Matthew 15:6 “You nullify the Word of God for the sake of your tradition.”
It was during this time (medieval age) that tradition began to set in. Three things come out that I think are important. First, we have the commands of the Lord. When it comes to these commands this is not something we debate, but simply obey.
Secondly, we have the commands of the apostles. Again these are things that we are to take seriously, but they are not in the same category as the commands of the Lord. For example, the early church, under the direction of the Apostles did something that has not really been repeated since: Acts 4:34-35 “There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.”
Thirdly, what we have coming in is that a congregation will set up some rules or regulations that they agree to be governed by. Again, there is nothing wrong with this, but what happens is that number three begins to take on the importance of number one and soon number one fades out. Isn’t this what happened in Jesus’ days when He rebukes the Pharisees and teachers of the Law when He said that they nullify the Word of God for the sake of their tradition?
Author Rodney Stark, when he was being interviewed by World Magazine, said that the growth of Christianity from its start to the time of Constantine was about 3.4 percent a year. This means that at this rate of growth almost 50 percent of the Roman Empire would have been Christian by the year 350.
One other aspect of this growth was the importance of women. Christian women enjoyed many advantages compared with pagan women and the early congregations were quite disproportionately women and they in turn saw their husbands, sons and brothers converted.
Constantine made Christianity the official religion, lavished it with financial support and ended the persecutions, but the results were quite disastrous. Before Constantine made Christianity the official state religion – to take on the mantle of being a Christian they faced serious risks and made real sacrifices that their commitment demanded of them, but now it was different.
During this period church officials were among the ruling elite and so the sons of the rich and powerful rushed into the clergy and soon holiness was a thing of the past. The church became lazy and soon tradition set in and the commands of Christ became a thing of the past.
According to Stark, medieval Europe was very irreligious. He went on to say that people today point to the huge and splendid cathedrals built during this time and that they reflected the great regard that the common people had for the church. But, like Stark said, look at all of the splendid castles and palaces built during this same period. Does this mean that the common people had a great regard for the nobility? They did not have great respect, because both the palaces and cathedrals were squeezed out of the peasants at a great price.
However, there were some bright spots during this time.
1. The final dissolution of heathenism in the eastern empire may be dated from the middle of the fifth century. In the year 435 Theodosius II commanded the temples to be destroyed or turned into churches. In the West, heathenism maintained itself until near the middle of the sixth century.
2. The literary triumph of Christianity. In the first three centuries Christians confessed their faith in the midst of suffering and death. Now they had to come up against hypocrisy, selfishness, ambition, intolerance, the charge of catering to the ruling class, etc. Apologists like Augustine came to the forefront (City of God) as Schaff’s, History of the Church said: “The City of God is the most powerful, comprehensive, profound, and fertile production in refutation of heathenism and vindication of Christianity, which the ancient church has bequeathed to us, and forms a worthy close to her literary contest with Graeco-Roman paganism. It is a grand funeral discourse upon the departing universal empire of heathenism, and a lofty salutation to the approaching universal order of Christianity.”
What is important for us to see that in the midst of all the turbulence we see that the Kingdom of God is continuing on.