History of the

Church I:Week Three

What did early

Christians believe? Orthodox: of, pertaining to, or

conforming to the approved form of doctrine

Gandhi and Christ p. 46 Early believers believed the

gospel was the good news about the Event

The early church made belief in who Jesus was a test of true Christianity

The birth of Theology

“I like flowers but I hate botany.”

English writer Charles Williams said “Man was intended to argue with God.”

Theology comes from two Greek words: theos, meaning God, and logos, meaning word or rational thought. So theology is rational thought about God

Theology

Theology is not religion Religion is how we live our

beliefs Theology is the attempt to

give rational explanation to our belief

Errors in theology are called heresy

Heretics serve the Church unintentionally: heresy calls the Church to answer the heretic with sound theology

Orthodoxy

means a sound theology historically orthodox Christianity

means the majority opinion “Every plank in the platform of

orthodoxy was laid because some heresy had arisen that threatened to change the nature of Christianity and to destroy its central faith.” Shelley p. 48

Theology is using our own language and our own way of thinking to explain God’s truth

False Gospels

The apostles drew sharp lines between true and false versions of the Gospel: Paul in Galatians with the

law 1st John says you must

believe Christ came “in the flesh”

1 Corinthians emphasizes the historical resurrection

False Gospels

Central truths were encountered by the early church in several ways: Baptism in the name of the

Trinity (Matt. 28:17-20) As they were being

baptized they recited Biblical truths (I Cor. 15:3-4 and Ephesians 4:4-6)

Singing verses

Gospel of John

John teaches that God is man in the first 19 chapters

In chapter 20, John switches to emphasize that Jesus is God as well

In 1st and 2nd centuries, two heresies existed in his time

One believed Christ was not man

One believed Christ was not God

Gnostics

They accepted the idea of salvation, idea of a supreme deity and the idea of a heavenly beings at work in the universe

This is why they stayed around so long

Where they differed from Christians was the idea of dualism world is divided by two cosmic forces good and evil

Gnostics

Taken from Greek philosophy, the idea was material was evil

Jesus then being man was evil and could not have created the world

The real god could not have contact with the material world so he sent out “emanations” which were like rays of sunshine

Man had to be redeemed from this material world

Gnostics

They recognized Jesus could have been sent by God to redeem man but he could not have suffered and died like a man

So the most common belief was that Jesus became God at his baptism but departed before he was crucified

Thus the Gnostics are like the 19th century evolutionists: they try to fit the Event with their modern day thought and they lose the gospel

How was Gnosticism defeated?

The Apostles Creed: I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of

heaven and earth.

And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy catholic Church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. AMEN.