​Early Church Responses to Heresies

​​Early Church Responses to Heresies

By C. Beavers

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Think about how foreign and strange the teachings of the Gnostic heresies sound to modern folks.

What words come to mind when you think about Gnostic beliefs?

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Which of their heretical teachings were the most foreign/strange-sounding to you?

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Which of the Gnostic teachings sound the most like a modern religious or philosophical teaching that you've heard of?

Multiple Choice

Gnostic teachers usually claimed that Jesus was:

• a created being

• the un-created Second Person of the eternal Triune God

• a human rabbi who died on a cross and never resurrected

Multiple Choice

Describe in one sentence what that Gnostic highest god was like:

• The Gnostic highest god is a material being bound by time.
• The Gnostic highest god is a self-aware being of pure light that likes his own reflection.

• The Gnostic highest god is a distant and indifferent creator of Earth and humans.

• The Gnostic highest god is a chaotic force of destruction.

Multiple Choice

Who was the first created being, according to the Apocryphon of John?

• Sophia
• Elohim
• Yaldabaoth
• Barbelo

Multiple Choice

Describe in one sentence what that first created being was like: 

• The first created being was a chaotic mass of darkness.
• The first created being was a simple, lifeless entity.
• The first created being was a mere shadow of imperfection.
• She is a perfect, powerful being that arose from the mind of the One.

• Barbelo was the creator of the Earth and humans.

Multiple Choice

Some notes: “autogenes” means someone who is self-born.  It is a misnomer, as these Gnostic gospels do not say that Jesus gave birth to himself.

Who did the the Secret Book of John say were the “parents” of Jesus.

• The Holy Spirit (or, the One) and the Barbelo

• The Father and The Son
• God and the Archangel Gabriel
• Mary and Joseph

Multiple Choice

According to the Apocryphon of John, was Jesus created?

• Yes

• No

Multiple Choice

Was Jesus even the first being created, according to Gnostics?

• Yes

• No

What Did Early Church Fathers Say in Response?

Multiple Choice

A quote from Irenaeus, Book 3, Chapter 19, Section 3:

He therefore, the Son of God, our Lord, being the Word of the Father, and the Son of man, since He had a generation as to His human nature from Mary—who was descended from mankind, and who was herself a human being—was made the Son of man.

Here, Irenaeus is combating the Gnostic heresy about the nature of Jesus by saying that Jesus was:

• both God and human

• neither fully God nor fully human

​Read some passages from Justo Gonzalez, from his church history book called The Story of Christianity, Volume 1

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In response to such threats, what would become known as orthodox Christianity began to ​

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by reaffirming such elements of its ​

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heritage as the doctrines of ​

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, of the ​

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value of the created world, of the rule of God over all of history, of the resurrection of the ​

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—a doctrine learned from the Pharisees—and a coming final reign of God.

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Jewish

creation

positive

body

define itself

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In order to ​

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such doctrines, it developed a series of instruments—​

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, the ​

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of scripture, ​

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—that would set limits on orthodoxy and would long remain ​

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themes in Christian life and teaching.

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creeds

canon

apostolic succession

central

reaffirm

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Thus, even those whose views were eventually ​

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by the church at large, and came to be known as ​

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, left their ​

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on the church and the way it understood itself.

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heretics

rejected

mark

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Let's make sure we understood what we just read.

Choose 4. Which doctrines did Gonzalez say began to be reaffirmed by the Early Church, in the first 200 years of our faith, in the face of heretics like Marcion, Montanus, and the Gnostics?

• the Jewish heritage of Christianity (the Old Testament is inspired)

• the positive value of the created world (not all matter is evil)

• the resurrection of the body (not all matter is evil)

• there is secret knowledge that only a few guides can unlock for seekers of truth

• the rule of God over all history (God takes an active role in human affairs)

Match

Match the following

• Orthodox doctrine being developed in the first 200 years of Church History: the Old Testament is inspired by God

• Orthodox doctrine being developed in the first 200 years of Church History: affirming that God created the heavens and the Earth and called them GOOD

• Orthodox doctrine being developed in the first 200 years of Church History: God rules human affairs actively throughout all history

• Orthodox doctrine being developed in the first 200 years of Church History: our physical bodies will be resurrected in the afterlife

