MARRIAGE / SEX
| "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it." - Genesis 1:28 |
We also find current popular thought influencing the understanding of love, sex and marriage. In that dualism teaches the flesh is evil, hence all sex is evil (though, there were two schools of thought on how to live in light of these beliefs). Food can be a form of evil as well (as it is fleshly). Any type of physical pleasure is condemned, as Dualistic philosophies teach that demons created the world and it does not represent the "truth" found in the spiritual world. Since, marriage and sex were not topics as relevant as God's nature, they often fell by the wayside when discussed by teachers of God. Further, many Christian teachers throughout history took up these false concepts regarding physical pleasure themselves, though they were more careful with God's nature.
Unfortunately with this topic, we find very few quotes regarding sex, marriage and procreation. Most of the quotes I could find are from Tertullian, who later became a heretic. So, like Tertullian and some others were succombing to the vain philosophies of their day (Gnostic Dualism, Stoic ideals and Platonism). However, not all of the fathers thought so negatively about sex (Theophilus of Antioch seems to think more biblically than many of the other fathers).
Interestingly, Theophilus of Antioch spent a great deal of time working against the Marcion heresy. This could be the reason why he was more biblical when it came to the topic of sex and marriage. As the heresy he was fighting claimed that the God of the Old Testament was different than the God of the New Testament. One can infer that Theophilus likely studied a great deal of the Old Testament to prove that it is the very same God from the Old to the New Testament. Such Old Testament studies on the harmony of scripture would only lead Theophilus to a greater understanding of many important topics within both Testaments of the Bible.
From what I can tell, there is only one or two comments within the first 100 years after the apostles. Which is sort of an approach similar to Jesus (not seen as a necessary topic to comment about). Those who do comment after 200 AD, tend to be more negative than positive and as time goes on the restrictions become greater and more pronounced. This predominantly negative approach towards sex and marriage among the fathers has endured within the church ever since.
Here is one of only four quotes I could find before 200 AD (the other quote from Athenagoras says the same basic thing as the first quote below):
| "And concerning chastity, the holy word teaches us not only not to sin in act, but not even in thought, not even in the heart to think of any evil, nor look on another man’s wife with our eyes to lust after her. Solomon, accordingly, who was a king and a prophet, said: “Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee: make straight paths for your feet.” - Prov. iv. 25.
And the voice of the Gospel teaches still more urgently concerning chastity, saying: “Whosoever looketh on a woman who is another's wife, to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” - Matt. v. 28." - Theophilus to Autolycus, B III, Ch 3, on Chastity (180 AD) |
Early on, Tertullian seemed to be a bit more positive about sex and marriage:
| "He bestowed His blessing on matrimony also, as on an honorable estate, for the increase of the human race - just as He did likewise as to the entirety of His creation, for wholesome and good uses." - Tertullian c. 207, W), 3.294 |
However, later on (before he became a heretic), we see him become more negative about sex:
| "The extremity of the times has canceled the command, "Grow and multiply" For the apostle gives another command, 'It remains that those who have wives so be as if they did not,' because the time is short." - Tertullian (c. 212 W), 4.64 |
We see some of the same ascretic ideals within Clement of Alexandria:
| "Since pleasure and lust seem to fall under marriage, it must also be addressed. Marriage is the first union of man and woman for the procreation of legitimate children." - Clement of Alexandria (c. 195, E), 2.503 |
Some odd quotes from the early fathers, which seem less restrictive than the ones seen above:
| "They do not abstain even from males, males with males committing shocking abominations, outraging all the noblest and comeliest bodies in all sorts of ways." - Athenagoras (c. 175, E), 2.143 |
| "Show me yourself whether you are not an adulterer, a fornicator, a theif, a robber, or a thief. Show me that you do not corrupt boys.... For God is not manifest to those who do these things." - Theophilus (c. 180, E), 2.89 |
| "Men play the part of women, and women that of men, contrary to nature. Women are at once both wives and husbands... O miserable spectacle! Horrible conduct!" - Clement of Alexandria (c. 195, E), 2.276 |
