New Testament Week 29: Post-New Testament Christianity and the Great Apostasy1

1) Introduction. a) As we come to the end of our course, were going to look at what happened after the books of the New Testament were written. b) The gospels record the teachings and miracles of Jesus Christ, culminating in his suffering, death, and resurrection. Acts relates some of the story of the spread of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire. The epistles and Revelation record some of the instructions given by apostles and church leaders to the early Christian congregations. But what happened next? c) [SLIDE 2] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints affirms that
After the deaths of the Savior and His Apostles, men corrupted the principles of the gospel and made unauthorized changes in Church organization and priesthood ordinances. Because of this widespread wickedness, the Lord withdrew the authority of the priesthood from the earth. During the Great Apostasy, people were without divine direction from living prophets. This apostasy lasted until Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son appeared to Joseph Smith in 1820 and initiated the restoration of the fulness of the gospel.2

d) When and how did this apostasy begin? Which gospel principles were corrupted? What unauthorized changes were made? Tonight were going to try to answer these questions. 2) The apostasy was known and foretold. a) The early apostles knew that the church would fall into apostasy, although its not clear exactly how bad and widespread they expected it to fall. b) [SLIDE 3] The very word apostasy comes from Pauls prediction in 2 Thessalonians that there must be a falling away before the second coming of Christ:3

The primary sources used for this lesson are: Noel B. Reynolds (ed.), Early Christians in Disarray: Contemporary LDS Perspectives on the Christian Apostasy (Provo: BYU Press & FARMS, 2005). This work represents the current state of LDS scholarship on the early Christian apostasy. Bart D. Ehrman, Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003) and Lost Scriptures: Books that Did Not Make It into the New Testament (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003). Ehrman is one of the leading experts in New Testament texts and has written for both scholarly and popular audiences. Richard Neitzel Holzapfel and Thomas A. Wayment, The Life and Teachings of the New Testament Apostles: from the Day of Pentecost through the Apocalypse (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2010). The final three chapters (written by Kent P. Jackson, Gaye Strathearn, and Jennifer C. Lane) cover the Christian apostasy and post-New Testament developments. I have not included James E. Talmages famous work, The Great Apostasy: Considered in the Light of Scriptural and Secular History (1st ed., 1909) because it is woefully out of date. Much scholarly light has been shed on early Christianity since Elder Talmage wrote his book. 2 True to the Faith (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2004), 13; http://bit.ly/n5tnjb 3 See lesson 20, pages 710; http://scr.bi/LDSARCNT20n 2011, Mike Parker http://bit.ly/ldsarc For personal use only. Not a Church publication.

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KJV 2 Thessalonians 2:3

Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

NRSV 2 Thessalonians 2:3

Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the lawless one is revealed, the one destined for destruction.

i) The KJV phrase falling away is a translation of the Greek word (apostasia), from which we get the English word apostasy. This word refers to a mutiny, defection, or rebellion,4 in which people without authority overthrow the proper rulers and take their place. (1) This is an important point: The apostasy did not happen because external persecution, but because of internal divisions. (a) [SLIDE 4] In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul lamented that there were contentions and schisms within the church at Corinth. Some said I belong to Paul, others said I belong to Apollos, or I belong to Cephas, or I belong to Christ (NRSV 1 Corinthians 3:1113). (b) Pauls second epistle to the Corinthians mentions false apostles whom he described as ministers of Satan (2 Corinthians 11:1315). (c) In Johns epistle to Gaius, he reports that Diotrephes, a leader of an unnamed branch of the church, does not acknowledge our [the apostles] authority (NRSV 3 John 1:9). (2) Virtually every epistle in the New Testament testifies of divisions and rebellions in the church.5 The very reason these epistles were written was to correct false teachings that were found among the churches. We assume that they were effective, but should we? The apostasy of the early church suggests they were not.6 3) Latter-day Saint myths about the Great Apostasy. a) Although our claim that the early church fell into apostasy is true, there are some misconceptions about the apostasy within the restored Church. Im going to debunk these myths and use them as a springboard to talk about what actually happened.7 b) [SLIDE 5]Myth #1: There was a single Christian church that progressively changed its teachings and ordinances until the Nicene Creed and the creation of the Roman Catholic Church in the 4th century completed the apostasy. i) [SLIDE 6] This argument is based on the writings of Eusebius of Caesarea (c. A.D. 263339). Eusebius was a bishop and historian in the early 4th century who was the first to compile a comprehensive history of the Christian movement. His work,

