Mar. 01, 2026

The Early Church Fathers (01 MAR 26) — Pastor John Custer

Introduction - In recent weeks our church has had some good discussion in our branch groups concerning the formation and transmission of the Bible.  I’d like to seize this opportunity for us to learn about our ancestors in the faith, the Early Church Fathers.  We are well acquainted with the apostolic period, the time when the first 12 apostles were alive and walked with Jesus until the last mentions of their ministries.  We have memorized Scriptures and can teach from the Bible, but few Christians really understand where the Bible came from and who were the very important leaders of the the church in the years following the passing of the all the apostles and leaders so active in the pages of the Bible.  As we undertake this study, we’re touching on what is called Church History.  

The Beginning of the Church

First, let’s briefly recap what is called the Apostolic Age, which we just mentioned.  Starting from the day of Pentecost, the church at Jerusalem grew instantly and rapidly, starting with 3,000 people, probably all Jews.  Within days, the total was 5,000, and probably more than if you include women and children.  The church primarily met in homes.  For a while they met in the Porch of Solomon, but the Temple Guard quickly figured out what they were doing and began persecuting the Jews-turned-Christians.  The persecution eventually drove many Christians out of Jerusalem into parts of the surrounding lands, fulfilling Acts 1:8:

Acts 1:8 …but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and as far as the remotest part of the earth.” NASB

Saul of Tarsus, later called Paul, was added by the Lord to the growing list of apostles.  He was sent to minister to Gentiles as well as Jews.  Paul helped settle a growing dispute in the early church over whether Gentiles had to keep parts of the Jewish Law, like circumcision.  The Great Council of Jerusalem, of which Paul was a part, was held about 49 AD to settle this dispute.  Their decision marks the absolute end of any obligation for the Christian to keep any part of the Law of Moses, which was a temporary covenant with Israel until Messiah arrived. 

Acts 15:28-29 For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these essentials: 29 that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from acts of sexual immorality; [t]if you keep yourselves free from such things, you will do well. 

Paul went on three missionary trips into Cyprus, Turkey, and Greece and was finally jailed in Rome.  His efforts started the evangelization of Europe.  Common tradition, not the Bible, says that the other apostles were active in much of the western Mediterranean basin: Bartholomew in Armenia, Andrew in Russia and Ukraine, Thomas in Iran and India, Matthew in Ethiopia, Jam he Younger in Egypt, adjure in Assyria and Persia, and Peter in Babylonia.   By the year 100 AD churches were scattered all over the Middle East, Asia Minor and Some of Europe.  

The Apostolic Fathers - encouraged and exhorted to Christian living.  

As the first apostles passed away, others replaced them.  These leaders were called “Fathers.”  Some Christians object to this terminology, citing Matthew 23:9: “call no one on earth your father, for one is your Father, He is in heaven.”  This obviously refers to calling someone your heavenly father.  There is no problem with referring to a church elder as a father.  We’ll examine 21of them who were largely responsible for guiding the church through it’s first 500 years, including the formation of the Bible.  

The first six were called the Apostolic fathers, whose main purpose was to edify and exhort the church.  They were:

Clement -  The bishop at the church of Rome.  He presided over the church while the apostle John was writing the book of Revelation on the isle of Patmos.  He sent a widely circulated letter, (1 Clement) to the church at Corinth instructing them how to heal a divided church.  His letter was not included in the canon of Scripture, but was highly regarded. He was also considered a major theologian, who developed the doctrine of purgatory.

Hermas  - was a former Jewish slave who married a Roman woman.  He then became wealthy. He wrote a complex sermon called The Shepherd of Hermas which was meant to address a growing problem in the early church: was baptism the main vehicle for forgiveness of sin?  Some Christians were waiting to get as many sins covered so their post-baptismal load of sin wouldn’t be so great.  There was a big question abut how to take care of that group of sins.  This is probably where the dogma of penance came from.  

