DRAFT
OF A CHAPTER
Charles
P. Poole, Jr.
CONTENTS
1.
Introduction
2. The Catechism of the Catholic Church
3. First and Second Century Writings
4. Writings
for Inclusion in the NT Canon
5.
Written Documents of Early Tradition
6.
Creeds
7. Didache or Teaching
of the Twelve Apostles
8.
Epistles of Ignatius of
9.
First Epistle of Clement of
10. Second Epistle of Clement
11. Epistle of Barnabas
12. Fragments of Papias
13. Shepherd of Hermas
14. Epistle
of Polycarp to the Philippians
15. Martyrdom of Polycarp
16. Epistle to Diogentus
17. Apologies
Against the Gentiles by Justin Martyr
18. Dialogue
with the Jew Trypho by Justin Martyr
19. Muratorian Fragment
20. Against Heresies by Irenaeus of
21.
Presentation of the Apostolic Teaching by Irenaeus
22. Diatessaron of Tatian
Table 1. Proposed New Testament
Canons
1. Introduction
One
of the main differences between Catholics and Protestants is their respective
beliefs on the sources of Revelation.
Protestants follow the lead of Martin Luther in asserting sola scriptura or
scripture alone as the source, while Catholics maintain that there are two
sources, scriptura traditioque,
or Scripture and Tradition.
To
put into sharp relief the magnitude of this difference in
attitude consider a Protestant who approaches a Catholic and says “I
would like to offer you a bible so you can read the source of Revelation that
both of us esteem so highly. I
understand that Catholics accept both Scripture and Tradition as sources of
their beliefs. Could you loan me a book
that presents Tradition so I can find out what it is? How would the Catholic answer him? Is there such a book in existence, or does
one have to consult a library full of books?
Since Tradition has equal importance with Scripture there really should
be such a book so Catholics could read it from time to time, meditate on it, and
become familiar with Tradition. When I
posed this question to myself, and queried my Catholic friends about it, the
diversity, and in some cases the vagueness, of the replies prompted me to
investigate the subject, and write this chapter on it. It is clear, of course, that the beliefs that both Catholics
and Protestants jointly profess when they say the Apostles Creed or the Nicene
Creed are based firmly on both Scripture and Tradition, so Tradition must have
some influence on our joint beliefs. The
question is “How important and how extensive is this influence?” We will proceed to investigate that.
Two
of the priests to whom I posed the question of the previous paragraph said that
they would give the Protestant inquirer a Catechism. This is an excellent answer since much of
what is in the Catechism has come down to us through Tradition. In its Index of Citations the Catechism lists
works from some of the Apostolic Fathers that are discussed in this chapter,
including Barnabas, Clement of Rome, Hermas, Ignatius
of Antioch, Irenaeus, and Justin Martyr.
2. The Catechism of the
Catholic Church
The
Catechism of the Catholic Church (
“What
Christ entrusted to the Apostles, they in turn handed on by
their preaching and writing, under
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit,
to all generations, until God comes in glory” (# 96).
“Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture make up a single
sacred
deposit of the Word of God, in which, as in a mirror, the
Pilgrim
Church contemplates God, the source of all her riches” (# 97).
Much of what we know from Tradition is found in the
decrees of the first four ecumenical councils (Nicaea
325 AD, Constantinople 381, Ephesus 431 and Chalcedon
451), and in the consensus of the writings of popes, patriarchs, and other
leaders and teachers of the first few centuries of Christianity, men whom we
designate as Fathers of the Church. In
the Glossary of the Second Edition of the Catechism the Fathers of the Church
are defined as
“Church
teachers and writers of the early centuries whose teachings
are a witness to the Tradition of the Church (see # 78 and #
688).”
