Lessons From Early Writers
In the book, “Will The Real Heretics Please Stand Up?” the author, David W. Bercot, presented some interesting information about early church writers. I do not know Mr. Bercot’s religious affiliation, although he did mention attending a Baptist Theological Seminary.
He said, “When I first began to study early Christian writings, I was surprised by what I read. In fact, after a few days of reading, I put their writings back on the shelf and decided to scrap my research altogether. After analyzing the situation, I realized the problem was that their writings contradicted many of my own theological views.”
Salvation
Concerning salvation, he said “If there’s any single doctrine that we would expect to find the faithful associates of the apostles teaching, it’s the doctrine of salvation by faith alone…(but) The early Christians universally believed that works or obedience play an essential role in our salvation” (then he quoted several of the early writers) and concluded, “In fact, every early Christian writer who discussed the subject of salvation presented this same view.”
“No, the early Christians did not teach that we earn salvation by an accumulation of good works. They recognized and emphasized the fact that faith is absolutely essential for salvation, and that without God’s grace nobody can be saved...Our problem is that Augustine, Luther and other Western theologians have convinced us that there’s an irreirreconcilable conflict between salvation based on grace, and salvation based on works or obedience. They have used a fallacious form of argumentation known as the ‘false dilemma,’ by asserting that there are only two possibilities regarding salvation: it’s either a gift from God or its something we earn by our works.” He was surprised to learn that both Paul’s statement that we are “saved by grace through faith” (Eph. 2:8), and James’ statement, “You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only” (Jas. 2:24) were believed by the early disciples.
Can The Saved Be Lost?
He was surprised to learn that “the early Christians believed that our continued faith and obedience were necessary for salvation…(that) a saved person could still end up being lost.” Quoting Hebrews 10:26; “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left,” he said “Our preachers usually tell us that the writer of Hebrews wasn’t talking about saved persons. If that’s the case, the writer certainly didn’t communicate it very effectively to his readers. All the early Christians understood the passage to be talking about persons who had been saved...Although they believed that their heavenly Father could disinherit them if he chose to do so, the overall spirit of their writings show that obedient Christians didn’t live with a constant morbid dread of being disinherited. Does an obedient son constantly worry and fret over the possibility of being disinherited by his earthly father?”
He continued: “There was a religious group, labeled as heretics by the early Christians, who strongly disputed the church’s stance on salvation and works. Instead, they taught the man is totally depraved. That we are saved solely by grace. That works play no role in our salvation. And that we cannot lose our salvation once we obtain it.” He said that some may conclude that the ones who were labeled “heretics” were really the faithful, “but such is impossible. I say it’s impossible because the group I’m referring to are the Gnostics.” The Gnostics were the ones who denied that Jesus came in the flesh, and many other basic Bible doctrines.
He said, “When I first began to study early Christian writings, I was surprised by what I read. In fact, after a few days of reading, I put their writings back on the shelf and decided to scrap my research altogether. After analyzing the situation, I realized the problem was that their writings contradicted many of my own theological views.”
Salvation
Concerning salvation, he said “If there’s any single doctrine that we would expect to find the faithful associates of the apostles teaching, it’s the doctrine of salvation by faith alone…(but) The early Christians universally believed that works or obedience play an essential role in our salvation” (then he quoted several of the early writers) and concluded, “In fact, every early Christian writer who discussed the subject of salvation presented this same view.”
“No, the early Christians did not teach that we earn salvation by an accumulation of good works. They recognized and emphasized the fact that faith is absolutely essential for salvation, and that without God’s grace nobody can be saved...Our problem is that Augustine, Luther and other Western theologians have convinced us that there’s an irreirreconcilable conflict between salvation based on grace, and salvation based on works or obedience. They have used a fallacious form of argumentation known as the ‘false dilemma,’ by asserting that there are only two possibilities regarding salvation: it’s either a gift from God or its something we earn by our works.” He was surprised to learn that both Paul’s statement that we are “saved by grace through faith” (Eph. 2:8), and James’ statement, “You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only” (Jas. 2:24) were believed by the early disciples.
Can The Saved Be Lost?
He was surprised to learn that “the early Christians believed that our continued faith and obedience were necessary for salvation…(that) a saved person could still end up being lost.” Quoting Hebrews 10:26; “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left,” he said “Our preachers usually tell us that the writer of Hebrews wasn’t talking about saved persons. If that’s the case, the writer certainly didn’t communicate it very effectively to his readers. All the early Christians understood the passage to be talking about persons who had been saved...Although they believed that their heavenly Father could disinherit them if he chose to do so, the overall spirit of their writings show that obedient Christians didn’t live with a constant morbid dread of being disinherited. Does an obedient son constantly worry and fret over the possibility of being disinherited by his earthly father?”
He continued: “There was a religious group, labeled as heretics by the early Christians, who strongly disputed the church’s stance on salvation and works. Instead, they taught the man is totally depraved. That we are saved solely by grace. That works play no role in our salvation. And that we cannot lose our salvation once we obtain it.” He said that some may conclude that the ones who were labeled “heretics” were really the faithful, “but such is impossible. I say it’s impossible because the group I’m referring to are the Gnostics.” The Gnostics were the ones who denied that Jesus came in the flesh, and many other basic Bible doctrines.