The
Pre-Nicene Christians were Christian writers who lived from about AD 75 to AD
325. This 250-year period immediately follows the
time of the apostles and ends at the Council of Nicaea in AD 325. The Council of Nicaea was the first event that brought major changes in Christianity. It marked the beginning of a union between
church and state--the kingdom of God and the Roman Empire. This period before the Council of Nicaea,
that is, the Pre-Nicene period, was a time when the Christian church was still handing
down the teachings and traditions of the apostles. It was a time when the church was not being
influenced by the surrounding government and culture. Therefore, the Christian writings from this
time are extremely valuable to us today.
They give us a window into primitive Christianity after the time of the
apostles.
Many people are surprised when they hear how
many Christian writings from the Pre-Nicene period have survived over 1700
years and can be read today. The
writings that have survived fill about nine encyclopedia-sized volumes. These have been translated and compiled into
what is called the Ante-Nicene Fathers.
Ante-Nicene simply means before the Council of Nicaea. The full set of the Ante-Nicene Fathers costs
over $100. Or, you could subscribe to this channel for
free. With this amount of material, it
may take a person a few years to fully grasp what Christianity was like during
the first 250 years after the apostles. The goal of this channel, the Post-Apostolic
Church, is to bring the Pre-Nicene writings to life for another generation. For the rest of this video, let's go into
more detail about the Pre-Nicene Christians and why it is valuable to learn
from them.
The
Pre-Nicene Christians have many advantages over Christian historians
today. First, the Pre-Nicene writings are a primary
source which allows us to determine which writings belong in the New Testament
canon, that is, which works are believed to be inspired by God. During the Pre-Nicene period, many books and
letters were being circulated among the Christians. But which ones were truly from God and which
ones were the work of men? Today's New Testament canon of 27 books was first listed by Athanasius
in AD 367. How do we know which books
were used by the Christians and which one were not? This can be learned from the Pre-Nicene
Christians who supported or rejected certain writings. For example, Irenaeus, who was a student of
Polycarp, who was a student of the apostle John, said in AD 180 that there are
exactly four gospels. Therefore, we know writings like the Gospel
of Thomas are not Scripture. In fact, we
can know that this gospel was written by the Gnostics. Lord willing, videos will be posted later
which will address various early century writings. Please subscribe so you do not miss them.
Second, the
Pre-Nicene Christians had the Scriptures as the source of their beliefs and
practices. The Scriptures were in the
forms of gospels, books, and letters which were handed down from the apostles
themselves. In some cases, the Pre-Nicene
Christians received God's teaching from apostles directly. For example, Peter and Paul instructed
Clement of Rome. Today, we can read
Clement's letter to the Corinthians which we call 1 Clement. The apostle John, who lived much longer than
any of the other apostles, had these three Pre-Nicene writers as his students:
Ignatius, Papias, and Polycarp. We can
read Ignatius' seven letters to various churches while he was on his way to die
in Rome. We can read Polycarp's letter to the
Philippians as well as a detailed account of his martyrdom written by the
Christians of Smyrna where he was a bishop.
The fact that we can read the very writings of those who saw the
apostles face to face should be such an incredible encouragement and excitement
for Christians today! Though the rest of
the Pre-Nicene Christians did not see the apostles face to face, they still
have advantages over Christian historians today. For example, Irenaeus was a student of
Polycarp, so there are only two degrees of separation between Irenaeus and the
apostle John. And there are many, many
writings by Irenaeus that have survived to this day. About the Scriptures
and traditions that the apostles handed down, Irenaeus wrote,
Suppose there arise a
dispute relative to some important question among us, should we not have recourse
to the most ancient Churches with which the apostles held constant intercourse,
and learn from them what is certain and clear in regard to the present
question? For how should it be if the
apostles themselves had not left us writings? Would it not be necessary, [in
that case,] to follow the course of the tradition which they handed down to
those to whom they did commit the Churches? (Irenaeus. AD 180.
ANF, vol 1, page 417.)
Today, we are about 2000 years
removed from the apostles. The
Pre-Nicene Christians, on the other hand, were removed from the apostles 250
years at the most. To the Pre-Nicene
Christians, the time of Christ and His apostles was not ancient history. There was just 10 generations between the
apostles and the last Pre-Nicene writer. Eusebius lived at the end
of the Pre-Nicene period. For him to look back on all the things that
Jesus Christ did would be like Americans looking back on the events of the
American Revolutionary War. Just as
there is a wealth of information today on the Revolutionary War, the Pre-Nicene
Christians had enough historical information on Jesus Christ and His apostles.
