The Calvinist International
We are continuing our look at the way the early church organized itself. You can see the earlier posts here: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. This post will highlight some of the more important development that would eventually lead to the Roman Catholic claims about the relationship between Peter and Rome’s authority over […]
Eastern Orthodox theologian David Bentley Hart has written an essay on the Pauline terms “spirit,” (πνευμα) “soul,” (ψυχη), and “flesh” (σαρξ), maintaining that modern readers are greatly (or perhaps completely) hindered in their understanding of them. He lays blame on a kind of “Protestant biblical scholarship” that is allegedly weighed down with all sorts of […]
I’m going to follow up here quickly on a post over at Reformation21 on Warfield and the Incarnation. Warfield notes that, even if the redeemed are able to trace out indications or foretellings of the Incarnation in the created order, that is only because the world God made is the one that would fall and […]
I’ve written a bit before about Irenaeus and some of his comments about tradition in Against Heresies. We return to him again–this time in The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching. In Demonstration 3, Irenaeus writes: Now, that we may not suffer ought of this kind, we must needs hold the rule of the faith without deviation, and do […]
I’ve noted in previous posts the way in which Irenaeus connects “Scripture” and “tradition” by means of the Gospel, the content of the plan of salvation. This allows him to say that the Gospel is the ground and pillar of the truth without violating what Paul means when he calls the Church the ground and […]
Let us return to Irenaeus again, for a brief addendum to last week’s post. In Against Heresies 3.1, Irenaeus writes this: We have learned from none others the plan of our salvation, than from those through whom the Gospel has come down to us, which they did at one time proclaim in public, and, at a later period, by the will of God, handed […]
On the One Hand… Let’s take a statement out of context, shall we? Irenaeus, in Against Heresies 3.2, writes: But, again, when we refer [the heretics] to that tradition which originates from the apostles, [and] which is preserved by means of the succession of presbyters in the Churches, they object to tradition, saying that they themselves are wiser not merely than the presbyters, but […]
In Against Heresies 4.16, Irenaeus distinguishes between the parts of the Mosaic legislation that are abrogated and those that are still in force. He has at least two divisions: one of temporary signs, and one of eternal applicability and validity. Circumcision falls into the first group: “[W]e learn from Scripture itself, that God gave circumcision, not […]
This post serves as an addendum to a few others on the theme of the new heaven and the new earth in John Calvin, Augustine, and John Chrysostom. As in those three writers, so in Irenaeus we find the idea of the restoration of this creation and its liberation from corruption, which thus allows for […]
A brief addendum to Steven’s previous note: Irenaeus mentions the use the Carpocratian gnostics put to images in his day: Others of them employ outward marks, branding their disciples inside the lobe of the right ear. From among these also arose Marcellina, who came to Rome under [the episcopate of] Anicetus, and holding these doctrines, […]