3. First and Second Century Writings.
There
were a large number of writers in the early Church, and many documents have
come down to us. Since Tradition is
“What Christ entrusted to the Apostles, they in turn handed on by their
preaching and writing,” one might expect the surviving documents that are from
the first century, and perhaps from the early or middle second century, to be
the most significant. Several works that
were under serious consideration for inclusion in the canon of the New
Testament (NT) Scriptures, but never made it, are also of especial
significance. Authors
who knew one or more of the apostles, and disciples of these authors, would
seem to be particularly important witnesses.
There is a great variety of types of writings that have survived. Those written by the Church Fathers are, for
the most part, authentic and orthodox.
Others, written by misguided individuals ranging from some with an
overactive imagination to actual heretics, proclaim teachings at variance with
our beliefs. It is the Magisterium, or the teaching authority of the Church, which
many centuries ago decided which writings were authentic, and which were
not. We will comment on various types of
these early writings.
An
Apostolic Father is an early Christian writer who had contact with the
apostles, or perhaps with someone who knew an apostle. For example, Barnabas was a companion of Paul; Polycarp
(70-155), bishop of
4. Writings for Inclusion in the NT Canon
There
are two fourth century and three fifth century Greek
codices or manuscripts of the New Testament that are either complete or fairly
complete. Historically these constitute
the sources from which our authentic New Testament text was compiled. The
fourth century Codex Sinaiticus (!), now preserved at the
British Library in
The
inclusion of five early writings in such important codices made some leaders of
the early Church conclude that they belonged in the official canon of the Scriptures. They were certainly held in high esteem by
the Fathers of the Church, and they provide us with important information about
the beliefs, organization, and liturgical practices of the
Scholars
have in their possession four canonical lists of books which various writers
had proposed for inclusion in the canon or listing of New Testament books prior
to the official establishment of the canon at the North African Synod of Hippo
in 393 AD. These lists were from Origen, Eusebius of Caesarea, Athanasius,
and the Muratorian Fragment. The contents of these lists are summarized in
Table 1 below.
Origen (184-254) accepted the four Gospels, the letters of
Paul, the First Letter of Peter, the First Letter of John, and the Book of
Revelation. He was not sure of the Second
and Third letters of John, and he said that the Second
Letter of Peter was a disputed document.
Eusebius (265-340) in his History of the Church listed books which he
judged to be recognized, disputed, and rejected. The recognized books were the four gospels,
Acts, thirteen epistles of Paul, the First Epistle of Peter, the First Epistle
of John, and the First Epistle of Clement.
Disputed books included Hebrews, the Epistle of James, the Second Epistle
of Peter, the Second and Third Epistles of John, Jude and Revelation. Eusebius
stated that the disputed books are known to most church people. Rejected books included the Didache, the Shepherd of Hermas,
the Second Epistle of Clement, the Epistle of Barnabas, the Gospel, the Acts,
the Preaching, and the Apocalypse of Peter, the Acts of Paul, of Andrew and of
John, as well as the Gospels of Thomas, of Matthias, and according to the
Hebrews. The canon of Athanasius (295-373) was the 27 book listing that was later
proclaimed as official at the Synod of Hippo.
In 1780 L. A. Muratori discovered in the Ambrosian Library in
The
Proceedings of the Synod of Hippo are no longer in existence, but four years
later (397) the Third Synod of Carthage confirmed as canonical the twenty-seven
books that have subsequently been universally recognized as constituting the
New Testament. The Proceedings of this
Synod end with the comment that the “transmarine Church” (i.e.
5. Written Documents of
Early Tradition
I
used criteria embedded in the above Sections 3 and 4 to assemble what I judged
to be the authentic early Church writings so I could read them and become
acquainted with this Early Tradition of the Church. By “early” I mean prior to the year 300.
Shortly thereafter, the Edict of Milan (315 AD) proclaimed religious freedom in
the
In
the next few sections we will comment on the authentic early writings of the
Church. There are also many other early
writings such as apocryphal gospels, acts of the apostles, apocalypses,
epistles, etc., which are speculative, fanciful, and in many cases gnostic or otherwise heretical in content. These will not be commented upon here, but
will be discussed in another chapter called “Apocryphal Gospels, Acts of the Apostles,
and Apocalypses of the New Testament.”
