1. The Great Discovery

What does it mean to be a Christian in today's world?

Instinctively we realise that externals alone will not be able to furnish the answer. It will not do to reduce our Christian faith to a set of social customs, like Christmas parties, weddings and funerals. Neither will it do to point at our Christian heritage: cathedrals, mystery plays, poetry and hymns. Christian ethics play a part, of course, the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount. But these come later: they flow from our being Christian; they are not the source.

To be a Christian will surely be something so central that everything else derives from it. What is this pivotal event in our lives? Can we identify this momentous reality that makes everything else seem trivial and of secondary importance?

To see it clearly, it may help us to go back to the immediate followers of Jesus Christ. The first Christians were less obstructed than we are by the fog of conventional expectations. They turned their world view upside down by accepting the message of the Gospel. Why did they make that decision? To understand what went on in their minds and hearts, we can do no better than study an early Christian community, such as existed in the city of Antioch. Once we appreciate what their Christian faith meant to them, we can consider our own position in our mixed up, twentieth-century world.

Antioch in Scripture

For many Christians today, Antioch is no more than a name which they may recall from Scripture readings in Church. Antioch lay in Syria not in Israel, and it is not usually remembered as related to the Gospel. In actual fact though, Antioch played an important role in the spread of Christianity and in the formation of the Gospel text.

For it was in Antioch that the first viable non-Jewish Christian community was established. From this community the Gospel, and its non-Jewish interpretation, spread to many cities in Cyprus, Asia Minor (= present-day Turkey), Greece and Italy. In fact, it was in Antioch that Jesus' followers were first called Christians.

The community in Antioch may have contributed substantially to shaping the Gospel traditions in ways understand­able to non-Jews. It was also at Antioch, as we shall see, that in all probability the Gospel of Matthew has been written.

In the Acts of the Apostles we read how the community of Antioch was founded.

The text we have just read (1) merits a lot of study and reflection. Notice the power of the message. The Good News contained in the Gospel was able to inspire total strangers: people outside the Jewish tradition who belonged to a completely pagan background. That is why Scripture says: 'The power of the Lord was with them'.(2) Notice also that it produced more than individual conversions. It brought about a new community, an intimate bonding of people who had been unrelated before. (3)

The city of Antioch

Antioch lay on the river Orontes, north of Palestine, the country where Jesus lived. At the time described in Acts it was the capital of the Roman province of Syria. As the third largest city in the Roman Empire (after Rome and Alexandria) it held a key position in the New Testament world. (4)

Antioch was founded by Seleucus I Nicator in 300 BC as a city of Greek colonial power in a country inhabited by Syrians. The Greeks always took great care in the choice of a site for a new city and Antioch was no exception. In a hot country bordering the desert, a good water supply was essential. In addition, defence was obviously of great importance. To be naturally protected from attack or even partially so, is a great advantage. To be a successful trading city Antioch needed good communications with other cities. The situation of Antioch fulfilled all these criteria and that is one of the reasons why it grew to be so large.

Seleucus placed his city on the bank of the Orontes river at its highest navigable point, some eight miles from the Mediterranean. The city was built between the river and the long, straggling Mount Silpius that lay close to the south of the river. The river valley down to the Mediterranean was very fertile. Natural springs in the neighbourhood ensured an abundant water supply for Antioch. Its fields and gardens produced fruit, olives and vegetables.

Antioch enjoyed good channels of communication with other countries. It was strategically placed in the 'fertile crescent', the crescent-shaped sweep of countries beginning with the lands on the eastern Mediterranean seaboard and continuing east and south along the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Before the advent of trucks and trains, traders carried their goods in camel trains or by horse and donkey. This meant that they were obliged to follow the river routes from modern Iran and Iraq on their way to the Mediterranean world, avoiding, as far as possible, the great deserts. In this way they reached Antioch having passed Aleppo after crossing a small strip of desert.

Even traders on the Great Silk Route from China and India reached Antioch, a city rich enough to enjoy and purchase this costly oriental material and astute enough to popularise it and trade in it with other countries. Antioch became a very prosperous commercial centre and the main trade routes of the area gradually all passed through it: South, down the coast through Lebanon and Palestine to Egypt; North to Turkey through the passes in the high Taurus mountains. Goods from the East could be shipped at Antioch and taken across the sea to Cyprus, Greece and further afield in Europe. Merchants from these countries, from Cyprus in particular, established business centres in Antioch. A large Jewish community also engaged in commerce in the city.

