Tertullian on Marriage

Life has been extraordinarily busy this summer, with events scheduled almost every single day. There's so much I could say about my the days and weeks of the past two months, but there are hardly enough time to do so. 13 hours from now I marry my gorgeous fiancee, and begin married life with her by my side. I'm beyond excited, and can't wait for that moment! Luckily, there has been some time for reflection, and as I await the excitement of the day's events, I came across this exceptional quote by Tertullian that I had to share.

Today in History: The Council of Nicea

       Today in history, the Council of Nicea was convened in 325, and over the course of the next month, settled the issue of Christology and the relation of Jesus Christ the Son to God the Father (among its other accomplishments). The council also produced the famous Nicene Creed, one of the most enduring documents in all of Christian history. 
       Contrary to popular belief, the Council of Nicea had nothing to do with the canon of the Bible, nor with 'creating' Christianity (both of which are myths perpetuated by a certain Dan Brown book). It was here that the orthodox belief was officially upheld: that Christ was both 100% man and 100% God, and that the Son, while a separate 'person', was of the same substance as the Father. For an accurate and detailed description of the council in layman's terms, I highly recommend Paul Pavao's book Decoding Nicea (which, incidentally, was one of the books that steered me towards the Early Church).
       I'll make a longer post on the Nicene Creed sometime soon, since it's the one I adhere to. However, I do believe that Christianity, while growing in size post-Nicea, has decreased in quality. The writings of the Early Church - the writings of the men who sat under the Apostles! - have been largely pushed aside by the Protestant and Evangelical circles. Perhaps the Council's anniversary is just the time to bring up an Early Church discussion with your Christian friends.

The Earliest Image of the Cross

     The holiday season has come and almost gone, and with new year around the corner, I decided I should try to fit one more blog post in before 2014 ends. (I'm not very timely when it comes to writing these up.)

     I recently crossed paths with a fascinating article from the Centre for Public Christianity regarding the earliest images of the cross. While historical research has shown that depictions of the cross in church decorations and jewelry did not become prevalent until after the fourth century, there were actually symbolic likenesses of the cross as early as 200 AD in papyrus manuscripts of the New Testament.

     According to the article, scribes "took the letter ‘t’ (written in Greek as Τ) and the letter ‘r’ (written in Greek as Ρ) and ingeniously laid them on top of each other to form what looks like a man on a cross. The image below is from a manuscript of Luke’s Gospel known as P75, dated to about AD200. The ‘staurogram’, as it is called, is clearly visible."

     The image of the cross is everywhere in Christian society today, but it's nice to see that the symbolism goes back further than we previously were taught. You can read the article in its entirety here: http://publicchristianity.org/opinion/the-first-image-of-the-cross#.VJ0fhsAEN

Polycarp vs. the Gnostics

Polycarp was a theologian and father of the Christian church in the mid 2nd century. It is recorded that he was a disciple of the Apostle John, and was ordained as Bishop of Smyrna by John himself. He is often remembered for his steadfast faith and witness in the face of his martyrdom in AD 160, but his extant writings are also notable for his battle against gnosticism. Eusebius records the following humourous events in Polycarp's life:



Appalled at the gnostic heretics he encountered in his waning years, he shouted out, "O good God! For what times hast thou kept me, that I should endure such things!"

He recalled that one time while traveling with John, the two entered Ephesus' city baths, and upon finding early gnostic Cerinthus there, both rushed out, exclaiming, "Let us flee, lest even the bath-house fall in, for within is Cerinthus, the enemy of truth!"

On a visit to Rome, Polycarp met the heretic Marcion, who called on Polycarp to 'recognise him' - to which Polycarp replied, "I recognise you... I recognise the firstborn of Satan."
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A a privately-produced film featuring Polycarp's life and death is set to come out in the near future; for more information on that, check out Polycarp: Destroyer of Gods.

