What did the post apostolic church believe?

user1234

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No idea. I will look on wiki.
Ah. They were heretics. Nothing has changed in all these years LOL.

Early Christians demonstrated a wide range of beliefs and practices, many of which were later denounced as heretical.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_Christianity

I hope you mean that there wereheretics, not that the early church was heretical.
The Bold words show me she was only referring to SOME ppl's beliefs/practices, not all of the professing church.
 

user1234

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I got the the idea that the second of those two was closer to the intent of the thread. It's the faith of the institutional church that was in mind. Stray, unaffiliated believers were not a feature of the church in those days.

What are you implying by stray?
And what do you mean by unaffiliated?
Unaffiliated with what?
Are you assuming the church was institutionalized in the first century?
Im guessing there wasnt a membership card to fill out or anything, and there may have been many ppl that heard about Jesus and got saved, but for one reason or another, were on there own or with one other.
But they were affiliated, that is members of the one true church just the same, as we are today, by faith in Jesus.
 

Albion

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What are you implying by stray?
Not connected to the community.

And what do you mean by unaffiliated?
Not connected to the community.

Unaffiliated with what?
The Christian community, the visible church, the congregation, the assembly spoken of in Scripture.

Are you assuming the church was institutionalized in the first century?
There's no assumption involved. The church was a visible organization in the first century.

Im guessing there wasnt a membership card to fill out or anything,
Baptism does that. :)
 

user1234

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Not connected to the community.


Not connected to the community.


The Christian community, the visible church, the congregation, the assembly spoken of in Scripture.


There's no assumption involved. The church was a visible organization in the first century.


Baptism does that. :)

So, if someone was out on there own or with one other person, maybe evangelizing two by two or something, iow, not in any visible community, they werent members of THE Church?

And by baptism, are you referring back to baptism in water again?
I thought that was settled, we're not saved i.e. members of the Church bc we got water-baptized. We're born into the Church by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
 

Albion

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So, if someone was out on there own or with one other person, maybe evangelizing two by two or something, iow, not in any visible community, they werent members of THE Church?
You persist in describing "the church" as the invisible sum of all true believers of every place and time who are known only to God. I was referring to the visible church, the congregation, in which the Gospel is preached, the sacraments administered, and fellowship realized. The Bible teaches us that we are meant to be part of the church by both of these meanings of the word.

And by baptism, are you referring back to baptism in water again?
Of course. That is the sacrament by which a person becomes a member of the visible church of Christ.

I thought that was settled, we're not saved i.e. members of the Church bc we got water-baptized.
I didn't say anything about being saved by Baptism.

I do remember several times in which I posted that none of us have claimed that such a thing happens. Therefore, I have to wonder why I am still reading that it doesn't save although no one here has asserted that it does!
 

user1234

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You persist in describing "the church" as the invisible sum of all true believers of every place and time who are known only to God. I was referring to the visible church, the congregation, in which the Gospel is preached, the sacraments administered, and fellowship realized. The Bible teaches us that we are meant to be part of the church by both of these meanings of the word.


Of course. That is the sacrament by which a person becomes a member of the visible church of Christ.


I didn't say anything about being saved by Baptism.

I do remember several times in which I posted that none of us have claimed that such a thing happens. Therefore, I have to wonder why I am still reading that it doesn't save although no one here has asserted that it does!
Being saved is synonymous with being a member of the church. When you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you're saved, that makes you a member of the body of Christ.
That is the church, and thats why we tried early on in this thread to get a clearer definition of the 'post-Apostolic church'.
Did the OP mean the body of Christ? Or a particular denomination or institution?

I see now you're talking about 2 things ...
•The church invisible, the body of Christ by faith in Jesus, and
• The church visible, with a physically present community of church members or attendants who take part in that churches rites or views on scripture and ceremony.

I would say the first is the church and we seem to agree,

and the second CAN be, and SHOULD be, but it can be also be that not every member of a visible church community is necessarily a member of the church invisible.

Thats the point that I believe Imalive and others were making about the early VISIBLE church (or churches) having within in it those who believed heresies and may have even denied the faith, and as she pointed out, it still goes on to this day.
 

Albion

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Being saved is synonymous with being a member of the church.
No, it's not. It merely means that you are a member (in addition to receiving the benefits that any sacrament brings). A church member certainly can wind up in hell.

Did the OP mean the body of Christ? Or a particular denomination or institution?
I think that he meant the institutional church, but that was before there were the denominations that later developed. He, as a Catholic, probably did have in mind the Roman Catholic Church since that church insists that the one founded by Christ was the RCC and that all others stemmed off from it later on.

I see now you're talking about 2 things ...
•The church invisible, the body of Christ by faith in Jesus, and
• The church visible, with a physically present community of church members or attendants who take part in that churches rites or views on scripture and ceremony.

I would say the first is the church and we seem to agree,

and the second CAN be, and SHOULD be, but it can be also be that not every member of a visible church community is necessarily a member of the church invisible.
Yes, I would agree. However I would have to add that Scripture teaches that we all are expected to be part of a visible church and are not in accord with the Lord's instructions if we choose not to do that.

