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Fathers 30-325AD
miscellaneous notes
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On Church History |
Here is what the Early Church Fathers taught before 325AD
- Clement of Rome 30-100AD
- Corinthians 40 - We should still observe the set times.
- Corinthians 44 - Those who succeed the apostles should be appointed with the
consent of the
whole church.
- Ignatius - 30 to 107
-
In many places he taught we must respect and obey the
bishop..
- Trallians 9 - Christians do not observe the Sabbath but the Lord's day and
some people denied that Jesus resurrected.
- Trallians 10
& 11 - Only the unsaved would teach Jesus only seemed to suffer.
- Smyraeans 2 - Unbelievers say Jesus only seemed to
suffer and seemed to resurrect.
- Smyraeans 7 - They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they confess not the Eucharist to
be the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, which suffered for our sins, and which the
Father, of His goodness, raised up again. Those, therefore, who speak against this gift of
God, incur death in the midst of their disputes. But it were better for them to treat it
with respect, that they also might rise again. It is fitting, therefore, that ye should
keep aloof from such persons, and not to speak of them either in private or in public, but
to give heed to the prophets, and above all, to the Gospel, in which the passion
of Christ has been revealed to us, and the resurrection has been fully proved. But avoid all
divisions, as the beginning of evils.
- Smyraeans 8 - Nothing should be done without the consent of the Bishop.
- Polycarp 65-100
- Philippians 4 -
Next, teach your wives to walk in the faith given to them, and in love and purity
tenderly loving their own husbands in all truth, and loving all others equally in all
chastity; and to train up their children in the knowledge and fear of God. Teach the
widows to be discreet as respects the faith of the Lord, praying continually for all,
being far from all slandering, evil-speaking, false-witnessing, love of money, and every
kind of evil;
- Philippians 7 -
"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. Wherefore,
forsaking the vanity of many, and their false doctrines, let us return to the word which
has been handed down to us from the beginning; "watching unto prayer," and
persevering in fasting;
- Justin Martyr 110-165
- First Apology 63 - Jesus, appeared in the burning bush to
Moses.
- Second Apology 5 - Some angels were appointed to take care of Man but
transgresses and married women and had children, who became demons, these
were called Gods by the Greeks two of whom are Neptune and Pluto. (Genesis
6)
- Dialogue 15 - True fasting is giving your food to the hungry.
- Dialogue 40 - "The mystery, then, of the lamb which God enjoined to be sacrificed
as the Passover, was a type of Christ; with whose blood, in proportion to
their faith in Him, they anoint their houses, i.e., themselves, who believe
on Him. God does not permit the lamb of the Passover to be sacrificed in any other place than
Jerusalem; knowing after the suffering of Christ, Jerusalem shall be given over to your enemies, and all the
offerings, in short, shall cease; and that lamb which was commanded to be
wholly roasted was a symbol of the suffering of the cross which Christ would
undergo. For the lamb,
which is roasted, is roasted and dressed up in the form of the cross. For
one spit is transfixed right through from the lower parts up to the head,
and one across the back, to which are attached the legs of the lamb.
- Dialogue 59 - Jesus appeared in the burning bush to Moses.
- Dialogue 72,73 - The Jews removed passages from Jeremiah11:19, Isaiah,
Psalm 96 and Esras which point to Christ.
- Dialogue 102 - He created both angels and men free to do that which is
righteous, and He appointed periods of time during which He knew it would be
good for them to have the exercise of free-will; and because He likewise
knew it would be good, He made general and particular judgments; each one's
freedom of will, however, being guarded.
- Dialogue 105 - For He exhorted His disciples to surpass the pharisaic way
of living, with the warning, that if they did not, they might be sure they
could not be saved; and these words are recorded in the memoirs: `Unless
your righteousness exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall not
enter into the kingdom of heaven.
- Irenaeus 178
-
Against Heresies 1.10 - What the church believes: One God, the
Father Almighty, Maker of all things; and in one Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who became
incarnate for our salvation; and in the Holy Spirit, who proclaimed through
the prophets the dispensations
of God, and the advents, and the birth from a virgin, and the passion, and
the resurrection from the dead, and the ascension into heaven in the flesh
of the beloved Christ Jesus, our Lord, and His future manifestation from
heaven. The raising up anew all flesh of the whole human race. The angels
who
transgressed and became apostates, together with the ungodly, and
unrighteous, and wicked, and profane among men, will be cast into everlasting fire. Those
who have kept His commandments, and have persevered in His love, some from
the beginning of their Christian course, and others from the date of
their repentance, with everlasting glory.
