01.3.5. Christian Fathers

5.--THE CHRISTIAN FATHERS

Nothing can cast a backward illumination on the New Testament, and teach us the full meaning of our controverted words, as Jesus and the apostles used them, so well as the language of the Christian fathers and the early church. We will therefore consult those who were perfectly familiar with the Greek tongue, and who passed the word along down the ages, from the apostles to their successors, for more than five hundred years.

TAYLER LEWIS

Prof. Tayler Lewis (Lange’s Genesis, pp. 135, 144, and Ecclesiastes pp. 44, 51) in the course of learned disquisitions on the meaning of the Olamic and Aionian words of the Bible, refers to the oldest version of the New Testament, the Syriac, or the Peshito, and tells us how these words are rendered in this first form of the New Testament: "So is it ever in the old Syriac version where the one rendering is still more unmistakably clear. These shall go into the pain of the Olam (aión) (the world to come), and these to the life of the Olam (aión) (the world to come)." He refers to Matthew 19:16; Mark 10:17; Luke 18:18; John 3:15; Acts 13:46; 1 Timothy 6:12, in which aiónios is rendered belonging to the olam, or world to come. Eternal life, in our version, the words in Matthew 25:46, are rendered in the Peshito "the life of the world to come."

We quote this not to endorse, but to show that one of the best of modern critics testifies that the earliest New Testament version did not employ endless as the meaning of the word. Of Prof. Lewis Dr. Beecher writes, "We are not to suppose that so eminent an Orthodox divine says these things in support of Universalism, a system which he decidedly and earnestly rejects." (Christian Union.)

THE APOSTLES CREED

The Apostles’ Creed is the earliest Christian formula. The idea of endless torment is not hinted. "I believe in God, the Father Almighty; and in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord, who was born of the Virgin Mary by the Holy Ghost, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, buried, rose from the dead on the third day, ascended to the heavens, and sits on the right hand of the Father; whence he will come, to judge the living and the dead: and in the Holy Spirit; the holy church; the remission of sins; and the resurrection of the body." (Murdoch’s Mosheim, vol. 1, p. 96.)

IGNATIUS

Our first reference to the patristic writers shall be to Ignatius (A.D. 115) who says the reward of piety "is incorruptibility and eternal life," "love incorruptible and perpetual life." Here the aionian life is strengthened by incorruptible," showing that the word aiónion alone was in his mind unequal to the task of expressing endless duration. He says, also, that Jesus "was manifested to the ages" (tois aiósin). Of course he intended to use no such ridiculous expression as "to the eternities."

SIBYLLINE ORACLES

The Sibylline Oracles -- dated variously by different writers from 500 B.C. to 150 A.D., teach aionian suffering, and universal salvation beyond, showing how the word was then understood. The prophetess who professes to write the Oracles describes the saints as petitioning God for the salvation of the damned. Thus entreated she says "God will deliver them from the devouring fire and eternal gnashing of teeth."

JUSTIN MARTYR

Justin Martyr, A.D. 140, 162, taught everlasting suffering, and annihilation afterwards. The wicked "are tormented as long as God wills that they should exist and be tormented. ... Souls both suffer punishment and die" (Dialog. cum Tryphone pp. 222-3). He uses the expression aperanton aiona. "The wicked will be punished with everlasting punishment, and not for a thousand years as Plato asserted" (Apol. Prim cxxvii). Here punishment is announced as limited. This is evident from the fact that Justin Martyr taught the annihilation of the wicked; they are to be "tormented world without end," and then annihilated.

