RESPONSE OF EARLY CHURCH FATHERS AND

LEADERS TO PERSECUTION AND HERESIES,

AN ANSWER TO MODERN WRITERS SUPPORTING
GNOSTIC GOSPEL AND WRITINGS AND IMPORTANT
LEARNINGS FOR TODAY’S MINISTRY

Submitted To

Global School of Open Learning

In Partial Fulfillment of the

Requirement for the Course

CHURCH HISTORY - I

by
Vivek Ray
ID No. M14J002

17 June 2017

GLOBAL SCHOOL OF OPEN LEARNING

TABLE OF CONTENT

TABLE OF CONTENT ................................................................................................................................ 2

INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................... 3
CHALLENGES OF EARLY CHURCH ............................................................................................................ 3
Persecution: ........................................................................................................................................ 3
Church Father & Leader’s Response to Persecution........................................................................... 4
Heresies & Internal Conflicts .............................................................................................................. 4
Response to Heresies and controversies ............................................................................................ 5
i. Literary Response: ........................................................................................................................ 5
ii. The Rise of Formal Worship ........................................................................................................ 6
The New Testament Canon ............................................................................................................. 6
Apostle’s Creeds.............................................................................................................................. 6
Ruling bishops ................................................................................................................................. 7
AN ANSWER TO THE MODERN WRITERS ................................................................................................ 7
IMPORTANT LESSONS FOR TODAY’S MINISTRY ...................................................................................... 8
CONCLUSION:........................................................................................................................................ 10
BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................................................................................................................... 10

2
INTRODUCTION
The early Church was a period of rapid growth. However Satan was bent on destroying the
Church using a twofold strategy. He was using political persecution to annihilate the church
and infiltrate the church through heretical attacks The objective of this paper is to briefly look
into the nature of these attacks and discuss how early Church fathers and leaders dealt with
both these problems. We shall also see how the apostolic creed and Canonization of New
Testament was important in this context. An attempt has also been made to analyze the claim
of some modern writers that early church leaders deliberately hid the “truth” in the Gnostic
Gospel. It is also discussed that how important these are in today’s ministry.

CHALLENGES OF EARLY CHURCH

Persecution:

Jesus has forewarned his disciples of persecution in Matthew 10:16-25. What started as
localized persecution, became state sponsored with rapid growth of Christianity. Christians
were an enigma to most people. Persecution led them to worship in secret which caused them
to be misunderstood by pagans. Public rumor made them guilty of incest, cannibalism and
unnatural practices, thus making them socially undesirable1. Absence of any symbol of
worship like idols or alters was interpreted as atheism by Romans. Hence, they found
Christianity religiously upsetting.2 Spread of Christianity was also seen threatening
economically as many business were founded on the basis of religious practices of pagan,3 as
seen in Acts 19:24-27. Refusal to worship Caesar, and Christian’s claim of being from another
kingdom and having loyalty to another king made them politically dangerous.4

F. F. Bruce writes of the general attitude towards them in the first three centuries:

“Tacitus5 calls [Christians] a class of people loathed for their vices and says that, when Nero
tried to fix the crime of arson on them, a great number were convicted, not so much on this
charge (which broke down on examination) but as enemies of humanity. He makes it clear that,

1
"The Living Church," in Essential Church History, Online Bible College, [Online Bible College, 2003], available
from http://elearning.online-bible-college.com/elearning/lesson/the_living_church; accessed June 14, 2017.
2
Ibid
3
Ibid
4
Ibid
5
"Tacitus," Wikipedia, June 11, 2017, available on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacitus. accessed June 15,
2017,

3
in his opinion (and no doubt in the opinion of many others), even if they did not set Rome on
fire, they fully deserved the most exemplary punishment because of their general character.”6

Church Father & Leader’s Response to Persecution.

History attests to the truth of Tertullian’s claim: “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.”7
Instead of being destroyed, as was the intention, the Church grew under persecution. The Early Church
Fathers and leaders such as Clement of Rome, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Cyprian, Clement of
Alexandria, Origen, Justin Martyr and many others were great men of faith. Many of them
accepted martyr-hood. Their commitment to faith and courage was inspiration to others.

