Church History Companion Unit 1: Biblical Foundations

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The Great Story

The story of history is the story of God's revelation of himself in his creation.  God is complete in himself, the Fullness of Being.  He exists eternally as one Being in three Persons--the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit--and within the relationships of love between these three Persons he is perfectly happy and blessed.  But God chose to create a universe, rooted in him and yet distinct from him, through which he could manifest his own perfections and glory, thus delighting in his own perfections displayed through his works in creation as well as sharing the blessedness of his divine joy with his creatures.

Our first parents were created by God in a state of blessedness, sustained in goodness and in a right relationship with God--and therefore with themselves, each other, and everything else--through God's grace--grace being God's sharing with his creatures his own divine life.  But, unlike God's own essential goodness, the goodness of his creatures was not immutable.  God gave our first parents free will and the ability to decide whether to continue in a right relationship with their Creator or to spurn that relationship, declaring independence from their Creator and attempting to establish their own lives by their own means.  Our first parents chose to rebel against God and declare independence.  The results of this were catastrophic.  God is the source of all life, goodness, and blessedness.  To cut oneself off from God, therefore, is to choose death, evil, and misery.  This is both the natural consequence and the punishment of those who would reject God.  By their rejection of God, therefore, our first parents plunged themselves into what the Catholic faith calls a condition of "original sin".  Cutting themselves off from God's grace and the divine life, they lost their original goodness.  They became estranged from God and were hardened into an attitude of enmity against him.  They also became estranged within themselves, as their reason lost control of their passions and they fell into many disordered desires, leading them to be drawn to foolish and wicked choices.  They became estranged from their physical environment, leading to the subjecting of their bodies to death.  They became estranged from each other and from the whole creation.  Their fallen nature was now a fount from which would spring enmity, wars, and selfish subjugation and destruction of the environment.  And, in themselves, they had no hope of ever being able to be freed from this "independence" they had wished on themselves.  Cut off from the divine life, they had no power in themselves, as mere creatures, to rekindle that life within themselves or to reestablish their connection with God.  Unless God should do something for them they could not do for themselves, the Fall of humanity entered our first parents--and all their descendants who inherited this condition from them--into a downward spiral of destruction that would culminate eventually in a state of complete death, wickedness, and misery--a state called "hell".  They would reap fully and permanently the independence from life, goodness, and happiness they had so foolishly chosen.

But God did do something for us we could not do for ourselves.  Throughout the history recounted in the Old Testament, we see God preparing the world for his ultimate plan of salvation.  When humans began to multiply on the earth and sin was rampant, God flooded the world and started over with a single family, that of Noah.  Would this solve the problem of sin?  No.  Noah and his family brought the problem with them.  God chose a man named Abraham and promised to bring salvation to the earth through him and his descendants.  He chose those descendants to be his own special people.  He gave them his moral law, and brought them into their own land.  But they continually slid back into sin, and their sin led to terrible consequences.  They were conquered by their enemies.  Famine came upon them.  Plagues came upon them.  Every time disaster struck, they cried out to God for help, and God saved them.  But then they backslid into sin yet again, and the whole cycle started all over again.  One could be forgiven for reading much of the Old Testament and wondering where any of this was going.  Rather than having a wise, sovereign plan to bring good out of evil, the history of humanity, including that recounted in the Old Testament, looks in some ways more like the story of a God who tries again and again to fix his fallen creation but is continually stymied.  But, of course, there is a method to the apparent madness.  Just like a series of cures that treat symptoms but leave the real cause of the disease untouched, the endless cycle of sin, disaster, crying out to God, deliverance from disaster, sin, disaster, crying out to God, deliverance from disaster, sin, etc., had the effect of helping God's people see what the real, root cause of their problems was.  The real problem was not famine, disease, physical enemies, even death, and so many other ills of human life.  These were but symptoms of the real problem--which was, of course, sin.  If God is going to save us, he must save us from our sins, for only then can we be reconciled to God and so have our connection restored to the blessedness of God's divine life.  Throughout the Old Testament, we see God gradually leading his people to realize this, and we see greater and greater hints of what God would eventually do to defeat sin.  We see the promise in the Garden of Eden that God would bring a descendant of the woman who would crush the serpent's head.  We find the sacrificial system in which we are pointed to the idea that only some kind of sacrifice of atonement, culminating in the shedding of blood, can take away sin.  A promise arises of a kingly line--stemming from David--which would culminate in a King who would be "God with us", who would save us from our enemies by suffering for our sins, who would save his people Israel but would also be a light to the Gentiles and bring peace to all the earth.