Eusebius specifically rejected many of these, as was noted above.
In
teaching first and second century catechumens the truths of our faith, it was
found convenient to have brief summaries of what we believe. Catechumens are unbaptized
aspirants seeking to join the Church; those already baptized are called
candidates. A creed used at the end of the fourth century was attributed to the
apostles themselves. An opinion
expressed in the sixth century attributed each of its twelve articles to an
individual apostle. The
present text of the Symbolum Apostolicum
or Apostles Creed dates from the sixth century. The first part of the longer so-called Nicene
Creed was formulated at the Council of Nicaea in 325
AD, and the second part was added at the first Council of Constantinople in 381
AD. The even longer Athanasian
Creed, also referred to by its first word in Latin Quicumque, has been (probably
erroneously) ascribed to Athanasius (d. 373 AD) since
the seventh century. These creeds are
part of Tradition.
7. Didache or Teaching
of the Twelve Apostles
The Didache ()4*"P0, Greek for teaching) is a
relatively short treatise which served the ancients as a model for later
writings such as Didascalia and the Apostolic
Constitutions. It is the oldest
patristic document,
dating from perhaps 90-120 AD, depending on the assignee. It was lost during the Middle Ages until a
1056 AD manuscript was discovered in
The
Way of Life is loving God and each other, and the Way
of Death is disobeying The ten Commandments.
The text explicitly states “Do not kill a fetus by an abortion,” so the
Church’s position on abortion dates back to the first patristic document in
existence. The section on the Eucharist includes a short Eucharistic Prayer
with similarities to the Eucharistic prayers that we now hear at
We
give thee thanks, Our Father, for the life and knowledge
which Thou hast made known to us through Jesus Thy
Servant.
To
thee be the glory forevermore.
and again:
Remember,
O Lord, Thy Church, deliver her from all evil.
Perfect
her in Thy love, and from the four winds assemble her,
the sanctified, in Thy kingdom, which Thou hast prepared for
her.
For
Thine is the power and the
glory forevermore.
It is surprising that the cup is mentioned before
the bread in this document. The presence of this relatively long section on the
Eucharist shows that the Mass was an important worship service of first century
Christians. Concerning the Lord’s Day
the Didache says: “On the Lord’s Day assemble in
common to break bread and offer thanks, but first confess your sins so that
your sacrifice may be pure.” Thus the
Mass of antiquity, like our present day Mass, had a penitential rite. The Didache then
mentions that worthy men should be elected bishops and deacons, without
distinguishing their respective ministries.
Presbyters are not mentioned. The
final section on eschatology cautions all to be ready because we do not know
when the Lord is coming.
8. Epistles of Ignatius of
St.
Ignatius, one of the Apostolic Fathers, was the third bishop of
To
the Ephesians he wrote “Pray constantly,” and “Make an effort, then, to meet
more frequently to celebrate God’s Eucharist and to offer praise.” He sent greetings to the bishop, to the
presbyters, and to the deacon of Magnesia.
He warned the Trallians against paying
attention to heresies. He mentioned in
the letter to the Romans: “Bread of God is what I desire; that is, the Flesh of
Jesus Christ, who was of the seed of David; and for my drink I desire His
Blood, that is incorruptible life.” He
made several interesting comments to the Philadelphians. a) They should be “one
with the bishop and his assistants, the presbyters and deacons, that have been
appointed in accordance with the wish of Jesus Christ,” b) “Where the shepherd is you, being sheep, must
follow,” c) “Take care, then, to partake of one Eucharist, for one is the flesh
of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and one the cup to unite us to His Blood,” and d) “If
a man runs after a schismatic, he shall not inherit the Kingdom of God.” To the Smyrnaeans
he wrote, “The Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ . . . Follow
the lead of the bishop, as Jesus Christ followed that of the Father; follow the
presbytery as you would the apostles; reverence the deacons as you would God’s
commandment,” and
“Where the bishop appears there let the people of God be, just as where Jesus
Christ is, there is the Catholic Church.”
