During my time studying at Southwestern Seminary, I had the privilege of learning church history from the incomparable Stephen Presley. In two courses for two straight semesters, I was immersed in the fascinating history of Christ's body, from Pentecost to the present, and looking back, I can confidently state that these two courses were my favorite in all of my time at seminary. Presley was so skilled at taking the history of the church and applying various principles to our modern ministry context, and when he was able to do that each and every day, this history came alive for me like never before. Christians everywhere need to recognize the importance of studying church history, not only for the sake of their own spiritual edification but for the sake of the overall health of the modern-day Church.
In one of Presley's introductory classes, he outlined for us where our understanding of theology is derived from nowadays. First and foremost, Scripture obviously plays a key foundational role in this process, for every other contributor ultimately bows to God's Word and is merely an interpretation of biblical teaching. Additionally, though, he argued that logical reasoning helps us develop our theological framework, while life experience itself shapes our worldview as well as the teachings of Scripture collide with the culture we live in on a daily basis. Scripture, reason, and experience all come together to assist us in comprehending the wide breadth of theology, but a fundamental fourth contributor is found in tradition, or church history.
For better or for worse, our history as believers heavily influences our theological education. The past still lives in our corporate communities, and without understanding that past, we are inherently unable to understand ourselves and our belief system as a result. We did not arrive here today with our holistic understanding of theology on our own, for even the Bible teaches that "there is nothing new under the sun" (Ecclesiastes 1:9). While, in theory, Scripture should be the chief guiding force behind how a Christian and a church operates, it would be foolish to suggest that church history has not shaped us into the kinds of Christians and churches we are and have today in some way, shape, or form. Church historian Justo Gonzalez once wrote, "The notion that we read the New Testament exactly as the early Christians did, without any weight of tradition coloring our interpretation, is an illusion."
Now, this is not to say that church history has perfectly shaped us into the kinds of Christians and churches we are and have today. In many ways, the history of the church has led us down dangerous roads that compromise Scripture in favor of human opinion, and that is why it is imperative for Christians to study church history: to understand how Christians in the past have interpreted Scripture in an effort to fine-tune our own understanding of Scripture. Since there is nothing new under the sun, it stands to reason that every theological issue we are currently dealing with has been dealt with, in some capacity, in the past. It would be unwise and, frankly, arrogant of us to think that we can figure things out for ourselves without any assistance from the past. The study of church history is a treasure trove of information that is readily accessible to every knowledge-hungry believer, and it is in this study of church history that we can become more well-rounded followers of Christ.
This post was inspired by a thrilling conversation our church engaged a couple of Wednesday nights ago as we studied roughly a third of Martin Luther's 95 Theses. Church history will rightly tell you that Luther ignited the spark of the Reformation fire whenever he nailed these theses to the castle church door, and church history will further tell you that Luther was specifically speaking out against the Catholic sale of indulgences, a way for the Pope to supposedly ensure your deceased loved ones could escape purgatory if you were to give generously to the Church. What was striking in our church's discussion is when a member of our church, who left the Catholic Church a number of years ago, stated in a somber tone that unbiblical teaching like this still persists in the Catholic Church today. Luther was dealing with it in the 1500s, and yet, even in 2021, this erroneous doctrine endures. It would be prudent for Protestants today, for example, to consult Luther's work (in addition to Scripture, obviously) if they ever find themselves engaged in a conversation with a modern Catholic about indulgences. Why try to figure things out independently whenever the history of the church is ready and able to help at a moment's notice?
If you are a church leader, I implore you to find ways to teach your congregation about church history. If you are a layperson, encourage your pastor to initiate a study on a Wednesday night, perhaps, taking the church through an overview of church history. We must learn at the feet of the church fathers and mothers so that our faith, in turn, would be refined. Furthermore, as we study this way, we must acknowledge that church history is littered with imperfect people who were far from infallible. Instead of ignoring our history, though, we must understand it so we can learn from it because, for as the old adage state, those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it. No one from church history is perfect, just like no one in the church today is perfect, but there is divine beauty in God nevertheless using imperfect people to propagate the gospel to the ends of the Earth.
That is ultimately what church history teaches us above all: people are flawed, but our God is flawless, and that has been the case since before time even began. As we trace church history from Pentecost to the present, our endgame is not to marvel at the lives of individuals like Augustine, Calvin, or Spurgeon, but rather, our endgame is to marvel at the greatness of God. Throughout church history, in the good times and in the bad, God has been sovereign and faithful, and outside of studying Scripture itself, there is no better study a Christian can engage in that will prove His sovereignty and faithfulness more than by studying church history. Church, let us grown in our desire to understand our history so that we can better grow in our understanding of God Himself!
For His glory,
Cody Fleenor
- If you are interested in independently studying church history, I would recommend volumes one and two of Justo L. Gonzalez's The Story of Christianity as well as Gerald Bray's The Church. I would also recommend listening to the This Week in Church History podcast, produced by Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
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