Dale Ridge church of Christ

During the Ante-Nicene period (100-325 AD) there were various heresies and departures from the Gospel that the church fathers were trying to deal with as well as trying to avoid capture and persecution from the Roman Empire. Even though some of the church fathers wrote letters against these departures, there wasn’t a lot of priority given to some of the ideas that were developing during these early times because it was more important for the congregations and individuals to merely survive.

Once the persecutions ended and Constantine began “helping” the church get a firm footing, they had to start dealing with these matters. Many of them were dealt with easily and others such as infant baptism and sprinkling were resisted and took some time to be officially recognized as acceptable by the catholic church.

Below is a listing of some of the ideas from the 2nd and 3rd century that eventually became part of denominational doctrine, especially in the catholic church:

Holy water. (120 A.D.) Water which has been especially blessed and sanctified by the priests.

Penance. (157 A.D.) The infliction of punishment to remove sins. At first the sinner stood at services to show sorrow. Later penalties were imposed by the “bishops,” to bring about contrition. This later developed into the “selling of indulgences,” where the permit to commit sin was purchased from the priest. “The doctrine of indulgences, or of the authoritative remission doctrine of penances by the substitution for them of prayers, benevolent gifts, or other forms of devotion and self-sacrifice, was universally accepted.” (Fisher, History of the Christian Church, page 15.) (In a later lesson, we shall learn how the “selling of indulgences” influenced the Reformation movement.)

Saints Day. (200 A.D.) Memory and respect for martyrs. Sometimes special contributions were given in memory of departed saints. Later, praying for the dead. Certain days began to be set aside for special occasions: Lent, Good Friday, Holy Thursday, Easter, Palm Sunday, All Saints’ Day, etc.

Praying to Saints. (240 A.D.) (Note: Misconception about “Saints.” Rom. 15:26; 16:15; 2 Cor 9:1, 12; 1 Tim. 5:10.)

Sprinkling and Pouring for Baptism. (251 A.D.)

Monasticism. (260 A.D.) As noted in last lesson.

Sign of the Cross. (250 A.D.)

Some references from original work by Jack Thompson

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Filed under: Butch Adams on June 24th, 2006