This is the first
appearance of the expression “Catholic Church” in Christian
literature. Finally let me mention one
short comment from the last letter to Polycarp: “Read
the signs of the times.”
9. First Epistle of Clement of
St.
Clement of
Clement
begins by apologizing for his tardiness “in giving our attention to the
subjects of dispute in your community.”
Notice that he uses the plural form “our attention” as subsequent popes
became accustomed to using. He calls the
dispute “that execrable and godless schism so utterly foreign to the elect of
God. And it is only a few rash and
headstrong individuals that have inflamed it to such a degree of madness that your venerable, widely renowned, and universally and
deservedly cherished name has been greatly defamed.” He went on to praise the Corinthians for
their charity and their virtuous lives until jealousy and envy, strife and
sedition entered the picture. He gave
examples of jealousy and sedition from the scriptures, such as the cases of
Cain and Abel, Aaron and Miriam, and David persecuted by Saul. He then gave examples of faithful behavior,
such as the obedience of Abraham,
He
urges the Corinthians to “Turn away from evil and do what is good,” to bring
the schism to an end. He talked about
how the Apostles had “from among their earliest converts appointed men whom
they had tested by the Spirit to act as bishops and deacons for the future
believers.” He acknowledged that the Corinthians are “well acquainted with the sacred
scriptures,” so “we write these things merely to serve as a reminder.” Then toward the end of the letter, after much
polite verbiage, Clement comes to the point “You, therefore, the prime movers
of the schism, submit to the presbyters and, bending the knees of your hearts,
accept correction and change your minds.
Learn submissiveness, and rid yourselves of your boastful and proud
incorrigibility of tongue.” The letter
ends on a hopeful note, with a request that the Corinthians
send back “our representatives . . . at an early convenience, full of peace and
joy, that they may without delay bring tidings of peace and concord, the
subject of our ardent desire, and that we in turn may without delay rejoice in
your tranquility.”
10. Second Epistle of Clement
The so-called
Second Epistle of Clement was not written by Clement, and it is really a sermon
rather than a letter. It contains a
series of exhortations supported by quotations from sayings of Jesus, the Scriptures,
and various apostolic writings. For
example, there is the paraphrase of Matt. 7:21 “Not everyone who says to me
‘Lord, Lord’ will be saved, but only the one who does righteousness.”
11. Epistle of Barnabas
The
Greek manuscript of the Epistle of Barnabas is found in the fourth century
Codex Sinaiticus which also contains the Didache and the Shepherd of Hermas,
along with the entire New Testament.
Some Fathers of the Church attribute the authorship of this letter to
Barnabas, the disciple of Paul, but most scholars doubt this, and consider it
as having an unknown author. The name
Barnabas appears nowhere in the document.
This
epistle has two parts to it. The first
85% is a dogmatic part concerning the Old Law and the Covenant interspersed
with exhortations, and the final 15% discusses Christian morality. The epistle was written in a climate in which
there was a very strong influence from the Judaizers
who wanted the Church to be based directly on, or to be a direct offshoot of,
Judaism. To counteract this influence
the author explains that Moses had the Covenant but he lost it, and it has been
passed on to Christians. The Christians
have become heirs to the Covenant that was rejected by the Jewish people. For example, concerning the Covenant the
author says that “The Lord in person gave it to us (Christians) in order to
make us the people of inheritance by suffering for our sake.” These ideas are developed in a very leisurely
manner, supported by a large number of quotations and examples from the Old Testament. All of this resembles the theme of the New
Testament book Hebrews which emphasizes that the Old Testament was a
preparation for the New. Hebrews
proclaims the exalted dignity of Jesus Christ as the High Priest of the New
Covenant. The letter of Barnabas argues
that since the OT foreshadows the New it is wrong for Christians to cling to
the Old, as the Judaizers do.
