CHAPTER SIXTEEN: The Transition Hour of the Church

Origen’s third-century spiritualization of the resurrection, blended with his allegorization of the prophetic Scriptures, constituted the first in a series of three fatal steps taken by the dominant church in departure from the earlier advent faith. These each occurred about a century apart, under Origen, Eusebius, and Augustine respectively. The second step, following upon the “conversion” of Constantine, centered on the revolutionary fourth-century concept of the kingdom of God as the newly established earthly church. The third step, then as yet future, would be, as it unfolds, the fifth-century position that the thousand-year binding of the devil had begun with the first advent. This was a new doctrine, contrary to all previous exposition, for the millennium had formerly been regarded as beginning with the second advent.PFF1 348.11

Prior to and after the second step much was happening, into which we must now inquire. The immediate effect of the earlier flanking attacks upon the five controlling factors connected with the advent hope—the resurrection, millennium, outline prophecies, Antichrist, and the kingdom of God—was to rally many stalwarts to their specific defense. And the direct attacks upon the prophecies accentuated this rallying movement. Scripture-loving men were thereby driven to renewed study and further elucidation of the prophecies. Meanwhile the opposition group continued to drift further into apostasy and departure. These positions were mutually antagonistic—the one paralleling the other, and each reacting upon the other. They could not continue on together indefinitely. Conflict was inevitable. One view was bound to succumb—and that was what ultimately occurred to the prophecy-based advent hope by the sixth century.PFF1 348.12

Picture 1: BATHS OF DIOCLETIAN AT Rome, POSSIBLY BUILT BY CHRISTIAN SLAVES
Different views of the ruins of the giant baths of Diocletien, which accommodated more than 3,200 persons at one time they were built under Diocletian and Maximian, according to legend, by 40,000 Christian slaves under the lash this carries us back to Paganism’s last, stand and the worest of all pagan persecutions (303 313), begun under Diocletian. Persecution ceased shortly thereafter, following constantine’s espousal of christianity the baths were destroyed by Alaric and his Goths in 409 a national museum and a catholic church are now housed in part of the ruins].
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Now let us look at the last stand of the prophetic interpretation of the early church before the changes effected by the Constantinian era altered the whole viewpoint of the church.PFF1 351.1

Brilliant, scholarly men, widely separated geographically, rallied to the recognition and declaration of the next major epoch in fulfilling prophecy—the long-awaited period of Rome’s actual division, in the fourth and fifth centuries, which was to precede the coming of the dread Antichrist. Witnesses for the defense of the premillennial advent hope will now give their testimony. Some are Western, and some are Eastern. Some are impressively clear and sound; others are disappointingly hazy on important principles. And both groups are frequently marred with misconceptions or departures, for the church had already, by the end of the third century, become deeply involved in tragic compromise of the apostolic faith on many points. The ante-Nicene church, heroic, growing, overcoming persecution by sheer moral force, was nevertheless affected by the world in which it lived, although persecution kept it comparatively pure.PFF1 351.2

“Between the days of the apostles and the conversion of Constantine, the Christian commonwealth changed it[s] aspect.. Rites and ceremonies, of which neither Paul nor Peter ever heard, crept silently into use, and then claimed the rank of divine institutions” ^{1W D Killen, The Ancient Church, Preface, pp xv, xvi}PFF1 351.3

After the first empire-wide persecution, under Decius, there had been a period of repose and prosperity for the Christians, beginning with Gallienus (260-268). Then came the last, most severe purging, under Diocletian (284-305). In 303 he was induced by his counselors to persecute the Christians. He enjoined the razing of the churches and the burning of the Scriptures, for the value of the Sacred Writings was so well known that he endeavored to destroy all copies of the Bible, just as earlier persecutions had sought to deprive the church of its teachers. The first result of the persecution was to cause consternation and confusion in the church. There followed another edict in 304, imposing the death penalty for refusal to sacrifice to the gods. ^{2Schaff, History, vol. 2, pp. 63-66.} The times were tense as Diocletian’s progressive orders culminated in the decree to proceed without mercy, or regard to sex, age, or station, and the persecution raged throughout the empire. (Note illustration on page 345.)PFF1 351.4