CA312

Christian Evidences LESSON 11 of 12

The Evidence of Biblical Christianity, Part 5

Victor M. Matthews, STD

Former Professor of Systematic
Theology Grand Rapids
Theological Seminary

This is lecture number 11 in the course entitled Christian

Evidences. Our theme in these lectures revolves around the
concept that if Christianity is genuine, then what would we expect
by way of supernatural evidence. In these last few lectures we’ve
considered the origin and the character of the Jewish religion as
an evidence for the truthfulness of Christianity, the evidence of
fulfilled prophecy, the evidence found in the person of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the evidence found in the resurrection of our Lord,
the evidence found in archeology, and now, in this eleventh
lecture I want to talk for a moment or two about the evidence for
Christianity found in early Christian and secular literature.

Some time ago I asked the question in this lecture series as to what
you would do if you were God to make yourself known. Perhaps
one way is that you would take a group of people, a nation, and
make them very different in many many ways, particularly in their
religion, and that is what God has done with the Jewish people.
Perhaps you would enter into the area of literature and cause
some of your prophets to make prophecies that could be fulfilled
only by supernatural intervention, and that’s what God has done
in literature. Perhaps you would send your Son into the world,
and the only way that people could explain His person and work
and His profound influence upon every generation would be by
recognizing that you were there and that your Son was genuinely
your Son. Perhaps you would allow your Son to be crucified, and
then as a great token of supernatural power you would bring Him
forth out of the grave. That’s what God has done. Perhaps you
would cause that in every way in which the word, your Word,
the Bible, would touch history. You would cause it to be an exact
reference that could be demonstrated by archaeology, and that’s
what you have done and that’s what God has done.

Perhaps you would also cause many early Christians to write about
the nature of Christianity in such a way that the truthfulness of
Christianity would be clearly seen and would clearly demonstrate
the supernatural source of biblical Christianity. And now that’s

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Lesson 11 of 12 The Evidence of Biblical Christianity, Part 5

what we find in early Christian and secular literature. The

importance of the study of the literature of this early period is
that here we have a testimony to the existence and the nature of
Christianity in its very earliest days. In this literature we have a
non-canonical, that is, a non-biblical source of information as to
what the early church believed and practiced. If Christianity does
not have a historical foundation and if it is without a supernatural
origin, then such factors would be abundantly clear from a study
of the literature of this period. One of the ways of answering
the questions, How do I know that Christianity is the only true
religion? How do I know it’s genuine? is to go back and study the
literature surrounding that period.

The Testimony of the Early Church Fathers

There are three very simple points that I want to make in this
lecture: first of all, the testimony of some of the early church
fathers to the New Testament. It has been well pointed out that
the quantity of the writings of the Fathers is enormous, and yet
much has been lost in time. A mere fraction has come down to us,
and yet it’s sufficient to make a fairly good-sized library. Much of
the Old Testament and practically all of the New Testament, for
example, could be reproduced from the writings of the Fathers
alone, that is, the writings that we have. If somehow all of the
Bibles in the world would be destroyed, all the manuscripts, all of
the versions, then from the writings of the early church fathers
almost all of the Old and New Testament could be reproduced
simply from their quotations. A person needs only to turn to
that very fine set of books, The Ante-Nicene Fathers, that is, the
Fathers who lived before the Council of Nicea, which was in 325.
[The reference is to The Ante-Nicene Fathers: Translations of the
Writings of the Fathers Down to AD 325, edited by James Donaldson
and Alexander Roberts (reprint ed.; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans,
1987).] When you look at that set of books, The Ante-Nicene
Fathers, you realize how often and copiously the Scriptures are
quoted. Because of the questions which often revolve around the
writing of the New Testament, I want to emphasize some of the
quotations in the material in this lecture.

When you look at charts that have been drawn up, for example,
by a man such as H. S. Miller and his very familiar book General
Biblical Introduction [Houghton, NY: Word-Bearer Press, 1937],
when you look at such charts as he has concerning the many
quotations found in the early church fathers as related to the New
Testament, it causes one to stop and realize that they accepted
the New Testament as their final authority.

