Clement
of Rome | 40-98AD
Reflection
Resources
Clement of Rome is
mentioned by Paul in Philippians 4:3 as a fellow worker with the
disciples, “… along with Clement and the
rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.” Clement lived and worked in the time of Peter
and Paul and probably died around 98 AD.
He was a friend of the disciples and a Bishop/Elder in Church of Rome. Because of this Roman Catholics have tried to
assert that he was appointed by Peter to be the second “Pope of Rome,” but
because of false Roman Catholic tradition and lack of evidence this is plainly
absurd. Clement simply was a leader in
the Church of Rome that happened to out live Peter and Paul by about 15-20
years and he carried on the teachings of Jesus and his mentors with great zeal
and love for the saints.
He is most known for the
letter he wrote to the Corinthians to teach them to not be divided but to
follow the teachings of the disciples.
His letter is a follow-up to Paul’s letters and as with all the letters
of the Church Fathers he quotes the disciples, especially Paul, many times as
divine authority. Clement was eventually
martyred and thus he gave his life for his faith.
He played a very
important role in preserving and writing down the teachings and practices of
the first disciples. Therefore, he
stands as a witness to the core doctrines and practices of the first
Christians; he truly was a disciple of the disciples.
“The apostles have preached the Gospel to us from the Lord Jesus
Christ; Jesus Christ from God. Christ therefore was sent forth by God, and the
apostles by Christ. Both these appointments, then, were made in an orderly way,
according to the will of God. Having therefore received their
orders, and being fully assured by the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and established in the word of God, with full assurance
of the Holy Ghost, they went forth proclaiming that the kingdom of
God was at hand. And thus preaching through countries and cities, they
appointed the first-fruits [of their labours], having first proved them by the
Spirit, to be bishops and deacons of those who should
afterwards believe. Nor was this any new thing, since indeed many ages before it was written concerning bishops and deacons. For thus saith the
Scripture in a certain place, “I will appoint their bishops in righteousness, and their deacons in faith," Clement to the Corinthians, Chapter 42.
Ignatius | 50-117AD
Ignatius lived from
about 50-117AD and was a student of John the beloved. He was appointed the Bishop of the church in
Antioch and was a great lover of the truth and Lord Jesus Christ. During the time of the Roman Emperor Domitian
he was arrested and brought to Rome to die as a martyr. On his way to Rome to be executed he wrote
his farewells and final thoughts to the churches that honored and loved
him. Most of the churches he wrote to
were the churches Paul had started. His
letters are filled with the core doctrines of the Christian faith and thus
prove that the divinity of Jesus and the authority of the disciples’ writings
were already in place during his lifetime.
He also wrote personally to John the Beloved and Mary the Mother of
Jesus. These letters show the kind of
relationship he had with the “inner group” of Jesus’ disciples and family.
His life is a great testimony of the
love and sacrifice a leader should have for God and for the saints. He also brings to light the core teachings of
the church and proves that Christians always held Jesus as their Lord and Savior
and adored Him with all their heart.
Ignatius died for his faith so others could know the truth.
When he was asked to repent of his
belief in Jesus and worship the gods of Rome he said, “Thou art in error when thou callest the demons of the nations “gods”. For there is but one God, who made heaven, and
earth, and the sea, and all that are in them; and one
Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, whose kingdom may I enjoy.”[1] He then was condemned to die in the arena by
wild beasts.
“For some are in the habit of carrying about the name [of Jesus Christ]
in wicked guile, while yet they practice things unworthy of God, whom ye
must flee as ye would wild beasts. For they are ravening dogs, who
bite secretly, against whom ye must be on your guard, inasmuch as they are men who can scarcely be cured. There is one Physician who is possessed
both of flesh and spirit; both made and not made; God existing in flesh; true
life in death; both of Mary and of God; first passable and then
impassible,— even Jesus Christ our Lord," Ignatius
to the Ephesians, Chapter 7.
Polycarp | 69-155AD
Polycarp was another
disciple of John who lived from 69-155AD and wrote a great deal about the
teachings of Jesus and the first disciples.
