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THE HISTORY OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHURCH DOGMA IN THE EARLY

YEARS

100-476 C.E.

By Stephen B. Plaster, Ph.D.

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INTRODUCTION

The development of Christian church dogma in the early years was a slow but

continuous process following the passing from the scene of the apostles. The church was

to undergo two unique periods in history. The first period was from 100-313 C.E. in

which the church had to survive despite persecution of Christians. The second period

was from 313-476 C.E. whereby the Christian religion was made legal under the

authority of the Roman government.

CHURCH PERSECUTION

During the years from 100-313 C.E., the church underwent persecution which

martyred many Christians. Second, the loss of the apostles left the church with no men of

their status and authority to lead the church. Third, doctrinal divisions arose due to the

rise of both heretics and heretical sects which required the development of an orthodox

set of standards of belief. Fourth, since Christian faith was based on personal submission

to Christ, the test of faith soon became determination of the correct intellectual belief

rather than personal spiritual belief. This encouraged the development of schools of

theological learning which were established in Alexandria, Egypt, Asia Minor, and

Carthage, North Africa. Fifth, the church began to address the concerns of authority and

succession. The primary model for organization was the secular Roman government

where provincial governors appointed by the supreme leader, the emperor of Rome,

governed as well as providing a method of succession to office. The church followed this

practice by identifying bishops in the larger urban areas who were autonomous until the

bishop of Rome eventually superseded the other bishops.

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IMPERIAL CHURCH

The years between 313-476 C.E. were filled with societal change which affected

the development of the church. First, the emperor Constantine through an edict changed

the legal status of the Christian church so that it became a legal religion. This ended the

persecution, allowed church building growth, and opened up privilege for the clergy.

Second, the practice of idol sacrifice, emperor worship, and the operation of pagan

temples began to erode and eventually die out. Third, several secular practices were

removed or eventually suppressed. For example, crucifixion was abolished while

infanticide, slavery, and gladiatorial games were suppressed.

The church began to be molded in the imperial image of Rome with some positive

and some negative consequences. Controversies were to arise in the church over

doctrines. These controversies surfaced during this period and were known as: (1) the

Arian controversy, (2) the Apollinarian controversy, and (3) the Pelagian controversy.

Each threatened the survival of Christianity. The Arian controversy involved the status

of the persons of the Trinity. Arius viewed Christ as inferior to the Father. The

Apollinarian controversy involved the nature of Christ. Apollinaris asserted that the

incarnate Christ was God but in human form. The Pelagian controversy involved the

concept of original sin. Pelagius taught that humans are guilty of actual sins but not of

Adam’s original sin by inheritance. These three controversies were resolved at three

different councils where these doctrinal beliefs were rejected in favor of views which

became orthodox for the church.

The power of the church began to grow by asserting authority of the Roman

bishop, by organizing similar to the structure of the Roman government, and by

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developing strong and capable religious leaders. The authority of the bishop in Rome

was enhanced because of the importance of political Rome as the seat of government, the

assertion of apostolic succession from the apostle Peter, and the high quality of these

bishops. The bishop served as the spiritual equivalent to the political emperor as supreme

leader. The bishops in Rome were learned, capable, and powerful leaders compared to

many other bishops. Finally, the early church would grow and develop church dogma

based upon writings of the church fathers, by leaders who were capable apologists for

orthodox beliefs, by the emergence of a creed, and by decisions made from councils

consisting of representative leaders of the universal church.

WRITINGS OF DEFENSE

The early writings of the church fathers were written as a defense against

paganism and Judaism. Some writings denounced the pagan practices associated with

imperial cult worship. Christians were also pummeled by pagan accusations that

Christians were guilty of civil disobedience and immorality. These claims were based on

refusing to sacrifice at the temples and the spurious claim that the communion practices

involved the drinking of the blood of infants. Christians were also verbally attacked

based upon the divergence of a worldview in contradiction to that of the Greek

philosophers. Various points of difference were the cycle of human history as linear with

a purpose versus cyclical with repeating eras, creation out of nothing versus the

immortality of the soul, and the belief in the divine logos as an immaterial mind force

versus the person of Jesus Christ. For example, Origen taught the immortality of the soul

based upon a Greek philosophical understanding. He was eventually declared a heretic.