IRENÆUS

Irenæus says, "the unjust shall be sent into inextinguishable and eternal fire" (Adv. Her. p. v. cap. 27), and yet he taught that the wicked are to be annihilated: "When it is necessary that the soul should no longer exist, the vital spirit leaves it, and the soul is no more, but returns thither whence it was taken" (Ibid). Dr. Beecher pertinently observes (Christian Union): "What then are the facts as to Irenæus? Since he has been canonized as a saint, and since he stood in such close connection with Polycarp and with John the apostle, there has been a very great reluctance to admit the real facts of the case. Massuetus has employed much sophistry in endeavoring to hide them. Nevertheless, as we shall clearly show hereafter, they are incontrovertibly these: that he taught a final restitution of all things to unity and order by the annihilation of all the finally impenitent. Express statements of his in this creed, and in a fragment referred to by Prof. Schaff, on universal restoration (Christian Union), and in other parts of his great work against the Gnostics, prove this beyond all possibility of refutation. The inference from this is plain. He did not understand aiónios in the sense of eternal; but in the sense claimed by Prof. Lewis, that is, pertaining to the world to come." These are his words: "Christ will do away with all evil, and make an end of all impurities." He further says (Schaff, vol. ii, pp. 504, 73) that certain persons "shall not receive from him (the Creator) length of days forever and ever." Thus the word denoted limited duration in his time, A.D. 170, 200.

HERMOGENES

So Hermogenes (A.D. 200) who believed that all sinful beings will finally cease to be, must have understood Christ as applying aiónion to punishment in the sense of limited duration, or he would not have believed in annihilation, and have been a Christian.

ORIGEN AND THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA

Origen used the expressions "everlasting fire" and "everlasting punishment" to express his idea of the duration of punishment. Yet he believed that in all cases sin and suffering would cease and be followed by salvation. He was the most learned man of his time, and his example proves that aiónion did not mean endless at the time he wrote, A.D. 200 - 253. Dr. Beecher says (Christian Union), "As an introduction to his system of theology, he states certain great facts as a creed believed by all the church. In these he states the doctrine of future retribution as aiónion life, and aiónion punishment, using the words of Christ. Now, if Origen understood aiónion as meaning strictly eternal, then to pursue such a course would involve him in gross and palpable self-contraction. But no one can hide the facts of the case. After setting forth the creed of the church as already stated, including aiónion punishment, he forthwith proceeds, with elaborate reasoning, again and again to prove the doctrine of universal restoration. The conclusion from these facts is obvious: Origen did not understand aiónios as meaning eternal, but rather as meaning pertaining to the world to come. ... Two great facts stand out on the page of ecclesiastical history. One that the first system of Christian theology was composed and issued by Origen in the year 230 after Christ, of which a fundamental and essential element was the doctrine of the universal restoration of all fallen beings to their original holiness and union to God. The second is that after the lapse of a little more than three centuries, in the year 544, this doctrine was for the first time condemned and anathematized as heretical. This was done, not in the general council, but in a local council called by the Patriarch Mennos at Constantinople, by the order of Justinian. During all this long interval, the opinions of Origen and his various writings were an element of power in the whole Christian world. For a long time he stood high as the greatest luminary of the Christian world. He gave an impulse to the leading spirits of subsequent ages and was honored by them as their greatest benefactor. At last, after all his scholars were dead, in the remote age of Justinian, he was anathematized as a heretic of the worst kind. The same also was done with respect to Theodore of Mopsuestia, of the Antiochian school, who held the doctrine of universal restitution on a different basis. This, too, was done long after he was dead, in the year 553. From and after this point the doctrine of future eternal punishment reigned with undisputed sway during the middle ages that preceded the Reformation. What, then, was the state of facts as to the leading theological schools of the Christian world in the age of Origen and some centuries after? It was, in brief, this: There were at least six theological schools in the church at large. Of these six schools, one, and only one, was decidedly and earnestly in favor of the doctrine of future eternal punishment. One was in favor of the annihilation of the wicked. Two were in favor of the doctrine of universal restoration on the principles of Origen, and two in favor of universal restoration on the principles of Theodore of Mopsuestia.

"It is also true that the prominent defenders of the doctrine of universal restoration were decided believers in the divinity of Christ, in the trinity, in the incarnation and atonement, and in the great Christian doctrine of regeneration; and were, in piety, devotion, Christian activity and missionary enterprise, as well as in learning and intellectual power and attainments, inferior to none in the best ages of the church, and were greatly superior to those by whom, in after ages, they were condemned and anathematized.

"It is also true that the arguments by which they defended their views were never fairly stated and answered. Indeed, they were never stated at all. They may admit of a thorough answer and refutation, but even if so, they were not condemned and anathematized on any such grounds, but simply in obedience to the arbitrary mandates of Justinian, whose final arguments were deposition and banishment for those who refused to do his will.