People's religious practices

On a visit to Antioch we would have been struck by the wide variety of religious traditions. The Syrians worshipped their own gods: the storm god Hadad, the war god Rashuf, the moon goddess Sachar, the sun Shamash and many others. Throughout the city there were shrines to 'foreign deities': to Isis and Horus from Egypt, or to Ahriman from Persia. The Romans stuck to Jupiter. But the Greek temples predominated: the temples of Zeus Bottaios and Apollo. The Greek kings of Antioch had tried to unify all people under Greek culture and religion. (5) It only provided a mantle that covered whatever was there. People clung to their old religions. New oriental cults and sects proliferated.

Closer investigation reveals a rather uniform religious outlook underlying the external differences. For all these various religions, whether Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Syrian or whatever their national origin, converged in being nature religions.(6)

Characteristic of such religions is that they see manifestations of gods and goddesses in the powers of nature. The world around us is populated by numerous divinities who cause or manipulate such natural events as drought, earthquake, disease and the annual seasons. Religion basically consists in maintaining good relations with the divine beings to secure their blessing and escape their wrath (7)

Because gods in various traditions exercised more or less the same functions, they were soon amalgamated in international Hellenistic (8) practice. No one would doubt that the supreme god whom the Greeks worshipped as Zeus was no other than the Roman god Jupiter, the Egyptian god Serapis and the Syrian god El. Different religious customs were not seen as opposing each other; rather as complementary. The temples in Antioch, we can be sure, were filled with statues and altars representing the most diverse religious origins.

Popular devotion showed itself in many ways. People set up shrines in their homes: a little corner of the house where a number of small statues stood exposed. These might include ancient, inherited idols (the so-called family gods) as well as the Greek god Hermes (for business) and the Egyptian goddess Isis (for happiness). Members of the household would pray before their shrine, burning incense or pouring libations (9)

Such devotions could also be found in market places, workshops, sports grounds and magistrates' offices. An inscription records that in the meeting room of a city council statues had been erected in honour of Zeus and his wife Hekate. 'These divinities', it says, 'perform good deeds of divine power'. People should, therefore, continue to burn incense to them and bring sacrifices, thanking them for their gifts. Everyday a choir of children should be assembled to sing hymns. The magistrates were obviously concerned to be seen to be religious, but there is no reason to doubt a good measure of genuine devotion. People were convinced they could not succeed in business without active help on the part of the gods. (10)

On public feast days people would join in the festivities organised in and around the official temples. (11) In the morning there might be a procession along a well established route. The statue of the god in question might have been washed, anoint­ed, dressed and garlanded. It was now carried, to the accompaniment of music and hymns, until it reached its place of honour in the temple. A bull or a cow might be killed in sacrifice. Then the crowd would disperse to take part in the entertainments that were provided: theatre, pantomime, games or acrobatics.

There was a thriving religious market responding to people's specific requirements. To succeed in love, to win a court case, to bring off a profitable business deal or achieve the downfall of one's rivals, one could turn to magic.(12) For a fee, a professional sorcerer would perform bizarre rituals and utter sacred formulas that would enlist the help of spirits and demons. One could also go to shrines in the countryside that catered for particular needs.

An old man troubled by arthritis might travel for days to bathe in a spring hallowed by Aesculapius. A woman who could not have children might spend a night in a cave dedicated to the manybreasted Artemis. (13). A fugitive from injured relatives might seek refuge and pardon in a sacred grove (14) Rural shrines were looked upon as power points where divine energy could be tapped.

The gods, it was thought, sometimes visit people disguised as ordinary human beings. This explains the reaction of the crowd in Lystra who believed Zeus and Hermes had appeared to them in the shape of Barnabas and Paul (15) or a moment Cornelius thought Peter was a god in human form (16) and the inhabitants of Malta said of Paul, 'He is a god!', because he did not die after having been bitten by a snake (17) Since the gods and goddesses were invisible and unpredictable entities, they might pop up anywhere, bringing life or spelling disaster. (18) This was even reflected in Greek plays: the gods would be let down on the stage, suspended from a crane, at the most unexpected moments. It provided playwrights with an easy way to resolve any plot.(19)

Some philosophers had criticised popular religion, but they were very few indeed. The world view and religious practice of the ordinary man and woman was as I have outlined above. It was characterised by a constant preoccupation with the imponderable deities behind the scenes, (20) anxiety about how to forestall or placate their capricious anger (21) and by unrelieved uncertainty regarding one's ultimate fate.

