The Debates Go On, Part 2!

The recent Presidential debate so inspired me, that I decided to look into famous debates that have happened over the centuries in the Christian Church. My previous blog began that study, looking at issues the Church faced in its first few centuries, deciding a number of doctrines in the light of various heresies which cropped up and threatened to destroy the Gospel. For example, the debate whether Jesus was just a divine being that only had the appearance of man (the Docetists) or a mere human who had been endowed with some divine attributes (Arianism). The Church rejected both ideas, affirming that Jesus was both true God and true man, as stated in the Nicene Creed.

Coincidentally, the Christian satire site, The Babylon Bee, just posted an article with the headline, “Scholars Now Believe Apostle Paul Spent Five Hours Per Day Arguing Online With Other Christians.” Considering all the problems his letters to the churches address, if the internet existed back then, he could well have spent that much time trying to correct them!

Before we consider the Church in the Middle Ages, there is one more ancient debate to consider: the Donatist Controversy. The question here was what happens when a priest is forced by the Roman Emperor to make a “donation” to a pagan god under punishment of law: does that render the acts of that priest (baptism and communion) invalid? The Church decided that no, the Christian sacraments are still valid, regardless of the priest’s sins or even lack of faith. This means that even today, the means of grace are still valid, even if the pastor is a fraud and an unbeliever. It is God who makes the sacraments valid, not the man.

But, now we leave the ancient church and move into medieval times, to see what debates the Church had to resolve. Unfortunately, some debates were not resolved in universally accepted manners, leading to church splits and the rise of new denominations that are still with us today.

1. First, there was the debate over the preeminence of the Roman Pope.  When the Bishop of Rome tried to assert his authority over the entire Christian Church, his claim was rejected by many bishops in other regions of Christendom, such as in the areas which came to be known as the Eastern Orthodox Church, and in the Northern African Churches, all of which had their own bishops. The split was formalized in the Great Schism of 1054, when East (Greek) and West (Latin) churches condemned each other and broke communion. This condemnation was not removed until the Catholic-Orthodox Joint Declaration of 1965. The split, however, continues to this day.

2. The debate over predestination.  Most theologians of the medieval Church  believed in predestination, the doctrine that God determines ahead of time who will be saved (Ephesians 1:11, “In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will. . .”). The debate arose over what came to be called double predestination, whether God had also predestined certain people to damnation. According to this, a person’s faith was irrelevant, other than God determining whether that person would have faith. This debate arose as early as the 800’s, but continued through the Reformation (which we will consider in the next blog).

3. The debate over Holy Communion. What do we receive during Holy Communion? Do we eat bread and wine, or the actual flesh and blood of Jesus? Do the elements miraculously transform on the altar by the priests’ words? Or is what we eat merely symbolic of Christ’s body? This became an important debate in the Church. One view was called the “realistic” view, which said the bread and wine turned miraculously into actual flesh and blood (transubstantiation); the other, the “symbolic view,” said that the elements remained bread and wine and gave spiritual benefits when eaten.  This debate arose in the 850’s, and continues to this day, even though the Roman Church decided on transubstantiation.

4. The debate between Faith versus Reason. As a result of the Crusades beginning in the 1o00’s, the works of ancient Greek philosophers became known through the Arabs who had preserved them. One that had an enormous impact was Aristotle and his call to reason. The impact this had was on the question reason played in our faith. Eventually this would give rise to the Enlightenment (1700’s), and to humanism, which made man the source of knowledge and truth, but for centuries before that, there was a huge conflict between truths learned through reason (including science and philosophy), and God’s revealed knowledge through the Scriptures. That’s why Galileo could be imprisoned for his scientific discoveries as being “opposed to faith.”

In the Catholic Church, St. Thomas Aquinas formed what became known as “Scholasticism” that employed a critical method of philosophical analysis predicated upon Aristotle’s teachings. By doing so, scholars sought to learn all attainable truth, whether revealed or not. Many of the universities of this time were founded on such teachings and philosophical methods. One of the products of this school of thought was the theory of transubstantiation, which used the Aristotelian categories of “essence” and “accidents” to describe the mass. In that view, the elements, when blessed, retained their accidents -(their physical form) but changed their essence (their actual nature). Luther argued against this view, saying that the Church should not base its doctrine on a pagan philosopher, but on the words of Christ in Scripture. Luther recited Jesus’s words at the Last Supper, when Jesus said, “This is my body, this is my blood,” as proof we receive Christ’s true body and blood.

5. The debate between Church and State. The Christian Church went from being persecuted, to tolerated (Constantine’s Edict of Milan in 313 AD), to become the official religion of the Roman Empire in 380 AD with the decree of the Edict of Thessalonica. But when the Roman empire was sacked by the barbarians, the Christian Church became the default unifying force in Europe. For one thing, it was a Pope (Leo I) who saved Rome from Attila the Hun in 451 AD, not by force of arms, but by prayer and persuasion. Also, when Europe was united under the Emperor Charlemagne, it was another pope, Pope Leo III, who crowned him Holy Roman Emperor on Christmas Day in 800 AD. That set the pattern for the church as supreme over state.

However, throughout this period, tensions and struggles for power between kings and Popes continued. Part of this was philosophical/theological, but much had to do with money and political control. For example, German bishops of the period had castles and lands, and could enforce taxes and river tolls on boats.

Problems occurred when the Church tried to enforce allegiance to the faith or to religious authority by the power of the State, such as through various Inquisitions,  and when the State claimed power over the Church, such as when Henry VIII of England formed the Church of England and declared himself as the head of that Church (and disbanded Catholic convents and monasteries in England, Wales, and Ireland, and seized their wealth and assets).

One doctrine which arose was the idea of God’s two hands: his right hand the church, and his left hand the state. Each had its own God-ordained roles to play in the affairs of men. One to proclaim the Gospel, the other to use the Law to refrain evil. Luther called this division the “proper” work of God (by the Church’s proclaiming salvation through the Gospel), and the “alien” work of God, restraining evil by the power of governments. This is also called the “Two kingdoms” theory. Both are instituted by God to do his works and must be respected. (Romans 13:1  “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.“)

These and other debates continued through the medieval period, and affect us even today. Our First Amendment addresses the Church/State debate by establishing freedom of religion, saying: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” However, most recently, the State ordered churches to be shut down for the COVID pandemic, citing public health reasons. Some churches refused to do so, claiming freedom of religion, which is in keeping with the “Two kingdoms” doctrine.

We have now come to the end of medieval times. Before us now are the debates of the Reformation, which we will consider in the next blog, known, to no surprise, as Part 3 of The Debates Go On!

Now may the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace. Amen.

Read: Romans 13:1-7; 1 Corinthians 11:22-24; Ephesians 1:11-14.