Orthodoxy and Heresy

(Originally written November 12, 2006 in Book 11)

Heresy and Orthodoxy

Gradual Emergence of Orthodoxy

The Jesus Movement became a world religion through the ideas of orthodoxy, holiness, apostolic ideal and catholic universalism.

The orthodoxy of the early church developed by attacking individual doctrines deemed heretical. The forensic ability and dialectical skill of the Fathers had more to do with the formation of orthodoxy more than the merit of doctrines.

By the fourth century the outlines of orthodoxy had been drawn, but the orthodoxy was not yet in full effect.

The Gnostic Heresy

Gnosticism states that salvation is acquired through knowledge, not faith.

Gnosticism believed that there was one Supreme Being and This Being created larger supernatural beings. (One of these was YHWH).

These lesser beings are in rebellion against the Absolute god and hold man hostage. Christ descended to save man. Salvation comes to those who have a divine spark that enables the to understand the knowledge given to them.

The Knowledge which led to salvation was a secret knowledge. Plato used the term, but meant a public objective knowledge, whereas Gnostics meant a suprarational knowledge.

Gnosticism attempted to synthesize all the Neoplatonist and mystery cults into one unified entity. This obviously offended the catholic church.

The Gnostics interpreted every scripture as allegory, which also offended Christian sentimentalities.

Syncretism was a major component of Gnosticism. Christianity's method of rejecting all other views, rather then synthesizing then proved to be a lasting one.

The Arian Heresy

Arianism focused on the problem of a Triune Godhead. How could a monotheistic religion have three Gods?

Aries, the founder claimed that Jesus was the logos of God, but was not equal with God the Father. Jesus was a created entity.

Christ was the first creation who later became Incarnated.

Athanasius, the preeminent anti-Arian claimed that God and Christ are of the same substance. But to avoid another heresy (Patripassianism, which claimed God the Father was crucified) he held that the Father and the Son, through the same substance, were distinct persons. Catholicism concluded that God is three in one and how that is is simply a mystery that must be accepted.

Aries was a bit of a rationalist attempting to resolve the issue of three as one in the Godhead.

Tertullian, contra to Arius was completely against any rational attempt to understand the divinity.
He held that any attempt to understand was a mark of weak faith.

The Arian Heresy marks the Church's subversion of reason. The Church would face no controversy so long as man deprecated their ability.

The Pelagian Heresy

The Pelagian Heresy came from the Judaic conception of omnipotence and omniscience.

Both Arius and Pelagius believed they were teaching Christian Orthodoxy and both had some evidence on their side.

Pelagius preached free will in man and stated Paul's mysticism led men to be slothful in Christian living and making excuses for the vices Paul preached against.

If God is all powerful and all knowing man has no fee will. If man has no free will God is unjust for blaming us for sin. Pelagius believed free will was necessary for responsibility.

Pelagius was deemed a heretic, but the Pelagian heresy has reemerged numerous times in the history of the Church.

The Manichean Heresy

Mani tried to resolve the problem of evil. It was regarded as heretical because they employed reason and not the authorities to come to their conclusions.

Manicheanism was dualistic. God was all-good, but not all powerful. Satan created the physical world.

Mani and Christ were prophets went from God to free men from the evil of the body. Manicheanism was thus, very, very ascetic.

The Albigensian heresy in the late Middle Ages was a rearticulation of the Manichaen heresy.

Relation of faith to Reason

Athanasius called the Trinity a mystery that must be accepted as faith, but to appeal to the pagan masses and to confound heretics, Christianity needed a systematic theology. The relationship between faith and reason was critical in forming this theology.

Greek and Christian views contrasted

God is the primary, almost exclusive object of concern in Christianity. In Greek philosophy the concern was to give an account of man's relation to nature.

The shift in emphasis changed all of philosophical thought.

Christianity aimed at perfection, thus were constantly subject to failure.

Christianity is too pessimistic to the modern mind, but Greek philosophy is too naive and optimistic. The major goal of philosophy since the Renaissance is to find a mean between the two.

The methodology of Christian philosophy had to be radically different from the Greek. Exegesis became a large part of philosophy.