The
final part of this document examines the two ways of instruction, the two
powers, those of Light and that of Darkness.
This is a theme that dominates the Didache. The Way of Light entails loving and
glorifying our creator, and obeying his commandments; the Way of Darkness or
Death involves every form of hypocrisy, and the neglect of the commandments of
the Lord. The author sums up “When one
has learned the just demands of the Lord, as contained in the scriptures, the
proper thing is to make them the rule of one’s life.”
12. Fragments of Papias
Papias (c. 60 to c. 135) was the bishop of
Fragment
2 mentions Mark being the interpreter of Peter who wrote down what Peter told
him the Lord had said. This probably
refers to the Gospel of Mark. Papias also mentions that “Matthew, at any rate, used the
Hebrew language in his exposition of the Gospel.” Fragment 4 says “Judas did not die by the
halter, but after being taken down, lived on before choking to death.” Concerning the apostle and evangelist John,
Fragments 11 and 13 say, respectively: “Some have erroneously believed the Apocalypse
(i.e. Revelation) to be this man’s work,” and “John’s Gospel was made public
and given to the Churches by John while he was still in the flesh.”
13. Shepherd of Hermas
The
Shepherd of Hermas, sometimes referred to simply as
the Shepherd, is part of the fourth century manuscript Codex Sinaiticus. St. Irenaeus and Tertullian
considered “The Shepherd” as Scripture,
Clement of Alexandria and Origen cite it with
respect, and the latter claimed that the person Hermas
mentioned by Paul in Romans 26:14 was the author. Hermas himself was
a freed slave who became a rich merchant, lost his possessions, then did
penance for his past sins. He may have
been the brother of the 11th Pope Pius I (140-155AD).
The book
consists of five visions, twelve mandates or commandments, and ten similitudes or parables, in that order. In the second vision an elderly woman who
represents the Church says to Hermas “You will write
two little books, sending one to Clement and the other to Grapte. Clement will send his to the foreign cities,
for this is his commission. But Grapte will admonish the widows and orphans. And you will read yours in this city, with
the presbyters who lead the Church.”
Clement I of
After
the visions the messenger from God said to Hermas
“Write the commandments and parables that you may read them regularly and so be
able to keep them.” The commandments are
to believe in one God, to avoid slander, to be truthful, to be chaste in thought
and deed, to be long-suffering, to have faith and fear of the Lord, to observe
continence, to be cheerful and humble, and to avoid evil desires. The parables are presented as visions
explained by an angel.
The overall tone of the book is the importance of
the exercise of Christian virtues. Thus
the tone is ethical rather than theological, urging all to repent for their
sins.
14. Epistle of Polycarp
to the Philippians
The
salutation is “Polycarp and his assistants the
presbyters to the
15. Martyrdom of Polycarp
The
document begins “The Church of God which resides as a stranger at
16. Epistle to Diogentus
The
tone of the Epistle to Diogentus is clear from its
opening sentence, “I
see, Diogentus, that you are very much in earnest
about investigating the religion of the Christians, and you make very exact and
careful inquiries concerning them.” The
author is unknown, and the recipient is also unknown, but he seems to be an
upper class pagan. Because of this,
scripture is rarely cited, and current heresies are not mentioned. Diogentus is asking three questions: a) why do Christians
reject both pagan gods and the practices of the Jews?,
b) what motivates their love for each other?, and c) why did Christianity
arrive so late in world history? In
reply to the first question the Jews are praised for “claiming to honor one
God, the Lord of the Universe,” then they are ridiculed for “that fussiness of
theirs in the matter of foods, their superstition about the Sabbath, their
bragging about their circumcision, and the show they make of fast days and new
moons.” Both the Jews and the pagans
are in the wrong for
offering burnt animal sacrifices to their respective gods. Christians rightly reject the worship of
man-made idols.
The
response to the second question is “Christians reside in their respective countries,
but only as aliens .
