(and Related Problems)
James, the half-brother of Jesus, became a believer and follower after Jesus’ resurrection and took up residence in Jerusalem while the small contingent waited for the promise of the Holy Spirit as Jesus had instructed them. Some years later, he became a leader of the church in Jerusalem.
Eusebius, Church historian from the fourth Century, wrote in The Church History of Eusebius Book ii, 1:2, Then James, whom the ancients surnamed the Just on account of the excellence of his virtue, is recorded to have been the first to be made bishop of the church of Jerusalem.
While he was there, Jerusalem continued to be the leadership center of the Church as it spread to other cities and countries. Paul and Barnabas traveled to Jerusalem, where they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders (Acts 15:2) to resolve a controversial matter. Apparently, the church in Jerusalem had resumed rapid growth in members after the disruption as the word of God continued to spread and flourish (Acts 12:24). James served as one of the Church’s main leaders: James, Cephas and John, those esteemed as pillars… (Galatians 2:9). Eventually James was named as an Apostle, as Paul wrote of him, I saw none of the other apostles—only James, the Lord’s brother (Galatians 1:19).
Unlike the leaders of the temple worship, James had a reputation of piety. His leading position in the Church did not equate to personal wealth, as Josephus wrote of the High Priest in Antiquities of the Jews XX,9,2 saying, but as for the high priest Ananias, he increased in glory every day, and this to a great degree, and had obtained the favor and esteem of the citizens in a signal manner; for he was a great hoarder up of money. This too is a temptation for many megachurch leaders today. Wealth and authority often leads them to extremes that result in lives of opulence and abuse of church members.
When Paul visited Jerusalem in the early 60s AD, he met with James and the elders there, who said, “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed” (Acts 21:20). The number of people they referred to was not just “thousands” as translated but literally ten-thousands. At that time, the number 10,000, as expressed by the Greek word murias, and translated by some as myriads, was used not literally for ten times one thousand but figuratively of an uncountable number.
This congregation in Jerusalem was massive, but instead of a large group of mature Christians, by James’ admission, all of them are zealous for the law (Acts 21:20). This zeal for the law had to come at the expense of Christ-centeredness, because, as Paul wrote to the Roman Christians:
Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved.For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes (Romans 10:1-4).
This was a temptation that first-Century Jewish Christians faced. Jews had been indoctrinated to believe that keeping the law was essential for the Covenant people. It took many years for them to understand that because Jesus had inaugurated a New Covenant, and that by calling this “new,” he has made the old obsolete (Hebrews 8:13), they were no longer required to follow the ceremonies and religious stipulations of the law.
A common problem with megachurches is that many of the members are attracted by something highly appealing but not the essence of the Christian call to come to Jesus. To many Jews in the first century, the appeal was correctly to accept Jesus as the Messiah, but they did not realize that following Jesus meant leaving behind religious practices that continued to be mainstream in their culture. The megachurch appeal today can have similarities. For example, when there is a religious connection to patriotism or making a nation great (whether the USA, Russia, or some other country), Christ-centeredness is blurred.
In the next Blog, we will consider the dangers that such problems pose.