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Historical Reference:
402 History of the Early Church

Changes in 4th Century Theology – The Gospel

The Value of Historical Awareness
Introduction to the Early Church
The Apostolic Church, a House Church System
Fourth Century Changes in Church Meetings
Other Major Changes of the Post-Apostolic Church
Ideological Competitors of Early Christianity
Changes in 4th Century Theology – The Gospel
Changes in 4th Century Theology – Church and State
The Apostolic Church vs. Greek Mysticism
Changes in 4th Century Theology – Determinism, Divorce
Conclusions, Does God Care About These Changes?

Changes in Fourth Century, Christian Theology – The Gospel and the Kingdom

In our study on the gospel, we saw that for over 300 years before Augustine, the church understood the gospel of Jesus Christ as the good news about a coming earthly kingdom. Moreover, for those 300 years, the church believed that kingdom would be defined as in Christ along with Jewish and Gentile saints of both the Old and New Testament would rule the earth, replacing the previous historic, earthly governments like the Babylonians, Greeks, and Romans. However, since the time of Augustine the church has discarded that apostolic view in favor of the view that saints of the New Testament era have no earthly inheritance or earthly kingdom. This is a very significant departure from what the early church believed.

Premillennialism – (Redirected from Chiliasm)
The concept of…earthly messianic kingdom at the Messiah's coming was not an invention of Christianity. Instead it was a theological interpretation developed within the apocalyptic literature of early Judaism.... For the larger part, Christian eschatology through the second and third centuries was chiliastic. Many early Christian interpreters applied the earlier Jewish apocalyptic idea of…Messianic kingdom…Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and Tertullian all made explicit references to the concept of a thousand year earthly kingdom at Christ’s coming...
wikipedia.org

Patristic Literature (Christianity) -
The Apostolic Fathers -
But the real key to the theology of the Apostolic Fathers, which also explains its often curious imagery, is that it is Jewish-Christian through and through, expressing itself in categories derived from latter-day Judaism and apocalyptic literature (depicting the intervention of God in history in the last times), which were soon to become unfashionable and be discarded.
Encyclopedia Britannica

Millennialism –
or chiliasm…millenarian beliefs have fallen into disfavor in mainstream Christian theology today, this was not the case during the early Christian centuries. At least during the first four centuries, millennialism was normative in both East and West. Tertullian, Commodian, Lactantius, Methodius, and Apollinaris of Laodicea all advocated premillennial doctrine...Chiliasm was…condemned as a heresy in the 4th century by the Church...nearly universal condemnation of the doctrine over a gradual period of time, beginning with Augustine of Hippo...the virtual annihilation of millennialism from the 4th Century onwards.
wikipedia.org

Premillennialism – (Redirected from Chiliasm)
Augustine’s (354-430) influence shaped not only the Middle Ages, but it also influenced the Reformers...Augustine’s…amillennial view laid the eschatological foundation for the Middle Ages which practically abandoned premillennialism... – wikipedia.org

Amillennialism –
Amillennialism (Latin: a- "no" + millennialism) is a view in Christian end-times theology named for its rejection of the theory that Jesus Christ will have a thousand-year long, physical reign on the earth…
wikipedia.org

Irenaeus reports that the first to deny that salvation included an inheritance in the coming earthly Messianic kingdom was Marcion, a Gnostic heretic.

Millennialism –
or chiliasm… (around 185) by Irenaeus...The first known opponent of Christian chiliasm was Marcion, in the second century…an early heretic...
wikipedia.org

CHAP. VIII. 1. Vain, too, is [the effort of] Marcion and his followers when they [seek to] exclude Abraham from the inheritance…
Irenaeus, AGAINST HERESIES, BOOK IV

CHAP. XXI. 1. Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted unto him for righteousness. Know ye therefore, that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. But the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, announced beforehand unto Abraham, that in him all nations should be blessed. So then they which be of faith shall be blessed with faithful Abraham." For which [reasons the apostle] declared that this man was not only the prophet of faith, but also the father of those who from among the Gentiles believe in Jesus Christ, because his faith and ours are one and the same: for he believed in things future, as if they were already accomplished, because of the promise of God; and in like manner do we also, because of the promise of God, behold through faith that inheritance [laid up for us] in the [future] kingdom.
Irenaeus, AGAINST HERESIES, BOOK IV

Following in Marcion’s footsteps were men like Augustine and Origen, both of whom were also avid Neo-Platonists. Like Marcion or any other Gnostic teacher, Origen and Augustine both employed syncretism to fuse Neo-Platonism with Christianity. And both have profound influence on the practice and beliefs of Christianity after the third century.

