What did the early Church fathers believe about the infallibility of scripture?

[Ave Maria]

What did the early Church fathers believe about the infallibility or inerrancy of scripture?

 

[simonthezealot]

What did the early Church fathers believe about the infallibility or inerrancy of scripture?

Ambrose

"For how can we adopt those things which we do not find in the holy Scriptures?" - Ambrose (On the Duties of the Clergy, 1:23:102)
"The Arians, then, say that Christ is unlike the Father; we deny it. Nay, indeed, we shrink in dread from the word. Nevertheless I would not that your sacred Majesty should trust to argument and our disputation. Let us enquire of the Scriptures, of apostles, of prophets, of Christ. In a word, let us enquire of the Father...
So, indeed, following the guidance of the Scriptures, our fathers [at the Council of Nicaea] declared, holding, moreover, that impious doctrines should be included in the record of their decrees, in order that the unbelief of Arius should discover itself, and not, as it were, mask itself with dye or face-paint." - Ambrose (Exposition of the Christian Faith, 1:6:43, 1:18:119)

 

[simonthezealot]

"Every sickness of the soul hath in Scripture its proper remedy." - Augustine (Expositions on the Psalms, 37:2)

 

[simonthezealot]

Irenaeus

"They [heretics] gather their views from other sources than the Scriptures...

We have learned from none others the plan of our salvation, than from those through whom the Gospel has come down to us, which they did at one time proclaim in public, and, at a later period, by the will of God, handed down to us in the Scriptures, to be the ground and pillar of our faith....
It is within the power of all, therefore, in every Church, who may wish to see the truth, to contemplate clearly the tradition of the apostles manifested throughout the whole world; and we are in a position to reckon up those who were by the apostles instituted bishops in the Churches, and to demonstrate the succession of these men to our own times; those who neither taught nor knew of anything like what these heretics rave about. For if the apostles had known hidden mysteries, which they were in the habit of imparting to 'the perfect' apart and privily from the rest, they would have delivered them especially to those to whom they were also committing the Churches themselves. For they were desirous that these men should be very perfect and blameless in all things, whom also they were leaving behind as their successors, delivering up their own place of government to these men; which men, if they discharged their functions honestly, would be a great boon to the Church, but if they should fall away, the direst calamity....
proofs of the things which are contained in the Scriptures cannot be shown except from the Scriptures themselves."
- Irenaeus (Against Heresies, 1:8:1, 3:1:1, 3:3:1, 3:12:9)

 

[simonthezealot]

Dionysius of Alexandria

"Nor did we evade objections, but we endeavored as far as possible to hold to and confirm the things which lay before us, and if the reason given satisfied us, we were not ashamed to change our opinions and agree with others; but on the contrary, conscientiously and sincerely, and with hearts laid open before God, we accepted whatever was established by the proofs and teachings of the Holy Scriptures."
- Dionysius of Alexandria (cited in the church history of Eusebius, 7:24)

 

[simonthezealot]

Cyril of Jerusalem

"For concerning the divine and holy mysteries of the Faith, not even a casual statement must be delivered without the Holy Scriptures; nor must we be drawn aside by mere plausibility and artifices of speech. Even to me, who tell thee these things, give not absolute credence, unless thou receive the proof of the things which I announce from the Divine Scriptures. For this salvation which we believe depends not on ingenious reasoning, but on demonstration of the Holy Scriptures." - Cyril of Jerusalem (Catechetical Lectures, 4:17)

 

[simonthezealot]

Gregory of Nyssa

"we make the Holy Scriptures the rule and the measure of every tenet; we necessarily fix our eyes upon that, and approve that alone which may be made to harmonize with the intention of those writings....

And to those who are expert only in the technical methods of proof a mere demonstration suffices to convince; but as for ourselves, we were agreed that there is something more trustworthy than any of these artificial conclusions, namely, that which the teachings of Holy Scripture point to: and so I deem that it is necessary to inquire, in addition to what has been said, whether this inspired teaching harmonizes with it all. And who, she replied, could deny that truth is to be found only in that upon which the seal of Scriptural testimony is set?" - Macrina and Gregory of Nyssa (On the Soul and the Resurrection)

 

[simonthezealot]

Hilary of Poitiers

"Their treason involves us in the difficult and dangerous position of having to make a definite pronouncement, beyond the statements of Scripture, upon this grave and abstruse matter....
We must proclaim, exactly as we shall find them in the words of Scripture, the majesty and functions of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and so debar the heretics from robbing these Names of their connotation of Divine character, and compel them by means of these very Names to confine their use of terms to their proper meaning....