Finally, in the New Testament, we read the story of the coming of this King.  God himself became man, taking upon himself a human nature in addition to his divine nature--one Person with two natures.  As both fully human and fully divine, Jesus Christ could do something no one else could do.  He could unite himself to us, taking our weaknesses, our miseries, and our sins, upon himself, even to their logical end in death.  And yet, being God, he could overcome that sin, that weakness, that misery, with his own divine righteousness, strength, and joy.  He could overcome our death with his life.  By uniting humanity and divinity in his own person, and lifting up the former by the power of the latter, Jesus bridged the gap between God and humanity.  In him, we are reconnected to the divine life.  Our sins are washed away, and we are reconciled to God.

The Church and Her Authority

Jesus came to earth in order to live a life of righteousness, die for our sins, and rise from the dead for our salvation.  But he also came to found a community.  His salvation does not work on us only as individuals,  He unites his redeemed people to himself and therefore to each other.  As we are in him, the community of the saved are, in a sense, an extension of his incarnation.  Of course, he is the unique God-Man, but his influence in this world continues through the people who come to be called the Body of Christ, the called-out ones--the Ecclesia in Greek, "Church" in English.  This Church will have both a spiritual and a temporal/tangible component.  It will be both invisible and visible.  It will be an organic union held together by the grace of God, and also a tangible, formal community in the world.  Like Jesus himself, it will partake of both the human and the divine.  It will be the locus of salvation in the world, possessing grace and the gospel of grace.  But it will also be a hospital for sinners.  The Church on earth will be full of people recovering but not yet fully recovered from sin, and so, while partaking of the perfection of Christ, it will also carry within it the sinfulness of the human race.  It will therefore be a mix of good and bad, sin and grace, wheat and tares, failure and redemption.  But it is the goodness, the grace, the wheat, and the redemption, which will ultimately prevail.

Jesus appointed men who would lead the Church under him, after he had risen from the dead and ascended to the Father.  He called these men "apostles"--"those who are sent."  He gave them authority to shepherd the people in his name--to teach, to rule, and to guide.

"Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves. . . .  He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me."  (Luke 10:3, 16) 

And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen."  (Matthew 28:18-20) 

Then said Jesus to them again, "Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you." And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained."  (John 20:21-23) 

"Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."  (Matthew 18:15-20) 

When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, "Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?" And they said, "Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets." He saith unto them, "But whom say ye that I am?" And Simon Peter answered and said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus answered and said unto him, "Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."  (Matthew 16:13-19) 

Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.  (Acts 2:41-42)

The apostles were not to let the Church die with them.  They were to form local churches in various places as the gospel spread and appoint elders or bishops to rule over those churches.

To Titus, mine own son after the common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour. For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee: If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly. For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre; But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate; Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.  (Titus 1:4-9) 

The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.  (1 Peter 5:1-4) 

Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.  (Hebrews 13:17) 

Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us. . . . And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.  (2 Thessalonians 3:6, 14-15) 

Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.  (2 Thessalonians 2:15)

The Church, as the Body of Christ on the earth, was commissioned by Christ to be the means of the conveyance of God's grace and divine life to the people of the world, as well as to be the official guardian, interpreter, transmitter, and applier of God's revelation.  The Church was given the divine Word to proclaim the saving truth of Christ and the divine sacraments to administer the grace of God to the world and to his people.  She was given the authority and ability to do these things through the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit.  This power is exercised by all her people (the universal priesthood of all the faithful) and especially through the ordained ministers, the bishops and priests (the ministerial priesthood).  The latter are the successors of the apostles and carry on the authority to lead the Church transmitted to them by the apostles.

The Transmission of Divine Revelation

God had given revelation to his people from the beginning.  This revelation came down to the Church through the Jewish Scriptures--the Old Testament--and the Jewish Tradition which provided the context for those Scriptures.  The Scriptures had been revealed over hundreds of years to many different prophets and writers and had been preserved by the authoritative Tradition of the Jewish people.  The priests were the authoritative interpreters of the revelation of God.