Notes on the Holy Spirit

(Originally written April 19, 2006 in 3 Subject)

Historic Christian Thought

The Holy Spirit

Who He is

1. He is personal
-"He" not "it", contra Jehovah's Witnesses
-Not the 'Star Wars' spirit or force

2. He does personal deeds
-John 14:26
-John 15:26
-John 16:13

3. He is God
-Spirit of God/Spirit of Christ/Holy Spirit
-He is the third person of the trinity, John 15:26

Montanus, a 3rd century teacher (contemporary of Tertullian) taught that there were three eras of God's workings:

1. God the Father (Abraham, Moses, up to Jesus)
2. God the Son (Jesus' lifetime)
3. God the Spirit (Pentecost era)

Montanus however, believed that he was himself the last great prophet

Montanism had a lot to do with 'filioque' (and the son). The controversy over 'filioque' is what caused the 1054 split between the eastern and the western Church.

Montanism is nearly dead but will occasionally pop up from time to time.

Montanism today:
Jim Jones (1970s) was a charismatic preacher from San Francisco who went to Ghana. One day he said is this the Word of God (referring to the Bible). He answered 'No, the words from my mouth is the Word of God.' Jones' mission ended in mass suicide.

What the Holy Spirit Does (part one)

-Testifies of Christ, John 14:26, 15:26
-Continues Jesus' ministry, John 14:16, 16:7, Acts 1:1
-The spirit glorifies Jesus, not Himself
-Baptizes believers into the body of Christ
-Christ's life through the spirit (Romans 8:2-27)
-Gives fullness of Christ at Conversion (John 1:16). No second work of grace for fullness. Assures perseverance of salvation

Ecumenical Councils

(Originally written March 17, 2006 in 3 Subject)

Christological Controversies (100-325 AD)

Ebonites (Jewish Sect)

Modalism - anti-Trinitarian doctrine

Praxeas - identifies Father and Son as one (patripassianism)

Tertullian's response to patripassianism: "Praxeas has put to flight the Paraclete and crucified the Father!"

Paul of Samosata: Christ has homoousion (same substance) as God, but not is not a second person, an anti-Trinitarian doctrine

The First Four Ecumenical Councils (325 - 451 AD)

1. Council of Nicea (325 AD)

Arius (Arianism)
- "There was a time when Christ was not"
-Jesus the first of God's creation
-"Like" substance, but not the same as the Father
-Homoiousion with the father, not homoousion

Athanasius (Bishop of Alexandria)
-Christ has homoousion with the father
-This is where the phrase "one iota of difference" comes from

2. Council of Constantinople (381 AD)
-Appollinarius (Apollinarianism)
-supports homoousion, but denies that Christ has a human mind/spirit

Athanasius and Apolinarius were allies against Arianism, but Athanasius opposed Apollinarius

Gregory of Nazianzus- "What Christ has not assumed he has not healed; it is what is united to His Deity that is saved"

The verdict of the Council of Constantinople is that Christ is both divine and human

3a. Council of Ephesus (431 AD)
-Monophysite & Nestorian Heresies
- mono = one, physis = nature
-Monophysite Christology - Christ is one person with one nature
-Key issue is salvation
-Resolution - one person, two natures
-Mary is hailed theotokos "mother of God", contrary to the Nestorian claim of "mother of Christ"

3b. Robber Synod at Ephesus (449 AD)
-Monophysites out maneuvered by Leo I, bishop of Rome & other orthodox bishops
-Emperor Theodosius II then convenes 135 bishops who  excommunicate Pope Leo I
-A year after Theodosius II is dead and the new emperor sides with Pope Leo I

4. Council of Chalcedon (451 AD)
-Council was moved to Chalcedon for security reasons
-More than 600 bishops in attendance
-Pope Leo I emissaries state "vere deus, vere homo"
-Eastern Bishops agree
-Result: Doctrine of hypostatic union becomes the orthodox view of the Person of Christ (Nicene Creed, article 2)

A quiz & some notes on General/Special Revelation

(Originally written February 6, 2006 in Book 23)

Quiz Questions: True or False

Faith and Knowledge are mutually exclusive
-False

The moral sense that tells us when others have wronged us is
-Judicial sentiment

A posteriori arguments argue for the existence of God on what basis?
-Facts observed by the human senses

Thomas Aquinas' version of the argument from designs is called the
-Teleological argument

JFK and C.S. Lewis died on the same day.