Patristic Literature (Christianity) -
Late 2nd to early 4th century -
Meanwhile, a brilliant and distinctive phase of Christian literature was opening at Alexandria, the chief cultural centre of the empire and the meeting ground of the best in Hellenistic Judaism, Gnosticism, and Neoplatonism...The real founder of this theology, with its Platonist leaning, its readiness to exploit the metaphysical implications of revelation, and its allegorical understanding of scripture, was Clement (c. 150–c. 215), the Christian humanist whose welcoming attitude to Hellenism...But it is Origen (c. 185–c. 254) whose achievement stamps the Alexandrian school…he covered the whole Bible, deploying a subtle, strongly allegorical exegesis…Neoplatonist in background, his system embraces both the notion of the preexistence of souls…Origen’s influence on Christian doctrine and spirituality was to be immense and many-sided; the orthodox Fathers and the leading heretics of the 4th century alike reflect it.
Encyclopedia Britannica

"Origen –
born c. 185, probably Alexandria, Egypt died c. 254…According to Porphyry, Origen attended lectures given by Ammonius Saccas, the founder of Neoplatonism. A letter of Origen mentions his 'teacher of philosophy,' at whose lectures he met Heraclas, who was to become his junior colleague…Origen's…Contra Celsum…answers…the 2nd-century anti-Christian philosopher Celsus…Both protagonists agree in their basic Platonic presuppositions…
Encyclopedia Britannica

Origen –
Origen attempted to synthesize the fundamental principles of Greek philosophy, particularly those of Neoplatonism and Stoicism, with the Christianity of creed and Scripture…Before St. Augustine, Origen was the most influential theologian in the church. His threefold plan of interpreting Scripture (literal, ethical, and allegorical) influenced subsequent exegetical works. In spite of Origen's fame as an apologist for Christianity, there was question as to his orthodoxy. His somewhat recondite blending of pagan philosophy with Christian theology…
Columbia Encyclopedia

Unlike Irenaeus, Origen felt no compulsion to keep to earlier Christian theology. Instead, Origen believed that it was completely acceptable for Christians to speculate on all kinds of theological issues. And speculate Origen did. Later theologians, like Ambrose and Augustine, developed Origen’s speculations and made them official church teaching replacing what Christians had believed for hundreds of years since the first century.

Origen –
Origen wrote De principiis…based on the presupposition that every Christian is committed to the rule of faith laid down by the Apostles (the Creator as God of both Old and New Testaments, the incarnation of the preexistent Lord, the Holy Spirit as one of the divine triad…but that outside this restriction the educated believer is free to speculate… Origen was writing long before the conciliar definitions of Chalcedon (451) concerning the Trinity and the Person of Christ and at a period when a far larger area of doctrine could be regarded as open for discussion and argument
Encyclopedia Britannica

Patristic Literature (Christianity) -
Late 2nd to early 4th century -
In all his writings, but especially his On First Principles, Origen shows himself to be one of the most original and profound of speculative theologians.
Encyclopedia Britannica

Like other Gnostics and Neo-Platonists, Origen believed that man’s destiny did not involve an earthly inheritance or kingdom. He also believed that all souls existed in God prior to their creation as angels or men. He strongly promoted and relied upon allegorical interpretation when he interpreted scripture. And like other Gnostics, Origen taught that a divine spirit had united itself to the man, Jesus Christ.

Origen –
The material world was… is not his [man’s] ultimate destiny. Origen speculated that souls fell varying distances, some to be angels, some descending into human bodies, and the most wicked becoming devils…Origen believed in the preexistence of souls…The commentator's task is to penetrate the allegory, to perceive within the material body of Scripture its soul and spirit…So intense was the union between Christ's soul and the Logos that it is like the union of body and soul, of white-hot iron and fire. Like all souls Christ's had free will, but the intensity of union destroyed all inclination for change, and the Logos united to himself not only soul but also body…Origen, influenced by a semi-Gnostic writing, the Acts of John…In his lifetime he was often attacked, suspected of adulterating the Gospel with pagan philosophy…The chief accusations against Origen's teaching are…spiritualizing away the resurrection of the body…speculating about preexistent souls and world cycles…using allegorical interpretation. None of these charges is altogether groundless.
Encyclopedia Britannica

Not surprising then is the fact that Augustine was very fond of Origen, a sentiment which he inherited from his own mentor, Ambrose, a former pupil of both Origen and the Gnostic heretic Valentinus. And like Origen, Augustine was a Neo-Platonist. Like other Gnostics, Augustine blended Neo-Platonist teaching with Christianity.

Origen –
A wealthy Christian named Ambrose, whom Origen converted from the teachings of the heretical Valentinus…
Encyclopedia Britannica
Ambrose, Saint –
died 397, Milan…provided a model for medieval conceptions of church-state relations…Ambrose is also remembered as the teacher who converted and baptized St. Augustine of Hippo
Encyclopedia Britannica

St. Ambrose –
lack of an early theological training…a marked preference for Origen…whose influence are repeatedly met with in his works…He delights in the allegorico-mystical interpretation of Scripture, i.e. while admitting the natural or literal sense he seeks everywhere a deeper mystic meaning…says St. Jerome (Ep.xli) 'he was disciple of Origen…
The Catholic Encyclopedia

Augustine, Saint-
after a deep study of Neoplatonism…Augustine…was greatly drawn by the eloquent fervor of St. Ambrose.
Columbia Encyclopedia