Thats the point that I believe Imalive and others were making about the early VISIBLE church (or churches) having within in it those who believed heresies and may have even denied the faith, and as she pointed out, it still goes on to this day.
That doesn't make the church inoperable, you know. And you cannot replace what the visible church does if you 'go it alone.'
 

psalms 91

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Lets make this simple, no denoms, no discussion of the catholic church, just believers who lived and worshipped in that time frame, what did they practice, what did they believe?
 

user1234

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No, it's not. It merely means that you are a member (in addition to receiving the benefits that any sacrament brings). A church member certainly can wind up in hell.

I think that he meant the institutional church, but that was before there were the denominations that later developed. He, as a Catholic, probably did have in mind the Roman Catholic Church since that church insists that the one founded by Christ was the RCC and that all others stemmed off from it later on.


Yes, I would agree. However I would have to add that Scripture teaches that we all are expected to be part of a visible church and are not in accord with the Lord's instructions if we choose not to do that.


That doesn't make the church inoperable, you know. And you cannot replace what the visible church does if you 'go it alone.'

Yes, okay, and I dont think we're in as much disagreement as it first seemed.
(See what can happen when even a couple of knuckleheads ... strike that ... intellygent persons ... can accomplish if they stick with it and dont run from a little debate?
Like Jesus said, let's reason together, tho I know I just violated my own position of not taking an isolated verse out of context, but the idea's the same ... I dont think we're aiming for different results, ultimately, the way say a staunch atheist/evolutionist would be arguing with a christian/creationist, per se)

But we still have different views, or at least definitions, about 'church membership'.
I did say that some church (visible) members are not necessarily saved, and you seemed to disagree at first, but then agreed by saying they could wind up in hell.
So, yes, then theyre not saved. Thats what I was saying.
But I still say that scripture says 'the church' is the body of Christ, and we dont join that, but are born into it. When we believe in Jesus, we're saved, born again, born from above, and we are members of the body of Christ ... the church.
And thats the church I was referring to when I said 'being saved is synonymous with being a member of the church'.

As far as benefits from sacraments and things, thats a separate issue, and becomes a denominational opinion we dont need to expound here.

Yes, we should be participants in a local body of believers if possible (as it says in that great book of Hebrews)(yay osas lol)
But ... Its not always possible for everyone, and just because theyre not or dont participate in certain ceremonies doesnt make them any less a christian.

If a person is saved, theyre saved, and a member of Gods church, there is no more condemnation, and nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. How I wish everyone could see that, see how much Jesus loves us.
Oh, and if you only knew RIGHT NOW how I wish some ppl could see that, and the condemnation would stop.
I cant elaborate, but Man, I keep getting stabbed in the heart and the back at the same time, and it really really hurts.
 

Tigger

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This is always a good place to start.

Lets make this simple, no denoms, no discussion of the catholic church, just believers who lived and worshipped in that time frame, what did they practice, what did they believe?
 

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The problem we run into in the early church, as we do today, is that many false teachers, apocryphal, gnostic and other pseudo Christian writers have extant material for us to read. We have to take that writing and break it all down to decipher what is written by legitimate Christians and what was written by non-Christians. For example, Origen is often cited in early Christianity because of his prolific writing, but when you read what he wrote you come away wondering if he ever was saved. In this endeavor, what primary sources are we going to use in order to determine what Christians believed? Pliny, Polycarp, Justin? Who?
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com
 

Imalive

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The problem we run into in the early church, as we do today, is that many false teachers, apocryphal, gnostic and other pseudo Christian writers have extant material for us to read. We have to take that writing and break it all down to decipher what is written by legitimate Christians and what was written by non-Christians. For example, Origen is often cited in early Christianity because of his prolific writing, but when you read what he wrote you come away wondering if he ever was saved. In this endeavor, what primary sources are we going to use in order to determine what Christians believed? Pliny, Polycarp, Justin? Who?
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com

Wow! Did they write so much?
 

MennoSota

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Wow! Did they write so much?
The apostles and Luke gave us 27 books. From there Christianity spreads to all directions of the wind. Both Christians and non-Christians wrote. There is enough quotation of the New Testament that even if the books of the Bible were not in existence, we could compile the scriptures through the early Christians quotation. It is a fallacy to imagine that the years between 100 CE and 350 CE were silent. Just as we have both solid and crazy preaching today, so we had solid and crazy preaching in that era. A person could spend their entire life studying these early writings.
What you also should note is that there are many fanciful fictions being written in this era. Jesus was to some what James Bond is to us. Fiction stories of Jesus life were everywhere. In fact, much of what Muhammad says about Jesus in the Quran comes from these fictional novels.
 

Albion

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The original wasn't Greek. I always thought it must have been Hebrew.
Youre going to have to present something from other than some extremist splinter group if the opinion of almost all churches is to be overruled.
 

Imalive

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Youre going to have to present something from other than some extremist splinter group if the opinion of almost all churches is to be overruled.