"Consider, now, who Theodore of Mospuestia was, not as viewed by a slavish packed council, met to execute the will of a Byzantine despot, but by one of the most eminent evangelical scholars of Germany, Dorner. Of him he says: "Theodore of Mopsuestia was the crown and climax of the school of Antioch. The compass of his learning, his acuteness, and, as we must suppose, also, the force of his personal character, conjoined with his labors through many years, as a teacher both of churches and of young and talented disciples, and as a prolific writer, gained for him the title of Magister Orientis. He labored on uninterruptedly till his death in the year 427, and was regarded with an appreciation the more widely extended as he was the first Oriental theologian of this time." (Doctrine of Person of Christ, Div. 2, vol. i, p. 50, Eninburgh.)

Mosheim says of Origen: "Origen possessed every excellence that can adorn the Christian character; uncommon piety from his very childhood; astonishing devotedness to that most holy religion which he professed; unequaled perseverence in labors and toils for the advancement of Christianity; and elevation of soul which placed him above all ordinary desires or fears; a most permanent contempt of wealth, honor, pleasures, and of death itself; the purest trust in the Lord Jesus, for whose sake, when he was old and oppressed with ills of every kind, he patiently and perseveringly endured the severest sufferings. It is not strange, therefore, that he was held in so high estimation, both while he lived and after death. Certainly if any man deserves to stand first in the catalogue of saints and martyrs, and to be annually held up as an example to Christians, this is the man, for, except the apostles of Jesus Christ and their companions, I know of no one, among all those enrolled and honored as saints, who excelled him in virtue and holiness." (Hist. Com. on Chris. before Constantine, vol. ii, p. 149.)

How could universal salvation have been the prevailing doctrine in that age of the church unless the word applied to punishment in Matthew 25:46 was understood by Christians to mean limited duration?

The fact that Origen and others taught an aionian punishment after death, and salvation beyond it, DEMONSTRATES that in Origen’s time the word had not the meaning of endless, but did mean at that date, indefinite or limited duration.

Readers curious to look up this point of the state of opinion during the centuries following the age of Origen, can refer to the authorities cited below. (Assemanni Bib. Orient. vol. iii, part i, pp. 223-4, 324.-Doderlein, Inst. Theol. Christ. vol. ii, pp. 200-1. - Jacobi, Bohn’s Edition. - Neander’s Hist. Christian Dogmas. - Guericke, Shedd’s Translation. pp. 308, 349. - Neander Torrey’s Translation, vol. ii. p. 251-2. - Dorner’s Hist. Person of Christ, 2 vol. pp. 28, 30, 50. - Dr. Schaff Hist. Christ Ch. vol. ii. pp. 731, 504. - Giesler, vol. i. p. 370. - Kurz, 1. Text Book Christ. Hist. p. 137-2:2. - Hagenbach, quoting from Augustine Civitate Dei, liber. xxi. chap. vi.)

(NOTE - Doderlein says (Inst. Theol. Chris. vol. ii. p. 199): The most learned in the early church, cherished and defended with most zeal the hope of a final cessation of torments. These are his words: Quanto quis altius eruditione in antiquitate Christianna eminuit, tanto magis spem finiendorum olim cruciatuum aluit atque defendit.)

EUSEBIUS

Eusebius (A.D. 300-25) describes the darkness preceding creation thus (History vol. i. p. 173): "These for a long time had no limit," they continued "for a long eternity" (dia polun aióna). To say that darkness that ended with the creation endured for a long eternity, would be absurd.

GREGORY NYSSEN

Gregory Nyssen (A.D. 370-3) proves that the word had the meaning of limited duration in his day. He says (De Infantibus, p. 173), "Whoever considers the divine power will plainly perceive that it is able at length to restore by means of the everlasting purgation and expiatory sufferings, those who have gone even to this extremity of wickedness." Thus everlasting punishment and salvation beyond was taught in the fourth century.

AUGUSTINE

Augustine (A.D. 400-430) was the first known to argue that aiónios signified endless. He at first maintained that it always meant thus, but at length abandoned that ground, and only claimed that it had that meaning sometimes. He "was very imperfectly acquainted with the Greek language." (Ancient Hist. Univ.)

