Tertullian (born ca. 160; died ca. 220), a writer of extraordinary ability, wrote to safeguard as well as define the faith of the church. Around 207, he went into schism with the Montanist sect.
Though a little lengthy, I feel they are worthy of being viewed in their entirety:
“Grant, then, that all have erred; that the apostle was mistaken in giving his testimony; that the Holy Ghost had no such respect to any one (church) as to lead it into truth, although sent with this view by Christ, and for this asked of the Father that He might be the teacher of truth; grant, also, that He, the Steward of God, the Vicar of Christ, neglected His office, permitting the churches for a time to understand differently, (and) to believe differently, what He Himself was preaching by the apostles,—is it likely that so many churches, and they so great, should have gone astray into one and the same faith? No casualty distributed among many men issues in one and the same result. Error of doctrine in the churches must necessarily have produced various issues. When, however, that which is deposited among many is found to be one and the same, it is not the result of error, but of tradition. Can any one, then, be reckless enough to say that they were in error who handed on the tradition?”[Tertullian, The Prescription Against Heretics, ANF 3.256]
“In whatever manner error came, it reigned of course only as long as there was an absence of heresies? Truth had to wait for certain Marcionites and Valentinians to set it free. During the interval the gospel was wrongly preached; men wrongly believed; so many thousands were wrongly baptized; so many works of faith were wrongly wrought; so many miraculous gifts, so many spiritual endowments, were wrongly set in operation; so many priestly functions, so many ministries, were wrongly executed; and, to sum up the whole, so many martyrs wrongly received their crowns!”[Tertullian, The Prescription Against Heretics, ANF 3.256]
While I am cognizant that Tertullian defected to Montanism, I believe that these quotes are on target.
The first quote asks us to consider if it is reasonable that ALL the churches left behind by the Apostles would have gone into error. And to ask ourselves even if that had happened, would all of them have ended up with an identical faith. He rightly says that “error of doctrine must necessarily have produced various issues.” If the churches erred, why do they all keep the same doctrine? It is evident from observing the modern church world that once groups fall into error and divide, they go in every doctrinal direction. The varied groups never all confess, teach, and believe the same things.
In the second quote, if one replaces “Marcionites and Valentinians” with “Calvinist and Pentecostals,” it puts the whole thing in perspective. This is precisely the contention that most modern Christians have been asked to adopt. Actually, “asked” is hardly the right word; “commanded, ordered and demanded upon pain of eternal damnation” might be more appropriate.
Tertullian asks us to consider whether it makes any sense that the True Gospel could lay hidden for so many years from so many people. Are we being asked to believe that nobody had the truth before 1896 or 1906 or whenever? Can we seriously be expected to put any credence in the belief that everybody throughout Christian history has been wrong until our group and tradition came along to straighten them out?
I was very interested a while back in doing a study of Mormonism to find that they use the exact same restorationist arguments that I have heard Pentecostals use. But it isn’t surprising! In order to “start over” and “reestablish original Christianity” one must first do away with everybody in history. How does one do that? There are two ways: 1) Ignore their existence; 2) Divest them of validity. These two tactics have been successfully used by all groups and individuals who have a Restorationist outlook.
The continuity of the Faith is much easier to fathom than the whole restoration theory. If we trust Jesus and the Holy Spirit, it is not difficult to believe that they can preserve the faith once delivered to the saints. We believe God preserved His written word all this time; why is it hard to believe He could do the same with the doctrine of the Early Church?
