Why should today's Christians study the writings of the Christians from the Pre-Nicene period (AD 75-325)?
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see also Pope Sylvester 314 335
writers who lived from about ad. 75 to
ad.
325 this 250-year period immediately
follows the time of the Apostles and
ends at the Council of NAA in ad.
325 the Council of NAA was the first
event that brought major changes to
Christianity it marked the beginning of
a union between church and state the
kingdom of God and the Roman Empire this
period perod before the Council of NAA
that is the pre nyine period was a time
when the Christian church was still
handing down the teachings and
traditions of the Apostles it was a time
when the church was not being influenced
by the surrounding government and
culture therefore the Christian writings
from this time are extremely valuable to
us today they give us a window into
primitive Christianity after the time of
the
The PreNicene Fathers
Apostles many people are surprised when
they hear how many Christian writings
from the prey period have survived over
1,700 years and can be read today the
writings that have survived fill about
nine encyclopedia sized volumes these
have been translated and compiled into
what is called the ant nyine fathers
anten nyine simply means before the
Council of
NAA the full set of the anti- nine
fathers costs over $100 or you could
subscribe to this Channel for free
with this amount of material it may take
a person a few years to fully grasp what
Christianity was like during the first
250 years after the
apostles the goal of this channel the
post Apostolic church is to bring the
pre- nyine writings to life for another
generation for the rest of this video
let's go into more detail about the pren
nyine Christians and why it is valuable
to learn from them the pricing
Advantages of PreNicene Christians
Christians have many advantages over
Christian historians today first the
Prine writings are a primary source
which allows us to determine which
writings belong in the New Testament
Canon that is which works are believed
to be inspired by God during the Prine
period many books and letters were being
circulated among the Christians but
which ones were truly from God and which
ones were the work of men today's New
Testament Canon of 27 books was first
listed by athanasius
in ad.
367 how do we know which books were used
by the Christians and which ones were
not this can be learned from the prising
Christians who supported or rejected
certain writings for example uranius who
was a student of polycarp who was a
student of the Apostle John said in ad.
180 that there are exactly four
gospels therefore we know writings like
the Gospel of Thomas are not scripture
in in fact we can know that this gospel
was written by the gnostics Lord willing
videos will be posted later which will
address various early Christian writings
The Scriptures
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second the pricing Christians have the
scriptures as the source of their
beliefs and practices the scriptures
were in the forms of gospels books and
letters which were handed down from the
apostles themselves in some cases the
prising Christians received God's
teaching from the apostles directly for
example Peter and Paul instructed
Clement of Rome today we can read
Clement's letter to the Corinthians
which we call First Clement the Apostle
John who' lived much longer than any of
the other Apostles had these three
pricing writers as his students Ignatius
papius and polycarp we can read
ignatius' seven letters to various
churches while he was on his way to die
in Rome
we can read polycarp's letter to the
Philippians as well as a detailed
account of his martyrdom written by the
Christians of Smyrna where he was a
bishop the fact that we can read the
very writings of those who saw the
apostles face to face should be an
incredible encouragement and excitement
for Christians
today though the rest of the prying
Christians did not see the apostles face
to face they still have advantages over
Christian historians today for example
example arenus was a student of polycarp
so there are only two degrees of
separation between arenus and the
Apostle John and there are many many
writings by ananus that have survived to
this day about the scriptures and
traditions that the apostles handed down
arenus wrote Suppose there arise a
dispute relative to some important
question among us should we not have
recourse to the most ancient churches
with which the apostles held constant
intercourse and learn from them what is
certain and clear in regard to the
present question for how should it be if
the apostles themselves had not left us
writings would it not be necessary in
that case to follow the course of the
tradition which they handed down to
those to whom they did commit the
churches today we are about 2,000 years
removed from the apostles the pricing
Christians on the other hand were
removed from the apostles 250 years at
the most to the preying Christians the
time of Christ and his Apostles was not
