EIGHTEENTH STUDY
The End of the Age
From the Death of St. Paul, A. D. 68, to the Death of St. John, 100 A. D.
Part One
We come now to our last period, an age of shadows, of which we know very little, and wish that we knew more. The curtain of New Testament history falls while St. Paul is still a prisoner at Rome, five years before the supposed date of his death. From that time, A. D. 63, to about A. D. 125 there is very little history, and none in the New Testament; we are left to hints, traditions, and conjectures.
A question which we would like to answer is, What became of the companions of St. Paul: such men as Timothy (Heb. 13. 23), Titus (2 Tim. 4. 10), Apollos (Titus 3. 13), Luke (2 Tim. 4. 11)? All of these were living and working at the close of Paul's life; but there is no report of their life and labors after that event.
Another perplexing fact is that when the curtain rises at about 125 A. D. it shows us a very different church from that of St. Paul's day: a church completely organized, with bishops in almost absolute control; and sects quarreling over controversies apparently unknown when St. Paul wrote his letters.
While Peter and Paul were living the church had wise and statesmanlike leaders, who directed its energies. But when these great men died "second-rate men" were left in control and they were not equal to the demand of the new time; and the church drifted into disputes, which grew into divisions. Let us notice the few known Events of this Period.
I. The Fall of Jerusalem: epoch-making, not only to Jewish but also to Christian history.
1. The rebellion of the Jews against the Roman power began in 68 A. D.; hopeless from the beginning—for how could one small state measure swords with the empire of the civilized world? The city of Jerusalem was taken and destroyed 70 A. D., and with it fell forever the Jewish state.