C. Other Ideas (notes from class lecture)

Here are the notes from this section of the lecture from the 27 September class (We skipped this due to time constraints).
This section deals specifically with some brief history of certain ideologies that were gaining popularity in the Christian movement at this time.
The notes are not fully comprehensive but should help a bit. Without further adieu:

Apostolic Succession: Begun most forcibly by Irenaeus in the final quarter of the 2^nd century. He wrote an extensive treatise called Against Heresies when he came upon some churches in Gaul teachings things contrary to the Gospel. Part of his argument was that the apostles transmitted what Christ had said and not, as some others claimed, mixed them with other ideas. In his argument he stated that all true churches could list their bishops to an apostle but only does it for Rome, which he states was founded and organized by Paul and Peter. Eusebius (we will talk more about him on October 4) listed several churches and their bishopric rolls. In other words, there needed to be a line from an apostle to the church to verify the truth of its teachings. This system was developed much more in depth and rapidly due to the threats we have spoken about already. The structure saw a bishop in charge of a city or area and as early as the 2^nd century we are seeing a distinct difference between clergy and laity despite the fact that 1^st century Christians held that every believer was a priest of God. BY the end of the 2^nd century there was a distinct order & the most esteemed bishop was in Rome, but merely as a “first among equals.”

Purgatory: Origen taught that everyone (and thing) would ultimately be restored to full relationship with God. Therefore, those who are far from Him will suffer punishment in the afterlife in order to be restored and to purify their imperfections caused by sin. The believers will grow in the eternal age whereas the sinful will have another shot at repentance. He taught that even devils would be brought to repentance in time. Although this idea may be foreign to many contemporary Protestants and evangelicals his work is quite inspiring and even beautiful in its scope and theological depth.

Easter Controversy: (2^nd cent) The question arose whether or not Easter should be celebrated at the same time as Passover and on the whatever day of the week it happened to fall. This was popular in the East, especially Asia Minor. In the west (Rome) it was celebrated on Sunday. The synods of the 2^nd century generally chose Sunday but some in the east held out. Victor, bishop of Rome (A.D. 189-199) sought uniformity and excommunicated some of the Eastern Churches and when the decision was finally made the prestige of Rome was increased because of this victory. However, it would cause unpleasant memories for many years. This would also be an issue when the Roman church interacted with Celtic Churches in the 6^th and 7^th centuries. This will be discussed in greater detail in a subsequent class.

Trinity: How are Christ and the Holy Spirit related to God? Christians continue to struggle with this but many understood that something truly unique had been revealed and the struggle to communicate that continues up until this day. Tertullian has been oft quoted and his legal mind worked hard on this problem. I will attempt a brief summary and say that he declared God one substantia (substance) but contained within that one substance is three personae (persons). Thus the substance is one and each operates within the substance as a distinct person.

Deity of Christ: So, what did “Jesus is Lord” mean to the early Christians? To the Jews it was a Greek word for Adonai, which was synonymous with God. For the Gentiles it could mean any number of “lords” from various mystery religions extant at that time as well as holding political connotations. There was a large collection of beliefs and attempts to understand who Jesus is and what was accomplished by his life, death, resurrection and ministry. Attempts to understand the Gospel of John brought more Greek philosophy into the equation as the term logos was explored. The Bible gives us many examples of different ways to explain the Jesus event and while later synods and councils would go to “war” over this issue, for our time it is safe only to say that these early Christians did not make a complete and orderly account about their beliefs in Jesus. They struggled with problems and questions and leaned heavily on the biblical writers in order to support their own ideas. The belief in the deity of Christ seemed too substantial for the early believers to fully comprehend and communicate. Indeed, if it is true, it seems that such and event will always remain unexplainable at a certain level.