Why do we exist? Why do we need to suffer? What will happen to us after death? Vatican II (22) enumerates a list of such 'riddles of human existence': Who are we as human beings? What is the meaning and purpose of life? What is correct behaviour and what is sinful? Where does suffering stem from, and what end does it serve? How can we find genuine happiness? What happens at death? Will there be a judgment, and retribution beyond the grave? Finally, what is that ultimate and unutterable mystery that engulfs our being, our origin and final destiny?

Nature religions cannot answer these fundamental questions satisfactorily. The Hellenistic world was pervaded by a mood of pessimism. Was life really worth living? Considering poverty, sickness, pain and other common ills, 'many wise people look on life as a punishment, on one's birth as one's greatest misfortune'.(23) 'For mortal human beings it is by far the best never to have been born; and for those who have, to die as soon as possible.(24) The art of consoling the bereaved was well developed; as letters, speeches and treatises show. But the only comfort they could offer was that things might even have been worse. (25)

The Gospel

It is against this background that the message of the Gospel stands out as distinctive and unique.

First of all, God is recognised to be highly exalted above all natural powers. He is not a storm god or a fertility deity. As the Creator of all that exists, he rules over nature as its supreme master. There is no god apart from him. He is also the Lord of history.

This exalted concept of God agreed well with the notion of a Supreme Being postulated by Greek philosophers, among them Aristotle and Plato. In a strongly history-oriented form it had also been prepared for in the Jewish, Old Testament religion. (26) But it was something new for the vast majority of Hellenists and it needed to be proclaimed; as Paul did in Athens.

'The God I now proclaim to you is the God who made the world and everything in it. He is Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples made by human beings. He does not need anything that we could supply by the work of our hands, since it is he himself who gives each person life and breath and everything else.'(27)

Secondly, God has now revealed the purpose of our existence. He has a plan with his creation. He is not a capricious tyrant, but a loving Father. Even if we have wronged him, he offers us forgiveness and renewed friendship. Pain, suffering, death, everything can now be seen in a new light.

'All things are done according to God's design and decision. God chose us to be his own people in union with Christ because of his own purpose, based on what he had decided from the very beginning.' (28)

Thirdly, God has become unspeakably close to us in Jesus Christ. In Christ God shared our human life, including its painful side. In Christ he won the victory over evil for us. Christ, therefore, is the focus of the universe, the bridge between God and us, the hub around which time and space revolve.

'In Christ God has reconciled the world to himself. (29) 'Christ is the visible image of the invisible God . . . God created the whole universe through him and for him .... God made universal peace through Christ's death on the cross, bringing back to himself all things, both on earth and in heaven.' (30)

The third point, it should be noted, really contains also points one and two. In Jesus Christ God revealed himself as the one, unique God who is a God of love. By knowing and accepting Jesus, we are brought into an intimate union with God. Small wonder that from the very start the message about Jesus Christ was called Gospel, that is: 'good-spell', good tidings.(31) For people it was really good news.

Proclamation

The Hellenistic world abounded with religious stories, philosophies, opinions. The early Christians were aware of the fact that in Jesus God had done something. The Gospel contained an event that needed to be announced. Publicising a happening is quite different from passing on an opinion.

Can we reconstruct the contents of this proclamation? (32)

From the letters of St.Paul, (23) from the preaching of the Apostles reported in the Acts (24) and from the Gospels themselves, we can see that they contained these basic facts about Jesus:

*Jesus Christ is the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament.

*He died to redeem all people from their sins.

*He was buried, but he rose again on the third day, giving life to whoever believes in him.

*He was exalted at the right hand of the Father as the Lord and the Son of God.

*He will come on the last day to judge the living and the dead.

For our own day and age these same basic truths about Jesus might be summed up in this form:

*All over the world people have been searching for God through their own religions. This was good, but something was missing. We could not get to know God as a person. Somehow we remained estranged from him. All this changed through Jesus Christ. In him God has come very close to us, revealing himself as Love.

*Again, left to ourselves we cannot uncover the meaning of our human existence; whether we rely on natural religion, philosophy or science. Life remains a riddle with evil and death as disturbing shadows. God's approach to us in Christ has opened many new dimensions. Everything can now be seen to fall into place.

