Global Anglican Commentary

Retrieving Irenaeus' Three Marks of Faithfulness

by the Rev. Ron Offringa

Statue of St. Irenaeus of Lyons at Frederik’s Church, Copenhagen by Carl Rohl Smith; source Wikimedia

This week Bishops, Clergy, and lay leaders from around the world gathered in Abuja, Nigeria for G26, the first formal meeting of the Global Anglican Communion. This is the culmination of the work GAFCON has set out to do since 2008: to provide the orthodox communion with accountability under which the Anglican Church can be governed throughout the world. Why the need for realignment and restructuring? In our commentary on Article 13 of the Jerusalem Declaration we demonstrated that the heresy and sin tolerated and promoted by the Canterbury Communion necessitates our rejection of their authority. Where there is no accountability, there is no authority. And yet we must heed St. Paul’s warning: “anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12). Looking back at the failures of Canterbury and ahead at the potential of the Global Anglican Communion, how can we maintain faithfulness through successive generations? St. Irenaeus of Lyons provided three markers of faithfulness which we must strive to maintain: the succession of office, teaching sound doctrine, and living in obedience to the Scriptures.

The Succession

We, like St. Irenaeus who wrote against the Gnostics, share the same canon of Scripture as the Canterbury Communion, but not its interpretation in matters of faith and morals. St. Irenaeus’ engagement with those of Valentinus’ party is remarkably similar to the divisive conversation in which we engage today:

“When, however, they are confuted from the Scriptures, they turn round and accuse these same Scriptures, as if they were not correct, nor of authority, and [assert] that they are ambiguous, and that the truth cannot be extracted from them by those who are ignorant of [their] tradition… When we refer them to that tradition which originates from the apostles, [and] which is preserved by means of the succession of presbyters in the Churches, they object to tradition, saying that they themselves are wiser not merely than the presbyters, but even than the apostles, because they have discovered the unadulterated truth… These men do now consent neither to Scripture nor to tradition” (Haer. 3.2.1-2).1

After summarizing the errors of Valentinus, St. Irenaeus noted that the Holy Scriptures contain none of his heresies, that the presbyters of the Church hold to the tradition handed down from the apostles, and that the bishops, whose succession from the Apostles can be demonstrated in all the churches, also know nothing of these strange teachings:

It is within the power of all, therefore, in every Church, who may wish to see the truth, to contemplate clearly the tradition of the apostles manifested throughout the whole world; and we are in a position to reckon up those who were by the apostles instituted bishops in the Churches, and [to demonstrate] the succession of these men to our own times; those who neither taught nor knew of anything like what these [heretics] rave about. For if the apostles had known hidden mysteries, which they were in the habit of imparting to “the perfect” apart and privily from the rest, they would have delivered them especially to those to whom they were also committing the Churches themselves. For they were desirous that these men should be very perfect and blameless in all things, whom also they were leaving behind as their successors, delivering up their own place of government to these men (Haer. 3.3.1).

Thus, St. Irenaeus understood the succession of the episcopate to be those who received the authority to govern the Church and who maintain her teachings (Haer. 4.33.8, 5.20.1), the presbyters joining the bishops with their own succession from the apostles and defense of the truth (Haer. 3.3.1, 4.26.2, 4.32.1). This succession of office from the Apostles to the Bishops and Presbyters is an essential marker of belonging to the Church established by Christ and his Apostles. While it may be tempting in the face of abject heresy and moral failure to cast off the succession of Office, seeing it as insufficient, we must remember that the governance of the Church is not ours to determine or dissolve, but to receive. As St. John says, “the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:2-3). Our fellowship with the Father and the Son is grounded in our fellowship with those who were sent by Christ as his ambassadors and their successors. Through this succession, this means of grace, God grants us unity, inviting us to be “attuned to the bishop as the strings are to the harp. Therefore Jesus Christ is sung in your concord and harmonious love. And each of you should join the chorus, so that in harmonious concord, and taking up God’s note in unity, you may sing to the Father with a single voice through Jesus Christ, so that he may both hear you, and acknowledge you, through what you do well, as limbs of his own Son.” (Ign. Eph. 4:1-2).2

