3. Jesus died for our sins on a cross.
Polycarp, Ante-Nicene Fathers: Volume I, Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians, Ch. 1
"Jesus Christ, who for our sins suffered even unto death, [but] "whom God raised froth the dead, having loosed the bands of the
grave." "In whom, though now ye see Him not, ye believe, and believing, rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory; " into
which joy many desire to enter, knowing that "by grace ye are saved, not of works," but by the will of God through Jesus Christ."
In this same section in Chapter VII Polycarp mentions the cross.
"For whosoever does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, is antichrist; " and whosoever does not confess the
testimony of the cross, is of the devil; and whosoever perverts the oracles of the Lord to his own lusts, and says that there is
neither a resurrection nor a judgment, he is the first-born of Satan"
(To understand what is meant by "Christ has come in the flesh read 1 Jn. 4:2 & Jn.1:1 &14)
Ignatius, Ante-Nicene Fathers: Volume I, Epistle of Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans, Ch.V1
Let no man deceive himself. Unless he believes that Christ Jesus has lived in the flesh, and shall confess His cross and
passion, and the blood which He shed for the salvation of the world, he shall not obtain eternal life, whether he be a king, or a
priest, or a ruler, or a private person, a master or a servant, a man or a woman."
This salvation is through Christ alone.
Hermas, Ante-Nicene Fathers: Volume II, Similitude Ninth, Chapter XII
"A man cannot otherwise enter into the kingdom of God than by the name of His beloved Son. "
4. Jesus was bodily raised from the dead and he will return.
Clement of Rome, Ante-Nicene Fathers: Volume I, The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians, Chapter XXIV
"Let us consider, beloved, how the Lord continually proves to us that there shall be a future resurrection, of which He has
rendered the Lord Jesus Christ the first-fruits by raising Him from the dead."
Tertullian, Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, On the Resurrection of the Flesh,
Ch. XLVIII
"He "died according to the Scriptures," and "that He was buried according to the Scriptures," no otherwise than in the flesh,
you will also allow that it was in the flesh that He was raised from the dead. For the very same body which fell in death, and
which lay in the sepulchre, did also rise again;"
Justin Martyr, Ante-Nicene Fathers: Volume I, Fragments of the Lost Work of Justin on the Resurrection, Chapter IX
"Why did He rise in the flesh in which He suffered, unless to show the resurrection of the flesh? And wishing to confirm this,
when His disciples did not know whether to believe He had truly risen in the body, and were looking upon Him and doubting, He
said to them, "Ye have not yet faith, see that it is I; " and He let them handle Him, and showed them the prints of the nails in His
hands. And when they were by every kind of proof persuaded that it was Himself, and in the body, they asked Him to eat with
them, that they might thus still more accurately ascertain that He had in verity risen bodily; and He did eat honey-comb and fish.
And when He had thus shown them that there is truly a resurrection of the flesh, wishing to show them this also, that it is not
impossible for flesh to ascend into heaven (as He had said that our dwelling-place is in heaven), "He was taken up into heaven
while they beheld," as He was in the flesh.
Justin Martyr, Ante-Nicene Fathers: Volume I, Dialogue of Justin, Chapter CX
"O unreasoning men! understanding not what has been proved by all these passages, that two advents of Christ have been
announced: the one, in which He is set forth as suffering, inglorious, dishonoured, and crucified; but the other, in which He shall
come from heaven with glory,
Irenaeus, Ante-Nicene Fathers: Volume I, Irenaeus Against Heresies, Book 4, Ch. XXXIII
"All the prophets announced His two advents: the one, indeed, in which He became a man subject to stripes, and knowing what
it is to bear infirmity, and sat upon the foal of an ass, and was a stone rejected by the builders, and was led as a sheep to the
slaughter, and by the stretching forth of His hands destroyed Amalek; while He gathered from the ends of the earth into His
Father's fold the children who were scattered abroad, and remembered His own dead ones who had formerly fallen asleep,
and came down to them that He might deliver them: but the second in which He will come on the clouds, bringing on the day
which burns as a furnace? and smiting the earth with the word of His mouth? and slaying the impious with the breath of His lips,
and having a fan in His hands, and cleansing His floor, and gathering the wheat indeed into His barn, but burning the chaff with
unquenchable fire."
