January 21 - Sorry I didn't die.

January 21 – Sorry I didn’t die.

So, you caved in to the Romans and offered a sacrifice to their gods. You accepted the sacrifice certificate. Or maybe you ran and decided that being alive somewhere else was better than being dead in your hometown. Or maybe you were able to bribe someone and get a fake sacrifice certificate. But, here’s the deal. Everyone around you knows that you didn’t stand up for your faith. When push came to shove, everything else – including your life – was more important than standing up for Jesus Christ.

You had lapsed. What in the world was the early church supposed to do with you? This became a huge controversy for the church.

Cyprian converted at the age of 40 and became bishop of Carthage. This happened just before the persecution and he felt that it was his duty to flee. So, he took off and continued leading his church through extensive letter writing. Many, though, saw this as cowardice. The Roman church had lost its bishop to persecution, why would Cyprian think he should live? He insisted that he had done it for the good of his flock and not because his was a coward – a fact that he would prove later in his life when he did die as a martyr.

Those that had stuck around? They were called confessors. And all of a sudden, they gained a great deal of authority in the church, especially when it came to decisions regarding the lapsed.

Some thought that the lapsed should be readmitted – after declaring repentance. But, some other church members got involved and wanted great judgment to happen. A schism began to occur until Cyprian stepped back in. He fully believed in the unity of the church. He didn’t want to easily restore the lapsed, but there needed to be penitence.

A system was developed based on the level of sin that the lapsed had committed. Cyprian said things like “Outside the church there is no salvation” and “He cannot have God for his Father who has not the church for his mother” which placed great importance on the bishops of the church. A bishop could determine whether or not a person was admitted to the church, which in effect was saying whether or not the person was saved. That the Spirit worked through the bishops of the churches, rather than the church and the people was the implication of this movement.

The bishops gained power. Cyprian also taught that the mass was a sacrifice of Christ’s body and blood. Since the priests functioned in Christ’s behalf and offered the sacrifice at every worship service, they continued to increase in power.

In the early days of the church it was held together by these ideas. But, as bishops were elected who were immoral, selfish, and greedy, they would quit caring about their flock and the structure of the church would create a split between the leadership and the people.