Polygamy clashed with Roman monogamy at the time of the early church:
| "When the Christian Church came into being, polygamy was still practiced by the Jews. It is true that we find no references to it in the New Testament; and from this some have inferred that it must have fallen into disuse, and that at the time of our Lord the Jewish people had become monogamous. But the conclusion appears to be unwarranted. Josephus in two places speaks of polygamy as a recognized institution: and Justin Martyr makes it a matter of reproach to Trypho that the Jewish teachers permitted a man to have several wives. Indeed when in 212 A.D. the lex Antoniana de civitate gave the rights of Roman Citizenship to great numbers of Jews, it was found necessary to tolerate polygamy among them, even when though it was against Roman law for a citizen to have more than one wife. In 285 A.D. a constitution of Diocletian and Maximian interdicted polygamy to all subjects of the empire without exception. But with the Jews, at least, the enactment failed of its effect; and in 393 A.D. a special law was issued by Theodosius to compel the Jews to relinquish this national custom. Even so they were not induced to conform." - Joyce, George (1933). Christian Marriage, p. 560. |
Many of these fathers, early on in Christian history tended to ignore the Old Testament sexual codes in regards to their sexual views. Rather than using it as a framework, often the New Testament was put at the forefront and interpreted through the customs and ideas of the time:
| "Do you not know that you are each an Eve? The sentence of God on this sex of yours lives in this age: the guilt must of necessity live too. You are the Devil's gateway: You are the unsealer of the forbidden tree: You are the first deserter of the divine law: You are she who persuaded him whom the devil was not valiant enough to attack. You destroyed so easily God's image, man. On account of your desert even the Son of God had to die." - St. Tertullian (150-230) |
Last, Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers tended to be monks and those living in exclusion. Hence those who are eunuchs instructing the married how to live. As you can imagine, not the best type of person to give such advice. Consider this quote below from a celibate father:
Generally, theology on sex and marriage was never properly harmonized with the Old Testament Law. It makes sense to use the Old Testament to clarify what is found in the New Testament, but due to Stoic philosophy and Platonism, we today have a very sexually prudish church.
My theory as to why the biblical concepts of sex and marriage became erronious within the first couple centuries of the early church, is that many had in mind that we do not need to read the Old Testament Law anymore. Since we are not bound to many of the ordinances found within the Old Testament, many did not see any relevance in researching its text. And considering that the New Testament makes little explanation (no self-expository on key terms and very few examples given) as to what is or is not a sin when it comes to sex, they had to rely heavily on their own understanding and the terminology found within New Testament scripture. Knowing the popularity of the concept that physical pleasure is sinful and so as to look "more holy" to those around them, they took a more conservative approach to interpreting the New Testament on this topic.
Consider Martin Luther's reexamination of the topic:
| "I confess that I cannot forbid a person to marry several wives, for it does not contradict the Scripture. If a man wishes to marry more than one wife he should be asked whether he is satisfied in his conscience that he may do so in accordance with the word of God. In such a case the civil authority has nothing to do in the matter." - Martin Luther (c. 1483 - 1546), |
Consider also that Charles Wesley's son was a polygamist (Charles, the famous hymn writer and brother of John Wesley):
So, with the topic of sex, we find very few quotes in the early fathers, and of those quotes, most seem rather restrictive. However, the lack of quotes could be a sign that such doctrine was not entirely defined and more one's own interpretation at the time.
TRINITY / GODHEAD
ERROR 1 - CERINTHUS -
(Taught God did not create the world. Taught Jesus was just used by God.) -
Cerinthus’ ideas, though shocking, were more local to Asia Minor and the East, and of short duration compared to that of the Gnostic Marcion who, in 140 AD, would start a strange Gnostic sect of Christianity that would spread over the Mediterranean and remain intact for centuries. Cerinthus’ chief contribution to Christianity lies in the fact that the most enduring of the gospels, that of John, was written in response to it, as were the epistles of John.