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Lesson 11 of 12 The Evidence of Biblical Christianity, Part 5

For example, and I just want to give an illustration or two here,

Justin the Martyr, that is, Justin who became one of the early
martyrs for the faith, Justin died in AD 165. That’s a very early date.
Justin wasn’t raised in a Christian home. He was saved in what we
would think of as middle age. He was a university professor, as
we’d call him today, and he became an apologete for the church.
In the few writings that we have of Justin the Martyr, he quotes
the four gospels 268 times, according to Miller. Ten times he
refers to the book of Acts, six quotations of the General Epistles,
forty-three times he refers to the Pauline Epistles, he speaks of
the book of the Revelation with a quotation three times, for a
total of 330 clear designated quotations from the New Testament.
There are 266 times that he just refers sort of off the cuff to the
New Testament; 330 quotations where he designates the place
and 266 other times.

Clement of Alexandria, this great exegete and great apologete of

the early church, I should say who died in 216 or 217, referred to
the Gospels in the few writings that we have from Clement. He
referred to the gospels 1,017 times. He referred, for example, to
the Pauline Epistles 1,127 times. In total he referred to the New
Testament by way of quotation 2,406 times. It’s amazing when
you look at the works of Irenaeus, Origen, Tertullian, Hippolytus,
Eusebius, and other men like this and when it’s recognized that
these men accepted the New Testament as their final authority.
They quoted it as final authority against the heretics of the day.
They used it to support their denunciations of the immorality and
the idolatry of their day, and they affirmed it as the only basis,
along with the Old Testament, of the Christian faith. Then we
gain an understanding of the wholehearted acceptance of the
New Testament in that period. Such an acceptance of the New
Testament and its use is again what we would expect if Christianity
is true and if the Bible is the Word of God.

Now, a person can throw Christianity out. He can deny that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God. He can deny that the Bible is the Word of
God, but if he’s going to be honest about it, how can he deny the
profound effect that the New Testament had on the very period
when the content of the New Testament could be tested? It’s
interesting that right at the time when the resurrection of our
Savior could easily be checked, the early church believed more
firmly in the resurrection than at any other time in its history.
That’s true with the content of the New Testament. Many of these
that I have referred to lived only a few years after the death of the
apostle John, who died somewhere around AD 100. These men
were living at a time when the content of the New Testament

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Lesson 11 of 12 The Evidence of Biblical Christianity, Part 5

books could easily be checked out, and yet they believed the
content and preached it as such.

A person can throw Christianity out if he wants to, and many

people do, but not many people are willing or honest enough to
go back and to try to answer the material that I’m presenting in
this lecture.

The second point in this lecture has to do with the testimony of

some of the early church fathers to the nature of Christianity.
This is only a brief sample: first of all, Clement of Rome and his
epistle to the Corinthians. Clement is said to have been the pastor
of the church at Rome from about AD 92 to 100. The dates of his
birth and death are usually given as from 30 to 100. He was a man
of great learning, ability, and influence. This letter or epistle was
written either in AD 95 or 96. Notice now that he wrote the letter
before the apostle John died. He wrote it before the gospel of John
itself was written, or just about at the same time. This letter that
the pastor of the church at Rome wrote to the church of Corinth,
the people there at Corinth, is a brief statement of Christian
doctrine as a practical exhortation to unity. The church at Corinth
was being disrupted. The testimony was being marred by divisions
within the church, and Clement as a pastor was concerned for
them. And so he sat down and wrote a letter to them, a pastoral
letter urging them on the basis of the truthfulness of the Word
of God to live a better Christian life. It’s interesting that we have
this letter. It’s now in the British Museums, a part of two fourth-
century Greek manuscripts.

Let me read a couple of quotations from the letter. This is taken

now from The Ante-Nicene Fathers in volume 1, and I’m sure that
any of you who listen to these lectures could have easy access to
The Ante-Nicene Fathers. They’re found in almost all libraries.

Clement said, “From Him also, that is from God, was descended
our Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh and we, too, being
called by His will in Christ Jesus are not justified by ourselves nor
by our own wisdom or understanding or godliness or works which
we have wrought in holiness of heart but by that faith through
which from the beginning Almighty God has justified all men to
Whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.”