Josephus and: first to the Jew, then to the Greek.


In "The Antiquities of the Jews," Book 20, Chapter XI, Section 2, we read the following: "And I am so bold as to say, now I have completely perfected the work I proposed to myself to do that no other person, whether he were a Jew, or a foreigner, had he ever so great an inclination to do it could so accurately deliver these accounts to the Greeks, as is done in these books. For those of my own nation freely acknowledge that I far exceed them in the learning belonging to the Jews. I also have taken a great deal of pains to obtain the learning of the Greeks, and understand the elements of the Greek language, although I have so long accustomed myself to speak our own tongue, that I cannot pronounce the Greek with sufficient exactness, for our own nation DOES NOT ENCOURAGE THOSE THAT LEARN THE LANGUAGES OF MANY NATIONS

From a later testimony of Jerome, it is evident that he too, undertook to translate it; for in, Hieronymus: (Jerome) Commentary to Matthew, in Book 2, Chapter 12 and 13, he states, "The Evangel which the Nazarenes and Ebonites use, which I translated into Greek, and which is called by most persons, the Genuine Gospel of Matthew." In Hieronymus DeVirus, Book 3, Chapter 36, again Jerome says, "Pantaenus found that Bartholomew, one of the twelve Apostles, had there preached the advent of our Savior...according to the Gospel of Matthew which was written in Hebrew letters and which, on returning to Alexandria he brought with him."

Thanks for the link Mennosota! Interesting!
Internet says it, so it's true.

http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/m/nt_origins.html
 
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Andrew

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The apostles and Luke gave us 27 books. From there Christianity spreads to all directions of the wind. Both Christians and non-Christians wrote. There is enough quotation of the New Testament that even if the books of the Bible were not in existence, we could compile the scriptures through the early Christians quotation. It is a fallacy to imagine that the years between 100 CE and 350 CE were silent. Just as we have both solid and crazy preaching today, so we had solid and crazy preaching in that era. A person could spend their entire life studying these early writings.
What you also should note is that there are many fanciful fictions being written in this era. Jesus was to some what James Bond is to us. Fiction stories of Jesus life were everywhere. In fact, much of what Muhammad says about Jesus in the Quran comes from these fictional novels.
Islam based most if not all Christianity from the gnostic gospels... Talking baby Jesus, substitute on the cross.. Very weird stuff but its all there and its exactly what the Apostles preached about false doctrines coming into the church, I actually read them and supposably the god that walked in the garden was a deaf and dumb god (or devil) and the serpent in the tree was the hero :( Gnosticism is also what witches believe no wonder why so much persecution took place in the early church, we may have all been duked into this unseen power coming in. If you think about it, Islam is all for severe punishing and death to all that dont follow their law and are definitely against grace and all Christianity no matter how we may sugar coat it, or some may, but just because good people get suckered into a false system does not mean that the system is ok for our "PC" culture, there really is no better solution than to continue the conversions of heathens

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Imalive

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Islam based most if not all Christianity from the gnostic gospels... Talking baby Jesus, substitute on the cross.. Very weird stuff but its all there and its exactly what the Apostles preached about false doctrines coming into the church, I actually read them and supposably the god that walked in the garden was a deaf and dumb god (or devil) and the serpent in the tree was the hero :( Gnosticism is also what witches believe no wonder why so much persecution took place in the early church, we may have all been duked into this unseen power coming in. If you think about it, Islam is all for severe punishing and death to all that dont follow their law and are definitely against grace and all Christianity no matter how we may sugar coat it, or some may, but just because good people get suckered into a false system does not mean that the system is ok for our "PC" culture, there really is no better solution than to continue the conversions of heathens

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One muslim guy got saved by reading the Kuran. It said Jesus as a kid raised birds and it was all nonsense but there was one thing in it that He had to be God. He gave life or something. Fabulous.
 

Andrew

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One muslim guy got saved by reading the Kuran. It said Jesus as a kid raised birds and it was all nonsense but there was one thing in it that He had to be God. He gave life or something. Fabulous.
I dont mind saying "God bless" to muslim store clerks. I talked to a muslim once about God and he told me that we are at one side of this plain (point) and they are at the other (point) and that we serve the same God above (up and in the middle) creating a triangle, he said that this is an old mans world with old rules... He doesnt devote himself to the religious customs and says that in his home town in the middle east you cant even tell the difference between Muslim Jew and Christian, thought that was interesting and yes its all about interpretation and understanding for these "potential converts" as I call them :)

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Imalive

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I dont mind saying "God bless" to muslim store clerks. I talked to a muslim once about God and he told me that we are at one side of this plain (point) and they are at the other (point) and that we serve the same God above (up and in the middle) creating a triangle, he said that this is an old mans world with old rules... He doesnt devote himself to the religious customs and says that in his home town in the middle east you cant even tell the difference between Muslim Jew and Christian, thought that was interesting and yes its all about interpretation and understanding for these "potential converts" as I call them :)

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Potential converts. Fabulous! I don't call ppl atheists. I call em christians to be.
 
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