Tertullian and Constantine — Michael Haykin

Well, we made a start last week looking at the church in the early Roman Empire and tonight we want to look at two things. In the first hour, a movement known as Montanism and a theologian, a North African theologian named Tertullian, who became an apologist for the Montanist movement.

And then in the second hour I realized after I went through the line up as it were of topics that we are going to be looking at in the five or so weeks of these lectures that I didn't have any place for Constantine and the massive change that takes place in the fourth century and so I'm actually going to be doing a little juggling.

Instead of looking at the canon this week, I'm going to postpone that to the second hour of next week. And in the second hour tonight we are going to look at the revolutionary changes that are introduced by Constantine and the toleration or the recognition of Christianity as a legal religion in the Roman Empire.

And the changes are massive and I'm not sure why it slipped my mind when I was preparing the outline of the lectures and I completely glossed over that. So next week in the second hour we will look at the canon which means that the issue of the Arian controversy and the struggle regarding the deity of the Holy Spirit because both of those are struggles in the fourth century.

Is the sun fully God? Is the Spirit God? We will have to do that in one hour. So tonight then in the first hour we look at a movement called Montanism which raises the issues of the canon and then in the second hour we want to turn our views to this individual named Constantine.

Next week we will look then in the second hour at the canon. It's a very important issue. It was Jonathan Edwards the American theologian who once said the following that the sum of the blessings Christ sought by what he did and suffered in the work of redemption was the gift of the Holy Spirit.

The sum of the blessings Christ sought by what he did and suffered in the work of redemption was the gift of the Holy Spirit. And a casual glance at the New Testament would confirm the truth of that observation.

You run through the New Testament, you think about what it is that the Spirit does in the believer's life and in the life of the church and how necessary, utterly necessary, is the work of the Spirit.

The Holy Spirit’s Work in the Believer and the Church

It is the Spirit by which a man or a woman is led to confess Christ, 1 Corinthians 12, 3. No man can say Jesus is Lord except by the Spirit. It is by the Spirit that we worship God adequately, Philippians 3 verses 2 and 3 where Paul identifies the church as those who worship God by the Spirit.

It is the Spirit who makes preaching and teaching efficacious and powerful and effective, 1 Peter 1 verses 10 to 12 where Peter talks about the Spirit having been sent down from heaven and enabling those who preach the good news.

It is the Spirit, 2 Timothy 1 verse 14, who is the guarantor or the preserver of orthodoxy. We tend to think of that as maybe the church or we tend to think of it at times as great men of God who he raises up, but ultimately it's the Spirit, 2 Timothy 1 verse 14 where Paul says guard the good deposit by the Spirit who dwells in you.

There are many other vital aspects of the Spirit's work we could mention, but let me draw your attention to one that will come up a number of times in this first lecture and it's part of the promise that Jesus gives during what's called his farewell discourse in John 16, 12 to 13.

John 16 verses 12 to 13 and I'm reading out of the New Living Translation. Oh there is so much more I want to tell you but you can't bear it now. When the Spirit of Truth comes he will guide you into all truth.

He'll not be presenting his own ideas, he'll be telling you what he has heard, he'll tell you about the future, he'll bring me glory by revealing to you whatever he receives from me. It's the little phrase there or the sentence there when the Spirit of Truth comes he will guide you into all truth.

There has been and we'll see it occupies much of the content of our lecture tonight. There has been a great debate going on for the last pretty well 2 ,000 years, but definitely since the period we're looking at, the late 2nd century, about what does Jesus mean by those words.

An early Christian commentator, a man that we looked at actually last week, Irenaeus, in a passage in which he is talking about the fact that scripture is perfect and he's refuting the Gnostics, again recall those of you who were here last week, that heresy that denied some of the cardinal truths of the Christian faith such as the resurrection of the body and the goodness of the material world and so on.

In a passage in which Irenaeus is refuting that view and he's talking about the perfection of scripture, he says this about the Apostles, the ones who wrote it. After our Lord rose from the dead, the Apostles were invested with power from on high when the Holy Spirit came down upon them, were filled from all his gifts and had perfect knowledge.

And I think the passage he's thinking of is this passage here in John 16 verses 12 and 13. The Apostles, that that verse applies primarily to the Apostles. It's a promise to the Apostles. And therefore, that verse finds its fulfillment in the writing of scripture.

And what God is doing by his Spirit after the writing of scripture is illuminating the word for those who come after and that way leading them into truth. At the time of the early church, the very early church in the first century, the Spirit's work is somewhat different.