* If we say 'Yes' to this new revelation, we can rise with Christ to a new life. With him we can transform the world into 'God's Kingdom'.

* Eventually God will put a lasting seal of approval on us by accepting us into his love when we die.

Being a Christian or becoming a Christian is not substantially different for us than it was for those first converts in Antioch. The central event was and is surrender to God. When Jesus was asked whether Jews should pay taxes to the Roman Emperor, he said: 'Show me a coin' (See illustration on next page). When they did, he asked: 'Whose image does it bear?' 'The Emperor's', they replied. Then Jesus stated: 'Give to the Emperor what belongs to the Emperor. Give to God what belongs to God! (35) as a coin bears the image of a political ruler, we bear God's image in our personality, in our deepest, individual self (36) God loves us more than a father or mother ever can. Jesus helps us make this great discovery.

However, it may be that, even though we are baptised, this close relationship has been obscured in us because of routine and convention. The externals of Christian practice may have taken over. We may have had some profound sense of communion with God when we were young, but this may have been lost in subsequent years of preoccupation with work and daily living. It does happen that we then suddenly find ourselves carrying all the social trappings of being a Christian without the deep, inner fire of love that should be there. We are then people who feel empty, who cannot pray. We have become like China dolls with a hole in the middle.

It is not so difficult to remedy this situation. To rekindle our direct contact with God - or to start it if we never had a conscious one before - , all we need to do is to turn to God and speak to him, in a very straightforward manner. Choose an appropriate moment when you are not being distracted. Talk to God as you would to a kind and understanding Father. Say exactly what you feel. You do not need to hide anything from God.(37)

QUESTIONS FOR STUDY

1. Can you express your reasons for becoming or remaining a Christian?

2. Paul told the people of Athens (Acts 17,22-23): '

I see that you are very religious people. For as I walked through your city and looked at your shrines I came across an altar dedicated to "an Unknown God"'

Why would people bother to offer sacrifices to an 'unknown god'?

3. Paul could say:

'Everything I might count as profit I now count as loss compared to what I value most: knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I abandon everything else, considering it as refuse so that I may win Christ and be completely united with him' (Philippians 3,8-9).

Was Paul a religious fanatic? Should our relationship to God claim absolute precedence over everything else?

4. Comment on this quote from Vatican II:

'The Church rejects nothing which is true and holy in other religions. She has a high regard for their con­duct and manner of life, their rules and doctrines . . . which often reflect a ray of that truth which enlightens all people. Yet the Church proclaims Christ, and must proclaim him, for he is the way, the truth and the life (John 14,6). In him God has reconciled the whole world to himself (2 Corinthians 5,18-19) and in him all people find fulfilment of their religious search.'

Relationship to non-Christian Religions, no 2

Footnotes

1. Acts 11,19-24.

2. Acts 11,21.

3. Some other towns were called Antioch, notably 'Antioch in Pisidia' (see Acts 13,13-52). Antioch in Syria, however, was by far the largest of them all. In this book 'Antioch' stands for 'Antioch in Syria'.

4. A major source of knowledge about Antioch comes from the excavations at Antioch from 1932 to 1939. The findings were published in Antioch-on-the-Orontes, Princeton University Press, by G.W.ELDERKIN (1934), R.STILLWELL (1938, 1941) and F.O.WAAGE (1948, 1952). Other classics are: A.J.FESTUGIERE.Antioch payenne et chrétienne, Paris 1959; G.DOWNEY, A History of Antioch in Syria from Seleucus to the Arab Conquest, Princeton 1961; Id., Ancient Antioch, Princeton 1963; J.LIEBESSCHUETZ, Antioch City and Imperial Administration in the Later Roman Empire, Oxford 1972.

5. Antiochus IV Epiphanes who conquered Judea, had tried to impose Greek religion on the Jews. It led to the persecution described in the books of the Maccabees (167-164 BC). His efforts had not succeeded.

6. For historical reconstructions, see: J.GEFFCKEN, The Last Days of Greco-Roman Paganism, Amsterdam 1978; M.P.NILSSON, History of Greek Religion, London 1980; R.MACMULLEN, Paganism in the Roman Empire, New Haven 1981; R.LANE FOX, Pagans and Christians, London 1986.

