THE ORIGIN OF DENOMINATIONS
Lesson Five
I. THE CHURCH DURING THE DARK AGES (Part II).
A. While the change in the organizational structure of the church
was taking place, there were false doctrines being espoused.
These false doctrines were likewise very slow in development;
yet, over the years became laws enforced by the hierarchy.
B. The following is a partial listing of departures from the faith
that took place between the second and the fifth centuries.
(The dates are approximate. The facts are a matter of church
history.)
1. Holy water. (120 A.D.) Water which has been especially
blessed and sanctified by the priests.
2. Penance. (157 A.D.) The infliction of punishment to remove
sins. At first the sinner stood at services to show sorrow.
Later penalties were imposed by the "bishops," to bring
about contrition. This later developed into the "selling of
indulgences," where the permit to commit sin was purchased
from the priest. "The doctrine of indulgences, or of the
authoritative remission doctrine of penances by the
substitution for them of prayers, benevolent gifts, or other
forms of devotion and self-sacrifice, was universally
accepted." (Fisher, History of the Christian Church, page
15.) (In a later lesson, we shall learn how the "selling of
indulgences" influenced the Reformation movement.)
3. Saints Day. (200 A.D.) Memory and respect for martyrs.
Sometimes special contributions were given in memory of
departed saints. Later, praying for the dead. Certain days
began to be set aside for special occasions: Lent, Good
Friday, Holy Thursday, Easter, Palm Sunday, All Saints' Day,
etc.
4. Praying to Saints. (240 A.D.) (Note: Misconception about
"Saints." Rom. 15:26; 16:15; 2 Cor 9:1, 12; 1 Tim. 5:10.)
5. Infant Baptism. (250 A.D.)
a. "Prominent among the early departures from the divine
order was the substitution of infant baptism for that of
believers. This practice originated in the third century,
and grew out of the doctrine of original sin. (More on
the doctrine of original sin in a future lesson.) It was
contended that baptism was regeneration in the sense of
washing away original sin; that infants were depraved by
original sin, and could not be saved without this washing
away of that sin, and therefore they baptized infants
that they might be saved." (J. W. Shepherd, The Church,
The Falling away and The Restoration, p. 59.)
b. Irenaeus, Tertullian and Origin (all 3rd century) wrote
about infant baptism. "None is free from pollution,
though his life be but the length of one ray upon the
earth. And it is for that reason because of the sacrament
of baptism that pollution of our birth is taken away,
that infants are baptized." (Origin, Works, Vol. 1, p.65)
6. Sprinkling and Pouring for Baptism. (251 A.D.)
a. Closely connected with infant baptism was the practice of
affusion (sprinkling or pouring of water over the
candidate). The first case of affusion in church history
was that of Novatian in A.D. 251. Novatian was seriously
ill and the church leaders agreed that he could not be
immersed. Since something needed to be done before his
death, and baptism was essential unto salvation, the
church leaders decided to pour water over him as he lay
in bed. This was called "clinic baptism," for the Greek
word, kline, a bed.
b. The learned Roman Catholic bishop, Karl Joseph Hefele,
says: "The Church has always been tender toward the sick;
she has hastened to confer baptism upon them, because it
is necessary to salvation; and for that reason she
introduced clinical baptism." (History of Church
Councils, p. 153.)
c. Thus, sprinkling or pouring had its origin as a
substitute for immersion. From that time on, "clinic
baptism," was practiced.
d. "The Roman Catholics were accustomed to holding
'councils' for the purpose of discussing and deciding
questions of faith, points of order, etc. There was such
a council held in Ravenna, Italy, in 1311 A.D., which is
famous in history on account of its authorizing the
substitution of sprinkling and pouring for immersion.
This was done by making them equally valid along with
immersion. Up to this time the general rule of the church
had been immersion, the exceptions being, as a rule,
clinic baptism; but in 1311 A.D., by the authority of the
Roman Catholic Council, which met in Ravenna, Italy,
sprinkling and pouring became legal baptism." (Leslie G.
Thomas, The Church, The Falling Away, and the
Restoration, p. 36.)
7. Monasticism. (260 A.D.) As noted in last lesson.
8. Sign of the Cross. (250 A.D.)
9. Mass. (350 A.D.)
a. Transubstantiation. (9th Century.)
b. Council of Trent (1215 A.D.). Pope Innocent III assembled
412 bishops. Among other cannons drawn up, the doctrine
of transubstantiation was given a legal position in the
Catholic Church. The council declared, "If any one shall
deny that in the sacrament of the most holy eucharist,
there is contained really, truly, and substantially, the
body and the blood together with the soul and divinity,
of our Lord Jesus Christ, and so whole Christ, but shall
say he is only in it in sign, or figure, or power, let
him be accursed.
"Not content with this it declares that:
"If any one shall say that in the holy sacrament of the
eucharist, there remains the substance of the bread and
wine, together with the body and blood of our Lord Jesus
Christ and shall deny that wonderful and remarkable
conversion of the whole substance of the bread into the
body, and of the whole substance of the wine into the
blood, while only the appearance of bread and wine
remain, which conversion the Catholic Church most
appropriately names transubstantiation; let him be
accursed.
"The council of Tridentine says there is a whole
Christ in every particle of the Mass:
"If any one shall deny that Christ entire is contained in
the venerable sacrament of the eucharist, under each
species, and, then they are divided, under every particle
of each kind; let him be accursed." (J. W. Shepherd, The
Church and the Falling Away, pages 61, 62.)