4 In modern Bible translations apostasia is rendered rebellion (NRSV, NET, NIV, ESV), apostasy (NASB, NAB), or Great Revolt (NJB). 5 In addition to the passages above, see Matthew 13:2430; 24:5, 24; Acts 20:2930; Romans 16:1718; Galatians 1:69; 3:1; Colossians 2:8; 1 Timothy 4:13; 5:15; 2 Timothy 3:19, 12; 4:34; 2 Peter 2:13; Jude 1:34; Revelation 13:7. See also Reynolds, Early Christians in Disarray, 35569. 6 That there was so much internal dissension in the early church should not surprise us: The early years of the Restoration were also marked be regular individual and group apostasy. Some church leaders apostatized, including the Three Witnesses to the Book of Mormon (although Oliver Cowdery and Martin Harris later returned) and Sidney Rigdon. The Kirtland era ended in 1838 after over a year of mass apostasy (see Doctrine and Covenants lesson 24; http://scr.bi/LDSARCDC24n). 7 Ive drawn the idea of myths about the apostasy from Reynolds, Early Christians in Disarray, 619. Ive also incorporated some of Reynolds specific myths into my list.

2011, Mike Parker

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For personal use only. Not a Church publication.

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Historia Ecclesiastica (Latin for Church History), is the source for much our knowledge of the first few centuries of Christianity.8 (1) [SLIDE 7] It was Eusebius view that there was only a single, orthodox Church from which emerged a number of competing minorities. These minority groups were branded as heresies and were put down, allowing the orthodox church to persist and triumph. (2) Early Latter-day Saint authors, like James E. Talmage, took this concept and modified it, arguing that the orthodox majority itself fell into apostasy. (3) [SLIDE 8] However, more recent scholarship has shown that, as far back as we can trace our sources, there was no single common Christian belief. Rather, Christianity can be found in a number of divergent forms, none of which represented a clear and powerful majority of believers against all the others. Beliefs that were later declared to be heresies were often the common belief off a majority of earlier Christians (or at least the majority of Christians in certain geographic regions).9 (a) These various forms of Christianity were in competition with each other. No one of them was the accepted belief of a majority of Christian believers. Each of them flourished in their own regions of the Roman Empire. (b) In the 2nd and 3rd centuries there were so many varying forms of New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman argues that we should not refer to early Christianity, but rather early Christianities.10 He writes:
In the second and third centuries there were, of course, Christians who believed in one God. But there were others who insisted that there were two. Some said there were thirty. Others claimed there were 365. In the second and third centuries there were Christians who believed that God had created the world. But other believed that this world had been created by a subordinate, ignorant divinity. (Why else would the world be filled with such misery and hardship?) Yet other Christians thought it was worse than that, that this world was a cosmic mistake created by a malevolent divinity as a place of imprisonment, to trap humans and subject them to pain and suffering. In the second and third centuries there were Christians who believed that the Jewish Scripture (the Christian Old Testament) was inspired by the one true God. Others believed it was inspired by the God of the Jews, who was not the one true God. Other believed it was inspired by an evil deity. Others believed it was not inspired. In the second and third centuries there were Christians who believed that Jesus was both divine and human, God and man. There were other Christians who argued that he was completely divine and not human at all. There were others who insisted that Jesus was a full flesh-and-blood human, adopted by God to be his son but not himself divine. There were
An online version, in English, is available at http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf201.toc.html His work has not been without its detractors; it was criticized as early as the 5th century. For an overview of Eusebius life and criticisms of his work, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eusebius_of_Caesarea 9 The pioneer of this theory was the German scholar Walter Bauer, who set forth his arguments in his now-famous work, Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity (1934; online text at http://jewishchristianlit.com/Texts/Bauer/). Bauers work completely changed the landscape of early Christian studies; whether current scholars agree or disagree with him, they still must confront his thesis. 10 This forms the basis of the title of his book, Lost Christianities (see footnote 1). 2011, Mike Parker http://bit.ly/ldsarc For personal use only. Not a Church publication.
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yet other Christians who claimed that Jesus Christ was two things: a full flesh-and-blood human, Jesus, and a fully divine being, Christ, who had temporarily inhabited Jesus body during his ministry and left him prior to his death, inspiring his teachings and miracles but avoiding the suffering in its aftermath. In the second and third centuries there were Christians who believed that Jesus death brought about the salvation of the world. There were other Christians who thought that Jesus death had nothing to do with the salvation of the world. There were yet other Christians who said that Jesus never died.11

