http://aura.abdn.ac.

uk/bitstream/2164/4628/1/ 57
vol_7_nr_1_2015_Theofilos_Supplement_Bokedal.pdf

The Early Rule-of-Faith Pattern as

Emergent Biblical Theology
Tomas Bokedal
Lecturer, University of Aberdeen
[email protected]

This article discusses the Rule of Faith (regula fidei) as a normative

hermeneutical tool that promotes the textual and theological unity of
the Old and New Testament Scriptures. It is argued that the close con-
nection between the Rule of Faith and scriptural interpretation in Ire-
naeus, Clement of Alexandria and other early church teachers may be
understood as expressions of an incipient biblical theology. Two edito-
rial characteristics of Christian Scripture appear to be linked to this
notion of regula fidei: the triadic system of nomina sacra (”God,”
”Jesus” and ”Spirit” written in contracted form) and the bipartite
OT–NT arrangement. Such textual–interpretative features, as well as
creedal and ritual practices associated with baptism, are presented as
integral to the early church’s Rule, or Rule-of-Faith pattern of biblical
reading.
Key words: Rule of Faith, regula fidei, biblical theology, nomina sacra,
creed, baptismal teaching, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria

A
major function of the early namely: Scripture interpretation (focus-
church’s Rule of Faith (regula fi- sing on the nomina sacra practice and the
dei), largely synonymous with the bipartite OT–NT arrangement), creedal
Rule of Truth or Ecclesiastical Rule,1 was formulation, and the rite of initiation. It is
to guarantee that the faith community argued that these basic textual,5 creedal6
”read the Old Testament as the promise and ritual expressions7 of early Christian
of the Gospel and the Gospel as the fulfil- existence shaped common features of the
ment of that promise.”2 As a key to such majority church’s emergent biblical theo-
a reading of old and new Scriptures as a logy. ”Biblical theology” is here under-
unified whole, the regula fidei was used as stood in broad terms as the distinct Chris-
a summary of the faith,3 or as the teach- tian theology held to be contained in the
ing foundation for Christian belief as re- Jewish (OT) and specifically Christian
vealed by Christ and handed down by the Scriptures (NT) when perceived jointly as
apostles.4 a textual unity.
Following an introduction to the early Due to their defining qualities, Scrip-
Christian notion of a regula fidei, and a ture and Rule of Faith emerged within the
brief comment on a few passages in Ire- faith community – to use the German
naeus (Haer. I, 8.1-10.1; III, 1.1-2; Dem. theologian Karlmann Beyschlag’s phra-
6), this essay explores certain practices sing – as ”two sides of one and the same
integral to the church’s Rule of Faith, norm” (zwei Seiten einer Norm).8 As

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58 The Early Rule-of-Faith Pattern as Emergent Biblical Theology

such, the regula fidei could even be seen Faith include adherence to apostolic ori-
as a property of sacred Scripture, empha- gins,18 close association with defining
sizing the arrangement of the Old and monotheistic belief and other creedal ma-
New Testament texts into a whole, with terial (Haer. I, 10.1), as well as with bap-
special attention given to reading biblical tismal teaching and confession (Haer. I,
passages in their intra-scriptural context 9.4).19
(Clem. Strom. VI, 15.25.3; Iren. Haer. I, However, in a manner similar to Cle-
8.1-10.1).9 Alternatively, when associated ment of Alexandria, the bishop of Lyons
more with baptismal confession or apo- evinces a Rule that teaches the church to
stolic tradition in the broader sense, the read the Scriptures as a literary unity with
regula could be viewed as a scripturally a particular sequential ordering and tex-
defined or aligned Rule.10 Applied to tual arrangement (Haer. I, 8.1-10.1).20
various types of scriptural exegesis, this Irenaeus employs the classic hermeneuti-
Rule of Faith, or Rule-of-Faith pattern of cal rule of the parts relating to the textu-
biblical reading, occurs around AD 200 al whole, and vice versa, in one of his
in Irenaeus of Lyons,11 Tertullian of famous illustrations in Against Heresies.
Carthage and Clement of Alexandria, as He likens the arrangement of the biblical
well as in other early Christian writers.12 material to a beautiful mosaic of a king –
in contradistinction to an unappealing
Introductory Remarks fox, where the textual bits and pieces of
the artwork have been misplaced, as in
Regula fidei and the Mosaic of the Gnostic Valentinian Scripture inter-
Scripture pretation (Haer. I, 9.4).21
Christ himself is said to be the originator
of the Rule in Tertullian (ca. AD 160- Scholarly Views on the regula fidei
220) and Clement of Alexandria (ca. AD The regula fidei attained a multivalent
150-215/21).13 Clement describes the function during the period we are looking
Ecclesiastical Rule in a frequently quoted at, and could be equated with Scripture,
passage as ”the agreement and unity of baptismal confession, or apostolic tradi-
the Law and the Prophets and the Testa- tion more broadly.22 Thus, the tension
ment delivered at the coming of the posed between Scripture and unwritten
Lord.”14 As such,15 it provides the key Christian tradition in the Western church-
hermeneutical guideline for his Scripture es since the Reformation and Counter-
principle and biblical theology.16 Cle- Reformation does not appear in the early
ment’s concern to relate the old Jewish Christian centuries, neither in the New
and new Christian Scriptures to one anoth- Testament,23 during the New Testament
er may here be concretely linked not only period, nor subsequently.
to the Ecclesiastical Rule, but also to the In 1 Clement, an epistle addressed to
actual titles of the two major text corpo- the Corinthian Christians towards the
ra – ”The Old” and ”The New Testa- end of the first century, the author appe-
ment” – introduced by Christian editors als to the church in Corinth to ”conform

dition” (1 Clem. 7.2; τῆς π αραδόσεως

towards the end of the second century.17 to the renowned and holy rule of our tra-

ἡμῶν κανόνα). As the equally renowned

A couple of decades earlier, in Irenaeus
of Lyons (ca. AD 125-202), standard cha-
racteristics of his Scripture-linked Rule of second-century regula fidei tradition

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Tomas Bokedal 59

became part of central Christian vocabu- – all is comprised by the regula fidei or
lary as testified by Dionysius of Corinth regula veritatis. Thus, this regula can be
(ca. AD 170), Irenaeus and Clement of equated with one or the other property,
Alexandria,24 we shall seek to understand however with neither of them being fully
their precise intent concerning this novel identical.”34
expression.25 Some more recent scholarship has con-
Notable scholars of the late nineteenth tinued to emphasize the close relationship
and twentieth centuries attempted to pro- between Scripture and regula fidei. Karl-
vide answers concerning the regula’s pro- Heinz Ohlig, when reflecting on the can-
file. Theodor Zahn held the regula fidei to on-formation process, holds the view that
be ”identical with the baptismal confes- ”the Rule of Faith is not an independent
sion.”26 Adolf von Harnack, on the other principle and norma normans beside
hand, sought to broaden Zahn’s under- Scripture,” but the usage ”of that which
standing. He argued that the earliest regu- one already recognized through the ap-
la should be defined in terms of the apo- propriated Scriptures, as applied to what
stolic tradition rather than baptismal con- was still disputed.”35 Paul Blowers, who
fession per se.27 Harnack’s position open- understands the connection between re-
ed up for clearer association between the gula and Scripture in yet stronger terms,
Rule of Faith and the Scriptures.28 How- writes: ”For Irenaeus and Tertullian alike
ever, only with Johannes Kunze’s monu- it is imperative to identify the Canon of
mental 1899 study Glaubensregel, Heilige Truth or Rule of Faith as Scripture’s own
Schrift und Taufbekenntnis29 is the scho- intrinsic story-line.”36
larly horizon helpfully broadened, and a The focus of the present essay is the
clearly positive relationship between Chris- regula fidei as incipient biblical theology.
tian Scripture and Rule of Faith posited.30 I thus discuss the Rule of Faith (or Rule-
Key aspects of Kunze’s approach have of-Faith pattern of biblical reading) as a
been discussed afresh by the Swedish theo- normative hermeneutical tool – imple-
logian Bengt Hägglund.31 With his dis- mented through Scripture, catechesis and
tinctive emphasis, Hägglund affirms the baptism – that promotes the textual and
early Christian notion of Rule of Faith as theological unity of the corpus of Old and
referring ultimately to the revelatory New Testament Scriptures.
events themselves, stemming from God
and Christ and passed on by the apost- Scripture and regula: Haer. I,
les.32 In the first and second centuries, 8.1-10.1, III, 1.1-2, and Epid. 6
these events were held to be codified pri- To illustrate my primary assertion – that
marily in Scripture, apostolic tradition the regula fidei37 is intimately linked to
and baptismal confession. The rather ab- the (emerging) biblical theology of some
stract and flexible definition of the regula major early church writers38 – I shall ap-
fidei that Hägglund suggests fits well with propriate the following representative
our main source texts discussing the early formulation of the Rule of Faith (here re-
Rule of Faith.33 Concerning the regula in ferred to as ”the faith”) as phrased by Ire-
Irenaeus, Tertullian and Clement, Hägg- naeus in his First Book Against Heresies:
lund writes: ”Baptismal confession (as a
the whole world, ... received (π αρα-
The church, though spread throughout
brief summary of the contents of revela-
tion), sacred Scripture, apostolic tradition λαμβάνειν) from the apostles and

