Digging Deeper – On the Lapsed

In 251 A.D., the first systematic persecution of Christianity took place in the Roman Empire. The emperor Decius issued an imperial edict requiring all subjects to perform a sacrifice to the Roman gods (including Decius himself) in the presence of a government official. After the rite had taken place, the individual would then receive a “libellus”—a certificate signed by the magistrate that the sacrifice had taken place (a number of these documents have survived the ages and are on display in museums around the world; see https://tinyurl.com/5n95vnes for several from the University of Michigan). Those who did not receive a libellus were stripped of their possessions and arrested and, in some cases, killed—their stories of martyrdom recorded by the Christians of the early church. An overwhelming number of Christians quickly fell away from the church. They either succumbed to idol worship and completed the sacrifice or bribed officials into purchasing a certificate saying they had. Fortunately, the persecution was short-lived. The following year, Decius died in battle, and his edict came to an end, though it would not be the last systematic persecution of the church.

Immediately after the Decian persecution, those who had recanted their faith sought readmission into the church. They were labeled “lapsed” Christians, and their readmission to the church became the subject of a great controversy. One church leader named Novatian asserted that they could be forgiven, but under no circumstances could lapsed Christians be readmitted. On the other hand, Cyprian, the famous bishop of Carthage, argued that while the sin was indeed egregious, there must be a process by which repentant lapsed Christians could be restored to communion in the Church. In 251 A.D., he wrote a famous book on the subject called On the Lapsed. Cyprian’s theology was very influential on the development of later church practice in Western civilization.

The falling away of a great number of Christians during a time of testing brings to mind the condition of the second and third soils in the Parable of the Sower in Luke 8:14-15:

Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature (NIV).

For the great many caught unprepared during the Decian persecution, it was revealed that their hearts were indeed rocky soil. This predicament may seem foreign to us because we live in a time and place of religious freedom, but it is nevertheless real. Let us thank God for the times of peace we experience as Christians, but let us also live prepared, knowing that times of testing are a revelation of the soil of the human heart. Let it be said of us that we held fast with an “honest and good heart [bearing] fruit with patience” (Lk. 8:15) when tribulations arise.