Tatian, on the other hand, taught the mortality of the soul which became the orthodox

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position. Jaroslav Pelikan comments on this issue as follows, “The idea of the immortal

and rational soul is part of the Greek inheritance in Christian doctrine…” and “Tatian’s

statement that in ‘itself the soul is not immortal, but mortal…’”1

Other writings were in defense of Jewish heresies. The Ebionites evolved out of

the Essene sect and propagated the idea that Jesus was born naturally rather than virgin

born. The Pharisees had taught the importance of living according to the law and the

prophets in one’s earthly life. A similar focus on attaining righteousness in this life was

taught by Pelagius but later denounced as unorthodox. Jews such as Simon of Samaria

sought to buy the power of the Holy Spirit as a means to offer salvation to others (Acts

8:9-25). Although this is not a direct cause of this practice in the ensuing years of the

church, the church did institute the practice of the sale of indulgences. The early writings

of the church fathers spoke out against the heretical teachings of the existing traditional

groups who were either pagans or Jews. These writing resisted the threat of syncretizing

then current beliefs with the newly revealed religion of Christianity.

APOLOGISTS AND HERESIES

During the early years, three heresies were being taught which represented a

threat to Christianity. These three were Marcionism, Gnosticism, and Montanism. The

first two offered a false view of God as two separate entities, and the third

overemphasized visions, prophecies, and end time scenarios.

Marcionism offered an explanation of God as two separate entities. One God was

the creator described in the Old Testament, and the second was the judge also described

1 Jaroslav Pelikan, The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine (Chicago, IL: The

University of Chicago Press, 1971), 51.

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in the Old Testament. By separating the divine into two entities, the unity of God is lost,

the law and the gospel are separated, and the continuity of divine revelation between the

Old and New Testaments is broken. Marcion’s rejection of the law in the Old Testament

caused him to formulate New Testament canon based only upon Luke and Paul’s church

epistles. This became known as the Muratorian Canon.2

Gnosticism was a heretical system of belief in the superiority of knowledge.

Jewish Gnosticism also taught the existence of two Gods. There is a supreme God and a

creator God. There were other forms of Gnosticism prevalent at the time. Christian

Gnosticism denied the reality of Jesus’ human body and that His Body was not physically

resurrected. These denials went to the heart of orthodox belief and if successful would

have denied the redemption message of the gospel. The Gnostics interpreted Scripture in

an allegorical manner which supported the idea that only a select few possessed the

gnosis of true knowledge. Both Origen and Clement of Alexander were influenced by

Gnostic beliefs. J.L. Hurlbut states, “…they interpreted the Scriptures in an allegorical

manner, making every statement mean whatever the interpreter saw fit.”3

Montanism taught both moral reform and the importance of prophesying to exhort

the church toward moral purity. Montanists were on a continual quest for visions,

prophecies, and revelations constantly adding to the message that judgment was coming

for those who did not repent. When the orthodox view began to reveal that prophecies

had ceased and the end times were in the distant future, Montanism dwindled as a

movement. Tertullian was an apologist for Montanism. J.N.D. Kelly observes, “The

2 Henry Bettenson and Chris Maunder, ed., Documents of the Christian Church (Oxford: Oxford University

Press, 1999), 31. 3 Jesses Lyman Hurlbut, The Story of the Christian Church (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1970), 52.

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Book (Adversus Praxeam) was a product of Tertullian’s Montanist period, and it is to this

fact that we doubtless owe the special emphasis on the Spirit in the closing section.”4

Both Marcionism and Montanism died out in the fifth century C.E. Gnosticism

dissolved into history by the fourth century C.E. sporadically because it was syncretistic

and denounced as heretical. Because of these heretical threats to the church, orthodox

apologists defended the Christian faith by clarifying beliefs which would then become

orthodox dogma. K.S. Latourette summarizes this as, “The popularity of Gnosticism, the

teaching of Marcion, and the Montanist movement forced others who regarded

themselves as Christians to develop a tighter organization and to give added attention to

the clarification and formulation of their beliefs.”5

THE APOSTLE’S CREED DEFENSE

The Apostle’s Creed was another means of defense against heresy and in support

of the orthodox faith. The other three means were by finalization of the New Testament

canon, writings of the church fathers, and the organization of the bishopric office during

these early years. The Apostle’s Creed did not come on the scene at one single point in

time, but rather evolved over the early years. The creed developed from the practice of

confessing a baseline statement of gospel belief during the ceremony of baptism. As

Kelly remarks, “Some impression of how all this actually worked out can be gained from

the picture of baptism as practiced in Jerusalem in the middle of the fourth century which

has survived in St. Cyril’s Catechetical Lectures.”6 Several early church fathers began to

4 J.N.D. Kelly, Early Christian Creeds (New York: Longman, 1972), 87.

5 Kenneth Scott Latourette, A History of Christianity: Beginnings to 1500 (Peabody, MA: Prince Press,

2000), 129. 6 Kelly, 33.

