Cruelty of Heresy
Class 1
1) 11/5/03 Intro, history & overview
11/12/03 Trinitarian heresies
11/19/03 Christological heresies
12/3/03 Extra session – may miss
12/10/03 Others (Generally questions of Salvation)
12/17/03 Modern Heresies
2) The quickest way to prevent heresy is to teach all truths, and the most certain way of refuting it is to expose them all."
Blaise Pascal
3) What is Orthodoxy?
a) “Right Belief” or “Right Opinion”.
i) Certain statements or ideas accurately embody the revealed Truth content of Christianity.
Supporting Scripture:
(1) Matt. 24:11, 23-26
(2) Matt 28:19-20
(3) 1 Cor 15:1-11
(4) Gal 1:6-9
(5) 1 Tim 6:3-5
(6) 2 Tim 4:3-4
(7) 1 John 4:1-3
(8) 2 John 7-11
b) The “catholic” faith is that which has been believed everywhere, always and by all” – Vincent, a monk of Lerins in late 4th century.
4) What is Heresy?
a) Greek word meaning “Choice” – “a chosen opinion”. It is a deliberate denial of revealed truth couple with the acceptance of error.
i) Schleiermacher (1768-1834): “Heresy is not necessarily unbelief; it is fundamentally an inadequate or inauthentic form of Christian faith”.
ii) 2 Peter 2:1
b) Schism - sometimes confused with and sometimes synonymous with heresy:
i) Schism is a separation resulting not so much from false teaching as from a lack of love; a self-assertion that is divisive and destructive to the body.
c) Heterodoxy – “Not Orthodox”. At odds with scripture, creed or received understanding.
d) Apostasy – A deliberate repudiation and abandonment of the faith that one has professed.
i) Heb 3:12
ii) Giving up Christianity for Judaism, Islam or Paganism is apostasy.
5) Nature of Heresy
a) Allister McGrath: “The rise of anit-authoritarian attitudes in modern times has led to “orthodoxy” being seen as little more than “a dogma imposed upon the people by coercive authority” with “heresy” often being viewed as the victim of suppression by intolerant Church authorities.
b) Many heresies thrive on “oppression” or are associated with distinct sometimes marginalized groups
(1) Judaizers
(2) Donatism
(3) Islam – esp black population in US
(4) Nestorians – Coptic Churches in Syria, Egypt & India
c) Rome distinguishes between two types of heresy:
i) Formal – adherence to false doctrine by a baptized Roman
ii) Material – false doctrine held in ignorance (by a non-Roman).
d) St. Thomas Aquinas (II-II:11:1) defines heresy: (St. Thomas II-II:11:1) "a species of infidelity in men who, having professed the faith of Christ, corrupt its dogmas". "The right Christian faith consists in giving one's voluntary assent to Christ in all that truly belongs to His teaching. There are, therefore, two ways of deviating from Christianity: the one by refusing to believe in Christ Himself, which is the way of infidelity, common to Pagans and Jews; the other by restricting belief to certain points of Christ's doctrine selected and fashioned at pleasure, which is the way of heretics. The subject-matter of both faith and heresy is, therefore, the deposit of the faith, that is, the sum total of truths revealed in Scripture and Tradition as proposed to our belief by the Church. The believer accepts the whole deposit as proposed by the Church; the heretic accepts only such parts of it as commend themselves to his own approval. The heretical tenets may be ignorance of the true creed, erroneous judgment, imperfect apprehension and comprehension of dogmas: in none of these does the will play an appreciable part, wherefore one of the necessary conditions of sinfulness--free choice--is wanting and such heresy is merely objective, or material. On the other hand the will may freely incline the intellect to adhere to tenets declared false by the Divine teaching authority of the Church. The impelling motives are many: intellectual pride or exaggerated reliance on one's own insight; the illusions of religious zeal; the allurements of political or ecclesiastical power; the ties of material interests and personal status; and perhaps others more dishonourable. Heresy thus willed is imputable to the subject and carries with it a varying degree of guilt; it is called formal, because to the material error it adds the informative element of "freely willed"
Pertinacity, that is, obstinate adhesion to a particular tenet is required to make heresy formal. For as long as one remains willing to submit to the Church's decision he remains a Catholic Christian at heart and his wrong beliefs are only transient errors and fleeting opinions. Considering that the human intellect can assent only to truth, real or apparent, studied pertinacity, as distinct from wanton opposition, supposes a firm subjective conviction which may be sufficient to inform the conscience and create "good faith". Such firm convictions result either from circumstances over which the heretic has no control or from intellectual delinquencies in themselves more or less voluntary and imputable. A man born and nurtured in heretical surroundings may live and die without ever having a doubt as to the truth of his creed. On the other hand a born Catholic may allow himself to drift into whirls of anti-Catholic thought from which no doctrinal authority can rescue him, and where his mind becomes incrusted with convictions, or considerations sufficiently powerful to overlay his Catholic conscience. It is not for man, but for Him who searcheth the reins and heart, to sit in judgment on the guilt which attaches to an heretical conscience.