Keeping with the apostolic traditions they encouraged and strengthened churches with their writings.
Ignatius (ca 50-115), the bishop of Antioch wrote several letters that exhorted Christians to
holy living and holy dying while he was taken to Rome under arrest to be killed.8 His letters
were a source of courage and inspiration to those facing persecution and death. Polycarp (ca
70 – 156) wrote to church at Philippi encouraging them to remain steadfast in faith and do good
work.9

As these church fathers were writing to the Christians, Apologists like Justin Martyr, Tertullian,
Aristides, Tatian wrote to the pagan rulers defending the Christian faith and dealing with the
misconceptions. Tertullian in his book Apology showed the moral and legal foolishness of
persecuting Christians.10

Heresies & Internal Conflicts

Though, Satan’s strategy of blatant outward attack of persecution to destroy Church had the opposite
effect, the other strategy of the enemy was far more effective, and that was to subvert the Church by
eroding its Gospel foundation. Through deception, Satan began to replace the Gospel with heresy, the

6
F. F. Bruce, The defense of the Gospel in the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989), 23
7
Roger Pearse, Tertullian : Apologeticum, , 2017, available from
http://www.tertullian.org/works/apologeticum.htm, accessed June 15.
8
Donald D. Smeeton, The Church: Pentecost to the Reformation (Springfield, Missouri: ICI University Press, 1985),
67.
9
Ibid, 68
10
Ibid, 73

4
real with the counterfeit, the true with the false.11 At the same time controversies and human wisdom
divided the church.

There were mainly three types of Heresies

 Ebionitism: They were legalistic Judaizers who rejected teachings of Paul, and
considered salvation results from keeping the Law and not by faith in Jesus. They
viewed Jesus as man who became Christ because he kept the laws.
 Gnostics: They claimed secret knowledge, and different groups had different views all
equally dangerous. They considered all material things as evil and denied Jesus came
in flesh, rather he was a phantom. These heretics were attracting many followers
because they claimed they were prophets and that they were speaking by the Spirit of
God. They were counterfeiting the gift to gain a hearing for their false teaching.12 John
had written a strict warning against this dangerous heresy in 1 John 4:1-3
 Monarchianism: They rejected the idea of Trinity as well as the deity of Jesus. They
propagated that God manifested Himself in three modes. They also preached that Jesus
was just a good man who earned divinity by His own righteousness.
The other two were not actually heretics, but were controversial groups.
 Montanists rejected the formalization that was taking place in the Church. They
stressed the role of Holy Spirit, the soon coming of Christ and purity of life. There
zealousness caused them to become fanatics. They were branded as heretics by first
synods of bishops and excommunicated.
 Donatism: It was a separatist group that started with the belief that failure to remain
faithful under pressure was apostasy. However, it became a protest movement against
catholic practices.

Response to Heresies and controversies

i. Literary Response:

Like the apostles the first response of early church Fathers and leaders was to write against
these heresies. Ignatius dealt with two heresies of Ebionitism and Docetism (a gnostic sect).

11
"The Seeds of Decline," in Essential Church History, Online Bible College, [Online Bible College, 2003],
available from http://elearning.online-bible-college.com/elearning/lesson/the_living_church; accessed June
14, 2017.
12
Ibid

5
Irenaeus wrote five monumental volumes called Against Heresies.13 Tertullian, the father of
Latin theology too wrote against Gnostics. It was he who gave the doctrine of Trinity and
substance to explain the nature of God and Christ.14

ii. The Rise of Formal Worship

The early church leaders faced war both from without in form of persecution and within in
form of heresies and conflicts. At that time a need was felt for strong organization that could
to reject heresies and resist persecution. The leaders strengthened their position by achieving
three things. Two of them were God’s wonderful answers in form of canon of scriptures for
Christian faith and practice and a stated belief or creed. The third was formed out of a human
wisdom that a powerful bishopric which was supposed to bring unity.

The New Testament Canon

Canonization of New Testament was God’s wonderful positive answer. This was most positive
reaction to the heresies and errors that were challenging the Church. It was found necessary
to set forth the true canon of Scripture. Gnostic heretics, such as Marcion, were setting up their
own canon and were leading people astray. Montanists had presented their New Prophesy. In
second century many books were written about acts of apostles, childhood of Jesus etc.15 that
posed danger to orthodoxy. A standard of truth had to be agreed upon. The central issue was
that of authority. The New Testament gave the church an authoritative ground to refute the
doctrines of the false teachers. The method used to identify the New Testament canon itself
asserted its authority. First the writing had to bear the marks of having being written by apostle,
Second it had been agreement with Rule of Faith and thirdly had to widely accepted among
churches.16

Apostle’s Creeds

Creeds were rules of faith, written and agreed upon by the city-bishops. The Apostle’s Creed
was one of the earliest example. It was very helpful in curbing heresy as common people could
easily remember the rule of faith that outlines the Gospel in simple terms. Though different
writers wrote different creeds responding to the heresy they were facing, t he Apostles’ Creed
is the best summary of early Christian beliefs. The creed could be easily taught to by new

13
Donald D. Smeeton, The Church: Pentecost to the Reformation (Springfield, Missouri: ICI University Press, 1985),
72
14
Ibid, 73
15
Ibid,89
16
Ibid, 90

6
believers, and repeated at time of baptism and during worship services. Even many hymns
were written that include the creed .This helped people not to go astray from primary tenant
of faith.