ERROR 2 - CIRCUMCISERS/JUDAIZERS -
(Taught circumcision required for salvation. Not a gnostic concept, but rather Jewish.)
We see the apostles directly address this error within the pages of scripture.
ERROR 3 - MARCION -
(Taught that the O.T. God and Writings are different than N.T., hence no longer relevant.) -
The quasi-Gnostic Marcion (c 145 AD), however, would excite a massive reaction from the church. Marcion immigrated from Sinope (where some early Christian writers claim he was the son of the Bishop of Sinope) to Rome in 140 AD. By 144 he was excommunicated for being a “quasi-Gnostic heretic” for endorsing the strange Dualism that all early Gnosticism espoused, and asserting that salvation was by gnosis. He would diligently compile and preserve Pauline epistles to bolster his evangelizing, but would then reject the “Old Testament” as being the witness of the Creator God but not of the loving Father God of Jesus; therefore the scripture was nothing with which the Christian need be concerned. It was from an old god for the Jews. Marcion evangelized in imitation of Paul, whom he declared to have been the true and only apostle of Jesus. Wherever he went he established churches and made followers. He was even accused of editing the Gospel of Luke and some of the epistles of Paul to remove anything Jewish from them, to further bolster his anti-Jewish new Jesus. Marcion’s heretical movement lasted from the 2nd century to the 5th before dying out.
ERROR 4 - GNOSTICISM -
(The main concept overall that matter or physical is evil.)
"Matter is evil!" was the cry of the Gnostics. This idea was borrowed from certain Greek philosophers. It stood against Catholic teaching, not only because it contradicts Genesis 1:31 ("And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good") and other scriptures, but because it denies the Incarnation. If matter is evil, then Jesus Christ could not be true God and true man, for Christ is in no way evil. Thus many Gnostics denied the Incarnation, claiming that Christ only appeared to be a man, but that his humanity was an illusion. Some Gnostics, recognizing that the Old Testament taught that God created matter, claimed that the God of the Jews was an evil deity who was distinct from the New Testament God of Jesus Christ. They also proposed belief in many divine beings, known as "aeons," who mediated between man and the ultimate, unreachable God. The lowest of these aeons, the one who had contact with men, was supposed to be Jesus Christ.
ERROR 5 - MONTANISM -
(More charismatic, claiming direct revelation from God and holding to Modalism - God is one, not three)
Scholars are divided as to when Montanus first began his prophecy, having chosen dates varying from c. AD 135 to as late as AD 177.[1] Montanus traveled among the rural settlements of Asia Minor after his conversion, and preached and testified what he purported to be the Word of God; however, his teachings were regarded as heresy by the orthodox Church for a number of reasons. He claimed to have received a series of direct revelations from the Holy Spirit.
Prisca, sometimes called Priscilla, and Maximilla, who likewise claimed the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. As they went, "the Three" as they were called, spoke in ecstatic visions and urged their followers to fast and pray, so that they might share these personal revelations. His preachings spread from his native Phrygia (where he proclaimed the village of Pepuza as the site of the New Jerusalem) across the contemporary Christian world, to Africa and Gaul.
Prisca claimed that Christ had appeared to her in female form. When she was excommunicated, she exclaimed "I am driven away like the wolf from the sheep. I am no wolf: I am word and spirit and power."citation needed
ERROR 6 - SABELLIANISM/MODALISM -
(Taught God is One only, not three persons.)
Basically this theology developed as a reaction to squabbles between Gnostics and Christians by saying.. Look God is one. Its very simple.. But in the end, it just led to yet another heresy.
And plenty more related errors regarding the Godhead. All of them twisting some conceptual understanding of who God is. Should we emphasize Christ as fully man, fully God or both? Is he really God? Is he really a man? Was he a physical being? All of these seem like simple questions, but for some reason, the Devil was able to capture the minds of many and take them into error.
For a detailed study on the Trinity (the Godhead), click here.
