Orthodox Church Reliance on Church Fathers

Apologists and polemicists for the Orthodox Churches invariably invoke the writings of pastors from the first few centuries to promote their beliefs.

The implied premise of the question is that the standard for judging doctrine is the beliefs of second, third, and subsequent early generations of Christians. It must assume that those who had closest access to the apostles were more spiritual or had more thorough teaching. Nevertheless, that premise is illogical and leads into heresy.

The church was not born with as complete an understanding of doctrine as we can know it today.

Just as the prophets searched and studied diligently — and mostly, futilely — to understand their own prophecies (1 Peter 1:10–12), the apostles had to study and debate to apply what they had learned. 

When Jesus fulfilled the Law and the Prophets, the Jews needed a major improvement to their worldview. God destroyed their nation because their theology remained frozen and they refused to repent. Freezing doctrine at the point defined by the primitive church commits the same sin. 

Study and debate have always focused on the issue of the day. At Pentecost, the prime issue was the Jews’ rejection of their Messiah. As Acts records, the next major issue was acceptance of gentiles into the church (Acts 11) and freedom from the Mosaic Law (Acts 21, Galatians 2). 

Doctrines form an ontology, and the fleshing out of that ontology took centuries. The assignment of superior authority to writings of the primitive church comprises a rejection both of known authority, the scriptures, and of what was discerned, debated, rejected, and built upon by equally holy men in later generations. Forming a standard out of what was written at the beginning of the learning curve can only lead to error. The standard cannot be the changing interpretations of men whose writings we do not trust to be inspired and who had yet to wrestle with many great questions. 

Disagreements abounded among the church fathers. 

Heresies abounded even among the apostles’ contemporaries. Even among the most orthodox of the church fathers, there were major disagreement about vital issues, and where disagreement exists, error exists. 

How do we judge those disagreements without turning to the scriptures? If the scriptures are sufficient for teaching doctrine, how can they fail to be sufficient for determining doctrine? The proper use of early church writings, then, is as commentary, and dated commentary at that.

The inspired writings of the New Testament warn us not to embrace teachings that run contrary to Scripture. Of which church father did the Spirit say, his writings are given by inspiration of God, and are profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works”? None. 

The standard cannot be the changing interpretations of men whose writings we do not trust to be inspired and who had yet to wrestle with many great questions. This is not to say that we cannot consider earlier or later writings, but merely to correctly identify our Standard and warn against overemphasis on other sources.

Third, the reliance on the “church fathers” implies that we should bypass Scripture and instead resort to the early Christians’ writings.

This implies that Scripture is insufficient. It argues from borrowed authority and replaces the Spirit’s illumination with men’s opinions. It also implies an injection of a priesthood between God and believer, a continuation of the Jewish religious hierarchy in Christianized form. That low view of Scripture is heretical because it opens the door to other heresies and inserts a barrier between God and His people. 

The psalmist did not say, How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to the writings of priests who interpret your Word for me. At the cross, God destroyed the veil of partition between the area accessible only to the priest and the court of the ordinary believer. He made of all believers a royal priesthood who all have access to God and His gifts (1 Peter 2:9). Though the heresy may be unintentional, it is what it is. When you devalue the Word, you disrespect the Author of the Word.

Metaphorically, if you want adult-level knowledge, would you read a book written by people who have studied the subject for generations, or by children who have not even finished first grade? The scriptures form the Christian’s objective standard of doctrinal truth, not cherry-picked quotations from members of the primitive church.  

Copyright 2019, Richard Wheeler. Permission granted for personal and non-profit use, but please give credit where credit is due.