5 Firsts in British Church History

Christianity has a long history in the British Isles. Here, we're going to take a look at five firsts in British church history.

The first is the first martyr, a figure known as St. Alban. He is believed to have lived in the third or fourth century, but we know very little about him. In fact, most of what we know about him comes from accounts written centuries after his death. But from what we can piece together, Alban had some wealth, and he liked to protect people who needed help. And this also would include Christians. During his time, Roman imperial authorities issued orders to persecute Christians, resulting in troubles for early British Christians. One of them, named Amphibalus, ended up seeking refuge in Alban's home. After a few days, as Amphibalus lived out his faith in front of Alban, Alban came to recognize the beauty and the truth of Christianity, and he himself becomes a disciple of Christ. Soon, the authorities learned that Amphibalus was camping out at Alban's home, and they came for him. At the last minute, Alban changed his clothes with Amphibalus and sent Amphibalus out one way dressed as he would be, and with his attendants, while Alban stood there dressed as Amphibalus would be. Alban was arrested and taken before the authorities, who were thinking that he was Amphibalus. When they pulled back his hood, it was Alban. This infuriated the presiding official, and he turned to Alban, who unexpectedly confessed his own Christian faith and testimony. So, he was martyred. Later, Amphibalus was martyred as well. A few others were martyred alongside them. But St. Alban is credited as the first martyr in Christian Great Britain.

The second first concerns one of my favorite British church history figures, the Venerable Bede. He was born around 670 and died around 735. Bede was many things, but he is perhaps best known as a church historian; he wrote the first history of the church in Britain. In fact, he's credited with a couple of firsts. He also gave us the first attempt at translating the Bible into English, or at least, into Old English.

The third first is the first version of the Thirty-Nine Articles. Originally, there were forty-two articles. They were brought to Parliament under Edward VI. They were passed through Parliament but they weren't yet ratified. Then, Edward died; he was succeeded by Mary I, known as "Bloody Mary." She reinstituted Roman Catholicism in England and began persecuting Protestants. The articles were then taken off the table, but when Mary died, Elizabeth I came to the throne and the articles were reintroduced into Parliament. Elizabeth did not like the last three, which were sort of anti-Anabaptist in their tenor, so she had them excised. The articles were then passed as the Thirty-Nine Articles, and they became and still are the official doctrinal confession of the Church of England.

The forth first is the Geneva Bible. This is the first on two counts. First of all, it's the first study Bible. It was compiled by theologians and pastors who were exiled under Mary. They found themselves in Calvin's Geneva, and Calvin put them to work on putting together a new Bible. It was a new translation based largely on Tyndale's work, but they added study notes. And the other first of this Bible is, this is the first Bible with verse numbers. If you find an old Tyndale or Wycliffe Bible you'll see chapter divisions but you won't see verse divisions.

The last first brings us a little closer to our time. It was the founding of the Bible League in 1892. This was a concerted effort against the beginnings of apostasy and liberalism in the British church. As we look at the Fundamentalist-Modernist Controversy that would rage on through the 1930s, it was the Bible League that organized the first concerted group effort to take a stand for orthodox doctrine and especially the inerrancy of Scripture.