He is inspiring men whom God has raised up to put down with pen and ink the words we know as the New Testament. And there's inspiration going on. And first, John 16 verse 13 is, I think, primarily a reference to that.

And that's the way Irenaeus understands it. If you take it though, as a reference to the entire history of the church, that there is fresh truth and fresh in the sense of on the same level of scripture that this verse is talking about being revealed all through the history of the church, you're in serious problems.

Montanism and the Claim of Continuing Revelation

And we'll see this very clearly tonight with Montanism and the author known as Tertullian. Now, Montanism, what is it, and who stands behind it and so on? Well, Montanism is a noun that is derived from the name of a man named Montanus.

And we know virtually nothing about him. In fact, in a minute, I'm going to read a paragraph which gives us probably the sum of our knowledge about this gentleman in terms of his career. We know something about his ideas from sayings that he said.

He appears on the scene of church history around the year 170 AD. And he appears in what is now modern Turkey, in those days the Roman province of Asia, in the central portion of that, the central highlands of what now is Turkey.

And here is one writer, a man named Eusebius of Caesarea, who lived 150 years later, who is quoting a writer that lived at the same time as Montanus. And this is what that writer, we don't know his name, because Eusebius doesn't tell us who he's quoting, but he's quoting a contemporary of Montanus who is now going to describe the career of Montanus.

There is said to be in Mythia near Phrygia, you probably know of Phrygia, it's mentioned in the New Testament in the Book of Acts. Again, it's in Asia Minor. There is said to be in Mythia near Phrygia a certain village called Ardabab.

There they say first, when Gratis was proconsul of Asia, that a recent convert to the faith named Montanus, in his soul's immense ambitious desire, gave the adversary access to himself, and was carried away as by the Spirit, and suddenly experiencing some kind of possession and furious ecstasy, he was inspired and began to speak and say strange things, prophesying contrary to the custom related to the tradition and the succession of the Church from the beginning.

That's the sum, really, in that one paragraph there that I've just read, is the sum of our knowledge about this man who stands at the fountainhead of the movement known as the Montanus movement or Montanism.

A number of things can be noted here, he was a recent convert according to this, when he began to prophesy, and prophesy in a manner that was deeply disturbing to those who saw and heard him. And other writers that we have give a very clear indication that Montanus prophets and prophesies, when they were in the context of prophesying, appeared to lose self-control.

They appeared to lose rational control over what they were doing and saying. And this becomes a fundamental area of criticism by those who are in the Church as they look at what these people are doing, they have real problems with the fact that they have completely lost control, any sort of self-control and rational control.

The only other information we really have from Montanus comes from a variety of sayings, and there's about twenty of them, and I've given you some over on the second page of that handout, and I've given you six.

And there are, as I say, about twenty or so more, well there's about twenty in total, some of them from Montanus, some of them from two or three prophetesses who became key leaders in this movement. There is a prophetess named Maximilla, Priscilla and Quintilla.

And let me read the first couple to give you some idea as to what Montanism claimed to be. All of these writings are from what we would describe as Orthodox writers or opponents of Montanism. Montanus said, I am the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Another writer. Montanus says, I, the Lord, the Almighty God, remain among men. Now some early Christian authors claimed that Montanus was actually claiming to be God. And I don't think that these quotes bear that out.

What I think these quotes are actually bearing out, and that's all we've got. They'll quote this and then move on to attacking Montanus' views. I think what these quotes indicate is that Montanus claimed that he was inspired on the same level as the Old Testament prophets or the New Testament writers.

And that how you have a number of times say in the Old Testament writings where the prophet speaks in the first person. God speaking through the prophet in the first person. I think that's what's being claimed here.

In other words, quite clearly, Montanism, and we'll see this when we get to Tertullian. Montanism claimed to be on a level of inspiration equivalent to Scripture. That's the first key point to note about Montanism.

Montanist Martyrdom and Eschatological Prophecy

The second point that's also bothered many of those in the church, there was a glorification of martyrdom. Last week, when we looked at the persecution of the early church, one of the things we noticed was the prominent place that the martyrs had because the church was under heavy, heavy attack.

And even in this period, men and women who own Christ as Lord have to be prepared to die for their faith. And so we have these two statements. As we will see, they'll push it much further than most others in the church would like to go.

The Spirit says, you will be publicly displayed. This is saying number three. That is good for you. For whoever is not publicly displayed before men will be publicly displayed before God. Let it not perplex you.