Sound Doctrine

Bare succession of office, of course, is not sufficient. As the apostles warn us, there were and still are false teachers who preach another gospel, another Jesus, and another Spirit and yet derive their authority from the true succession (2 Corinthians 11:4). There are some who followed our Lord and who denied him, but who returned to him in repentance. Those who were chosen by him, denied him and persisted in their denial, however, have no part in him and cannot represent him. Though Christ may use their efforts for the advancement of his kingdom (Philippians 1:15-18), their end is destruction (Matthew 7:21-23). Rather, the Lord delivered to us through his Apostles a succession not only of polity, but of doctrine and holy living.

St. Irenaeus reminds us to cling to the teachings of the Scriptures and their sound interpretation as it has been handed down to us through the succession from the Apostles.:

“True knowledge is [that which consists in] the doctrine of the apostles, the ancient constitution of the Church throughout all the world, and the distinctive manifestation of the body of Christ according to the successions of bishops, by which they have handed down to that Church which exists in every place, and has come even unto us, being guarded and preserved without any forging of Scriptures, by a very complete system of doctrine, and neither receiving addition nor [suffering] curtailment [in the truths which she believed]; and [it consists in] reading [the word of God] without falsification, and a lawful and diligent exposition in harmony with the Scriptures, both without danger and without blasphemy” (Haer. 4.33.8).

In our context this demands the careful study and stewardship of the faith of our fathers. Theological drift happens not just when heretics become infatuated with novelty or obsessed with vainglory, but when we assume that everyone knows the basics of the faith. It is one thing to affirm the faith of the first four councils and the Christological clarifications of the latter three and another to preach, teach, and defend the faith that has been handed down to us. The call of Pike to do away with the language of Sundays after Trinity because, while perhaps necessary for its day, the doctrine of the Trinity has no use to us today,3 should speak volumes to us regarding the need to thoroughly, enthusiastically, and boldly articulate the articles of our faith regularly.4 Modern errors against the doctrines of the Trinity and Incarnation need just as much—if not more—attention in our preaching, teaching, and catechesis as the sexual ethics and political strife that dominate our discourse. It was, after all, these sorts of errors that first crept in, and, unchallenged, laid the groundwork for further theological revision within the Episcopal Church. Knowing that what we believe shapes our desires, and our desires define our actions, we ought all the more to emphasize the truths of the gospel in our response to the sundry errors of our day.5

Holy Living

St. Peter notes the connection between false doctrine and false living, writing, “There will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies… Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed… speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption” (2 Peter 2:1-2, 18-19). Without the intervention of our Lord we were all “hostile in mind, doing evil deeds” (Colossians 1:21), and yet by his Spirit our minds are renewed that we might live in accord with his will (Romans 8:2-11). Those who are led by the Lord, then, will not deviate from his word or in response to political pressure pretend to bless sin, but will abide the derision of the world, knowing that “to this you have been called” (1 Peter 2:21) and by their suffering fill up “what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body” (Colossians 1:24). Those Provinces who have walked away from the truth of the gospel and who are invoking God’s name to bless sin we enjoin to repent and be reconciled to God.

If we are to preserve the faith unstained (1 Timothy 6:14), we must ensure that those who have received the succession live in a manner worthy of the calling (1 John 2:6). St. Irenaeus urges us to avoid those who teach lies and live in accord with their passions rather than the Scriptures:

“From all such persons, therefore, it behooves us to keep aloof, but to adhere to those who, as I have already observed, do hold the doctrine of the apostles, and who, together with the order of priesthood (presbyterii ordine), display sound speech and blameless conduct for the confirmation and correction of others… Where, therefore, the gifts of the Lord have been placed, there it behooves us to learn the truth, [namely,] from those who possess that succession of the Church which is from the apostles, and among whom exists that which is sound and blameless in conduct, as well as that which is unadulterated and incorrupt in speech” (Haer. 4.26.4-5).