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60 The Early Rule-of-Faith Pattern as Emergent Biblical Theology

their disciples the faith (π ίστις) in by the Law and the Prophets; and one
one GOD the FATHER Almighty, who CHRIST, the SON of GOD.” (Haer. III,
made the heaven and the earth, the 1.2) Thereby, he evinces the close connec-
sea and all that is in them; and in
tion between Rule of Faith (binitarian
one CHRIST JESUS, the SON of GOD,
who became flesh for our salvation; summary of the faith), Jewish Scripture
and in the HOLY SPIRIT, who (the Law and the Prophets), and New Tes-

the economies (οἰκονομία), and the

through the prophets proclaimed tament text (the fourfold Gospel). The in-
timate connection between Scripture and
coming and birth from the Virgin, regula in Haer. (I, 10.1; III, 1.2) and Epid.
and the passion, and the resurrec-
(6ff.) lends support as well to a narrative
tion from the dead, and the ascen-
sion of the beloved CHRIST JESUS approach, along the lines suggested by
our LORD in the flesh into the hea- Paul Blowers: ”The Rule of Faith served
vens, and his coming from the hea- the primitive Christian hope of articula-
vens in the glory of the FATHER to ting and authenticating a world-encom-
recapitulate all things and to raise passing story or metanarrative of crea-
up all flesh of the whole human tion, incarnation, redemption and con-
race. (Haer. I, 10.1)39
summation.”40 Irenaeus’ catechetical piece,
As a summary statement of the faith and Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching
the baptismal teaching, the Rule is di- (Epid. 1-100), renders such joint meta-
rectly linked to Scripture and its exposi- narrative employment of Scripture and
tion. First, our passage’s immediate textu- Rule into one of our earliest ”proto-ortho-
al context in Against Heresies treats the dox” biblical-theological contributions,
Rule of Faith as part of a discussion on focusing on ”the revelatory events them-
scriptural hermeneutics (Haer. I, 8.1- selves.” (cf. Haer. II, 28.1; n. 52 below).
10.1). Thirdly, as indicated in these passages
Secondly, the faith ”received from the from Book I and III of Against Heresies (I,
apostles and their disciples” (I, 10.1) 10.1 and III, 1.2) and in Demonstration
could be taken to refer to the revelatory of the Apostolic Preaching (6), the Jewish
events themselves (Hägglund) or a sum- Scriptures are repeatedly referred to as an
mary statement of that faith which was integrated part of the regula fidei formu-
transmitted orally and then in written laries (cf. 1 Cor. 15:3f.).41 Phrasings like
form. We recall the bishop’s description ”[proclaimed] through the prophets,”
of the transmission of the oral and writ- (Haer. I, 10.1) ”announced by the Law
ten gospel in the introduction to Book and the Prophets,” (III, 1.2) and ”shown
Three of Against Heresies: This gospel, he forth by the prophets according to the
states, was ”handed down to us in the design of their prophecy” (Epid. 6) also
Scriptures, so that that would be the serve to connect the old Scriptures (OT)
foundation and pillar of our faith.” with key events in the new (NT).42 The
(Haer. III, 1.1) In the following section, bishop of Lyons closely affiliates the four-
Irenaeus connects these apostolic texts fold Gospel discussed in Against Heresies
(the four Gospels) directly with the Rule- (III, 1.1 and 11.8) with the Rule ”an-
of-Faith pattern in its binitarian form: nounced by the Law and the Prophets.”
”These [the Gospel writers] have all de- (III, 1.2)43 And in Demonstration of the
clared to us that there is one GOD, Apostolic Preaching, in Oskar Skarsau-
Creator of heaven and earth, announced ne’s phrasing, Irenaeus devotes himself to

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Tomas Bokedal 61

an Old Testament proof of the JESUS, CHRIST and SON of GOD (cf. Matt.
main points in the Rule of Faith, 16:16; John 20:31). As we will see below,
mainly its Christological part. … the resemblance between these (dyadic/
The extensive summary of biblical
triadic) nomina sacra demarcations and
history in chs. 11-42a clearly de-
monstrates the catechetical nature the major names being part of the (dya-
of Irenaeus’ treatise … this biblical dic/triadic) regula fidei formulary in
history is the very content of the Against Heresies I, 10.1 (one GOD the
apostolic preaching and the Rule of FATHER, one CHRIST JESUS; FATHER, SON
Faith … It is, so to speak, a fleshing and SPIRIT; the beloved CHRIST JESUS our
out of the three articles of the
LORD) is conspicuous.
”creed” comprised in short format
in the Rule of Faith.44
In the following, I shall attempt to de-
Fourthly, the so-called nomina sacra monstrate the close link between certain
word group, most likely marked off in features of Irenaeus’ classic formulation
Irenaeus’ Scriptures (in small caps be- of the Rule of Faith (Against Heresies I,
low),45 provides a common textual pat- 8.1-10.1 and elsewhere)50 and an emer-
tern for Christian Scripture and the Rule gent biblical theology. I will discuss in
of Faith; that is, the special demarcation brief: 1) the catechetical and ritual con-
by abbreviation (contraction or suspen- text of the regula fidei; 2) the creedal
sion with a horizontal stroke drawn abo- context of the regula fidei; and 3) the

for GOD (ΘΕΟΣ; ΘΣ), LORD (ΚΥΡΙΟΣ;

ve the abbreviation) of the Greek words regula’s textual–scriptural contextuali-

ΚΣ), JESUS (ΙΗΣΟΥΣ; ΙΗ, ΙΗΣ, ΙΣ), CHRIST

zation associated with the scribal nomina

(ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ; ΧΡ, ΧΡΣ, ΧΣ), FATHER (ΠΑΤΗΡ;

sacra demarcations.

ΠΗΡ), SON (ΥΙΟΣ; ΥΣ) and SPIRIT

(ΠΝΕΥΜΑ; ΠΝΑ). These, and few additio-
Catechetical and Ritual Context:
The Rule of Faith Received
nal specially written Greek short forms,46
are found in contemporary OT manu-
through Baptism
scripts, e.g. P. Chester Beatty VI (second/ The close link between Scripture and
third century AD),47 and NT manuscripts, regula can be seen in Irenaeus’ critique of
such as P46 and P66 (both ca. AD 200).48 the Gnostic Valentinian reading of indi-
We also know that Irenaeus himself (or vidual Bible passages, which were taken
his scribe) most likely made use of these out of their original literary framework
”sacred names,” or nomina-sacra demar- (Against Heresies I, 9.4). The bishop of
cations, in his own works, in line with Lyons complains, describing their exegeti-
Christian writing practice of the day (see cal method in rather derogatory terms:
P.Oxy. 405).49 After having entirely fabricated
Both the nomina sacra convention and their own system, they [the Valen-
the regula fidei pattern place a limited tinians] gather together sayings and
names from scattered places and
number of theologically significant names
transfer them, as we have already
and words centre stage: GOD, FATHER, said, from their natural meaning to
LORD, JESUS and CHRIST (cf. 1 Cor. 8:6; an unnatural one. They act like
John 20:28); GOD/FATHER, JESUS/SON/ those who would propose themes
CHRIST/LORD and SPIRIT (cf. Matt. 3:16-17; which they chance upon and then
28:19; 1 Cor. 12:4-6; 1 Clem. 46.6); try to put them to verse from

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62 The Early Rule-of-Faith Pattern as Emergent Biblical Theology

Homeric poems, so that the inexpe- We shall consider a couple of things

rienced think that Homer compo- that may have crossed Irenaeus’ mind.
sed the poems with that theme, First, the claim that the Rule is ”received
which in reality are of recent com-
through baptism” most certainly refers to
position. … In the same way, any-
one who keeps unswervingly in the whole process of baptismal teach-
himself the Rule of Truth received ing.53 This includes catechetical instruc-
through baptism will recognize the tion to literate as well as illiterate cate-
names and sayings and parables chumens (Haer. III, 4.1-2), and externally
from the Scriptures, but this blas- transmitted (i.e. teaching) as well as inter-
phemous theme of theirs he will not
nally appropriated dimensions (i.e. recep-
recognize. For even if he recognizes
the jewels, he will not accept the tion) of the regula. Irenaeus appears to be
fox for the image of the king. He summarizing the faith received at baptism
will restore each one of the passa- (Epid. 7; Haer. I, 21.1). He does that by
ges to its proper order and, having using dyadic/binitarian or triadic/Trini-
fit it into the body of the Truth, he tarian short forms for the received faith,
will lay bare their fabrication and linked with scriptural exposition (cf.
show that it is without support.
Haer. III, 1.2; Epid. 1-100, esp. 1, 3, 7,
(Haer. I, 9.4)51
98-100). J. N. D. Kelly emphasizes, ”the
Irenaeus’ way of countering Valentinian catechetical preparation was dominated
text interpretation, as he presents it here, by those features of the impending sacra-
is by appeal to the Rule of Truth (regula ment which constituted its essence, the
veritatis). A correct reading of the Scrip- threefold interrogation with the threefold
tures, he insists, must be pursued accord- assent, and the threefold immersion.”54
ing to the regula veritatis pattern: ”Any- Secondly, the bishop of Lyons can still
one who keeps unswervingly (ἀκλινής) in maintain a dual emphasis, on the binitari-

through baptism (διὰ τοῦ βαπ τίσματος) will

himself the Rule of Truth received an/Trinitarian faith in which the catechu-
mens have been instructed (cf., e.g., Haer.
recognize the names and sayings and I, 10.1; III, 4.1-2; 11.1; 16.6; IV, 33.7),
parables from the Scriptures.” (Haer. I, and on the formal reception of that faith
9.4; cf. Epid. 3) Baptism, Rule of Truth through immersion in the name of the
and Bible reading are here closely linked. Triune God (Haer. I, 9.4; Epid. 3 and 7;
True appropriation of Scripture – inclu- cf. Just. 1 Apol. 61). In this connection,
ding an understanding of its names, say- Alistair Stewart has recently argued that a
ings and parables – takes place in those christological profession of faith may have
who adhere to the Rule of Truth. Such is been recited just before the actual bap-
in contradistinction to Gnostic Valentini- tism, whereas the binitarian or Trinita-
ans and others who have abandoned the rian Rule may have been part of the pre-
Christian regula – or ”Truth itself” (Haer. baptismal instruction.55 In line with such
II, 28.1)52 – and the pattern of scriptural christological formulary, we notice the
reading closely associated with it. wording of what is probably the earliest
However, what, more precisely, should profession of faith linked to baptism that
we presume the baptizand to have recei- we know of, namely the Western text of
ved ”through baptism?” The Rule of Truth, Acts 8.
to be sure. But what would that have At the baptism scene in Acts 8:36-37,
entailed in the Irenaean church setting? as the Ethiopian eunuch is baptized, the

