A Doctrinal Statement of the Ancient, Pre-Nicene Church

This is a snippet of some of my studies lately, a doctrinal statement of sorts for the Ancient Church. I intend to eventually expand it with quotations from the Church Fathers. With all the theological bickering in the Church today, most denominations and churches don't realize what that pre-Nicene Church actually taught and believed, and, more disturbingly, many don't care being so wrapped up in their own modern interpretations. Many might be amazed at how much the Ancient Church really taught and understood regarding the Trinity, the Deity of Christ and the Holy Spirit, and more.

For this study, I have been using A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs, edited by David W. Bercot. This is a topical index of the Ante-Nicene Fathers compiled by Philip Schaff in the late nineteenth century, which itself is a compilation of all the legitimate existing writings of the Ancient Church from the first to the fourth centuries.

What I will not be doing right now, if ever, is trying to prove these doctrines from Holy Scripture, although they certainly could be. I will not be doing this for two reasons. First, every denomination looks to Holy Scripture to prove their various teachings even when one denomination's teaching conflicts with another. Often, they are following a tradition of Scriptural interpretation, either Reformation, Catholic, Orthodox or otherwise without even knowing where the interpretation really comes from. My stated objective is to look as these subjects through the lenses of the ancient interpretation, one which is almost two thousand years old, and not one which has sprung up within the last few hundred years. Second, and related to this, while the Ancient Christians used the Holy Scriptures, they did not understand or practice the Reformation teaching of “Sola Scriptura” (Scripture Only), the recognized canon of Scripture not having yet been set by Church Councils. They relied just as much on the sacred tradition of Apostolic teaching passed down verbally as much as written, which itself included which books were considered to be Holy Scripture and which were not. I will also not delve into which translation of Holy Scripture they used as most of them spoke the language in which the New Testament was written as a birth tongue, and they used whatever translation of the Old Testament Scriptures was available in their language. Most of the time, this was either the Greek Septuagint or a translation into Syriac or Aramaic, Hebrew having been a dead language for many centuries.

I don't think that the importance of understanding what they understood as the Apostolic Faith can be overstated or exaggerated. Their writings record a Church which was devoted to Jesus Christ, demonstrated power daily in miracles and testimonies of faith, and brought the Gospel to the entire known world all while maintaining a unity of faith which lasted for hundreds if not a thousand years. Many today, ironically, would call their doctrines heretical, maybe even dangerous. Maybe that's why there's such a difference in their Church and in the Church of today.

I. God

The Ancient Church taught that God was not born or made. He is without beginning and without end, immortal and incorruptible. He cannot be seen or comprehended. He is incapable of being divided, and He is the only one with no equal. He is infinite, completely omnipotent, completely omnipresent, and completely omniscient and is incapable of being measured or contained. He is above space and time. No one is capable of fully knowing Him but Himself. He is neither male, nor female, though He is always referred to with masculine words. He is fundamentally good, and cannot cease from being or doing good. He is dispassionate, not subject to human passions. He is not subject to change. He has no need for any name other than the designation of “God” or “Deity.” He created everything that exists, and by His power everything created continues to exist and subsist.

II. Jesus Christ

From the earliest time, Jesus Christ was referred to as no other than “our God” and “the Lord of all the world.” He was recognized in the Ancient Church, in every century of the Ancient Church prior to the Great Councils, as no other than God, Creator of the world, incarnated into human flesh. Prior to the Creation of anything, and prior to the incarnation, He was begotten, not created, from the Father. They taught that He was one with the Father in substance, being eternal and uncreated, while remaining distinct from the Father.

The Ancient Church taught that Jesus Christ was descended from King David. His mother, Mary, was a virgin. He is referred to as the Son of God because He was conceived by God in the womb of a virgin with no human father. He lived for thirty three years and then was crucified under Pontius Pilate. He died and descended into Hades where he preached the Gospel to those who had died. On the third day from His death, he resurrected from the dead. Afterwards, He ascended into heaven where He sits at the Father's right hand. They taught that He would return to resurrect all the dead and sit in judgment over all those living at His return, and all those who had died.

They taught that Jesus Christ was both truly God, and truly human (necessitating all bodily functions, needs, and frailties), containing the two natures within Himself. They also taught that He was sinless in His humanity.