(Christ is coming on clouds Mt.24:30, Acts 1:9-11, Rev.1:7)
5. Salvation is a free gift that cannot be earned.
Ignatius, Ante-Nicene Fathers: Volume I, Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians, Ch.X
"Let us not, therefore, be insensible to His kindness. For were He to reward us according to our works, we should cease to be.
For "if Thou, Lord, shalt mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? " Let us therefore prove ourselves worthy of that name which
we have received." (Ps. 130:3)
Irenaeus, Ante-Nicene Fathers: Volume I, Irenaeus Against Heresies, Book I, Chapter 2
"As far as concerned the apostasy, indeed, He redeems us righteously from it by His own blood; but as regards us who have
been redeemed, [He does this] graciously. For we have given nothing to Him previously, nor does He desire anything from us,
as if He stood in need of it;"
Clement of Alexandria, Ante-Nicene Fathers: Volume II, The Stromata, or Miscellanies
Book I, Chapter VII
"But Abraham was not justified by works, but by faith." It is therefore of no advantage to them after the end of life, even if they do
good works now, if they have not faith."
Polycarp, Ante-Nicene Fathers: Volume I, Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians, Ch.1
Our Lord Jesus Christ, who for our sins suffered even unto death, [but] "whom God raised froth the dead, having loosed the
bands of the grave." "In whom, though now ye see Him not, ye believe, and believing, rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of
glory; " into which joy many desire to enter, knowing that "by grace ye are saved, not of works," but by the will of God through
Jesus Christ. (Eph.2:8-9)
6. Satan and Hell are not a myth, but a reality.
Hermas, Ante-Nicene Fathers: Volume II, Book Second-Commandments, Commandment Twelth, Chapter V "The devil is
hard, and holds sway over them." "He cannot," says he, "hold sway over the servants of God, who with all their heart place their
hopes in Him. The devil can wrestle against these, overthrow them he cannot. If, then, ye resist him, he will be conquered, and
flee in disgrace from you. As many, therefore," says he, "as are empty, fear the devil, as possessing power. " (James 4:7)
Irenaeus, Ante-Nicene Fathers: Volume I, Irenaeus Against Heresies, Book 3, Ch.XXIII
"And this same thing does the Lord also say in the Gospel, to those who are found upon the left hand: "Depart from me, ye
cursed, into ever: lasting fire, which my Father hath prepared for the devil and his angels; " indicating that eternal fire was not
originally prepared for man, but for him who beguiled man, and caused him to offend." (Mt.25:41)
The church does indeed teach the same foundational doctrines as the early church. The next key factor is do we really believe
it? Lots of people may believe these truths intellectually, but is it really in our hearts? Men of strong faith such as the original
disciples and others after them were willing to die martyrs for their faith. They believed these truths to be more than a doctrine,
but rather these truths were an absolute reality.
The Golden Treasury of Puritan Quotations
Evaluating our faith: How shall I depend on Him for raising my body from the dust; and saving my soul at last; if I distrust Him for
a crust of bread, towards my preservation.
JOSEPH HALL
Famous Quotes
There are many great truths which we do not deny, and which nevertheless we do not fully believe.
J. W. Alexander
Belief is a wise wager. Granted that faith cannot be proved, what harm will come to you if you gamble on its truth and it proves
false?….If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation, that He exists.
Blaise Pascal
All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Feed your faith and your doubts will starve to death.
Author Unknown
I believe in Christ as I believe in the rising sun--not that I can see it, but that by it I can see everything. Author Unknown
He that will believe only what he can fully comprehend, must have a very long head or a very short creed.
Colton
I am not afraid of those tender and scrupulous consciences who are ever cautious of professing and believing too much; if they
are sincerely wrong, I forgive their errors and respect their integrity.--The men I am afraid of are those who believe everything,
subscribe to everything, and vote for everything.
Shipley
Some believe all that parents, tutors, and kindred believe.--They take their principles by inheritance, and defend them as they
would their estates, because they are born heirs to them.
Watts
Polycarp, Ante-Nicene Fathers: Volume I, Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians, Ch. 1
"Jesus Christ, who for our sins suffered even unto death, [but] "whom God raised froth the dead, having loosed the bands of the
grave." "In whom, though now ye see Him not, ye believe, and believing, rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory; " into
which joy many desire to enter, knowing that "by grace ye are saved, not of works," but by the will of God through Jesus Christ."
In this same section in Chapter VII Polycarp mentions the cross.
