| Home | Our Hope | |
| Bible Study |
|
March 9, 2014 |
| Polycarp, Heretic Fighter | ||
As the era of the apostles was coming to an end a transition in the church was taking place. No longer would the church have men of such authority and anointing as the apostles to teach them and guide them. In their place were the people who had worked with them and been good students of theirs. One of the more notable of these was a man called Polycarp.
In this lesson we will look at what is known of Polycarp and his role in the church and the issues the church was facing at that time.
Polycarp was a student of John the Apostle and had met and worked with others of the disciples. He lived from around 69 A.D. to 156 A.D. and was baptized somewhere around the age of 18. The Apostle John lived until around 100 A.D. so Polycarp spent a very long time as a student of John.
He became very well known for the depth of his understanding of scripture. It is said that he wrote many letters but only one has survived to this day - a letter to the Philippians, to whom Paul the Apostle also wrote. Polycarp was made bishop (pastor) of the church of Smyrna, which is one of the seven churches mentioned in the book of Revelation. He was appointed to this position of bishop by some of the apostles. He was recognized everywhere within the church as an authority on the teachings of the Bible.
Polycarp was part of the eastern or Asiatic church, not part of the church of Rome, but even in Rome he was highly respected Irenaeus, a well known leader of the church of Rome at that time, wrote about Polycarp this way
"But Polycarp also was not only instructed by apostles, and conversed with many who had seen Christ, but was also, by apostles in Asia, appointed bishop of the Church in Smyrna…always taught the things which he had learned from the apostles, and which the Church has handed down, and which alone are true. To these things all the Asiatic Churches testify, as do also those men who have succeeded Polycarp down to the present time…There is also a very powerful Epistle of Polycarp written to the Philippians, from which those who choose to do so, and are anxious about their salvation, can learn the character of his faith, and the preaching of the truth."1
In our time Polycarp is best known as a heretic fighter. A heretic is a person who teaches unorthodox (false) teachings. As soon as he could, Satan had attacked the new church. One way he did this was by trying to introduce false teachings. Even in their time the apostles they were being forced to fight heretical beliefs in the churches. In Polycarp's time a lot of these false beliefs were beginning in the church of Rome or gaining footholds there.
Very quickly after its founding, the church of Rome started to let in pagan beliefs. They also had a very strong anti-Semitic view that was to dominate the church and be carried along into the daughter churches that split from the church of Rome. This view also carried into the Protestant church and it is only in modern times that the church has shaken this off, but some parts of the church still cling to it. The result was a church that was picking up new false teachings while at the same time throwing away foundational Old Testament teachings.
Things became so bad in Rome that Polycarp, at the age of about 82, felt he needed to intervene. He made the months-long trip to Rome to teach the truth. The two false teachings that he is recorded as working against were those of Marcion and Valentinus.
The Marcionites (followers of Marcion were a "heretical sect founded in A.D. 144 at Rome by Marcion and continuing in the West for 300 years, but in the East some centuries longer, especially outside the Byzantine Empire. They rejected the writings of the Old Testament and taught that Christ was not the Son of the God of the Jews, but the Son of the good God, who was different from the God of the Ancient Covenant. They anticipated the more consistent dualism of Manichaeism and were finally absorbed by it. As they arose in the very infancy of Christianity and adopted from the beginning a strong ecclesiastical organization, parallel to that of the Catholic Church, they were perhaps the most dangerous foe Christianity has ever known…"2
Marcion's success and the successful continuation of his beliefs for hundreds of years was in part due to the anti-Semitism that came into the church of Rome. Romans saw Jews as lesser people and were more than happy to reject anything that sounded like Judaism. Marcion was teaching that the God of the Old Testament was a different God, a nasty mean God. Furthermore he taught that Jesus was the son of a different God, a good God. This gave the Marcionites a justification to throw away the Old Testament.
