Re: The Early Christians: In Their Own Words

The Christians’ sharp condemnation of the dishonesty, impurity, violence, 
and mammonism in public life far outweighed what they accepted of the 
existing law and order, and it brought them all the more hatred. They did 
recognize the government as a transitory necessity, but they considered it

of only relative moral value. These revolutionaries of the spirit knew
that 
they were actually the State’s best allies in the cause of morality and 
world peace, which proves that they had a positive attitude to the ethical

im****tance of the state. They realized that until God intervened, they 
could not change the structure of the present order, or bring about any 
substantial improvements and social reforms for the masses. To them, 
slavery and social oppression were only one expression of the evils of the

status quo, only a partial aspect of the total crime perpetrated by the 
State against freedom and equality. In protest, the believers gave full 
recognition to their slave brothers, and often bought or gave them their 
freedom; but they did not recognize any demand or legal claim on the
common 
purse to pay such ransom. It would have meant letting a legal claim be a 
substitute for a life of faith, hope, surrender and sacrifice to which 
every Christian was committed.