Brian J. Arnold - Böcker

T. F. Torrance's influential The Doctrine of Grace in the Apostolic Fathers (1948) relegated the collection of Christianity's earliest noncanonical witnesses to a fall from grace. According to Torrance, the Apostolic Fathers abandoned Paul's "justification by faith" and instead advocated for various forms of "works righteousness." Given the new perspectives on both Paul and first-century Judaism, Brian Arnold challenges Torrance's judgments of the Apostolic Fathers by assessing the clarity, prevalence, and importance of Paul's doctrine of justification one hundred years after Paul's death (ca. 165 CE). Arnold carefully examines the ancient writings of Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch,and Justin Martyr, as well as the Epistle to Diognetus and the Odes of Solomon, providing close readings of key texts. Arnold concludes, contrary to Torrance, that Paul's teaching on justification is present, understood, and important in second-century writings. Arnold opposes arguments that claim the Early Church Fathers either misunderstood Paul or were uninterested in the doctrine. Arnold shows that Christianity, in its earliest practices, emphasized the virtuous life that must follow one's baptism, while also contending that faith is the only prerequisite for justification. While second-century Christian literature may not mimic Paul's language at every point, Arnold shows that the essence of Pauline soteriologyâthe liberation and new life that faith in Christ's atoning death provides apart from lawâcontinues to be a dominant theme of Christian reflection, praxis, and worship.

Cyprian of Carthage’s story is one of incredible perseverance for the sake of the gospel. Living through a time of terrible persecution towards Christians, Cyprian wrestled with questions surrounding the church and contributed greatly to the writings on its importance as the bride of Christ. He dealt first–hand with the effects which persecution has on church bodies and offered many insights which are becoming increasingly relevant in the West today.

This book seeks to answer the following question: how did the doctrine of justification fare one hundred years after Paul’s death (c. AD 165)? This book argues that Paul’s view of justification by faith is present in the second century, a thesis that particularly challenges T. F. Torrance’s long-held notion that the Apostolic Fathers abandoned this doctrine (The Doctrine of Grace in the Apostolic Fathers, 1948). In the wake of Torrance’s work there has been a general consensus that the early fathers advocated works righteousness in opposition to Paul’s belief that an individual is justified before God by faith alone, but second-century writings do not support this claim. Each author examined—Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to Diognetus, Odes of Solomon, and Justin Martyr—contends that faith is the only necessary prerequisite for justification, even if they do indicate the importance of virtuous living. This is the first major study on the doctrine of justification in the second century, thus filling a large lacuna in scholarship. With the copious amounts of research being conducted on justification, it is alarming that no work has been done on how the first interpreters of Paul received one of his trademark doctrines. It is assumed, wrongly, that the fathers were either uninterested in the doctrine or that they misunderstood the Apostle. Neither of these is the case. This book is timely in that it enters the fray of the justification debate from a neglected vantage point.