III. The Holy Spirit

The Ancient Church taught that the Holy Spirit was also God of the same substance as the Father and the Son. They taught that the Holy Spirit proceeded from the Father through the Son (as opposed to proceeding from the Father and the Son). The Holy Spirit is imparted to the Christian immediately proceeding baptism through the laying on of hands by a presbyter or bishop, after which He resides within the Christian. Salvation is impossible without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

IV. Salvation

The Early Church taught that Salvation was through Christ alone. They taught that no one could enter into the Kingdom of God other than through believing in Jesus Christ, repenting of their sins, being baptized, and observing the commandments of Christ. No one is able to save himself by his own works. Salvation comes only through faith in Christ as demonstrated through one's obedience to Christ. Those who are not living as Christ taught were not to be considered Christians regardless of their profession of faith. It wasn't those who profess Christ, but those who obey Him, who would be saved. It was also understood universally that only those who persisted in their faith as evidenced by their obedience until the end of their lives would be saved. Willfully turning away from faith in Christ would cause a person to be lost. Those who would disown Christ would be themselves disowned by the Father. The idea that a person could be saved in such a way as to never be lost was considered false teaching. “No one is a Christian but he who perseveres to the end.” (Tertullian, 198 AD)

Those who continue in faith as evidenced by their obedience to Christ until the end of their lives would be, at the resurrection of the dead, made one with God (though not in His substance), deified immortal by His Grace into the same immortal, incorruptible body as Jesus Christ. This is the stated goal and end of Salvation. “Our Lord Jesus Christ, through His transcendent love, became what we are, so that He might bring us to be even what He Himself is.” (Irenaeus, 180 AD) and “God became man, so that man might be made God.” (Athanasius, 325 AD)

V. After Death

Following an ancient Greek understanding of the afterlife, the Ancient Church taught that once a person died, their soul went to Hades (also referred to as Abraham's Bosom), the realm of the dead, where the righteous dead were kept in paradise, separate from the unrighteous dead who were kept in torment. They taught that once a person had died, there would be no further chance for repentance or confession. Souls would not transmigrate from one body to be reborn into another, but would be kept and held until the resurrection, when everyone would raise from the dead to be judged by Christ. Those judged righteous will be deified. Those judged unrighteous would be condemned to eternal suffering in Gehenna. Afterwards, there will be no more death, and no need for Hades.

VI. End Times

The Ancient Church taught that there would be a great tribulation, and a great cataclysm over the whole world, and that there would be an anti-Christ that rose up and persecuted the Church. After this, Jesus Christ would return to transfigure those living and raise the dead immortal and judge them. Then He will reign in Jerusalem for a thousand years. After this, the present heaven and earth will be destroyed and a new heaven and a new earth will be created.

VII. Spiritual Gifts

The Spiritual Gifts were evident, frequent, and common within the Church of the first three centuries. They were so common in point of fact that Christian apologists would use the knowledge of them to prove the validity of Christianity to pagans who were well aware of the miracles performed by Christians. This was regarded as the point of the Spiritual Gifts. Different Spiritual Gifts were manifested to different Christians. Some had the gift of prophecy and foreknowledge. Some had the gift of healing. Some had the gift of demonstrations of power. And yes, some had the gift of speaking the Gospel in languages they couldn't have otherwise known. Aside from this are recorded gifts of teaching, counseling, understanding, and others. Exorcisms were well documented, and were mostly performed by the laity of the Church as a volunteer service. Healings were mostly performed on unbelievers as a witness of the truth of the Gospel, and more often than not, members of the Church were not themselves expected to be healed from diseases and infirmities which plagued everyone, although prayers were offered when one became ill.

The writers of the Church also record that the displays of the Spiritual Gifts became more and more infrequent by the middle of the third century, although not unknown. After this point, they are generally only displayed in history by those Christians considered to be particularly Saintly and those remembered as Saints. One quotation reads “For if it happens that there are no longer any unbelievers, all the power of signs will afterward be unnecessary.”

VIII. Creeds

Ignatius of Antioch (105 AD):

...Jesus Christ, who was descended from David, and was also of Mary; who was truly born and did eat and drink. He was truly persecuted under Pontius Pilate. He was truly crucified and died—in the sight of beings in heaven, on earth, and under the earth. He was also truly raised from the dead, His Father raising Him to life—in the same manner as His Father will also raise us up, we who believe in Him by Christ Jesus.