(c) How could people who considered themselves Christian hold such strange views? Why didnt they just consult their scriptures and see that there was one true God, and not 365? Because the apostles had died (ending revealed guidance to Christian believers) and there was no canonized New Testament yet. (i) During these two centuries each form of Christianity had its own books that supported its beliefs and that it considered scripture, and rejected books that disagreed with its beliefs. (d) [8.1] Eventually one form of Christianity managed to overcome all the others to become the dominant, orthodox Christian faith. This took place in the 4th century. But in the 250 or so years before that, Christianity was extremely diverse, with no clear, accepted, true form of the faith. (i) Many early prominent Christians held beliefs that were later declared to be heresies.12 ii) There are many examples of divergent Christian thought in the 1st through 4th centuries. We cant cover all of them, but lets take look at some of the major beliefs from that period. (1) [SLIDE 9] Gnosticism. (a) Gnosticism is probably the earliest and best-known divergent form of Christianity. (b) The term Gnostic comes from the Greek word (gnsis), knowledge. Gnostics believed in the importance of obtaining gnosis, esoteric or hidden knowledge.13 (i) This secret knowledge was the way to salvation of the soul from the material world, which was evil, having been created through an intermediary being (a Demiurge) rather than directly by God. (ii) Gnostics believed that human spirits (known as a spark) come from the divine realm, but they are trapped in their physical bodies. Most people dont realize this; it is only when they learn it that they are able escape their bodies and return to the superior, non-material state. Salvation, in other words, comes through knowledge (gnosis) of this fact.
Ehrman, Lost Christianities, 2. For example, Eusebius, chronicler of the history of the church, ascribed to a form of Christianity known as Arianism, a belief that was declared heretical in two 4th-century church councils. He only managed to retain his post as bishop of Caesarea because he was in the good graces of the Emperor Constantine. 13 The following is a brief summary of some of the key beliefs of Gnostics. For more details into their theology, see
12 11

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnostic

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(iii) In connection with this, Gnostics had a separationist Christologythey taught that there were two distinct persons: Jesus, the human being, and Christ, a divine being (or aeon) who emanated from God and temporarily dwelled in Jesus body. (c) There was no single movement called Gnosticism; rather, there were many early forms of Christianity which had Gnostic beliefs.14 (d) Christian Gnosticism was at its peak during the 2nd and 3rd centuries, and largely died out after that. (However, there were prominent Gnostic sects as late as the 13th century.) (2) [SLIDE 10] Marcionites.15 (a) This group is named for Marcion of Sinope (c. A.D. 85160), a ship-owner and merchant who moved to Rome around A.D. 139 where he became known to the church there and donated a large sum of money to it. (b) Marcion observed the differences between the God of vengeance and wrath found in the Old Testament and the God of love and mercy taught by Jesus. He was particularly attracted to the writings of Paul and Pauls distinction between the Jewish Law and the gospel based on faith in Christ. (c) Marcions solution to these differences was to claim that there were actually two Gods: the God of the Jews, found in the Old Testament, and the God of Jesus, as found in Pauls writings. (i) The God of the Old Testament created the world and everything in it, and insisted that people keep his Law and penalized them when they failed. He was not evil, but he was rigorously just and wrathful when people disobeyed him. (ii) The God of Jesus, as taught by Paul, first became involved with this world when Jesus appeared from heaven in order to save people from the vengeful God of the Jews. He was previously unknown to this world. (d) Marcion taught a doctrine called Docetism, which comes from the Greek word (doke) meaning to appear. Docetists maintained that Jesus physical body was an illusion, as was his crucifixion; that is, Jesus only seemed (or appeared) to have a physical body and to physically die, but in reality he was incorporeal, a pure spirit, and hence could not physically die. (e) Marcion published his beliefs and began to attract followers. He produced one of the first lists of canonical books (those to be accepted as scripture), which included ten letters of Paul and the gospel of Luke (although his version of Luke lacked any passages that connected Jesus to the Old Testament). (f) Marcion presented his views to the leaders of the church in Rome, but they rejected them, excommunicated Marcion, and refunded his donation. Marcion left Rome and traveled to Asia Minor, where he found great success.16 In some parts of Asia Minor Marcionism was the original form of Christianity.
14

