The Church
False teaching and splits from the Church, and how the early writers answered them.
Each row is one claim. Each name is a writer, placed at the date of the passage. Select a name to read what they said.
3 of the 5 writers here teach: “Flee heresy and strange doctrine.” They answer a rival view: “Heretics and schismatics have a true baptism of their own.”
teaches it partly rejects it later writer, summary only
Flee heresy and strange doctrine3 teach
Heretics and schismatics have a true baptism of their own1 reject
So if someone comes and teaches you everything just described, receive him. But if the teacher himself turns aside and teaches another teaching so as to destroy, do not listen to him. If he teaches so as to add righteousness and knowledge of the Lord, receive him as the Lord.
Ὃς ἂν οὑν ἐλθὼν διδάξῃ ὑμᾶς ταῦτα πάντα τὰ προειρημένα, δέξασθε αὐτόν:
So then, children of the light of truth, flee from division and from evil teachings. Where the shepherd is, there follow as sheep. For many wolves, seemingly trustworthy, take captive the runners for God with evil pleasure; but in your unity they will have no place.
Τέκνα οὖν φωτὸς ἀληθείας, φεύγετε τὸν μερισμὸν καὶ τὰς κακοδιδασκαλίας: ὅπου δὲ ὁ ποιμήν ἐστιν, ἐκεῖ ὡς πρόβατα ἀκολουθεῖτε.
He suffered all these things for our sake, so that we might be saved. And he truly suffered, just as he truly raised himself. It is not as some faithless people say, that he suffered only in mere appearance.
Ταῦτα γὰρ πάντα ἔπαθεν δἰ ἡμᾶς, ἵνα σωθῶμεν: καὶ ἀληθῶς ἔπαθεν, ὡς καὶ ἀληθῶς ἀνέστησεν ἑαυτόν, οὐχ ὥσπερ ἄπιστοί τινες λέγουσιν, τὸ δοκεῖν αὐτὸν πεπονθέναι, αὐτοὶ το δοκεῖν ὄντες: καὶ καθὼς φρονοῦσιν, καὶ συμβήσεται αὐτοῖς, οὖσιν ἀσωμάτοις καὶ δαιμονικοῖς.
So I urge you, not I myself but the love of Jesus Christ: take only Christian food, and keep away from any foreign plant, which is false teaching. These people weave Jesus Christ into themselves while claiming to be worthy of trust, like those who give a deadly poison mixed with honeyed wine.
Παρακαλῶ οὖν ὑμᾶς, οὐκ ἐγώ, ἀλλ’ ἡ ἀγάπη Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ: μόνῃ τῇ χριστιανῇ τροφῇ χρῆσθε, ἀλλοτρίας δὲ βοτάνης ἀπέχεσθε, ἥτις ἐστὶν αἵρεσις:
Consider also those who create schisms. They are hollow, lacking the love of God, and they weigh their own advantage more heavily than the unity of the Church. Over trifling and arbitrary causes they tear apart the great and glorious body of Christ, and insofar as they are able, they kill it.
If this is how things stand—that truth is awarded to us who walk the rule the Church received from the Apostles, the Apostles from Christ, and Christ from God—then the rationale behind our position is settled: heretics must not be admitted to a contest over Scripture.
The Apostle Paul urges us to unity, begging us in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to speak with one voice and avoid schisms (1 Corinthians 1:10), to be of the same mind and share the same opinion, and to support one another in love, working together to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Ephesians…
To accept the baptism of heretics and schismatics is to endorse what they have done. There can be no empty part alongside a valid part. If someone can baptize, they can also give the Holy Spirit.