Jeff Carter
If nothing else, our last newsletter inspired a lot of discussion. It is good to delve more deeply into our roots than we often do. Knowing the past helps us from being doomed to repeat it. It is important to understand how our faith developed and how the early church laid the foundation for the doctrine subsequent generations would rely on. It is also important to understand the latent anti-Semitism that infected the early church (which we fully explore in our brief class on the covenants)—so that we can understand how so many of the church fathers fell prey to Supersessionist (Replacement theology) beliefs. Satan certainly had his claws in many of the strains of early church theology—which is reflected in the heresies that many of the church fathers both fought against, and which some of them fell prey to.
Our expedition into a look at the early church fathers continues this time by going back even further into history than Augustine. This time we will look at a couple of early thinkers who are placed in a category known as the “ante-Nicene fathers.” This means they showed up in history before (ante) the council of Nicea (325 A.D.). These two fathers were from the second and third centuries. They are Justin Martyr and Tertullian.
Justin Martyr, one of the most important of the early Greek apologists, was born approximately 114 AD in the city of Flavia Neapolis, near Jacob’s Well in Samaria. An itinerant teacher, it is believed he traveled much, eventually settling in Rome and founding a school there. One of his principle students was Tatian, a later apologist. Justin’s road to Christianity took him through most of the early philosophies. From Stoicism to Platonism, his search for truth eventually led him to Christianity. Crucial to his initial interest in Christians was their heroic courage when facing death-which is ironic, seeing how his life would end. The undisputed works attributed to him include the First and Second Apologies and The Dialogue with Trypho. He was beheaded, martyred for the faith, in 165 AD under Prefect Janius Rusticus in the reign of Marcus Aurelius. Not a powerful writer, but what he lacks in eloquence, he makes up for in zeal.
In the introduction of The First Apology (Chapters 1-3), Justin makes an appeal to emperor Antoninus Pius, for truth’s sake to take up the Christian’s case personally and to judge for himself the merits of the charges against them. The main part has two sections. The first section (Chapter 4-12) is an open rebuke of the official attitude of the Roman government against Christians. They were being punished and even killed for merely acknowledging the name of Christ and not for any wrongdoing. He defends against the Roman charge of atheism and declares that they are atheist only as regards false gods. He goes on to explain that their fear of eternal punishment, and the spiritual view of the kingdom they seek, prevents them from doing wrong and actually makes them the best supporters of the government.
He also introduces the ideas that the origin of mythology can be attributed to demonic powers – an idea he expands upon later. The next section (Chapters 13 – 67) focuses on a justification of Christianity as not only a valid religion but the only true and plausible one. He begins by detailing the change Christianity works on the conduct. He quotes Christ’s teaching concerning charity, greed, patience, swearing, and civil-disobedience. He shows the resurrection to not only be possible but rational. He gives as proof for the deity of Christ, divine prophecies, made over thousands of years. Also, the demons, he demonstrates, initiated and aped Old Testament prophecies in formulating the mystery religions and cults, in which, incidentally, they had no problem believing. The conclusion is a serious plea for justice and admonition of eternal consequence if their cries were not heeded.
Justin is the first ecclesiastical writer to attempt to marry or at least reconcile Christianity with pagan philosophy. The idea of the logos is very important to Justin because he uses it to form a bridge between the two. Eusebius comments on Justin: “Justin has left us treatises of an educated intelligence trained in theology which are full of helpfulness, and to him we will refer students…” It has been said of Justin, “He is the typical apologist who devoted his whole life to the defense of Christianity at a time when it was most assailed, and he sealed his testimony with his blood.” also, “He had the courage of a confessor in life and of a martyr in death…if not a great man, he was (what is better) an eminently good and useful man, and worthy of a honored place in the noble army of martyrs.” This quote aptly summarizes the effect his writing had on many. Not the courage he showed in dying for our Lord (that’s the easy part), but the courage he showed in living for him.
The next of the fathers we will look at arrived on the scene near the end of that same century. Tertullian was born a pagan, the son of a Roman centurion on duty in Carthage. The estimates of his birth date range from 145 to 155, even as late as 160 AD. After becoming a noted jurist in Rome, he embraced Christ in about 185 or 190 and settled in Carthage. He was married and according to Jerome, became a priest. Around the turn of the Century, he openly became a Montanist and founded a sect within them called the Tertullianists, which lasted up to the time of Augustine. Little is known of his death, of which dates range from 220 to 240. Except for Augustine, Tertullian is the most important and original writer in Latin. His apologetic works include To The Heathen and The Apology. His polemic works include The Prescription Against Heretics, Against Marcion, Against Hermogenes and other “againsts.” Other writings include his ideas On Repentance, On Baptism, and On Prayer.
The Prescription Against Heretics was written in Tertullian’s orthodox period, before 200AD. He begins by pointing out that we shouldn’t be surprised or shocked by heresies, for they must exist because they are a trial to faith, to prove it genuine. He then explains that those who are ever searching for the truth reveal that they haven’t found it – for once you discover the truth your search should end. He also shows that heretics ought not be allowed to argue from the scriptures because the scriptures do not belong to them. From this he goes on to prove that the apostles delivered the faith into the churches they founded and this true faith descended only through the apostolic churches. He ends up showing that the conduct of heretics, and the fact that heretics work to pull down and destroy rather than build up and edify, show them to be false and working against Christ.
In “Against Marcion,” Tertullian defends against the famous heretic Marcion, by demonstrating the unity of God, God as Creator, the uniqueness of Christ, the integrity of the scriptures and the harmony of the Old and New Testaments. In Book Three, he especially takes up the case of Christ showing Christ to be the Son of God, who created the world, who was predicted by the prophets and who took on human flesh, like our own. He begins by showing that miracles alone, without prophecy, wouldn’t be sufficient to prove Christ’s deity. Satan is also able to perform signs and lying wonders, but he’s not able to foretell the future. He goes through point by point and compares Marcion’s idea of Christ with the real one and shows the absurdity of Marcion’s arguments. He ends up by showing the illusory nature of Marcion’s Christ when he says, “As it is, you invite us to dinner, but do not point out your house; you assert a kingdom, but show us no royal state. Can it be that your Christ promises a kingdom of heaven, without having a heaven; as He displayed Himself man, without having flesh? Oh what a phantom from first to last! O hollow pretense of a mighty promise!”
Tertullian has been called the father of Latin theology and church theology and one of the greatest men of Christian antiquity. He most assuredly provided the vocabulary that the later church would use in its discussion of the Trinity. He was one of the most polemic of early fathers and considered the Greek philosophers “the patriarchs of all heresies.” He asks, “What has the academy to do with the church? What has Christ to do with Plato – Jerusalem to do with Athens?” The first to use the Latin “trinitas,” it was in the area of the Trinity that he made his greatest contribution to theology. Despite his tendency towards subordinationism and his keen interest in the “Prophecy” of the Montanists, Tertullian was a fiery bulldog who ably defended the faith and provided an example to us all that truth truly is worth fighting and dying for.
-Jeff
If you are able, please consider joining us at the book table on Fridays on the campus of UCI. It is a great opportunity to have “God-conversations” with students and plant seeds for the cause of Christ. Please contact Hilliary for more information at adminasst@hadavar.org.