-
Against Heresies 2.2 - God created all things by himself through his
Word.
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Against Heresies 2.22 - Irenaeus thinks Jesus was 50 before he died.
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Against Heresies 3.9 - Christ and Jesus are one and the same. The Christ
did not descend on Jesus at his baptism. Jesus is God.
-
Against Heresies 3.21 - Isaiah 7:14 has to be translated virgin.
-
Against Heresies 4.9 - In 1 Corinthians 13, "that which is perfect"
and "face to face" refer to the second coming.
-
Against Heresies 4.10 - Jesus fulfilled the Passover.
It was God's plan to stop the animal sacrifices after the destruction of the
temple. That is why He commanded the Passover
lamb not to be sacrificed anywhere except Jerusalem.
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Against Heresies 4.26 - Christ is the treasure which was hid in the field.
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Against Heresies 4.27 - We should not be puffed up, nor be severe upon those of old time,
but ought ourselves to fear, lest perchance, after we have come to the
knowledge of Christ, if we do things displeasing to God, we obtain no
further forgiveness of sins, but be shut out from His kingdom. The
apostle says, "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the
kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor
adulterers, not effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor
thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall
inherit the kingdom of God." And as it was not to those who are
without that he said these things, but to us lest we should be cast forth
from the kingdom of God. And we have the precept:
"If any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or
an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, with such an one
no not to eat."
-
Against Heresies 4.36 - The flood was to put a check on the types of
sins man was doing because of the angels (See Genesis 6).
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Against Heresies 5.9 - We walked in former times in the oldness of
the flesh, not obeying God; so now let us, receiving the Spirit, walk in
newness of life, obeying God. Inasmuch, therefore, as without the Spirit of
God we cannot be saved, the apostle exhorts us through faith and chaste
conversation to preserve the Spirit of God, lest, having become
non-participators of the Divine Spirit, we lose the kingdom of heaven (wild
olive tree)
-
Against Heresies 5.11 - In Galatians 5, not "inheriting the
kingdom of God" means he did not receive the Spirit of God, shall not
have power to inherit the kingdom of heaven.
-
Against Heresies 5.19 - The Virgin Mary is the patroness of Eve.
Patroness (advocata) probably refers to some one in a similar situation who
is an example you follow.
-
Against Heresies 5.22 - When Satan tempted Jesus with all the
things he would give him, they were not his to give.
-
Against Heresies 5.24 - Governments are appointed by God not the devil.
We are to pay them taxes.
- Fragments of Irenaeus
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7 - Christians still observe the seven festivals.
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3 - John and Polycarp observed the fast of Yom Kippur.
Most Christians observe the festival but not the fast. Some fast one day, others two days, and some try for 40. Some stand for prayer others
kneel for the prayer of Yom Kippur.
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55 - The faithful are imperfect but God overlooks that. True
faith produces virtue.
- Clement of Alexandria 192-202 (took the school
from Pantaenus)
- He begins to allegorize and in many places seems legalistic, but in many
places he teaches that Jesus is God.
- Instructor 2.5 - People who by their actions or speech seem to be senseless
should be removed from the congregation.
- Stromata 1.21 - Moses lead the exodus from Amosis king of Egypt in the 42
year of the Assyrian empire.
- Stromata 2.12 - Repentance is torturing yourself for your
sins.
- Stromata 2.13 - If you sin again after the second repentance it proves
you are not truly repentant. he quotes Hebrews 10, sin willfully (if taken
too far it contradicts Romans 7) he is probably thinking of a hypocrite or
someone apostatizing and coming back to the church several times.
- Stromata 2.17 - To be true a thing must be proven scientifically, by
comparison and testing.
- Stromata 2.20 - Christians teach salvation is from a change
due to obedience not from nature. Demon's tempt us but can't force us to
sin. They are not the root cause of sin. We sin because of our sin nature.