Ignatius - the bishop of the church in Antioch, in ancient Syria , present day Turkey.  He was apprehended by Roman authorities for his beliefs and spent time writing to seven churches to help root out heresies which denied that Christ was fully God and fully man.  He was really involved in organizing the church with a strong bishop as leader

Polycarp - one of the two Apostolic Fathers of Asia Minor (the other being Papias) was a disciple of the apostle John.  He was the bishop of the church at Smyrna (modern Izmir).  He was martyred for his faith.  

Papias - the bishop of the church at Hierapolis in Phrygia.  He wrote Interpretations of the Sayings (Oracles) of the Lord. His writings are not part of the Bible, but contain some historical information which confirms some of the Scripture.  For example He wrote about the Millennial Kingdom and how fruitful the earth will be.  

Barnabas - wrote an important letter (non-canonical) strongly countering the common emphasis of the early church to urge Christians to keep the Law of Moses.  

A teaching attributed to the fathers mentioned above, and others, was called the Didache (pronounced Did’-a-kay).  It was a manual teaching baptism by immersion, church government, Christian ethics, and liturgical matters like baptism, communion, fasting, etc.)

The Apologists - defended the faith

Justin Martyr - formerly a secular philosopher, he was lead to Christ by an older Christian.  He went on to write to the emperor of Rome, Antoninus Pius and His son, Marcus Aurelius.  He sought to defend the Christian faith, showing that Jesus kingdom is not of this world and prove that Christians were not a threat to the Roman Empire.  He publicly debated a philosopher names Crescens and was killed by Marcus Aurelius shortly after.  Although a philosopher, his focus was squarely on the Bible and Christ.  

Tatian - a convert of Justin martyr’s in Rome, and a skilled writer, Tatian wrote against the error of pagan practices in the Greek culture.  He wrote a harmony of the gospels, called the Diatessaron. 

Tertullian - Probably a lawyer who wrote a notable book called Apologeticus in Latin and Greek (writers were very influential then, as there was no internet or AI to write for us). He wrote to the Roman governor of Carthage and explained that Christians were not a threat and that persecuting only spreads them farther and wider.  

The Polemicists - attacked error within the church

Irenaeus - (pronounced I-ren-ee’-us) wrote against the error of Gnosticism, which placed an emphasis on a special revelation knowledge that only a few can get from the Good God.  It viewed Jehovah of the Old Testament as evil and that an emanation from God was the only thing that could save a person from punishment.  An emanation was the extension of wisdom and light which dispelled darkness.  Matter was considered evil, spirit was good.  Irenaeus had a great effect on propelling the church toward the authority of a canon of Scripture, a stable government within the church, and a turn to traditional teachings of the apostles and away form the many heresies which grew up in the first two hundred years of church life.  

Hippolytus - thought to be the most important theologian of the 200’s, He wrote a book called “Apostolic Tradition” which was used well to bring order to the church concerning errors about the Trinity (Sabellianism - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are simply three forms of the same thing, like water, steam, and ice).  He also reinforced order concerning baptism, the Lord’s supper, ordination and other church practices.  

Cyprian - opposed a form of heresy in the church (Novatianism) which said that those Christians who broke under persecution and sinned by denouncing Christ could not ever be forgiven by the church, but that they must receive forgiveness directly from God.  It limited the church’s authority to “forgive on earth.” Cyprian was the bishop of Carthage

The Scientific theologians - developed ordered methods of biblical study

Pantaenus -  leader of a school of biblical teaching for former pagans and children of believers in Alexandria, Egypt

Origen - Head of the theological school of Alexandra for a season, He was a deep thinker and writer.  He pioneered the allegorical method of Bible interpretation, which has not been widely received throughout the Christian world.  He was a developer of exegesis (the science of extracting meaning from the Scriptures) was passionate in his love for the Lord and was very speculative in his beliefs, teaching that God would eventually save everyone through a final redemptive act, universal salvation.  