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Tomas Bokedal 63

following dialogue is presented: ”What is spiritual meaning. In the course of

to prevent my being baptized?” (8:36). these days everything is taught not
”And Philip said, ‘If you believe with all only about the Resurrection but
concerning the body of faith. This
your heart, you may.’ And he replied, ‘I
is called catechetics.
believe that JESUS CHRIST is the SON of
When five weeks of instruction ha-
GOD.’” (8:37, inserted)56 In fact, Christ-
ve been completed, they then recei-
confession, in one form or another, appe- ve the Creed. He explains the mea-
ars to have been associated with baptism ning of each of the phrases of the
from the beginning (cf. Heb. 4:14; 1 John Creed in the same way he explained
4:15; 5:5; Mark 3:11; 5:7).57 Holy Scripture, expounding first the
If we assume that Stewart is right literal and then the spiritual sense.
In this fashion the Creed is taught.
about a christological profession imme-
… Now when seven weeks have
diately prior to baptism, Irenaeus may gone by and there remains only
have chosen to combine various confes- Holy Week ... each one recites the
sional formularies in Against Heresies I, Creed back to the bishop. (Itinera-
10.1: pre-baptismal dyadic and triadic, rium Egeriae 46)61
and the older christological, confession. The intimate connection that we meet –
On a general note, different formulas e.g. in Irenaeus’ Demonstration of the
seem to have been used for the catecheti- Apostolic Preaching – between Scripture
cal preparation (pre-baptismal teaching), and regula/creedal material also encoun-
and for liturgical profession of faith and ters the reader of Egeria’s rendering.62
the threefold interrogation at baptism.58 According to her diary notes, Scripture is
read within a creedal and ritual framing.
First- to Fourth-Century Baptismal
Accounts Just as in Irenaeus (Haer. I, 9.4), the
Creed (or creedal sequences of the regula)
Now, more light may be shed on Ire-
is ”received” during the course of pre-
naeus’ talk of the Rule being ”received,”
baptismal instruction (the so-called tradi-
as we study later baptismal accounts,
tio symboli). In Holy Week each of the
such as Egeria’s Diary of a Pilgrimage
catechumens are then expected to ”[reci-
(46).59 Egeria describes her impressions of
te] the Creed back to the bishop” (the so-
catechesis and baptism from the Jerusa-
called redditio symboli).63
lem church in the years AD 381-84.60
A difference between baptismal teach-
Egeria’s notes from her Jerusalem visit
ing in the fourth as compared to the late
may be instructive when discerning what
second century is that the fixed Creed and
Irenaeus meant by the Rule being ”recei-
the redditio symboli had not yet seen the
ved through baptism:”
day at the time of Irenaeus and Tertullian.
It is the custom here [in Jerusalem], Yet, as the highpoint of the Catechume-
throughout the forty days on which
nate, baptism in the Triune name seems
there is fasting, for those who are
preparing for baptism to be exorci- to unite several authors/writings, even at
sed by the clergy early in the mor- the early period we are concentrating on
ning, … Beginning with Genesis he here: Matthew (28:19), Didache (7.1),
[the bishop] goes through the who- Justin (1 Apol. 61), Irenaeus (Epid. 7),
le of Scripture during these forty Clement of Alexandria (Strom. II, 11.2;
days, expounding first its literal
V, 73.2; Paed. I, 42.1) and Tertullian
meaning and then explaining the

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64 The Early Rule-of-Faith Pattern as Emergent Biblical Theology

(Bapt. 6.1; Prax. 26).64 In Irenaeus’ cate- naeus demonstrates a striking parallel
chetical treatise we thus read: between the Jewish Shema and his own
Now, this is what faith does for us, formulation of the Rule of Faith in
… it admonishes us to remember Against Heresies III, 1.2 and elsewhere.72
that we have received baptism for Having told his readers how the gospel
remission of sins in the name of had first been preached orally, but later
GOD the FATHER, and in the name ”by GOD’S will,” had been ”handed down
of JESUS CHRIST, the SON of GOD,
[tradiderunt] to us in the Scriptures,”
who became incarnate and died and
was raised, and in the Holy SPIRIT (Haer. III, 1.1)73 he goes on to account for
of GOD; and that this baptism is the the authorship of the texts of the four
seal of eternal life and is rebirth Evangelists. Following on this brief re-
unto GOD. (Epid. 3)65 port, Irenaeus makes an interesting claim
Forceful additional testimony to an emer- pertaining to the Rule of Truth (regula
ging Christian Trinitarianism and the be- veritatis): ”These [the four Gospel wri-
nefits of the new birth is found in 1 Cle- ters] have all declared to us that there is
ment (ca. AD 96),66 referring to ”one one GOD, Creator of heaven and earth,
GOD and one CHRIST and one SPIRIT of announced by the Law and the Prophets;
grace that was poured out upon us” (1 and one CHRIST, the SON of GOD” (Haer.
Clem. 46.6; cf. 58.2). III, 1.2; also quoted above).
From the above considerations of first- We see here a second-century phrasing
to fourth-century writings, we note the of Christian monotheistic faith that in
following overall implication for biblical various forms had first been formulated
theology: Scripture is read, taught, inter- in the previous century, during the apo-
preted, and edited (bipartite OT–NT stolic period. This had amounted to a
structure; use of the dyadic/triadic system ”reconfiguring of Jewish monotheistic
of nomina sacra) within a christological practice and thought” to accommodate
and binitarian/Trinitarian regula fidei Jesus with God as rightful recipient of
framework, closely tied to baptism in the devotion.74 The characteristic binitarian
Triune name (cf. Epid. 1-100).68 structuring of early Christian faith, as
found already in Paul (1 Cor. 8:5-6; cf. 1
Creedal Context: Rule of Faith Tim. 2:5 and Phil. 2:9-11) and John (John
and Christological Monotheism 1:1), was thus shaped in a profound way
by Early Jewish monotheism.75 As the
Regula fidei’s broad appeal to core textu-
New Testament scholar Larry W. Hur-
al,69 ritual70 and interpretative elements71
tado underlines, ”What became ‘Chris-
of Christian faith placed this condensed
tianity’ began as a movement within the
theology of the early church on the same
Jewish religious tradition of the Roman
level of earnestness as that attained by the
period, and the chief characteristic of
Jewish confession expressed in The She-
Jewish religion in this period was its defi-
ma (Deut. 6:4-9). In the Roman context,
antly monotheistic stance.”76
this confession had immediate political
Emphasis on monotheistic belief –
and religious implications embodied in
found as a standard component of the re-
the Jewish exemption from imperial cultic
gula fidei in the late second century – was
worship.
an essential part of the Christian move-
With regard to phrasing, bishop Ire-
ment from the beginning. Not unsurpris-

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Tomas Bokedal 65

ingly, only in the New Testament we find mal creed of Israel, which preceded
the theme of God’s oneness addressed the New Testament: ”We believe in
some 49 times.77 Paul and the Gospel wri- one God.” And it does so as the
foundation for everything that it
ters assume the Jewish confession of God
then goes on to say about the Son
as one. For our purposes, it is particular- of God as ”consubstantial with the
ly worth noticing that the confession of Father.” [homoousios toi patri]80
the God of Israel as the only God beco-
The Shema is here presented as a key ele-
mes a defining boundary marker; this is
ment of Jewish (Jesus) and Christian faith
indicated by the early Jewish adoption of
(Paul and subsequent Christians), which,
The Shema as a daily prayer (perhaps
in its own particular way, unifies the
alluded to already in the NT; cf. Matt.
Jewish and Christian Scriptures. Pelikan
22:37; Mark 12:29-30, 32; Luke 10:27;
further notes that The Shema actually
John 10:30; Rom 3:28-30; 1 Cor. 8:6;
”dictates the language” for the opening
Gal. 3:20; 1 Tim. 2:5; Jas. 2:19).78 Several
lines of a broad spectrum of confessions,
Early Jewish authors testify to the central
Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant.81
place attained by monotheistic belief and
The regula fidei pattern in Haer. I, 10.1
confession (Let. Aris. 131-32; Jub. 12:19-
that we have been considering above,
20; Jos., AJ 4:201).79
complies with the creedal matrix laid out
Also in Christian circles, the oneness
by Pelikan. The inclusion of ”one” (εἷς) as
and uniqueness of God is emphasized
part of the first and second articles (”in
from the New Testament period onwards.
one GOD the FATHER” and ”in one CHRIST
As pointed out by the late Jaroslav
JESUS . . . our LORD,” Haer. I, 10.1), but
Pelikan, in a discussion on ”Creeds in
not of the third (”in the Holy SPIRIT”),
Scripture,”
highlights the similarities between Ire-
[I]n response to a challenge, Jesus naeus’ second-century regula and later
recites the primal creed of The She-
Eastern creeds, such as the fourth-century
ma: ”Hear, O Israel: the Lord our
God, the Lord is one.” In response Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed.82 On
to another challenge, the apostle this feature Tyrannius Rufinus (ca. AD
Paul also recites The Shema, in or- 345-410) maintains that almost without
der then to be able to say that for exception the Eastern churches give the
him and his fellow believers (em- creed in this form, stressing the oneness of
ploying a formula that does sound God the Father and of the Lord Jesus
as though it might itself have come
from an earlier Christian creed or
Christ (A Commentary on the Apostles’
hymn), ”there is one God, the Fa- Creed 4). Rufinus here gives credit to the
ther, from whom are all things and Pauline influence (1 Cor. 8:6):83 ”They
for whom we exist, and one Lord, confess, you see, ONE GOD and ONE
Jesus Christ, through whom are all LORD, in deference to the Apostle
things and through whom we Paul.”84
exist.” The profession of faith of
With its stark christological monothe-
the first ecumenical council of the
church, convoked at Nicaea in 325 istic emphasis, the regula fidei contributes
likewise in response to a challenge, to biblical theology by unifying the
opens not with a passage from the monotheistic a priori in the Old as well as
Gospels or from any other portion the New Testament, placing confession in
of the New Testament but with a the one God and the one Christ at the
Christian version of the same pri-

