Apostolic succession

Roman Catholicism and Presbyterianism are two religions that people in the world today participate in and live by. Each of them have stemmed from the time of Jesus Christ. Back then there was not a good way to create text to last forever for others to read. When the time came around for the word of the Lord to be recorded— the text was written in a language that not everyone could read or understand. So when things were converted for others, countless stories and preaching’s were translated…

The leader of the Roman Catholic Church is the most well-known religious leader in the world today. The office of the Pope was instituted early in the history of the Church. The Papacy was established much later. The leader of the church in Rome was a Bishop as was customary in the early church. In its origin the office of the Pope was not unlike any other office in church leadership, the term was not used exclusively at the church in Rome nor did it convey any special authority not available to…

The word Catholic, means Universal and the words “ The Catholic Church” is found for the first time in the letter of St. Ignatius to the symyrnaeans. Catholics believe that Jesus is the Son of God, the second Person of the Blessed Trinity, who became one of us to free us from the sin, and to bring us the fullness of God’s revelation. Jesus Christ is the Messiah, God’s anointed one, and the savior of the world. They initiated into the Catholic Church through the sacraments of initiation: Baptism,…

The Cessationist view There are many NT scholars; such as B. B. Warfield, John Macarthur, J. I. Packer, Tenny Merrile C., Vincent Marvin R., and Wuest Kenneth who wrote against the apostolic ministry in today’s church. The researcher selected two writers (Wayne Grudem and John Stott) believing that they could well represent the view of cessationist, because they have done substantial work concerning such issue. Wayne Grudem and John…

Irenaeus was born in second century Smyrna and was a student of Polycarp who in turn was a student of St. John the Evangelist. Eventually made bishop of Lugdunum in Gaul, Irenaeus is considered by some to be the Church's first systematic theologian. He primary opponents were the Gnostics who claimed a greater spiritual knowledge and believed the material world to be evil. As such, they asserted that Christ could not have been fully man. Rather, he either only appeared to be or else controlled…

1.Describe the main challenges to Christianity in the first three centuries and how the Apostolic Fathers and the Apologists responded to each. One of the main challenges that faced Christianity in the first three centuries was Gnosticism. Cerinthus was one of the earliest Gnostic teacher and troublers during the 1st Century (28). Gnostics believed that each person possessed a special, higher spiritual knowledge (29), and that humans are made up of matter. One of the biggest arguments…

Catholics. The Roman Catholic Church deems the Pope over office and is gives him great authority. However, Protestants believe that no human being is infallible and that Christ alone is the Head of the Church. Catholics tend to focus on the succession from apostolic notions in even in terms of how they actually find a pope, while Protestants believe that the church’s authority stems from the Word of God alone, the bible. Now, these two examples demonstrates differing views between the two most…

The Gnostic gospels have been the subject of much debate for centuries, especially regarding the Orthodox Church’s opposition to the validity of gospels outside of those canonized gospels of the New Testament. Author Elaine Pagels consolidated her research on this topic in the book titled The Gnostic Gospels. This text provides some insight into the struggles that helped shape beliefs of the Gnostics and the early Orthodox Church as they responded to attacks of heresy from one another. The…

In this essay, I will be discussing the development of Christianity from the life of Jesus through the second century. I researched how Christianity separated itself from Judaism and the issues that affected the development of the religion. I also discuss how the Roman bureaucracy reacted to Christianity, including which Emperors persecuted Christians, and which did not. The doctrine of Christianity had a huge impact on the Roman Empire. The religion of Christianity spread throughout the Roman…

Predestination The concept of salvation for Augustine was an idea in which human free will had practically no place. He believed that a predestined eventual return to the Lord was a gift that He extends to all since we are compulsive sinners from which we have no control unless He rescues us from it. Here Augustine, again, refers back to the Fall for this concept, believing that because of this, all humans are inherently evil and God alone, by His grace saves from eternal death.…