My wife suggested I write a church history so that she can read it. I am going to do that bit by bit on this blog … I hope. (Part 2, Part 3)

I should point out that I am an amateur, part-time historian. I cannot know all of church history in detail like, say, Justo Gonzales does. On the other hand, I am going to focus on the parts I know my evangelical friends are curious about, and I will not dodge the challenging things that most histories written for the public avoid . Still, there may be a lot of “one thing led to another” when I get to the Medieval period.

I don’t want to start way back in the Old Testament like some histories do. In fact, I don’t want to start in the New Testament, but rather afterward. You should at least read Acts (in the Bible). It’s not a long book, more of a booklet. I’ll start after. In fact, I’m going to start today with the central doctrine held by the churches after the apostles had died.

The New Testament canon, the books of the New Testament that we consider inspired, were assembled over a few decades for one reason and one reason only. The early churches, for centuries, believed that the apostles themselves were inspired, not just their writings. Thus, the one reason that the early churches gathered the Gospels, letters, Acts, and the Revelation of John is because they were written by apostles or companions of apostles.

Many historians list other criteria, such as “approved by most churches” or “agreement with apostolic teaching,” but those are just evidence that a document was written by an apostle or a companion of an apostle. Obviously, if a document conflicts with the teachings that churches had heard from the apostles, then an apostle did not write it. Churches, too, especially the ones that had been established by an apostle could help determine whether a document could have been written by an apostle. I love the following quote:

Since therefore we have such proofs, it is not necessary to seek the truth among others which it is easy to obtain from the Church; since the apostles, like a rich man [depositing his money] in a bank, lodged in her hands most copiously all things pertaining to the truth: so that every man, whosoever will, can draw from her the water of life. … For how stands the case? Suppose there arise a dispute relative to some important question among us, should we not have recourse to the most ancient Churches with which the apostles held constant intercourse, and learn from them what is certain and clear in regard to the present question? For how should it be if the apostles themselves had not left us writings? Would it not be necessary to follow the course of the tradition which they handed down to those to whom they did commit the Churches? (Irenaeus, c. 185, Against Heresies, Bk. III, ch. 4, par. 1; brackets added by translator)

This issue, that God gave the whole truth of the Gospel to Jesus, who passed it on to the apostles, who then gave it to the churches answers a lot of questions and disputes. Protestants are right in rejecting traditions invented by anyone except the apostles. The Orthodox and Catholics are right about holding to tradition, but only if that tradition can be shown to be from the apostles. Irenaeus writes again:

As I have already observed, the Church, having received this preaching and this faith, although scattered throughout the whole world, yet, as if occupying but one house, carefully preserves it. She also believes these points [of doctrine] just as if she had but one soul, and one and the same heart, and she proclaims them, and teaches them, and hands them down, with perfect harmony, as if she possessed only one mouth. … Nor will any one of the rulers in the Churches, however highly gifted he may be in point of eloquence, teach doctrines different from these,  for no one is greater than the Master; nor, on the other hand, will he who is deficient in power of expression inflict injury on the tradition. For the faith being ever one and the same, neither does one who is able at great length to discourse regarding it, make any addition to it, nor does one, who can say but little diminish it.  (Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Bk. I, ch. 10, par. 2)

In John 14:26, Jesus said:

But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things, and will remind you of all that I said to you.

We tend to apply this to ourselves, and surely we should, in some sense, do so. However, Jesus didn’t personally say anything to us. Instead, he was speaking to the apostles at the Last Supper. They had heard him personally, and this is a promise that God would inspire them with memory of his teachings, which they would deliver, once for all, to the saints to be preserved unchanged (cf. Jude 1:3).

We have learned from none others the plan of our salvation, than from those through whom the Gospel has come down to us, which they did at one time proclaim in public, and, at a later period, by the will of God, handed down to us in the Scriptures, to be the ground and pillar of our faith. For it is unlawful to assert that they preached before they possessed perfect knowledge, as some do even venture to say, boasting themselves as improvers of the apostles. For, after our Lord rose from the dead, they were invested with power from on high when the Holy Spirit came down, were filled with everything, and had perfect knowledge. (Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Bk. III, ch. 1, par. 1)

Finally, one more quote just to show you that Irenaeus was not the only one saying these things in the second century … Hmm, WordPress.com’s evil attempt to stop us old guys from writing won’t let me paste in one more quote. I posted on Facebook how terrible it is to use a “block editor,” which seems to be the choice for most blog writers and web site builders, and I got a bunch of agreements of how block editors are. They provide a “classic” editor, but it is glitchy.

Anyway, since their glitchy editor is not accepting more quotes right now, here is a web page full of quotes from the second and third centuries about the authority of the apostles as the only source of inspiration and tradition for the church.