Matt. 7:15-20 (Part 2)
JUSTIN MARTYR: The prophetical gifts remain with us, even to the present time. And hence you ought to understand that the gifts formerly among your nation [the Jews] have been transferred to us [the Christians]. And just as there were false prophets in the same time period with your holy prophets, so are there now many false teachers among us, of whom our Lord forewarned us to beware; so that in no respect are we deficient, since we know that He foreknew all that would happen to us after His resurrection from the dead and ascension to heaven. For He said we would be put to death, and hated for His name’s sake;2 and that many false prophets and false Christs would appear in His name, and deceive many:3 and so has it come about. For many have taught godless, blasphemous, and unholy doctrines, forging them in His name; have taught, too, and even yet are teaching, those things which proceed from the unclean spirit of the devil, and which were put into their hearts. Therefore we are most anxious that you be persuaded not to be misled by such persons, since we know that every one who can speak the truth, and yet does not speak it, shall be judged by God, as God testified by Ezekiel, when He said, “I have made you a watchman to the house of Judah. If the sinner sin, and you do not warn him, he himself shall die in his sin; but his blood will I require at your hand. But if you warn him, you shall be innocent.”4 And on this account we are, through fear, very earnest in desiring to converse with men according to the Scriptures, but not from love of money, or of glory, or of pleasure. For no man can convict us of any of these vices. No more do we wish to live like the rulers of your people, whom God reproaches when He says, “Your rulers are companions of thieves, lovers of bribes, followers of the rewards.”5 Now, if you know certain among us to be of this sort, do not for their sakes blaspheme the Scriptures and Christ, and do not diligently strive to give falsified interpretations. Dialogue with Trypho, 1.240.
HEGESIPPUS: The Church was called a virgin, for she was not as yet corrupted by worthless teaching. Thebulis it was who, displeased because he was not made bishop, first began to corrupt her by stealth. He too was connected with the seven sects which existed among the people, like Simon, from whom come the Simoniani; and Cleobius, from whom come the Cleobiani; and Doritheus, from whom come the Dorithiani; and Gorthaeus, from whom come the Gortheani; Masbothaeus, from whom come the Masbothaei. From these men also come the Menandrianists, and the Marcionists, and the Carpocratians, and the Valentinians, and the Basilidians, and the Saturnilians.6 Each of these leaders in his own private and distinct capacity brought in his own private opinion. From these have come false Christs, false prophets, false apostles—men who have split up the one Church into parts through their corrupting doctrines, uttered in disparagement of God and of His Christ. Concerning His Journey to Rome, and the Jewish Sects, 8.764.
IRENAEUS: Certain men have set the truth aside, and bring in lying words and vain genealogies, which, as the apostle says, “minister questions rather than godly edifying which is in faith,”7 and by means of their craftily-constructed plausibilities draw away the minds of the inexperienced and take them captive. These men falsify the oracles of God, and prove themselves evil interpreters of the good word of revelation. They also overthrow the faith of many, by drawing them away, under a pretense of superior knowledge, from Him who rounded and adorned the universe; as if they had something more excellent and sublime to reveal, than that God who created the heaven and the earth, and all things that are therein. By means of specious and plausible words, they cunningly allure the simple-minded to inquire into their system; but they nevertheless clumsily destroy them, while they initiate them into their blasphemous and impious opinions . . . and these simple ones are unable, even in such a matter, to distinguish falsehood from truth.
Error, indeed, is never set forth in its naked deformity, lest, being thus exposed, it should at once be detected. But it is craftily decked out in an attractive dress, so as, by its outward form, to make it appear to the inexperienced (ridiculous as the expression may seem) more true than the truth itself. One far superior to me has well said, in reference to this point, “A clever imitation in glass casts contempt, as it were, on that precious jewel the emerald (which is most highly esteemed by some), unless it come under the eye of one able to test and expose the counterfeit. Or, again, what inexperienced person can with ease detect the presence of brass when it has been mixed up with silver?” Lest, therefore, through my neglect, some should be carried off, even as sheep are by wolves, while they perceive not the true character of these men,—because they outwardly are covered with sheep’s clothing (against whom the Lord has enjoined us to be on our guard), and because their language resembles ours, while their sentiments are very different,—I have deemed it my duty . . . to unfold to you, my friend, these portentous and profound mysteries, which do not fall within the range of every intellect, because all have not sufficiently purged their brains. I do this, in order that you, obtaining an acquaintance with these things, may in turn explain them to all those with whom you are connected, and exhort them to avoid such an abyss of madness and of blasphemy against Christ. Against Heresies, 1.315.