His letter to the Philippians is the only letter still with us today and
it shares a great deal on the subject of doctrinal purity and unity within the
churches. He spent much of the letter
encouraging the people of God to continue in the things they were taught
beforehand by Paul.
Polycarp was
eventually put on trail for his faith and when asked to deny Jesus this is what
happened:
Now, as Polycarp was entering into the stadium, there came to him a
voice from heaven, saying, “Be strong, and show thyself a man, O Polycarp!” No
one saw who it was that spoke to him; but those of our brethren
who were present heard the voice. And as he was brought forward, the tumult became great when they heard that Polycarp was taken. And when he came
near, the proconsul asked him whether he was Polycarp. On his
confessing that he was, [the proconsul] sought to persuade him to deny
[Christ], saying, “Have respect to thy old age,” and other similar things, according to their custom, [such as], “Swear by the fortune of Caesar;
repent, and say, Away with the Atheists.” (Note: The Romans accused the Christians of being
Atheists because they would not worship their gods.)
But Polycarp, gazing with a stern countenance on all the multitude of
the wicked heathen then in the stadium, and waving his hand
towards them, while with groans he looked up to heaven, said,
“Away with the Atheists.” Then, the proconsul urging him, and saying, “Swear, and I will set thee at liberty, reproach Christ;” Polycarp declared,
“Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He never did me any injury: how
then can I blaspheme my King and my Savior?”[2]
After the Romans saw
they could not covert Polycarp they sentenced him to be burned alive, but while
the flames grew Polycarp would not burn, then a soldier pierced his side and
the blood put out the fire and then he died from the loss of blood, but he was
never burned.
Polycarp was another
example of a disciple of a disciple and his life brought to light the teachings
of the first Christians and his death showed the great love he had for His
Savior Jesus Christ.
“These things, brethren, I write to you concerning righteousness, not
because I take anything upon myself, but because ye have invited me to do
so. For neither I, nor any other such one, can come up to the wisdom
of the blessed and glorified Paul. He, when among you, accurately and steadfastly taught the word of truth in the presence of those who were
then alive. And when absent from you, he wrote you a letter, which, if you
carefully study, you will find to be the means of building you up in
that faith which has been given you, and which, being followed by hope, and preceded by love towards God, and Christ, and our neighbor, “is the
mother of us all.” For if any one be inwardly possessed of these graces, he hath fulfilled the
command of righteousness, since he that hath love is far from all sin," Polycarp to the Philippians, Chapter 3.
Justin Martyr | 100-165AD
Justin Martyr is the first Church
Father that was a second-generation disciple; he lived after the time of the
original disciples and was taught the Gospel by the disciples of the first
disciples. He was a student of Greek
philosophy before he was converted and after he become a follower of Jesus he
saw it as his calling to write and defend the Christian faith to the pagan
Roman world.
He is the first Christian to use the
word “apology” to describe his letters.
The word “apology” comes from the Greek word, “apologia”, which means,
“in defense of the truth”. Peter uses
this word in 1 Peter 3:15, “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always
be prepared to give an answer (apolgia)
to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.
But do this with gentleness and respect.” Therefore, after Paul, Justin Martyr is seen as the first Christian Apologist,
a defender of the faith and truth of Jesus Christ.
In contrast to the other church
Father’s letters his letters were written to the pagan world and not the
church. He spends a great deal of time
in his letters writing to Roman leaders and philosophers explaining the Gospel
through secular history and popular philosophy.
His work is a testimony to the fact that not only is a belief in Jesus
an act of faith, but also a act of understanding and logic.
Justin was eventually martyred in Rome
and thus earned the nickname, “Justin Martyr.” He was a great witness of the early church and its beliefs and practices
as well as a great writer of the defense of those beliefs. He showed in his writings that Christians
were following the teachings of Jesus and His disciples and by his death he
showed he was willing to pay the highest price for his belief.
