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The Prescription Against Heretics

Tertullian

Chapter 19

About this work

Tertullian argues that apostolic churches possess the proper claim to interpret Christian Scripture and that rival teachers should not be granted equal standing in debates over the inherited rule of faith.

Author: Tertullian
Date: c. AD 200–210
Origin: Carthage, North Africa
Genre: Heresiology

Chapter XIX.—Appeal, in Discussion of Heresy, Lies Not to the Scriptures. The Scriptures Belong Only to Those Who Have the Rule of Faith.

Our appeal, therefore, must not be

‹ Chapter 18 Chapter 20 ›

made

to

the

Scriptures

;

nor

must

controversy

be

admitted

on

points

in

which

victory

will

either

be

impossible

,

or

uncertain

,

or

not

certain

enough

.

But

even

if

a

discussion

from

the

Scriptures

should

not

turn

out

in

such

a

way

as

to

place

both

sides

on

a

par

,

(

yet

)

the

natural

order

of

things

would

require

that

this

point

should

be

first

proposed

,

which

is

now

the

only

one

which

we

must

discuss

:

“

With

whom

lies

that

very

faith

to

which

the

Scriptures

belong

.

From

what

and

through

whom

,

and

when

,

and

to

whom

,

has

been

handed

down

that

rule

,

by

which

men

become

Christians

?

”

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

.

Notes

1
Nulla.
2
Parum certa.
3
Conlatio scripturarum, or, “a polemical comparison of the Scriptures.”
4
Quibus competat fides ipsa cujus sint Scripturæ.
5
Disciplina [or, where was the guide-post set?]