BOOK SUMMARY: KNOW THE HERETICS - INTRODUCTION

WHY HERESY?

Over the centuries many questions about God, Scripture, salvation have been tackled church leaders, philosophers, theologians and even the apostles. There have always been times when good questions were answered with bad conclusions.  This continues on today.

WHAT IS ORTHODOXY? 

Orthodoxy literally means right teaching or right belief. But neither orthodoxy or heresy is correct simply because a lot of people adhere to one or the other. Cynical people have said that orthodoxy is simply the teaching that won the debate or battle of that time. But orthodoxy is the teaching that best summarizes what the Bible teaches. It even accounts for mysteries, paradoxes and what seems to be contradictions. 

WHAT IS HERESY?

A heretic is someone who compromises essential doctrine. Heresy literally means choice. It is a choice to deviate from traditional teaching or the rule of faith in favor of one's own insights. As Christianity grew it came into contact with other belief systems like paganism, Greek philosophy, Gnosticism and much more. Early Christian teachers were engaging with important ideas and questions but would sometimes deviate from Christian teaching in order to make it more compatible with these other belief systems. Many heresies arose in response to who Jesus was as he related to the God of Israel. It was not the questions that were the problems, but the wrong answers to those questions. Here's a brief list of some early heresies that persist in some measure today.

• Marcion: The God of the OT and Jesus are different gods.
• Docetists: Jesus only appeared to be human.
• Arius: The Son was a created being of a lower order than the Father.
• Apollinarius: Jesus' divine nature/Logos replaced the human rational soul in the incarnation.
• Sabellius: Jesus and the Father are not distinct but just "modes" of a single being.
• Eutyches: The divinity of Christ overwhelms his humanity.
• Nestorius: Jesus is composed of two separate persons, one divine and one human.

DOES THE BIBLE MENTION HERESY?

The NT expresses serious concern for false doctrine. See 1 Timothy 1:3, 6:3, 2 Timothy 1:13. Here we see that there was already an established pattern of sound belief (the rule of faith) that was already established and being passed on. We are to beware of doctrinal deception (Matthew 24:4, 1 Corinthians 11:2, Galatians 1:8). Paul says that those that bring a different gospel are accursed (Galatians 1:9). The apostles called out heresy in the church when they saw it like in the case of the Judaizers. 

HERESY AND THE EARLY CHURCH

Heresy is denying the central beliefs of the church. Early church creeds were merely codifying what was already central. The early church had a sense of what was an essential truth that originated from the prophets and apostles. Before the Council of Nicaea met to denounce Arius or the Council of Chalcedon met to denounce the teachings of Eutyches and Nestorius, the church had the rule of faith. These meetings weren't establishing the faith or creating a God out of Jesus. They were affirming what the church already believed and had received. The rule of faith eventually gave way to formalized creedal statements like The Apostles Creed, The Nicene Creed, The Definition of Chalcedon and The Athanasius Creed. Heresy, for the early church, was simply any teaching that was in contrast to the right belief (orthodoxy) received from the prophets and apostles. But the early church didn't consider every wrong belief as heretical. Heresy was a belief that contradicted the essential elements of the faith. 

• Origin: All heretics are at first believers; then later they deviate from the rule of faith.
• Irenaeus: Christians are to "avoid every heretical, godless and impious doctrine."
• Tertullian: To know nothing in opposition to the rule of faith is to know all things.  Philosophers are the fathers of the heretics.
• Clement of Alexandria: Heresies are the result of self-deceit and a mishandling of the Scriptures.
• Cyprian: Satan invented heresies and schism with which to overthrow the faith to corrupt the truth and to divide unity.

NOT ALL THEOLOGICAL ERRORS ARE EQUALLY SERIOUS

The Reformed tradition does not believe that all theological errors are equally serious. There is a difference between orthodoxy, heterodoxy, and heresy.  Heterodoxy is Christian belief which differs from orthodoxy but does not compromise the essential truths. There are some who think that heresy is anything that is different than their own held beliefs and that a heretic is anyone who does not agree with them on any Christian doctrine. To differ with someone on the nature of the millennium does not qualify them as a heretic. The same is true in regard to infant baptism or the mode of baptism.  These doctrines are important but differ dramatically from the divinity of Christ. When everything is a central doctrine, then no doctrine is central.

IS IT EVEN APPROPRIATE TO SPEAK OF HERESY?

Some scholars argue that heresy doesn't exist. They argue that various early Christian groups all took Jesus' words to mean different things. Modern Christians, according to these scholars, are descendants of whatever early group happened to win out. This would mean that heretics are simply the people who lost, but had they won, then they would not be heretical. For scholars, heresy versus orthodoxy is just a matter of perspective. Thus, heresy is not a matter of right doctrine but something that opposes the interests of the church and needs to be stamped out for political, social or power-play reasons. 

But against this view Canon Turner states that early Christians held to three fixed, nonnegotiable elements of the faith:

• Religious facts such as God the creator and the divine historical redeemer Christ
• The centrality of biblical revelation
• The creed and rule of faith  

Ancient Christians, like Ignatius, took great pains to establish a connection of tradition that led back to Christ.  He preserved the story of Christ as it was passed down to him. Heretical groups were not concerned with this connection.