Gnosticism was also a component of other ancient religions, including Judaism and eastern religions in Persia and

India.
15 16

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcionism Marcions influence was significant enough for his teaching to be argued against by several early proto-orthodox Christians, including Justin, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Tertullian. 2011, Mike Parker http://bit.ly/ldsarc For personal use only. Not a Church publication.

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Marcionite churches held strong until the beginning of the 4th century, and completely died out by the 5th century. (3) [SLIDE 11] Ebionites.17 (a) In many ways Ebionites were the polar opposite of the Marcionites. They were Jews who insisted that being Jewish was fundamental to being a true Christian. (b) They insisted there was only one God (not two, like the Marcionites, or hundreds, like the Gnostics), and that Jesus God was the God of the Old Testament. (c) They believed that Jesus was completely human and not divine at all. He did not have a pre-mortal existence. Instead of being the Son of God by birth, they held to a doctrine called Adoptionism: Jesus was adopted as Gods Son when he was baptized.18 (d) They saw Paul, with his teaching of justification by faith apart from the Law, as a heretic, and rejected all his writings. They accepted one gospel, known as the Gospel of the Hebrews.19 (e) Like the Marcionites, the Ebionite sect died out in the 5th century. (4) [SLIDE 12] Montanism.20 (a) This movement was named for its founder, Montanus, who appeared in the middle of the 2nd century in western Asia Minor. Its adherents referred to themselves as the New Prophecy. (b) Montanus testified that he had experienced an ecstatic visitation of the Holy Spirit and, along with two women (Maximilla and Prisca), had the ability to deliver prophetic messages from God. The Three spoke in ecstatic visions and urged their followers to fast and pray, so that they might share these revelations (somewhat similar to modern Pentecostalism). Their message spread as far as Gaul (modern France) and down into Africa.21 (c) At first they didnt encounter any difficulties from other Christians, but their fanaticism, zealousness for martyrdom, and the prominence of women in receiving these prophecies eventually forced the emerging orthodoxy to condemn Montanism as a heresy. It persisted in some isolated places into the 6th century. (5) [SLIDE 13] Sabellianism.22 (a) Sabellianism is named for its founder Sabellius, a priest in the early 3rd century (c. A.D. 215).
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebionites. The name Ebionite comes from the Greek (ebinaioi), derived from Hebrew ( ebyonim), meaning the poor or poor ones. 18 This was supported by an early version of Luke 3:22, which read Thou art my beloved Son; this day have I begotten you (retaining the original wording of Psalm 2:7, from which Luke 3:22 is drawn). Only one Greek and a few Latin manuscripts have this reading, but virtually all of the early Church Fathers, in quoting Luke 3:22, read it this way. The phrase in thee I am well pleased, as found in the KJV, is very likely an anti-adoptionist change made during or after the 2nd century. 19 Although this book is referred to, and sometimes quoted, by early Church Fathers, no complete copy exists. See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_the_Hebrews 20 See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montanism
21 Among their followers was prominent apologist and theologian Tertullian (c. A.D. 160c. 220), who was attracted to Montanism in his middle age (around A.D. 207); http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tertullian 22 See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabellianism 17

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For personal use only. Not a Church publication.