Irenaeus (180 AD):

We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and the sea, and all things that are in them. And in one Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who became incarnate for our salvation. And in the Holy Spirit, who proclaimed through the prophets the dispensations of God, and the advents, and the birth from a virgin, and the passion, and the resurrection from the dead, and the ascension into heaven in the flesh of the beloved Christ Jesus, our Lord. And we believe in His manifestation from heaven in the glory of the Father to gather all things into one, and to raise up anew all flesh of the whole human race—in order that to Christ Jesus, our Lord, God, Savior, and King, according to the will of the invisible Father, “every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth, and that , and that every tongue should confess” Him. And we believe that He will execute just judgment towards all, so that He may send spiritual evils and the angels who transgressed and became apostates—together with the ungodly, and unrighteous, and wicked, and profane among men—into everlasting fire. And we believe that He will, in the exercise of his grace, confer immortality on the righteous, the holy, those who have kept His commandments, and those who have persevered in His love—some from the beginning and others from the time of their repentence. We believe He will surround them with everlasting glory.

Tertullian (213 AD):

The Church acknowledges on Lord God, the Creator of the universe, and Christ Jesus born of the virgin Mary—the Son of God the Creator; and in the resurrection of the flesh. The church unites the Law and the Prophets into one volume, with the writings of evangelists and apostles, from whom she drinks in her faith. This she seals with the water of baptism, arrays with the Holy Spirit, feeds with the Eucharist, and cheers with martyrdom. Against such a discipline thus maintained, she admits no deniers.

We … believe that there is only one God, but under the following dispensation or “economy”, as it is called: that this one only God also has a Son, His Word, who proceeded from Himself, by whom all things were made, and without whom nothing was made. We believe Him 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. He suffered, died, and was buried, according to the Scriptures. And after He had been raised again by the Father and taken back to heaven, He has been sitting at the right hand of the Father. We believe that He will come to judge the living and the dead. And He sent also from heaven from the Father, according to His own promise, the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, the sanctifier of the faith of those who believe in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

IX. Holy Scripture

Old Testament Scriptures, canonical and deuterocanonical, which were accepted and used:

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1&2 Samuel (1&2 Kings), 1&2 Kings (3&4Kings), 1&2 Chronicles, Ezra, 2 Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther (including additions), Tobit, Judith, 1, 2, & 3 Maccabees, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Wisdom of Solomon, Wisdom of Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Baruch, Ezekiel, Daniel (Including Bel and the Dragon, Susanna, and The Song of the Three Jews), The Twelve Minor Prophets, Martyrdom of Isaiah, Book of Enoch, Assumption of Moses

Attestations to various books by name or citation: Peter, Jude, Barnabas, The Didache, Polycarp, Hippolytus, Cyprian, Methodius, Clement of Alexandria,Tertullian, Origen, Melito, Lactantius, Apostolic Constitutions.

The Ancient Church accepted and argued that the reasons why the deuterocanonical books and several “pseudepigraphical” were excluded from the Jewish canon at Jamnia in 90 AD were 1) the Early Church was constantly using them to prove that Jesus was the Christ, and 2) the Jewish leaders hid from the knowledge of the people, as much as possible, any passages which contained any scandal against the elders, rulers, and judges.

New Testament Scriptures, Canonical and Deuterocanonical, which were accepted and used:

Canonical:

Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts of the Apostles, Romans, 1&2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1&2 Thessalonians, 1&2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, 1&2 Peter, 1,2, &3 John, Jude, Revelation (Apocalypse)

Deuterocanonical:

Shepherd of Hermas, Barnabas, 1&2 Clement

Attestations: Peter, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Muratorian Fragment, Tertullian, Origen, Victorinus, Methodius, Apostolic Constitutions

In nearly every case, the Old Testament used by the Church was the Greek Septuagint, and nearly every quotation in their writings is taken from the Greek Septuagint. The Ancient Church believed that the Scriptures were completely divinely inspired, and this belief in their inspiration by nature encompassed the Greek Septuagint so much that at times they defended the Greek readings as superior to the Hebrew texts. This belief in divine inspiration extended primarily to the Old Testament Scriptures, and then secondarily to the New Testament Scriptures, in particular the Gospels, and the Pauline Epistles.

They believed that there were no contradictions or absurdities in Holy Scripture, and that the Gospel and Apostolic Tradition could be defended from Holy Scripture. They interpreted the Holy Scriptures in the light of the Apostolic Tradition and the teachings of Christ. The idea of drawing doctrine from only Scripture however, ignoring the Apostolic Tradition was unknown among them.

