Christian History Institute

“He can no longer have God for his Father, who has not the Church for his mother.” (On the Unity of the Church, ca. 251)

Cyprian, from an ancient manuscript.

The North African church is tearing itself apart and Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, groans to see it. Recently, imperial persecution caused many Christians either to recant their faith or to give up precious copies of Scripture to the authorities. However, other Christians stood fast under torture. Proud of their fortitude, these “super” Christians have rejected moderate Cyprian’s terms for restoring to fellowship those who lapsed, and have also rejected the decision of a council of North African bishops which has gone against them.

Now these men have gone farther, declaring themselves to be the one true church and appointing their own bishops. History will remember them under such names as Donatists, Novatians, and Circumcellians. Cyprian considers their withdrawal a withdrawal from the true, universal church, which was built on the apostles and Christ. Rival churches? To his thinking, it is impossible. There is but one God, one Spirit.

But how can he prove his point? A gifted lawyer before he become a Christian, he gathers arguments to make his case, most of them based on Scripture. The result is “On the Unity of the Church,” one of the most famous essays in all of Christian history. He first presents his arguments to a gathering of his own church in the middle of A.D. 251.

Cyprian begins by showing that the most serious danger to the church comes not in time of persecution, when people are on their guard, but during softer times when Satan attacks more subtly, through errors such as pride. To avoid error, we must stand firm on the words of Christ, for “How can a man say that he believes in Christ, who does not do what Christ commanded him to do?” Unity is essential because Christ commanded it. Although all of the apostles were equal, Christ established one of them as leader so that his church would have unity. He then compares the church to the rays of light from the sun, to a tree with branches, to a spring that gives birth to many rivers.

The church is a wife, he says, and is not adulterous. She has sons and appoints sons to positions of authority. Building on that analogy, he says, “Whoever is separated from the Church and is joined to an adulteress [that is, to a false church], is separated from the promises of the Church; nor can he who forsakes the Church of Christ attain to the rewards of Christ. He is a stranger; he is profane; he is an enemy. He can no longer have God for his Father, who has not the Church for his mother. If anyone could escape who was outside the ark of Noah, then he also may escape who shall be outside of the Church.”

Clearly Cyprian is thinking of the church as the visible church rather than as a spiritual entity known only to God. Perhaps he does not see an inconsistency here, but it is to be noted that his favorite theologian is another North African, the great Tertullian, who himself belongs to a church—The Montanists—which broke away from the corrupt catholic (universal) church.

Future centuries will see the church become even more strongly divided. Rome will use Cyprian’s arguments against these breakoffs. Among them will be churches in the Milanese area of Italy and in out-of-the-way places such as Ireland, which will hold themselves aloof from the Roman tradition. Groups such as the Nestorians and Waldensians will also emerge. Christians East and West will separate. In the sixteenth century, the Protestant Reformation will rupture western Christianity and will bring to birth many more church bodies.

Long after his death, Cyprian’s statement will act as a touchstone revealing one’s ecclesiastical views. Protestants will agree with Cyprian’s proposition in essence, but with the stipulation that the church is not any physical entity that we can see, but rather a spiritual body, made up of all those whom the Lord knows, whatever their tradition. The Roman Church, on the other hand, will invoke Cyprian’s authority and selected arguments from his writings to declare itself the one, universal, true church.

—Dan Graves