If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within thy gates: then shalt thou arise, and get thee up into the place which the Lord thy God shall choose; and thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and enquire; and they shall shew thee the sentence of judgment: And thou shalt do according to the sentence, which they of that place which the Lord shall choose shall shew thee; and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they inform thee: According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do: thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall shew thee, to the right hand, nor to the left. And the man that will do presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the priest that standeth to minister there before the Lord thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die: and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel. And all the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously.  (Deuteronomy 17:8-13) 

And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate; and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded to Israel. And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month. And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate from the morning until midday, before the men and the women, and those that could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law. And Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the purpose; and beside him stood Mattithiah, and Shema, and Anaiah, and Urijah, and Hilkiah, and Maaseiah, on his right hand; and on his left hand, Pedaiah, and Mishael, and Malchiah, and Hashum, and Hashbadana, Zechariah, and Meshullam. And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people; (for he was above all the people;) and when he opened it, all the people stood up: And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. And all the people answered, "Amen, Amen," with lifting up their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground. Also Jeshua, and Bani, and Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodijah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites, caused the people to understand the law: and the people stood in their place. So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.  (Nehemiah 8:1-8) 

Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, saying "The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat: All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not."  (Matthew 23:1-3)

The culmination of revelation came in Jesus Christ, who revealed the fullness of the Word of God to humankind and gave it into the charge of the Church.

God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high: being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.  (Hebrews 1:1-4) 

And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen."  (Matthew 28:18-20)

As we saw earlier, Jesus delegated this authority to his apostles, and they to their successors, the bishops, who were charged with faithfully carrying on the divine revelation entrusted to them, being led by the Spirit to convey and apply it accurately for all the Church and all the world.

I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.  (John 16:12-15)

The revelation of God--the Word of God--was entrusted to the Church and has come to be passed down through history in two ways.  The Word of God was written in the Scriptures, starting with the Old Testament and eventually adding to it the New Testament.  It has also been passed down through the Church's teaching, preaching, liturgy and worship, actions, and in everything else the Church does and teaches.  This second way by which the Church conveys down through the centuries the divine revelation is called Tradition.  The word "tradition" simply means "something handed down."  We can use the word "tradition" to refer to the Word of God handed down by the Church in general, whether by Scripture or in other ways.  We can also use the word more specifically to refer to those other ways besides Scripture by which the Word of God is handed down.  The word "tradition" is used in both ways.

Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.  (2 Thessalonians 2:15)

So Scripture and Tradition function as two legs of a three-legged stool which grounds the authoritative transmission of revelation in the Church.  The third leg is what the Church calls the Magisterium.  This is the teaching authority of the Church.  The bishops of the Church, as the successors of the apostles, have authority, ability, and guidance from God to recognize, gather, preserve, understand, interpret, and apply the Word of God for the benefit of the Church and of the world.  All three legs of this three-legged stool are necessary for the preservation and transmission of divine revelation.  Scripture contains the fullness of the gospel, but it must be interpreted in the light of the Church's Tradition.  (For example, Scripture says that people must be baptized, but it never explicitly discusses whether and how baptism is to be applied to infants.  So in order to know how to apply Scripture's teaching in this case, we must look at the Church's practice, which tells us that infants are indeed to be baptized.  Tradition and Scripture are to be interpreted together and shed light on each other.)  And in order to know where to find the authentic Scriptures and the authentic traditions, and to know how to interpret and apply them, we must rely on the God-guided Magisterium.  This three-legged stool of divine revelation and its authoritative transmission and application has been taught by the Church from the very beginning, as two early Church Fathers, St. Basil of Caesaria (330-379) and St. Vincent of Lerins (died c. 445), testify to.

