Catholics and Protestants necessarily have very different perceptions of Church history. To the Catholic, the timeline of the Church Jesus founded would look much like a solid tree trunk, with one large branch halfway up representing the Eastern Schism of 1054 AD, then a host of tiny twigs and branches at the top, representing the Protestants from Martin Luther in 1517AD to the tens of thousands of modern sects. Yet the main trunk grow strait and true the whole time, and all the branches are strongest wherever they are closest to the trunk, which is Catholicism.
To the Protestant, though, the pure Church of the first centuries was corrupted by Rome and became an abomination that has been labeled as "the Whore of Babylon", or in the case of the Popes, "the Anti-Christ". After centuries of paganism and dark superstition, the Church in exile was led forth into the light once again like Israel out of Egypt by the holy Reformer Martin Luther, who "discovered" the gospel that Rome had been suppressing for 1200 years. As one Protestant minister describes it: "Then Emperor Theodosius (A.D. 378-398) made Christianity the state religion of the Roman Empire and made church membership compulsory. Here we see the beginning of Roman Catholicism. All unconverted people attended church. We see the great apostasy of the church as the Roman Empire had conquered the church. " (Pastor Nick Bibile of www.sounddoctrine.net) So according to this view of history Roman Catholicism, the great apostasy, was created and promulgated by corrupt emperors and priests, starting with Constantine and Theodosius in the 4th century.
Fortunately, this claim is empirically verifiable. We have extensive writings and documentation from the centuries preceding the Great Apostasy of Constantine, so we can simply look and see if this view of history is indeed correct. If you are a Protestant, you surely believe your system of doctrine is what the apostles taught to the early Church, so read carefully and see if the saints of the early years were actually Catholics or _____________ (fill in the blank with Lutheran, Calvinist, Methodist, Baptist, Pentecostal, etc…)
1. The Bible: Catholic or Protestant?
A. Actually, the Bible did not exist as a book before Constantine. It was not canonized until after. So tough luck folks, the Church was already "apostate" when it declared the canon of Scripture. The first universal canon, decided in Carthage in 394-397, listed the books of the Catholic canon. See here (canon 24). So the first Bibles used by the Church were Catholic Bibles, not Protestant ones, which did not come into being until 1300 years after the Church canonized the Scriptures.
2. Baptism: Catholic or Protestant?
A. 1. "Baptism is given for the remission of sins; and according to the usage of the Church, Baptism is given even to infants." - Origen, Homily on Leviticus, 8:3, 244 AD
2. "And they shall Baptize the little children first. And if they can answer for themselves, let them answer. But if they cannot, let their parents answer or someone from their family." - Hippolytus of Rome, Apostolic Tradition, 21, 215 AD
3. "This means that we go down into the water full of sins and foulness, and we come up bearing fruit in our hearts, fear and hope in Jesus and in the Spirit." - Epistle of Barnabas, ch 11, 130 AD (Baptismal regeneration)
3. Church Hierarchy: Catholic or Protestant?
A. 1. "Our apostles knew through our Lord Jesus Christ that there would be strife for the office of bishop. For this reason, therefore, having received perfect foreknowledge, they appointed those who have already been mentioned and afterwards added the further provision that, if they should die, other approved men should succeed to their ministry" - Pope Clement I, Letter to the Corinthians, 44:1–3, 80 AD
2. "The true knowledge is the doctrine of the apostles, and the ancient organization of the Church throughout the whole world, and the manifestation of the body of Christ according to the succession of bishops, by which succession the bishops have handed down the Church which is found everywhere" - Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 4:33:8, 189 AD
4. Eucharist: Catholic or Protestant?
A. 1. "They (heretics) abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they do not admit that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, the flesh which suffered for our sins and which the Father, in His graciousness, raised from the dead." - Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Smyrnaeans, para 6, 90-100 AD
2. "…so also we have been taught that the food consecrated by the Word of prayer which comes from him, from which our flesh and blood are nourished by transformation, is the flesh and blood of that incarnate Jesus." - Justin Martyr, First Apology, 150 AD
3. "...That coming, by His holy and good and glorious appearing, He may sanctify this bread, and make it the holy body of Thy Christ… And this cup the precious blood of Thy Christ." - Prayer of Consecration, Liturgy of St James, circa 60-100 AD
5. Mary: Catholic or Protestant?
A. 1. "Beneath your compassion we take refuge, O Mother of God: do not despise our petitions in time of trouble: but rescue us from dangers, only pure, only blessed one." - Sub tuum presidium hymn, 250 AD
2. "Thus, the knot of Eve’s disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary. What the virgin Eve had bound in unbelief, the Virgin Mary loosed through faith." - Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 3:22:24, 189 AD
3. "Lift me up not from Sarah but from Mary, a virgin not only undefiled, but a virgin whom grace had made inviolate, free of every stain of sin" - St Ambrose, Commentary on Psalm 118, 387 AD
6. Saints: Catholic or Protestant?
A. 1. "As often as the anniversary comes round, we make offerings for the dead as birthday honors." - Tertullian, The Crown, 3, 211 AD
2. "Then we commemorate also those who have fallen asleep before us, first Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs, that at their prayers and intercessions God would receive our petition." - St Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures, 23:9, 350 AD
3. "It is true that Christians pay religious honor to the memory of the martyrs, both to excite us to imitate them and to obtain a share in their merits, and the assistance of their prayers. But we build altars not to any martyr, but to the God of martyrs, although it is to the memory of the martyrs." - St Augustine, Against Faustus, 20:21, 400 AD
7. Other Things:
A. The Sign of the Cross: "In all our travels and movements, in all our coming in and going out, in putting on our shoes, at the bath, at the table, in lighting our candles, in lying down, in sitting down, whatever employment occupies us, we mark our forehead with the sign of the cross." - Tertullian, De Corona Militis, 200 AD
B. The Primacy of Rome: 1. "For it is a matter of necessity that every Church should agree with this Church (Rome), on account of its pre- eminent authority, that is, the faithful everywhere, inasmuch as the apostolical tradition has been preserved continuously by those [faithful men] who exist everywhere." Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 180 AD
2. "If a man does not hold fast to this oneness of Peter, does he imagine that he still holds the faith? If he deserts the Chair of Peter upon whom the Church was built, has he still confidence that he is in the Church?" - Cyprian,The Unity of the Church, 250 AD
So by the writings of the early Christians, of which I have provided only the merest snapshot, we see that if we were to be somehow transported back to the 2nd or 3rd century, we could expect to find the Christians of the time attending Mass on Sunday, where the body and blood of Jesus was venerated, crossing themselves, being baptized and anointed by bishops ordained by successors of the Apostles, in union with the Bishop of Rome, singing hymns to Mary, praying to the saints for intercession, making offerings and prayers for the dead, etc. And all this without ever having a Bible! Does this sound like your church? If it doesn't, you need to stop deceiving yourself and read the early Church fathers and documents. Read what the Bible says about these doctrines, and read what the Church fathers wrote about these doctrines and how they interpreted the Scriptures, and most importantly, what was their criteria of judgment about true doctrine? Your perception of church history may be correct or it may be a lie; you can find out which it is. The evidence is there; will you seek out the truth?
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