. .. They spend their days on earth, but hold citizenship in heaven . . .. They love all men, but are persecuted by all . . .. They are poor, and enrich many . . .. They are reviled, and they bless . . .. What the soul is
to the body, that the Christians are to the world.” With respect to the third question, until now
God had been observing a world dominated by “unruly passions - victims of
unbridled desires.” It was God’s
“intention that we, after our own conduct in the past had proved us unworthy of
life, should now be rendered worthy by the goodness of God, and that, after we
had demonstrated our inability, as much as we could, to enter the
17. Apologies Against
the Gentiles by Justin Martyr
The
Apologists were second century Christian writers who defended the Church, and
often verbally attacked its enemies.
Their aim was to refute slanders against the Church, to petition for the
repeal of unjust laws against Christians, and to demonstrate the truth of
Christianity. The main charges being
made against Christianity were a) sexual immorality and cannibalism, b) atheism
(refusal to adore idols), and c) being bad citizens and enemies of
progress.
Justin
Martyr wrote two Apologies, the second shorter one serving as a summary of, and
a conclusion, to the first. The first
Apology is addressed to Emperor Antonius Pius, to his
philosopher son Verissimus, and to the philosopher Lucius. The first part of Apology I refutes
charges that had been made against Christians, and the second part is an
explanation of the truth of Christianity.
Apology
I says at the beginning “It is our task to offer you an opportunity of inspecting
our life and teachings . . .. If, having learned the truth you fail to do
what is righteous, you have no defense before God.” Justin makes a remarkable assertion “You are
able to kill us, but not to harm us.”
He complains that individuals are convicted of being criminals when they
admit that they are Christians, and they are exonerated by simply affirming
that they are not Christians, irrespective of their deeds. He quotes Scripture to refute the charge of
immorality “Whoever looks upon a woman to lust after her has already committed
adultery with her in his heart before God” (Matt
18. Dialogue with the Jew Trypho
by Justin Martyr
The
long Dialogue with the learned Jew Trypho probably
lasted for two days. Chapters 2 to 8 are
autobiographical, and provide good background.
Part I (Chap. 9 to 47) presents a Christian perspective on the Old
Testament, emphasizing that Jewish rituals lacked a permanent significance. Part II (Chap. 48 to 108) shows that
worshiping Jesus is not in opposition to monotheism, and Part
19. Muratorian Fragment
The Muratorian Fragment, often referred to as the Muratorian Canon, is a proposed list of books that an
unknown author claims should be included in the official canon of the Scriptures. It probably dated back to the second half of
the second century, although it did not come to light until its discovery by L.
A. Muratori in the Ambrosian
Library in
Table 1 below summarizes this information.
20. Against Heresies by Irenaeus of
Irenaeus, sometimes called the Father of dogmatic theology,
was the most important second century theologian. He was a third generation Christian leader
since he had been a disciple of Polycarp, who himself
had listened in person to the Apostle John in his youth.
Irenaeus dedicated much of his energy to refuting Gnostic
heresies. His main work on this subject
is Against Heresies, or Adversus Haereses,
which consists of five volumes. In Vol. 1
he recounts the history of Gnosticism, describes its beliefs, and explains why
they are wrong. He discusses Simon
Magnus, Menander, and other leaders of various gnostic sects. In
the second, third and fourth books he refutes Gnosticism successively from
reason, from the doctrine of the Church, and from the sayings of the Lord. Book five treats the resurrection of the
flesh, which the Gnostics deny, and ends with a discussion of the millenium.
Chapter
1 of Book I is entitled “The Valentinians’
Absurd Explanation of the Origin of the Aeons.” To me this chapter was both totally confusing
and totally absurd, but I will do my best to paraphrase some of it. Many
will probably prefer to skip the next two paragraphs!
I do not blame them for this.