IRENAEUS: It appears probable enough that this man possesses a demon as his familiar spirit, by means of whom he seems able to prophesy, and also enables as many as he counts worthy to be partakers of his Charis themselves to prophesy. He devotes himself especially to women, and those such as are well- bred, and elegantly attired, and of great wealth, whom he frequently seeks to draw after him, by addressing them in seductive words. . . .
But already some of the most faithful women, possessed of the fear of God, and not being deceived (whom, nevertheless, he did his best to seduce like the rest by bidding them prophesy), abhorring and cursing him, have withdrawn from such a vile company of revelers. This they have done, as being well aware that the gift of prophecy is not conferred on men by Marcus, the magician, but that only those to whom God sends His grace from above possess the divinely- bestowed power of prophesying; and then they speak where and when God pleases, and not when Marcus orders them to do so. Against Heresies, 1.334- 335.
IRENAEUS: Moreover, those also will be thus refuted who belong to Simon and Carpocrates [heretical teachers], and if there be any others who are said to perform miracles—who do not perform what they do either through the power of God, or in connection with the truth, nor for the well-being of men, but for the sake of destroying and misleading mankind, by means of magical deceptions, and with universal deceit, thus entailing greater harm than good on those who believe them, with respect to the point on which they lead them astray. For they can neither confer sight on the blind, nor hearing on the deaf, nor chase away all sorts of demons—[none, indeed,] except those that are sent into others by themselves, if they can even do so much as this. Nor can they cure the weak, or the lame, or the paralytic, or those who are distressed in any other part of the body, as has often been done in regard to bodily infirmity. Nor can they furnish effective remedies for those external accidents which may occur. And so far are they from being able to raise the dead, as the Lord raised them, and the apostles did by means of prayer, and as has been frequently done in the brotherhood on account of some necessity—the entire Church in that particular locality entreating with much fasting and prayer, the spirit of the dead man has returned, and he has been bestowed in answer to the prayers of the saints—that they do not even believe this can be possibly be done, [and hold] that the resurrection from the dead is simply an acquaintance with that truth which they proclaim.
Since, therefore, there exist among them error and misleading influences, and magical illusions are impiously wrought in the sight of men; but in the Church, sympathy, and compassion, and stedfastness, and truth, for the aid and encouragement of mankind, are not only displayed without fee or reward, but we ourselves lay out for the benefit of others our own means; and inasmuch as those who are cured very frequently do not possess the things which they require, they receive them from us;—since such is the case, these men are in this way undoubtedly proved to be utter aliens from the divine nature, the beneficence of God, and all spiritual excellence. But they are altogether full of deceit of every kind, apostate inspiration, demoniacal working, and the phantasms of idolatry, and are in reality the predecessors of that dragon who, by means of a deception of the same kind, will with his tail cause a third part of the stars to fall from their place, and will cast them down to the earth. It behooves us to flee from them [the Gnostics] as we would from him; and the greater the display with which they are said to perform their marvels, the more carefully should we watch them, as having been endowed with a greater spirit of wickedness. If any one will consider the prophecy referred to, and the daily practices of these men, he will find that their manner of acting is one and the same with the demons. Against Heresies, 1.407-408.
IRENAEUS: There are those who inwardly are wolves, yet wear sheep's clothing in the eyes of the world; and that God has always preserved freedom, and the power of self-government in man, while at the same time He issued His own exhortations, in order that those who do not obey Him should be righteously judged (condemned) because they have not obeyed Him; and that those who have obeyed and believed on Him should be honored with immortality. Against Heresies, 1.480.
IRENAEUS: He shall judge false prophets, who, without having received the gift of prophecy from God, and not possessed of the fear of God, but either for the sake of vainglory, or with a view to some personal advantage, or acting in some other way under the influence of a wicked spirit, pretend to utter prophecies, while all the time they lie against God. Against Heresies, 1.508.
