When and how did the corruption of Apostolic Christianity begin?

Answer 1

A:If we turn to the seven churches of Revelation, and make the reasonable assumption that the letters here were initially addressed to seven actual churches (which we know existed at that time), we can say that the "corruption" of Apostolic Christianity had already begun even back in those days.

However, it is a simplistic approach to Church history to look for the moment at which the Church began to be corrupted.

It is more likely that the Church has always needed prophetic figures to bring it back to Christ's call. This can be seen in John's letters to the seven churches. It can be seen continuously in the history of the Church, with prophetic figures rising up to challenge the Church, and to call for a return to Christ's teachings.

More importantly for us, the Church is still in need of prophetic ministry. There is much that we do today that will wonder in years to come, "How did we not realise that what we did was not as good as we thought it was?" We should always try to be aware of what the Spirit is saying to the churches.

Another Answer:

History reflects that almost immediately after the Roman armies destroyed Jerusalem in 70 A.D., intense prejudice against anything Jewish - beliefs and customs - began to spread throughout the Empire like wildfire. After the death of the Apostle John at the end of the 1st Century, this ever growing prejudice led to the 'first great falling away' from the newly given New Covenant teachings explained by Jesus and His disciples (2 Thessalonians 2:3).

Before the Apostle Paul's death, he had raised up many works that were 'imitators of the churches of God which are in Judea' (1 Thessalonians 2:14). These all followed the same spiritual way of life the Jewish-Christians practiced. But after the fall of Jerusalem, Rome made it unbearable to be anything 'Jewish' and this prejudice slowly entered the gentile Christian groups. Distorted ideas (mostly a mix of Gnostic ideas) of Paul's writings from 'untaught and unstable' leaders began to undermine the way of life and worship that the former gentile Christians had copied from their Jewish brethen (2 Peter 3:16).

It is from this point in the last part of the 1st Century through the 4th Century, that part of the Christian religion given attention by historians accepted dramatic changes. The new concept of 'progressive revelation' allowed the 'church leaders' to revise doctrine to suit their perceptions of church needs instead of adhering strictly to the teachings handed down by the Apostles. The whole way of life the Apostles lived and taught was steadily abandoned until what most today consider Christianity bore little resemblance to the original teachings of Jesus and the Apostles.

A Christian historian named Jesse Lyman Hurlbut regarded the stark difference between the 1st Century church and the one history records from the 2nd Century as follows:

For fifty years after St. Paul's life a curtain hangs over the Church, through which we strive vainly to look; and when at last it rises, about 120 A.D., with the writings of the earliest church-father, we find a church in many aspects very different from that in the days of St. Peter and St. Paul. (The Story of the Christian, 1954, p. 41.)

In particular, those who kept the Sabbath and Feast/Holy Days of God, were put to the side - a few exceptions like Polycarp remained for awhile(soon afterwards, true believers would need to hide/live in obscure areas to avoid persecution - these too will remain to the end-times). Soon, traditions of men would replace the Law of God and a new, global, powerful established Church would arise calling itself the one true church and universal. It is prophecized to remain to the end of the reign of man when Christ comes again to establish the Government of God on the whole Earth - the only true Church of God.