Authority and Apostolic Teaching in the Nascent Church

[rest_in_thee]

In this present series on the early Church and the development of certain fundamental doctrines and practices I believe the first idea that we should examine is the issue of authority and apostolic teaching. There are certain issues and teachings that we see touched upon in the New Testament writings but whose interpretations are not immediately

Comments

[rest_in_thee]

In the NT there is very little perceived difference between the bishop and the presbyter, except one primarily that becomes much more fleshed out very soon, including in another letter of Ignatius that I will reference in the next post. That is, the bishop is responsible for anointing new ministers to office, meaning he alone can consecrate a deacon, presbyter, or another bishop.

Bishop comes from the Greek word eposkopos, which means overseer, and so from the beginning the bishop was the leader and overseer of a local Christian community. Interestingly, regarding your last point/question, there isn't really much of an evolution into the modern Catholic set up we see today. It is still the same insofar as there is a local community (which we now call a diocese) headed by a bishop (the Church still refers to the ministry of the bishop as the episcopacy), who appoints and anoints presbyters and deacons to minister to the greater community. The main evolution, and the foundations of this are clearly found in Scripture as well as in practical reason, is that as the Church grew it became more and more apparent that in order to ensure doctrinal and praxical (I may have made that word up - I mean in it in reference to form of worship) consistency throughout the greater Church, it was important to have a centralized leader, a head of the Church, which became the bishop of Rome, the Pope. But we'll get into all this in due time :)

[martiancyclist]

"The main evolution, and the foundations of this are clearly found in Scripture as well as in practical reason, is that as the Church grew it became more and more apparent that in order to ensure doctrinal and praxical (I may have made that word up - I mean in it in reference to form of worship) consistency throughout the greater Church, it was important to have a centralized leader, a head of the Church, which became the bishop of Rome, the Pope."

Aha! So you admit that it was a change, however justified! That means it wasn't a matter of us "not remain[ing] faithful", but of us rejecting Western innovations.

Ha! I win! Pthbbbb! Nyah nyah!

Maturely yours,
Peter

[rest_in_thee]

Pshaw! Of course I recognize it was a development, just not a change of doctrine. That's why I was sure to differentiate in another comment between Tradition and tradition. Things certainly may change, but doctrinal teachings never can, and never have.

[rest_in_thee]

By never change, I mean that a teaching can develop into a doctrine, but something pronounced as doctrine by the Church is assured by the Holy Spirit to be true, because doctrines are essential to our salvation, and the Holy Spirit will never let the Church teach something which is harmful to salvation.

[napoleonofnerds]

It evolved in the same sense that the doctrine of the trinity or the fullest understanding of Christology did. Calm thyself.

[chaeri]

ah, thank you :) heh i don't mean to make you get ahead of yourself - this is just really interesting to me. i will have to draw out a chart for reference. (i learn things better i write or draw them out in pictures).

i am ashamed at how little i know of church history, and i thank you for taking the time to explain this.

[rest_in_thee]

So much of what I know I've only learned in the past four years or so. I grew up with faith but very little learning, and it's only since I've come back to the Church that I've begun to discover the richness of the history of the Church.

[chaeri]

oh, good, i don't feel so bad now :)

in the last year or so i have been doing some serious research about what i believe, and challenging my perceptions on everything from race to the church. the more i do that, the more i find that i am ignorance, which is bad for my pride, heh. i am sure you can relate :)

[rest_in_thee]

Not bad for your pride, good for your humility :)

And indeed, I can relate!

[chaeri]

heh yes that's a better way to look at it :)

[rest_in_thee]

Er, episkopos, not epo...