Ruling bishops

City-bishops were installed according to the tradition of “apostolic succession,” meaning that
only the previous generation of leaders could ordain and install the next generation of leaders.
This helped to curb the rise of heresy within the Church. However it had a negative long term
effect on the church, as the free flowing worship led by Holy Spirit was replaced by formal
organization. The authoritative organization that was supposed to bring unity, divided the
church, because of its autocratic approach, and led the Church to its dark ages.

AN ANSWER TO THE MODERN WRITERS

“Today some modern writers claim that the Church leaders deliberately hid the truth as given
in the Gnostic Gospel and the other writings that were not included in the canon.” This claim
has gain currency after the discovery of the Nag Hammadi Library, a collection of thirteen
ancient books (called "codices") containing over fifty texts, was discovered in Upper Egypt in
1945. This discovery includes a large number of primary "Gnostic Gospels" – texts once
thought to have been entirely destroyed during the early Christian struggle to define
"orthodoxy" – literatures such as the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Philip, and the Gospel
of Truth.17

It is important to examine the “claim of truth” in these gospels in light of historic Jesus
presented in canonical Gospels. Here are a few excerpts from my study:

In Gospel of Thomas the Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection are not narrated or hinted.
Thomas's Jesus is a dispenser of wisdom, not the crucified and resurrected Lord.18 Jesus speaks
of the kingdom: "The kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you. When you come to
know yourselves, then you will become known, and you will realize that it is you who are the
sons of the living father. But if you will not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty and it is
you who are that poverty."19

17
Nag Hammadi Library, available on http://gnosis.org/naghamm/nhl.html. Accessed on June 15, 2017.
18
Douglas Groothuis, "Gnosticism and the Gnostic Jesus," Christian Research Institute, , Available from
http://www.equip.org/article/gnosticism-and-the-gnostic-jesus/, accessed June 17, 2017,
19
F. F. Bruce, Jesus and Christian Origins Outside the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1974), 112-13

7
Those Gnostic text that discuss Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection presents differing views,
nevertheless reveal some common themes, that opposes that Jesus was really crucified.

 James is consoled by Jesus in the First Apocalypse of James: "Never have I suffered in
any way, nor have I been distressed. And this people has done me no harm."20
 In the Second Treatise of the Great Seth, Jesus says, "I did not die in reality, but in
appearance." Those "in error and blindness....saw me; they punished me. It was another,
their father, who drank the gall and vinegar; it was not I. They struck me with the reed;
it was another, Simon, who bore the cross on his shoulder. I was rejoicing in the height
over all....And I was laughing at their ignorance.21

If Jesus didn’t suffered on the cross and died then there is no remission of sin, and there is no
hope of salvation. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:14 “...if Christ has not been raised, our
preaching is useless and so is your faith.” The apostles and early Christians therefore gave their
life for a lost cause. If there are two contradictory claims only one can be the truth. So, if
canonical Gospel and the epistles contains the truth, the gnostic gospels by sheer logic cannot
be the true. Moreover, no claim in gnostic gospel and writings agree with the rule of Christian
faith. So, I cannot agree with the statement of the modern writers that “the Church leaders
deliberately hid the truth as given in the Gnostic Gospel”, since no truth is present in them.

IMPORTANT LESSONS FOR TODAY’S MINISTRY

From the preceding discussions there are important lessons to learn for today’s ministry. The
Christians of the early centuries were people just like us. Today also Christian Church face
persecution in different forms. The enemy is more determined to discredit the Gospel and
replace it with its own toxic gospel. And today’s cults and heretic groups are better equipped
to do so. In such scenario there are examples from history to follow as well as errors to avoid.

 Authority of God’s word: Canonization of the Bible was God’s everlasting and most
effective answer to all attacks on faith. A ministry rooted in God’s word, teaches and live
by its authority will not go astray or fall prey to errors and heresies. “All Scripture is God-

20
"The (First) Apocalypse of James ," The Nag Hammadi Library, Available from
http://gnosis.org/naghamm/1ja.html, accessed June 15, 2017.
21
Bullard and Gibbons, "The Second Treatise of the Great Seth," The Nag Hammadi Library, Available form
http://gnosis.org/naghamm/2seth.html, accessed June 15, 2017.