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(b) Sabellius taught a doctrine called Modalism, which tries to explain the nature of the Godhead. Modalists argue that there is only one God, but that he presents himself in three different modes or aspects, as perceived by the believer; God manifests himself as the Father, or as the Son, or as the Holy Spirit, as he chooses.23 (c) Sabellianism was influential well into the 4th century, and was still around as late as the 7th century.24 (6) [SLIDE 14] Arianism.25 (a) Arianism is named after Arius (c. A.D. 250c. 336), a priest in Alexandria, Egypt. (b) The Arian concept of Christ was that the Son of God did not always exist, but was created by God. Because he was created by God, Christ is therefore distinct from and subordinate to the Father. (c) Of all the various disagreements within Christianity, the Arian controversy generated the greatest theological and political conflict (with the possible exception of the Protestant Reformation). Many Christian bishops and other leaders in the 4th century ascribed to Arianism, and the conflict divided the emerging orthodox church. This conflict resulted in the First Council of Nicaea, which resulted in the condemnation of Arius as a heretic and the composition of the Nicene Creed. (7) [SLIDE 15] Proto-orthodoxy.26 (a) So where does that leave orthodox Christianity? Orthodoxy, as it later came to be, was one of the sects of Christianity that was in contention with the others during the 2nd and 3rd centuries. (b) Because it was not yet the majority, Bart Ehrman coined the term protoorthodox Christianity to describe it in its infant state. (c) With the legalization of Christianity under the Emperor Constantine in A.D. 313, and the defeat of Arianism at the Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325, protoorthodoxy became the dominant form of Christianity. (i) Having won out over all other forms of Christian belief, the orthodox majority was now able to claim that its views had always been the majority position and that its rivals were, and always had been, heretics, who willfully chose to reject the true belief.27 iii) We dont have most of the original writings of these other Christian groups; they were destroyed by orthodox Christians. What we do have are the proto-orthodox
The chief critic of Sabellianism was Tertullian, who labeled the movement Patripassianism, from the Latin words pater (father) and passus (to suffer), because it implied that the Father suffered on the Cross. Tertiullian seems to have suggested that the majority of believers of his time (early 3rd century) favored the Sabellian view of the oneness of God (Adversus Praxean, III; http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf03.v.ix.iii.html). 24 Both the first general council at Constantinople (A.D. 381) and the third general council at Constantinople (A.D. 680) declared the baptism of Sabellius to be invalid, which indicates that Sabellianism was still extant. The irony is that many modern orthodox Christians, if pressed to explain the doctrine of the Trinity, would probably articulate something resembling Modalism. 25 See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arianism 26 See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-orthodox_Christianity 27 Bart D. Ehrman, The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings (Oxford University Press, 2003), 7. 2011, Mike Parker http://bit.ly/ldsarc For personal use only. Not a Church publication.
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responses, which quote the heretical writings, and which may or may not accurately reflect what these groups were teaching. (1) [SLIDE 16] There are some exceptions, however, the most prominent of which are the Nag Hammadi codices28 which were discovered in Egypt in 1945 (a year before the Dead Sea Scrolls). These leather books from the 4th century contain many original Gnostic writings, including the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas,29 which has many similarities to Jesus sayings in the synoptic Gospels, but with some interesting Gnostic twists. iv) So what does this mean for the Latter-day Saint understanding of the Great Apostasy? It means that we must push our timeline for the beginning of the apostasy back into the middle- to late-1st century, during the time the New Testament books were being written. Jesus and his apostles established his church, but there were immediate defections and divisions within it. By the end of the 1st century Christianity was already severely fragmented, a situation that remained so until orthodox Christianity managed to emerge triumphant over all other competing Christianities in the 4th century. c) [SLIDE 17] Myth #2: There was a total apostasy from Christs original teachings. i) While there certainly was a loss of authority and revelation, and important teachings were lost or distorted, we shouldnt overstate how much was lost. ii) When we look at various beliefs in 2nd and 3rd century Christianities, it becomes clear that many true beliefs survived with orthodox Christianity, and many false teachings were correctly declared to be heretical. iii) For example, the belief that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost represent a divine three-person Godhead has persisted, while the Basilidean Gnostic notion of 365 gods failed.30 We can quibble about the nature of the Trinity (something well get to in a moment), but orthodox Christianity got it more right than wrong on this subject. The same could be said for many other beliefs. iv) So claiming there was a total apostasy is really going beyond the mark. Authority was lost, revelation ended, and key doctrines were changed or forgotten, but many important truths persisted. Latter-day Saints have much more in common with orthodox Christianity than we do with Gnostics, Marcionites, or Arians. d) [SLIDE 18] Myth #3: The great apostasy was caused by the hellenization of Christianity or the incorporation of Greek philosophy and culture into the teachings of the early church. i) For over a century now scholars have recognized that Christianity went through a period of hellenization in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th centuries.31 During this time prominent Christian writers like Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Athanasius began to use the Greek philosophical tradition to defend, establish, and develop Christian doctrine.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nag_Hammadi_library See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_Thomas. A complete English translation of the Gospel of Thomas may be found at http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/gth_pat_rob.htm 30 See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilideans 31 The groundbreaking work on this subject was Edwin Hatch, The Influence of Greek Ideas and Usages upon the Christian Church (Edinburgh, England: Williams and Norgate, 1892). A complete online text is available at
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http://books.google.com/books?id=y04XAAAAIAAJ