Tatian on the Logos

 

The Logos has really become one of my favourite topics, and the Fathers of the Early Church are consistently a flowing source of insight on the Trinity. In the same vein as Tertullian's words, here is another interesting discussion on the subject. In his work Address to the Greeks, Tatian, an Assyrian theologian whose harmony of the four gospels was very popular in the 2nd century church, writes the following in a chapter entitled "The Doctrine of the Christians as to the Creation of the World":

        God was in the beginning; but the beginning, we have been taught, is the power of the Logos. For the Lord of the universe, who is Himself the necessary ground (ὑπόστασις) of all being, inasmuch as no creature was yet in existence, was alone; but inasmuch as He was all power, Himself the necessary ground of things visible and invisible, with Him were all things; with Him, by Logos-power (διὰ λογικῆς δυνάμεως), the Logos Himself also, who was in Him, subsists.

        And by His simple will the Logos springs forth; and the Logos, not coming forth in vain, becomes the first-begotten work of the Father. Him (the Logos) we know to be the beginning of the world. But He came into being by participation, not by abscission; for what is cut off is separated from the original substance, but that which comes by participation, making its choice of function, does not render him deficient from whom it is taken. For just as from one torch many fires are lighted, but the light of the first torch is not lessened by the kindling of many torches, so the Logos, coming forth from the Logos-power of the Father, has not divested of the Logos-power Him who begat Him.

        I myself, for instance, talk, and you hear; yet, certainly, I who converse do not become destitute of speech (λόγος) by the transmission of speech, but by the utterance of my voice I endeavour to reduce to order the unarranged matter in your minds. And as the Logos, begotten in the beginning, begat in turn our world, having first created for Himself the necessary matter, so also I, in imitation of the Logos, being begotten again, and having become possessed of the truth, am trying to reduce to order the confused matter which is kindred with myself. For matter is not, like God, without beginning, nor, as having no beginning, is of equal power with God; it is begotten, and not produced by any other being, but brought into existence by the Framer of all things alone.

The Christian Community in the 2nd Century

          Every once in a while, you read something that simply makes you excited about your Christian faith - whether it's a great sermon, an insightful blog post, or - as in this case - an ancient document. The Epistle to Diognetus is an apologetic treatise written by an anonymous author who was apparently well versed in elegant Greek. Likely penned between 120 and 200 AD, it was not well circulated, as neither Eusebius nor any other early church Father mentions it. The writer addresses himself in chapter 11, stating, "Although I am an instructor of the Gentiles now, I was a pupil of the Apostles once; and what was delivered to me then, I now minister faithfully to students of the truth." (Realistically however, anyone who believed the creed and adhered to the traditional early Christian lifestyle could call oneself a 'pupil of the Apostles'.) The fact that the author refers to Jesus Christ as "the Word" [Logos] reveals that he may have been a Johannine Christian. The epistle's contents hint that the author may have been Justin Martyr.

          The letter opens with a greeting to "my lord Diognetus", likely a nobleman, who is stated to have professed a "deep interest... in Christianity." (While unlikely to be the same man, the private tutor/teacher to Marcus Aurelius was named Diognetus.) The short chapters that follow involve the author detailing the superstitious follies of Paganism, the rigid scrupulousness of Judaism, the characteristics of a true Christian community, the reasons behind the persecution of Believers, the supernatural nature of the Christian revelation and mysterious incarnation, and a list of practical conclusions and a call for an inward reception of Christ the Word [Logos].

          It was chapter 5's detailing of the characteristics of a Christian community that caught my eye. I would hope that these words, written centuries ago to a unbeliever very much interested in the beliefs of Christianity, would echo true of today's community of Believers:

          "The difference between Christians and the rest of mankind is not a matter of nationality, or language, or customs. Christians do not live apart in separate cities of their own, speak any special dialect, nor practise any eccentric way of life. The doctrine they profess is not the invention of busy human minds and brains, nor are they, like some, adherents to this or that school of human thought. They pass their lives in whatever township - Greek or foreign - each man's lot has determined; and conform to ordinary local usage in their clothing, diet, and other habits."
 