AVITUS

Avitus (A.D. 410) brought to Spain, from Jerome, in Palestine, a translation of Origen, and taught that punishments are not endless; for "though they are called everlasting, yet that word in the original Greek does not, according to its etymology and frequent use, signify endless, but answers only to the duration of an age." (Hieronymi Epist.)

GENERAL USAGE OF THE FATHERS

In fact, every Universalist and every Annihilationist among the fathers of the early church is a standing witness testifying that the word was understood as we claim, in their day. Believers in the Bible, accepting its utterances implicitly as truth, how could they be Universalists or Annihilationists with the Greek Bible before them, and aiónion punishment taught there, unless they gave to the word thus used the meaning of limited duration? Accordingly, besides those alluded to above, we appeal to those ancient Universalists, the Basilidians (A.D. 130), the Carpocratians (A.D. 140), Clemens Alexandrinus (A.D. 190), Gregory Thaumaturgus (A.D. 220-50), Ambrose (A.D. 250), Titus of Bostra (A.D. 340-70), Didymus the Blind (A.D. 550-90), Diodore of Tarsus (A.D. 370-90), Isidore of Alexandria (A.D. 370-400), Jerome (A.D. 380-410), Palladius of Gallatia (A.D. 400), Theodore of Mopsuestia (A.D. 380-428), and others, not one of whom could have been a Universalist unless he ascribed to this word the sense of limited duration. To most of them Greek was as familiar as English is to us. THE EMPEROR JUSTINIAN

The Emperor Justinian (A.D. 540), in calling the celebrated local council which assembled in 544, addressed his edict to Mennos, Patriarch of Constantinople, and elaborately argued against the doctrines he had determined should be condemned. He does not say, in defining the Catholic doctrine at that time "We believe in aiónion punishment," for that was just what the Universalist, Origen himself taught. Nor does he say, "The word aiónion has been misunderstood, it denotes endless duration," as he would have said had there been such a disagreement. But, writing in Greek with all the words of that copious speech from which to choose, he says, "The holy church of Christ teaches an endless ATELEUTETOS aiónios life to the righteous, and endless (ateleutetos) punishment to the wicked."

Aiónios was not enough in his judgement to denote endless duration, and he employed ateleutetos. This demonstrates that even as late as A.D. 540 aiónios meant limited duration, and required an added word to impart to it the force of endless duration.

BELIEVERS IN ANNIHILATION AND IN UNIVERSAL SALVATION APPLIED THE WORD TO PUNISHMENT

Thus Ignatius, Polycarp, Hermas, Justin Martyr, Irenæus, Hyppolytus, Justinian, and others, (from A.D. 115 to A.D. 544) use the word aiónion to define punishment. And yet, some of these taught that decay out of conscious existence is the natural destiny of men, from which some only are saved by God’s grace. Previous to this decay or extinction of being, they held that men experience aiónion punishment. The aiónion punishment is not extinction of being, for that was the soul’s natural destiny. The punishment is not endless for it ceases. Let us illustrate: Justin Martyr says "Souls suffer aiónion punishment and die." The punishment is in the future world, but it concludes with extinction, and yet it is aiónion. A.D. 540, aiónion required ateleutetos prefixed to convey the idea of endless duration.

OLYMPIODORUS

Olympiodorus (sixth century) is quoted by Dr. Beecher (Christian Union) as saying, "When aiónios is used in reference to a period which, by assumption, is infinite and unbounded, it means eternal, but when used in reference to times or things limited, the sense is limited to them."

THE FIRST SIX CENTURIES

Hence the word did not mean endless duration among the early Christians for about six centuries after Christ. To say that any one who contradicts these men is correct, and that they did not know the meaning of the word, is like saying that an Australian, twelve hundred years hence, will be better able to give an accurate definition of English words in common use to-day than we are ourselves. These ancients could not be mistaken, and the fact that they required qualifying words to give aiónion the sense of endless duration -- that they used it to describe punishment when they believed in the annihilation of the wicked, or in their restoration subsequent to aiónion punishment, irrefragably demonstrates that the word had not the meaning of endless to them, and if not to them, then it must have been utterly destitute of it.

The uniform usage of these words by the early Church demonstrates that they signified temporal duration.