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ii) Greek philosophyparticularly the teachings of Platowas popular among the educated and ruling classes of the Roman Empire. Explaining Christian belief in Greek philosophical terms made Christianity more fashionable to powerful people who could adopt it and give it credibility. iii) But this hellenization was a symptom, not a cause. By the time of the first Christian writer to use philosophy (Justin Martyr, A.D. 103165),32 the apostasy was already in full swing. iv) On a positive note, Greek philosophy saved Christianity by making it appealing to a pagan Roman audience. If Christianity had not become hellenized, it very likely would have disappeared altogether. Unfortunately, though, the Christianity that emerged at the end of the 4th century was very different from the one at the end of the 1st.33 e) [SLIDE 19] Myth #4: The Roman Catholic Church is the great and abominable church spoken of in Nephi1s vision (1 Nephi 1314).34 i) In 1 Nephi 1314, the prophet Nephi related a vision in which he saw the future of the world and its kingdoms as it related to his posterity. Part of his vision included a prediction of a great and abominable church that would fight against Zion and the saints of God. ii) Unfortunately, some Latter-day Saints have connected this church with the Roman Catholic Church.35 However, a careful reading of 1 Nephi 1314 reveals that this cannot be the case. iii) [SLIDE 20] Nephi sets forth the particulars of this organization: (1) It persecutes, tortures, and kills the Saints of God (1 Nephi 13:5). (2) It seeks wealth and luxury (1 Nephi 13:78). (3) It is characterized by sexual immorality (1 Nephi 13:7). (4) It has removed many plain and precious things from the scriptures (1 Nephi 13:2629). (5) It has dominion over all the earth, among all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people (1 Nephi 14:11). (6) Its fate is to be consumed by a great war, when the nations it incites against the Saints war among themselves until the great and abominable church itself is destroyed (1 Nephi 22:1314).

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin_Martyr For more on this, see Daniel W. Graham and James L. Siebach, The Introduction of Philosophy into Early Christianity, in Reynolds, Early Christians in Disarray, 20537. 34 BYU professor Stephen E. Robinsons work on this subject is simply required reading for Latter-day Saints. His article on this subject has been published in several venues. The most accessible is Nephi's Great and Abominable Church, Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 7/1 (1998), 3239; http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/publications/jbms/?vol=7&num=1&id=168. A shortened version was published as Warring against the Saints of God, Ensign, January 1988, 34??;
33

32

http://lds.org/ensign/1988/01/warring-against-the-saints-of-god

Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, 1998 35 The most prominent example of this is Bruce R. McConkie, in his first edition of Mormon Doctrine (Bookcraft, 1958). His entry for Catholicism directs the reader to See CHURCH OF THE DEVIL (108), which article makes a connection between the particulars of Nephis vision and the Roman Catholic Church. These references were edited out of the 2nd (1966) edition. For the story behind the First Presidencys reaction to this issue, see Gregory A. Prince and William Robert Wright, David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2005), 4953 & 12123. 2011, Mike Parker http://bit.ly/ldsarc For personal use only. Not a Church publication.