8
 breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness (2
Timothy 3:16-17)
 Effectively use statement of faith: Paul warns in 2 Timothy 4:3-4, “For the time will come
when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they
will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to
hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” This happened
in early church and still happens. Even today, most believers do not read and study the
Bible. So, a simple statement of faith or creed based on apostolic doctrine like the apostolic
creed protects them from influence by false teachings.
 Use Discernment: Today there is a trend towards experiential religion rather than truth of
the Word. Many false teachers attract people through counterfeit spiritual experiences, and
people accept it as gift of Holy Spirit. Bible exhort us to test spirits and use discernment
before believing them, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see
whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” (1
John 4:1)
 Avoid natural wisdom: In seeking to handle the problems and heresies the Church was
facing, men used their own judgment and wisdom. The solutions seemed sensible at the
time, but their decisions set a direction that took the Church of the future off course.22 It is
important to avoid natural wisdom and seek God’s guidance in prayer. God’s wisdom is
much above our natural wisdom. (1 Corinthians 1:17-2:16)
 Abide in love: Jesus in John 13:35 said that “…By this everyone will know that you are
my disciples, if you love one another." Love distinguish a true believer from others. The
early Church leaders erred in their dealing with Montanists. Montanists majored in Spirt
but neglected the Word resulting in excesses, emotionalism and error. At that time Church
emphasized the “tradition” of the apostle’s with their focus on the emerging canon of the
Word. If they were dealt with love, Church would have not lost the supernatural aspect of
the ministry. The more Montanist were rejected, the more separatist they became and
entered into greater errors.23

22
"The Seeds of Decline," in Essential Church History, Online Bible College, [Online Bible College, 2003],
available from http://elearning.online-bible-college.com/elearning/lesson/the_living_church; accessed June
14, 2017.
23
"The Seeds of Decline," in Essential Church History, Online Bible College, [Online Bible College, 2003],
available from http://elearning.online-bible-college.com/elearning/lesson/the_living_church; accessed June
14, 2017.

9
CONCLUSION:
In this paper, we looked into the two attacks on the Early Church, one without in form of
persecution and other within in form of heresies. The early Church father and leader found
themselves fighting a war on two fronts. The literary response of the early leader was
exemplary on both fronts. The emergence of apostolic creed or rule of faith and the
canonization of Holy Bible was God’s wonderful response that has stood the test of time.
However, at the same time they also erred in using human wisdom in creating an organized
structure that later took the Church into dark ages. We also saw that Gnosticism and other
heresies are resurfacing in various forms with renewed vehemency and attacking the Church.
In such situation, we as Church leaders have important lessons to learn from history. Rather
than using our natural wisdom, we must depend on Lord’ guidance and hold fast to His Word
and statement of faith based on apostolic doctrine, while using discernment and abiding in love.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
"Tacitus," Wikipedia, June 11, 2017, available on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacitus. Accessed
June 15, 2017,

Bruce, F. F. Jesus and Christian Origins Outside the New Testament Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1974

Bruce, F. F. The defense of the Gospel in the New Testament, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989

Bullard and Gibbons, "The Second Treatise of the Great Seth," The Nag Hammadi Library, Available
form http://gnosis.org/naghamm/2seth.html, accessed June 15, 2017.

Essential Church History, Online Bible College, www.onlinebiblecollege.com [Online Bible College,
2003], available from http://elearning.online-bible-
college.com/elearning/lesson/the_living_church; accessed June 14, 2017.

Groothuis, Douglas. "Gnosticism and the Gnostic Jesus," Christian Research Institute, Available from
http://www.equip.org/article/gnosticism-and-the-gnostic-jesus/, accessed June 17,
2017,

Nag Hammadi Library, available on http://gnosis.org/naghamm/nhl.html. Accessed on June 15, 2017.

Pearse, Roger, Tertullian: Apologeticum, 2017, available from

http://www.tertullian.org/works/apologeticum.htm, Accessed June 15.

Smeeton, Donald D., The Church: Pentecost to the Reformation (Springfield, Missouri: ICI
University Press, 1985),

"The (First) Apocalypse of James," The Nag Hammadi Library, Available from
http://gnosis.org/naghamm/1ja.html, accessed June 15, 2017.

10