So, after months of editorial debate, was Jesus an only child? Did Mary remain a virgin after the birth of Jesus?

How about more important questions such as: “Should infants be baptized? Is Jesus God? Is Jesus truly present in Holy Communion?” (If you’re pressed for time, just skip to the last paragraph of this article for the answers.) Where do Christians turn when an honest search of the Scriptures gives differing interpretations? I suggest following the example of the early Church.

The first Christians had it easy. They received the teachings of Jesus directly from the Apostles. As the Apostles died, Christians would have naturally turned to those bishops or teachers who were taught and commissioned by the Apostles.

Many of the questions we’ve debated were taught explicitly by these early Church leaders. That was important. Saint Paul said: “... continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it” 2 Timothy 3:14.

Centuries later, the fledgling Church was spreading throughout the world and heretical teachers with false doctrines abounded. The writings of the Apostles were often intermingled with false letters and other written “gospels.” Who was teaching truth and who was not? What was a young baby Christian to do?

Simple. A Christian only had to say: “First, show me your authority as a teacher that can be traced in succession from your bishop, all the way back to the Apostles. And, second, show me that your doctrines are the same as those taught by the Apostles.”

Tertullian, a second century writer, said this of the heretics of his day: “After their blasphemies ... they will accomplish nothing; for their doctrine itself, when compared with that of the Apostles, will show by its own diversity and contrariety that it has for its author neither an Apostle nor an apostolic man.”

There are many volumes of writings from the early church leaders who were taught directly by the Apostles. For a good read, I recommend “Four Witnesses: The Early Church in Her Own Words” (ISBN 0898708478), and “Faith of the Early Fathers, Vol. 1” (ISBN 0814604323).

Why speculate on questions of the faith, when so many were clearly addressed in the early church? It should concern you if your beliefs are otherwise. And, isn’t it a tad bit arrogant for a Christian today to think that he or she can just pick up a Bible 2,000 years later and know better than the Apostles whether Jesus had siblings or Mary remained a virgin?

Now to answer the questions proposed in my first paragraph. Was Jesus an only child? Did Mary remain a virgin after the birth of Jesus? Should infants be baptized? Is Jesus God? Is Jesus truly present in Holy Communion?

The answer is yes to all of them. At least that’s what my bishop, the 264th successor to Saint Peter, teaches. And that’s what the Apostles taught, too.

Bob Walden

Fayetteville, Ga.

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