Church history is fascinating, but probably few really study it. The Church as we know it today is much different than the Church in Paul’s time, Augustine’s or even Luther’s or Calvin’s time. Things have changed. I think it is fair to say that most don’t know why.Regardless of what denomination one claims many of the things we do in a church service today come from tradition and not Bible. Some practices even have pagan or New Age origins. For more on this particular topic I recommend Pagan Christianity by George Barna and Frank Viola. They answer questions such as (from the back cover) “Why does the pastor preach a sermon at every service?” “Why does the congregation sit passively in the pews?” and “Why do church services seem so similar week after week?”

All of us Christians claim the same Bible and yet we are all so different especially concerning theology. But, we have other interesting distinctives too. Some churches have a baptistery and others don’t. In one church the pulpit will be raised high above the people while in others it is on an equal level or just slightly elevated. Many “high” churches such as Catholic, Episcopal, and Eastern Orthodox burn incense and others do not. What biblical ideas are behind these architectural and ceremonial differences?

Why in the early church was the meal or Eucharist central while today it is the sermon? And, why do some churches take the Lord’s Supper daily or weekly while others now and then?

Another thing that has changed over the millennia are the Scriptures that have been accepted as “inspired” by the Church. In Paul’s time there was only the Old Testament. There was no officially canonized New Testament and would not be one for centuries. The Scripture referred to in I Timothy 3:16-17, which Paul wrote, would have to refer to the Old Testament Scriptures.

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

Let me hasten to say that Paul’s writings were already beginning to take on acceptance as Scripture in the first century. Peter states in 2 Peter3-15-17:

…and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, 16 as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. 17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness…

Over the next week or two, I want to share how we came to have our modern Bibles.
It is important to know why the Protestant Bibles have 66 books while Catholic Bibles have 73. Another excellent question to explore is why are there dozens and dozens of translations? Is Greek and Hebrew that difficult to translate into English? Who has the true Scriptures? Please come back and explore this with me next week.