ancient history there was just 10
Generations between the apostles and the
last Prine writer eusebius lived at the
end of the Prine period for him to look
back on all the things that Jesus Christ
did would be like Americans looking back
on the events of the American
Revolutionary War just as there is a
wealth of information today on the
Revolutionary War the prenen Christians
had a enough historical information on
Jesus Christ and his
Apostles if you look in your Bible and
it has a page or two devoted to an
introduction to each book of the New
Testament how did the Bible Publishers
get this information especially the date
or the author the authors dates and
other interesting information about the
New Testament books are known to us
today because of the preying Christians
for example the author of the fourth
gospel does not identify himself how do
we know that the Apostle John wrote it
the only reason we know John wrote the
fourth gospel is because the pring
writers told us he wrote it another
example is the abrupt ending of the book
of Acts what happened to Paul after he
was under house arrest in Rome and when
he wrote his later letters such as
second Timothy the prising Christians
tell us what happened to him subscribe
so you don't miss any of this
fascinating information third the
prising Christians give us more details
about the Commandments instructions and
traditions the apostles taught Paul said
therefore Brothers stand firm and hold
to the Traditions you were taught either
by our message or by our letter Paul
says there was Authority from God in
what the apostles taught as well as what
they wrote down what if the apostles
gave Traditions from God that were not
written down in their letters how would
we know what those Traditions were we
would learn about them from the preising
Christians if the preing Christians go
into more detail about a tradition that
has been referred to in the scriptures
then we can know that this tradition was
given by the
apostles as previously stated the
prising Christians either knew the
apostles personally or at least were
separated from them by 250 years or 10
Generations since Christians today are
separated from the apostles by 1,900
plus years or 78 Generations it is hard
for us to Fathom how close these
Christian writers were to the apostles
perhaps the next couple quotes from
tulon about Paul's letters will help us
grasp the advantage the preising
Christians had tertullian wrote from
Carthage run over to the apostolic
churches in which the very Thrones of
the Apostles are still preeminent in
their places in which their own
authentic writings are read uttering the
voice and representing the face of each
of them severally or
individually AA is very near you in
which you find Corinth since you are not
far from Macedonia you have Philippi and
there too you have the Thessalonians
since you are able to cross to Asia you
get Ephesus since moreover you are close
upon Italy you have Rome from which
there comes even into our own hands the
very authority of the Apostles
themselves tertian also wrote If that is
from the beginning which has the
Apostles for its authors then it will
certainly be quite as evident that that
comes down from the apostles which has
been kept as a sec deposit in the
churches of the Apostles let us see what
milk the Corinthians drank from Paul to
what rule the Galatians were brought for
correction what the Philippians the
Thessalonians the Ephesians read what
utterance also the Romans give so very
near to the apostles to whom Peter and
Paul conjointly bequeath the gospel even
sealed it with their own blood we also
have John's Foster
churches today no original manuscripts
written by Paul John or any other New
Testament writer exist however trulan
says that if anyone wants to go to the
very churches to which Paul and John
wrote they can they can travel there and
read Paul's and John's writings for
themselves so even 150 years after the
apostles the pricing Christians were
still able to do
this win to to refers to John's Foster
churches he means the churches of first
second and third
John also you will notice in this quote
from tulan that he says both Peter and
Paul were in Rome Lord willing there
will be a video posted about what
happened to the apostles after acts so
please subscribe fourth the pring
Christians had a cultural advantage over
us in the west Americans have their way
of thinking which differs from the way
Mexicans or Canadians think let let
alone the way the Mediterranean world
thinks let alone how the Mediterranean
World thought 1,800 years ago not only
did the prying Christians live in the
same area of the world as Jesus Christ
and the apostles they also lived in the
same culture they understood the same
cultural
references experienced the same
persecution and chose the same life of
poverty at the same time the pring
Christians opposed the enemy religions
of their day
though the pricing Christians lived in a
completely different culture this does
not mean they dealt with different
social issues than the social issues of
