The Deposit of the Faith (Part 7) (The History of Christianity #42)

Our Scripture verse today is Matthew 16:18 which reads: "And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

Our quote today is from J.C. Ryle. He said: "The one true Church is composed of all believers in the Lord Jesus.  It is made up of all God’s elect – of all converted men and women – of all true Christians.  In whomever we can discern the election of God the Father, the sprinkling of the blood of God the Son, the sanctifying work of God the Spirit, in that person we see a member of Christ’s true church."

Today, we are looking at "The Deposit of the Faith" (Part 7) from Dr. Justo L. Gonzalez's fine book, The Story of Christianity (Volume 1).

The Response: Apostolic Succession
Although the canon of the New Testament and the various creeds were valuable instruments in the struggle against heresy, the debate finally came to the issue of the authority of the church. This was important, not simply because someone had to decide who was right and who was wrong, but because of the very nature of the issues at stake. All agreed that the true message was the one taught by Jesus. The Gnostics (nos-tiks) claimed that they had some secret access to that original message, through a succession of secret teachers. Marcion claimed that he had access to that message through the writings of Paul and Luke - which, however, had to be purged of what did not agree with Marcion's views regarding the Old Testament. Over against Marcion and the Gnostics (nos-tiks) , the church at large claimed to be in possession of the original gospel and the true teachings of Jesus. Thus, what was debated was in a way the authority of the church against the claims of the heretics.

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