HC1315: EARLY CHURCH

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HC1315 EARLY CHURCH

• Church and Sacraments

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• Mark 91 And he said to them, "Truly I tell you,
  there are some standing here who will not taste
  death until they see that the kingdom of God has
  come with1 power."
• Matthew 2434 Truly I tell you, this generation
  will not pass away until all these things have
  taken place.
• Matthew 548 Be perfect, therefore, as your
  heavenly Father is perfect.

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• 1 Thessalonians 51-11 RS 1 Thessalonians 51
  Now concerning the times and the seasons,
  brothers and sisters,1 you do not need to have
  anything written to you. 2 For you yourselves
  know very well that the day of the Lord will come
  like a thief in the night. 3 When they say,
  "There is peace and security," then sudden
  destruction will come upon them, as labor pains
  come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no
  escape! 4 But you, beloved,1 are not in
  darkness, for that day to surprise you like a
  thief 5 for you are all children of light and
  children of the day we are not of the night or
  of darkness. 6 So then let us not fall asleep as
  others do, but let us keep awake and be sober 7
  for those who sleep sleep at night, and those who
  are drunk get drunk at night. 8 But since we
  belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on
  the breastplate of faith and love, and for a
  helmet the hope of salvation. 9 For God has
  destined us not for wrath but for obtaining
  salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who
  died for us, so that whether we are awake or
  asleep we may live with him. 11 Therefore
  encourage one another and build up each other, as
  indeed you are doing.

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• 1 Thessalonians 415-18 15 For this we declare
  to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are
  alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord,
  will by no means precede those who have died.1
  16 For the Lord himself, with a cry of command,
  with the archangel's call and with the sound of
  God's trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the
  dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who
  are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the
  clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the
  air and so we will be with the Lord forever. 18
  Therefore encourage one another with these words.

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• This Christology is a fervid vision of the Son
  of Man as Christus Victor, destroying evil
  powers, judging humanity, and returning to rescue
  his own.

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Holy Spirit

• Supernatural power that brought the immediate
  conviction of faith
• The One who enabled Christian life
• Enabled the proclamation of the Risen One
• the unveiled epiphany of God (Ernst Käsemann,
  The Beginnings of Christian Theology, New
  Testament Questions of Today.

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• Romans 823 23 and not only the creation, but
  we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the
  Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for
  adoption, the redemption of our bodies.
• 2 Corinthians 122 22 by putting his seal on us
  and giving us his Spirit in our hearts as a first
  installment.
• 2 Corinthians 55 5 He who has prepared us for
  this very thing is God, who has given us the
  Spirit as a guarantee.

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• Matthew 1232 32 Whoever speaks a word against
  the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever
  speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be
  forgiven, either in this age or in the age to
  come.

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Teaching and Prophesy

• 1 Corinthians 1228 28 And God has appointed in
  the church first apostles, second prophets, third
  teachers then deeds of power, then gifts of
  healing, forms of assistance, forms of
  leadership, various kinds of tongues.

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• 1 Corinthians 1423-25 23 If, therefore, the
  whole church comes together and all speak in
  tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will
  they not say that you are out of your mind? 24
  But if all prophesy, an unbeliever or outsider
  who enters is reproved by all and called to
  account by all. 25 After the secrets of the
  unbeliever's heart are disclosed, that person
  will bow down before God and worship him,
  declaring, "God is really among you."

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Prophecy post Christum exaltatum

• Prophecy is of such force that it preaches Christ
  in a way that is both proclamation and revelation.

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• Hebrews 1024-25 24 And let us consider how to
  provoke one another to love and good deeds, 25
  not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit
  of some, but encouraging one another, and all the
  more as you see the Day approaching.

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Sacraments

• It is the clear consensus of early church
  scholarship that the doctrine and practice of the
  sacraments were of decisive importance for
  retaining in a vivid, conscious way the
  eschatological orientation of Christian believers.

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Didache

• The Second Commandment of the Teaching Do not
  commit murder do not commit adultery do not
  corrupt boys do not fornicate do not steal
  do not practice magic do not go in for sorcery
  do not murder a child by abortion or kill a
  new-born infant. . .
• Richardson, 172

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• Isaiah 256 6 On this mountain the LORD of hosts
  will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a
  feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled
  with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear.
• Isaiah 533-5 3 He was despised and rejected by
  others a man of suffering1 and acquainted with
  infirmity and as one from whom others hide their
  faces2 he was despised, and we held him of no
  account. 4 Surely he has borne our infirmities
  and carried our diseases yet we accounted him
  stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. 5
  But he was wounded for our transgressions,
  crushed for our iniquities upon him was the
  punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises
  we are healed.

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Lords Supper

• Recollection of Jesus
• Present fellowship
• Future anticipation

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• . . .the Lords Supper is the center of the
  Church and of its various acts of worship. Here
  the Church is truly itself, because it is wholly
  with its Lord here the Church of Christ is
  gathered for its most intimate fellowship, as
  sharers in a meal. In this fellowship they draw
  strength for service in the world.
• Hans Küng, The Church (1967), 223

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Susanna and the EldersSebastian Ricci
(1679-1734)
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The Didache

• You must not let anyone eat or drink of your
  Eucharist except those baptized in the Lords
  name. For in reference to this, the Lord said,
  Do not give what is sacred to dogs Mt. 7.6. .
  .
• If anyone is holy, let him come. If not, let him
  repent.
• Richardson, 175,176

