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By the time of Constantine, the church was a sufficiently robust organisation for the emperor to engage it as a partner in unifying the empire. Systems of authority, patterns of belief and control of funds and property had turned the household communities into an interlinked, empire-wide organisation that mirrored the structure of the empire itself. Irenaeus ideas for identifying true tradition in the face of diversity of faith and practice were adopted enthusiastically by Tertullian, about 200 CE. Scripture provided a cultic 'typology', reinforcing the growing power of the bishops and other orders of ministry. Christians were originally distinct from biblical Judaism and from the pagan world around them in that they had no sacrificial cult. By the time Matthew was written, judgement needed two or three witnesses, private expostulation and a public hearing by 'the assembly' or ecclesia before expulsion; the decision of the assembled believers, upheld by God, should be mercifully applied.
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