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(7) Finally we are told in modern revelation that the great and abominable church did its work after the apostles had fallen asleepthat is, after the end of the first century A.D. (D&C 86:13). iv) The difficulty comes in 1 Nephi 14:10, in which we are told that the devils church consists of all those organizations not associated with the Church of Jesus Christ: Behold there are save two churches only; the one is the church of the Lamb of God, and the other is the church of the devil. (1) How can the church of the Devil be one and many at the same time? The answer is that the term is used in two different ways in 1 Nephi 1314. In chapter 13 it is used historically, and in chapter 14 it is used as a type. Recognizing this will help us identify the individual church in chapter 13. (2) As we discussed earlier, in the period between Peter and the Roman Emperor Constantine, there were many Christian churches besides the Orthodox Church. By the time we get to A.D. 313 and Christianity becoming the state religion, the text of the New Testament was already fixed and widely circulatingthe plain and precious parts had already been removed.36 Furthermore, the early Orthodox Church can hardly be accused of immorality; it had, in fact, gone to the extremes of asceticism.37 The Roman Catholic Church is too late to be Nephis great and abominable church. (3) To find the real culprits, we need to look at a much earlier period in church history than the 4th century after Christ. (a) BYU professor Stephen Robinson:
Such an agent would have had its origins in the second half of the first century and would have done much of its work by the middle of the second century. This period might be called the blind spot in Christian history, for it is here that the fewest primary historical sources have been preserved. We have good sources for New Testament Christianity; then the lights go out, so to speak, and we hear the muffled sounds of a great struggle. When the lights come on again a hundred or so years later, we find that someone has rearranged all the furniture and Christianity has become something very different from what it was in the beginning. That different entity can accurately be described as hellenized Christianity. *** The historical abominable church of the devil is that apostate church that replaced true Christianity in the first and second centuries, teaching the philosophies of men mingled with scriptures. It dethroned God in the church and replaced him with man by denying the principle of revelation and turning instead to human intellect. As the product of human agency, its creeds were an abomination to the Lord, for they were idolatry: men worshipping the creations, not of their own hands, but of their own minds.38

v) BYU professor Noel B. Reyolds has also argued that Nephis claim that the great and abominable church has taken away many covenants of the Lord (1 Nephi 13:26) is
36 Robinson writes: The notion of shifty-eyed medieval monks rewriting the scriptures is unfair and bigoted. We owe those monks a debt of gratitude that anything was saved at all. 37 This persists today in the Roman Catholic Church, with its priests and nuns required to live lives of total celibacy. 38 Robinson, Nephi's Great and Abominable Church, 39.

2011, Mike Parker

http://bit.ly/ldsarc

For personal use only. Not a Church publication.

Hurricane West Stake Adult Religion Class

New Testament: Post-NT Christianity & the Great Apostasy Week 29, Page 11

evident from early Christian history, where baptism was changed from a covenant (in which the individual makes promises to God) into a sacrament (in which divine grace is transmitted to the individual through the mediation of a priest).39 (1) This is why infant baptism could eventually become widespread: It doesnt require any commitment on behalf of the person being baptized; it is done merely to save him or her from going to hell as a sinner. vi) We should actually be grateful to the Catholic Church for retaining as much truth and light as they did. (1) [SLIDE 21] Joseph Smith:
The old Catholic church traditions are worth more than all you have said. Here is a principle of logic that most men have no more sense than to adopt. I will illustrate it by an old apple tree. Here jumps off a branch and says, I am the true tree, and you are corrupt. If the whole tree is corrupt, are not its branches corrupt? If the Catholic religion is a false religion, how can any true religion come out of it? If the Catholic church is bad, how can any good thing come out of it? The character of the old churches have always been slandered by all apostates since the world began.40

4) In summary, our claim that the early Christian church fell into apostasy (which required a restoration of authority and truth) is supported by the scriptures and by scholarship. The church established by the early apostles immediately began struggling with divisions and false beliefs, and by the end of the first century had become severely fragmented. At the same time, many important truths were retained by the emerging orthodox Christian church, and we owe those early theologians our thanks for retaining what true principles they did. 5) [SLIDE 22] Thank you for this wonderful year. Its be an pleasure and an honor to spend Wednesday evening with you, studying the books of the New Testament.

39 Noel B. Reynolds, The Decline of Covenant in Early Christian Thought, in Reynolds, Early Christians in Disarray, 295324. 40 Joseph Smith, 16 June 1844. History of the Church 6:478; Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith 375 (http://scriptures.byu.edu/stpjs.html#375); Words of Joseph Smith 38182.

2011, Mike Parker

http://bit.ly/ldsarc

For personal use only. Not a Church publication.