Polycarp

David Cloud adds, Clement of Rome died in 1899, knew some of the apostles personally, and we have his letter to the church at Corinth.

Polycarp who lived between AD 69 to 159 also knew the Apostle John and other believers who were eyewitnesses of Jesus' resurrection and we have his letter to the church at Philippi dating to about AD 115.

These are extra biblical links to the eyewitnesses of Christ's resurrection.

So, what's the point we're making? There should be more than enough evidence here to convince you.

Amen.

Polycarp.

A dying prayer of Polycarp the martyr.

O Father of thy well-beloved and blessed Son, Jesus Christ, through whom we have known thee, O God of the angels and powers and of every living creature, and of all sorts of just men which live in thy presence, I thank thee that thou hast graciously vouchsafed this day and this hour to allot me a portion among the number of martyrs, among the people of Christ unto the resurrection of the everlasting life, both of body and soul in the incorruption of the holy ghost among whom i shall be received in thy sight this day as a fruitful and acceptable sacrifice as thou hast heretofore prepared often revealed and now fulfilled most faithful god who canst not lie Wherefore, for all things I praise thee, I bless thee, I glorify thee, through the everlasting High Priest, Jesus Christ, thy well-beloved Son, to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be all glory, world without end.

Amen.

The Martyrdom of Polycarp A Prayer for the Privilege of Martyrdom ask for me this only in your prayers that strength may be given me of the lord that i may not be called but proved to be a christian then shall i be seen to be faithful when the world no longer sees me for nothing that appeareth is eternal for the things which are perceived are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal i write to the churches and charge you all that willingly i die for christ if you prevent me not i ask of you that your love for me be not untimely allow me to be devoured of wild beasts through whom i may attain unto god i am the grain of god ground between the teeth of wild beasts that i may be found to be the pure bread of christ then indeed shall i be the true disciple of christ when the world shall no longer behold my body beseech christ on my behalf that through these means i may be found a perfect sacrifice not as peter and paul do i command you they were apostles i am the least of them they were free but i am a slave even unto this day but if you wish i shall be the freedman of jesus christ and in him i shall rise again and be free amen ignatius for soul cleansing O God, who hast taught us thy divine and saving oracles, enlighten the souls of us sinners for the comprehension of the things which have been spoken before, so that we may not only be seen to be hearers of spiritual things, but also doers of good deeds, striving after guileless faith, blameless life, and pure conversation.

release pardon and forgive o god all our voluntary and involuntary sins such as we have committed in action and in word knowingly and ignorantly by night and by day in mind and thought forgive us all in goodness and love sanctify o lord our souls bodies and spirits examine our minds and search our consciences take from us all evil imaginations all impurity of thought all inclinations to lust all depravity of conception all envy pride and hypocrisy all falsehood deceit and irregular living all covetousness vainglory and sloth all malice anger and wrath liturgy of st james to witness for christ grant o merciful god that as thy holy apostle st james leaving his father and all that he had without delay was obedient to the call of thy son jesus christ and followed him and at last cheerfully laid down his life for his gospel's sake so i forsaking all worldly and carnal affections may be ever more ready to follow thy holy commandments and whenever thy providence shall make it my duty may readily and cheerfully embrace death though armed with his utmost terror rather than forsake or deny thee let me rejoice in every happy occasion for testifying the sincerity of my love by suffering for thy truth and let the firm belief of those glorious eternal rewards which thou hast prepared for them who lay down their lives for thy sake support me under all the cruelties of the most merciless persecutors grant this o blessed lord who didst die for me and didst rise again and now sittest at the right hand of the father to intercede for me and all thy faithful disciples.

Amen.

So when I think about the authority of what we want to do, the doubts do not dismiss or give a license for us to dismiss.

Critical scholars would often say something like, I think of letters that claim Polycarp.

Great, great, great guy.

I love reading his stuff.

[laughs]

You even have Polycarp.

Yeah, even the great Polycarp.

Saint Polycarp, taught and trained by the apostle Saint John, will talk about marriage.

And early on he noted that marriage would have to take place with the approval of the bishop.

Man, I gotta tell you, we're very early in church history, and we've already talked about baptism, confessing sins, the Holy Eucharist.