When John Henry Newman said, “To be deep in history is to cease to be Protestant,” his basic argument was that if you look at the early church and compare its doctrine and practice to Protestantism, you will observe that the early church was not Protestant, and since the early church was the true church, the true church is not the Protestant church. Variations on this basic historical argument against Protestantism continue to be heard from both Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox apologists to this day. Many Protestants who are engaged in discussions with family, friends, and neighbors from these traditions have heard such arguments, and many are unsure how best to respond. In this article, I would like to point out several things that Protestants should keep in mind when facing this argument.

In the first place, if you have ever been in a discussion with someone who is Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox, you have probably heard something along these lines: “Just go read the early church fathers.” If you do this, you are told, you will see that the early church was not Protestant. The implication is that your only remaining options are Rome and Eastern Orthodoxy. Many Protestants will then take up the challenge even if they are not fully prepared to do so, and some will find themselves confused. But why? It is often because a very basic question has not been raised. When we are told, “Just go read the early church fathers,” we should ask, “What do you mean when you say ‘the early church fathers’?” The anti-Protestant apologist usually means the second- and third-century fathers, and these men certainly are early church fathers, but they are not the earliest church fathers. If we are talking about the new covenant development of the one people of God, the earliest church fathers are the Apostles of the first century, the authors of the New Testament. They are the foundation, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone (Eph. 2:20).

Why is this so important? First, the writings of the second- and third-century fathers are not the standard by which all else should be measured. Their writings are not God-breathed. Scripture is God-breathed (2 Tim. 3:16). Scripture is our standard because Scripture is the Word of God. The doctrine of sola Scriptura, at its heart, is a doctrine rooted in the Creator-creature distinction. God, by definition, has infinitely greater authority than any of His creatures (including the leaders of His church); therefore, God’s Word has infinitely greater authority than the word of any of His creatures. Scripture is God’s Word, so Scripture alone (i.e., God alone) is our final standard for faith and life. Second, the second century was an enormously significant transition point in the history of the early church, and understanding that transition can help us grasp some very important facts that will inform how we look at the historical argument presented by Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox apologists.

Consider, for example, the composition of the earliest church, the first-century church in the immediate decades after the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ. Much of the history of this period is recounted in the book of Acts. The first followers of Jesus, His disciples and Apostles, were Jewish. On the day of Pentecost, after Peter’s sermon to the men of Israel who had gathered for this annual feast, some three thousand Jews were added to the church (Acts 2:41). Within a short period of time, more Jews believed in Jesus, and the number reached about five thousand in total (4:4). These Jewish believers traveled back to their homes across the Roman Empire and established small house churches composed primarily of other Jewish believers. Of course, there were some God-fearing gentiles among these Jews, and then Samaritans and more gentiles began to be added to the church, especially as Paul’s missionary journeys began at about the midpoint of the first century. But the majority of the church in the decades after Christ’s resurrection was Jewish. It is also significant that nearly all of the books of the New Testament were authored by Jewish believers. In short, the first-century church was fundamentally shaped by its Jewish constituency. These were people steeped in the Old Testament, in the Psalms, and in the synagogue. Read more»

Keith A. Matthison | “The True Continuing Church” | December, 2025

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Post authored by:

• Harrison Perkins

  

  Harrison Perkins (PhD, Queen’s University Belfast; MDiv, Westminster Seminary California) is pastor of Oakland Hills Community Church (OPC), a member of the of the Heidelberg Reformation Association, a Senior Research Fellow at the Craig Center for the Study of the Westminster Standards,  online instructor in church history at Westminster Theological Seminary, a visiting lecturer in systematic theology at Edinburgh Theological Seminary, and author of Reformed Covenant Theology: A Systematic Introduction. You can read more from him at Pastor Perks.

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