Paleo-Orthodoxy

The Regula Fide (Rule of Faith)

The Rule of Faith classically discussed what Christians believed about the person of Christ but this was not seperate from how they practiced worship, sacraments and community in light of these belifs. The combination of historic authoritative beliefs combined with historic significant practice is considered here “Orthopraxy.” I will fill in more of this soon.

I. The Apostolic Tradition

A. Is there one?

1. Paul beleived in the tradition of the faith

a. 1 Cor 15:3-7

2. The apostolic fathers beleived in the Apostolic Tradition

a. Quotes from Clement of Rome:

(1) 1Clem. 7:2 Therefore let us abandon empty and futile thoughts, and let us conform to the glorious and holy rule of our tradition;

(2) 1Clem. 42:1 The Apostles received the Gospel for us from the Lord Jesus Christ; Jesus the Christ was sent forth from God.  2 So then Christ is from God, and the Apostles are from Christ. Both, therefore, came of the will of God in good order.

B. What is included

1. The tradition that there is an apostolic tradition

2. The Creedal statements

a. Biblical creedal formulations which predate the text (earliest)

(1) Mark 8:29

(a) Mark 8:29 “What about you?” he asked them. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.”

(2) 1 Corinthians 12:3

(a) 1Cor. 12:3 I want you to know that no one who is led by God’s Spirit can say “A curse on Jesus!” and no one can confess “Jesus is Lord,” without being guided by the Holy Spirit.

(3) Romans 10:9

(a) Rom. 10:9 If you confess that Jesus is Lord and believe that God raised him from death, you will be saved.

(4) Acts 2:36

(a) Acts 2:36 “All the people of Israel, then, are to know for sure that this Jesus, whom you crucified, is the one that God has made Lord and Messiah!”

(5) Romans 1:3-4

(a) Rom. 1:3 It is about his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ: as to his humanity, he was born a descendant of David;  4 as to his divine holiness, he was shown with great power to be the Son of God by being raised from death.

(6) 1 Timothy 3:16

(a) 1Tim. 3:16 No one can deny how great is the secret of our religion: He appeared in human form, was shown to be right by the Spirit, and was seen by angels. He was preached among the nations, was believed in throughout the world, and was taken up to heaven.

(7) Philippians 2:6-11

(a) Phil. 2:6 He always had the nature of God, but he did not think that by force he should try to remain equal with God.  7 Instead of this, of his own free will he gave up all he had, and took the nature of a servant. He became like a human being and appeared in human likeness.  8 He was humble and walked the path of obedience all the way to death— his death on the cross.  9 For this reason God raised him to the highest place above and gave him the name that is greater than any other name.  10 And so, in honor of the name of Jesus all beings in heaven, on earth, and in the world below will fall on their knees,  11 and all will openly proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

(8) 1 Corinthians 15:3-7

(a) 1Cor. 15:3 I passed on to you what I received, which is of the greatest importance: that Christ died for our sins, as written in the Scriptures;  4 that he was buried and that he was raised to life three days later, as written in the Scriptures;  5 that he appeared to Peter and then to all twelve apostles.  6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred of his followers at once, most of whom are still alive, although some have died.  7 Then he appeared to James, and afterward to all the apostles.

(9) 1 Corinthians 8:6

(a) 1Cor. 8:6 yet there is for us only one God, the Father, who is the Creator of all things and for whom we live; and there is only one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things were created and through whom we live.

(10) Matthew 28:19

(a) Matt. 28:19 Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples: baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,

(11) II Corinthians 13:14

(a) 2Cor. 13:13 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

b. Early Church Fathers Creedal Statements

(1) Quote from Ignatious:

(a) Tral. 9:1 Be deaf, therefore, whenever anyone speaks to you apart from Jesus Christ, who was of the family of David, who was the son of Mary; who really was born, who both ate and drank; who really was persecuted under Pontius Pilate, who really was crucified and died while those in heaven and on earth and under the earth looked on;  2 who, moreover, really was raised from the dead when his Father raised him up, who—his Father, that is—in the same way will likewise also raise us up in Christ Jesus who believe in him, apart from whom we have no true life.

(2) Quote from Irenaeus c.190

(a) Against Heresies 1.10.1. The Church, though dispersed through our the whole world, even to the ends of the earth, has received from the apostles and their disciples this faith: [She believes] in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are in them; 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 in the glory of the Father “to gather all things in one,” and to raise up anew all flesh of the whole human race, in order that to Christ Jesus, our Lord, and God, and Saviour, and King, according to the will of the invisible Father, “every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess” to Him, and that He should execute just judgment towards all; that He may send “spiritual wickednesses,” and the angels who transgressed and became apostates, together with the ungodly, and unrighteous, and wicked, and profane among men, into everlasting fire; but may, in the exercise of His grace, confer immortality on the righteous, and holy, and 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, and may surround them with everlasting glory.

(3) Quote from Tertullian c.200

(a) Against Praxeas 2: In the course of time, then, the Father forsooth was born, and the Father suffered, God Himself, the Lord Almighty, whom in their preaching they declare to be Jesus Christ. We, however, as we indeed always have done and more especially since we have been better instructed by the Paraclete, who leads men indeed into all truth), believe that there is one only God, but under the following dispensation, or oi˙konomi÷a, as it is called, that this one only God has also a Son, His Word, who proceeded from Himself, by whom all things were made, and without whom nothing was made. Him we believe to have been sent by the Father into the Virgin, and to have been born of her-being both Man and God, the Son of Man and the Son of God, and to have been called by the name of Jesus Christ; we believe Him to have suffered, died, and been buried, according to the Scriptures, and, after He had been raised again by the Father and taken back to heaven, to be sitting at the right hand of the Father, and that He will come to judge the quick and the dead; who sent also from heaven from the Father, according to His own promise, the Holy Ghost, the Paraclete, the sanctifier of the faith of those who believe in the Father, and in the Son, and in the Holy Ghost. That this rule of faith has come down to us from the beginning of the gospel, even before any of the older heretics, much more before Praxeas, a pretender of yesterday, will be apparent both from the lateness of date which marks all heresies, and also from the absolutely novel character of our new-fangled Praxeas.

c. 4th Cent Conciliar creeds and definitions

(1) Niceno-Constantoplian Creed 325,381

(a) We believe in one God, the Father,

the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth,

of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,

the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father,

God from God, light from light, true God from true God,

begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father;

through him all things were made.

For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven,

was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became truly human.

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;

he suffered death and was buried.

On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures;

he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,

and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,

who proceeds from the Father,

who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified,

who has spoken through the prophets.

We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.

We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.

We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

(2) Definition of Chalcedeon (451)

(a) Therefore, following the holy fathers, we all with one accord teach men to acknowledge one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, at once complete in Godhead and complete in manhood, truly God and truly man, consisting also of a reasonable soul and body; of one substance with the Father as regards his Godhead, and at the same time of one substance with us as regards his manhood; like us in all respects, apart from sin; as regards his Godhead, begotten of the Father before the ages, but yet as regards his manhood begotten, for us men and for our salvation, of Mary the Virgin, the God-bearer; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, recognized in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation; the distinction of natures being in no way annulled by the union, but rather the characteristics of each nature being preserved and coming together to form one person and subsistence, not as parted or separated into two persons, but one and the same Son and Only-begotten God the Word, Lord Jesus Christ; even as the prophets from earliest times spoke of him, and our Lord Jesus Christ himself taught us, and the creed of the fathers has handed down to us.

3. The practices of the church

a. Word

b. Table

c. Baptism

d. Creed

e. Calendar

C. Why is the included material there? (Value, Priority)

D. Free Church Evangelicalism

1. What praxis are being communicated?

a. What is being done well?

b. Where can we improve in what we are currently doing?

2. What praxis are not being communicated?

a. What should we communicate that is not being communicated?

b. How should we communicate what is currently not?