Page 110 - LD215 History of the Church in Africa A4 final

A History of the Church in Africa

become the favored religion of the state. As a result, “every heathen
altar in Rome was forsaken and every temple desolate” (Renwick, 52).

Nevertheless, these conditions led many people to join the church
who had not experienced conversion. When the unconverted become
members of the church, the church tends to move toward moral laxity
and non-Christian practices. Hyatt laments:

One who mourned this appalling state of affairs was John
Chrysostom (A.D. 347–407), patriarch of Constantinople. He
complained that the character of the church of his day was no
different from that of the marketplace or theater. (34)

Chrysostom represented the true church within the state church—or
God’s remnant.

Another trend during this period was that of sacramentalism,
which is the belief that salvation, or the means of grace, comes
through the two ordinances of baptism and Communion. Gradually,
only appointed clergy were allowed to administer these sacraments
(baptism and Communion). In addition, the Bishop of Rome was
elevated over other bishops and exercised increased influence, and
this eventually led to the development of the Roman Catholic hierarchy
and the position of pope.

The formal church tended to eliminate the ministry of the Holy Spirit
in the local congregation. Hyatt describes its effect:

The gifts that once had flowed spontaneously among the
congregation were now bound to the ecclesiastical office and
transmitted by a sacramental act.… People now became passive
spectators in a highly developed sacramental ritual presided over
by ecclesiastical officials. (36)

During the fourth and fifth centuries, the church had to deal with
some great doctrinal questions. We must give credit to the church
fathers who confronted heresy and developed doctrines and creeds
to guard against the challenges of division and schism and provided a
foundation for the church that would serve future generations.

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