Another quote: “The apostles have preached the gospel to us from

the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ has done so from God. Christ
therefore was sent forth by God and the apostles by Christ. Both
these appointments then were made in an orderly way according

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Lesson 11 of 12 The Evidence of Biblical Christianity, Part 5

to the will of God. Having therefore received their orders and

being fully assured by the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ
and established in the Word of God with full assurance of the Holy
Ghost, they went forth proclaiming that the Kingdom of God was
at hand.”

It’s interesting to stop and ask: What do these two quotations

indicate about Clement’s belief and about the belief of the early
church? And I want to remind you that he did not write the
letter to prove Christianity. He wrote the letter to try to get the
Christians at Corinth to live a better Christian life. He talks about
Jesus Christ as our Lord. He talks about the Lord Jesus Christ being
sent from God and Christ sending the apostles. He talks about the
resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. He talks about justification
by faith. He talks about the Word of God. He spoke of the ministry
of the Holy Spirit and the apostles proclaiming the kingdom of
God. All of this was written about AD 95 or 96. A person can throw
Christianity out if you want to, or you can write Christianity off
by saying that the New Testament and its doctrines came into
existence by a long process of religious evolution. But, my friend,
here is a very strong statement from AD 95 or 96, just a few years
after the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, and here almost
all of the basic content of Christianity is referred to as literary
asides within the letter written by Clement of Rome. How are you
going to answer that if you do not believe in the genuineness of
Christianity? If you do not believe that Jesus Christ is the Son
of God, and if you do not believe in the miraculous intervention
of God into human affairs of the person of the Lord Jesus, if you
don’t believe in the truthfulness of the Word and the character
of the early church as stated in the Bible, how do you explain
Clement’s letter? It would be very hard indeed to do that. The
letter of Clement stands as a great testimony from the days of the
early church of the truthfulness of the early church.

Secondarily, the letter of Ignatius, and I would refer to his letters

to the Ephesians, the Magnesians, the Trellyans, the Romans, the
Philadelphians, the Smyrnians, and Polycarp. Ignatius was the
pastor of the church in Antioch. His dates are generally given as
being born about 30 and dying at about 107, just about as the same
span of time as Clement of Rome. During a period of persecution,
Ignatius was condemned to die for his faith in Christ. While being
taken to Rome for execution, he wrote the letters that I’ve just
referred to. Ignatius was thrown to the wild beasts in the reign of
Trajan the emperor.

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Lesson 11 of 12 The Evidence of Biblical Christianity, Part 5

Now I want to quote from just one of his books, and this is the
book entitled To the Ephesians. When he was on his way to Rome,
he wrote a number of quite lengthy letters, and one of these letters
was sent to the Christians at Ephesus, so let me quote a couple
times: Ignatius said, “The cross of Christ is indeed a stumbling
block to those that do not believe but to the believing it is salvation
and life eternal. Where is the wise man? Where is the dispute?
Where is the boasting of those who are called mighty? For the Son
of God who was begotten before time began and established all
things according to the will of the Father, He was conceived in the
womb of Mary according to the appointment of God of the seed
of David, and by the Holy Ghost. For says the Scripture, ‘Behold a
virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son, and he shall
be called Emmanuel,’” and there he ends the quotation from the
book of Isaiah.

Ignatius goes on to say, “Jesus Christ was born and baptized

by John that He might ratify the institution committed to that
prophet.” Another quotation: Ignatius said, “Stand fast brother
in the face of Jesus Christ and in His love, in His passion, in His
Resurrection. Do ye all come together in common and individually
through grace and one faith of God the Father and of Jesus Christ
His only begotten Son and the firstborn of every creature but of
the seed of David according to the flesh being under the guidance
of the Comforter in obedience to the bishops and Presbytery with
an undivided mind breaking one in the same bread which is the
medicine of immortality and the antidote which presents us from
dying but a cleansing remedy driving away evil which causes that
we should live in God through Jesus Christ.”

What did Ignatius believe? What did the early church of that day
believe? They believed in the crucifixion and resurrection of the
Lord Jesus Christ. They believed that Jesus Christ was the Son of
God. Ignatius says, “That He was begotten before time, conceived
in the womb of Mary according to the seed of David and by the
Holy Spirit.” He refers to Jesus Christ as the only begotten Son.
He speaks of the structure of the church: bishop and presbyter.
He speaks of the Lord’s Table, and he calls it the medicine of
immortality. Again, Ignatius died in 107. He died only a few years
after the apostle John. Here again we have a letter that shows that
the early church believed the doctrines that we had referred to
from the New Testament earlier in this lecture series. A person
can reject Christianity if he desires, but here within early church
literature we have a very early reference to almost all of the
doctrines found in the New Testament. How are we going to
account for this if we deny the truthfulness of Christianity?

