We are very familiar with the New Testament and can easily verify its teachings, but what happened to these teachings subsequently? Were they upheld, diluted or discarded? In particular, what did the Church Fathers make of Paul’s cardinal doctrine ‘justification by faith’?
The sixteenth-century Protestant Reformers thought it was ignored prior to Augustine (354-430): were the writers of the second century influenced by Paul, or did they manipulate his meaning to support their own arguments and new situations?
This study looks first at the New Testament to see what Paul actually says before turning to six important early Fathers: Clement of Rome at the tail end of the first century, Ignatius of Antioch, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus and Clement of Alexandria from the second century, and Tertullian from the late second to the early third century.
44 pages.
Were They Preaching 'Another Gospel'? Justification By Faith in the Second Century is in the following collections:
