CHHI 520 - History of the Christian Church I

1. Identify some key verses that support the Trinity. In 325AD, the Council at Nicea said, "we worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in unity . . .". They believed in the Trinity based on some of the following verses:

Though many have tried, there are probably not any analogies that satisfactorily describe the Trinity.

2. Discuss the Montanists Movement. The early church battled persecution, heresy, and internal purity. Montanus led this movement of purity and was probably about 20 or 30 years old when he started. Montanism was the first movement in the church which focused on purity. Montanus was convinced that Gnostic influences had crept into the church, so he wanted to throw anyone out who had had any kind of Gnostic connection. Priscilla and Maximilla were two women who participated heavily in this movement. Consequently, it is thought that they may not have been very good wives and mothers because they were so caught up in this movement. Because Montanism focused heavily on the Holy Spirit and because women were in some leadership positions, there have been some suggestions that Speaking in Tongues might have been involved. However, there is not any evidence to support this suspicion. Some people accused Montanus of claiming to have a special connection to the Holy Spirit, but there is not any evidence to support this thought, either. Tertullian started out in his early life as a Montanist, but he later recanted. Montanus was stern about church discipline. He wanted to throw people out of the church if they were not pure. He thought the church should make Christians be pure. He emphasized the immanent return of Christ, and he classified sins as menial (less serious) and mortal (more serious). In his opinion, being a lapser or a traditore were mortal sins that only God could forgive. He taught that the church could forgive the menial sins. In 381AD, the Council at Carthage decided that Montanus was wrong and that Montanism was a heresy. At this point, heresy stopped being as much against the Bible and more against the church, and this was probably wrong, too.

3. Discuss the Novatianists Movement. In the 3rd century, Cornelius led a lenient party that wanted to accept lapsers and traditores back into the church. In 251AD, he was made pastor of the church at Rome. At the same time, Novatian was very strict and opposed Cornelius' position on leniency. His followers split from the church and made him their pastor in Rome. Cyprian had appointed Cornelius to his position. But to make the matter even more delicate, Cyprian was believed to have fled persecution in 249AD. In 258AD, Cyprian was martyred for his faith. The issue of Novatianism is that it brought back Montanism and lapsers because persecution was very, very severe at this time. With his belief, Novatian might have been suggesting that people who were not allowed back into the church were not saved. This might have been paving the way for baptismal regeneration.

4. Discuss the Donatists Movement. This movement was similar to Novatianism and ran parallel with it during the 4th century. Caecilian was appointed bishop of Carthage in 311AD by Felix of Aptunga. Felix had been suspected of being a traditore, so the strict party was not pleased with this arrangement. Majorinus was selected to lead the strict party, but he died shortly thereafter. Donatus took his place. Persecution had been very severe in 303AD, and traditores were a main concern. Donatus wanted to prove that he had Apostolic Succession back to the Apostles in the 1st century, and he even tried to settle the dispute in court. In 313AD, the courts decided that Caecilian was correct. In 314AD, he lost again. Finally, in 315AD, Constantine declared Donatus wrong and closed the case. After that, Donatus tried to declare Constantine wrong and made the first move towards a separation between church and state.