Jesus Did Not Start Religious Life; Why Did It Appear in the Church? Biblical Foundation of Consecrated Life

Abstract

This paper examines the biblical foundation of religious life in the context of the history of salvation. It briefly presents the God’s plan of salvation. As historical Israel failed their mission exile was the consequence of this failure. A consequence of the restoration of Israel will be the pilgrimage of the nations to Jerusalem. Jesus’ healing miracles point out that God is restoring his people and that is why he takes away all kind of sickness. The ancient Church knew that it had to be a sign of the truth of the Gospel in its entire existence however, when, after the “Milan edict” of Constantine (312/313 AD), the masses enter the Church, its early structure of “house Churches” was broken. Soon after the monastic movement began. With the monastic communities coming to existence, there was a chance that at least these religious house churches would preserve the community dimension of the Church and that they would continue to be a sign for the pagan society of how God wants his people to live.