7. There is a close parallel to the way one used to treat political patrons, fearing them and seeking their favour by presenting gifts. The principle was: 'Give to your Giver'. H.S.VERSNEL, 'Religious Mentality in Ancient Prayer', in Faith, Hope and Worship, ed. H.S.VERSNEL, Leiden 1981.

8. Hellen means 'Greek'. 'Hellenism' is the name generally given to the Greek culture that spread all over the Middle East. 'Hellenists' had adopted that culture even though they were not Greek themselves.

9. D.G.ORR, 'Roman Domestic Religion: the Evidence of Household Shrines', A.N.R.W. 16.2 (1978) 1557.

10. The inscription is found on a stele in Stratonicea. A. LAUMONIER, 'Une Inscription de Stratonicée' R.E.A. (1934) 85.

11. V.SCULLY, The Earth, the Temple and the Gods, Cambridge MA 1962.

12. P.R.L.BROWN, 'Sorcery, Demons and the Rise of Christianity', in Religion and Society in the Age of St. Augustine, London 1972, p. 119; J.Z.SMITH, 'The Temple and the Magician', in God's Christ and his People, ed. J.JERVELL and W.A.MEEKS, Oslo 1977, pp. 233-250; A.F.SEGAL, 'Hellenistic Magic' in Studies in Gnosticism and in Hellenistic Religions, ed. R.van den BROEK and M.VERMASEREN, Leiden 1981.

13. It was the popular cult of this fertility goddess that became the focus of Paul's problems in Ephesus. Read Acts 19,23-41.

14. D.E.BIRGE, Sacred Groves in the Ancient Greek World, 1 Berkeley 1982.

15. Read Acts 14,8-18.

16. Acts 10,25-26.

17. Acts 28,1-6.

18. This belief is well documented by R. LANE FOX, o.c. When they prayed, people believed they could sense the manifest presence of the gods, But there always was an element of alarm. 'In gods and demi-gods irreconcilable temper was anticipated and widely feared' (p. 117).

19. This was the famous deus ex machina, the 'god out of the machine'.

20. A. J. FESTUGIERE, 'L'Expérience Réligieuse du Médecin Thessalos', Révue Biblique 48 (1939) p.45.

21. E.R.DODDS, Pagan and Christian in an Age of Anxiety. Some Aspects of Religious Experience from Marcus Aurelius to Constantine, New York 1965.

22.In 'A Declaration on Non-Christian Religions', no 1. Vatican II is an abbreviation for the Roman Catholic Ecumenical Council that met in Rome (at the Vatican) from 1963 to 1965. It was attended by observers from all major Christian Churches and expressed principles of Christian doctrine and life for our century. W.M.ABBOTT (ed.), The Documents of Vatican II, New York 1966, here p. 661.

23. CRANTOR, quoted by PLUTARCH, Consolatio ad Apollonem 27 (II.115b).

24. THEOGNIS, Elegia I, 425-428; compare a similar statement in the Old Testament bookKohelet which was written under Greek influence at Alexandria: 'More fortunate the dead than those who are still alive; even more fortunate those who were never born!' (Kohelet 4,2-3).

25. G.STAHLIN, 'Trost und Trostlosigkeit in der Umwelt des Neuen Testaments', Viva VoxEvangelii (= Festschrift H.Meiser) 1951, pp. 308-323.

26. G.E.WRIGHT, The Old Testament against its Environment, London 1960, esp. pp. 21-28.

27. Acts 17,23-25.

28. Ephesians 1,11.

29. 2 Corinthians 5,19.

30. Colossians 1,15-20.

31. The Greek word was euangelion from eu (good) and angelion (message). Many English words are derived from this: evangelism, evangelical, evangelisation, and so on.

32. The technical word for this proclamation in the New Testament is kerygma. Compare: 'Wherever this Gospel will be proclaimed' (Matthew 26,13); 'the Gospel which I proclaim among the gentiles' (Galatians 2,6).

33. Especially 1 Corinthians 15,1-11.

34. See Acts 2,22-36; 3,17-26; 10,34-43; 13,16-41; 17,22-31.

35. Matthew 22,15-22.

36. See J.WIJNGAARDS, God Within Us, London 1988, esp. pp. 43-50.

37. Helpful books are: G.RUMMERY and D.LUNDY, Growing into Faith, London 1982; A.P.PURNELL, Our Faith Story, London 1985; M.P.GALLAGHER, Help my Unbelief, Dublin 1986; id., Free To Believe, London 1987