“And reckon ye that it is for your sakes we have been saying these
things; for it is in our power, when we are examined, to deny that we are
Christians; but we would not live by telling a lie. For, impelled by the desire of the eternal and pure life, we seek the abode
that is with God, the Father and Creator of all, and hasten to confess our
faith, persuaded and convinced as we are that they who have proved to God by their works that they followed Him, and loved
to abide with Him where there is no sin to cause disturbance, can
obtain these things. This, then, to speak shortly, is what we expect and have learned from Christ, and teach. And Plato, in
like manner, used to say that Rhadamanthus and Minos would punish the wicked
who came before them; and we say that the same thing will
be done, but at the hand of Christ, and upon the wicked in the same bodies united again to their spirits which are now to undergo everlasting
punishment; and not only, as Plato said, for a period of a thousand years. And
if any one say that this is incredible or impossible, this error of ours is one which concerns ourselves only, and no other
person, so long as you cannot convict us of doing any harm,” Justin Martyr’s First Apology, Chapter 8.
Irenaeus | 110-202AD
If Justin Martyr were to be considered
the first apologist, than Irenaeus would be consider the first theologian of
the second century. Irenaeus was a
disciple of Polycarp who was a disciple of John and was the Bishop of the
church in Lugdunum. Irenaeus had the
benefit after his conversion to have almost fifty years of church history and
the whole New Testament to base his writings and teachings on. Therefore, he was the first of many to
clearly teach and defend the core Christian doctrines.
Because of his influential work of
formulating doctrine and organizing church structure the Roman Catholics claim
him as the first Roman Catholic theologian, but since the Roman Catholic Church
does this more on superstition than fact, it is better said of him that he was
simply the first Theologian of the Christian Church.
Irenaeus clearly defines the doctrine
of trinity, the divinity of Jesus, and the canon of the New Testament through
his writings. Though there is only one work
by Irenaeus called, “Against Heresies,” it is in five books with well over 120
chapters. And as Irenaeus shows in his
extensive writings against heresy the way to defend the truth is to show it in
the Scripture, he thus quotes the Old and New Testament hundreds of times.
Irenaeus was most probably martyred for
his faith, but it is not known for certain, but the writings he left behind are
a tremendous wealth of knowledge of what true Christians really believed and
did in the years after the first disciples.
His work inspired literally thousands of new students to learn the Word
of God and teach it clearly for generations to come.
“For in no other way could we have learned the things of God, unless our
Master, existing as the Word, had become man. For no other being had
the power of revealing to us the things of the Father, except His
own proper Word. For what other person “knew the mind of the Lord,” or who else “has become His counselor?” Again, we could have learned in no
other way than by seeing our Teacher, and hearing His voice with our own
ears, that, having become imitators of His works as well as doers of
His words, we may have communion with Him, receiving increase from the perfect One, and from Him who is prior to all creation,” Irenaeus’ Against Heresies, Book 1, Chapter
1.
Tertullian | 160-220AD
The life of Tertullian is one of great
achievement and disappointment. He
started off as a pagan lawyer who after his conversion in his middle ages
became a great writer of the Christian faith.
He is noted for clearly describing the triune nature of God as three
distinct persons in one divine being and he had a powerful ability to use logic
and the Scripture to teach the people of his day the deep truths of
Scripture. However, at the end of his
life he began to give heed to a heresy known as Montanism, which followed a man
named Montanist who believed God was still revealing Scripture to people
through prophecy.
Though the Montanist did not disagree
with most of the essential teachings of Christianity, they did have practices
and beliefs that differed with sound doctrine.
History is not clear to how much Tertullian disagreed with the church of
his day other than believing in the modern day gift of prophecy, but his
writings were best suited for the church when he remained in fellowship with sound
doctrine.
Tertullian’s life shows how one can
easily stray from the truth if they do not stay close to Jesus and the Words He
spoke. Though some scholars feel the
Montanist may have just been an ecstatic group that believed in the gifts of
the Spirit, no one can be sure. But the
church of Tertullian’s day had to ask him to stop teaching and he died in
silence and not much is known of his later years. But when he was in the faith and good
standing with the church his writings were some of best descriptions of the
Godhead and the nature of Jesus ever written.