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• Dearest Friends in Christ You know that our Lord
  Jesus Christ, out of unspeakable love, instituted
  at the last this his Supper as a memorial and
  proclamation of his death suffered for our sins.
  This commemoration requires a firm faith to make
  the heart and conscience of everyone who wants to
  use and partake of this Supper sure and certain
  that Christ has suffered death for all his sins.
  But whoever doubts and does not in some manner
  feel such faith should know that the Supper is of
  no avail to him, but will rather be to his hurt,
  and he should stay away from it. And since we
  cannot see such faith, and it is known only to
  God, we leave it to the conscience of him who
  comes and admit him who requests and desires it.
  But those who cling to open sins, such as greed,
  hatred, envy, profiteering, unchastity, and the
  like and are not minded to renounce them, shall
  herewith be barred and be warned faithfully not
  to come lest they incur judgment and damnation
  for their souls as St. Paul says I Cor. 1129.
  If however someone has fallen because of weakness
  and proves by his acts that he earnestly desires
  to better himself, this grace and communion of
  the body and blood of Christ shall not be denied
  to him. In this fashion each must judge himself
  and look out for himself. For God is not mocked
  Gal. 67, nor will he give that which is holy
  unto the dogs or cast pearls before swine Matt.
  76 (LW, 51, 104f.)

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Service Book and Hymnal (1958)

• Almighty God, our heavenly Father, hath had
  mercy upon us, and for the sake of the
  sufferings, death, and resurrection of his dear
  Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, forgiveth us all our
  sins. As a Minister of the Church of Christ, and
  by his authority, I therefore declare unto you
  who do truly repent and believe in him, the
  entire forgiveness of all your sins in the name
  of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
  Ghost. Amen
• On the other hand, by the same authority, I
  declare unto the impenitent and unbelieving, that
  so long as they continue in their impenitence,
  God hath not forgiven their sins, and will
  assuredly visit their iniquities upon them, if
  they turn not from their evil ways, and come to
  true repentance and faith in Christ, ere the day
  of grace be ended.
• p. 252

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• Hebrews 61-4 NRS Hebrews 61 Therefore let us
  go on toward perfection,1 leaving behind the
  basic teaching about Christ, and not laying again
  the foundation repentance from dead works and
  faith toward God, 2 instruction about baptisms,
  laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead, and
  eternal judgment. 3 And we will do1 this, if God
  permits. 4 For it is impossible to restore again
  to repentance those who have once been
  enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift,
  and have shared in the Holy Spirit,

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• Hebrews 1026-31 26 For if we willfully persist
  in sin after having received the knowledge of the
  truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for
  sins, 27 but a fearful prospect of judgment, and
  a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.
  28 Anyone who has violated the law of Moses dies
  without mercy "on the testimony of two or three
  witnesses." 29 How much worse punishment do you
  think will be deserved by those who have spurned
  the Son of God, profaned the blood of the
  covenant by which they were sanctified, and
  outraged the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know the
  one who said, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay."
  And again, "The Lord will judge his people." 31
  It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of
  the living God.

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• 1 John 512-19 12 He who has the Son has life
  he who has not the Son of God has not life. 13 I
  write this to you who believe in the name of the
  Son of God, that you may know that you have
  eternal life. 14 And this is the confidence
  which we have in him, that if we ask anything
  according to his will he hears us. 15 And if we
  know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know
  that we have obtained the requests made of him.
  16 If any one sees his brother committing what is
  not a mortal sin, he will ask, and God will give
  him life for those whose sin is not mortal. There
  is sin which is mortal I do not say that one is
  to pray for that. 17 All wrongdoing is sin, but
  there is sin which is not mortal. 18 We know
  that any one born of God does not sin, but He who
  was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does
  not touch him. 19 We know that we are of God,
  and the whole world is in the power of the evil
  one.

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• John 1612-14 12 "I still have many things to
  say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13
  When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you
  into all the truth for he will not speak on his
  own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he
  will declare to you the things that are to come.
  14 He will glorify me, because he will take what
  is mine and declare it to you.

• Montanus, Maximilla, Priscilla, Tertullian
  (c.160-c.225)
• Hippolytus of Rome (170-236)
• Pope Callistus (d. c. 222), corpus permixtum
• Cyprian (d. 258)
• Novatian (mid-second century)
• Decian Persecution (autumm, 249), Diocletian
  Persecution (303-312)
• Donatists, fourth and fifth centuries
• Caecilian (d. c. 345)
• Felix of Aptunga

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• . . .the validity of the sacraments they taught,
  depended on the unworthiness of the minister, and
  the Church ceased to be holy and forfitted its
  claim to be Christs body when it tolerated
  unworthy bishops and other officers. .
  .Presupposed in this attitude is the puritan
  conception of the Church as a society which is de
  facto holy, consisting exclusively of actually
  good men and women.
• Kelley, Early Christian Doctrines, 410

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• Optatus, Bishop of Milevis (c. 366)
• De jure holiness
• Symbol of the Trinity
• Chair of St. Peter
• Creed

• Augustine (354-430)
• Holiness produced by sacraments not pride of
  individuals
• Christ exists as the Church, his Body
• Church a union of love
• Invisible union of love (invisibilis caritates
  compages de bap. 3.26)
• Ephesians 525-27 25 Husbands, love your wives,
  just as Christ loved the church and gave himself
  up for her, 26 in order to make her holy by
  cleansing her with the washing of water by the
  word, 27 so as to present the church to himself
  in splendor, without a spot or wrinkle or
  anything of the kind -- yes, so that she may be
  holy and without blemish.