Righteousness brings you into the midst. The midst of a court is understood there. What perplexes you about winning glory? Opportunity is given when you are seen by men. Now that statement, and that we'll see, Tertullian actually quotes that.

It's a prophecy, so-called, given by a prophet or prophetess, that Tertullian claims is the word of God for his day. And it's obscure if we didn't have some other statements, and number four clears it up because number four clearly is referring to martyrdom.

And then reading back into number three, you can see what number three is talking about is the issue of martyrdom. Four, the Spirit speaks, desire not to die in bed, nor in the delivery of children, nor by innovating fevers, but in martyrdom, that he may be glorified who has suffered for you.

And so there was an early monsonism, a claim that the words that these monsonist prophets and prophetesses gave were on a level with scripture. Secondly, there was a glorification of martyrdom. Again, number five, if you should die for God as the paraclete, that's the Greek word that our Lord uses in John 14 -16 in a cluster of passages dealing with the work of the Holy Spirit.

John 14 -26 -27, John 15 -26 -27, and then John 16 -8 -13. A number of the titles our Lord gives to the Spirit include the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit, and the paraclete, or the helper, or the advocate.

And actually, the English words, and if you look at a variety of translations to translate the Greek word, you get a whole host of words, and none of them can really accurately, I think, capture the range of meaning in the word.

The word has the idea of a helper, has the idea of somebody who stands beside you in a court of law and speaks in your defense, somebody who gives you aid and strength and so on. If you should die for God as the paraclete instructs, not in mild fevers and on your beds, but in martyrdoms, if you take up your cross and follow the Lord as he himself commands, your blood is the complete key of paradise.

And you have there very clearly a glorification on martyrdom. A third, or fourth aspect, if we count the idea of the losing of self-control among the prophets and prophetesses, the fourth aspect of early Martinism was the prediction that the end of history and time was about to take place.

And for the one, this is number six, for the one they call Maximilla, the prophetess declares, after me, there will no longer be a prophet, but the end. And I haven't given you one, but there's another one given by Priscilla, a prophetess of, also in the movement, who claimed that the new Jerusalem was going to come down and be built in, on the site of a little village in the middle of Asia Minor called Papusa.

And so there is this conviction that the Spirit is speaking in a way that he spoke in the New Testament period. There is fresh words of God that are equivalent to scripture being given. There is, among some of the prophets and prophetesses in the movement, a loss of self-control when they are speaking prophecy.

There is a glorification of martyrdom. And there is a prediction that the end of time and history is at hand. Now we'll see when we turn to Tertullian that there are other features that he is interested in as well.

So some of, those are some of the early aspects of Montanism that we know, and not so much because we know anything about the careers of these, the leaders in the movement, but because of these very sayings and statements that are quoted by their opponents.

Now the response of the Church to Montanism was not surprising. As the Spirits, if you want to put it that way, were tested, the Montanist movement became quite clear. It was, fell short in a number of areas.

And yet it grew rapidly, and by the year 200, within about 30, maybe 40 years of the early Montanists, or Montanists beginning to prophesy, we have Montanists in Rome, we have Montanists in Southern France, and we have Montanists in North Africa.

And so it quickly spread throughout churches. And it split churches. We'll see this as one of the problems that the Montanist movement did. It didn't build necessarily, it split churches as people said, these, the Montanists, the prophecies are real.

And others said, no, we, we, as we read Scripture, we've got problems with this. Well, now let's turn to Tertullian. And of all the early Montanists, he is the most famous. And he is, in many respects, there is much that we can admire about Tertullian.

He has a number of very important gifts that he gives to the church. And we'll look at one of them regarding the doctrine of Trinity at the end. Like many other early Christian authors, we know next to nothing in great detail about Tertullian.

We know more about Tertullian than we do about Montanists, a lot more. We have a fair number of Tertullian's books. But we don't know details about his early life. We, it used to be argued among older historians that he was born around the year 160, died around the year 225.

The truth of the matter is, we really only know the period between 190 and 215. 190, when he suddenly appears as a Christian, and a Christian leader. 215, when his last book is written. And in other words then, we don't know really when he was born, we don't know when he died.

He tells us that before his conversion, he frequently went to the Roman amphitheater. And he remembers going there, as a Christian now, he remembers it was shame and disgrace. That he took delight in the horrific scenes of men killing other men for sport.