          "Nevertheless the organisation of their community does exhibit some features that are remarkable, and even surprising. For instance, thought they are residents at home in their own countries, their behaviour is more like that of transients; they take their full part as citizens, but they also submit to anything and everything as if they were aliens. For them, any foreign country is a motherland, and any motherland is a foreign country. Like other men, they marry and beget children, though they do not expose their infants. Any Christian is free to share his neighbour's table, but never his marriage bed."
 
          "Though destiny has placed them here in the flesh, they do not live after the flesh; their days are passed on the earth, but their citizenship is above in the heavens. They obey the prescribed laws, but in their own private lives they transcend the laws. They show love to all men - and all men persecute them. They are misunderstood, and condemned, yet by suffering and death they are quickened to life. They are poor, yet making many rich; lacking all things, yet having all things in abundance. They are dishonoured, yet made glorious in their very dishonour; slandered yet vindicated. They repay calumny with blessings, and abuse with courtesy. For the good they do, they suffer stripes as evildoers; and under the strokes they rejoice like men given new life. Jews assail them as heretics, and Greeks harass them with persecutions; and yet of all their ill-wishers there is not one who can produce good grounds for his hostility."

This text is from the 1987 Penguin Classics edition of Early Christian Writings: The Apostolic Fathers, translated by Maxwell Staniforth, edited by Andrew Louth.

Tertullian on the Logos

"In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with God, and the Logos was God... And the Logos became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." - John 1:1, 14 [NKJV]

Most English Bibles today translate the Greek term Logos as 'word', though it can also mean 'reason', 'thought', 'mind', 'message', and 'wisdom'. God imparted His Logos to the fallen physical world in the form of the Messiah, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, and through His sacrifice laid upon Him the sins of the world, saving all those who believe and call upon His name. [Isaiah 53:6, Acts 16:31]

Crafting a clear and solid description of the Logos, however, can be a daunting task, but the writings of the Apostolic Fathers can provide excellent answers for such questions.

I recently finished Paul Pavao's excellent book, In the Beginning was the Logos: The Council of Nicea for Everyman, which earns my accolades as one of the clearest and most accessible books ever written about the history and theology of the early church. Chapter 17 deals wholly with the discussion of the Trinity and the Logos, not just at the Council of Nicea, but also in written works throughout the first several centuries of Christianity. Pages 316-318 highlight some of the fantastic words of Tertullian (c. 160 - c. 225 AD), whose work Against Praxeas describes the Logos in relation to God:

          "Observe, then, that when you are silently conversing with yourself, this very process is carried on within you by your reason, which meets you with a word at every movement of your thought... Whatever you think, there is a word... You must speak it in your mind."[5] 

          "I would not hesitate... to call a tree the son or offspring of the root, and the river of the spring, and the ray of the sun. Every original source is a parent, and everything which issues from the origin is an offspring. Much more is the Word of God, who has actually received as his own peculiar designation the name of Son."

          "But still the tree is not severed from the root, nor the river from the spring, nor the ray from the sun. Nor, indeed, is the Word [Logos] separated from God."

          "Following, therefore, the form of these analogies, I confess that I call God and his Word, the Father and his Son, two. For the root and the tree are distinctly two things, but correlatively joined. The spring and the river are also two forms, but indivisible. So likewise the sun and the ray are two forms, but coherent ones." [8]

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Pavao summarizes Tertullian's view on his page devoted to the Early Christian Definition of the Trinity as the following: "In other words, there was a time when the Logos of God was inside of God. God was alone, but he had fellowship with his own Logos inside of him. When it was time to create the world, it was then that God birthed the Word as the second person of the Trinity."

It is worth noting that Tertullian was the first theologian to use the word "Trinity" (in Latin, Trinitas), though a similar term had been used earlier by Theophilus of Antioch, being the Greek word Triados.

