Apostolic Fathers/
Ante Nicene Fathers

This group of men were in the immediate and closely succeeding couple of generations following the Apostles, whose writings were from about from 80-180 AD.

They lived in the first and second centuries after Christ. The Apostles were the original 11 of the 12 Disciples (learners, students) chosen by Jesus Himself plus Matthias who replaced Judas when he betrayed Jesus. They became the Apostles (sent out ones, missionaries) roughly upon Jesus’ resurrection. The word “apostle(s)” is found 10 times in the Gospels and thirty-eight times in Acts, and again in the Epistles and Revelation.

The Apostolic Fathers, also known as the Ante Nicene Fathers, sometimes personally knew the Apostles or were connected to them in some way.

The two main heresies that threatened the early church were gnosticism and docetism …

…and were major themes of the Apostolic Fathers.

(Information to this point came from: https://www.gotquestions.org/Apostolic-Fathers.html)

Gnosticism:

“Christian Gnosticism refers to the amalgamation of certain Christian terminology and narratives with ‘gnosis,’ a Greek word signifying ‘knowledge.’ This special ‘knowledge’ was claimed to be the key to salvation or spiritual enlightenment. Adherents of Christian Gnosticism typically combined biblical names and themes with speculative systems that taught the physical world was evil and that only a secret, inner revelation could lead to union with the divine. This system stood in contrast to the biblical teaching of redemption through the literal death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the biblical assertion that God’s creation is fundamentally good (Genesis 1:31).” (https://biblehub.com/q/what_defines_christian_gnosticism.htm)

Some verses refuting Gnosticism: Colossians 2:8; 1 John 4:2; 1 Timothy 6:20-21; 1 Corinthians 2:6-8

Docetism:

“Docetism was an error with several variations concerning the nature of Christ. Generally, it taught that Jesus only appeared to have a body – that he was not incarnate (Greek, ‘dokeo’ = ‘to seem’). This error developed out of the dualistic philosophy, which viewed matter as inherently evil–that God could not be associated with matter and that God, being perfect and infinite, could not suffer. Therefore, God as the word, could not have become flesh per John 1:1, 14, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God; and the Word was God . . . And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us . . . ” This denial of a true incarnation meant that Jesus did not truly suffer on the cross and that He did not rise from the dead. This denies the sufficiency of the atoning sacrifice of Christ, and it violates the essential doctrine of the physical resurrection of Jesus (1 Cor. 15:14, 17). So, docetism is a serious heresy that invalidates the truth of gospel and the person of Jesus.” (https://carm.org/carm/docetism/)

Some verses refuting docetism: 1 John 4:2-3; 2 John 7; Jesus’s genealogies in Matthew 1:1-16 (Joseph, HIs step-father’s) & Luke 3:23-38 (Mary’s); Hebrews 2:14-17

Here is a sampling of the Apostolic Fathers / Ante Nicene Fathers’ writings from Andrew, one of our contributors: