Who Were the "Heretics"?

The Bible tells us that the Church of Jesus Christ is composed of those people who have chosen to accept Christ as Savior and Lord of their lives. This is very individually inclusive and is NOT denominationally exclusive. There are members of the Church throughout the ranks of every so-called denomination or non-denomination of Christianity.

With this in mind, let’s investigate the history of the Church down through the ages with an emphasis on who were the “heretics” described in Church history?

Early in the history of the Church (even starting within a century of the apostolic era), there began to take shape a form of the Church where hierarchy structure and ecclesiastic control was centered in a priesthood. This organizational Church became known as the “Catholic Church” or, with its leadership in Rome, the “Roman Catholic Church”.

Now, as I said, there have always been true believers and members of the Church of Jesus Christ in all sections of Christianity and this includes the Roman Catholic Church. But, even as described in the epistles of the Bible in the early churches, there have always been those who attempted control with unbiblical doctrine. And this Roman Catholic Church, although rising to great power, is an example of unbiblical doctrine.

Since the histories of the Church which have survived were largely written with a Roman Catholic slant, we see peoples who were called “heretics” and persecuted by the Catholic Church as enemies. In most cases, why were they called “heretics”? Because they opposed the hierarchy structure and unbiblical doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church.

Let me name a few down through the ages who were called “heretics” by the organizational Church.

In the 2nd century, there were the Montanists. As organization increased, and more and more authority was exercised by the bishops, there was a consequent emphasis upon the spiritual efficacy of rituals performed by the bishops, particularly the rituals of baptism and the eucharist. The Montanists rightly saw this as a danger posing a threat to the Church’s whole spiritual life. The Spirit’s working, they felt, was being replaced by dependence upon organization and ritual. They laid great emphasis on the place of the Holy Spirit among the people of God. This view was much needed because of the inordinate occupation with form, and dependence upon hierarchy which was paralyzing the individual relationship with Christ.

In the 3rd century, there were “heretics” called Novationists, Cathars, Puritans and Priscillianists. Although differences existed among them, a common thread was that they lived lives which even their enemies had to admit were beyond reproach, and who claimed that the spiritual origin of their communities went right back to the days of the apostles themselves.

In the 4th century, there were the “heretical” Culdees. The Culdees were Christians whose history went back to the earliest days of Christianity in Britain. They professed the Lordship of Christ alone, not that of any Church system, refused luxury and extravagant living, maintained themselves by honest work, and were zealous in the ministry of God’s Word.

Let us now go into greater depth with one particular community of so-called “heretics” who were known as the Paulicians. In the 7th century, there arose a community of Paulicians who, among themselves owning only the name of “Christians" or “Brethren”, stood out strongly against the idolatry, sacramentalism, and other prevailing errors of the Catholic Church. They appear on the historical scene in the region of Mesopotamia. Why they were named “Paulicians” is not exactly known, but it may simply have been because of their respect for the apostle Paul and his writings. The Catholic Church ascribed to them all sorts of erroneous doctrines, if we can believe those whose lives denied the truths they professed, for to them practical holiness was of little account.

It is a sad commentary on the perversity of man’s nature that a Churchly system could ever emerge calling itself the Church of Jesus Christ in which was practiced every conceivable type of unbiblical error, yet which believed itself supremely to enjoy the favor of a holy God because of an orthodox form of words and doctrines to which it gave lip assent, and utterly repudiated in daily living. This same Church scorned the manifestly holy lives of men and women who sought to order their ways in humble obedience to Christ through His Word, and branded them heretics.

Whatever opinions may beheld about the Paulicians, it is generally conceded that they had a particular respect for the authority of the Bible, advocated a life of simplicity, were a devout and earnest people, and bore a strong witness against the unsavory practices of the Catholic Church. They claimed simply that they were in the succession of those people who still held to the teaching of the apostles, and with every scriptural justification, they denied the right of the ecclesiastical systems of Christendom to control the workings of the Church of Christ.

In assessing the character of the Paulicians and other groups which have appeared down through the centuries, historians have tended too readily to accept uncritically what has been said and written against them by their enemies. The history of the Roman Church in its dealings with those who refused to bow to its dominion is a tale of violence and persecution. Not only did it seek to destroy the persons of those who opposed it, but also to bring the very memory of their names into ignominy by the most gross accusations, and to obliterate what they themselves wrote or anything written about them in their favor. It is hardly surprising therefore that much more literature survives which condemns than commends them.

The Paulicians accepted no central authority to rule over the scattered assemblies. The local churches looked to Christ as their Head, and they were built up and strengthened spiritually by teachers who moved from place to place to minister in their midst in a manner similar to that of Paul and others in New Testament times. Since different groups came into being through the ministry of different people, they no doubt differed somewhat one from another, both in form and in emphasis. Their spiritual unity lay in the life which they had in union with Christ, a life which manifested itself in their daily walk and witness. They owned a profound respect for the Word of God, which they accepted as their guide and basis of spiritual growth.

The Paulicians repudiated the practice of infant baptism but held that the Church has a responsibility to pray for the children of believers, and the elders to exhort parents to their solemn duty to bring them up in holiness to know the Lord and His Word. Baptism, they said, should be given only to those who requested it, as a testimony of their repentance and faith. This again was opposed to the false Catholic idea that baptism was the means of redemptive grace being bestowed. To the Paulicians it was a witness to a work that God had already accomplished.
The Paulicians attracted men and women who had a passionate devotion to Christ. In the few facts concerning them which have survived, we can see the simple order and holy life of the earliest churches. We find in their midst men of humility and apostolic spirit who poured out their lives in the proclamation of the truth and died rather than deny their Lord.

Going on, we see the Dark Ages from approximately the 8th to the 12th centuries.

In the 12th century we see the “heretical” Bogomils and Waldenses. The Bogomils, which means simply “friends of God”, were from the area of the Balkan peninsula. They were the subject of wild accusations by the hierarchy of the Roman Church. They were accused, naturally, of being heretics, and quite justifiably of denying much that was peculiar to Roman dogma, including the usefulness of the Church’s sacraments and orders. To Mary, they gave no special honor, nor to the figure of the cross or other relics; the Lord’s supper was not celebrated in the Catholic Church according to Scripture, they said, and her priesthood was corrupt.

The Waldenses got their name from Peter Waldo, a rich businessman of Lyon, France. But there is, in fact, no precise record of the origin of the Waldenses. They themselves traced their beginnings back to apostolic times, and claimed that the faith which they held had been passed down from father to son from the earliest ages of the Church’s existence. It may well be that these congregations were the spiritual progeny of Christians who fled northwards during the early Roman persecutions at the close of the apostolic era.

The Waldenses were characterized by their marked reverence for the Scriptures in which they found their rule of daily living and church order. Their congregations were, therefore, simple, void of the highly developed rituals and ordinances which marked the Catholic Church. THE KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST’S DWELLING WITHIN BY THE SPIRIT WAS TO THEM A TRUTH OF PARAMOUNT IMPORTANCE.

Salvation was through faith, and the Roman Church had authority neither to open nor to close the door to God’s grace. Baptism was a testimony to faith in Christ, and the Lord’s supper was a remembrance of His sacrifice.

We now come to the era of the Protestant Reformation which began in the 14th century. We see men such as Wycliffe, Tyndale, Luther, Calvin who were declared “heretics” by the Catholic Church. I will continue “Who Were the Heretics?” from the Protestant Reformation at a later date.

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