"And, as we said before, the devils put forward Marcion of Pontus, who is even now teaching men to deny that God is the maker of all things in heaven and on earth, and that the Christ predicted by the prophets is His Son, and preaches another god besides the Creator of all, and likewise another son. And this man many have believed, as if he alone knew the truth, and laugh at us, though they have no proof of what they say, but are carried away irrationally as lambs by a wolf, and become the prey of atheistical doctrines, and of devils."3
Polycarp taught against this false teaching and was able to turn many back to the true doctrine. He once even met Marcion himself. It didn't go well; Polycarp was not afraid to call out false teachers.
"And Polycarp himself replied to Marcion, who met him on one occasion, and said, "Do you know me?" "I do know you, the first-born of Satan"."4
Despite his teachings Marcion was allowed to continue in the church of Rome for many decades. When at last he was kicked out he took many with him and started new churches.
"Valentinus, the best known and most influential of the Gnostic heretics, was born according to Epiphanius (Haer., XXXI) on the coast of Egypt. He was trained in Hellenistic science in Alexandria. Like many other heretical teachers he went to Rome the better, perhaps to disseminate his views. He arrived there during the pontificate of Hyginus and remained until the pontificate of Anicetus. During a sojourn of perhaps fifteen years, though he had in the beginning allied himself with the orthodox community in Rome, he was guilty of attempting to establish his heretical system. His errors led to his excommunication, after which he repaired to Cyprus where he resumed his activities as a teacher and where he died probably about 160 or 161. Valentinus professed to have derived his ideas from Theodas or Theudas, a disciple of St. Paul, but his system is obviously an attempt to amalgamate Greek and Oriental speculations of the most fantastic kind with Christian ideas. He was especially indebted to Plato."5
Valentinus was a Gnostic, a person who believes that salvation does not come by faith but through hidden knowledge. Gnosticism was very popular at that time. The Apostle Paul encountered it trying to sneak into Christianity and taught against it. There were many Gnostic "gospels" written which are now part of the Apocrypha found in the Catholic Bible. If you are ever to see a TV show about Christianity you can be assured that one of the Gnostic gospels will be trotted out as the true hidden truth. TV doesn't spend much time on the real gospels of the New Testament.
Again the church of Rome tolerated these teachings in the church for much longer than they should have.
"And when the blessed Polycarp was sojourning in Rome in the time of Anicetus, although a slight controversy had arisen among them as to certain other points…For neither could Anicetus persuade Polycarp to forego the observance [in his own way], inasmuch as these things had been always observed by John the disciple of our Lord, and by other apostles with whom he had been conversant; nor, on the other hand, could Polycarp succeed in persuading Anicetus to keep [the observance in his way], for he maintained that he was bound to adhere to the usage of the presbyters who preceded him. And in this state of affairs they held fellowship with each other; and Anicetus conceded to Polycarp in the Church the celebration of the Eucharist, by way of showing him respect; so that they parted in peace one from the other, maintaining peace with the whole Church, both those who did observe [this custom] and those who did not."6
One of the problems Polycarp addresses while in Rome is the celebration of Passover. The church of Rome had moved the celebration to Sunday from the day the Jews and other Christians observed it. At the time they still called it Passover, later on they would call it Resurrection Sunday and later still they would call it Easter. With each of these steps it became less like Passover.
Polycarp told Anicetus, who was then the Bishop of Rome, that John the Apostle and the other apostles that Polycarp had met had always observed Passover when the Jews did, on the 14th of the Hebrew month of Nissan. It appears that Anicetus agreed with Polycarp but replied that the church of Rome had celebrated it on Sunday for some time and he could not change that. The two bishops celebrated communion together and went their own ways.
