In part 2 of The Life of the Church we travel to the French city of Lyon. Throughout the 2nd Century the officials in Lyon persecuted the church. Christians would be taken and imprisoned. This official persecution led the populous of Lyon taking matters into their own hands and go after their neighbours who were Christians. The problem for Lyon was that this was against the current practice of the Empire. By AD170 persecution was limited to small pockets and wasn't sustained for any length of time. But in Lyon the Roman official went after the church in what can be described as severe persecution.
The Christians stood firm, but a total of 48 were martyred for their faith. The church historian Eusebius records this in his book The History of the Church. In his record he speaks of a young man named Irenaeus who was from Smyrna. He was a disciple of Polycarp and Polycarp ordained him an elder. He took the plight of the persecuted Christians to Rome in the hope of appealing directly to Caesar. We don't know if he was successful in this hope, but when he returned to Lyon he discovered the 48 Christians had already been martyred.
But Irenaeus wasn't going to stop. He was appointed Bishop of Lyon and led the church until his martyrdom in AD202. During his ministry he stood firm against gnosticism, those who believed that there was a secret knowledge to becoming a Christian. Irenaeus refuted this and held to the truths of the gospel, that salvation was for everyone. For us today, we stand on this truth knowing the full truth of the gospel and the freedom it brings to everyone.
The Life of the Church - Learning our Church History is a teaching series from Annalong Presbyterian Church. For videos and handouts visit www.annalongpc.org/midweek.
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