God's Word or Human Words - Part 3

[Guest guest]

Dear All,

 

We concluded with the following:

 

(p.79) " Despite the diverse forms of early Christianity--and perhaps because of

them--the movement spread rapidly, so that by the end of the second century

Christian groups were proliferating throughout the empire, despite attempts to

stop them. (p.80) Tertullian boasted to outsiders that " the more we are mown

down by you, the more we multiply; the blood of Christians is seed! " [9] Defiant

rhetoric, however, could not solve the problem that he and other Christian

leaders faced: How could they strengthen and unify this enormously diverse and

widespread movement, so it could survive its enemies? "

 

Beyond Belief (The Secret Gospel of Thomas), Chapter 3, p. 79

 

Note:

 

[9] Tertullian, 'Apology' 50.

 

Here now, is Part 3.

 

violet

 

 

 

God's Word or Human Words - Part 3

 

(p.80) Tertullian's younger contemporary Irenaeus, often identified as bishop of

Lyons, himself had experienced the hostility Tertullian was talking about, first

in his native town of Smyrna (Izmir, in today's Turkey) and then in the rough

provincial town of Lyons, in Gaul (now France). Irenaeus also witnessed the

fractiousness that divided Christian groups. As a boy he had lived in the

household of his teacher Polycarp, the venerable bishop of Smyrna, whom even his

enemies called the teacher of Asia Minor. [10] Although he knew that they were

scattered in many small groups throughout the world, Irenaeus shared Polycarp's

hope that Christians everywhere would come to see themselves as members of a

single church they called catholic, which means " universal. " [11] To unify this

worldwide community, Polycarp urged its members to reject all deviants.

According to Irenaeus, Polycarp liked to tell how his own mentor, " John, the

disciple of the Lord " --and the same person whom tradition reveres as the author

of the Gospel of John--once went to the public baths in Ephesus, but, seeing

Cerinthus, whom he regarded as a heretic, John " ran out of the bath house

without bathing, exclaiming, 'Let us flee, lest the bath house fall down;

because Cerinthus, the enemy of the truth, is inside.' " When Irenaeus repeated

this story, he added another to show how Polycarp himself treated heretics.

(p.81) When the influential but controversial Christian teacher Marcion

confronted the bishop and asked him, " Do you recognize me? " Polycarp replied,

" Yes, I recognize you--firstborn of Satan! " [12]

 

Irenaeus says that he tells these stories to show " the horror that the apostles

and their disciples had against even speaking with those who corrupt the truth. "

[13] But his stories also show what troubled Irenaeus: that even two generations

after the author of the Gospel of John qualified the claims of Peter Christians

and confronted Thomas Christians, the movement remained contentious and divided.

Polycarp himself denounced people who, he charged, " bear the [Christian] name

with evil deceit " [14] because what they teach often differs from what he had

learned from his own teachers. Irenaeus, in turn, believed that he practiced

true Christianity, for he could link himself directly to the time of Jesus

through Polycarp, who personally had heard Jesus' teaching from John himself,

" the disciple of the Lord. " [15] Convinced that this disciple wrote the Gospel

of John, Irenaeus was among the first to champion this gospel and link it

forever to Mark, Matthew, and Luke. His contemporary Tatian, a brilliant Syrian

student of Justin Martyr the philosopher, killed by Rusticus, took a different

approach: he tried to unify the various gospels by rewriting all of them into a

single text. [16] Irenaeus left the texts intact but declared that only Matthew,

Mark, Luke, and John 'collectively'--and only these gospels

'exclusively'--constitute the 'whole' gospel, which he called the " four formed

gospel. " [17] Only these four gospels, Irenaeus believed, were written by

eyewitnesses to events through which God has sent salvation to humankind. [18]

This four gospel canon was to become a powerful weapon in Irenaeus's campaign to

unify and consolidate the Christian movement during his lifetime, and it has

remained a basis of orthodox teaching ever since.

 

Beyond Belief (The Secret Gospel of Thomas), Chapter 3, p. 80-81

Elaine Pagels

Vintage Books, New York, U.S.A

ISBN: 0-375-70316-0

 

Notes:

 

[10] 'Martyrdom of St. Polycarp' 12.

 

[11] So, at least, the author of his Martyrdom represents him; see chapter 8.

 

[12] Irenaeus, AH 3.3.4.

 

[13] Ibid.

 

[14] Polycarp, 'Letter to the Philippians' 6.3.

 

[15] Irenaeus, AH 3.3.4.

 

[16] For discussion and references concerning Tatian's 'Diatessaron', see

Koester, 'Ancient Christian Gospels', 403-430.

 

[17] Irenaeus, AH 3.11.8.

 

[18] Markus Bockmuehl, " 'To Be or Not to Be': The Possible Futures of New

Testament Scholarship, " 'Scottish Journal of Theology' 51:3 (1998), 271-306.