This
chapter is about divine beings called Aeons, and an
obscure system of numerology involving the numbers 1 (monad), 4 (tetrad), 8 (ogdoad), 10 (decad), and 12 (dodecad), with a total of thirty Aeons
in all (8+10+12=30). At the start there
was a First Being or Monad, i.e., a
first male divine being or Aeon called Profundity,
and along with him there existed a second female Aeon
called Thought. These two together
produced by emission two more Aeons called Mind and
Truth, to form a Pythagorean Tetrad (group of four) Aeons. The Tetrad is considered the root of all
things. By conjugal unions two more
pairs of Aeons were emitted, namely Word to Life, then finally Man to Church.
The result was an Ogdoad or group of eight Aeons. Word and Life
then emitted five more pairs of Aeons that form a Decad (group of ten), namely Profound and Mingling, Ageless
and Union, Self-Producing and Pleasure, Immobile and Blending, and
Only-Begotten and Happiness. Next Man
and Church emitted six more pairs of Aeons, with the
names: Advocate and Faith, Paternal and Hope, Maternal and Love, Praise and
Understanding, Ecclesiastic and Blessedness, and finally Desired and
Wisdom. Thus there are a total of thirty
Aeons in this Valentinian
system. This thirty-fold “invisible and spiritual fullness” is
tripartite, being divided into an Ogdoad (8), a decad (10) and a dodecad
(12).
Of
especial significance to the Gnostics is the numerology associated with the Aeon tripartite division into 8 + 10 + 12 = 30 divine
beings. This is why the Savior did no
work in public for 30 years. In the
Parable of the Vineyard the laborers were sent in to the vineyard at the 1st,
3rd, 6th, 9th and 11th hours, for a
total 1 + 3 + 6 + 9 + 11 = 30. They
claim that the Aeons have been indicated by these
hours. The emission of the dodecad (group of twelve) is evidenced by the Lord’s
dispute with the teachers in
In
Book
21. Presentation of the Apostolic Teaching by Irenaeus
This
work is variously called the Presentation, the Demonstration, and the Proof (¦B4*,4>4H) of the Apostolic
Teaching. It is addressed to Marcianus with the stated catechetical aim to give him “in
brief the exposition of the things of God” (#1). A more subtle aim is to confirm his faith so
he will be able to refute heretics. He
is admonished that “We must keep strictly, without deviation, the rule of
faith, and carry out the commands of God” (#3).
This
Presentation begins with an initial section on God and Creatures which
discusses God and the Trinity, angels, the creation of man and his fall. The next section reviews the various events of the Old Testament,
explaining how they predict and relate to the life, passion, death, and
resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ.
The final section discusses Christ in the New Law. There is an emphasis on the old dispensation
of Judaism as a preparation for the New Christian dispensation, and on the fulfilment of OT Prophecies constituting proof of the
genuineness of the Gospel message. The
book ends with an admonition against heretics who “Either
they despise the Father, or they do not accept the Son, they speak
against the dispensation of His Incarnation, or they do not accept the Spirit,
that is, they reject prophecy. And we must beware of all such men, and flee their ways” (#100).
22. Diatessaron of Tatian
Tatian was a Syrian convert who began his Christian life as
a disciple of Justin. Later he left the
Church and founded
the
The following table presents
tabulations of books under consideration by early Christian leaders for incorporation
in the Canon of the New Testament. The second column lists books included in
either the 4th century Codex Sinaiticus, or
the 5th century Codex Alexandrinus. The remaining columns show books contained in
the proposed canons of Athanasius, the Muratorian Fragment, Eusebius of Caesarea, and Origen. Those proposed for inclusion are indicated by
“Yes”, and those considered doubtful for inclusion are indicted by a question
mark. Blank spaces signify not on the list. The canon of Athanasius
was adopted by the Church at the Council of Hippo in 393 AD, and shortly
thereafter confirmed by
|
Book(s) |
Bible Codex |
Athanasius |
Muratorian |
Eusebius |
Origen |
|
4 Gospels |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Acts |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
|
13 Pauline Letters |
Yes |