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address the issues of the day which were reflected in their writings. These issues began

to take shape as early church dogma expressed by Origen, Irenaeus, and Tertullian.

Origen began to write about truths derived from the philosophy of Plato. Writing

somewhat as a historian, he recognized the two spheres of creation represented by both

the spiritual and the physical. He taught that Christ died in order to defeat Satan. He

then linked the meaning of salvation to a person becoming a new divine creation. He

also taught that the Eucharist as a sacrifice confers immortality on the communicant. He

is probably best known as one who used allegory to explain the Old Testament. These

infuriated Gnostic heretics. Bruce L. Shelley remarks, “What would have happened to

Christianity without a rationally interpreted Bible to feed the mind and control the

development of Christian thought? Origen saved the Scriptures for the church and thus

protected the historical foundation of the Christian faith.”7

A second church father of the early church was Irenaeus. Irenaeus taught the

importance of the priesthood by linking it with the Levitical priesthood of the Old

Testament. He taught the continuity of thought between the Old and New Testaments

due to the succession from apostles to the church fathers. He upheld the New Testament

canon as having apostolic and therefore divine authority. He sought primarily to connect

humankind with God in a unity that reflects the shepherd role of God and the obedient

role of the sheep. Communion with the divine reflects the eternal purposes of God. Justo

L. Gonzalez summarizes, “Others, such as Irenaeus, had held the entirety of human

history from the time of Adam and Eve had been a vast process by which God had been

7 Bruce L. Shelley, Church History in Plain Language (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1995). 85.

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training humankind for communion with the divine.”8 This chronological linear view of

history contrasted with the cyclical, repeatable view of history by the Greek philosophers.

A third church father of the early church era was Tertullian. He was the person

who proposed the orthodox view of the Trinity. His view was that the Trinity is one

substance and three persons. Further, he stated that Jesus Christ is one person with two

substances (natures), one which is divine and one which is human. Shelley comments,

“He attacked the heretics, explained the Lord’s Prayer and the meaning of baptism, and

helped develop the orthodox understanding of the Trinity. He was the first person to use

the Latin word trinitas (trinity)…”9 Tertullian also sponsored the claim that apostolic

authority was carried forward through the succession of bishops. By this unbroken

succession of bishops, the orthodox doctrine was preserved against the threats from

various heretics.

The early church had to deal with heresies by examining the meaning of Scripture

and confronting the false interpretations presented by those holding heretical views. The

development of the Apostle’s Creed and the writings of early church fathers were central

to this debate. However, one more means arose to confront heresy and to formalize

church dogma.

CHURCH COUNCIL RESOLUTIONS

During this early church era, there were attempts to denounce heresies and to

formalize orthodox church dogma. This occurred in four councils at Nicea,

Constantinople, Ephesus, and Chalcedon. All four were held in Asia Minor rather than in

8 Justo L. Gonzalez, The Story of Christianity (Peabody, MA: Prince Press, 2006). 133.

9 Shelley, 34.

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Western Europe, which reflects the importance of the move of the Roman Empire’s

capital to Constantinople in 313 C.E., the geographical center of the universal church

which facilitated travel by the bishops, and the preponderance of learned bishops in Asia

Minor and North Africa compared to Western Europe (Rome, Milan, and Lyons).

The first council was called in Nicea. The dispute originated in 318 C.E. from the

teachings of Arius. The heretical teaching of Arius was that Jesus was created by the

Father and thus not equal to God. The council was called in 325 C.E. by the emperor

Constantine to resolve the dispute with approximately 300 bishops attending. The result

was the adoption of the Nicene Creed declaring the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity and

the deity of Jesus Christ. As a further result, Arius was excommunicated by the council

from the church.

The second council was held in Constantinople in 381 C.E. The purpose of the

council was to confront the teachings of Apollinaris. He taught that Jesus’ body was

human but His soul became divine. He believed that Jesus, as the eternal Word of God

(Logos), had a divine mind rather than a human mind. If this was accepted by the

council, then Jesus would be half human and half divine. The council rejected this view

settling upon the total unity of Jesus as fully divine and fully human.