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66 The Early Rule-of-Faith Pattern as Emergent Biblical Theology

heart of scriptural reading and applica- of supra-textual markers – also helps

tion (cf. Deut. 6:4; Isa. 44:6, 45:22-23, weaving the Old and New Testament
48:12, 1 Cor. 8:6; Phil. 2:5-11, 1 Tim. texts into a coherent whole. Furthermore,
2:5, Rev. 1:8. 17, 2:8, 21:6, 22:13).85 these four to fifteen words indicate a tex-
Christological monotheism is at the heart tual centre: 1) by consistently highlighting
also of our third practice (in addition to a strictly delimited number of names and
creedal formulation and the rite of initia- words (the scribes of Codex Sinaiticus
tion) integral to the church’s Rule of marked off the five standard nomina
Faith, namely the employment of nomina sacra, GOD, LORD, JESUS, CHRIST and SPI-
sacra as a scriptural supra-text. RIT in nearly every case); 2) by high-
lighting the connection between the
Textual–Scriptural Context: variously rendered Tetragrammaton (the
Rule of Faith and nomina sacra divine Name) and the nomina sacra (cf.
The scribal system of nomina sacra, intro- esp. the binitarian nomina sacra configu-
duced above, consists of some four to fif- ration in 1 Cor. 8:6: GOD, FATHER, LORD,
teen specially abbreviated words in Chris- JESUS, CHRIST);91 and 3) key terms from
the nomina sacra word-group (here in
horizontal overbar (GOD, ΘΣ; LORD, ΚΣ;
tian Bible manuscripts86 supplied with a
small caps)92 are commonly constituting
JESUS, ΙΗ, ΙΗΣ, ΙΣ; CHRIST, ΧΡ, ΧΡΣ, ΧΣ; the main building blocks of the regula fi-
SPIRIT, ΠΝΑ; CROSS, ΣΤΡΣ; FATHER, ΠΗΡ; dei formularies, demarcating the three
SON, ΥΣ; MAN/HUMAN BEING, ΑΝΟΣ; articles of faith, for example in Demon-
JERUSALEM, ΙΛΗΜ; ISRAEL, ΙΗΛ; HEAVEN, stration of the Apostolic Preaching (6):
ΟΥΝΟΣ; MOTHER, ΜΗΡ; DAVID, ΔΑΔ;
SAVIOUR, ΣHΡ).87
And this is the drawing-up of our
faith, the foundation of the buil-
The fourth-century Codex Vaticanus ding, and the consolidation of a
way of life. GOD, the FATHER,
usually only makes use of the first four of
uncreated, beyond grasp, invisible,
these (GOD, LORD, JESUS, CHRIST),88 whe- one GOD the maker of all; this is the
reas in Codex Sinaiticus, the five first nor- first and foremost article of our
mally are rendered in their nomina-sacra faith. But the second article is the
forms (GOD, LORD, JESUS, CHRIST, SPI- Word of GOD, the SON of GOD,
RIT).89 However, Codex Sinaiticus (fourth CHRIST JESUS our LORD, who was
shown forth by the prophets … and
century) and also Codex Alexandrinus
through Him were made all things
(fifth century) make use of the whole sys- whatsoever. He also, in the end of
tem of Greek nomina sacra (ca. fifteen times, for the recapitulation of all
words), which causes some scholars to things, is become a MAN among
interpret the scribal phenomenon in terms MEN, visible and tangible, in order
of an ”embryonic creed” engrafted into to abolish death and bring to light
the text.90 life, and bring about the commu-
nion of GOD and MAN. And the
Already in the second and third centu-
third article is the Holy SPIRIT,
ries, these (originally) Greek short forms through whom the prophets prop-
were present in basically all Christian hesied and the patriarchs were
Bible manuscripts. Their frequent occur- taught about GOD and the just were
rence on a typical Old or New Testament led in the path of justice, and who
page makes the text not only specifically in the end of times has been poured
forth in a new manner upon huma-
Christian, but their presence – as a form

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Tomas Bokedal 67

nity over all the earth renewing highlights the nomina sacra short forms,
MAN to GOD. (Iren. Epid. 6)93 while keeping the plural forms ”gods”
We note the individual nomina sacra that and ”lords” written in full (8:5). Most of
may be associated with the three articles the ca. 50 Greek manuscripts containing
of faith mentioned by Irenaeus: the first 1 Cor. 8:4-6 mentioned by Reuben Swan-
article (GOD, FATHER), the second article son in his New Testament Greek Manu-
(GOD, SON, CHRIST, JESUS, LORD, MAN), scripts make this distinction between the
and the third article (SPIRIT, MAN). singular (marked off as nomina sacra)
We are now in a position to make the and plural forms (written in full).94 To the
present essay’s discussion of the regula same effect, in Codices Vaticanus and

ΘΕΟΙ (written in full), is found eight times

fidei somewhat more concrete. As our fo- Sinaiticus, the use of ”god” in the plural,
cus is the regula as emergent biblical theo-
logy, we approach the Rule of Faith (or in the New Testament (Joh. 10:34, 35; 1
Rule-of-Faith pattern of biblical reading) Cor. 8:5 (twice), Gal. 4:8, Acts 7:40,
as a normative hermeneutical tool that 14:11 and 19:26).95 In all eight cases the
promotes the textual OT–NT dynamics meaning is non-sacral. All other New Tes-
and the theological unity of Christian tament occurrences of the sacral word
Scripture. In terms of function, this Rule ”God” are rendered in their contracted
may to some degree even be equated with forms (ΘΣ).96
the two discussed editorial devices: the Forceful nomina sacra constellations
creedal pattern expressed through the involved in Scripture exposition concern
nomina sacra in their intra-scriptural con- JESUS and his CROSS. In our earliest NT
text, and the particular arrangement of manuscripts, these words are written in
the Scriptures provided by the titles their nomina sacra forms ca. 100 and 95
”Old” and ”New Testament.” The cree- per cent, respectively.97 Our earliest
dal and hermeneutical concern of the re- example, however, comes from the Epist-
gula fidei is expressed also through these le of Barnabas and concerns a discussion
two parallel editorial aids to Scripture of an OT manuscript – containing a no-
reading. In this sense, the twofold title men sacrum abbreviation for ”Jesus” and
and the nomina sacra – being inscribed the letter T, symbolizing the cross. The
into the biblical manuscript tradition passage in Barn. 9 consists of a play with
from the second century onwards – make numbers, where the symbolic meaning of

letters ΤΙΗ) servants in Genesis 14:14 is

the Rule-of-Faith pattern visible on the Abraham’s 318 (written with the Greek
Old and New Testament page.
pondered:
Nomina sacra and Biblical Interpreta- The number eighteen [in Greek]
tion consists of an Iota [Ι], 10, and an
The four earliest nomina sacra introduced Eta [Η], 8. There you have Jesus.
into Christian Bible manuscripts were the And because the cross was about to
have grace in the letter Tau [T], he
”Lord” (ΚΣ), ”Jesus” (ΙΗ, ΙΗΣ, ΙΣ) and
Greek abbreviations for ”God” (ΘΣ),
next gives the three hundred, Tau.
”Christ” (ΧΡ, ΧΡΣ, ΧΣ). The special de-
And so he shows the name Jesus by
the first two letters, and the cross
marcation of these within the New Testa- by the other. For the one who has
ment context is particularly conspicuous placed the implanted gift of his
in passages such as 1 Cor. 8:6, which covenant in us knew these things.

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68 The Early Rule-of-Faith Pattern as Emergent Biblical Theology

No one has learned a more reliable Bezae (SPIRIT), two in Sinaiticus and
lesson from me. But I know that you Washingtonianus (FATHER and SPIRIT),
are worthy. (Barn. 9:8f.)98 and three in Alexandrinus and the Majo-
The central place of Christ and his cross rity Text: ”in the name of the FATHER and
is found not only in the Epistle of Barna- of the SON and of the Holy SPIRIT” (Matt.
bas, or in Paul (1 Cor. 1:17; Gal. 6:14), 28:19). For comparison, we may consider
but also in other early Christian writers, also the scene of Jesus’ baptism in Matt.
like Ignatius of Antioch. The latter makes 3:16-17. Words highlighted as nomina
some interesting comments on this theme sacra in this passage are: JESUS, SPIRIT and
when discussing Christ in the Scriptures: GOD in Codex Vaticanus and Codex
”For me, JESUS CHRIST is the ancient rec- Washingtonianus (fourth/fifth century),
ords [the Jewish Scriptures]; the sacred and JESUS, SPIRIT, GOD, HEAVEN, and SON
ancient records are his CROSS and death, in Codex Sinaiticus.
and his resurrection, and the faith that
comes through him.”99 From the above discussion of the scribal
Similarly in Irenaeus, a hermeneutically nomina sacra convention, the following
revealing passage is found in Against He- themes may be considered when com-
resies: menting and elaborating on the early
For if anyone reads the Scriptures faith community’s biblical theology:
with attention, he will find in them 1) The centrality of Jesus’ name and the
an account of CHRIST … for CHRIST
cross of Christ: The theme of JESUS
is the treasure which was hid in the
field … And, for this reason, in- CHRIST and the CROSS appear in several
deed, when at this present time the key texts from the first to early third
law is read to the Jews, it is like a century AD (cf. 1 Cor. 1:17f., Gal. 3:1,
fable; for they do not possess the Barn. 9, 11-12, Ign. Phld. 8.2, Just. 1
explanation of all things pertaining Apol. 55, Iren. Haer. IV, 26.1, Tert.
to the advent of the SON of GOD,
Marc. III, 22). ”Cross” and ”crucify”
which took place in human nature;
but when it is read by the Chris- are highlighted as nomina sacra in
45
tians, it is a treasure, hid indeed in second-/third-century NT papyri P ,
a field, but brought to light by the P46, P66 and P75. We note that reference
CROSS of CHRIST … . (Haer. IV, 26.1)100 to Jesus being nailed to the cross (cruci
As the scribal system of nomina sacra soon fixum) is part of Tertullian’s account
included additional words beyond the ini- of the regula fidei in Praescr. 13. Parti-
tial four (GOD, LORD, JESUS, CHRIST), such cular attention is also given to the
as CROSS, SPIRIT, FATHER and SON, the name of Jesus – arguably the ”most
appearance of the biblical text was affec- important nomen sacrum of all”102 –
ted. A passage like Matthew 28:19, e.g. in Barn. 9.8f., and in several NT
which seems to have influenced baptismal passages (John 20:31; Acts 2:38, 3:6,
and creedal formularies,101 thus attained 4:12; Rom. 10:13; Phil. 2:9).
more prominence also in terms of its no- 2) The early binitarian structure (christo-
mina sacra demarcations. Editorial varia- logical monotheism): The common
tions of this Matthean passage can be binitarian pattern ”one GOD, the
seen, from no words marked off as nomi- FATHER… and one CHRIST JESUS… our
na sacra in Codex Vaticanus, to one in LORD”, found, e.g., in Haer. I, 10.1,

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Tomas Bokedal 69

highlights the same words that are for Bible reading and exposition (cf.
emphasized through nomina sacra Barn. 9.8; Clem. Strom. VI, 2.84.3-4). A
demarcations in 1 Cor. 8:6 (P46). century later, when the Rule of Faith
3) The standard triadic structure (non- attained pride of place in Christian dis-
technical Trinitarianism): The triadic course, the titles ”Old” and ”New Testa-
pattern ”GOD the FATHER… CHRIST ment” were coined for the main sections
JESUS, SON of GOD/LORD … and the of the Christian Bible.103
Holy SPIRIT,” present in Haer. I, 10.1 I propose that both these editorial
and Epid. 6, seems to share a similar devices could be understood as deliberate
textual–creedal emphasis as that inhe- attempts by the early church to closely
rent in the nomina sacra found in link Christian Scripture to the emerging
Matt. 28:19 (Codex Alexandrinus and ”apostolic” regula fidei pattern.
the Majority Text), Matt. 3:16-17
(Codex Vaticanus), 1 Clem. 46.6 (Co- By way of summary, within a Christian
dex Alexandrinus), and 1 Cor. 12:4-6 Scripture-based, creedal–monotheistic
(P46). and ritual setting, a major function of the
dyadic/triadic Rule-of-Faith pattern of
4) The prominence of christological titles
scriptural reading was biblical-theologi-
and sequences (including Old Testa-
cal: To guarantee that the faith communi-
ment prophecy, now fulfilled in Christ,
ty ”read the Old Testament as the promi-
cf. e.g. Iren. Epid. 42b-100): The fre-
se of the Gospel and the Gospel as the ful-
quently occurring Christ-sequences
filment of that promise.”104 To this effect
”SON of GOD… CHRIST JESUS our
the regula fidei functioned as a normative
LORD” have the same words emphasi-
hermeneutical tool, promoting the textu-
zed as those written as nomina sacra in
al and theological unity of the corpus of
central New Testament christologies
Old and New Testament Scriptures (Iren.
(Rom. 1:4 (Codex Alexandrinus); 1
Haer. I, 8.1-10.1; Clem. Strom. VI,
Cor. 1:9 (P46); Matt. 16:16 (Codex
15.125.3).
Sinaiticus); John 11:27 (Codex Sinai-
The ancient readers’ decision to inau-
ticus) and 20:31 (Codex Sinaiticus)).
gurate the system of nomina sacra into
their communal literature (probably first
The Early Rule-of-Faith Pattern century AD),105 and to designate the two
as Emergent Biblical Theology: main sections of their Scriptures by the
A Proposal labels ”The Old” and ”The New Testa-
By the late first century, the nomina sacra ment” (probably late second century
– highlighting the sacred figures of Chris- AD),106 effectively helped to accomplish
tian faith – had been introduced into the this task.107 108
Scriptures, providing implicit guide lines

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70 The Early Rule-of-Faith Pattern as Emergent Biblical Theology

Notes

Truth (κανὼν τῆς ἀληθείας/regula veritatis), Irenaeus’ main term; 2) the Rule of Faith (κανὼν τῆς π ίστεως/regula
1. The three largely synonymous terms and their equivalents employed throughout the essay are 1) the Rule of

fidei), Tertullian’s main term; and 3) the Ecclesiastical Rule (κανὼν ἐκκλησιαστικός), one of Clement of Alexand-
ria’s main terms (Stromata Book VI and VII). For the relationship between Scripture and Rule of Faith similar-
ly treated in Irenaeus, Tertullian and Clement, see Bengt Hägglund, ”Die Bedeutung der ‘regula fidei’ als
Grundlage theologischer Aussagen,” Studia Theologica 12 (1958): 30-34, esp. 31. Translation of source texts
are my own, unless indicated otherwise. In line with the early Christian (Greek) manuscript tradition, I have
chosen to highlight in small caps the following words among the so-called nomina sacra demarcations (names
of central figures of the faith abbreviated and supplied with an overbar): GOD, LORD, JESUS, CHRIST, FATHER,
SON, SPIRIT, MAN and CROSS.
2. Mark Edwards, Catholicity and Heresy in the Early Church (Farnam, Surrey: Ashgate, 2009), 40.
3. Ellen Flesseman-van Leer, Tradition and Scripture in the Early Church (Leiden: Gorcum & Prakke, 1953),
165: ”the regula is a summary, formulated according to the need of the moment, of the entire Christian faith;”
Frances Young, ”Christian teaching,” in The Cambridge History of Early Christian Literature, eds. F. Young, L.
Ayres and A. Louth (Cambridge: Cambridge University, 2004), 102. See Iren. Epid. 6 and Tert. Praescr. 13. Cf.
also Tertullian’s terminology in Marc. IV, 1: ”Testaments,” ”Law” and ”Gospel.”
4. Clem. Strom. VI, 15.125.3; VII, 95.3. Cf. Philip Hefner (”Theological Methodology and St. Irenaeus,” The
Journal of Religion 44.4 (1964): 299), who argues that the Rule of Faith, and equivalent terms used by Irenaeus,
points to ”an organic system or framework which constitutes the shape and the meaning of God's revelation.
Without the system, God’s revelation is not intelligible.” In this wider discussion on the Rule, however, Hefner
has not given due consideration to Irenaeus’ remarks on scriptural hermeneutics inherent in the scriptural
account itself (cf., e.g., Haer. I, 8.1-10.1).
5. That is, scriptural.
6. That is, widely shared confessional formularies among Christians.
7. E.g., reception of the Rule of Faith through baptism.
8. Karlmann Beyschlag, Grundriß der Dogmengeschichte, vol. 1 (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft,
1982), 170.
9. See n. 14 below. This conclusion becomes particularly attractive in light of the special demarcation of so-called
nomina sacra (see further below), such as FATHER, SON and SPIRIT in the Greek Bible manuscripts, words that
were specially emphasized, and, it seems, part of the early Rule-of-Faith pattern. These three words are found
in their nomina sacra forms, e.g., in papyrus P46 and P66, both commonly dated to ca. AD 200 (cf. NA28, pp.
794-96).
10. In Tertullian’s Prescriptions against Heretics 19, the Rule of Faith is presented as the hermeneutical key to
Scripture reading: ”For wherever it shall be manifest that the true Christian rule and faith shall be, there will
likewise be the true Scriptures and expositions thereof, and all the Christian traditions.” (Praescr. 19 (ANF
3:251f.)). Clement of Alexandria as well as Irenaeus, place greater weight on Scripture’s normative function
than does Tertullian in this passage.
11. Irenaeus’ Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching, which attempts to integrate the Rule of Faith into the
biblical expositon of the work (see Epid. 3, 6, 7, 98-100), is illustrative. Though I will deal briefly with Clement
and Tertullian in this essay, my main focus will be upon Irenaeus.
12. See, e.g., Hans Lietzmann, A History of the Early Church, vol. 1 (Cambridge: James Clarke & Co., 1951,
1993), 373-91.
13. Tert. Praescr. 13; 21; 37; Apol. 47; Clem. Strom. VII, 16.95.
14. ”Kανὼν δὲ ἐκκλησιαστικός ἡ συνῳδία καὶ συμφωνία νόμου τε καὶ π ροφητῶν τῇ κατὰ τὴν τοῦ κυρίου π αρουσίαν
π αραδιδομένῃ διαθήκῃ” (Strom. VI, 15.125.3). Clement of Alexandria’s use of the Rule of Faith or Ecclesiastical
Rule comes close to that of Irenaeus and Tertullian, especially in Strom. VI and VII. For Clement’s broader use
of the concept elsewhere, see Hägglund, Sanningens regel: Regula veritatis. Trosregeln och den kristna traditio-
nens struktur (Skellefteå: Artos & Norma bokförlag, 2003) 27f.; and Heinz Ohme, Kanon ekklesiastikos: Die
Bedeutung des altkirchlichen Kanonbegriffs, Arbeiten zur Kirchengeschichte, Bd. 67 (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter,
1998), 122ff.
15. I.e., as the Lord’s/Christ’s teaching. Cf. Christ as the beginning and principle of the teaching (ἀρχὴ τῆς
διδασκαλίας) in Clement (Strom. VII, 95.3). Hägglund, Sanningens regel, 28.
16. Cf. Strom. VII, 16.96: ”We obtain from the Scriptures themselves a perfect demonstration concerning the
Scriptures”; and VII, 16.95: ”For we have the LORD as the first principle of our teaching, leading us to know-
ledge, from beginning to end, in many and various ways through the Prophets, through the Gospel and through

is ultimately selfauthenticating (αὐτόπ ιστος). Cf. Iren. Haer. II, 27.1; II, 28.2. On the notion of ”the covenants”
the blessed Apostles.” See also Hägglund (”regula fidei,” 33), who emphasizes that for Clement the Scripture

in Clement, see Einar Molland, The Conception of the Gospel in the Alexandrian Theology (Oslo: Det Norske
Videnskaps-Akademi, 1938), 69-75.

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Tomas Bokedal 71

17. Cf. David Trobisch, The First Edition of the New Testament (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), 43-44.

2:305), see Wolfram Kinzig, ”Καινὴ διαθήκη: The Title of the New Testament in the Second and Third Century,”
As for the use of the titles ”Old” and ”New Testament” in Clement of Alexandria (e.g., Strom. I, 5.28.2; ANF

JTS 45.2 (1994): 529.

18. Haer. I, 10.1: ”the apostles and their disciples”; and Dem. 3 (ACW 16): ”the elders, the disciples of the
apostles.”
19. See further below; cf. Tomas Bokedal, ”The Rule of Faith: Tracing Its Origins,” Journal of Theological Inter-
pretation, 7.2 (2013): 233-55.
20. Cf. Reinhold Seeberg’s characterization of Irenaeus as a ”biblical theologian,” Lehrbuch der Dogmen-
geschichte, vol. 1 (Leipzig, 1908; 2nd ed.), 290 (quoted by John Lawson, The Biblical Theology of St. Irenaeus
(London: Epworth Press, 1948), 2): ”Irenäus ist Biblizist und er ist der erste grosse Vertreter des Biblizismus.”
The quotation in Seeberg, however, continues: ”… Aber Iren. ist zugleich Traditionalist, nur im Sinne der kirch-
lichen Überlieferung darf die Bibel ausgelegt.” The argument of the present essay seeks to qualify the biblical
theology of Irenaeus and others, without – as here in Seeberg – too quick recourse to tradition. See further
Lawson, The Biblical Theology of St. Irenaeus, 97-118 and 292f. For Irenaeus as an interpreter of the Old
Testament, see Oskar Skarsaune, ”The Development of Scriptural Interpretation in the Second and Third
Centuries – except Clement and Origen,” in Hebrew Bible/Old Testament: The History of Its Interpretation, vol.
1, ed. M. Sæbø (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1996), 422–429.
21. See quote below, n. 51.
22. Hägglund, ”regula fidei,” 4.
23. So F. F. Bruce, ”Scripture in Relation to Tradition and Reason,” in Scripture, Tradition and Reason: A Study
in the Criteria of Christian Doctrine. Essays in Honour of Richard P. C. Hanson, eds. Richard Bauckham and
Benjamin Drewery (London: T&T Clark, 1998), 37. Bruce’s claim seems to apply only to the New Testament
material and tradition.
24. Dionysius refers to the regula veritatis/κανὼν τῆς ἀληθείας to counter Marcion; Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. IV, 23.4;
LCL, vol. 153, trans. Kirsopp Lake (Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University, 1926), 378. Somewhat
earlier, Polycrates of Ephesus (ca. AD 130-96) appeals to the regula fidei in the Quartodeciman controversy. Cf.
Ohme, Kanon ekklesiastikos, 249-53.
25. The first time the expression regula fidei/κανὼν τῆς π ίστεως is used by early church writers, seems to be in
Polycrates of Ephesus. For further details on the use of regula veritatis in Philo and elsewhere, see Ohme, Kanon
ekklesiastikos, 21-58; and Bokedal, ”The Rule of Faith: Tracing Its Origins,” 236f.
26. Theodor Zahn, ”Glaubensregel,” in Realencyklopädie für protestantische Theologie und Kirche (ed. Albert
Hauck; Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs, 1899), 6:685; cf. Ferdinand Kattenbusch, Das apostolische Symbol. Seine Ent-
stehung, sein geschichtlicher Sinn, seine ursprüngliche Stellung im Kultus und in der Geschichte der Kirche. Ein

Jonathan J. Armstrong, ”From the κανὼν τῆς ἀληθείας to the κανὼν τῶν γραφῶν: The Rule of Faith and the New
Beitrag zur Symbolik und zur Dogmengeschichte, vol. 1 (Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs’sche Buchhandlung, 1894), 26-30;

Testament Canon,” in Tradition & the Rule of Faith in the Early Church: Essays in Honor of Joseph T. Lienhard.
S.J., eds. Ronnie J. Rombs and Alexander Y. Hwang (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America
Press, 2010), 33.
27. Armstrong, ”The Rule of Faith and the New Testament Canon,” 34. Adolf von Harnack, Lehrbuch der
Dogmengeschichte, vol. 1, Die Entstehung des kirchlichen Dogmas (Freiburg: Mohr, 1886, 1st ed.), 257; ibid
(1909, 3rd ed.), 355ff. For a different emphasis on Harnack’s contribution, see ibid., 361, and Hägglund, ”regu-
la fidei,” 3.
28. Armstrong, ”The Rule of Faith and the New Testament Canon,” 34.
29. Johannes Kunze, Glaubensregel, Heilige Schrift und Taufbekenntnis: Untersuchungen über die dogmatische
Autorität, ihr Werden und ihre Geschichte, vornehmlich in der alten Kirche (Leipzig: Dörffling & Franke, 1899).
30. As Armstrong points out (”The Rule of Faith and the New Testament Canon,” 37), Kunze embraces Har-
nack’s ”insightful maxim:” ”‘Canon’ was originally the rule of faith; the Scripture had in truth intervened.”
But, as Kunze indicates, Harnack’s view on the relation between Scripture and Rule of Faith is rather ambiguous.
31. Hägglund, ”regula fidei,” 12f., 24, 27, and 33. For a similar approach to the question of Scripure and tra-
dition in the early church, see also Flesseman-van Leer, Tradition and Scripture.
32. Iren. Haer. III, 3.4; 4.1. Hägglund, Sanningens regel, 11 n. 9. Heffner (”Theological Methodology,” 295)
describes Hägglund’s understanding of the regula veritatis/fidei in Irenaeus in the following wording: ”Bengt
Haegglund understands Irenaeus’ chief concern as establishing the regula fidei or regula veritatis, by which
Irenaeus refers to the original, immutable truth which the church holds, the Faith itself which is revealed in
Scripture, in the kerygma of Christ and the apostles, and which is passed on to the believer in baptism. This
truth is absolute truth; it is the revelation which lies behind the creed, the content of Scripture, and the procla-
mation of the tradition of the presbyterial succession; it constitutes the right knowledge of God and his redemp-
tive action in the divine economy.”
33. For various scholarly interpretations of the regula fidei, see, e.g., Hefner, ”Theological Methodology;” and
Ohme, Kanon ekklesiastikos.

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72 The Early Rule-of-Faith Pattern as Emergent Biblical Theology

34. Hägglund, ”regula fidei,” 4. Cf. also idem, Sanningens regel, 10. With regard to Tertullian, similarly
Flesseman-van Leer, Tradition and Scripture, 165-66; and L. Wm. Countryman, ”Tertullian and the Regula
Fidei,” Second Century 2 (1982): 226.
35. Karl-Heinz Ohlig, Die theologische Begründung des neutestamentlichen Kanons in der alten Kirche (Düssel-
dorf: Patmos-Verlag, 1972), 174.
36. Paul M. Blowers, ”The Regula Fidei and the Narrative Character of Early Christian Faith,” Pro Ecclesia 6
(1997): 212. Cf. ibid., 202 (quoted below, n. 40). See also Bokedal, ”The Rule of Faith: Tracing Its Origins,”
248-54.
37. Regula veritatis as a major Latin expression used to render the Greek equivalent κανὼν τῆς ἀληθείας (in
Against Heresies) is complemented by the synonymous phrasing regula fidei (in Demonstration of the Apostolic
Preaching). However, one term can still be preferred over the other, as Eric Osborn helpfully points out (Irenaeus
of Lyons (Cambridge: Cambridge University, 2001), 145 n. 17): ”Generally the latter term [regula fidei] was
preferred for internal use within the church and the former term [regula veritatis] was preferred when argument
was directed to heretics.” For text critcal issues involved, see Ohme, Kanon ekklesiastikos, 61.
38. Cf. esp. Clem. Strom. VI, 15.125.3, cited in n. 14 above; and Iren. Haer. I, 8.1-10.1.
39. On Irenaeus’ and the early church’s use of nomina sacra, here in small caps, see below.
40. Blowers, ”The Regula Fidei and the Narrative Character of Early Christian Faith,” 202.
41. As in 1 Cor. 15:3-4, the reference to the Scriptures is usually part of a christology section (cf. Haer. I, 10.1
(where the christology is part of the third article) and Epid. 6). In the heavily abbreviated binitarian form in
Haer. III, 1.2, the reference to Scripture is retained as central, but as part of the first article.
42. In Epid. 6, reference to the prophets is made in both the second and the third article of faith.
43. Cf. Hägglund, Sanningens regel, 17: Even if the Rule may refer to individual books of the Bible (Haer. III,
15.1), it still tends to focus on the scriptural contents, the basic doctrines of Scripture, rather than the biblical
books as such; and ibid., 16: ”As a matter of fact, the ‘regula’ always refers to Scripture, because through Holy
Scripture – i.e. through the prophetic and apostolic message – and only through it [Scripture], truth has been
revealed and handed down to us.” See also Kunze, Glaubensregel, 100-27.
44. Skarsaune, ”The Development of Scriptural Interpretation in the Second and Third Centuries,” 423-24.
45. Scribal nomina sacra demarcations – present in basically all extant Christian Greek Bible manuscripts – were
arguably introduced into the biblical manuscript tradition no later than the first century (Larry W. Hurtado,
”The Origin of the Nomina Sacra: A Proposal,” JBL 117.4 (1998): 660). The palaeographer C. H. Roberts opts
for a pre-70 dating (Manuscript, Society and Belief in Early Christian Egypt, Schweich Lectures 1977 (London:
Oxford University Press, published for the British Academy, 1979)). See also Martin Hengel, The Septuagint as
Christian Scripture: Its Prehistory and the Problem of Its Canon, trans. Biddle (London and New York: T&T
Clark, 2002), 41.
46. See below for a more complete list of early Greek nomina sacra.
47. The Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts lists P. Chester Beatty VI (Ralphs 963) among
second-century manuscripts; see http://www.csntm.org/manuscript [accessed 28/02/2015].
48. Cf. n. 9 above. Nomina sacra in P46 and P66 include GOD, LORD, JESUS, CHRIST, SPIRIT, FATHER, SON, MAN and
CROSS/CRUCIFY.
49. P.Oxy. 405, which makes use of nomina sacra, contains portions of Haer. III, 9.2-3 and was produced in
the late second or early third century, just a few years after Irenaeus wrote his Against Heresies. See Irénée de
Lyon, Contre les heresies 3, Sources chrétiennes 210 and 211, edited and translated by Adelin Rousseau and
Louis Doutreleau (Paris, 1974), Book 3/1, 126-30; Book 3/2, 104-08. In the transcription by Grenfell/Hunt of
the fragments making up P.Oxy. 405 (reproduced in Book 3/1, 131), the following names are contracted as
nomina sacra: ”Christ” (ΧΣ), ”Jesus” (ΙΝ) and ”God” (ΘΥ). As part of the reconstructed section of the text of
which the fragment was part, Grenfell/Hunt also included nomina sacra demarcations for ”Lord” (ΚΣ), ”Spirit”
(ΠΝΑ) and ”Son” (ΥΣ). See also Andreas Schmidt, ”Der mögliche Text von P. Oxy. III 405, Z. 39-45,” NTS 37
(1991): 160
50. Passages in Irenaeus mentioning the Rule of Truth/Faith include Haer. I, 9.4; I, 22.1; II, 27.1; III, 2.1; III,
11.1; III, 12.6; III, 15.1; IV, 35.4; and Epid. 3.
51. St. Irenaeus of Lyons against the Heresies, vol. 1, ACW 55, translated and annotated by Dominic J. Unger
with further revisions by John J. Dillon (New York, N.Y./Mahwah, N.J.: The Newman Press), 47, modified. As
for the expression ”body of the Truth,” see Hägglund, Sanningens regel, 12f.
52. Haer. II, 28.1: ”And so, we have the truth itself as rule” (habentes itaque regulam ipsam veritatem). In this
connection we note that Hägglund (”regula fidei,” 5) and others rightly take the expression regula veritatis to
be an epexegetical genitive: it is Truth itself that is the rule or norm. For a different rendering of Haer. II, 28.1
(based on regulam…veritat(is), rather than regulam…veritatem), see ACW 65: 87, where Dominic J. Unger
translates the opening line of the passage as follows: ”Since, then, we possess the Rule of Truth itself and the
manifest testimony about God.”
53. Cf. Haer. I, 21.1; V praef.; and Dem. 3 and 7. Cf. J. N. D. Kelly, Early Christian Creeds (New York:
Longman, 3rd rev. ed., 1972), 51f.

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Tomas Bokedal 73

54. Ibid. Quoted also in footnote above.

55. Alistair Stewart, ”‘The Rule of Truth . . . which He Received through Baptism’ (Haer. I, 9.4): Catechesis,
Ritual, and Exegesis in Irenaeus’s Gaul,” in Irenaeus: Life, Scripture, Legacy, eds. Paul Foster and Sara Parvis
(Minneapolis: Fortress, 2012), 153f. Cf. Kelly in footnote above.
56. Cf. Paul F. Bradshaw, Reconstructing Early Christian Worship (London: SPCK, 2009), 69-70. Nomina sacra,
here marked off in small caps, corresponding to the tenth-century miniscule 1739. For the general occurrence
of nomina sacra in Christian Bible manuscripts from the second century on, see e.g. Hurtado, Artifacts, 95-134.
57. See Kelly (Early Christian Creeds, 14-19) for additional one-clause christologies, such as Acts 8:16, 19:5 and
1 Cor. 6:11; and 1 Cor. 12:3, Rom. 10:9 and Phil. 2:11.
58. Cf. Bradshaw, Reconstructing Early Christian Worship, 69.
59. Cf. also Augustine, De Symbolo Ad Catechumenos 1 (NPNF I 3:1): ”Receive, my children, the Rule of Faith,
which is called the Symbol (or Creed). And when ye have received it, write it in your heart, and be daily saying
it to yourself.” For connections between the Jerusalem rite as testified by Egeria and Western rites, see
Bradshaw, Reconstructing Early Christian Worship, 73; cf. ibid., 60. See also Skarsaune (Troens ord, 38-76) for
an historical overview of various aspects of the Creed in various parts of the early church, with focus on the
Apostles’ Creed. Skarsaune notes that the redditio symboli, which we encounter in Egeria’s account, is not pre-
sent in early third-century accounts, e.g. in Tertullian.
60. See Oskar Skarsaune, Troens ord: de tre oldkirkelige bekjennelsene (Oslo: Luther Forlag, 1997), 45f. For a
brief historical introduction, see also Kelly, Early Christian Creeds, 30-33.
61. Egeria: Diary of a Pilgrimage, translated and annotated by George E. Gingras, ACW 38 (New York, N.Y./
Mahwah, N.J.: The Newman Press, 1970), 123-24. As for continuities and discontinuities between Rule of
Faith, baptismal interrogations and the content of the later declaratory creeds, see Kelly, Early Christian Creeds,
40-52; and Liuwe H. Westra, The Apostles’ Creed. Origin, History, and some early Commentaries (Turnhout:
Brepols, 2002), 56-60, 37-43.
62. Cf. Skarsaune, ”The Development of Scriptural Interpretation in the Second and Third Centuries,” 423-24
(cf. quote above, n. 44).
63. See idem, Troens ord, 45. Ibid. 46: In Rome, the redditio symboli takes place before the whole congregation.
Cf. Rufinus, A Commentary on the Apostles’ Creed 3; ACW 20, trans. J. N. D. Kelly (New York and Mahwah,
N.J.: Newman Press, 1954), 31: ”[In Rome] the ancient custom is maintained … whereby candidates who are
on the point of receiving the grace of baptism deliver the creed publicly, in the hearing of the congregation of
the faithful.”
64. The references are listed in Eric Osborn, The Emergence of Christian Theology (Cambridge: Cambridge Uni-
versity Press, 1993), 181.
65. ACW 16:49, modified.
66. ”Trinitarianism” is here used in a non-technical sense.
67. Codex Alexandrinus demarcates GOD, CHRIST and SPIRIT in 1 Clem. 46.6 as nomina sacra.
68. Triadic first- and second-century formularies (related to baptism) commonly appear either as GOD,
JESUS/CHRIST/LORD, and SPIRIT (1 Cor. 12:4-6; 1 Clem. 46.6; Just. 1 Apol. 61); or as GOD/FATHER, JESUS/
CHRIST/SON, and SPIRIT (Matt. 28:19; Did. 7.1; Just. 1 Apol. 61; Iren. Epid. 7). Nomina sacra demarcations
highlighting the former are present, e.g., in P46 (1 Cor. 12:4-6) and Codex Alexandrinus (1 Clem. 46.6), and the
latter, e.g., in Codex Alexandrinus and the Majority Text (Matt. 28:19). See further Bokedal, ”The Rule of
Faith: Tracing Its Origins,” 284.
69. E.g., the system of nomina sacra and some key texts, such as 1 Cor. 8:6 and Matt. 28:19f.
70. In particular baptism; Iren. Haer. I, 9.4; Tert. De Corona 3; Hippol. Traditio Apostolica 21.9-18.
71. For example, pre-baptismal teaching; Iren. Epid.
72. Similarly Haer. I, 10.1; 22.1; III, 11.1; Epid. 6; and Tert. Praescr. 13; 36; Virg. 1; Prax. 2.
73. The quote continues: ”so that that would be the foundation and pillar of our faith.” Cf. 1 Tim. 3:15; 2 Tim.
2:15, 19.
74. Larry W. Hurtado, Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,
2003), 33.
75. Ibid., 29.
76. Ibid.
77. Darina Staudt, Der eine und einzige Gott: Monotheistische Formeln im Urchristentum und ihre Vorgeschichte
bei Griechen und Juden (Göttingen and Oakville, CT: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2012), 286-89.
78. See Reinhard Feldmeier and Hermann Spieckermann, God of the Living: A Biblical Theology (Waco, TX:
Baylor University Press, 2011), 106; Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the God of Israel: God Crucified and Other
Studies on the New Testament’s Christology of Divine Identity (Milton Keynes, UK: Paternoster, 2008), 94-106;
and Larry W. Hurtado, ”Monotheism,” in The Eerdmans Dictionary of Early Judaism, ed. J. J. Collins and D.
C. Harlow (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010), 963.
79. Feldmeier and Spieckermann, God of the Living, 107-8.