Quiz 2

What has Athens to do with Jerusalem is an anti-philosophical polemic by
-Tertullian

Calvin believed that faith in Christ
-included doubt but never results in the ultimate falling away from faith

Who believed the 'first principles' of all truth not through reason, but through the heart?
-Blaise Pascal

Implication of General Revelation

Accountability before God
Romans 2:14-16 (conscience)
Romans 2:1 (judicial sentiment)

Holy Scripture

One aspect of Special revelation
Special revealing: God's self disclosure. "Truth as encounter"
Such encounter does not exclude information (propositional truth)

Christianity & Philosophy, Proofs and nature of faith

(Originally written February 1, 2006)

The Christian Theology Reader

Clement of Alexandria on Philosophy and Theology

Clement argues that God gave the Greeks philosophy in order to prepare them for the coming of the Lord. He parallel this with God giving the Jews the law.

Philosophy was necessary to the Greeks for righteousness before the incarnation.

Post-incarnation philosophy assists people who come to faith by way of demonstration. It is a preparation for true religion.

Clement states all good things come from God. Some come directly (like Jews receiving the law from God through Moses) and some come indirectly (the Greek's philosophy).

"Philosophy, acted as a custodian to bring Greeks to Christ, just as the law brought the Hebrews" (6).

Philosophy is not antiquated or made obsolete by Christ's coming. It is a way for some people (lovers of truth) to come to the Lord.

Clement views Christ as both the perfection and fulfillment of the Old Testament and of philosophy.

Biblical parallels Galatians 3:23-24. The Greek word Paul uses for "custodian" is the same word Clement uses to describe philosophy for the Greeks.

Tertullian on the Relation of Philosophy and Heresy

Tertullian was avidly opposed to the fusion of philosophy and theology.

He held that philosophy had a pagan outlook on life.

He contacted the differences between Athens and Jerusalem, symbolic of the differences between pagan philosophy and God's revelation of the Christian faith.

He held that Christian minds were completely on a different wave length than their pagan counterparts.

Philosophy provides worldly wisdom by "boldly asserting itself to be the interpreter of the divine nature and dispensation" (7)

Heretics and philosophers often accept or deny similar viewpoints, i.e. Marcion came from the Stoics.

Tertullian holds that it is necessary to seek God in the simplicity of the heart. Philosophy completes it too much.

There is no need for curiosity after discovering Jesus Christ.

After believing in Christ "there is nothing else which we are obliged to believe"

Tertullian uses historical evidence to connect heresies and philosophy. He felt this was enough to justify the exclusion of philosophy from theology.

Since Philosophy has, at its core, values which are contrary to Christian principles, the fusion of the two would lead to the erosion of Christian integrity.

Augustine on Philosophy and Theology

Augustine advocates using all of the good philosophy in theology and disregarding the bad. He parallels this with the Hebrews casting of the burdens of the Egypt, but taking its treasures with them.

What the Plutonists have said which is true should be claimed by Christians for their own use because the Plutonists posses it illegally.

"Pagan learning is not entirely made up of sales teaching and superstitions. It contains also some excellent teachings, well suited to be used by truth, and excellent moral values"

Philosophy can neither be totally rejected or uncritically accepted.

Augustine points to person who were raised pagans, converted, then brought some of their values (now spun through truth) into the church and made a great impact.

Anselm of Canterbury's proof for the existence of God

God is "that than which no greater thing can be thought". Knowing this definition of God, Anselm states that without God the idea of God would still exist. Then (since God does not exist) the greatest thing that can be thought of is the idea of God. This contradicts the definition of God, therefore, it cannot be true. Since it is not true, the only option we have left is that God exists.

This argument is often referred to as the "ontological argument". (Ontological philosophy refers to the branch of philosophy dealing with being)

This is not a purely logical argument, nor was it intended to be. It is more of a statement of how obvious it was to himself that God exists and the implications that that entails.

The important part of this theory to remember is that the idea of something is inferior to the reality of that something.

Thomas Aquinas on Proofs for the existence of God

Aquinas postulated 5 "proofs" for the existence of God.

The term "proofs" cannot be taken in the strictest sense of the word here. It instead demonstrates the consistency of Christian theology with what is known of the world.

Aquinas' work "the Totality of Theology is" widely regarded as the greatest work of medieval theology (17)

The first argument for the existence of God, is the argument from change.

"Everything that is in the process of being changed is changed by something else" (18).

It is impossible for something to be the cause of change and be changing itself.

There must be a first cause to effect change. The first cause of change must be God.

The second argument for the existence of God is based on the nature of an efficient cause.

There is a sequence of efficient causes in the observable world, but nothing is the cause of itself. This would require something to exist prior to itself, which is impossible.

If there were no first cause there would be no effect. We can see that then are causes and effects, therefore there must have been an initial cause. This initial cause is God.

The third argument for the existence of God is the nature of possibility and necessity.