Of the beliefs and practices whether generally accepted or publicly enjoined which are preserved in the Church some we possess derived from written teaching; others we have received delivered to us "in a mystery" by the tradition of the apostles; and both of these in relation to true religion have the same force. And these no one will gainsay—no one, at all events, who is even moderately versed in the institutions of the Church. For were we to attempt to reject such customs as have no written authority, on the ground that the importance they possess is small, we should unintentionally injure the Gospel in its very vitals; or, rather, should make our public definition a mere phrase and nothing more. For instance, to take the first and most general example, who is thence who has taught us in
writing to sign with the sign of the cross those who have trusted in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ? What writing has taught us to turn to the East at the prayer? Which of the saints has left us in writing the words of the invocation at the displaying of the bread of the Eucharist and the cup of blessing? For we are not, as is well known, content with what the apostle or the Gospel has recorded, but both in preface and conclusion we add other words as being of great importance to the validity of the ministry, and these we derive from unwritten teaching. Moreover we bless the water of baptism and the oil of the chrism, and besides this the catechumen who is being baptized. On what written authority do we do this? Is not our authority silent and mystical tradition? Nay, by what written word is the anointing of oil itself taught? And whence comes the custom of baptizing thrice? And as to the other customs of baptism from what Scripture do we derive the renunciation of Satan and his angels? Does not this come from that unpublished and secret teaching which our fathers guarded in a silence out of the reach of curious meddling and inquisitive investigation?  (St. Basil, On the Holy Spirit, section 66. Translated by Blomfield Jackson, from Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 8, edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace [Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1895], revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. Retrieved from the New Advent website [embedded links removed] at http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3203.htm at 2:46 PM on 2/19/18.) 

But here some one perhaps will ask, Since the canon of Scripture is complete, and sufficient of itself for everything, and more than sufficient, what need is there to join with it the authority of the Church's interpretation? For this reason—because, owing to the depth of Holy Scripture, all do not accept it in one and the same sense, but one understands its words in one way, another in another; so that it seems to be capable of as many interpretations as there are interpreters. For Novatian expounds it one way, Sabellius another, Donatus another, Arius, Eunomius, Macedonius, another, Photinus, Apollinaris, Priscillian, another, Iovinian, Pelagius, Celestius, another, lastly, Nestorius another. Therefore, it is very necessary, on account of so great intricacies of such various error, that the rule for the right understanding of the prophets and apostles should be framed in accordance with the standard of Ecclesiastical and Catholic interpretation.  (St. Vincent of Lerins, Commonitory, section 5. Translated by C.A. Heurtley, from Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 11, edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace [Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1894], revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. Retrieved from the New Advent website [embedded links removed] at http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3506.htm at 2:53 PM on 2/19/18.)

We should also note that doctrine in the Church develops over time.  We will have lots of opportunities to observe this as we go through Church history.  In Christ, and through his teaching and the teaching of his apostles, the revelation of God has been brought to completion.  The Church has received from her beginning the fullness of the Word which God has desired to reveal.  However, we are creatures of time and space, and God's interaction with us takes the form of a story.  The Church possesses the fullness of the divine revelation, but her recognition, gathering, preserving, understanding, interpreting, and applying of divine revelation takes place, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit who "guides her into all truth," over her entire history.  Thus, the Tradition of the Church grows, not by things being added from without, but by an unpacking from within, as the Church grows in her understanding and application of divine revelation and all its implications over time in light of the new circumstances she faces in her experience--external events, new cultural situations, heresies, newly-encountered philosophical ideas, dialogue with the world, etc.  The Church's growth is analogous in many ways to the growth of individuals as we gain wisdom to understand the nuances of things through our experience gained as we go through life.  St. Vincent of Lerins, from whom I quoted just above, provides the classic description from the early Church of this process of doctrinal development.  Note (in the quotation below) the two things he emphasizes:  The Church's doctrine grows through time, analogous to the growth of an embryo into an adult, but that growth is a logical growth--not mere arbitrary mutation, like a cancer, but a flowering into maturity of what was there at least in seed form from the beginning.  There can be great growth in recognizing nuances, in seeing patterns and implications previously unnoticed, in articulating the specificities and depths of what God has revealed, and all of this can greatly alter in some ways the "shape and form" of the Church's doctrine, but there cannot be contradiction.  The Church's later doctrine will not turn around and attack what she had previously established, or the divine revelation that is at the foundation of all her teaching.