We need to exercise self restraint when is comes to sin, but remember he
will never leave or forsake us.
- Stromata 2.23 - Not everyone should marry. One should only marry
if they are in love not out of compulsion. Marriage is for having children and to have someone to
take are of you when you are old. You can only divorce because of fornication.
You can't remarry if your fist spouse is still alive. She who
has committed fornication liveth in sin, and is dead to the commandments;
but she who has repented, being as it were born again by the change in her
life, has a regeneration of life; the old harlot being dead, and she who has
been regenerated by repentance having come back again to life.
- Stromata 3.8 - Sexual desire can be eradicated.
- Stromata 4.18 - Some Gnostics taught that when Jesus said
"to look to lust is committing adultery" he meant the mere thought
is sin, but Christians teach "look to lust " means looking for a
way to commit adultery whether or not you succeed.
- Stromata 5.4 - In 1 Corinthians 3 the wood, hay, and stubble
refer to heresies.
- Stromata 5.13 - We are not born with a peace of god in us (an emanation).
- Stromata 5.14 - All mater was created. God the father does not have a physical body.
- Stromata 6.6 - The gospel was preached to the Jews and Gentiles
in Hades.
- Stromata 6.9 - Analyzing everything in a scientific way and controlling
your emotions it the path to perfection.
- Stromata 7.8 - Mature Christians are so addicted to truth that
oaths are not necessary.
- Stromata 7.10 -He starts getting legalistic in describing the Christian
life.
- Stromata 7.15 - There are sects inside of Christianity in his
day, but they do not divide the body of Christ. Heretics do divide the
body of Christ.
- Stromata ?:? the epiphany (jan 6th) was started by Basilades, he said the
baptism of Jesus was on the day that Osiris resurrected from the Nile, (the
festival of Kore) feb 2 (candlemas) was a Roman festival of the light bringer.
- Commodianus:
- 4 - Saturn was a man that began to think he was a god.
- 5 - Jupiter was born to Saturn in the island of Breta and took his fathers kingdom.
- 6 - Jupiter reigned in Crete, and there died.
- Lactantius
- Divine Institutes 2.13 - The Egyptians count months as years, old kings
living 2000 months/years.
- Divine Institutes 2.14 - When Noah cursed ham it was a foreknowing that
ham’s willful rejection of the knowledge of God would lead to Idolatry.
- Divine Institutes 4.5 - Time line info – judges were 170 yrs, then 450 yrs to Zediciah, Moses
was about 700 yrs before the Trojan war.
- Divine Institutes 4.10 - The golden calf was called Apis by the Hebrews that created it. In
the reign of Tiberius Caesar; in whose fifteenth year, in the consulship of
the two Gemini, on the 23d of March,79 the Jews crucified Christ.
- Divine Institutes 4.19 - Amos (8:9-10) prophecies of the darkness at Christ death.
- Epitome of divine institutes
13 - Jupiter dying in create.
- Cyprian 250 AD
- Quotes "father, son, and holy spirit, and these three are one" of 1 John
5:7
Tertullian was a great writer from about 190 to 200 after 200 AD he joined
the Montanists heresy. He made popular the Idea of three strikes and you are out theology. Although
this is probably based on the fact that during the persecutions many went back
to paganism. Later this would be interpreted that committing any kind of sin
three times and you loose your salvation.
Note: if the fathers believed in eternal security why did they just attach
his three times idea instead of stating it is impossible anyway. The teachings of Tertullian are as follows:
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Apology 5 - The Roman Senate rejected the petition to make Jesus
officially recognized as a God.
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Apology 7 - We are accused of observing a holy rite in which we
kill a little child and then eat it; in which, after the feast, we practice
incest.
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Apology 9 - In Gaul children were sacrificed to Saturn and
the old sacrificed to Mercury in the time of Tiberius. And the Romans
crucified all the priests. Christians do not sacrifice young, old, or even
destroy the fetus in the womb. Other pagan rites that Christians would never
do are: cannibalism, blood letting to make a pact, eating raw flesh, blood
sausage, human blood, incest, and adultery. The god Saturn was once a man,
says historians.
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Apology 45 - Which is more perfect, to forbid adultery, or to
restrain from even a single lustful look?
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Apology 46 - A Christian has grace-healed eyes and is mentally
blind against the assaults of Adultery.
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Marcion 1.1 - "the fraud of a person who was then a brother, but
became afterwards an apostate."
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Marcion 1.26 - God dislikes evil but will not punish it.
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Marcion 1.29 - Marcion forbids marriage and says it is evil.
Married people can't be baptized unless they get a divorce. This is the
opposite of the Nicolaitans. Christians do not prescribe celibacy as the rule,
but only recommend it. Meats and drinks are not on this account to be
condemned, because, when served up with too exquisite a daintiness, they
conduce to gluttony; nor is raiment to be blamed, because, when too costly
adorned, it becomes inflated with vanity and pride. There is a great
difference between a cause and a fault, between a state and its excess.
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Marcion 2.1 - It is incorrect logic to try to prove something by
tarring something else down.
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Marcion 2.23 - It is not the mark of a good God to condemn
beforehand persons who have not yet deserved condemnation. Who is so faultless
among men, that God could always have him in His choice, and never be able to
reject him? Or who, on the other hand, is so void of any good work, that God
could reject him for ever, and never be able to choose him?
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Marcion 3.25 - In the resurrection we shall then be changed in a
moment into the substance of angels
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Marcion 4.29 - Marcionites must be celibate.
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Marcion 4.35 - "the kingdom of God is within you." means "in your
hand, or within your power", if you hear, and do the commandment of God.
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Marcion 4.37 - Christ saves both body and soul. heretics say the
body is not saved (resurrected).
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Valentinians 1.32 - After death the Valintinians go to the pleroma
and are purged of their animal nature. After the purging (purgatory)
they will marry the angels, even though they have no physical bodies or animal
nature.
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Praxeas 1.1 - The Praxean heresy is that Jesus is the Father
incarnate. After the Bishop of Rome had acknowledged the prophetic gifts of
Montanus, Prisca, and Maximilla. Praxeas taught his heresy in conjunction with
Montanus ideas. This lead to the bishop of Rome recanting Montanus and praxean
ideas. (Tertullian was a Montanist at this time.)
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Praxeas 1.2 - Lateness of date marks all
heresies.
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Idolatry 1.16 - Ceremonies or Holidays for man made events not
directly connected with an Idol are OK.
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Nations 1.12 - The Cross is not an Idol.
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Nations 1.16 - Christians do not commit incest.
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Prescription against heretics 1.22 Peter was is called "the rock
on which the church should be built," who also obtained "the keys of the
kingdom of heaven," with the power of "loosing and binding in heaven and on
earth.
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Shows - Christians should not go to plays if they contain
murder, idolatry, adultery ect.
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Treatise of the Soul 1.9 - A sister that has ecstatic visions in
his church (talks to angels and the Lord) says souls or ghosts that have
appeared to her have complete human form "soft and transparent and of an
ethereal color".
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Treatise of the Soul 1.34 - Simon used the money he offered to buy
the Holy Spirit with, to buy Helen.
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Treatise of the Soul 1.41 - Man's soul is depraved by original
sin. Just as no soul is without sin, so neither is any soul without seeds of
good.
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Treatise of the Soul 1.45 - Thus in the very beginning sleep was
inaugurated by ecstasy: "And God sent an ecstasy upon Adam, and he slept."
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Apparel of Women 1.2 - Jewelry invented by those angels who fell.
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Apparel of Women 2.5 - Makeup is unlawful
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Apparel of Women 2.6 - Dying the hair is disgraceful
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Apparel of women 2.7 - God bids you to be veiled so you don't have
to fix up your hair.
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Apparel of Women 2.8 - Men too should not dye hair and worry about
appearance.
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Apparel of Women 2.11 - Christian women should dress simpler than
gentile women to show modesty and holiness.
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On the Veiling of Virgins 1 - The vicar of the lord is the holy
spirit.
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On the Veiling of Virgins 8 - To his day Corinthians still veil
their virgins. (for safety)
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On the Veiling of Virgins 9 - It is not permitted to a woman to
speak in the church;(34) but neither (is it permitted her) to teach, nor to
baptize, nor to offer, nor to claim to herself a lot in any manly function,
not to say (in any) sacerdotal office.