"For whosoever does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, is antichrist; " and whosoever does not confess the
testimony of the cross, is of the devil; and whosoever perverts the oracles of the Lord to his own lusts, and says that there is
neither a resurrection nor a judgment, he is the first-born of Satan"
(To understand what is meant by "Christ has come in the flesh read 1 Jn. 4:2 & Jn.1:1 &14)
Ignatius, Ante-Nicene Fathers: Volume I, Epistle of Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans, Ch.V1
Let no man deceive himself. Unless he believes that Christ Jesus has lived in the flesh, and shall confess His cross and
passion, and the blood which He shed for the salvation of the world, he shall not obtain eternal life, whether he be a king, or a
priest, or a ruler, or a private person, a master or a servant, a man or a woman."
This salvation is through Christ alone.
Hermas, Ante-Nicene Fathers: Volume II, Similitude Ninth, Chapter XII
"A man cannot otherwise enter into the kingdom of God than by the name of His beloved Son. "
4. Jesus was bodily raised from the dead and he will return.
Clement of Rome, Ante-Nicene Fathers: Volume I, The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians, Chapter XXIV
"Let us consider, beloved, how the Lord continually proves to us that there shall be a future resurrection, of which He has
rendered the Lord Jesus Christ the first-fruits by raising Him from the dead."
Tertullian, Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, On the Resurrection of the Flesh,
Ch. XLVIII
"He "died according to the Scriptures," and "that He was buried according to the Scriptures," no otherwise than in the flesh,
you will also allow that it was in the flesh that He was raised from the dead. For the very same body which fell in death, and
which lay in the sepulchre, did also rise again;"
Justin Martyr, Ante-Nicene Fathers: Volume I, Fragments of the Lost Work of Justin on the Resurrection, Chapter IX
"Why did He rise in the flesh in which He suffered, unless to show the resurrection of the flesh? And wishing to confirm this,
when His disciples did not know whether to believe He had truly risen in the body, and were looking upon Him and doubting, He
said to them, "Ye have not yet faith, see that it is I; " and He let them handle Him, and showed them the prints of the nails in His
hands. And when they were by every kind of proof persuaded that it was Himself, and in the body, they asked Him to eat with
them, that they might thus still more accurately ascertain that He had in verity risen bodily; and He did eat honey-comb and fish.
And when He had thus shown them that there is truly a resurrection of the flesh, wishing to show them this also, that it is not
impossible for flesh to ascend into heaven (as He had said that our dwelling-place is in heaven), "He was taken up into heaven
while they beheld," as He was in the flesh.
Justin Martyr, Ante-Nicene Fathers: Volume I, Dialogue of Justin, Chapter CX
"O unreasoning men! understanding not what has been proved by all these passages, that two advents of Christ have been
announced: the one, in which He is set forth as suffering, inglorious, dishonoured, and crucified; but the other, in which He shall
come from heaven with glory,
Irenaeus, Ante-Nicene Fathers: Volume I, Irenaeus Against Heresies, Book 4, Ch. XXXIII
"All the prophets announced His two advents: the one, indeed, in which He became a man subject to stripes, and knowing what
it is to bear infirmity, and sat upon the foal of an ass, and was a stone rejected by the builders, and was led as a sheep to the
slaughter, and by the stretching forth of His hands destroyed Amalek; while He gathered from the ends of the earth into His
Father's fold the children who were scattered abroad, and remembered His own dead ones who had formerly fallen asleep,
and came down to them that He might deliver them: but the second in which He will come on the clouds, bringing on the day
which burns as a furnace? and smiting the earth with the word of His mouth? and slaying the impious with the breath of His lips,
and having a fan in His hands, and cleansing His floor, and gathering the wheat indeed into His barn, but burning the chaff with
unquenchable fire."
(Christ is coming on clouds Mt.24:30, Acts 1:9-11, Rev.1:7)
5. Salvation is a free gift that cannot be earned.
Ignatius, Ante-Nicene Fathers: Volume I, Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians, Ch.X
"Let us not, therefore, be insensible to His kindness. For were He to reward us according to our works, we should cease to be.
For "if Thou, Lord, shalt mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? " Let us therefore prove ourselves worthy of that name which
we have received." (Ps. 130:3)
Irenaeus, Ante-Nicene Fathers: Volume I, Irenaeus Against Heresies, Book I, Chapter 2
"As far as concerned the apostasy, indeed, He redeems us righteously from it by His own blood; but as regards us who have
been redeemed, [He does this] graciously. For we have given nothing to Him previously, nor does He desire anything from us,
as if He stood in need of it;"
Clement of Alexandria, Ante-Nicene Fathers: Volume II, The Stromata, or Miscellanies
Book I, Chapter VII
"But Abraham was not justified by works, but by faith." It is therefore of no advantage to them after the end of life, even if they do
good works now, if they have not faith."