6) The idea of a “defined orthodoxy” became important early in the life of the Church as seen from the passages from SS Paul, John and Peter.
a) Early battles:
i) Gnosticism – Gnosis or knowledge
(1) A form of elitism.
ii) Montanism – Special revelation by the Holy Ghost – a revolt against increasing organization of the Church…a desire to return to an earlier “perfect time” in the church.
iii) Manichaeism
iv) Modernism - Through pride the Modernists overestimate themselves. . . . We are not like other men . . . they reject all submission to authority . . . they pose as reformers
b) Early battles over heresy were fought and decided in the General Councils of the united church
i) Council of Jerusalem – Dealt with Judaizers
ii) Seven Ecumenical Councils
(1) Nicea 325 AD – Arianism, the person of Jesus
(2) Constantinople 381 AD – the person of the Holy Ghost
(3) Ephesus 431 AD – Nestorianism, “Theotokas accepted”.
(4) Chalcedon 451 AD – Appollinariansism
(5) Constantinople 553 AD – Trinitarianism & Christology
(6) Constantinople 680 AD - Monothelitism
(7) Nicea 787 AD - Rejected the iconoclasts (icon-smashers)
7) Trinitarian heresies
a) Modalism (Sabellianism)
b) Arianism
c) Islam
d) Macedonianism (Holy Ghost is a creature)
e) Manichaeism
f) Monarchianism (tends either towards adoptionism or modalism)
8) Christological heresies
a) Apollinariansim
b) Nestorianism
c) Monophysitism Divine & human nature mix to from 1)
d) Monothelitism (Christ has no will)
9) Other prominent heresies:
a) Pelagianism
b) Iconoclasm
c) Universalism
d) Annihilationism
e) Donatism
10) Modern heresies
a) Jehovah's Witnesses – the modern Judaizers
b) Scientology
c) Mormonism (Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints)
d) Spiritualism (better defined as Spiritism)
e) Christian Science
f) Seventh Day Adventists – Also modern Judaizers
g) Deism – Monotheistic. God is remote. Religion is of little point.
h) Secularism – “Cream-Puffism” – an exaggeration that God is love to the detriment of His nature as also Holy and Just.
i) Dispensationalism
j) Clericalism
“Heresies of perspective”
k) Sola Fides – Salvation by “Faith Alone”
l) Sola Scriptura - every teaching in Christian theology (everything pertaining to "faith and practice") must be able to be derived from Scripture alone.
m) Free Masonry
n) Papal Infallibility, various Marian dogmas,
o) Purgatory & indulgences
11) Who Cares?
a) JI Packer: Modern Liberal Protestantism regards any quest for orthodoxy as misguided and deadening”. We cannot know God’s mind. Since scripture was written in certain times to certain audiences it is a guide for us but must be reinterpreted within modern times.
b) Schleiermacher: “The distinctive essence of Christianity consists in the fact that God has redeemed us through Jesus Christ…it must follow that the Christian understanding of God, Jesus Christ and human nature should be consistent with this understanding of redemption. Thus, the Christian understanding of God must be such that God can effect the redemption of humanity through Christ; the Christian understanding of Christ must be such that God may effect our redemption through Him; the Christian understanding of humanity must be such that redemption is both possible and genuine. In other words, it is essential that the Christian understanding of God, Christ and humanity is consistent with the principle of redemption through Christ alone”.
To do or believe anything less is to reject Christianity and lose the hope and understanding of salvation.
12) Strict observation of the “rules of the faith” were required in order to participate in the life of the Church:
a) Communion was held as a gift only for the Faithful. Communion could not be shared with those who did not subscribe to orthodoxy.
b) Creeds multiplied as statements of faith.
c) The Fathers show no more leniency to perverters of the faith. "Polycarp regarded Marcion as the first-born of the Devil. Ignatius sees in heretics poisonous plants, or animals in human form. Justin and Tertullian condemn their errors as inspirations of the Evil One; Theophilus compares them to barren and rocky islands on which ships are wrecked; and Origen says, that as pirates place lights on cliffs to allure and destroy vessels in quest of refuge, so the Prince of this world lights the fires of false knowledge in order to destroy men. [Jerome calls the congregations of the heretics synagogues of Satan (Ep. 123), and says their communion is to be avoided like that of vipers and scorpions (Ep. 130).]"
SCRIPTURAL REFERENCES
Matt 24:11,23-26
11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
23 Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.
24 For there shall arise false Christ’s, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
25 Behold, I have told you before.
26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.
Matt 28:19-20
19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20 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.
1 Cor 15:1-11
1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:
6 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.
7 After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.
8 And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.
9 For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
11 Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.
Gal 1:6-9
6 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:
7 Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
9 As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.
1 Tim 6:3
3 If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness;
4 He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings,
5 Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.
2 Tim 4:3-4
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
1 John 4:1-3
1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
2 John 7-11
7 For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.
8 Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.
9 Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.
10 If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:
11 For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.
2 Peter 2:1
1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
Heb 3:12
12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.