The third council took place in Ephesus in 431 C.E. The issue under debate

concerned the natures of Christ. The heresy being taught by Nestorius declared that in

Jesus were two persons and two natures. The human nature and person were of Mary and

not divine. This view in effect divided Christ into two separate persons thereby

destroying the unity of Christ. The difference reflects the Alexandrian school’s view of

the hypostatic union based upon John 1:14 and the Antiochene school’s view of the

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indwelling logos based upon John 2:19. The council affirmed the unity of Christ in one

person in 433 C.E. and against Nestorius who was exiled.

The fourth council met in Chalcedon in 451 C.E. where the formalization of an

orthodox church dogma was the goal. The council resolved that Christ has two natures

which are in union and is preserved as inseparable and distinct. In other words, Christ is

wholly God and wholly man existing in perfect union and in one person. With the

completion of this council, the writings of Tertullian and the actions of the three former

councils were reaffirmed producing a definition of the faith which became the foundation

of early orthodox church dogma. It is interesting to reflect upon the present day view of

the Roman Catholic church in regard to the history and importance of these and other

church councils. James Cardinal Gibbons states, “Up to the present time, nineteen

ecumenical councils have been convened, including the Council of the Vatican.”10

CONCLUSION

Church dogma continued to be debated and developed after 476 C.E. and even

evolves in the present day. However, during the early church age 100-476 C.E. one can

see the first resolutions which begin to form church dogma. The dogma discussed above

has been rigorously defended by church leaders of the era while debated and resisted by

others who sought a different meaning. During this early church era, four specific

advances were made. First, a defense was generated for each heresy that was proposed.

Second, in defending against heresies, the views generally accepted by the bishops

became settled, orthodox, dogma of the mainstream universal church. Third, creeds were

developed (Apostles and Nicene) which were used to: (1) state in summary form the

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James Cardinal Gibbons, The Faith of our Fathers (Rockford, IL: Tan Books, 1980), 93.

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orthodox beliefs, (2) teach the laity, (3) preserve the church’s teachings, (4) serve as a

centerpiece for worship in the church, and (5) allow successive issues which would arise

to build upon the settled foundation without re-examining the traditional beliefs. Fourth,

the use of councils provided a venue and organizational means to come together, debate

church issues, and resolve most issues in an orderly, formal manner which would be

acceptable to the majority of clergy and laity. This practice would continue until the

abuses and differences caused a schism between East and West in 1054 C.E and between

Protestant and Catholic in 1517 C.E. Yet Eusebius told us long ago, “In the same order

and the same succession the authentic tradition received from the apostles and passed

down by the church, and the preaching of the truth, have been handed on to us.”11

Finally, Paul Misner sums up the role of church dogma regarding it’s permanence as

follows, “Therefore it is intelligible how a dogma’s meaning is permanent. In the first

place, it is permanent because if the same question is again posed in the same structuring

in which Church authority faced it, the answer would always remain the same. Secondly,

when one must rescind from or alter the original terms because the system of references

is no long identical, one can still say that the structured element remains true…”12

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Eusebius, The History of the Church (New York: Penguin Putnam, 1989), 152-153. 12

Paul Misner, “Note on the Critique of Dogmas,” Theological Studies 34 No. 4 (December, 1973): 695.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bettenson, Henry and Chris Maunder, ed. Documents of the Christian Church. Oxford:

Oxford University Press, 1971.

Eusebius. The History of the Church. New York: Penguin Putnam, 1989.

Gibbons, James Cardinal. The Faith of our Fathers. Rockford, IL: Tan Books, 1980.

Gonzalez, Justo L. The Story of Christianity, Peabody, MA: Prince Press, 2006.

Hurlbut, Jesse Lyman. The Story of Christianity. Peabody, MA: Prince Press, 2006.

Kelly, J.N.D. Early Christian Creeds. New York: Longman, 1972.

Latourette, Kenneth Scott. A History of Christianity: Beginnings to 1500. Peabody, MA:

Prince Press, 2000.

Misner, Paul. “Note on the Critique of Dogmas.” Theological Studies 34 No. 4 (1973).

http://newfirstsearach.org/WebZ/ImageFT?cmd-print&sessionid-f...

Pelikan, Jaroslav. The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine.

Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, 1971.

Shelley, Bruce L. Church History in Plain Language. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson,

1995.