“… there is one only
God, but under the following dispensation, or “οἰκονομία”, as it is called, that this one only God has also a Son, His Word, who proceeded from Himself, by whom all things were made, and without whom
nothing was made. Him we believe to have been sent by the
Father into the Virgin, and to have been born of her—being both Man and God, the Son of Man and the Son of God, and to have been
called by the name of Jesus Christ; we believe Him to have
suffered, died, and been buried, according to the Scriptures, and, after He had been raised again by the Father and taken back to heaven,
to be sitting at the right hand of
the Father, and that He will come to judge the quick and the dead; …
especially in the case of this heresy, which supposes itself to possess the
pure truth, in thinking that one cannot believe in One Only God in any other
way than by saying that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are the very
selfsame Person.
As if in this way also one were not All, in that All are of One, by unity (that is) of substance; while the mystery of the dispensation is still guarded, which distributes the Unity into a Trinity, placing in their order the three Persons—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost: three, however, not in condition, but in degree; not in substance, but in form; not in power, but in aspect; yet of one substance, and of one condition, and of one power, inasmuch as He is one God, from whom these degrees and forms and aspects are reckoned, under the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,”Tertullian, Against Praxeas, Chapter 2.
As if in this way also one were not All, in that All are of One, by unity (that is) of substance; while the mystery of the dispensation is still guarded, which distributes the Unity into a Trinity, placing in their order the three Persons—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost: three, however, not in condition, but in degree; not in substance, but in form; not in power, but in aspect; yet of one substance, and of one condition, and of one power, inasmuch as He is one God, from whom these degrees and forms and aspects are reckoned, under the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,”Tertullian, Against Praxeas, Chapter 2.
Cyprian | 200’s-258AD
Cyprian was the Bishop of the church in
Carthage, North Africa during the time of the great Roman Persecution. He was a powerful writer and defender of the
faith during this time of horrific opposition.
He eventually was beheaded for his faith because he refused to sacrifice
to the Roman gods.
Today much of his writings still
survive and serve as a great testimony of the church during this terrible time
of brutal treatment. His writings
supported orthodox Christianity with clarity and precision and he gave great
insight to the manners and customs of the church of his time. And for that we are thankful for his life’s
work and his great sacrifice.
“Thus, moreover, the
Apostle Paul, after shipwrecks, after scourgings, after many and grievous tortures
of the flesh and body, says that he is not grieved, but benefited by his
adversity, in order that while he is sorely afflicted he might more truly be
proved. “There was given to me,” he says, “a thorn in the flesh, the messenger
of Satan to buffet me, that I should not be lifted up: for which thing I
besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me; and He said unto me, My
grace is sufficient for thee, for strength is made perfect in weakness.” When, therefore, weakness and inefficiency
and any destruction seize us, then our strength is made perfect; then our
faith, if when tried it shall stand fast, is crowned; as it is written, “The
furnace trieth the vessels of the potter, and the trial of tribulation just
men.” This, in short, is the difference
between us and others who know not God, that in misfortune they complain and
murmur, while adversity does not call us away from the truth of virtue and
faith, but strengthens us by its suffering,” Cyprian,
Treatise 7, On Morality, Verse 13.
Athanasius | 293-373AD
Athanasius was a young man who grew
strong in the Word of God and the teachings of the Disciples. He played a key role in refuting the heresy
of Arianism; which taught Jesus was a lesser divine being than the Father, and
his teachings help develop what is now known today as the “Athanasian
Creed”. This creed of the church clearly
describes the nature of the trinity and Jesus’ role in Scripture.
Athanasius was also the first one to
name the official canon of the New Testament as we have today in his writings
thus solidifying the authenticity of the New Testament. He eventually suffered persecution from the
Arians who were winning the political power in the Roman Government and thus was
exiled. However, his great teachings
remain with us today as a testimony to the deity of Jesus Christ and the
teachings of the early church. His life
also reminds us of the terrible things that can happen when the church becomes
more political than spiritual. May
today’s churches learn from his life and teachings to only follow the truth as
seen in Scripture no matter what the cost.