WHY DO WE NEED TO LEARN ABOUT HERESY?

Core doctrines like the Trinity and core beliefs about which books are Scripture were codified as a result of dealing with heresy. While there may be some difficulty on our part to understand all parts of Scripture, the Lord has revealed himself to us and is pleased to live with us. It is vital for us to be obedient to what we can know about God. If we have a flawed understanding of God we can no longer rightly relate to him. If we don't learn about heresy we might be duped and see a repeat of history. 

Now on to chapter 1 - The Judaizers 

BOOK SUMMARY: THE CHRIST KEY - CHAPTER 8A - THE PSALMS AS THE PRAYERBOOK OF JESUS AND THE CHURCH - PAGES 153-162

The Psalms are not just songs. They are the prayerbook of the Bible. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, David took his pains and turned them into prayers. These songs carry us and bear us up. They are perfect prayers for us to speak back to God. 

Martin Franzmann said, "Theology is doxology. Theology must sing." Our study of Scripture, church history, apologetics, philosophy and theology must never be an end to themselves. God is not a thing we study. He is our Father, object of praise and source of life (Acts 17:28). Therefore, we must sing, praise and confess Him. When we sing, praise and confess God with the Psalms, our worship is orthodox (ortho = right, dox = belief). This right doxology should transform our lives (Galatians 2:20). Ouur unity with Christ ensures the expression of His divine nature in our lives (2 Peter 1:4).

JESUS AS THE PRAY-ER OF THE PSALMS
One of Jesus' names is amen (Revelation 3:14). Amen means to believe, trust, have faith in. Jesus is the content of our faith, the one in whom we trust. Our prayers only reach the Father because of Jesus. We pray only through Jesus, in Jesus, by Jesus and because of Jesus.  

Therefore, all our prayers, including the Psalms only reach the Father because of Jesus. That means that if our prayers must pass through Jesus, by His saving work and that our prayers are carried by Jesus to the Father, then the voice that the Father hears is the voice of Jesus.

Jesus was true God and true man in one person. He lived a Jewish life, sung like a Jewish man and prayed like Jewish person. He used the hymnbook of Israel. As a child, Mary would've sung psalms to and with Jesus. Likely, the Israelites knew all 150 songs by heart. This is why 3 of the 7 words of Jesus on the cross come from the Psalms (Matthew 27:46, Psalm 22:1, John 19:28, Psalm 69:21, Luke 23:46, Psalm 31:5).  

Jesus is the one through whom we pray and the one who prays. If we have been crucified with Christ and it is Christ who now lives and acts in me, then it is Christ who now prays in me, even though I am praying. The psalms are the prayers of Jesus in this regard. Jesus is the blessed man in Psalm 1. He is the anointed Son of Psalm 2. He is the persecuted victim in Psalm 3. He is the godly man in Psalm 4. He is the worshiper in Psalm 5. He is the one confessing sin in Psalm 6. 

Augustine helps us to understand this with the categories of head and body as the whole of Christ. Our mouths cry out when we hurt other parts of our body. So, too, as head of the church, Christ cries out for us, as the body, when we are in pain, suffering, or need. These prayers of our Great Intercessor reach the Father. Our unity with Christ makes this so. Act 9:4 shows us that our unity with Christ means that persecution of the true church means persecution of Christ. 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer asks, "How is it possible for a man and Jesus Christ to pray the Psalter together?" If we participate in Christ, have communion with Christ, are in fellowship with Christ, then our prayers are voiced by Him. And if we're going to pray the Psalms, we must first ask, "What do they have to do with Jesus?" before we ever ask, "What do they have to do with me?"  

Our unity in Christ ensures that God sees us as part of the Son and vice versa. When Jesus is praying as the head of the church, then mystically, the church is praying. When the church prays, the head of the church, gives voice to our prayers so that God hears them. Our voices are united. 

PSALMS AND THE NEW TESTAMENT
The Psalms should be the foundation of our prayers and songs. Why are they so vital?  Jesus quoted them at His crucifixion. On the night He was betrayed they sung a hymn. This was likely Psalm 113-118, which was traditionally sung at Passover. When Peter and John were released from prison (Acts 4:23-26), they sung Psalm 2 and Psalm 146. The Corinthians sang Psalms (1 Corinthians 14:26). Paul instructed the church to address one another in psalms (Ephesians 5:18-19, Colossians 3:16).

Of the 39 books of the OT, the Psalms are quoted in the NT more than any other OT book. Psalm is quoted up to 196 times in the NT. If you count quotations and allusions to the Psalms, then 128 out of 150 Psalms are quoted in the NT. Psalm 110 is the most quoted chapter in the OT. Psalms are used to speak of Jesus conception, the coming of the magi, his baptism, his entrance into Jerusalem and his death. Jesus even said that the Psalms were about Him (Luke 24:44). Jesus invites us to understand the OT, including the Psalms, in light of His person and saving work. Why? So that we may believe in Him and adore Him.