• Jude 1:3-4
    Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.
     
  • Revelation 2:2-6
    "I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name's sake and have not become weary. Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent. But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
     
  • Hebrews 2:1-3
    Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him,
     
  • Acts 1:6-11
    Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” And He said to them, 'It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, 'Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.'
     
  • Ephesians 4:14
    that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,
     
  • Hebrews 10:25
    not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
     
  • 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3
    Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition,
     
For more scripture references, please see Bible verses for Church, First Century


Resources

Back to the First Century

Commentary by John W. Ritenbaugh

The church in the first century faced significant challenges due to the lack of electronic communication and rapid transportation, relying solely on hand-written letters for apostolic leadership to communicate. This resulted in a state of organizational disarray, with major breakdowns in communication and lingering disagreements …


Lessons From First-Century Christianity

Sermon by David C. Grabbe

In the first century, along the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea, from the holy land to Syria, Turkey, Greece, and Italy, the early church emerged. This was the era when Jesus preached, ministered, and was crucified, and when the apostles traveled, spreading the gospel of the Kingdom of God. The early church practiced …


Is There a True Church?

'Personal' from John W. Ritenbaugh

The first-century church began as a unified corporate body, as depicted in Acts 1-12, centered in Jerusalem under apostolic leadership. This condition did not last long, for as the apostles scattered from Jerusalem to preach the gospel, congregations began forming in other locations such as Antioch, and the unique, …


First Love (Part One)

Bible Study by Martin G. Collins

More than sixty years after the church of God began, the apostle John recorded Jesus Christ's letter to the church in Ephesus, a city that thrived as a commercial hub of the ancient world and a center of pagan worship, dominated by the imposing Temple of Diana, which encouraged practices of magic. Within this carnal and bustling …


Letters to Seven Churches (Part Ten): The Church

Sermon by Richard T. Ritenbaugh

The first-century church began in Acts 2 on the Day of Pentecost, when the Twelve and 120 disciples received the Holy Spirit with visible signs, and Peter's sermon led to the conversion of three thousand souls in a single day, followed shortly by five thousand more. This was portrayed as a golden age: believers were unified, …


The Seven Churches (Part Three): Ephesus

Bible Study by Richard T. Ritenbaugh

The letters addressed to the seven churches of Asia in Revelation 2-3 provide instruction that applies personally to believers rather than serving as a means to identify particular modern organizations with specific ancient congregations. Since God's church today exists in fragmented form across many groups of varying sizes, …


Jesus Christ: First Savior, Second High Priest, Third King

Sermon by John W. Ritenbaugh

The epistle to the Hebrews, though widely regarded as difficult and often neglected because it draws so heavily on Old Testament material such as Leviticus, holds vital importance for the early Christian community, particularly those converted from Judaism in the decades following Christ's resurrection. Written around the …


Is There a True Church?

Sermon/Bible Study by

God's true church cannot be found without revelation nor can one join the organization; God calls and places each member in its appropriate place in the Body.



For more resources, please see the library topic for Church, First Century