I would not have you flatter the Son with praises of your own invention; it is well with you if you be satisfied with the written word."
- Hilary of Poitiers (On the Trinity, 2:5, 3:23)

 

[simonthezealot]

Justin Martyr

Justin Martyr wrote:
"And now, if I say this to you, although I have repeated it many times, I know that it is not absurd so to do. For it is a ridiculous thing to see the sun, and the moon, and the other stars, continually keeping the same course, and bringing round the different seasons; and to see the computer who may be asked how many are twice two, because he has frequently said that they are four, not ceasing to say again that they are four; and equally so other things, which are confidently admitted, to be continually mentioned and admitted in like manner; yet that he who founds his discourse on the prophetic Scriptures should leave them and abstain from constantly referring to the same Scriptures, because it is thought he can bring forth something better than Scripture. The passage, then, by which I proved that God reveals that there are both angels and hosts in heaven is this: 'Praise the Lord from the heavens: praise Him in the highest. Praise Him, all His angels: praise Him, all His hosts.'" (Dialogue with Trypho, 85)

A common Catholic response to such patristic passages is to argue that the church father in question was only referring to the importance of scripture, not its sufficiency. In other words, though Justin Martyr is correct that there's nothing better than scripture, he isn't denying that there can be other sources of *equal* authority, such as the traditions of Roman Catholicism.
But Justin criticizes those who would "leave" scripture, who wouldn't "constantly" look to it in their arguments. If we can't leave scripture, and we're to look to it constantly, what is that if not sola scriptura?
Another common Catholic response to such patristic passages is to claim that the church father was advocating the material sufficiency of scripture, but not its formal sufficiency. In other words, all doctrines can be derived from scripture, but we need the infallible Roman Catholic hierarchy to guide us, to tell us what is to be derived from the scriptures. But Justin doesn't say that. He doesn't refer to scripture being sufficient if accompanied by the interpretations of the Roman Catholic magisterium. Rather, he refers to scripture itself being sufficient. Just after his comments on the sufficiency of scripture, Justin goes on to quote a passage from the Psalms as proof for one of his arguments. Instead of quoting the Roman Catholic magisterium's interpretation of the Psalm, Justin tells us that the Psalm itself is the proof.
It doesn't seem, then, that Justin had material sufficiency in view. It seems that he was referring to the formal sufficiency of scripture. Even if he had been referring to material sufficiency, the popularity of material sufficiency in some Roman Catholic circles is of recent origin, and some Catholics still reject the concept.
If scripture is as insufficient, as unclear as Roman Catholics claim it is, one wonders why there wasn't some infallible interpreter of scripture in the Old Testament era, one to which both Justin Martyr and Trypho could have appealed in their disputes over the Messianic prophecies. Justin Martyr shows no knowledge of such an Old Testament infallible interpreter, nor does he show any knowledge of such an institution in this New Testament era.

 

[simonthezealot]

MY FAVORITE!



Theodoret

"I shall yield to scripture alone." - Theodoret (Dialogues, 1)

 

[TSIBHOD]

MY FAVORITE!



Theodoret

"I shall yield to scripture alone." - Theodoret (Dialogues, 1)

I don't have the context for the quotation from Theodoret, but I know that when many Protestants say such things, they also need to keep in mind that whenever we "yield to Scripture alone," we often are yielding to our interpretation of Scripture alone. We should keep the following quotation in mind. It also happens to be an example of belief about Scripture in the early Church.

(2 Peter 3:15-18 ESV) And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

 

[simonthezealot]

Jerome

"When, then, anything in my little work seems to you harsh, have regard not to my words, but to the Scripture, whence they are taken." - Jerome (Letter 48:20)
"I beg of you, my dear brother, to live among these books [scripture], to meditate upon them, to know nothing else, to seek nothing else." - Jerome (Letter 53:10)
"When Paula comes to be a little older and to increase like her Spouse in wisdom and stature and in favour with God and man, let her go with her parents to the temple of her true Father but let her not come out of the temple with them. Let them seek her upon the world's highway amid the crowds and the throng of their kinsfolk, and let them find her nowhere but in the shrine of the scriptures" - Jerome (Letter 107:7)

 

[IowaLutheran]

What did the early Church fathers believe about the infallibility or inerrancy of scripture?