Heresy: Old Testament is not inspired

Heresy: an evil god created Earth

Heresy: God is distant from the world

Heresy: evil bodies= no bodily afterlife

• Heresy: Old Testament is not inspired

• Heresy: an evil god created Earth

• Heresy: God is distant from the world

• Heresy: evil bodies= no bodily afterlife

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The Three Responses by the Early Church during the first 200 years to heresies like Marcion, Montanus, Gnostics:



the earliest C​

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, like the Apostles Creed

the C​

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of S​

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A​

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S​

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reeds

anon

cripture

postolic

uccession

The Apostles Creed

Come back to this page as often as you need to, for the next few questions

"I believe in God the Father Almighty..."

"Almighty" literally means "all ruling" or "ruler over all"

This means that God rules over everything that is created.

This is 100% against the heresies that we have discussed.

Multiple Choice

How is saying that God is the "ruler over all creation" a rejection of the Gnostics?

• Gnostics believed that only a good god creates anything physical

• Gnostics believed that the highest god does not want to rule over ANYTHING that is physical; it only wants to rule the spiritual realm

Multiple Choice

How is calling Jesus the "only Son" of God a rejection of Gnostic teaching?

• Gnostics believed that the highest god had MANY emanations/children

• Gnostics believed that Jesus was born of a virgin

Multiple Choice

"who was born of the ... Virgin Mary..."

How is this a rejection of Gnosticism?

• Gnostics believed that Jesus was an aeon that emanated from another higher spiritual being

• Gnostics believed that Jesus was born of a virgin

Multiple Choice

"was crucified under Pontius Pilate and buried,

the third day He rose from the dead,"

How is this a rejection of Gnosticism?

• Gnostics believed that Jesus was actually crucified, but He never died, He only swooned on the cross, but everyone in the Roman Empire knew that He survived and then ran away with Mary Magdalene to France

• Gnostics had docetic beliefs

Multiple Choice

"from there He shall come to judge the living and the dead."

How is this a rejection of Gnosticism?

• Gnostics believed that St. Peter sits at the pearly gates waiting to judge us all

• Gnostics had did not believe in a judgment, per se, as all you need to enter heaven is knowledge

Another reaction to heresies: the CANON

Multiple Choice

Did the Gnostics want their "gospels" to be included in the Christian canon?

• Yes

• No

Multiple Select

Why didn't the Gnostics want their "gospels" to be included in the Christian canon?

Choose 2.

• The Gnostics wanted to preserve their unique teachings and beliefs, which contradicted orthodox Christianity.
• The Gnostics sought to unify all Christian texts under one doctrine.
• The Gnostics believed that the only truth came through the secret knowledge given by Jesus to one (and only one) apostle...and that apostle just happened to the be apostle that each Gnostic sect "followed"

Another reaction to heresies: Apostolic Succession

Multiple Choice

What does Apostolic Succession mean today?

• the books that ought to be included in the Bible

• the continuous, unbroken line of authority and ministry from the original apostles to present-day bishops, cardinals, and popes

• a statement of faith that helps weed out the heretics

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Apostolic Succession:

At its heart, it is simply a matter of a​

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.

Whose ​

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authority was legitimate?

The ​

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and their followers?

Or the Gnostic ​

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? Or Marcion? Or ​

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?

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uthority

spiritual

original apostles

guides

Montanus

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Essentially, Apostolic Succession claims that there were no ​

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guides with "​

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" knowledge from Jesus. Early Church leaders who believed in Apostolic Succession believed that Jesus had done His teaching ​

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, ​

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in secret, that all He taught His disciples were available to us in the ​

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.

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Gnostics were ​

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. They believed that the special ​

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knowledge had only been given to ​

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apostle. Then they claimed that the ​

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was to join their ​

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and gain this secret knowledge.

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Orthodox Christians who believed in the Creeds, Canon, and Apostolic Succession were actually MORE ​

Select answer

than the Gnostics. This is because the orthodox believers included books from ​

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, not ​

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.



Of course, the Creeds, the Canon, and Apostolic Succession ​

Select answer

. Orthodoxy rode that ​

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between not too inclusive and not too exclusive.

Open Ended

What questions do you have?

Was there anything that you did not understand?

Is there something that you really want Mr. Beavers to explain still, but he has not fleshed out an answer for you yet?