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74 The Early Rule-of-Faith Pattern as Emergent Biblical Theology

80. Jaroslav Pelikan, Credo: Historical and Theological Guide to Creeds and Confessions of Faith in the Christian
Tradition (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2003), 130-31.
81. Pelikan, Credo, 131-32.
82. Jaroslaw Pelikan and Valerie Hotchkiss (eds.), Creeds & Confessions of Faith in the Christian Tradition, vol.
1 (New Haven and London: Yale University, 2003), 162.
83. Cf. 1 Tim. 2:5, Eph. 5:5-6 and Gal. 3:20.
84. ACW 20:33.
85. Richard Bauckham helpfully comments (”Monotheism and Christology in the Gospel of John,” in Contours
of Christology in the New Testament, ed. Richard N. Longenecker (Grand Rapids, MI and Cambridge, UK:
Eerdmans, 2005), 148): ”For many scholars the christology of the Fourth Gospel is the ‘highest’ in the New
Testament. In my view, this is a mistake – not in the sense of exaggerating the extent to which true and full divi-
nity is attributed to Jesus in the Fourth Gospel, but in failing to recognize the extent to which this is also the
case in most other parts of the New Testament. In my view, a ‘christology of divine identity,’ in which Jesus is
understood to be included in the unique divine identity of the one and only God, the God of Israel, is pervasive
in the New Testament writings.” See also Martin Hengel, ”Christology and New Testament Chronology,” in
idem, Between Jesus and Paul: Studies in the Earliest History of Christianity (Eugene, OR: Wipf&Stock, 1983,
2003), 30-47.
86. Nomina sacra are also used in other early Christian writings and elsewhere.
87. For an overview of nomina sacra, see Larry W. Hurtado, The Earliest Christian Artifacts: Manuscripts and
Christian Origins (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006), 95-134. Substantial criticism of C. M. Tuckett’s critique
(”‘Nomina Sacra:’ Yes and No?” in The Biblical Canons, eds. J.-M. Auwers and H. J. de Jonge (Leuven: Leuven
University Press, 2003), 431–58) of the scholarly majority view concerning the significance of the nomina sacra
is provided by Hurtado, Artifacts, 122-34, and Jane Heath (”Nomina Sacra and Sacra Memoria Before the
Monastic Age,” JTS 61.2 (2010): 518-23).
88. Occasionally the Greek word for ”Spirit” (ΠΝΑ) is rendered in its nomen sacrum form in the NT portion
of Vaticanus (some three per cent of the occurrences of the term). That Vaticanus is an exception in this respect
was pointed out already by C. H. Turner in 1924 (”The Nomina Sacra in Early Latin Christian MSS.,” Studi e

exception to the universal practice of abbreviating Πνεῦμα as a nomen sacrum (see footnote below).
Testi 40 (1924): 65), maintaining that of all our Greek manuscripts one hand of Vaticanus provides the only

89. Although the earliest formation of the nomina sacra word group included abbreviations of the Greek words
for ”God,” ”Lord,” ”Jesus” and ”Christ” (commonly referred to as the ”core group”), ”Spirit” is very soon

century NT manuscripts (excluding Codices Vaticanus and Sinaiticus), Πνεῦμα is rendered in its nomen sacrum
(arguably in the late first century AD, or earlier) added to the group. Thus, in our earliest second- to mid-fourth-

form in ca. 89-90 per cent of the occurrences of the word (Tomas Bokedal, ”Notes on the Nomina Sacra and

Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2012), 273-78). Scholars who opt for or consider placing Πνεῦμα as part of the core
Biblical Interpretation,” in Beyond Biblical Theologies, eds. H. Assel, S. Beyerle and C. Böttrich (WUNT 295;

group of nomina sacra include Philip Comfort (Encountering the Manuscripts: An Introduction to New Testa-
ment Paleography & Textual Criticism (Nashville, TN: Broadman and Holman, 2005, 231), Scott D. Charles-
worth (”Consensus standardization in the systematic approach to nomina sacra in second- and third-century
gospel manuscripts,” Aegyptus 86 (2006), 38), and Dirk Jongkind (Scribal Habits of Codex Sinaiticus (Piscata-
way, N.J.: Gorgias Press, 2007), 68).
90. The renowned palaeographer C. H. Roberts (Manuscript, 46) famously proposed that the nomina sacra
”may be plausibly viewed as the creation of the primitive Christian community, representing what might be
regarded as the embryonic creed of the first Church.” The second-/third- century NT manuscripts P45, P46, P66
and P75 contain eight to eleven words frequently written in their nomina sacra forms. See further Bokedal,
”Notes on the Nomina Sacra,” 277-81.
91. Cf. C. H. Roberts, Manuscript, 28.f.; and Hurtado, Artifacts, 106: ”although there is at least a certain broad
phenomenological similarity between the nomina sacra and Jewish reverential treatment of the divine name, it
seems most likely that the specific nomina sacra scribal practice represents something distinctive.”
92. As for Irenaeus’ or his scribe’s likely use of nomina sacra, see n. 49 above; cf. also nn. 1, 45, 48 and 88.
93. ACW 16:51.
94. Reuben Swanson (ed.), New Testament Greek Manuscripts: Variant Readings Arranged in Horizontal Lines
Against Codex Vaticanus. 1 Corinthians (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, and Pasadena, CA: William
Carey International University Press, 2003), 113f.
95. Similarly John 10:34-35 in P66 and P75, where the plural forms of ”god” are written plene.
96. Bokedal, ”Notes on the Nomina Sacra,” 263–95, esp. 283-84.
97. Ibid., 273-76; the calculation is based on 74 second- to fourth-century NT manuscripts. For cross as a
nomen sacrum occasionally containing the staurogram, see Hurtado, Artifacts, 134 and 135-54.
98. The Apostolic Fathers, ed. Bart D. Ehrman, 2 vols., LCL 25 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press,
2003), 2:45-47, modified.
99. The Apostolic Fathers, LCL 25, 291f., modified.

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Tomas Bokedal 75

100. ANF 1:496, modified.

101. See, e.g., Wolfram Kinzig and Markus Vinzent, ”Recent Research on the Origin of the Creed,” JTS 50
(1999): 535-59, 554-55; cf. Kelly, Early Christian Creeds, 12: ”The Trinitarianism of the New Testament is rarely
explicit; but the frequency with which the triadic schema recurs . . . suggests that this pattern was implicit in
Christian theology from the start.” For the relationship between baptismal interrogations, regula fidei and the
content of the later declaratory creeds, see ibid., 40-52; and Liuwe H. Westra, The Apostles’ Creed. Origin, His-
tory, and some early Commentaries (Turnhout: Brepols, 2002), 56-60, 37-43.
102. John Barton, The Spirit and the Letter: Studies in the Biblical Canon (London: SPCK, 1997), 123.
103. According to Eusebius (Hist. Eccl. III, 3.1), Melito of Sardis (ca. AD 175) employs the term ”Old

Clement of Alexandria and Tertullian use the newly introduced term ”New Testament” (Strom. I, 5.28.2: ἣ
Testament” as a title for the collection of the Jewish Scriptures (the Old Testament). A couple of decades later,

καινὴ διαθήκη; Marc. IV, 1: Tertullian uses the Latin terms Testamentum or Instrumentum to designate the main
sections of the bipartite Christian Bible).
104. Edwards, Catholicity and Heresy, 40.
105. See n. 45 above.
106. Earliest use of ”Old Testament” in this sense is documented in Melito of Sardis (Euseb. Hist. Eccl. IV,
26.12-14); and of ”New Testament” in Clement of Alexandria (Strom. I, 5.28.2) and Tertullian (Marc. IV, 1).
See Trobisch, The First Edition of the New Testament, 43-44.
107. Scholars who have based their biblical theology/hermeneutics on the regula fidei include Peter Stuhlmacher
(How To Do Biblical Theology, Princeton Theological Monograph Series, 38 (Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publi-
cations, 1995), 61-3) and Robert W. Jenson (”Hermeneutics and the Life of the Church,” in Reclaiming the
Bible for the Church, eds. Jenson and Braaten (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995), 96-98).
108. I would like to thank Chance M. Gorman for proof-reading and commenting on the manuscript, and the
two reviewers of this journal for valuable feedback.

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