The Evangelists and Their Sources

Here's another interesting introductory document, The Evangelists and Their Sources by Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons in the late 2nd century. Though some of the actual historicity of these statements may be debatable, this provides a concise and informative history of the Gospels and their authors from the proto-orthodox period:



"Matthew published his gospel among the Hebrews in their own tongue [Aramaic], when Peter and Paul were preaching the Gospel in Rome and founding the church there. After their departure, Mark, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, himself handed down to us in writing the substance of Peter's preaching. Luke, the follower of Paul, set down in a book the gospel preached by his teacher. Then John, the disciple of the Lord, who also leaned on his breast, himself produced his gospel, while he was living at Ephesus in Asia [Minor]. If anyone does not agree to these truths, he despises the companions of the Lord... He despises the Father also, and stands self-condemned, resisting and opposing his own salvation." [Against Heresies III:1:1]

The Didache on: The Weekly Meeting

          On the heels of my last post, the weekly meeting of the church is also mentioned in The Didache, in a concise form that differs with Justin Martyr's description. As a note, The Didache - also known as The Teachings of the Twelve Apostles - was first discovered in manuscript form inside a monastery in Constantinople, in 1883. Written sometime between the late 1st and early 3rd centuries, the document likely served as a handbook for new Christians, outlining the lifestyle necessary for church membership. In his Festal Letter [39:7], Athanasius declares The Didache to be among the list of books "not included in the [Biblical] Canon, but appointed by the Fathers to be read by those who newly join us, and who wish for instruction in the word of godliness." This particular chapter would be an introduction to the church meeting, rather than a in-depth account.

"Concerning the Lord's Day"

from chapter XIV of The Didache

          On the Lord's own day gather together and break bread and give thanks, having first confessed your sins so that your sacrifice may be pure. But let no one who has a quarrel with a companion join you until they have been reconciled, so that your sacrifice may not be defiled. For this is the sacrifice concerning which the Lord said, "In every place and time offer me a pure sacrifice, for I am a great king, says the Lord, and my name is marvelous among the nations [Malachi 1:11, 14]."

The Weekly Meeting, circa 150 AD...

          What did 'going to church' look like in Christianity's first 100 years or so? Obviously the book of Acts is our best source, but I was browsing through Henry Bettenson's Documents of the Christian Church and stumbled across a concise passage describing the weekly meeting of Christians during the 2nd century. If this description sounds similar to your church/congregation/fellowship services, you're probably on a good path.

"Weekly Worship of Christians" 

from chapter LXVII [67] of Justin Marty's Apology: 

          
          "Now we always thereafter remind one another of these things; and those that have the means assist them that are in need, and we visit one another continually. And at all our meals we bless the maker of all things through his son Jesus Christ and through the Holy Ghost."

          "And on the day which is called the day of the sun, there is an assembly of all who live in the towns or in the country; and the memoirs of the Apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits. Then the reader ceases, and the president speaks, admonishing us and exhorting us to to imitate these excellent examples. Then we arise all together and offer prayers; and as said before, when we have concluded our prayer, bread is brought, and wine and water, and the president in like manner offers up prayers and thanksgivings with all his might; and the people assent with "Amen"; and there is the distribution and partaking by all of the Eucharistic elements; and to them that are not present they are sent by the hand of the deacons. And they that are prosperous and wish to do so give what they will, each after his choice. What is collected is deposited with the president, who gives aid to the orphans and widows, and as such as are in want by reason of sickness or other cause; and to those also that are in prison, and to strangers from abroad, in fact to all that are in need he is a protector."
         
          "We hold our common assembly on the day of the sun, because it is the first day, on which God put to flight darkness and chaos and made the world, and on the same day Jesus Christ our saviour rose from the dead; for on the day before that of Saturn they crucified him; and on the day after Saturn's day, the day of the sun, he appeared to his Apostles and disciples and taught them these things, which we have also handed on to you for your consideration."

          Thus, as tradition, documents, other historical writings dictate, members of the  Christian community met on Sunday in one building or another, typically someone's home or a public or private meeting area. (There was no 'church' per se, because the body of believers IS 'the church', something Lollards fiercely adhere to.) There, they would:

- Read passages of the Old and New Testaments for "as long as time permits."
- Have the chief elder [president/presbyter] teach and exhort those present to follow the examples from the passages that had just been read.
- Have public prayer.
- Have communion.
- Take an offering for the orphans, widows, the sick and imprisoned, and other friends and strangers in need.