Polycarp, Ante-Nicene Fathers: Volume I, Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians, Ch.1
Our Lord Jesus Christ, who for our sins suffered even unto death, [but] "whom God raised froth the dead, having loosed the
bands of the grave." "In whom, though now ye see Him not, ye believe, and believing, rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of
glory; " into which joy many desire to enter, knowing that "by grace ye are saved, not of works," but by the will of God through
Jesus Christ. (Eph.2:8-9)
6. Satan and Hell are not a myth, but a reality.
Hermas, Ante-Nicene Fathers: Volume II, Book Second-Commandments, Commandment Twelth, Chapter V "The devil is
hard, and holds sway over them." "He cannot," says he, "hold sway over the servants of God, who with all their heart place their
hopes in Him. The devil can wrestle against these, overthrow them he cannot. If, then, ye resist him, he will be conquered, and
flee in disgrace from you. As many, therefore," says he, "as are empty, fear the devil, as possessing power. " (James 4:7)
Irenaeus, Ante-Nicene Fathers: Volume I, Irenaeus Against Heresies, Book 3, Ch.XXIII
"And this same thing does the Lord also say in the Gospel, to those who are found upon the left hand: "Depart from me, ye
cursed, into ever: lasting fire, which my Father hath prepared for the devil and his angels; " indicating that eternal fire was not
originally prepared for man, but for him who beguiled man, and caused him to offend." (Mt.25:41)
The church does indeed teach the same foundational doctrines as the early church. The next key factor is do we really believe
it? Lots of people may believe these truths intellectually, but is it really in our hearts? Men of strong faith such as the original
disciples and others after them were willing to die martyrs for their faith. They believed these truths to be more than a doctrine,
but rather these truths were an absolute reality.
The Golden Treasury of Puritan Quotations
Evaluating our faith: How shall I depend on Him for raising my body from the dust; and saving my soul at last; if I distrust Him for
a crust of bread, towards my preservation.
JOSEPH HALL
Famous Quotes
There are many great truths which we do not deny, and which nevertheless we do not fully believe.
J. W. Alexander
Belief is a wise wager. Granted that faith cannot be proved, what harm will come to you if you gamble on its truth and it proves
false?….If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation, that He exists.
Blaise Pascal
All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Feed your faith and your doubts will starve to death.
Author Unknown
I believe in Christ as I believe in the rising sun--not that I can see it, but that by it I can see everything. Author Unknown
He that will believe only what he can fully comprehend, must have a very long head or a very short creed.
Colton
I am not afraid of those tender and scrupulous consciences who are ever cautious of professing and believing too much; if they
are sincerely wrong, I forgive their errors and respect their integrity.--The men I am afraid of are those who believe everything,
subscribe to everything, and vote for everything.
Shipley
Some believe all that parents, tutors, and kindred believe.--They take their principles by inheritance, and defend them as they
would their estates, because they are born heirs to them.
Watts
Major Christian Doctrines
Explained & Defended
Explained & Defended
Click on any Link below
Or use the arrows to turn the page.
Or use the arrows to turn the page.
HOME
Have you got into
your reading lately?
your reading lately?
THE WAYS OF THE LORD
I asked God for strength, that I might achieve....
I was made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey.
I asked for help that I might do greater things...
I as given infirmity, that I might do better things.
I asked for riches, that I might be happy...
I was given poverty, that I might be wise.
I asked for all things , that I might enjoy life...
I was given life, that I might enjoy all things.
I got nothing that I asked for...
but everything I had hoped from.
Despite myself, my prayers were answered.
I am, among all men most richly blessed.
Author unknown
I asked God for strength, that I might achieve....
I was made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey.
I asked for help that I might do greater things...
I as given infirmity, that I might do better things.
I asked for riches, that I might be happy...
I was given poverty, that I might be wise.
I asked for all things , that I might enjoy life...
I was given life, that I might enjoy all things.
I got nothing that I asked for...
but everything I had hoped from.
Despite myself, my prayers were answered.
I am, among all men most richly blessed.
Author unknown
| Beliefs of the 1st Century Church This is page 2 of 2 on this subject. Click here to go to the 1st page. |