And for the pleasure of the spectators. He remembers it was shame and disgrace. He can describe himself on a number of occasions as a great sinner. And some of it is thinking back I'm sure to his life before conversion, but some of it may be his awareness of God's mercy and grace in his life, even after his conversion and so on.

The circumstances and date of his exact date of his conversion are not known. He's definitely a Christian by around the year 190. How did he become a Christian? Again it's not known, but some historians have argued that it could very well have been observing martyrs.

And he has one little passage in a book called To Scapula. Scapula was the Roman governor in North Africa at the time. And he says this, our religion, which you know is growing stronger at the very moment when it seems to be cut down, will never perish.

For whoever beholds such a noble endurance of the martyrs, will first as those struck by some kind of uneasiness, be driven to inquire what is the matter in question. And then when he knows the truth, immediately follow the same way.

He could be speaking autobiographically. He could be indicating what his own experience was as he was in the amphitheater. And he does tell us he went there a lot. And he was in Carthage and there were Christians martyred in Carthage in the amphitheater.

And it could very well be as he's watching them, it suddenly comes into his mind, why are these people dying like this? The gladiators he can understand as a Roman. I mean these people are armed to the teeth.

And the wealthy gladiators, some of them would win their freedom. And the gladiators in those days were the football stars and the baseball stars. And these archaeologists have actually found, written on the walls of some of the buildings that have been excavated, the graffiti, Roman graffiti, with the names of the gladiators.

And one could understand them, but these people, dying utterly defenseless, many of them singing, many of them with joy. And it could very well be, and as I say we don't know this for a fact, it could very well be that Tertullian saw this and why?

And began to inquire and so was converted. We know that he was married. He has a marvellous book written to his wife, it's called To His Wife. And there is a really fabulous passage, and maybe an ideal, but a fabulous passage about what Christian marriage is like.

Tertullian on Marriage and Ethical Rigour

And I've actually given it there for you. How beautiful then the marriage of two Christians. Two are one in hope, one in desire, one in the way of life they follow, one in the religion they practice. The word religion that he uses, as many other Christians did, they use it in a positive sense.

We sometimes, today, we compare Christianity to religion. And just so that you're aware, they use it in a positive sense. They are a brethren and sister, both servants of the same master. Nothing divides them either in flesh or in spirit.

They are, in very truth, two in one flesh, and where there is but one flesh, there is also but one spirit. They pray together, they worship together, they fast together, instructing one another, encouraging one another, strengthening one another.

Side by side they visit God's church and partake of God's banquet. And presumably he's referring there to the Lord's table. Side by side they face difficulties and persecution, share their consolations, they have no secrets from one another, they never shun each other's company, they never bring sorrow to each other's hearts.

Now, especially that last phrase, anybody who's married knows that there are struggles in marriage and sometimes we do hurt our spouse. And it may indicate that this is an ideal that he's setting before the church and believers who read this.

But nonetheless, it's a marvelous indication of what Christian marriage was viewed as and held in high regard. Within a couple of hundred years, this ideal of marriage would start to slip. We'll have occasion to note that.

And during the Middle Ages, Christian marriage was not held in as high regard as it was in the early church. And the state of celibacy becomes the pathway of discipleship if you're really wanting to be a full, all-out Christian.

It's quite clear, it's very different, very, very different. His wife died not long after their marriage. We know that as well. And by the time that Tertullian becomes a Montanist, his wife was no longer living.

And there is a good indication, as we'll see in a minute, that Tertullian's embrace of Montanism was intimately linked to the Montanist emphasis that if your spouse dies, you cannot remarry. It is sin to remarry.

And it could very well be that that appealed to Tertullian. But we'll see that in a minute. One of the big questions is why he becomes a Montanist. One answer is this question about his wife dying and remarriage.

Another thing, and this comes out all through his writings, is he was very interested in ethics. And he is what we would describe today as a rigorous, when it comes to ethics. He likes things black and white.

And the Montanists also like things black and white. And I think that one of the things that attracted Tertullian to Montanism was not so much the prediction of the end. He doesn't refer to that much.

It was not so much the sort of prophesying, but it was the strong ethical stance the Montanists were making in a number of areas. Now there's two areas then that we want to look at with Tertullian on his Montanism.

One is the issue of martyrdom. Tertullian's writing career can be divided into two segments. The year 190 to about 205 is when he is, for lack of a better word, Orthodox. When he is writing treatises from within the church.

