I have been studying the writings of early Christians like Justin Martyr and Ignatius. I know their writings are not inspired or biblical, but can we use them as examples in any way? Also in Ignatius’ writings, I see the word Catholic. What does it mean?<\/p>\n\t
The word “catholic” is a Latin-based word that means “universal.” The early Christian writers used it to refer to the church as a whole across the world, as opposed to a local church.<\/p>\n
Early Christian writers should be treated as any other uninspired writer. It is interesting to see what their understanding of the Scriptures was, but we must always keep in mind that they might be (and sometimes were) wrong on various issues. But just as we read modern writers to get their take on biblical subjects, we can use the early Christian writings.<\/p>\n
The writers are useful from a historical perspective. We can see their use of the Bible, especially their heavy quoting of the Scriptures makes for another source in finding copyist mistakes and to see that the books of the Bible were considered inspired source material. Some of the writers personally knew the apostles, so they add another dimension to the historical accuracy of the Bible.<\/p>\n
Through the early writers, we can also trace the deviation from the teachings of the Scriptures; thus, we can see the path taken that led to a hierarchical system with a separate clergy and laity.<\/p>\n
Sometimes there are arguments regarding the meaning of words in Koine Greek. Since these men spoke that particular dialect, their explanations help clarify the meaning of various words.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: I have been studying the writings of early Christians like Justin Martyr and Ignatius. I know their writings are not inspired or biblical, but can we use them as examples in any way? Also in Ignatius’ writings, I see the word Catholic. What does it mean? Answer: The word “catholic” is a Latin-based word…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[279],"class_list":["post-45351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-history"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4178,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-you-trust-early-christian-writers-when-you-disagree-with-them-on-some-topics\/","url_meta":{"origin":45351,"position":0},"title":"How can you trust early Christian writers when you disagree with them on some topics?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 18, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I appreciate and respect your willingness (and the willingness of your church) to so openly and staunchly defend your beliefs to the world. If anyone \"has a ready answer,\" it's the folks at La Vista Church of Christ! You previously wrote: Allow me a moment to answer your last\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16531,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/confidence-in-the-canon\/","url_meta":{"origin":45351,"position":1},"title":"Confidence in the Canon","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 7, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"by Allen Dvorak \u201cThe Lost Books of the Bible! Are you missing books from your Bible?\u201d It is not uncommon to see such advertisements in the supermarket rags or at bookstores. Sometimes they hint at the idea that there has been some deliberate and\/or covert effort to exclude certain books\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35476,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-i-quote-the-early-christian-writers-on-the-necessity-of-baptism-does-that-make-my-argument-better\/","url_meta":{"origin":45351,"position":2},"title":"If I quote the early Christian writers on the necessity of baptism, does that make my argument better?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 23, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I found a whole list of early church fathers, Ante Nicene fathers who said baptism is necessary for salvation and it's a regeneration. I got Irenaeus, Tertullian, Ambrose, Justin Martyr, Clement, Cyprian, and the list goes on. Can I use these men and their quotes to back up the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":30329,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/corruption-in-church-organization\/","url_meta":{"origin":45351,"position":3},"title":"Corruption in Church Organization","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 22, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Download Audio Text: Acts 20:17-35 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Equality of members (first century) \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The early church was marked by the equality of its members - Galatians 3:28; Colossians 3:11 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As Jesus prayed, the desire was for all Christians to be one - John 17:20-21 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There were different duties,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16999,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/where-can-i-find-the-early-church-fathers-writings-and-evidence-that-jesus-lived-and-died\/","url_meta":{"origin":45351,"position":4},"title":"Where can I find the early church father’s writings and evidence that Jesus lived and died?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 10, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: All these early church writing, such as Justin Martyr, Irenaeus and Tatian, the Epistle of Barnabas, Papias, and the Shepherd of Hermas, do you know where I could read their writings? Also, where can I find proof of the existence of Jesus and his death? Do you know of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31868,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-if-i-say-you-cant-prove-god-is-real\/","url_meta":{"origin":45351,"position":5},"title":"What if I say you can’t prove God is real?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 18, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If religion (Catholicism) is the absolute truth, then how come when questions are asked about it no one can ever answer with facts, only faith and belief? Basically, if I say \"you can't prove God is real\", you can only prove it with faith and belief, no facts. Why\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45351\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}