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Lesson 11 of 12 The Evidence of Biblical Christianity, Part 5

Let me refer to another one. It’s by Polycarp in his epistle to the

Philippians. Polycarp was born about AD 70, and he died as a martyr
in Rome about 155. He was the pastor of the church in Smyrna.
He had been personally acquainted with the apostle John and had
talked with many who had known the Lord Jesus Christ. Now from
his book To the Philippians, which is found in The Ante-Nicene
Fathers, Polycarp said, “I have greatly rejoiced with you and our
Lord Jesus Christ because you have followed the example of true
faith as displayed by God and have accompanied as becomes you
those who are bound in chains, the fitting ornaments of saints
and which are indeed the diadems of the true elective God and
of our Lord and because the strong root of your faith spoken of
in days long gone by endureth even until now and bringeth forth
fruit to our Lord Jesus Christ who for our sins suffered even unto
death but whom God raised from the dead having loosed the
bands of the grave.” He believes in Jesus Christ as our Lord. He
speaks of election, faith. He speaks of the crucifixion of our Lord
Jesus Christ, and he speaks of His resurrection. Again, here’s an
early reference by Polycarp of the nature of biblical Christianity,
just as we find it in the New Testament.

Let me refer again to Justin the Martyr. Justin was born about AD
100, and he died as a martyr in 165. He was one of the earliest
and best known of the apologists for Christianity. It was seen
that Justin was born into a wealthy family. After an extensive
education he was recognized as a philosopher. In about 130 he
was converted to Christianity through the personal work of an
aged Christian. You will find his testimony in the book entitled
Dialogue with Trypho, which is also in the first volume of The
Ante-Nicene Fathers.

In the first apology, which is found also in that volume 1 of The

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Justin made the statement, “Our teacher of
these things is Jesus Christ who also was born for this purpose
and was crucified under Pontius Pilot in the times of Tiberius
Caesar and that we reasonably worship Him having learned that
He is the true Son of God Himself and holding Him into second
place and the prophetic spirit into third, we will prove.” These
are important and interesting quotations from very early in the
history of the church. Justin, who had this fine education, Justin
who was recognized as a philosopher, who was not raised in the
church, who did not become a Christian until he was about thirty
years of age—he makes a statement that he believed in the Lord
Jesus Christ and His crucifixion. He believed that Jesus Christ
was the true Son of God. He looked upon the Lord Jesus Christ as
the second person of the Trinity and the Holy Spirit as the third

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Lesson 11 of 12 The Evidence of Biblical Christianity, Part 5

person of the Trinity.

Another quotation referring to the Bible: “In these books then

of the prophets, we found Jesus our Christ foretold as coming
born of a virgin, growing up to man’s estate and healing every
disease and every sickness and raising the dead and being hated
and unrecognized and crucified and dying and rising again and
ascending into heaven and being called the Son of God.”

Again, I want to say here was a man who was converted at middle
age, and here is a man who had a good training as a philosopher
and was teaching in one of the schools as a philosopher; even after
becoming a Christian, he continued to wear the philosopher’s
cloak in that period of time. What did he believe about the Lord
Jesus Christ? He believed that He was born of a virgin, that He
was crucified, and that He rose again from the dead, and that
Jesus Christ was verily the Son of God. Then there’s a quotation.
This is an interesting one because he speaks of the early churches
worshiping on the Lord’s Day, or Sunday. He states, “And on the
day called Sunday all who live in cities or in the country gather
together in one place and the memoirs of the apostles [that’s
the Gospels] or the writing of the prophets [some of the Old
Testament] are read and as long as time permits then when the
reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts
to the imitation of these good things.” That sounds like a good
gospel service, doesn’t it?