From the year 206 to 215, the last 10 years of the life we know of him about, he is writing as a Montanist. And he's critical of the church. And he writes a number of books in which he is criticizing the church's position in certain areas.

Tertullian’s Teaching on Persecution and Martyrdom

For instance, the issue of martyrdom. When persecution takes place, what should you do as a Christian? Do you voluntarily go down, as it were, to the police station and give yourself up and say, I'm a Christian?

Or do you flee? Is it ever right to flee from persecution if you know the authorities have a warrant for your arrest? Can you go into hiding? The church's answer, based on Matthew 10 .23, was that if you are actually arrested for your faith, then you have to give a good witness and be prepared to suffer the consequences.

But that doesn't mean that you cannot flee from persecution. Matthew 10 .23. When you are persecuted, these are our Lord's words, when you are persecuted in one town, flee to the next. And based on that text, the large numbers of church writers said if you are aware that you're about to be arrested and you can go into hiding, go into hiding.

And they were critical of Christians. There were some Christians who, this happened, I can actually, I haven't given you any text, but I can show you text in which there might be a Roman century, roughly a hundred men marching through a town and suddenly out of a doorway will come a man running, yelling, I'm a Christian, arrest me.

And there are a couple of passages like that. And now looking back, we might say, well, the people are obviously disturbed. And the church, though, is responsible. This is not appropriate behavior. This is not what believers should be doing.

They should not be provoking the authorities to execute them and murder them. Tertullian's response to that, as he looked at the church, what he saw was, you're lax. And Tertullian's answer, should you ever flee from persecution, his answer is simple, it's black and white, no, never.

He actually has a book called Flight in Time of Persecution. And if you turn over the page, there is a quote from it, the third page of the notes there. Flight in Time of Persecution, a significantly sized book.

And this is from chapter 9, and section 4. Yet who will flee persecution, from persecution, if not the man who fears? And who will fear if not the man who loves not? If you ask counsel of the spirit, in other words, if you ask what the spirit would say, what he approved, what will he approve, more than counsel of the spirit.

Indeed, by it, almost all are advised to offer themselves, or martyrdom, never to flee from it. Hence, I cannot help but quote it as follows. And now he quotes, it's a bit of a different translation, he quotes the saying, number 4, if I recall correctly there.

You go back, you look back at number, no, number 3. What he's quoting here, it's a bit of a different translation, is statement number 3. This is where we actually get statement 3 from. We get it from Tertullian.

Hence, I cannot help but quote it as follows. If you are held up to infamy, that is good. He who does not suffer ignominy before men will know it before God. Never be ashamed, because it is your very righteousness that sets you before the public gaze.

Why are you ashamed of what is to your glory? You gain power when you are before the eyes of men. And then he quotes number 4. So he also tells us elsewhere, do not then ask to die in bridal beds or in miscarriages, or from gentle fevers, rather seek to die a martyr, that he may be glorified to suffer for you.

Now, there's a couple of things very disturbing about this passage. First of all, he's quoting these texts on the level of scripture. It's quite clear that for Tertullian, these are authoritative statements.

And the whole language in which he's quoting them is the way a Christian would quote scripture. And there are cases where you can quote a text, and while proof texting is not always the best way to discuss and do theology, there are times where there are issues where there is a clear text and the context supports it, where you can quote the text and the case is closed, in one sense.

And he quotes these passages here as if they were scripture. They close the case for him. The second thing that is disturbing is that it runs against the grain of a number of scripture passages. Our Lord's words in Matthew 10 there, Paul's own situation.

For instance, in the book of Acts, Acts 19, the riot in Ephesus. Paul wants to go into the arena, 24 ,000, 25 ,000 men, screaming, great is Diana of the Ephesians, for two hours straight. And Paul says to a number of his friends, let me go in, as it were, let me go into the arena, and obviously with a hope that he'd be able to calm the crowd down.

And some of the authorities of Ephesus send word to him, don't let him go in. Now, if Tertullian had been there, what would he have said to Paul? Go in, Paul! If you get martyred, that's to your glory.

But Paul doesn't, Paul listens, and he doesn't go in. Now, we know from later Church history, later scriptures, 2 Timothy, and some scriptural accounts outside of the word of God, that Paul did die a martyr.

Now, he was not afraid, ultimately, God giving him strength to lay down his life for Christ. But there is a difference between martyrdom, as it were, according to the gospel, martyrdom that God is genuinely leading you into, and plain foolishness, and throwing your life away.

