Who Was the Father of Theology?

St. Irenaeus, the Father of Theology

Discover the Faith of Our Fathers in this video Bible study series: https://stpaulcenter.com/product/the-bible-and-the-church-fathers-participant-bundle/

One of the famous defenders of orthodox interpretation is St. Irenaeus. Irenaeus was an early Father. He lived from around 125 to 202 A.D. And at a young age, he was taught by, among others, St. Polycarp who had been taught by the Apostles. So he wasn't far removed the original 12. After ordination, he was sent to Gaul, which is modern-day France. He eventually became bishop of Lyons, and, like all good bishops, spent time settling disputes among Christians, pastoring his people, and clarifying doctrine.

In Irenaeus' writings, most notably his famous work Against Heresies, he doesn't just defend the faith, but begins to go deeper in understanding the doctrines of the Church. And because of this, many scholars consider him the "Father of Theology." St. Irenaeus was particularly relentless in his struggle against the Gnostic heresy. According to St. Justin Martyr, Gnosticism was founded by a man named Simon Magus. He's the magician who shows up in Acts chapter 8 wanting to buy the ability to wield the power of the Holy Spirit and is condemned by St. Peter. Gnostic comes from the Greek word gnosis which means "wisdom" or "knowledge." And the Gnostics, like their name suggests, claimed to have special knowledge possessed by only an elect few. They liked to cherry-pick passages out of Scripture to support their ideas, and used Scriptural language to teach their myths.

For example, Gnostics used a phrase from 2 Corinthians, where Paul refers to the "god of this world." And they used that phrase to try and prove the existence of a second god, a jealous and vengeful god of the material world. They said that was the god of the Old Testament. So they accepted the New Testament, but rejected the Old. After all, who wants to serve a jealous and vengeful god?

And this is a pattern you often see with heresies. They get part of it right, but part of it wrong. That's why St. Irenaeus said the Gnostics dismantling of Scripture was like taking apart a mosaic of a king, and using the pieces to make a mosaic of a dog. Their use of the sacred page just didn't respect he overall biblical story. And this was huge for Irenaeus. He knew that in order to avoid falling into heresy that's exactly what you have to do -read all of Scripture in light of the whole story. After all, that's how he was taught to read them by the Apostles, through St. Polycarp.

Видео Who Was the Father of Theology? канала St. Paul Center