Then he goes on to say, “But Sunday is the day on which we all

hold our common assembly because it is the first day on which
God having wrought a change in the darkness and matter made
the world and Jesus Christ our Savior on the same day arose from
the dead.” Here’s an interesting statement by a man who died in
165. Sometimes we are told that the early church did not start
the worship on the Lord’s Day or on Sunday until the third or
the fourth century, but here’s a man who died in 165 and said,
“On the day called Sunday,” and he refers to the early churches
worshiping on Sunday. What else does he believe? He believed
in the authority of the apostles and the prophets, the Word of
God. He speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God as our
Savior and as having been raised from the dead by God on Sunday.
These are important statements from the early church. A person
can throw Christianity out if he desires, but if he’s going to be
honest how can he explain the content in the writings of Justin
the Martyr?

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Lesson 11 of 12 The Evidence of Biblical Christianity, Part 5

And then again the writings of Aristides and his apology. Not
very much is known of Aristides. He was a Christian philosopher
in Athens, and he addressed a defense for Christianity to the
Emperor Antonides. This apology is generally dated about AD
140, again, a very, very early record of the early church. Allow me
to quote from his apology. This is found in volume 10 of The Ante-
Nicene Fathers. He states, “The Christians traced their origin from
the Lord Jesus Christ and He is acknowledged by the Holy Spirit to
be the Son of the Most High God who came down from heaven for
the salvation of men and was born of a pure virgin unbegotten and
immaculate, He assumed flesh and revealed Himself among men
that he might recall them to Himself from their wanderings after
many gods and having accomplished his wonderful dispensation
by a voluntary choice he tasted death on the cross fulfilling an
Auguste dispensation, and after three days He came to life again
and ascended into heaven and if you’ll would read, O King, you
may judge the glory of His presence from the holy gospel writings
as it is called among yourselves.”

What is Aristides, who died in 140? What did he believe? He

believed that the Lord Jesus Christ was the Son of God born of a
virgin, that He tasted death on the cross, that He was resurrected
from the grave after three days, and he believed in the holy gospel
writings.

Testimony from Non-Christians

The third point in this lecture is the testimony to Christianity

found in the interchange of letters between Emperor Trajan
and Governor Pliny. Here we have a record of the nature and
the existence of Christianity by two non-Christians. Pliny,
that’s Pliny the Younger, was asked by the Emperor Trajan,
emperor of Rome by the way, in about AD 111, 111, that’s very
early, to accept the governorship of Bithynia in northern Asia
Minor. Bithynia, you’ll find, is referred to in 1 Peter 1:1 as one
of the early mission fields. This interchange of letters between
these two concerning the condition in Bithynia of Christians is
important for the study of early Christianity. Pliny, the governor,
wrote to Trajan and said, here’s a quote, “In the examination
of Christians I have never taken part. Therefore, I do not know
what crime is usually punished or investigated or to what extent.
Meanwhile, I have taken this course with those who were accused
before me as Christians. I have asked them whether they were
Christians. Those who confessed, I asked a second and third time
threatening punishment. Those who persisted I ordered led away
to execution.” Just think of that. “On this account I believed it

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Lesson 11 of 12 The Evidence of Biblical Christianity, Part 5

the more necessary to find out from two maidservants who were
called deaconesses and that by torture what was the truth, and
I found nothing else then a perverse and excessive superstition.
I therefore adjourned the examination and hastened to consult
you. The matter seems to me to be worth deliberation especially
on account of the number of those in danger for many of every
rank, every age, and even of both sexes are brought into danger
and will be in the future. The contagion of that superstition [that
is, he calls the gospel superstition] has penetrated not only the
cities but also the villages and the country places.”

Let me quote a bit now from the emperor Trajan, who wrote
back to Pliny. Emperor Trajan said, “You have followed, my dear
Secundus, the proper course of procedure in examining the cases
of those who are accused to you as Christians. They are not to
be sought out. If they are accused and convicted they are to be
punished. Papers, however, which are presented anonymously,
ought not to be admitted in any accusation.”

You will find this in the fine book edited by Anne Fremantle
entitled A Treasury of Early Christianity [New York: Viking, 1953].
You’ll find it in almost any edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica.
You can reject Christianity if you want to, but how can you explain
away the letters written by these two important non-Christians
in AD 111? All of this material stands as a testimony to the
genuineness of the early church and the truthfulness of the Word
of God.

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