And Tertullian seems to be recommending here the latter. The second area, and there are a number of areas, that's an ethical issue. This is an ethical issue. As Tertullian works with the Church, he's afraid that maybe some believers are growing lax, and what he's trying to do is encourage a spirit of boldness in the face of Roman authorities.

But in doing so, he goes further than scripture. The second area, and these are only two of a number of areas we could cite, the second area has to do with marriage. Is it legitimate, if your spouse dies, to remarry?

Well, I'm sure if you know the writings of the Apostle Paul, you know the answer to that. 1 Corinthians 7, Paul deals with it, right at the end of the chapter, as he's been dealing with issues relating to divorce and separation, issues dealing with relations to men who have the responsibility, and again, remember from last week, the context of Middle East, or the ancient empire being patriarchal, men who have the responsibility of securing husbands for their daughters.

And right at the end of the chapter, he talks about those who are widowed. Now, can they remarry? And Paul says, yes, by all means, and in the Lord, he emphasizes. Well, Tertullian had problems with that, and the Montanites had problems with that.

And let me read the text, and then comment on it. It's number two there, right after, to his wife, and it's a text called On Monogamy. And he's not dealing here with the issue of, the book is called On Monogamy, but he's not dealing with the issue of marrying only one wife, as opposed to polygamy, he's dealing with the issue of, is it legitimate for a Christian to remarry after the death of the spouse?

He's not dealing with issues of divorce and remarriage, he's dealing with that one specific issue, On Monogamy. We, however, who are deservedly called the spiritual, he's talking about the Montanites, because of the spiritual gifts which are acknowledgedly ours, consider that continence is as worthy of veneration as freedom to marry is worthy of respect, since both are according to the will of the Creator.

Continence honors the law of marriage, permission to marry tempers it. The former is perfectly free, the latter is subject to regulation. The former is a matter of free choice, the latter is restricted within certain limitations.

We admit but one marriage, just as we recognize but one God. Therefore, the first point we must take up in our consideration, the subject at hand, is whether or not it is possible that the paraclete, the spirit, has revealed anything at all which is an innovation opposed to Catholic tradition.

The word Catholic there, used at this period in time, let me just veer off very quickly, is a good word. The word means universal. And it has down through the years, centuries, I don't need to tell you this, been appropriated by one communion or community.

But the word Catholic is a good word. And I can affirm without any hesitation that I belong to one holy Catholic church. Not a visible church, not rooted in any institution, but it is all the body of God's people throughout space and time.

The word Catholic, Catholicos, is universal. And so he's talking here about universal tradition. All which imposes moral obligations upon us as inconsistent with the life burden referred to by the Lord.

The Lord himself has spoken personally on both these subjects. For he says, I have yet many things to speak to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Holy Spirit is come, he will introduce you to all truth.

Thus, of course, he sufficiently indicates that the Holy Spirit reveals such things as may be considered innovations since they were not revealed before, and burdensome since it was for this reason that they were not revealed.

The paraclete has many things to teach which the Lord deferred until such time as he should come. It is by a predetermined plan that this is done. First he will bear witness to the selfsame Christ in whom we place our faith, and to the whole design of God's creation, and he will glorify him, and bring to mind the things that he has said.

And when thus he is recognized according to the plan which was determined from the beginning, then he will make known the many things which have to do with the way of life we are to follow. These things will be authenticated by the integrity of his teaching.

These, they may be revealed only now. They may be burdensome because up to now they were not required of us. Nevertheless, the author is the very same Christ who said that he had yet many other things which the paraclete should teach.

Things which would be found no less a burden by men of our own day than by those who in his day could not bear them. Now the whole argument there centers around John 12 -13. And his interpretation of that verse is very different from Irenaeus.

For Irenaeus, that verse was fulfilled in the apostles. They were the ones whom God led into all truth. And where is that truth now? It is scripture. And therefore the spirit's work, by implication, is different in the church after the end of the apostolic period than in the apostolic period.

In the first century, one of the things the spirit is doing is he is inspiring what we call the New Testament. After the New Testament period, he is illuminating it. He's opening it up. He's giving a love for us.

He's giving a desire to follow his teachings. He's giving knowledge of us and so on. Tertullian's understanding of that passage is that this passage refers to things the spirit will teach, yet they're not in scripture, but they're just as binding.

Things that come after the period of scripture. And one of them, Tertullian said, is the fact the spirit is now telling us we cannot remarry after the death of our spouse. And when his opponent said, what do you do at 1 Corinthians 7, 39 to 40?