37), but the Pharisees and other religious leaders laid wait for him, “seeking to catch something out of his mouth, that they might accuse him” (Luke 11:54). They mocked him, ridiculed him, and plotted to kill him. They were not concerned whether what he told was the truth or not; they had no interest in the miracles he performed; they just wanted him dead. Finally they took him through a mock trial, and crucified him.

After his crucifixion, it was still the Jews, and Judaism, that most persecuted the early church. The Gentile authorities did not pay them much attention, but the Jews dogged their every step. No persecution was too harsh, no measure too underhanded. They were determined to wipe the church off the face of the earth, and to sweep the name of Christ from the pages of history.

Then in the year 70 A.D. the Roman army besieged the city of Jerusalem for five months; they starved the inhabitants into submission, overran the city, and burned it to the ground. Flavius Josephus records that a million people died during the siege, and one hundred thousand were sold into slavery.

Fifteen hundred years before, when God gave them the Law, he promised them great blessing, if they kept the Law. But he warned them they would suffer if they disobeyed. They had long since ceased to observe the Law, but in spite of the fact they despised the Law, and cast it behind their back, that Law was still in full effect. The Law would exact its penalty. In the twenty-eighth chapter of Deuteronomy, God described in detail what they suffered in 70 A.D. They fell victim to the Law in all its fury. God did exactly what he had promised. The back of Judaism was broken. The Jews who survived were sold into slavery, and scattered to the four winds. The Jews would themselves become the hunted, the persecuted. God had promised, “And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from one end of the earth even unto the other.... And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life” (Deuteronomy 28:64;Deuteronomy 28:66). In that condition they could no longer harass and bedevil the Christians. But that brings on a curious question. Virtually every conflict of Christ and the Apostles was in a Jewish context. That is the constant theme, especially, in the book of Acts. Very nearly every attack was from the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the scribes-unbelieving Jews. We are well informed of how Christians suffered at their hands.

Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 A.D.; the Jews were scattered among the nations, and from that time until now, Christians have had little direct contact with Jews or with Judaism. Pharisee is a name we no longer fear. Most of us have never been inside a synagogue. Unless we have a Jewish doctor or lawyer, some of us from small towns may not even be acquainted with a Jew. We have conflict enough with Gentile detractors, but it is not often that a Jew dissects and attacks one of our sermons.

Since that is the case, why are the historical parts of the New Testament almost entirely given over to conflict between the early Christians and Judaism? Why are we told so much about the Pharisees and Sadducees? Why prepare us for battles we will never fight?

If we miss that question, there is not much of church history that will make sense. If we get that question right, it is amazing how simple church history becomes. The book of Acts is not out of date. We need every piece of information it contains. We need that information, because virtually every battle the Church has ever been called on to fight has been with those basic principles that go to make up Judaism. Our battles are not with Judaism itself; we have very little contact with Judaism. But most every conflict has to do with practices that have been borrowed from Judaism. That is the reason the New Testament provides so much material about Judaism. That is the place the major battles have always been fought. The fiercest battles in the early church were with those who wanted to merge Judaism with the Lord’s church. That is especially the theme of the book of Galatians, but the material we need is spread throughout the entire New Testament. If the Pharisees could not destroy the church from without, they would subvert it from within. They would make the church like themselves. The enemies of truth found a solution. “If you can’t whip ‘em, join ‘em.” And that is what they did. The enemies of the truth began to join the church. In Acts chapter fifteen we read, “And certain men which came down from Judea taught the brethren, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved” (Acts 15:1). They wanted to make the church into a Jewish sect. They almost divided the church at Antioch, but Paul fought that battle and won it.

Later in the same chapter we read, “But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses” (Acts 15:5). Paul challenged them, “Why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers, nor we, were able to bear” (Acts 15:10) Those Pharisees believed, but they did not believe as much as they should. They did not believe the grace of God was sufficient without their keeping the law-without carrying their traditions over into the church. This Pharisaism/Judaism sometimes crept in, and swept away whole churches. Hassell tells us, “The first fifteen Bishops (or pastors) of the church of Jerusalem were all circumcised Jews, and this church united the law of Moses with the doctrine of Christ” (pg. 367).

More often than not, it was a mixture of Judaism and heathen philosophy that was brought in. Paul warns us, “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the traditions of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ” (Colossians 2:8). It was that merging of Judaism and pagan philosophy with the gospel that laid the groundwork for Calvinism, and destroyed so many churches in Augustine’s day.