The growth of religion in the soul must be analogous to the growth of the body, which, though in process of years it is developed and attains its full size, yet remains still the same. There is a wide difference between the flower of youth and the maturity of age; yet they who were once young are still the same now that they have become old, insomuch that though the stature and outward form of the individual are changed, yet his nature is one and the same, his person is one and the same. An infant's limbs are small, a young man's large, yet the infant and the young man are the same. Men when full grown have the same number of joints that they had when children; and if there be any to which maturer age has given birth these were already present in embryo, so that nothing new is produced in them when old which was not already latent in them when children. This, then, is undoubtedly the true and legitimate rule of progress, this the established and most beautiful order of growth, that mature age ever develops in the man those parts and forms which the wisdom of the Creator had already framed beforehand in the infant. Whereas, if the human form were changed into some shape belonging to another kind, or at any rate, if the number of its limbs were increased or diminished, the result would be that the whole body would become either a wreck or a monster, or, at the least, would be impaired and enfeebled. 

In like manner, it behooves Christian doctrine to follow the same laws of progress, so as to be consolidated by years, enlarged by time, refined by age, and yet, withal, to continue uncorrupt and unadulterate, complete and perfect in all the measurement of its parts, and, so to speak, in all its proper members and senses, admitting no change, no waste of its distinctive property, no variation in its limits. 

For example: Our forefathers in the old time sowed wheat in the Church's field. It would be most unmeet and iniquitous if we, their descendants, instead of the genuine truth of grain, should reap the counterfeit error of tares. This rather should be the result—there should be no discrepancy between the first and the last. From doctrine which was sown as wheat, we should reap, in the increase, doctrine of the same kind— wheat also; so that when in process of time any of the original seed is developed, and now flourishes under cultivation, no change may ensue in the character of the plant. There may supervene shape, form, variation in outward appearance, but the nature of each kind must remain the same. God forbid that those rose-beds of Catholic interpretation should be converted into thorns and thistles. God forbid that in that spiritual paradise from plants of cinnamon and balsam, darnel and wolfsbane should of a sudden shoot forth.  (St. Vincent of Lerins, Ibid.)

We see everything we have been talking about portrayed profoundly for us very early on in Church history in the Jerusalem Council described in Acts 15.

And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, "Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved." When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question. And being brought on their way by the church, they passed through Phenice and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles: and they caused great joy unto all the brethren. And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them. But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, that it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses. And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter. 

And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, "Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe. And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us; and put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they."

Then all the multitude kept silence, and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them. 

And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, "Men and brethren, hearken unto me: Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name. And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written, 'After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things.' Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God: But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood. For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day."

Then pleased it the apostles and elders with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas and Silas, chief men among the brethren: And they wrote letters by them after this manner: "The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia. Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, "Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law": to whom we gave no such commandment: It seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things by mouth. For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things; That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well." So when they were dismissed, they came to Antioch: and when they had gathered the multitude together, they delivered the epistle: Which when they had read, they rejoiced for the consolation. And Judas and Silas, being prophets also themselves, exhorted the brethren with many words, and confirmed them. And after they had tarried there a space, they were let go in peace from the brethren unto the apostles. Notwithstanding it pleased Silas to abide there still. Paul also and Barnabas continued in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also.  (Acts 15:1-35)

In the Old Testament, the "people of God" was for the most part synonymous with a particular ethnic group, the Jewish people.  But the coming of the gospel would change this, as the Messiah became, as prophecied, a light to the nations.  Gentiles began to come into the Church.  But was this acceptable?  Should not the Gentiles be circumcised first according to the Law of Moses so they could be properly integrated into the Christian community by becoming Jews?  This was a new issue the Church had not considered before.  The Old Testament never explicitly addresses the question of whether Gentiles, in the times of the New Covenant, would need to be circumcised and made Jews.  Jesus himself had never explicitly addressed that subject in his teaching.  The Church had no official, explicit teaching on this subject.  So what did she do?  She called a council of Church leaders, consisting of the apostles and the elders/bishops.  They looked to the Scriptures to find applicable principles.  They looked to what God was doing in their own day.  And, guided by the Holy Spirit, they came to a conclusion which was then binding on the churches.  The Tradition of the Church had grown, not by adding from without but by unpacking from within, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  We will see this kind of pattern repeated time and time again throughout Church history.