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On Repentance 2 - Repentance is a divine thing, originated by
god.
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On Repentance 5 - Sin Never to Be Returned to After Repentance
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On Repentance 6 - Baptism Not to Be Presumptuously Received, It
Requires Preceding Repentance, Manifested by Amendment of Life. (sprinkled)
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On Repentance 7-12 - Some one may repent once or twice but not a
third time.
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On Prayer to his wife 1.2 - Marriage is lawful but not polygamy.
Notes on the teachings of the third century father Hippolytus. he was the disciple
of Irenaeus.
The Abbe Cruice mentions the following works as of authority among the
Gnostic Naasseni, and from whence they derived their system: The Gospel of Perfection,
Gospel of Eve, The Questions of Mary, Concerning the Offspring of Mary, The
Gospel of Philip, The Gospel according to (1) Thomas, (2) the Egyptians.
- The Refutation of all Heresies 1.22 The Celts esteem Pythagoras and Zamolxis,
his disciple, as prophets and seers, on account of their foretelling to them
certain (events), from calculations and numbers by the Pythagorean art; on the
methods of which very art also we shall not keep silence, since also from these
some have presumed to introduce heresies; but the Druids resort to magical rites
likewise.
- The Refutation of all Heresies 4.32-41 he explained how con artists fake
illusions.
- The Refutation of all Heresies 5.3 The Phrygians and the Naasseni teach
salvation is completed when you become perfect. the perfect man is called
"papa." the holy spirit, PAPA, or Corybas, comes down in an unknown
form. you become perfect by entering "the gate." if one is perfect the
communion cup, also called Anacreon's cup, actually speaks in a mute language.
the Phrygians like the Gnostics teach they will be perfected in the Pleroma.
- The Refutation of all Heresies 5.4 some times the naas (serpent or God) is
referred to as in the horn of the one-horned bull.
- The Refutation of all Heresies 6.15 Peter and Simon meet in Rome. Simon burned
but did not rise again on the third day.
- The Refutation of all Heresies 6.17 Solon related to Plato about the destruction
of the world, reading from the republic.
- The Refutation of all Heresies 7.22 Ebionaeans: if even any other had fulfilled
the commandments (contained) in the law, he would have been that Christ. And the
(Ebionaeans allege) that they themselves also, when in like manner they fulfill
(the law), are able to become Christs; for they assert that our Lord Himself was
a man in a like sense with all (the rest of the human family).
- The Refutation of all Heresies 7.23 Theodotus taught Jesus powers came from the
descant of the holy spirit and not from within himself contrary to Christian
doctrine.
- The Refutation of all Heresies 7.24 Melchisedec is greater than Jesus (a man
that the Christ descended on). Nicolaitans - fornicators and eaters of things
offered unto idols.
- The Refutation of all Heresies 8.3 supreme god is a fiery deity.
- The Refutation of all Heresies 8.11 Quartodecimans are very quarrelsome on
keeping Passover on the 14th. (legalistic) the 14 was so the time would be uncertain
but fall on the exact day Jesus dies. now we keep the week day (to differentiate
between us and the Jews)
- The Refutation of all Heresies 9.10 after studying his book then by baptism let
him be purified and cleansed,
- The Refutation of all Heresies 9.11 his baptism only works when timed with the
conjunction of certain stars,
- The Refutation of all Heresies 9.18 he swears to impart to no one a knowledge of
the doctrines in a different manner from that in which he has received them
himself.
- The Refutation of all Heresies 9.23 Pharisees maintain that some actions depend upon ourselves, whereas
others upon fate, resurrection of flesh, and that soul is immortal, and that
there will be a judgment and conflagration, and that the righteous will be
imperishable, but that the wicked will endure everlasting punishment in unquenchable
fire.
- The Refutation of all Heresies 9.24 Sadduscees - abolishing fate, and they
acknowledge that God does nothing that is wicked, nor exercises providence over
(earthly concerns); but they contend that the choice between good and evil lies
within the power of men. deny that there is a resurrection not only of flesh,
but also they suppose that the soul does not continue after death. man and
animals pass into non-existence.
- The Refutation of all Heresies 9.25 Jews in general believe all things in the
creation are endued with sensation, and that there is nothing inanimate. all
parties alike expect Messiah.