"If nothing ever existed, it would have been impossible for anything to begin to exist" (19).

Since we exist and we see other things that exist, there could never have been a point in time that nothing existed because then nothing would have begun to exist.

All things that exist must, by necessity, have been brought into existence by something. Therefore something must exist free of necessity to begin the existence of all other things (directly or indirectly). This existence free of necessity of being brought into existence is God.

The fourth argument for the existence of God is from the gradation that occurs in things.

Things are known to be more or less because they approximate in varying degrees to that which is greatest.

There must be something that is greatest, truest, best and noblest. This is God.

The fifth argument for the existence of God is based on the governance of things.

Because things, like natural bodies, work towards a goal without any knowledge of that goal with amazing precision and accuracy makes it obvious that they achieve this goal by design and not chance.

There is no way things without knowledge can reach goals consistently without a designer. Therefore, there is an intelligent being who designed all natural things to reach their goals. This being is God.

God's existence is proven 5 ways:
1) The world is in motion. Something had to start that motion: God
2) The world is full of causes and effects. There must have been a first cause: God
3) Things exist in this world that we are not necessary (humans are one of them). The fact that humans exist means something exist that is necessary to bring what is our necessary into existence: God
4) Values, truth, and morals must come from an ultimate source of values, truth and morality: God.
5) The world shows obvious traits of intelligent design. There must have been an intelligent designer: God.

Martin Luther on the theology of the Cross

Luther draws a distinction between theologians of glory who seek God apart from Jesus Christ and theologians of the cross who know that God is revealed through Jesus Christ.

John Calvin on the Nature of faith

Calvin establishes a direct relation between faith and the merciful promises of God.

Faith is a steady and certain knowledge of the divine benevolence towards us, which is founded upon the truth of the gracious promise of God in Christ.

Faith should be certain and secure but doubt and anxiety are natural.

Calvin states believers have a "perpetual struggle with their own lack of faith, and are far from possessing a peaceful conscience, never interrupted by any disturbance" (26).

Faith is not believing God exists, it is trusting in the promise of a benevolent God.

Blaise Pascal on Proofs for the Existence of God

Pascal places an emphasis on the heart, rather than reason, in the knowledge of God. He also stresses the limitations of reason.

Knowledge of God comes through the heart. Reason vainly attempts to discredit that knowledge. The inability to prove this knowledge of God does not affirm the uncertainty of this knowledge; it demonstrates the weakness of our reason.

Reason must recognize there are many things which it cannot comprehend.

The metaphysical proofs for God have little impact on men because their reason is incapable comprehending them.

Knowledge of God must be accompanied by the acknowledgement of our depravity and of acceptance of Christ as the redeemer to be effective.

John Calvin on the Natural knowledge of God

A full knowledge of God can only be achieved through Scripture, but a partial knowledge of God is possible apart from scripture which makes it impossible for humans to plead ignorance at the judgment.

God's existence can be recognized by all mankind. They are condemned by not worshipping God to light of their awareness.

A sense of divinity is "inscribed in the hearts of all people" (98).

A faith for all seasons

Ch. 1 our knowledge of God

Faith and Knowledge

If faith has nothing to do with knowledge, then theology (study of interactions between man and God) is reduced to anthropology (a study of man's interaction with man).

A lot of modern Christian theology is based on the assumption that faith has nothing to do with knowledge. This makes God impossible to know. We can only know about our experiences with God.

This theologies based on the Enlightenment which states that man is the ultimate measure of everything.

The rationalists came out of the Enlightenment. They believed that knowledge could only come from empirical or scientific evidence. However, God is above any empiricism or scientific method.

"Faith finds its basis in non rational elements of human experience" (2). This is a modern view of faith. A historic view of faith believes it is a part of knowledge.

Augustine says that you first have to believe in God, then knowledge of God will follow.

Faith also looks to the future. Hebrews 11:1 states, "faith is the assurance of things hoped for; the conviction of things not seen"

While knowledge of God comes directly through Scripture, it can also come indirectly through creation.

General revelation is what God has revealed to all humanity through creation.

Special revelation is what God has revealed to a limited number of people through redemptive history: Scripture and Jesus Christ.

Knowledge of God through General Revelation

All men in all times know God to some extent even if they don't have access to the Bible.

There are two types of General revelation
1) Outward general revelation is reality around that points us to God
2) Inward general revelation is reality within our moral and spirituality that points us to God

Creation reveals the power of God and His divine nature

Conscience dictates our morality. It is included in inward general revelation.