Now may the God of
peace who brought up our Lord Jesus
From the dead, that
great Shepherd of the sheep,
Through the blood of
the everlasting covenant,
Make you complete in
every good work to do His will;
Working in you what
is well pleasing in His sight,
Through Jesus Christ,
to whom be glory
Forever and ever.
Amen.
Hebrews 13:20–22
My desire, as always is to excite a
person, those seeking truth, to give cause to examine what they believe and
have a sound understanding of the truth. To do this I am persuaded, that truth
is no other way to be defended but by truth, and that such as the mind is fully
satisfied with; it being in vain to attempt to persuade others to that which
you yourself are not convinced of. Therefore this is the desired final outcome,
to aid others to have Authentic Biblical Faith. This excitement is not for a
person to “feel” pious, rather that you may make use of this information, first
for the glory of God, and not for your profit alone, but also for the
propagating of the Christian Religion. You will meet with pagans who are
professed enemies of Christianity, who are profane and are ready to spread
abroad their poison amongst the weak and simple, those who are not prepared and
are ready to conceal themselves in fear for the lack of ability to defend their
faith. We must, therefore, by ready to be employed to confute their errors, and
to aid others not to be seduced by those heathen that are set against the
Christian Religion. We who are converted to the Christian Religion must show that
the Christian Religion is not a vain and empty religion.
In time the
disciples of Jesus Christ died and their place was filled with some other
person of eminence by means of their piety and learning. As well were often a
member of the same church they presided over, and when they died others with
the same credentials took their place. This line of succession was continued in
an uninterrupted line. I was Irenæus who in his writings informs us that every
church preserved a catalogue of its bishops, for each succeeding bishop,
although the number he, those in the church at Rome, the list is small by
having eight or nine persons, though these were men close to the time of the
apostles. This was not the case in other churches that were filled with a
greater number. The succession in the early days of the church, were quick due
to the fact that many of the bishops were martyred. These men who led their
churches knew that the fury of the state when persecution arose would fall on
them and leaders, therefore they did not undertake these offices out of any
temporal view. These men were satisfied in the belief of what they taught. They
held firm to what they had received from the apostles and laid down their lives
in the same hope, and upon the same principles. We must not take the position
that the utterly disregard their own happiness as to die in a horrible death so
that they might enter eternity. This they would not do, and would not invent
fables and inventions of their own, or to produce forgeries of their predecessors,
those who presided in the same church. They would have been easily detected by
tradition of that church and by the testimony of others. Here is an interesting
fact: none of the heretics was martyred who disagreed with the apostolical
church and introduce many of the absurd notions into the doctrines of the
Christian Religion. These heretics did not put at stake their lives and future
happiness by admitting to the Christian Religion of the apostolic church,
rather they shun persecution by their unrealistic imaginations, and even taught
that it was unnecessary for their followers to bear their religion through such
trials.
It is easy
to realize that many of this first age of apostles and disciples, and of the
many who were converts, extended into the middle of the second century, and
some into the third generation and were but the fifth in line from Jesus
Christ. Do we know the ages and the numbers of the members of each particular
church which was planted by the apostles? I doubt that we do, but in most of
them there might be found at least five person who were in the continued
series, that is, till the 265th year from the death of Jesus Christ.
Let us
examine and look at four of the persons and their writings and sufferings out
of the innumerable multitudes who had embraced the Christian Religion. This
account will extend for us into the 254th year from the death of
Jesus Christ. First, John the apostle who was beloved by Jesus Christ and
conversed with Jesus intimately and live till the year 100 A.D. Second,
Polycarp, a disciple of John and had conversed with others of the apostles, and
disciples of Jesus Christ and lived until 167 A.D. Polycarp was martyred.
Third: Irenæus, who was a disciple of Polycary, and conversed with many of the
immediate disciples of the apostles and lived unto 202 A.D. He too was
martyred. This same year another man, Origen was appointed regent of the
cathecatic school at Alexandria, a learned man of philosophy as well as
theology and was looked upon as being a champion of the Christian faith unto
the year 254 A.D. Some traditions have him being martyred. We do know that he
was tortured and underwent many trials worse than death. Origen fought heresy
and conversed with many of the Christians of his time in Egypt, and in the
east, and brought many over to the Christian Religion leaving behind him
several disciples of great fame and learning. There were many who knew Origin
and had been his hearers, scholars, or proselytes that live till the end of the
third century, that is till the reign of Constantine the Great.
Reading of
the lives and writings of Polycarp, Irenæus, and Origen, that these three
fathers believed the accounts which were given to them of Jesus Christ as
recorded by the four evangelists of the Bible, and they had arguments to
support their beliefs that not only did John, but many others of the disciples
of Jesus, did publish the same accounts of Him. This belief of these fathers
was also the belief of he main body of Christians in all these ages. This fact
is determined by the respect given to Polycarp as the representative of the
eastern churches in this particular, Irenæus of the western churches, and
Origen of the churches established in Egypt.
I will
continue this avenue in the next blog. It is informative to know that the
Christian Religion not only existed as a religion with many churches being
established, but also that from this information our faith grows, and we become
steadfast and sure of our Authentic Biblical Faith.
But the wisdom that is from above
Is first pure, then peaceable, gently,
Willing to yield, full of mercy
And good fruits, without partiality
And without hypocrisy.
James 3:17
Speak to someone the gospel
Richard L. Crumb
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