Today, "infallibility" or "inerrancy" sometimes refers to reading Scripture literally in matters of history and science.

Many of the Early Church Fathers did not view Scripture this way, as is shown by their comments regarding whether or not the Genesis creation account should be read literally, meaning six 24 hour days.

You can read the quotes here:

http://www.catholic.com/library/Creation_and_Genesis.asp

 

[simonthezealot]

Today, "infallibility" or "inerrancy" sometimes refers to reading Scripture literally in matters of history and science.

Many of the Early Church Fathers did not view Scripture this way, as is shown by their comments regarding whether or not the Genesis creation account should be read literally, meaning six 24 hour days.

You can read the quotes here:

http://www.catholic.com/library/Creation_and_Genesis.asp

I fail to see the connection you are attempting.

 

[CaliforniaJosiah]

Gregory of Nyssa

"we make the Holy Scriptures the rule and the measure of every tenet; - Macrina and Gregory of Nyssa (On the Soul and the Resurrection)

Wait a minute, I thought Martin Luther invented Sola Scriptura

 

[IowaLutheran]

I fail to see the connection you are attempting.

(1) Fundamentalists connect the terms of "inerrancy" and "infallibility" of Scripture to a literal reading of certain passages of Scripture, including the Genesis creation story.

(2) The ECF's cited in the link I provided did not believe in a literal interpretation of the Genesis story.

(3) Ergo, those ECF's do not fit the fundamentalist definition of a believer of an "inerrant" and "infallible" Bible because they did not believe the Earth was created in six 24 hour days.

The ECF quotes you have cited seem to be related to the question of whether or not the ECF's believed in sola scriptura, which is a completely separate question than the issue of whether the ECF's believed in the infallibility and inerrancy of Scripture, which is the question set forth in the OP.

 

[a_ntv]

Please be carefull that for all ECFs up to the IV century "Scripture" was only the OT.

 

[Tonks]

Please be carefull that for all ECFs up to the IV century "Scripture" was only the OT.

This is true, but it is somewhat more complicated than that. Yes, when the NT references "Scripture" it is speaking of the OT - specifically the Septuagint.

However, it is evident in the writings of many of the ECF that they began to recognize the importance of what would eventually become the Canon of the NT (particularly the Ante-Nicene Fathers). They did also reference many extant writings that did not make it into the Canon, fwiw.

The earliest reference that the four Canonical Gospels were believed to have been inspired can be found in Irenaeus (ca 100AD something). I'll have to see if I can dig it up. Irenaeus was taught by Polycarp who was taught by John the Evangelist (in case anyone was wondering about proximity etc).

 

[a_ntv]

This is true, but it is somewhat more complicated than that. Yes, when the NT references "Scripture" it is speaking of the OT - specifically the Septuagint.

However, it is evident in the writings of many of the ECF that they began to recognize the importance of what would eventually become the Canon of the NT (particularly the Ante-Nicene Fathers). They did also reference many extant writings that did not make it into the Canon, fwiw.

The earliest reference that the four Canonical Gospels were believed to have been inspired can be found in Irenaeus (ca 100AD something). I'll have to see if I can dig it up. Irenaeus was taught by Polycarp who was taught by John the Evangelist (in case anyone was wondering about proximity etc).

You are right.

In the I century there are not signs that the NT was authoritative

In the II century the Gospels and some other writing were considered authoritative, but NOT called Scripture. So when Justin Martyr spoke of Scrpture, he was thinking ONLY to the OT

In the III century some books of the NT were referred as inspired as the Scripture, but it is only in the IV century that it became common to use the name Scripture also for the NT books.

And this is important to understand the ECFs

 

[TSIBHOD]

This is true, but it is somewhat more complicated than that. Yes, when the NT references "Scripture" it is speaking of the OT - specifically the Septuagint.

However, it is evident in the writings of many of the ECF that they began to recognize the importance of what would eventually become the Canon of the NT (particularly the Ante-Nicene Fathers). They did also reference many extant writings that did not make it into the Canon, fwiw.

The earliest reference that the four Canonical Gospels were believed to have been inspired can be found in Irenaeus (ca 100AD something). I'll have to see if I can dig it up. Irenaeus was taught by Polycarp who was taught by John the Evangelist (in case anyone was wondering about proximity etc).

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.ix.iv.xii.html

Irenaeus lists our four gospels as the only four.