10. Confessionals. (390 A.D.). The New Testament clearly teaches
that one's sins must be confessed; but such a thing as
secret confessions before a priest in order to receive his
absolution (forgiveness) was not practiced until the year
390 A.D. At that time there was a place appointed for the
sinner to stand and mourn their sins during public service,
from which they were excluded. This practice continued with
additions to it. Often, some were required to do penance
during their whole lifetime. Others were given ten, fifteen,
twenty years of penance. The priests would then absolve
(forgive) them and they were received back into communion.
The Council of Trent (1215 A.D.) declared, "The Church
has always understood that an entire confession of sins was
always appointed by the Lord, and that it if of divine
requirement necessary to all who have lapsed after baptism.
Because our Lord Jesus Christ, when about to ascend from
earth to heaven, left his priests, his vicars, to be, as it
were the presidents and judges, to whom all mortal sins into
which Christ's faithful people should fall should be
brought, in order that, by the power of the keys, they might
pronounce sentence of remission or retention."
The Council continued, "Every one of the faithful of both
sexes, after he shall have reached the years of discretion,
shall, by himself alone, faithfully confess all his sins, at
least once a year, to his own priest, and strive to perform
according to his ability the penance imposed upon him,
reverently partaking of the sacrament of the eucharist, at
least at Easter; unless perhaps, by the advice of his
priest, for some reasonable cause, he should judge that for
a time he should abstain from partaking of it; otherwise,
let the living be hindered from entering the church, and let
the dead be deprived of Christian burial. On this account
this salutary statute shall be frequently published in the
churches that no one may pretend as an excuse the blindness
of ignorance. But if any one should wish to confess his sins
to a foreign priest, for proper reasons, he must first ask
and obtain a license from his own priest, since otherwise he
would not be able to bind or loose him." (The Church and the
Falling Away, J. W. Shepherd, pages 64, 65.)
They teach that the confession of sins to a priest is
necessary to salvation; and that every mortal sin must be
confessed to a priest; otherwise there can be no forgiveness
from God. This includes the most secret and intimate sins.
The priest thus become the judge and forgiver. The priest
thus has the power to forgive sins, or the keep them bound
upon the guilty, according to his wishes. The priest
represents Christ in the confessional, and therefore is
invested with divine powers.
11. Extreme Unction (588 A.D.). Anointing the body of those
thought to be near to death. It is often called, "The Last
Rites," or "The Last Sacrament." "In this Sacrament (Extreme
Unction) the priest anoints the sick person with olive oil,
which is blessed once a year for this Sacrament by the Bishop.
The oil is applied in the form of a cross to his closed eyes,
to his ears, nose, lips, hands and feet, whilst the anointing
is accompanied by a prayer that God may forgive whatever sins
might have been committed through these members." (Father
Smith Instructs Jackson, page 185.)
12. Purgatory (593 A.D.). "The Catholic Church teaches that,
besides a place of eternal torments for the wicked and of
everlasting rest for the righteous, there exists in the next
life a middle state of temporary punishment, allotted for
those who have died in venial sin, or who have not satisfied
the justice of God for sins already forgiven. She also teaches
us that although the souls consigned to this intermediate
state, commonly called purgatory, cannot help themselves, they
may be aided by the suffrages of the faithful on earth. The
existence of purgatory naturally implies the correlative dogma
- the utility of praying for the dead - for the souls
consigned to the middle state have not reached the term of
their journey. They are still exiles from heaven and fit
subjects for Divine clemency." (Faith of Our Fathers, Cardinal
James Gibbons, page 173.)
The Council of Trent (1215 A.D.) defined the doctrine,
"There is a Purgatory, and souls there detained, are helped by
the prayers of the faithful, and especially by the acceptable
Sacrifice of the Altar."
"The Catholic Church, instructed by the Holy Ghost, has
from Sacred Scriptures and the ancient traditions of the
Fathers, taught in Sacred Councils, and very recently in this
Ecumenical Synod, that there is a Purgatory, and that the
souls therein detained are helped by the suffrages of the
faithful, but principally by the acceptable sacrifice of the
altar." (Council of Florence, 1439.)
13. Celibacy (3rd Century).
a. The Pope and the Priests are forbidden to marry.
b. Paul foretold of this practice in 1 Timothy 4:1-3.
14. Mechanical Instruments of Music in Worship (670 A.D.).
a. "Pope Vitalian is related to have first introduced organs
into some of the churches of western Europe, about 670;
but the earliest trustworthy account is that of the one sent
as a present by the Greek emperor Constantine Copronymus to
Pepin, king of the Franks, in 775." (The American
Cyclopedia, Vol. 12, p. 688.)
b. "Sir John Hawkins, following the Romish writers in his
erudite work The History of Music, makes Pope Vitalian, in
A.D. 660, the first who introduced organs into the churches.
But students of ecclesiastical archaeology are generally
agreed that instrumental music was not used in church til a
much later date; for Thomas Aquinas, A.D. 1250, has these
remarkable words: 'Our church does not use musical
instruments, as harps and psalteries, to praise God withal,
that she may not seem to judaize.' " (McClintock and
Strong's Cyclopedia, Vol. VIII, p. 739.)
Conclusion:
1. This list does not exhaust the numerous false teachings that
were introduced into churches during the Dark Ages.
2. It seems to be rather obvious, when men leave the Divine
Pattern, God's Word, there is no limit as to what their
imaginations will turn to.
3. Again, we remind ourselves, these changes were very slow in
developing. At first, only small deviations. But, they grew and
developed, until we see very little resemblance between what
the church was in the first century and what it became during
the Dark Ages.
4. How careful and demanding we must be to reject all doctrines
not founded upon a "thus saith the Lord."
Return to Index
Home