In the Beginning was the Word

If I can convince you of anything, it’s that everything we do and think in our Christian faith isn’t new. We have inherited a long and grand tradition of spiritual formation that serves as our firm foundation. Whether we want to call it the concrete slab, the shoulders of giants, or any other linear metaphor, we owe those believers who have lived before us a great debt. Perhaps there is no greater and lasting bit of infrastructure than the early church’s commitment to Scripture.

Robert Wilkin says as much when he writes, “the omnipresence of the Bible in early Christian writings. Early Christian thought is biblical, and one of the lasting accomplishments of the patristic period was to forge a way of thinking, scriptural in language and inspiration, that gave to the church and to Western civilization a unified and coherent interpretation of the Bible as a whole.”

The early church thinkers had an exceptionally high view of Scripture because of its role in spiritual formation and its divine origin. In fact, consider this. As a particular example of this perspective, Augustine would go as far to entreat his listeners to treat the Scripture of God as the face of God and melt in its presence.

He said, “Melt in Scripture’s presence.”

As in, Indiana Jones opens the Ark of the Covenant and full on dudes faces start melting. There’s some clever wordplay involving George Lucas and Ewoks and Augustine that is lurking behind this sentence, but it’s late when I’m writing this and I don’t have time. Suffice it to say, nobody uses metaphors like Augustine.

Anyways, let’s format this post like this: grounded in its authority and shaped by its story, the early church thinkers were inundated in the Scriptures in such a way that it was the map by which they experienced both life and the God who gives it. That’s a dense sentence. I get it, so let’s break it down a bit.

Grounded in the Authority of Scripture: Justin Martyr’s Conversion

Early Christian thinkers typically had full access to the greatest literature of Greek and Roman civilization. From the epics of Homer and Virgil to the treatises of Plato of Seneca, the libraries of the great Roman cities contained a massive amount of books so that no scholar or student could cry intellectual poverty.

And yet, the excitement and spark that early Christian thinkers felt toward the Scriptures completely eclipsed even the most eloquent of Hellenistic literature. What was the reason for this devotion to Scripture then? Given the majority of their writings on the subject, it seems that the reason for this fascination toward Scripture was that unlike the philosophy of a Plato or Pythagoras that sought to understand the intricacies of life and the world in which they lived, Scripture was revelation from God Himself that explained the intricacies of life and the world in which He created.

More than a philosophical system, the Bible is personal revelation from God.

Actually, in his Dialogue with Trypho, Justin Martyr cites the concept of Scriptures divine origin as the reason for his conversion. Interesting story, after encountering philosophers and experimenting with their various philosophical systems, Justin happened upon an old man, in a field not far from the sea as he put it, who told him that even before Plato and Pythagoras relied on “demonstration for their treatises” the prophets of the Old Testament were “witnesses to the truth, above all demonstration and worthy of belief.”

Robert Wilkin appropriately summarizes the lesson of this ancient conversation by the sea when he writes, “The Word of God makes its way not by argument but as men and women bear witness to what has happened…God, as [Justin] learned from this sage, is known primarily through events that take place in history. When speaking of how God is known, the Bible seldom speaks of insight or illumination or demonstration; rather, it says that God appeared, did something, showed himself, or spoke to someone…”

Accordingly, the early Christian thinkers, though educated and aware of all that the Hellenist culture had to offer, nonetheless viewed Scripture as having greater authority and importance because they believed that its words came from God Himself.

Shaped by the Story of Scripture: The Teaching of Irenaeus and Augustine

By 170 A.D. the books of the Bible had been compiled into Old and New Testament as they are read in the present. Yet the development of the biblical theology for how these individual books were to be properly interpreted was still being determined.

Irenaeus

That was, until Irenaeus formulated a Christo-centric precedent that would last for 2,000 years and counting. While other early Christian thinkers may have shaded the story of Scripture as the implicit background of their biblical theology, it was Irenaeus who inscribed the grand narrative of 66 books in permanent ink for successive generations of scholars and students.

Accordingly, for Irenaeus and the many who followed his teaching, Scripture was viewed as a single narrative that placed God as the primary protagonist in a cosmic drama whose centerpiece was the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. The writings of the prophets in the Old Testament led to this centerpiece while the writings of Paul and others in the New Testament embarked from this centerpiece moving toward the consummation of all things at the return of Christ. This story of Scripture then was the ground and pillar of the faith by which the foundation of Christian formation and discipleship was laid.

Augustine

Augustine was perhaps the greatest early Christian thinker to apply the biblical theology that Irenaeus taught to life as well as ministry. Indeed, it was the Scriptures which were the centerpiece of Augustine’s theology because as James Smith writes, “The cosmic story of redemption was Augustine governing story.” This story of Scripture was the map by which Augustine plotted the bearings of his preaching, informed the topography of his writing, and perhaps most importantly was the expedition into which he invited his listeners to join.

For to Augustine and Irenaeus, it was the story of Scripture that shaped the contours not only of Christian formation and discipleship, but also the very identity of a person.

Conclusion: Our Debt to the Early Church

The medieval, modern and postmodern orthodox church that inhabits the 1500 years after the era of the early church owes an incredible debt to the enduring commitment to the authority and story Scripture by the likes of Justin, Athenegoras, Clement, Irenaeus, and Augustine. Though there were of course other elements of Christian formation and discipleship that marked the early church, this focus and, dare we say fanaticism, in regard to the prominence of Scripture in the Christian life set a precedent and trajectory that would determine how future generations of believers should view Scripture. Grounded in its authority and shaped by its story, thanks to the thinkers of the early church, Scripture is, and always will be, the indispensable good water in the deep well of Christian formation and discipleship.