If you look in your Bible and it
has a page or two devoted to an introduction to each book of the New Testament,
how did the Bible publishers get this information--especially the date or the author? The authors, dates, and other interesting
information about the New Testament books are known to us today because of the
Pre-Nicene Christians. For
example, the author of the fourth gospel does not identify himself. How do we know that the apostle John wrote
it? The only reason we know John wrote the
fourth gospel is because the Pre-Nicene writers told us he wrote it. Another example is the abrupt ending of the
book of Acts. What happened to Paul
after he was under house arrest in Rome
and when he wrote his later letters such as 2 Timothy? The Pre-Nicene Christians tell us what
happened to him. Subscribe so you don't
miss any of this fascinating information.
Third, the Pre-Nicene Christians give us more
details about the commandments, instructions, and traditions the apostles
taught. Paul said,
Therefore, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions you were taught,
either by our message or by our letter.
(2Thes 2:15)
Paul says there
was authority from God in what the apostles taught as well as what they wrote
down. What if the apostles gave traditions from God that were not written down in
their letters? How would we know what
those traditions were? We would learn
about them from the Pre-Nicene Christians. If the Pre-Nicene Christians go into more
detail about a tradition that has been referred to in the Scriptures, then we
can know that this tradition was given by the apostles.
As previously showed, the
Pre-Nicene Christians either knew the apostles personally, or at least were
separated from them by 250 years or ten generations. Since Christians today are separated from the
apostles by 1900+ years or 78 generations, it is hard for us to fathom how
close these Christian writers were to the apostles. Perhaps the next
couple quotes from Tertullian about Paul's letters will help us grasp the
advantage the Pre-Nicene Christians had.
Tertullian wrote from Carthage,
Run over [to] the
apostolic churches, in which the very thrones of the apostles are still
pre-eminent in their places, in which their own authentic writings are read,
uttering the voice and representing the face of each of them severally[, or
individually]. Achaia is very near you, (in which) you find Corinth. Since you are not far from Macedonia, you have Philippi;
(and there too) you have the Thessalonians.
Since you are able to cross to Asia, you get Ephesus.
Since, moreover, you are close upon Italy,
you have Rome,
from which there comes even into our own hands the very authority (of apostles
themselves). (Tertullian. AD 197.
ANF, vol 3, page 260.)
Tertullian also wrote,
If that is from the
beginning which has the apostles for its authors, then it will certainly be
quite as evident, that that comes
down from the apostles, which has been kept as a sacred deposit in the churches
of the apostles. Let us see what milk the Corinthians drank
from Paul; to what rule the Galatians were brought for correction; what the
Philippians, the Thessalonians, the Ephesians read; what utterance also the
Romans give, so very near (to the apostles), to whom Peter and Paul conjointly
bequeathed the gospel even sealed with their own blood. We have also John’s foster churches. (Tertullian. AD 207.
ANF, vol 3, page 349-350.)
Today, no
original manuscripts written by Paul, John, or any other NT writer exist. However, Tertullian says that if anyone wants
to go to the very churches to which Paul and John wrote, they can! They can travel there and read Paul's and
John's writings for themselves. So even
150 years after the apostles, the Pre-Nicene Christians were still able to do
this.
When Tertullian
refers to "John's foster churches," he means the churches of 1, 2,
and 3 John. Also, you will notice in
this quote from Tertullian that he says both Peter and Paul were in Rome. Lord willing, there will be a video posted
about what happened to the apostles after Acts, so please subscribe.
Fourth, the Pre-Nicene Christians
had a cultural advantage over us. In the
west, Americans have their way of thinking which differs from the way Mexicans or
Canadians think, let alone the way the Mediterranean world thinks, let alone
how the Mediterranean world thought 1800 years ago. Not only did the Pre-Nicene Christians live
in the same area of the world as Jesus Christ and the apostles, they also lived
in the same culture. They understood the
same cultural references, experienced the same
persecution, and chose the same life of
poverty. At the same time, the Pre-Nicene Christians
opposed the enemy religions of their day.
