From Apostles to Bishops: The Development of the Episcopy in the Early Church
Francis A. Sullivan, S.J.
Number of quotes: 8
Book ID: 91 Page: 35
Section: 2A6
A Catholic might ask whether the apostles also engaged in what we would call sacramental ministry. One must reply that the New Testament provides very scanty evidence of this.
Quote ID: 2364
Time Periods: 1
Book ID: 91 Page: 53
Section: 2C
The next chapter will explore the question: By whom was the ministry of the apostles carried on in the next generation? And in what sense can those who carried it on be termed “successors of the apostles”?Pastor John’s note: simple; whomever God anoints.
Quote ID: 2365
Time Periods: 2
Book ID: 91 Page: 196
Section: 2A4
Let. 43.5.2 God is one and Christ is one: there is one Church and one chair founded, by the Lord’s authority, upon Peter. It is not possible that another altar can be set up, or that a new priesthood can be appointed, over and above this one altar and this one priesthood.Whoever gathers elsewhere, scatters. Whatever is so established by man in his madness that it violates what has been appointed by God is an obscene outrage, it is sacrilege. {7}
Quote ID: 2366
Time Periods: 3
Book ID: 91 Page: 204
Section: 2A1
Let. 63.17.1 And because at every sacrifice we offer we mention the passion of our Lord (indeed, the passion of our Lord is the sacrifice we offer), then we should follow exactly what the Lord did. And Scripture confirms that as often as we offer the cup in remembrance of the Lord and His passion, we are doing what all are agreed the Lord did before us. {18}….
Let. 73.9.2 And this same practice we observe today ourselves: those who are baptized in the Church are presented to the appointed leaders of the Church, and by our prayer and the imposition of our hands they receive the Holy Spirit and are made perfect with the Lord’s seal. {19}
THIS SECOND REFERENCE IS WRONG
Quote ID: 2367
Time Periods: 3
Book ID: 91 Page: 223
Section: 2C,2D1
No doubt proving that bishops were the successors of the apostles by divine institution would be easier if the New Testament clearly stated that before they died the apostles had appointed a single bishop to lead each of the churches they had founded.….
Unfortunately, the documents available to us do not provide such help. They do indicate that in the course of the second century, in the churches of Corinth, Philippi and Rome, there was a transition from the leadership of a college of presbyters to the leadership of a single bishop, but they do not throw any light on how that transition took place. To that question one can only offer what seems the most probable answer.
Quote ID: 2368
Time Periods: 2
Book ID: 91 Page: 227
Section: 2C
With the exception of James, the “brother of the Lord,” the New Testament does not describe any one person as having been left in charge of a local church.
Quote ID: 2369
Time Periods: 1
Book ID: 91 Page: 228
Section: 2C
During the second century, the church met the growing threat to its unity by developing and accepting the stronger leadership that having a single bishop over the church in each city provided.….
Raymond Brown has well expressed the belief that the Spirit has guided development of the episcopate when he said:
"I am not so naïve to think that every development within the Church is the work of the Spirit, but I would not know what guidance of the Church by the Spirit could mean if it did not include the fundamental shaping of the special ministry which is so intimately concerned with Christian communal and sacramental life." {11}
Quote ID: 2370
Time Periods: 2
Book ID: 91 Page: 229/230
Section: 2C
The Reception of the Bishops’ Teaching as Normative of Faith Is Analogous to the Reception of Certain Christian Writings as Canonical and Normative for Faith. The Holy Spirit Guided the Church in Determining Both Norms, for Error about the Norms Would Have Led to Untold Errors in Faith.….
That by the end of the second century bishops were recognized as the rightful successors of the apostles and that what they taught in common was recognized as normative for Christian faith are facts to which the writings of Irenaeus, Tertullian and Origen bear witness. The move from these facts to the conclusion that the Spirit guided the development of the episcopate calls for reflection on the theological significance of the church’s reception of the norms for its faith.
….
A wrong decision about the living norm of faith used in countering the threat of Gnosticism would have been just as disastrous for the church as a wrong decision about the reception of the New Testament as its written norm. We have just as good reason for believing that the Spirit guided the church in recognizing its bishops as successors of the apostles and authoritative teachers of the faith as we have for believing that the Spirit guided it in discerning the books that comprise the New Testament.
From this it follows that we also have good reason to believe that the Spirit guided the development of the episcopate itself, for it was to play such a primary role in maintaining the Church in the true faith.
….
While most Catholic scholars agree that the episcopate is the fruit of a post-New Testament development, they maintain that this development was so evidently guided by the Holy Spirit that it must be recognized as corresponding to God’s plan for the structure of his Church.
Quote ID: 2371
Time Periods: 234
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