When most people think of the Church, they think of what it is perceived to be today, not what it was in the beginning of its time. However, when we open the Bible, that is not what we find. Three times we find the direction of our Lord informs us that we “and you will be hated…” (Matthew 10:22, Mark 13:13, Luke 21:17). As we delve into the early Church, we are going to find that much like the Jews were a people hated so was the Church.

Truth about the early Church- Enemies of Society

Christianity, in its formation in the days of Christ as well as the days to follow, would be what we call the outcasts of the outcasts or the enemies of society. In those days, Israel was under Roman control; the Romans were a people that worshiped many gods, and they had no desire to add the God of the Christians to their hierarchy or to submit to the moral laws of righteousness. The Christians would refuse to worship any other god or man and therefore were seen as those that would disrupt society. The Jews would look at the Christians as traitors as they broke away from the religious assemblage to follow the Word of God as opposed to the set doctrine of Judaism that neglected the prophesies that were being fulfilled before their eyes, this would eventually lead to the scattering of the early Church.

Acts 8:1 states, “…And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church…” The hatred of the Church would grow so great that many were put to death for their belief, others beaten or even thrown to wild beasts while the world watched in exhilaration. Church services would be held in secret, and in time to come, the against the Church would drive them to live in underground cities made out of tunnels dug out by hand called the catacombs. The truth about the early Church was no matter how much love they exuded, the world would hate them, and they would go down in history as the enemies of society.