The quote above from Irenaeus, who was part of the church of Rome, notes this as a "slight controversy" between them. But it appears that it was not slight. Writing about the state of the church after that, Epiphanus (Catholic Monk) says:
"For long ago, even from the earliest days, the Passover was celebrated at different times in the church…In the time of Polycarp and Victor, the east was at odds with the west and they would not accept letters of commendation from each other."7
To understand this you need to understand the purpose of a letter of commendation. These letters are often mentioned in the New Testament as well. The problem at the time was, how could you know that a person who claimed to be someone special, for example an Apostle, was really that person when neither you nor anyone you could ask had met him. Because people didn't have any form of photo ID that was issued by an authoritative source such as a government, they used another method. They used letters of commendation, which were written by someone you did know to affirm that the person presenting the letter was indeed the person he claimed to be.
After Polycarp was rejected the church of the east stopped accepting any of these letters from the church of Rome as being authoritative. Therefore anyone who would come to the eastern church from Rome was not trusted and therefore neither were any things they tried to teach. So, more than rejecting the people that Rome sent, it was a rejection of the teachings of Rome. Rome, for its part, did the same thing and rejected letters, people and teachings from the eastern church. This continued until the church of Rome, by that time called the Catholic Church, drove the eastern church out of Roman territory.
About a year after returning from his trip to Rome, Polycarp is caught by the Romans and burned at the stake as an atheist - meaning he did not believe in the gods of the Romans or in Caesar as god. The account of his trial includes this humorous exchange.
9:2 When then he was brought before him, the proconsul enquired whether [Polycarp] were the man. And on his confessing that he was, he tried to persuade him to a denial saying, 'Have respect [for your] age,' and other things [like that], [they also said]; 'Swear by the genius of Caesar; repent and say, Away with the atheists.' Then Polycarp with solemn countenance looked upon the whole multitude of lawless heathen that were in the stadium, and waved his hand to them; and groaning and looking up to heaven he said, 'Away with the atheists.'8
In his letter to the Philippians Polycarp says
"For whosoever does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, is antichrist, and whosoever does not confess the testimony of the cross, is of the devil; and whosoever perverts the [teachings] of the Lord to his own lusts, and says that there is neither a resurrection nor a judgment, he is the first-born of Satan. Wherefore, forsaking the vanity of many, and their false doctrines, let us return to the word which has been handed down to us from the beginning."9
In a recent story the results were listed for "a 2011 survey of pastors in the [Presbyterian] denomination who were asked for their level of agreement with the following statement: "Only followers of Jesus Christ can be saved." While 41 percent said they agreed or strongly agreed with the statement, 45 percent said they disagreed or strongly disagreed."
False teachings continue in the church. What can we learn from Polycarp?
Understand the word to understand false teachings and to be prepared to counter them.
The word of God has to be the final authority otherwise we are adrift and blown about by false teachers
Remove false teachings from the church as soon as possible.
Teach the truth despite the cost
1 (Irenaeus. Adversus Haeres. Book III, Chapter 3, Verse 4)
2 Arendzen J.P. Transcribed by Tom Crossett. Marcionites. The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume IX. Copyright © 1910 by Robert Appleton Company. Online Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. Knight. Nihil Obstat, October 1, 1910. Remy Lafort, Censor. Imprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York
3 Justin. First Apology, Chapter LVIII. Excerpted from Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1. Edited by Alexander Roberts & James Donaldson. American Edition, 1885. Online Edition Copyright © 2004 by K. Knight
4 Irenaeus. Adversus Haeres. Book III, Chapter 4, Verse 3 and Chapter 3, Verse 4
5 Healy P. J. Transcribed by Thomas M. Barrett. Valentinus and Valentinians. The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XV. Copyright © 1912 by Robert Appleton Company. Online Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. Knight. Nihil Obstat, October 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
6 Fragments From The Lost Writings Of Irenaeus. Translated by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson. Excerpted from Volume I of The Ante-Nicene Fathers (Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, editors); American Edition copyright © 1885. Electronic version copyright © 1997 by New Advent, Inc.
7 Epiphanius. The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis, Books II and III (Sects 47-80), De Fide). Section VI, Verse 9,7. Translated by Frank Williams. EJ Brill, New York, 1994, p.411
8 The Martyrdom of Polycarp
9 Polycarp. Letter to the Philippians, Chapter VII