X. Sacraments

The Ancient Church practiced at least four Sacraments as such: Baptism, Holy Eucharist, Anointing with Oil, and Laying on of Hands. These Sacraments were not displayed publicly to everyone, but only to those within the Church who had themselves received baptism. Sacraments celebrated by clergy who were themselves unworthy, outside of the apostolic teaching, or in sin were not considered valid.

Baptism: Baptism was not performed on a candidate until they had been instructed in the faith, and they had demonstrated their sincere conversion to the satisfaction of the church. Baptism was practiced with as much water as was available although full immersion was preferred. It was done in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit after the person made vows to the Lord and had renounced the devil. Baptism was universally understood to be for the remission of sins, and that all previous sins which had been committed would be washed away.

Holy Eucharist: The Holy Eucharist was celebrated with bread and wine. On Sundays, the church would gather and read from the Scriptures. The Presbyter would instruct the people, and then the Church would pray. Then the Eucharist would be celebrated. The celebrant would first give thanks to God, then would pray over the bread and wine, which would then change the elements into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. The wine was mixed with water, and both had to be present symbolizing both divine and human natures of Christ, as well as reminding of the blood and water which flowed from Christ's side. The Ancient Church was explicit in their belief in the real presence of Christ in the consecrated bread and wine and explicitly condemned the denial of the real presence of Christ as false teaching. Only the baptized could partake of it, and only the Bishop or Presbyter could consecrate it. It is spoken of repeatedly and in every century prior to the Great Councils as both a memorial of Christ's sacrifice and as itself a sacrifice and is equated with Christ's sacrifice on the cross. It was expected that confession of one's sins to God either privately or in public confession and absolution by a presbyter would precede the reception of the Eucharist.

Anointing with Oil: Either immediately preceding or following baptism, the person being baptized was anointed with oil.

Laying on of Hands: After Baptism, the Bishop of the church would lay hands on the person in order to impart the Holy Spirit to him. It was understood that a person being born “of water and the Spirit” meant being baptized with water, and then given the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands. It was generally agreed on that without the laying on of hands, a person wouldn't receive the Holy Spirit.

Aside from this was practiced Confession of one's sins, which was generally made to another Christian, in particular a member of the clergy. Absolution of one's sins was granted only by the Bishop or Presbyter either in private or at public confession.

XI. Church Government

In the Ancient Church, they recognized at least two orders of ordination: Bishop and Deacon, with the order of Presbyter emerging as separate from the Bishop towards the middle to end of the second century. In the late first and early second century the terms Bishop and Presbyter were used interchangeably. Bishops were consecrated initially by Apostles, and those succeeding them had to be consecrated by Bishops who could prove their own ordination succession from the Apostles. Bishops, Presbyters, and Deacons were expected to not have been married more than once, but were otherwise free to be married or celibate as they were led.

Bishops, or the Presbyters chosen to represent them, had to be present for all Sacraments. Only Bishops could ordain Deacons, Presbyters, or other Bishops.

Deacons were ministers of visitation, preaching, and they assisted the Bishop and Presbyters.

Bishops who had obtained their position by means of money were held as invalid. No Bishop had the authority to add to or take away from the Apostolic Faith and those found to be doing so were held as invalid. The Sacraments held by a Bishop or Presbyter who was known to be sacrilegious or in sin were held to be invalid. All such clergy could be, and were expected to be removed by their congregations.

XII. Christian Living

The Ancient Church expected that all those professing to be Christians were to live according to the commandments of Christ as He taught in the Gospels. All those not living according to His commandments were not considered Christians. To be more specific by way of example, they practiced extreme non-resistance to violence committed against them, refused to attend the theater or coliseum shows, they stayed out of politics and refused to enter public office. Their women tended to be without cosmetics, or jewelry, or perfumes. They embraced martyrdom. As much as possible they tried to live at peace with everyone. They were opposed to capital punishment. They were explicitly opposed to both abortion and infanticide. Many lived celibate, although they certainly didn't require it of anyone. They didn't hold sins against anyone, but forgave them. They were known by their love for one another, and they were expected to live simply, humbly, and with sincerity, abandoning luxuries and the trappings of wealth. Homosexual practice was forbidden among them, and those practicing homosexuality were not considered Christians, regardless of their profession of faith.