“Platonism, Platonism in the world of revealed religions –
Ancient and medieval Christian Platonism > Augustinian Platonism –
In his epistemology Augustine was Neoplatonic.
Encyclopedia Britannica

Augustine –
But when Augustine accepted baptism at the hands of Ambrose in 387, thereby joining the religion of his mother to the cultural practices of his father, he managed to make it a Christianity of his own…Reading Platonic texts and correctly understanding some of their doctrine…Augustine is especially influenced by the powerful intellectual preaching of the suave and diplomatic Bishop Ambrose, who reconciles for him the attractions of the intellectual and social culture of antiquity [paganism], in which Augustine was brought up and of which he was a master, and the spiritual teachings of Christianity. The link between the two was Ambrose's exposition, and Augustine's reception, of a selection of the doctrines of Plato, as mediated in late antiquity by the school of Neoplatonism. Augustine heard Ambrose and read, in Latin translation, some of the exceedingly difficult works of Plotinus and Porphyry.
Encyclopedia Britannica

Life of St. Augustine of Hippo –
neo-Platonic philosophy inspired him with genuine enthusiasm…[he] read certain works of Plato and, more especially, of Plotinus… Augustine gradually became acquainted with Christian doctrine, and in his mind the fusion of Platonic philosophy with revealed dogmas was taking place…It is now easy to appreciate at its true value the influence of neo-Platonism upon the mind of the great African Doctor. It would be impossible for anyone who has read the works of St. Augustine to deny the existence of this influence…So long, therefore, as his philosophy agrees with his religious doctrines, St. Augustine is frankly neo-Platonist…in thus seeking harmony between the two doctrines he thought too easily to find Christianity in Plato, or Platonism in the Gospel…he acknowledges that he has not always shunned this danger. Thus he had imagined that in Platonism he discovered the entire doctrine of the Word and the whole prologue of St. John…Augustine seeks the living truth, and even when he is combating certain Platonic ideas he is of the family of Plato, not of Aristotle…
The Catholic Encyclopedia

Works of St. Augustine of Hippo –
These writings…from his conversion to his baptism (388-387), continue the autobiography of the saint by initiating us into the researches and Platonic hesitations of his mind…Their dialogue form shows that they were inspired by Plato and Cicero…The most remarkable of his Biblical works illustrate either a theory of exegesis (one generally approved) which delights in finding mystical or allegorical interpretations…His knowledge of the Biblical languages was insufficient: he read Greek with difficulty;
The Catholic Encyclopedia

Platonism, Platonism in the world of revealed religions – Augustinian Platonism –
Each of the great Christian Platonists understood Platonism and applied it to the understanding of his faith in his own individual way, and of no one of them was this truer than of Augustine…the reading of Plotinus and Porphyry (in Latin translations) had a decisive influence on his religious and intellectual development, and he was more deeply and directly affected by Neoplatonism than any of his Western contemporaries and successors.
Encyclopedia Britannica

Faithful to their Neo-Platonic training, Augustine and Origen both allegorically interpreted the scriptures and discarded the earlier Jewish context and meaning. Instead, for them, salvation was understood within Neo-Platonic and Gnostic ideas. Salvation involved escaping from this world rather than the inheritance of a Messianic kingdom on earth.

Premillennialism – (Redirected from Chiliasm)
The concept of a temporary earthly messianic kingdom at the Messiah's coming was not an invention of Christianity. Instead it was a theological interpretation developed within the apocalyptic literature of early Judaism.... For the larger part, Christian eschatology through the second and third centuries was chiliastic. Many early Christian interpreters applied the earlier Jewish apocalyptic idea of a temporary Messianic kingdom…Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and Tertullian all made explicit references to the concept of a thousand year earthly kingdom at Christ’s coming...
wikipedia.org

Amillennialism –
Amillennialism (Latin: a- "no" + millennialism)…rejection of the theory that Jesus Christ will have a…physical reign on the earth…none of the available Church Fathers advocate amillennialism in the first century… With the influence of Neo-Platonism and dualism, Clement of Alexandria and Origen denied premillennialism…Origen's idealizing tendency to consider only the spiritual as real led him to combat the "rude" or "crude" Chiliasm of a physical and sensual beyond.
wikipedia.org

Eschatology, Eschatology in religions of the West, Post-Biblical Christianity, The views of Augustine –
The literalistic descriptions…found in such apocalyptic works as the Book of Revelation were interpreted allegorically by Augustine…Augustine's allegorical millennialism became the official doctrine of the church, and apocalypticism went underground…
Encyclopedia Britannica

With these historical facts in mind we can see that besides major changes in church life and practice, men like Origen, Ambrose, and Augustine were able to persuade the fourth century church to filter earlier Christian teaching through the pagan mystical worldview of Neo-Platonism and Gnosticism. As this occurred, major changes in church life were also taking place. One of the first things to go was the earthly, Messianic kingdom that had been taught by the church since the Apostolic Age. But, the rejection of an earthly salvation in a coming, Messianic kingdom was not the only change in Christian theology.