Social Issues
today so many people today mistakenly
believe the social issues Christians
deal with today are nothing like the
social issues early Christianity had to
deal with this is not the case today's
social issues are not unique to us the
pricing Christians spoke on important
issues such as Christians in the
military involvement in politics
abortion
racism
homosexuality
materialism
pornography alcohol suicide capital
punishment atomic particles and even
Evolution the prising Christians
addressed all these
topics but not only did they address
social issues they also addressed
doctrinal issues such as the nature of
the Trinity the problem of evil in the
world
predestination gifts of the Spirit
Church
government Miracles who wrote
Hebrews Faith only Salvation And once
saved always saved the list of doctrinal
issues like these goes on and on
therefore when it comes to issues of
society or religion the pricing
Christians have no disadvantages over us
today they only had
advantages as Solomon said what has been
is what will be and what has been done
is what will be done there is nothing
new Under the Sun can one say about
anything look this is new it has already
existed in the ages before
us videos will be posted on these issues
in the future so please subscribe to
learn about what the prying Christians
believed about these things fifth the
pricing Christians had an idiomatic
advantage over us
that is an advantage in language the
Prine writers wrote and spoke the very
same language of the Apostles Co Greek
because of this they would have known
the true meanings of the words the
figures of speech and the meanings of
the symbolic images everything the
apostles wrote about some writers such
as tertullian wrote in Latin as well as
in Greek at times tulan had to bring
Concepts from the Greek into Latin that
may not have existed existed in Latin
before so even Latin during the pre
nyine period had a disadvantage to the
que Greek of the same period sixth the
Theological Advantage
Prine Christians had a theological
advantage today Christianity is split
into so many denominations that disagree
with each other on so many matters of
Doctrine during the pre nyine period
there was one universal church that was
completely and fully United in theology
Doctrine Christian Living and fellowship
the church was not United because of
some hierarchy of church government the
prising Christians lived before the
times of ecumenical councils before the
times of Episcopal structures with one
Bishop at the top before the times of
Presbyterian structures with their
Assemblies of
prors their Unity was based on the
scriptures and the Traditions handed
down to them by the apostles whether one
lived in modern day France like arenus
and laan
Carthage like tertullian and
cyprian Rome like Justin Martyr and
hippitus Alexandria like Clement and
origin Athens like
athenagoras Asia Minor like polycarp and
Methodius and molito and papius and
filon and
archelus or Antioch like ignacius and
theophilos all these writers were fully
United in their theology Doctrine
practice and fellowship ship during the
Prine period Christians were neither
Catholic nor Protestant in fact out of
Other Beliefs
the nine volumes of the compiled works
by the Prine Christians less than 5% of
their beliefs differed this 5% was due
to a couple of third Century schisms
from the church these were the monists
and the Novation these groups chose to
separate themselves from the rest of the
church which according to them was
becoming too La in its dealings with sin
Lord willing there will be future videos
on these groups yet during the first 250
years of the church after the time of
the Apostles 95% of the Christians were
fully United in every way ever since the
4th Century Christianity has never been
able to claim Unity of this kind we have
looked at seven major reasons why
Christians should study the Prine
Christian writings when Christians study
the pren nyine writings they should find
beliefs they agree with along with that
they will probably find things they
disagree with in short the writings of
the pricing Christians will challenge
you it is a good thing to have our
religious beliefs challenged as Paul
said test yourselves to see if you are
in the faith examine yourselves or do
you yourselves not recognize that Jesus
Christ is in you unless you fail the
test May the right writings of the
pricing Christians drive you to go
deeper into the scriptures so that like
the bereans you will see if what they
say is true honestly Christians should
Conclusion
not need the writings of the pre- nyine
Christians to help fine-tune their faith
if Christians would read the New
Testament and follow the teachings of
Jesus Christ very simply and very purely
they would learn God's truth the Prine
writings are not scripture and they
don't claim claim to be yet because of
all the advantages the preising
Christians have over Christians today
their writings comprise the greatest
biblical and historical commentary you
will ever read and that is why today's
Christians should study the preising
