Because of the many attacks by false teachers from earliest times, it was imperative that the church protect the Gospel of Jesus Christ by clarifying its own teachings. This meant dealing with the question of how the church is to decide what is true and false. In response to many assaults on the Gospel, the church clarified its doctrine with the help of three kinds of authority, which I will summarize as church, canon, and creeds.
The Church gradually (leadership) focused its chief teaching authority in the office of bishop. Bishops were viewed as rallying points of church unity and as key defenses against heresy (false teaching) as early as c.A.D. 110-115 in the letters of Ignatius, who was bishop of Antioch in Syria. A few decades later, synods (councils) of of various bishops met to deal with threats created by the teachings of a man named Montanus. Other challenges to cardinal Christian truths continued to expose the need for an office within the Church to serve as guardian of the Gospel. Th ordained ministry and especially the chief pastors developed largely as protectors of the Treasure of the Gospel. A key point in this process in the early Church wa the gathering of bishops known as the Council of Nicea, which had to deal with a denial of the full divinity of Christ. In all there were seven major councils of church leaders between A.D. 325 and 787. These are known as the "Seven Ecumenical Councils." Their pronouncements are accepted by virtually the whole Church today.
By the middle of the second century, a man named Marcion had devised his own personal canon of Scripture. A canon is a list of books to be included in the bible. Marcion's distorted theology led him to a Bible of only eleven books, all of them fro the New Testament, none form the Old. Partly because of this severe truncation of Scripture, and partly because of later continuing doctrinal threats, the Church was led by the Holy Spirit to declare an authoritative canon. A council of rabbis had done this for the Old Testament near the end of the first century A.D. Although many New Testament lasted for around two hundred years. This development culminated officially in the final list produced by the Council of Carthage in 397, so, in a sense, representatives of the Church produced the canon. But, for the most part, they were simply acknowledging the scriptural books that had already been accepted as authoritative by most parts of the church. Since every book of the New Testament was written by a member of the church, it is clear that, in the chronology of the Holy Spirit's working, the church preceded the New Testament and produced the New Testament, under divine guidance. The church's book became the single most important component of its doctrinal authority.
Creeds developed not for the ake of intellectual disputation, but to protect the Gospel of Jesus Christ from distortions. Their purpose was not to try to explain what really are mysteries, but rather to protct the mysteries from those who wanted to try toecplain them away. For instance, the Nicene Creed seeks to safeguard the mystery of Christ as both human and divine by eliminating two simplistic options, that Christ was only God , or only human. The Apostles Creed apparently grew out of an ancient baptismal creed, in question-and answer form, used from A.D. 150 in Rome. Gradual developments led to the form in which we now know it A.D. 400 or later.
If we wanted to move beyond the earliest Christian times that we have been describing, we could add a fourth "C" to our list of sources of doctrine namely confessions. In this sense, the word applies to basic statements of faith made by church bodies after the era of the Seven Ecumenical Councils.
As always in learning about church history. the call to faith comes into play. These developments merely are a matter of human defensiveness against the unsettling positions of "outsiders"? Are they simply the scheme of an increasingly organized and privileged Church to protect its own power and authority? Faith answers differently. While always acknowledging human factors and plenty of human error! in history, faith answers with it own confession. The Holy Spirit has led the process of Church and canon and creeds, so that we may know God's wonderful gift of the Gospel of Jesus Christ who died for us and lives for us! So this is all part of being Christ's witnesses to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8)
God Bless You and This ministry!
No comments:
Post a Comment