Athanasius - became the bishop of Alexandria and steadfastly defended the orthodox view of the full diety of Christ against the heresy of Arianism, which taught that Jesus was created by God and was therefore inferior.  

Cyril - became a patriarch in the church at Alexandria.  Developed a systematic theology of the solid basics of Christology, but taught Mary as the “bearer of God.” 

Jerome - Considered one of the greatest writers of the first 500 years of church life, Jerome studied languages and became an expert in Hebrew and Greek. He became devoted to the lifestyle of a monastery, called monasticism, which recommends seclusion and peace for a successful spiritual life.  His greatest literary achievement was the translation of the bible into Latin, called the Vulgate.  Jerome, Ambrose an Augustine relied on the tradition of the church to guide their interpretation of Scripture.  

Ambrose - the bishop of Milan, Italy, became famous for bringing group singing of hymns back into church life, after Catholic Churches had gone very liturgical.  

Augustine - A convert of Ambrose, Augustine probably wrote more on more subjects than anyone before him.  H so profoundly taught the need for the experience of grace for salvation that He set up the Catholic church for the great Reformation of Martin Luther’s day.  

Theodore - the bishop of Mopsuestia in Cilicia of Asia Minor.  Highly revered, second only to Origen in the early church.  Advanced the Literal -grammatical-historical method of bible interpretation.  

John Chrysostom - became the patriarch of the church at Constantinople.  Advanced the literal-historical-grammatical method of interpretation countering the tendencies of the Alexandrian scholars allegorical and mystical methods of interpretation.  Preached long sermons.  Known for his oratory (Chrysostom means Golden-tongued)

The last portion of this teaching concerns the development of a canon of Scripture.  The word canon basically means a rule or measure.  As applied to Scripture, it means that the early christians sensed the need to have a standard by which all the letters crossing through their hands could be sorted out according to authenticity.  The canon of New Testament Scripture, then, actually began to be formed with the writings of the first gospel writers.  Over several hundred years, these needs became, e apparent:

• The need for a Scripture to spell out the message of the apostles
• The need to decide on what should be read in the churches
• The need for a true canon to answer the heretical ones
• The need to establish authoritative truth to answer error 
• The need to decide which of many books claiming to canonical were false
• The need to decide which books to die for when possession resulted in martyrdom

Early churches accepted almost immediately anything that was written by an apostle or close associate, so Mark’s gospel was accepted because of his association to Peter and Paul.  Luke knew Paul.  The Inspiration of the Scripture was of great importance.  Did the people accept the advice given? Was it in harmony with other apostolic writings they had received? Did the Lord confirm it with signs in actual living circumstances?  Was there eventually some official body of the church which ratified the collection? 

At a conference held at Hippo Regius, in present day Algeria, in 393 AD, bishop Augustine presided over the official formation of the list of books which the church considered canonical, ending up with the present 27 books of the New Testament.  This was confirmed at a second conference in 397 AD and again at a third one in 419 AD.  The canon therefore, was arrived at over a long period of time, with many persons having input.  

Some Present day Catholic Bibles have between 7 to 13 extra Old Testament books which have been excluded from the protestant canon.  This is because the early translations of the Septuagint had the books added into its newer versions.  Jerome also used them in his translation of the Bible into the Latin Vulgate bible.  Protestants and Old Testament Jews exclude them because of doctrinal conflicts involving salvation by grace and purgatory.  

2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is [i]inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for [j]rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17so that the man or woman of God may be [k]fully capable, equipped for every good work. NASB

Conclusion - There are no original manuscripts of the Bible in existence, but there are thousands of manuscript copies.  Printing presses were not In existence when the originals were written.  Discoveries like the Dead Sea Scrolls confirm that the copies were made very diligently over many hundreds of years. Manuscript copies differ only in very small details, none of which affect even one major doctrine taught by the Bible.  We can be assured that God has preserved his Word to us.  He even gave us a part in confirming its validity by passing it through the filters of thousands of spiritual people who have seen its supernatural nature and inspiration actually working in our lives.