An observation from my systematic theology class, in which we surveyed the early perspectives on Jesus and his divinity yesterday. Even the most conservative person would only hold that the Bible is infallible, not the early church fathers and their creeds. It is ironic then, that though some evangelicals question the authenticity or reliability of certain aspects of the Bible, no one challenges the early church Fathers and their creeds, things no one believes are infallible. (Though nearly everyone will label you a heretic if you disagree.)
I’m not about to start questioning the divinity of Christ myself, but I’m surprised more people don’t latch on to one or another of the early heretics. Far from wanting to undermine the authority of Jesus, they simply had trouble conceiving the Trinity. Which is understandable considering they came from a Jewish world in which there was only one God, or a Hellenistic world in which the spiritual realms of gods and the earthly realm of man were completely separate.
Think about it, how can one be certain the early church fathers conceived of the correct understanding of the God-head, they were human after all. Maybe they got it wrong.
; )
1 comment:
For what you were trying to do, good Job. But you bring up a good point. In that we are in a day and age that people want to look back to the ancients and get back to the "pure" or "basics" of Christianity. In that all I hear is people looking down on what we have now and thinking someone else had it right. I am pretty sure that the ancients didn’t have it all together either.
Just thinking!
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