Early Church authority

[George]

What authority would the Early Church have?

 

[Andrew]

What authority would the Early Church have?

How early are we talking here?

 

[Particular]

What authority would the Early Church have?

What do you mean?

Do you mean, did the leaders of various churches throughout the Roman Empire have the same authority as the Apostles who were commissioned by Christ Jesus?

 

[George]

Well many people always seem to dismiss practices, when the Early Church themselves did those practices.

 

[Andrew]

Scroll Publishing has done amazing research into what early Christians believed about such and such..
David Bercot has online courses (thehistoricfaith.com) that goes into even more topics but most of his lectures are free.. His book "A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs" is a must have for anyone who wants to read what the ante Nicene church fathers had to say on over 700 topics, he has made the amazing compilation from the massive volumes of early ante Nicene writings.. I highly recommend this book, it's astonishing to read what they wrote about just about everything you could imagine concerning early Christianity beliefs..
Here is a playlist of some of his lectures
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTYADdqRvywTD2m3HfIRuqtJut9kjRQWy

 

[George]

Well for example, the veneration of Mary is found within the Early Church. Also, a liturgical setup and church hierarchy set up as well.

 

[Andrew]

Well for example, the veneration of Mary is found within the Early Church. Also, a liturgical setup and church hierarchy set up as well.

I don't know much about the veneration of Mary but I do know that early churches organized according to Paul's addressing their issues on disorder.
Early Christian writings go into detail on how their average worship services were like, a great improvement to how they were before Paul corrected them!

 

[atpollard]

Well many people always seem to dismiss practices, when the Early Church themselves did those practices.

You mean like when the Early Church followed the practices of the Judiaisers and the Apostle Paul suggested that those teaching traditions contrary to the Gospel should “emasculate themselves”?

 

[George]

You mean like when the Early Church followed the practices of the Judiaisers and the Apostle Paul suggested that those teaching traditions contrary to the Gospel should “emasculate themselves”?

I’m referencing how many people simply shot down church hierarchy or the veneration of Mary, when it was practiced by the Early Church whom also compiled Scripture.

 

[Particular]

Well many people always seem to dismiss practices, when the Early Church themselves did those practices.

George, the documentation of a number of practices comes from writings that are hundreds of years after the actual time period. Add to this that the number of documents are few. What you have is the great possibility that information was written into the documents that the original author never wrote.
Textual criticism would make these documents far less reputable than the Bible.
Ultimately then we must use the Bible as the standard for whether writings from others that outline practices should be followed. If the practices are contrary to the Bible then we should not practice them and we should question any church that chooses to practice them.

 

[Josiah]

What authority would the Early Church have?

In MY opinion......


1. The ultimate Authority is God. And I believe God has objectively conveyed that in the pages of His inscripturated words to US (The Holy Scriptures).


2. Of course, WHAT (specifically) IS that Scripture is a matter of Tradition, and yes, we all look to the historic consensus of the Early Church for that issue. There was a solid consensus by the early 5th Century on 66-73 books (although perhaps on 3 levels - canonical spoken in favor, canonical spoken against, and deuterocanonical).


3. The reality is.... LOTS of teachings and theories and opinions were flying around in the Early Church, it was likely THE most diverse time in the hisotry of Christianity (worse than today); even on some VERY fundamental issues (and I'm not even including Gnosticism in on this diversity). BUT..... in this rather chaotic time, with a lot of conflicts, people PRAYED and DISCUSSED and ARGUED and PRAYED and DISCUSSED and often Bishops formally/officially met (typically at the demand of the Caesar) and out of this, a CONSENSUS developed that was clearly biblical (what Anglicans and Lutherans call Tradition). Often, a highly respected theologian rose up in the debate with very wise words that "won the day" (we often refer to these as "Church Fathers"). We are highly grateful! And we are often look to this consensus as evidence of the promise that the Holy Spirit would teach and lead us. Today, nearly all Christians accept the Ecumenical Creeds and 66-73 books as Scripture... and we have the Early Church to thank for that.



My $0.01


A Blessed Christmas Season to all!


Josiah






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