There is one more crucial component that needs to be mentioned with regard to how the Church is guided by God in her faithful transmission of divine revelation--the role of St. Peter and his successors in the bishops of Rome.  When Jesus gave authority to the apostles, he singled out Peter to give him a special authority.

When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, "Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?" And they said, "Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets." He saith unto them, "But whom say ye that I am?" And Simon Peter answered and said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus answered and said unto him, "Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."  (Matthew 16:13-19)

All the apostles were given the authority to bind and to loose, but to Peter in a singular and special way the keys of the kingdom of heaven were given.  The authority that all the apostles would exercise would be exercised also by Peter in particular.  He would be the head of the college of apostles, the one who would strengthen, feed, and guide the apostolic band and the whole flock of Christ.

And the Lord said, "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren."  (Luke 22:31-32) 

So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?" He saith unto him, "Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee." He saith unto him, "Feed my lambs." He saith to him again the second time, "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?" He saith unto him, "Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee." He saith unto him, "Feed my sheep." He saith unto him the third time, "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?" Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, "Lovest thou me?" And he said unto him, "Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee." Jesus saith unto him, "Feed my sheep. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not." This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, "Follow me."  (John 21:15-19)

By being given the exercise of the keys of the kingdom in such a unique way, Peter became the guarantor of the unity and orthodoxy of the Church.  All the apostles could exercise authority in the Church, and they should all exercise it together.  But that authority could only be exercised in communion with and under the authority of Peter; for without him, there can be no legitimate exercise of the keys.  Thus, by sticking with Peter, the Church would be grounded in the true faith and in the fullness of unity.  The early Father St. Jerome (345-420) put it this way:

[T]he Church was founded upon Peter: although elsewhere the same is attributed to all the Apostles, and they all receive the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and the strength of the Church depends upon them all alike, yet one among the twelve is chosen so that when a head has been appointed, there may be no occasion for schism.  (St. Jerome, Against Jovinianus [Book I], section 26. Translated by W.H. Fremantle, G. Lewis and W.G. Martley, from Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 6, edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace [Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1893], revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. Retrieved from the New Advent website at http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/30091.htm at 10:55 PM on 2/19/18.)

The whole college of bishops--all the bishops throughout the world--became the successors of the whole college of the apostles.  But some sees--that is, some seats of authority held by bishops--became, in the early Church, more prominent and gained more authority than others because of their more direct connection with an apostle who had founded them or because of their practical position in the geography of the Church.  Peter himself ended up dying in Rome during the persecution of the Emperor Nero (more on this below).  When he died, he left his unique authority with the See of Rome.  From that time on, as was pretty much universally acknowledged in the Church from the beginning, the Bishop of Rome took on the role of head bishop of the college of bishops.  Having a special role and thus a special guidance and authority from God, he functioned as the chief shepherd among the human shepherds of Christ's flock, and his teaching and authority became a beacon of the Holy Spirit, a guarantor of the unity and orthodoxy of the universal Church.  The great Eastern Church Father, St. Maximus the Confessor (c. 580-662), put it this way:

All the ends of the inhabited world, and those who anywhere on earth confess the Lord with a pure and orthodox faith, look directly to the most holy Church of the Romans and her confession and faith as to a sun of eternal light, receiving from her the radiant beam of the patristic and holy doctrines, just as the holy six synods, inspired and sacred, purely and with all devotion set them forth, uttering most clearly the symbol of faith. For, from the time of the descent to us of the incarnate Word of God, all the Churches of the Christians everywhere have held and possess this most great Church as the sole base and foundation, since, according to the very promise of the Saviour, it will never be overpowered by the gates of hell, but rather has the keys of the orthodox faith and confession in him, and to those who approach it with reverence it opens the genuine and unique piety, but shuts and stops every heretical mouth that speaks utter wickedness.  (Footnotes removed--the quotation is from "The Ecclesiology of St. Maximos the Confessor," by Andrew Louth, published in the International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church, Vol. 4, No. 2, July 2004, p. 116.)

https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19651118_dei-verbum_en.html - Dei Verbum ("The Word of God"), a document from the Second Vatican Council outlining the Church's view of the Word of God and its transmission.