These warnings to avoid those who live falsely should not puff us up in pride, but remind us of our need to examine ourselves. “Repentance defines and shapes the Christian life and the life of the church.”6 To repent we must be willing to humble ourselves, to recognize our faults, to see through the ways in which we have preferred power to suffering, naivete to shame, and confess that which is true of ourselves that we might receive forgiveness. “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). Only when we have removed the plank from our own eye may we remove the speck from our brother’s.

The ACNA is not without fault. Our sister Provinces that make up GAFCON are not without sin—Holy God, where your Church “is corrupt, purify it; where it is in error, direct it; where in anything is amiss, reform it.”7—May we, in our recognition of theological drift, recognize first our own faults that we might live in full accord with the Kigali Commitment: “Recognizing our own sins, and in humility forgiving others, we pray that those who have denied the orthodox Christian faith in word or deed would repent and return to the Lord.” 8

The Path Forward

In the opening Eucharist of the G26 Conference, Archbishop Ndukuba of Nigeria reminded us of the call we must heed now: “GAFCON, the way we have chosen will not be an easy way, but God will never leave his people. God is searching for a people who will not compromise the truth of his Word for the applause of the world, but rather be ready to suffer and pay the cost of conforming into the image of the Son of God… God is looking for men and women whose eyes are set on eternal hope and glory which he has given us in his Son Jesus Christ; men and women whose hearts are set in heaven where Jesus is; people who are ready to serve for the glory of God and not for their selfish reasons; people who are ready, no matter the situation, to stand for God. Will he find such among us?”9

As we continue to ordain, teach, and live the faith of our fathers we would be wise, in holy fear before Almighty God, to continue to immerse ourselves wholly in the reading and study of the Scriptures, to return again and again to the conciliar wisdom of the Church, to learn from the holy examples of the martyrs and the saints who have gone before us, and in all things to submit ourselves to the Spirit of God who leads us into all the truth (John 16:13). Let us give regular thanks to God for the gift of succession, the tangible sign of our membership in Christ through his Apostles and their successors. Let us hold fast to the conciliar teaching of the Church, clinging to those truths that accord with Scripture and rejecting revision and innovation. Let us be bold in our repentance, acknowledging our sin, making restitution where we are able, and building systems that prevent abuse and reveal moral failures. In all these things, may we be committed to prayer, entrusting ourselves and one another to the tender care of the Lord, remembering that apart from him we can do nothing (John 15:5). Good Lord, “illumine all Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, with true knowledge and understanding of your Word; and that, both by their preaching and living, they may show it accordingly.”10

  1. All quotations of Adversus Haereses are from Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies, ed. by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson (S.L.: Ex Fontibus, 2015). ↩︎

  2. All quotations of Ignatius’ epistles are from The Letters trans. Alistair Stewart (Yonkers: St. Vladimir’s Press, 2013). ↩︎

  3. Pike, James A., “Three-Pronged Synthesis,” The Christian Century, Vol. 77 Iss 51, pg. 1498. ↩︎

  4. Note, on page 725 the 2019 Book of Common Prayer permits the traditional use of Sundays being named “After Trinity.” ↩︎

  5. See the supplemental essay, Credalism Apart from Conciliarism Leads Only to Confusion, for more on this issue. ↩︎

  6. Kigali Commitment. ↩︎

  7. The Solemn Collects for Good Friday. Anglican Church in North America, The Book of Common Prayer (2019), (Huntington Beach: Anglican Liturgy Press, 2019), 567. ↩︎

  8. Kigali Commitment. ↩︎

  9. Opening Service of Holy Communion, GAFCON G26 Conference. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kfn6Eco3BYQ ↩︎

  10. The Great Litany. Anglican Church in North America, The Book of Common Prayer (2019), (Huntington Beach: Anglican Liturgy Press, 2019), 93. ↩︎