Posted on 11/30/2013 9:41:51 AM PST by Gamecock
367 AD — Bishop Athanasius wrote to the churches in his diocese an Easter letter which is now regarded as the first authoritative statement of the canon of the New Testament. He included several disputed works such as Second Peter and the Book of Revelation, but he excluded The Didache, The Epistle of Barnabas, First Clement, and The Shepherd of Hermas, which had long been regarded as equal to the apostolic letters. He wrote: “In these [27 books] alone the teaching of godliness is proclaimed. No one may add to them, and nothing may be taken away from them.” But his pronouncement was not universally accepted even in Alexandria. Twenty years later, the Alexandrian scholar Didymus the Blind still regarded as authoritative the books that Athanasius excluded, and there were many such examples all over the Empire, both in the East and the West, but by 395 all such dissent had been silenced by the Emperor Theodosius. [Christian History Institute, The 100 Most Important Events In Church History (a special edition of Christian History magazine, 1990)]
Our Lord only founded one church. For a thousand years Christians recognized the authority of the popes and bishops. The Protestant communities are a recent invention that did not exist for 1500 years. If any schismatic group can break off, establish their own church and then decide the canon of scripture then sola scriptura becomes nos soli ipsi (only we ourselves). In either this case of that of the individual human authority is placed over that of Scripture. Sola scriptura cannot logically work. Scripture must be authenticated by a divinely established church.
Our lord didn’t found a church, he showed the way to heaven for all sinners. His followers spread across the known world and established different churches.
Later on, probably hundreds of years later, some crazy people got the idea to have one human wear a funny hat and call him a Pope and pretend he is infallible.
Au contraire:
And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.It was only 1500 years later that some crazy people got the idea that they as individuals had and authority that the church established by our Lord did not.
(Matt 16:18)
The parable of the ten virgins comes to mind given the need of five of them who were out of oil/truth. They were sent on a shopping spree for oil because they were not prepared for the bridegroom.
I have no idea what your post has to do with mine.
Wow. Ok. Have a great day.
Where did you get such a ridiculous idea? What I pointed out was that Jesus was in heaven when the canon of Scripture was decided. If you want to say that it was ultimately the authority of Jesus that decided the canon then yes, but he did so through the instrumentality of the Church which he established.
Yet Christ's post ascention words to the seven churches are included in the text of Revelation, the last of the NT books to be written. Christ was writing NT scripture, via the Holy Spirit, long after his ascention.
I hope that you are not relying on Revelation's reference to "this book" to mean the entire Bible. Biblios in Greek refers to a single scroll. Thus "this book" in Revelation only means the Book of Revelation itself. Revelation does not have a list of the other books of the Bible. Indeed, how are we to know that Revelation itself is divine Scripture. Its inclusion was disputed by many. It is only by the authority of Jesus Christ working through the Church which he established that we can know what books belong in the Bible.
Uh, no.
+1.
And "the church" is nothing more than the sum total of all regenerate Christians. ("the called out ones") Thus, it is the authority of Jesus Christ working through Christians which gave us the bible.
thank you. I’m a former artilleryman.
And this same Christians gave us the Catholic understanding of the sacraments--including the Eucharist as the actual Body and Blood of Jesus--and the hierarchical nature of the church. Do I really have to quote from the early Church Fathers to show that this early Christians were Catholic? The Protestant understanding of Christianity was nonexistent for 1500 years and still today is in the minority. If you trust Jesus Christ working through Christians be Catholic!
Of course the secret weapons were the Roman Missals! : )
Yet those "Christians" never included any of that in the bible they wrote. The only thing catholic meant to the first Christians was "universal". The congregation in Rome had no higher standing than that at Jerusalem, Antioch, Constantinople or any of the other large congregations. When it comes to soteriology the "protestant understanding of Christianity" was the exact same as St. Augustine.
The Bible is not a systematic theological tract. Even Protestants augment it with their own commentaries and catechisms. Yet, if read without Protestant prejudice the sacraments and the hierarchical nature are clearly in the Bible. It is only with a preformed rejection of these that Protestant are forced to deny the plain words of the Bible, thus contradicting in practice the sola scriptura they proclaim in theory.
As to St. Augustine's soteriology we must disagree. In any case he was only one man and the bulk of the writings of the Fathers is clearly Catholic. St. Augustine was also undisputedly a bishop in an hierarchical church that believed in the sacraments and the Eucharist. You cannot separate the church's authentication of the canon of Scripture from its Catholic practices and teachings.
No you don’t. Father Roof sold me that copy from the college bookstore in 1965 for my theology class! It was the highest price I ever paid for a used book.
Very good.
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