“We believe in
one Unbegotten God, Father Almighty, maker of all things
both visible and invisible, that hath His being from Himself. And in one
Only-begotten Word, Wisdom, Son, begotten of the Father without beginning and
eternally; word not pronounced nor mental, nor an effluence of the Perfect, nor a dividing of the impassible Essence, nor an
issue; but absolutely perfect Son, living and powerful (Hebrews 4:12), the true
Image of the Father, equal in honour and glory.
For this, he
says, ‘is the will of the Father, that as they honour the Father, so they may
honour the Son also’ (John 5:23): very God of very God, as John says in his
general Epistles, ‘And we are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus
Christ: this is the true God and everlasting life’ (1 John 5:20): Almighty of
Almighty. For all things which the Father rules and sways, the Son rules and
sways likewise: wholly from the Whole, being like the Father as
the Lord says, ‘he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father’ (John 14:9). But He
was begotten ineffably and incomprehensibly, for ‘who shall declare his
generation?’ (Isaiah 53:8), in other words, no one can.
Who, when at
the consummation of the ages (Hebrews 9:26), He had descended from the bosom of
the Father, took from the undefiled Virgin Mary our humanity (ἄνθρωπον), Christ Jesus, whom He delivered of
His own will to suffer for us, as the Lord saith: ‘No man taketh My life from
Me. I have power to lay it down, and have power to take it again’ (John 10:18).
In which humanity He was crucified and died for us, and rose from the dead, and
was taken up into the heavens, having been created as the beginning of ways for
us (Proverbs 8:22), when on earth He shewed us light from out of darkness,
salvation from error, life from the dead, an entrance to paradise, from which
Adam was cast out, and into which he again entered by means of the thief, as
the Lord said, ‘This day shalt thou be with Me in paradise’ (Luke 23:43), into
which Paul also once entered. [He shewed us] also a way up to the heavens,
whither the humanity of the Lord, in which He will judge the quick and the
dead, entered as precursor for us.
We believe,
likewise, also in the Holy Spirit that searcheth all things, even the deep
things of God (1 Corinthians 2:10), and we anathematize doctrines contrary to
this," Athanasius’ Statement of Faith,
Chapter 1.
Augustine | 354-430AD
Augustine was one of the first fathers
to grow up in a “Christian” Roman Empire where it was accepted and culturally
popular to be a Christian. Augustine
grew up in a Christian home where his mother was a devout follower of Jesus,
but he soon moved away and began to live an immoral lifestyle and pursue life in
the world. However, one day he met a man
named Ambrose, who preached to him the Good News of Jesus Christ and he
received Jesus into his life and then became one of the greatest students of
the Bible of his time.
He devoted his life to keeping the
church pure from heresies and inward attacks.
He wrote much on the worldview of Christianity in his most popular book
called, “City of God.” He is one of the
greatest writers on the Bible and gave much thought to every aspect of
Christianity, especially to the work of salvation being a free gift from God.
Augustine’s life is a testimony to the
fact that someone can grow up “Christian” and walk away, yet they are not lost
forever. For God truly has compassion on
the backslider. His writings and life’s
work also give God great glory because it shows what happens when a man
surrenders himself wholly to the knowledge of God. One could spend years just reading and
studying all that Augustine wrote. May
God make His servants today as hungry for the truth as Augustine was in his time.
“Some persons,
however, find a difficulty in this faith; when they hear that the Father is
God, and the Son God, and the Holy Spirit God, and yet that this Trinity is not
three Gods, but one God; and they ask how they are to understand this:
especially when it is said that the Trinity works indivisibly in everything
that God works, and yet that a certain voice of the Father spoke, which is not
the voice of the Son; and that none except the Son was born in the flesh, and
suffered, and rose again, and ascended into heaven; and that none except the
Holy Spirit came in the form of a dove.
