rethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or epistle" (2 Thess. 2:15)
Concerning the hearer: that the hearers who are instructed in the Scriptures
should examine what is said by the teachers, receiving what is in conformity
with Scripture and rejecting what is opposed to them.
Cyril of Jerusalem
Vainly do they run about with the pretext that they have demanded councils for
the faith's sake; for divine Scripture is sufficient above all things; but if
a Council is needed on the point, there are the proceedings of the fathers, for
the Nicene Bishops did not neglect this matter, but stated the doctrine so exactly
that persons reading their words honestly, cannot but be reminded by them of
the religion towards Christ announced in divine Scripture.
Chrysostom
I exhort and entreat you all, disregard what this man and that man thinks about
such things, and inquire from the Holy Scriptures all these things.
Chrysostom
Whether concerning Christ or concerning His Church, or any other matter whatsoever
which is connected with your faith and life, to say nothing of ourselves, who
are by no means to be compared with him who said, "Though we," at any rate, as
he went on to say, "Though an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you
than that which ye have received" in the lawful and evangelical Scriptures, "let
him be accursed."
Augustine
If an angel had said those same things which he says he suggested to you at an
angel's bidding, it would be your duty to recall the Apostle's words, when he said:
"But though we or an angel from heaven preach a Gospel to you besides that which
we have preached to you, let him be anathema." It has been preached to you by
the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself: "that His gospel shall be preached
. . . to all nations, and then shall the consummation come;" it has been preached
to you by prophetic and apostolic writings that: "to Abraham were the promises
made and to his seed . . . which is Christ,". . . If therefore while you hold
to these promises, an angel from heaven should say to you: "Give up the Christianity
of the world, and lay hold of the sect of Donatus, whose origin is explained
for you in a letter of a bishop of your city," he ought to be anathema.
Jerome
After churches were planted in all places, and officers ordained, matters were
settled otherwise than they were in the beginning. And hence it is that the
Apostles' writings do not, in all things, agree with the present constitution
of the Church; because they were written under the first rise of the Church;
for he called Timothy, who was created a Presbyter by him, a Bishop, for so,
at first, the Presbyters were called.
John Calvin
Like the ancient Israelites in uncertain times, evangelicals [since the early
1970's] took to their tents, each to his or her own. . . . Those who had marched
gladly under the banner of evangelicalism and had affirmed the truths of historic
Protestant orthodoxy now began to look sideways. As the theological center began
to give way, there arose a multitude of evangelical amalgams with, among other
things, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, special interests such as feminism, the
pieties of the World Council of Churches, and radical politics. . . . When we
believe in nothing, we open the doors to believing anything.
Credenda/Agenda Vol. 6, No. 5
