Quotes About the Rule of Faith in Early Christianity
At the Council of Nicea the Church at Caesarea's rule of faith was elevated to become the Nicene Creed. At that point, it became the rule for all of Christendom.
Prior to Nicea, each church had their own rule of faith (though all were very similar), which contained the central tenets of Christianity memorized at baptism by all new Christians.
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A Definition of the Rule of Faith
Now, with regard to this rule of faith, so that from here on we can acknowledge what it is we defend: it is, you must know …
… that which prescribes belief in only one God and that he is none other than the Creator of the world, who produced all things out of nothing through his own Word, the very first sent forth.
[The rule of faith prescribes] that this Word is called his Son, seen in various manners by the patriarchs under the name of God, heard at all times in the prophets, at last brought down by the Spirit and power of the Father into the virgin Mary, was made flesh in her womb, and, being born of her, went forth as Jesus Christ.
From then on he preached the new law and the new promise of the kingdom of heaven and worked miracles.
Having been crucified, he rose again the third day, then, having ascended into the heavens, he sat at the right hand of the Father. [He] sent in his place the power of the Holy Spirit to lead those who believe.
[He] will come with glory to take the saints to the enjoyment of everlasting life and the heavenly promises and to condemn the wicked to everlasting fire. [This will happen] after the resurrection of both these classes, together with the restoration of their flesh.
This rule, as it will be proved, was taught by Christ and raises no other questions among us except those which heresies introduce and which make men heretics. (Prescription Against Heretics 13)
Clement of Rome (written anonymous from the Church at Rome), A.D. 95-96
Let us give up purposeless and fruitless cares and approach the holy and venerable rule of our calling. Let us attend to what is good, pleasing, and acceptable in the sight of him who formed us. Let us look steadfastly to the blood of Christ and see how precious that blood is to God, which has set the grace of repentance before the whole world. Let us turn to every age that has passed and learn that … the Lord has granted a place of repentance to all that would be converted to him. Noah preached repentance, and as many as listened to him were saved. (First Clement 7)
Irenaeus, A.D. 183 - 186
The one who retains the rule of the truth received through baptism unchangeable in his heart will surely recognize the names, the expressions, and the parables taken from the Scriptures [by the gnostics] but will by no means acknowledge the blasphemous use which these men make of them. (Against Heresies I:9:4)
Such spirits as are commanded by [the gnostic heretics] and speak when they desire it, are earthly and weak … sent forth by satan for the seduction and perdition of those who do not hold fast that well-compacted faith which they received at first through the Church. (Against Heresies I:13:4)
The rule of truth which we hold is that there is one God Almighty who made all things by his Word and fashioned and formed—out of that which had no existence—all things which exist. … Holding this rule we shall easily show that [the gnostics] have deviated from the truth, no matter how many opinions they have nor how much they vary. For almost all the different sects of the heretics admit there is one God, but then, by their pernicious doctrines, they shift, just like the Gentiles do through idolatry. (Against Heresies I:22:1)
A sound mind—one which does not expose its possessor to danger and is devoted to piety and the love of truth—will eagerly meditate on those things which God has placed within the power of mankind and has subjected to our knowledge … which makes knowing those things easy by mean of daily study. These things are those that can be seen by us and are clearly, unambiguously, and directly set forth in the Scriptures. However, if you use expressions which are not clear and evident in the interpretations of the parables, the kind everyone finds as their fancy leads them, then no one will have the rule of truth. Instead, however many people explain the parables will be how many differing systems of truth there are! They will be opposed to each other and teaching competing doctrines, such as is typical among the Gentile philosophers. (Against Heresies II:27:1)
Since we have the truth itself, set plainly in front of us, as our rule and testimony concerning God, we ought not to cast away the firm and true knowledge of God and run after numerous and various answers to questions. (Against Heresies II:28:1)
The disciple of the Lord [elsewhere said by Irenaeus to be the apostle John] wanted to put an end to all [the gnostic] doctrines and to establish the rule of truth in the church: namely, that there is one Almighty God, who created all things by his Word … by the Word he also bestowed salvation on the men included in the creation. To establish this, he began his teaching in the Gospel with: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (Against Heresies III:11:1)
Some of these [gnostics] impudently assert that the apostles, when preaching to the Jews, could not declare another god to them except the one in whom they believed. We tell them that if the apostles used to speak to people in line with the opinions instilled in those people in the past, then no one learned the truth from them. And before them no one learned the truth from the Lord, for they say he spoke the same way. In fact, these men can't know the truth, either. The opinion they have now is simply the teaching they received as they were able to hear it. If all this is true, then the rule of truth is with no one. … The coming of the Lord was apparently useless and unnecessary if he came just to tolerate and preserve each person's idea about God that they had received in the past. (Against Heresies III:12:6)
We follow the one and only true God as our Teacher. We possess his words as the rule of truth. We all speak alike and about the same things. We know but one God, the Creator of this universe, who sent the prophets, led forth the people from the land of Egypt, and who in these last times has manifested his own Son so that he might put unbelievers to confusion and search out the fruit of righteousness. (Against Heresies IV:35:4)
Clement of Alexandria, c. A.D. 190
Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God; that is, what you are commanded to do by the rule of faith. [Here Clement is not speaking of a statement of faith or any doctrines, he means your deeds as "ruled" or "measured" by faith in Christ. I include this as a picture that "rule of faith" is not always a set of doctrines learned at baptism.] (Miscellanies IV:15)
"All things are right," says the Scripture, "to those who understand." That is, those who receive and observe, according to the rule of the Church, the exposition of the Scripture explained by [Christ]. And the rule of the Church is is the concord and harmony of the Law and the Prophets in the covenant delivered at the coming of the Lord. (Miscellanies VI:15)
As the work [Clement's book, Miscellanies] advances, we shall in each section note the figures of speech mentioned above by the prophet [i.e., Solomon in Proverbs] … explaining it systematically according to the rule of the truth. Did not the Power that appeared to Hermas in the Vision [i.e., The Shepherd of Hermas, a mid 2nd-century work] in the form of the Church give him a book for transcription that she wanted the elect to know about? This book, he says, he transcribed to the letter, without finding how to complete the syllables. This signified that the Scripture is clear to all when taken according to the bare reading and that this is the faith that occupies the place of the basics. …
Further, Isaiah the prophet is ordered to take a new book and write in it certain things. The Spirit of God was prophesying that through the Scriptures there would later come the sacred knowledge, which was at that time still unwritten, because it was not yet known. For it was spoken in the beginning only to those who understand. Now it has been handed down to us that the Saviour taught the apostles the unwritten rendering of the written Scriptures, inscribed by the power of God on new hearts, as the new book indicates. (Miscellanies VI:15)
Tertullian, c. A.D. 200
When we are going to enter the water, but a little before, in the presence of the congregation and under the hand of the president, we solemnly profess that we disown the devil, and his pomp, and his angels. Hereupon we are thrice immersed, making a somewhat ampler pledge than the Lord has appointed in the Gospel. (De Corona 3)
All the Scriptures attest the clear existence of, and distinction in, (the Persons of) the Trinity, and indeed furnish us with our Rule of faith. (Against Praxeas 11)
No man receives illumination from an area where all is darkness. Let our seeking, therefore, be in that which is our own, from those who are our own, and concerning that which is our own—that, and only that, which can become an object of inquiry without impairing the rule of faith. (Prescription Against Heretics 12)
So long … as the form [of the rule of faith] exists in its proper order, you may seek and discuss as much as you please. [You may] give full reign to your curiosity in whatever seems to hang in doubt or to be shrouded in obscurity. (Prescription Against Heretics 14)
Surely you have a teacher around that is gifted with the grace of knowledge. [You have] someone of the experienced class, someone you're closely acquainted with who is curious like yourself. Although he is a seeker like you, he will be quite aware, you newest of novices, that it is better for you to remain in ignorance, lest you should come to know that which you ought not. For you have already acquired the knowledge of what you ought to know [i.e., in the rule of faith].
"Your faith," he says, "has saved you," not your skill in the Scriptures. Now, faith has been deposited in the rule [of faith]. It has a law, and—in the observance of it—salvation.
Skill [in the Scriptures] consists in curious art. Its glory is simply the readiness that comes from study. Let such curious art give place to faith, and let such glory yield to salvation. (Prescription Against Heretics 14-15)
From what and through whom and from when and to whom has been handed down that rule by which men become Christians? For wherever it is apparent that the true Christian rule and faith shall be, there will likewise be the true Scriptures and expositions thereof and all the Christian traditions. (Prescription Against Heretics 19)
From this, therefore, do we draw up our rule. Since the Lord Jesus Christ sent the apostles to preach, no others ought to be received as preachers than those whom Christ appointed … Nor does the Son seem to have revealed [the Father] to any other than the apostles, whom he sent forth to preach … What that was which they preached … can … properly be proven in no other way than by those very churches which the apostles founded in person, by declaring the Gospel directly to them themselves, both viva voce, as the phrase is, and afterwards by their letters.
If, then, these things are so, it is equally apparent that all doctrine which agrees with the apostolic churches, those molds and original sources of the faith, must be reckoned for truth, as undoubtedly containing that which the churches received from the apostles, the apostles from Christ, and Christ from God. In the same way, all doctrine must be prejudged as false which savors of disagreement with the truth of the church and apostles of Christ and God. …
We have fellowship with the apostolic churches because our doctrine is not in any way different from theirs. This is our witness of truth. (Prescription Against Heretics 21)
Craig D. Allert, 2007
Appeals to "the word of truth," "apostolic teaching," "tradition," "sound doctrine," and "thefaith" continued into the second century as an appeal to the Rule of Faith. The Rule of Faith was used in the early church as a standard against which all teaching was measured. … even the Christian writings eventually included in the New Testament canon were subjected to this Rule of Faith. (A High View of Scripture?, from the Evangelical Ressourcement series. Baker Academic, 2007, p. 55)
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