https://conservativecolloquium.wordpress.com/2013/11/13/the-most-catholic-quotes-of-the-early-church-fathers-on-correct-scriptural-interpretation-authority/ - A selection of evidence from the Church Fathers showing their commitment to the three-legged stool of Scripture, Tradition, and Church authority divinely guided by the Holy Spirit.

http://freethoughtforchrist.blogspot.com/2018/07/the-church-fathers-sola-scriptura-or.html - A much more thorough collection of evidence for the same.

http://www.calledtocommunion.com/2011/02/the-chair-of-st-peter/ - A selection of evidence from the Church Fathers showing their commitment to the divinely-appointed role of the Chair of St. Peter.

https://archive.org/details/DocumentsIllustratingPapalAuthorityAd96-454Giles/mode/2up - A much more thorough collection of evidence for the same (at least up to the time just after the Council of Chalcedon in the mid-400s).

The Infallibility of the Church

Since we have been talking about the authority of the Church and the guidance of her teaching by the Holy Spirit, it would be appropriate here to spell out a little more specifically how the Church has come to understand the forms of her own teaching and her own infallibility (that is, her protection from error in her teaching).  The Church's articulation of this has been honed down through the centuries, but it is helpful to have a clear idea of how the Church's teaching authority works so that we can recognize and understand better the exercises of that authority amidst the complexities of history.  In an article I wrote up a few years ago, I summarized the Church's infallibility and authority in this way:

The teaching authority of the Catholic Church resides in the "Magisterium," which is simply the body of bishops who govern the Church in communion with the Bishop of Rome, the Pope.  God has given what I'll call the "gift of reliability" to the teachers of the Church, so that what they teach in terms of the doctrine of the church (whether of "faith" or "morals") is accurate and does not lead into error.  This gift is not given to individual bishops acting alone, but only to the body of bishops as a whole--so it is possible that individual bishops, or even bishops in groups smaller than the whole of the body of bishops, might teach error, but the body of bishops as a whole can never do so.  Also, the Pope, as the head of the church, has the gift of reliability given to him in his own unique office as well, so that he can never teach error when he is exercising his teaching office. 

Sometimes the Church teaches a doctrine definitively--that is, it teaches a doctrine as certainly and irrevocably the correct opinion.  This might happen when the bishops come together in an ecumenical council and make definitive decrees or statements, or it might happen as all the bishops in the ordinary exercise of their office agree in teaching a doctrine definitively throughout the world.  The Pope might teach a doctrine definitively either by formally defining a doctrine as a dogma (this is the famed ex cathedra declaration) or simply by affirming that a doctrine is the definitive teaching of the Church.  When the Church teaches something definitively, since it has the gift of reliability, Catholics are obligated to receive and accept it definitively.  Sometimes, however, the Church might teach a doctrine non-definitively--that is, it might teach a doctrine in such a way that it is claimed to be true, or accurate, or good to believe or hold or practice, etc., but not in such a way that it is claimed that the final, unchangeable word on the subject has been given.  The doctrine is not claimed as definitely certain or true or unchangeable in its current form.  For example, the bishops or the Pope might say, "X is the best way to think about this right now," or "We should think X right now," or "So far as we can see at this point, X appears to be true," or "We should do things in this way right now," etc.  There could be lots of ways such a non-definitive teaching could be given and a variety of degrees of certainty in such pronouncements--context would determine how to interpret any particular statement or teaching.  A non-definitive teaching must be accepted and adhered to by Catholics as well.  It must be accepted in the way and to the degree it was intended by the Church--again, interpreted by context.  (Mark Hausam, "The Infallibility of the Church")

In another article, I described the distinction between the Church's definitive teaching and her non-definitive teaching more specifically:

The teaching of the Catholic Church is that the Pope, and the bishops as a whole, can teach with various levels of definitiveness, but that Catholics are bound to submit with mind and will to all magisterial teaching according to the intention of the magisterial teacher.  So if the Pope teaches something and intends it to be a definitive pronouncement, Catholics are to submit to it as the final word on the subject and irreformably and forever true.  If the Pope teaches something which he intends the people to believe, but it is not intended as necessarily the final word on the subject, then Catholics are bound to accept that teaching, but not necessarily as the final word on the subject.  All magisterial teaching is to be regarded as inherently reliable, for it all comes with the authority of Christ and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  We can never be led astray by following magisterial teaching, although non-definitive teaching can lead us to provisional conclusions that may later turn out to be augmented or even corrected.  The fact that non-definitive teaching is not necessarily irreformable is not contrary to its reliability, for the reformable nature of such teaching does not come from any unreliability in the teaching but in the non-definitiveness of the magisterial intention.  If the Pope teaches us that X is the best position to hold right now and that we ought to hold position X, but that this is not necessarily the final word on the subject, if later on we find that X is false we cannot be said to have been led astray by the Pope's teaching, for that teaching did not teach us that X would never be overturned.  But the reliability of the Pope's ordinary teaching obviously precludes that teaching from including heresy--that is, from including ideas that contradict what the Church has previously affirmed definitively to have been revealed by God.  For we already know that such teachings cannot be true and that we should not hold them.  It would be contrary to the justice and truth of God for legitimate authority appointed by him to legitimately bind us to teaching that it would be wrong to hold.  (Mark Hausam, "Some Thoughts on the Recent Open Letter against Pope Francis")

It is also worth mentioning that bishops and Popes are, of course, still human sinners and so subject to sin as well as to errors in judgment.  The official teaching of the Magisterium is reliable (in either a definitive or non-definitive way) and binding, but bishops and Popes are not protected from sin and error in their own private lives.  They can sin just like any other person, and they can have personal opinions--not part of what they teach officially--that can be erroneous and not to be followed (though we should always treat our shepherds with respect).  Also, bishops and Popes can make practical rulings and decisions that aren't doctrine but are simply rules and procedures to follow.  The divine guidance of the Magisterium does not guarantee that bishops and Popes will always make the wisest practical rulings or follow the wisest courses of action in all that they do and in all the rules they make.

http://freethoughtforchrist.blogspot.com/2015/07/the-infallibility-of-church.html - This is my article quoted from above (the next-to-last quotation).  In addition to my summary of the Church's teaching on her own infallibility, it contains quotations from and links to Church documents showing how the Church herself articulates her infallibility.

http://freethoughtforchrist.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-infallibility-of-ordinary.html - And here is a much more detailed article on the same subject, with additional references as well.

The Roman World

The Church was born into a world that was a mix of many different cultures.  Of course, the Church grew immediately out of Judaism.  But the Jews at this time were not independent.  They had been conquered by the Greeks a few hundred years earlier during the time of Alexander the Great, and Greek culture (Hellenism) spread throughout the territories Alexander had conquered, even after his empire broke up and Greeks no longer ruled in those areas.  (This is reflected, for example, in the fact that the New Testament was written in Greek, which had become an international language in the Eastern Mediterranean world at that time.)  During the hundred years preceding the birth of Christ, the Romans had conquered the land of the Jews, and they had created a cosmopolitan empire that eventually spanned from Britain in the West to the edge of Persia in the East, as well as including much of Europe and North Africa.  The unity brought by the Roman Empire created an international, pluralistic society not unlike the world we inhabit today in many ways.  The Church would be influenced and challenged by all three of these cultures--Jewish, Greek, and Roman--and eventually by many others as well.

The Church's fundamental worldview grew out of Judaism, but her philosophy and ways of thinking, as well as her formal structure, would become heavily influenced by Greek and Roman ideas and culture over her first few hundred years of existence, as we will see.

The unity of the Roman Empire also created an opportunity for the spread of the gospel that was unique in the ancient world.  The sort of missionary journeys we read about in the Book of Acts would have been very different and much harder without the international infrastructure in place due to the Roman Empire.

watch in class - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qw3CjmoB3oY - Helpful, half-hour video on pagan life and worship in the Roman Empire.

http://www.centuryone.com/rmnwrd.html - Some maps of the Roman world around our time period (as well as a little afterwards).

show in class - https://www.ccel.org/bible/phillips/CN092MAPS1.htm - Maps of St. Paul's missionary journeys around the Mediterranean world, along with some explanations.  Very nice visual for what we read in the Book of Acts and Paul's letters.

https://aleteia.org/2017/07/21/whatever-happened-to-the-twelve-apostles/ - Whatever happened to the Twelve Apostles?  Short, summary article on some of the traditions on how they ended up.