They wish to
understand how the Trinity uttered that voice which was only of the Father; and
how the same Trinity created that flesh in which the Son only was born of the
Virgin; and how the very same Trinity itself wrought that form of a dove, in
which the Holy Spirit only appeared. Yet, otherwise, the Trinity does not work
indivisibly, but the Father does some things, the Son other things, and the
Holy Spirit yet others: or else, if they do some things together, some
severally, then the Trinity is not indivisible. It is a difficulty, too, to
them, in what manner the Holy Spirit is in the Trinity, whom neither the Father
nor the Son, nor both, have begotten, although He is the Spirit both of the
Father and of the Son. Since, then, men weary us with asking such questions,
let us unfold to them, as we are able, whatever wisdom God’s gift has bestowed
upon our weakness on this subject; neither “let us go on our way with consuming
envy," Augustine, Doctrinal Treatises, On
the Trinity, Chapter 5, Verse 8.
Early Church Heretics
Marcion | 100-160AD
Marcion was a heretic from the second
century that broke away from the church and started his own movement called by
his name, the Marcionites or Marcionism.
Marcion mixed views of Gnosticism that taught there were two different
gods in the Bible, one from the Old Covenant, and the other Jesus from the New
Covenant. He only used portions of the
writings of Paul and Luke and even then he had to alter their meanings to fit
his teachings. He was strongly rejected
by the church of his day and there are no known followers of his teachings in
present day.
Aruis | 250-336AD
Aruis was a Presbyter in the church at
Alexandria who disputed with his bishop over the nature of Jesus. He taught that Jesus was a separate created
being and thus was not equal to God the Father.
His teachings were the reason for the Council of Nicea, where the church
clearly proved from Scripture the doctrine of the Trinity and condemned the
heresy known as Arianism. Though his
teaching was popular for many years, it eventually was overwhelming rejected
and swallowed up by the Biblical belief of God and Jesus. However, Jehovah Witnesses reintroduced this
heresy to the world in the 19th century and still continue to teach
it to the present.
The Roman Catholic Controversy
When
some people like the Mormons, Jehovah Witness, and uniformed Protestants look
at the lives of those who were mentioned in this chapter they say, “Most of
those fathers were Roman Catholics and nothing good can come from them! Why should we listen to them?” This type of ignorant and naïve thinking can
lead people into false doctrine and also makes people very poor church history
students.
First, if this
were right, than Jesus would have failed to keep his church for only 50
years! Meaning if none of these writers
were true Christians than Peter, Paul, and most importantly Jesus failed at
building a church. Second, the men
mentioned in this chapter were not “catholic” in the sense Roman Catholics are
today. They did not pray to saints,
worship Mary, and have unbiblical authorities like the Pope in their
lives. They were simply following the
teachings of Jesus and the first disciples.
Therefore, one
can easily see when studying the history of the Roman Catholic Church that most
of their unique heresies did not become doctrine for hundreds of years
later. And lastly, to say all the
Fathers were Catholic just like Roman Catholics are today is to do a terrible
disservice to the Church Father’s lives, work, legacy, and sacrifice. Just because the Church of Rome may claim
today that all these men were Roman Catholic like them does not make it true, for
even when they are pressed with the facts of these men’s lives they have to
admit that their unique traditions did not develop unto much later.
In conclusion,
though the church Fathers were not perfect in all ways, they were a great
example of the Christian faith. They
showed with theirs teachings that God’s Word was clear and easy to be
understood. They prove that there was a
linage of disciples making disciples with pure doctrine. Plus, they showed by their martyrdom they
were convinced of the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Therefore, let us follow their example and live like Jesus and the
disciples did!
Reflection
1. Who
is the God of the Bible?
2. What
stories and people inspire you to live a radical life for Jesus?
3. How
important is it to believe what Jesus and first disciples taught?
4. Pray
for wisdom to grow deeper in your understanding of doctrine and ask God to use
you to preach His pure holy Word wherever you go.
Resources
1. All the writings of the people listed
above, online at www.ccel.org.
2. "Early Christian Fathers," by
Cyril C. Richardson.