TATIAN: Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, while within they are ravening wolves. But by their fruits you shall know them. For every tree is known by its fruit. For figs are not gathered of thorns, neither are grapes plucked of briers. Even so every good tree brings forth good fruit, but the evil tree brings forth evil fruit. The good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can the evil tree bring forth good fruit. The good man from the good treasures that are in his heart brings forth good things; and the evil man from the evil treasures that are in his heart brings forth evil things: and from the overflowings of the heart the lips speak. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and cast into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you shall know them. The Diatessaron, 9.60.
CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: The devil is called “thief and robber;” having mixed false prophets with the prophets, as tares with the wheat. “All, then, that came before the Lord, were thieves and robbers;” not absolutely all men, but all the false prophets, and all who were not properly sent by Him. For the false prophets possessed the prophetic name dishonestly, being prophets, but prophets of the liar. For the Lord says, “You are of your father the devil; and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and he did not abide in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own; for he is a liar, and the father of it.”
But among the lies, the false prophets also told some true things. And in reality they prophesied “in an ecstasy,” as the servants of the apostate. And the Shepherd, the angel of repentance, says to Hermas, of the false prophet: “For he speaks some truths. For the devil fills him with his own spirit, if perchance he may be able to cast down any one from what is right.” The Stromata, 2.319.
CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: We have been taught to recognize by their works false prophets and all who merely pretend to the truth. On Marriage.
HIPPOLYTUS: For as the blessed prophets were made, so to speak, eyes for us, they foresaw through faith the mysteries of the word, and became ministers of these things also to succeeding generations, not only reporting the past, but also announcing the present and the future, so that the prophet might not appear to be one only for the time being, but might also predict the future for all generations, and so be reckoned a (true) prophet. For these fathers were furnished with the Spirit, and largely honored by the Word Himself; and just as it is with instruments of music, so had they the Word always, like the plectrum, in union with them, and when moved by Him the prophets announced what God willed. For they did not speak of their own power21 (let there be no mistake as to that), neither did they declare what pleased themselves. But first of all they were endowed with wisdom by the Word, and then again were rightly instructed in the future by means of visions. And then, when thus themselves fully convinced, they spoke those things which were revealed by God to them alone, and concealed from all others. For with what reason should the prophet be called a prophet, unless he in spirit foresaw the future? For if the prophet spoke of any chance event, he would not be a prophet then in speaking of things which were under the eye of all. But one who sets forth in detail things yet to be, was rightly judged a prophet.
Treatise on Christ and Antichrist, 5.204-205.
TERTULLIAN: But let us rather be mindful of the sayings of the Lord, and of the letters of the apostles; for they have both told us beforehand that there shall be heresies, and have given us, in anticipation, warnings to avoid them; and inasmuch as we are not alarmed because they exist, so we ought not to wonder that they are capable of doing that, on account of which they must be shunned. The Lord teaches us that many “ravening wolves shall come in sheep’s clothing.” Now, what are these sheep’s clothing’s, but the external surface of the Christian profession? Who are the ravening wolves but those deceitful senses and spirits which are lurking within to waste the flock of Christ? Who are the false prophets but deceptive predictors of the future? Who are the false apostles but the preachers of a spurious gospel? Who also are the Antichrists, both now and evermore, but the men who rebel against Christ? The Prescription Against Heretics, 3.245.
ALEXANDER OF ALEXANDRIA: Although we grieve at the destruction of these men [the heretics of Arianism], especially that after having once learned the doctrine of the Church, they have now gone back; yet we do not wonder at it; for this very thing Hymenaeus and Philetus suffered, and before them Judas, who, though he followed the Savior, afterwards became a traitor and an apostate. Moreover, concerning these very men, warnings are not lacking to us, for the Lord foretold: “Take heed that you are not deceived: for many shall come in My Name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draws near: therefore do not go after them.” Paul, too, having learned these things from the Savior, wrote, “In the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils which turn away from the truth.” Epistles on the Arian Heresy and the Deposition of Arius, 6.298