Though the Pre-Nicene Christians lived in a completely different culture,
this does not mean they dealt with different social issues than the social
issues of today. So many people today mistakenly
believe that the social issues Christians deal with today are nothing like the
social issues early Christianity had to deal with. This is not the case. Today's social issues are not unique to us! The Pre-Nicene Christians spoke on important
issues such as Christians in the military, involvement in politics, abortion,
racism, homosexuality, materialism, pornography, alcohol, suicide, capital
punishment, atomic particles, and even evolution! The Pre-Nicene Christians addressed all these
topics! But not only did they
address social issues, they also addressed doctrinal issues such as the nature
of the Trinity, the problem of evil in the world, predestination, gifts of the
Spirit, church government, miracles, who wrote Hebrews, faith-only salvation,
and once saved always saved. The list of
doctrinal issues like these goes on and on.
Therefore, when it comes to issues of society or religion, the
Pre-Nicene Christians have no disadvantages over us today; they only had advantages. As Solomon said,
What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done;
there is nothing new under the sun. Can
one say about anything, "Look, this is new"? It has already existed in the ages before us. (Ecc 1:9-10)
Videos will be posted on these issues in the future, so please
subscribe to learn about what the Pre-Nicene Christians believed about these
things.
Fifth, the
Pre-Nicene Christians had an idiomatic advantage over us, that is, an advantage
in language. The Pre-Nicene writers
wrote and spoke the very same language of the apostles, Koine Greek. Because of this, they would have known the
true meanings of the words, the figures of speech, and the meanings of symbolic
images--everything the apostles wrote about. Some writers such as Tertullian wrote in
Latin as well as in Greek. At times,
Tertullian had to bring concepts from the Greek into Latin that may not have
existed in Latin before. So even Latin
during the Pre-Nicene period had a disadvantage to the Koine Greek of the same
period.
Sixth, the Pre-Nicene Christians had a
theological advantage. Today, Christianity is split into so many
denominations that disagree with each other on so many matters of doctrine. During the Pre-Nicene period, there was one
universal church which was completely and fully united in theology, doctrine,
Christian living, and fellowship. The
church was not united because of some hierarchy of church government. The Pre-Nicene Christians lived before the
times of the ecumenical councils, before the times of episcopal structures with
one bishop at the top, and before the times of presbyterian structures with their
assemblies of presbyters. Their unity was based on the Scriptures and the traditions handed down
to them by the apostles. Whether one lived in modern-day France like Irenaeus and Lactantius,
Carthage like Tertullian and Cyprian, Rome like Justin Martyr and Hippolytus,
Alexandria like Clement and Origen, Athens like Athenagoras, Asia Minor like Polycarp
and Methodius and Melito and Papias and Firmilian and Archelaus, or Anitoch
like Ignatius and Theophilus, all these writers were fully united in their
theology, doctrine, practice, and fellowship. During the Pre-Nicene period, Christians were
neither Catholic nor Protestant. In fact, out of the 9 volumes of the compiled
works by the Pre-Nicene Christians, less than 5% of their beliefs differed. This 5% was due to a couple third-century
schisms from the church. These were the
Montanists and the Novatianists. These
groups chose to separate themselves from the rest of the church which,
according to them, was becoming too lax in its dealings with sin. Lord willing, there will be future videos on
these groups. Yet during the first 250 years of the church after the time of the
apostles, 95% of the Christians were fully united in every way. Ever since the 4th century, Christianity has
never been able to claim unity of this kind.
We have looked at
seven major reasons why Christians should study the Pre-Nicene Christian
writings. When Christians study the
Pre-Nicene writings, they should find beliefs they agree with. Along with that, they will probably find
things they disagree with. In short, the
writings of the Pre-Nicene Christians will challenge you. It is a good thing to have our religious
beliefs challenged. As Paul said,
Test yourselves to
see if you are in the faith. Examine
yourselves. Or do you yourselves not
recognize that Jesus Christ is in you?--unless you fail the test. (2Cor 13:5)
May the writings of the Pre-Nicene Christians
drive you to go deeper into the Scriptures, so that like the Bereans, you will see
if what they say is true.
Honestly, Christians
should not need the writings of the Pre-Nicene Christians to help fine-tune
their faith. If Christians would read
the New Testament and followed the teachings of Jesus Christ very simply and very
purely, they would learn God's truth.
The Pre-Nicene writings are not Scripture--and they did not claim to be. Yet because of all the advantages Pre-Nicene
Christians have over Christians today, their writings comprise the greatest
Biblical and historical commentary you will ever read. And that is why today’s Christians should
study the Pre-Nicene Christian writings.
