I want to quote the Protestant historian and theologian Adolf Von Harnack.
https://ccel.org/ccel/harnack/dogma3/dogma3.ii.iii.i.iii.iii.html
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Sola Scriptura. “The authority of Holy Scripture frequently appears in the Fathers as something wholly abstract and despotic. It contained, in fact, a latent tendency to assert its independence of the conditions out of which it had arisen. But the revolution which was characterised by the isolation of the Bible, its deliverance from the authority of ecclesiastical tradition, and the annihilation of the latter, only took place in the sixteenth century, and even then it was, we know, not completely successful. In ecclesiastical antiquity, on the contrary, the bond was by no means severed which connected Scripture with the maternal organism of the Church. The Church, its doctrine, institutions, and constitution, were held, in and by themselves, to constitute the source of knowledge and the authoritative guarantee of truth. “ In other words, he is affirming that Sola Scriptura delivered from the authoritative teaching of the Church is an invention and a distortion of the Christian faith of the first millenium. He obviously believed the revolution (he himself defines it with this term) to be veritative (otherwise he would have converted to Catholicism, which he didn’t as far as I know), but as an historian he recognizes that the Protestant principle of sola Scriptura and the sovereignty of personal interpretation over the intepretation of the Church would have been seen as an invention and a revolution in the early Church, in other words as an unorthodox principle. The fact that he, as a Protestant, may regard this unorthodox principle as true and consistent with God’s will does nothing to change the fact that it would have been thoroughly rejected by the early Church and he himself describes, as an historian, the nature of the faith of the universal Church of the first millenium, which was incompatible with the revolutionary and individualistic and radically contrary to unity principle introduced in the sixteenth century.
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The nature of the Blessed Sacrament. In his History of Dogma, vol. IV, p. 294, discussing the Eucharistic theology of St. Gregory of Nyssa (fourth century), Harnack writes: “through the act of consecration the bread and wine are changed into the flesh and blood of the Lord” This is Harnack’s own description of Gregory’s teaching, Harnack explains that Gregory understood the consecrated Eucharist as a real participation in Christ’s immortal body, through which believers receive the promise of immortality. He also emphasizes the close connection Gregory established between the Eucharist and the Incarnation.
Harnack, History of Dogma, vol. IV, pp. 294–296. Source: Adolf von Harnack, History of Dogma, vol. IV, Chapter IV, The Mysteries and Kindred Subjects, pp. 294–303.
Adolf Harnack: History of Dogma - Volume IV - Christian Classics Ethereal Library . In his History of Dogma, vol. IV, p. 289, footnote 534, he also writes: “A purely symbolic conception of the Supper never existed”
Harnack then explains that the ancient Christian understanding of a symbol was fundamentally different from the modern conception of a merely representative sign. For the early Church, the Eucharistic symbol was not simply an outward reminder of an absent reality; it was inseparably connected with a genuine sacramental mystery.
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Roman primacy, not merely honorific but factual and doctrinal. In his History of Dogma, vol. II, Chapter III, Harnack makes several remarkable observations.
3.1. Rome was already the leading Church in the second century.
On p. 155, Harnack describes the Roman community as: “the first and most influential Church”
He reaches this conclusion after examining Rome’s role in the development of early Christian institutions. He then discusses the First Epistle of Clement, written to the Corinthians toward the end of the first century, as evidence that Rome already felt responsible for the welfare and discipline of other Christian communities.
In Harnack’s account, Rome did not merely enjoy honorary precedence: it actively intervened in the affairs of other Churches.
3.2. Rome possessed exceptional doctrinal authority.
Discussing St. Irenaeus and his appeal to the apostolic tradition preserved in Rome, Harnack describes the Roman Church’s decision as: “the most authoritative and impressive in Christendom” (History of Dogma, vol. II, pp. 157–158.)
This is particularly significant because Irenaeus invokes the Roman Church in his argument against heresy. Harnack recognizes that Rome’s exceptional standing made its testimony to apostolic doctrine especially influential throughout the Christian world.
The Roman Church was therefore not simply accorded ceremonial respect. She served as an important reference point in determining and defending the apostolic faith.
3.3. Harnack explicitly recognizes a real Roman primacy.
On p. 160, he describes the early Christian communities as united: “under the primacy of the Roman Church”
He identifies this as a de facto primacy: one that existed and operated historically, even though he does not believe it had yet been established as a legally defined universal jurisdiction belonging personally to the Roman bishop..
He then proceeds to discuss concrete examples of Roman intervention, including the Montanist controversy and Pope Victor’s attempt to impose a common rule concerning the celebration of Easter. He considers these events evidence that Rome exercised an exceptional influence over the conditions of ecclesiastical communion.
3.4. By the middle of the third century, Roman primacy was already acknowledged. On p. 162, discussing Roman interventions in the affairs of the Church of Carthage around AD 250, Harnack explicitly recognizes: “an acknowledged primacy”
He explains that this primacy manifested itself through Rome’s active involvement in the affairs of other Christian communities and her concern for their ecclesiastical welfare.
The historical conclusion is therefore significant: Harnack was not attempting to defend the Catholic doctrine of papal supremacy, nevertheless, his historical analysis explicitly recognizes that the Roman Church already possessed an exceptional position of leadership, exercised influence beyond her own territory, intervened in controversies involving other Churches, and enjoyed particular authority in matters of apostolic doctrine.
Harnack’s account is incompatible with the claim that Rome’s early primacy was merely ceremonial, entirely passive, or devoid of concrete ecclesiastical significance.
Original source: Adolf von Harnack, History of Dogma, vol. II, Chapter III, pp. 155–162.
Adolf Harnack: History of Dogma - Volume II - Christian Classics Ethereal Library
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The exceptional role and holiness of the Blessed Virgin. the Virgin Mary already occupied an exceptional position in Christian thought during the earliest centuries of the Church.
In his History of Dogma, vol. IV, p. 315, Harnack writes: “Mary takes the first place among the saints. She came into notice even in the first three centuries.”
Original source:
Adolf Harnack: History of Dogma - Volume IV - Christian Classics Ethereal Library
Harnack thus acknowledges that Mary’s exceptional position did not simply emerge in the Middle Ages or originate with the Council of Ephesus in AD 431. Its theological foundations were already present in the earliest centuries of Christianity.
Even more remarkably, when discussing St. Irenaeus of Lyons and Tertullian, writing in the second and early third centuries, Harnack recognizes that both employed: “very extravagant expressions with regard to Mary (History of Dogma, vol. II, p. 277.)
Original source:
Adolf Harnack: History of Dogma - Volume II - Christian Classics Ethereal Library
Harnack is referring particularly to the ancient parallel between Eve and Mary.
For Irenaeus, Mary’s obedience reverses Eve’s disobedience. He even describes Mary as having become a cause of salvation for herself and the whole human race, precisely through her obedient cooperation with God’s saving plan.
This is an extraordinarily significant theological role to attribute to Mary as early as the second century.
And remember, Harnack was not a Catholic apologist attempting to defend Marian devotion. Nevertheless, his historical testimony remains important: even a Protestant critic of Marian devotion acknowledged that Mary’s exceptional theological status had roots in the first three centuries and that some of the earliest Church Fathers attributed to her a remarkable role in the history of salvation.
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The divine protection from error enjoyed by ecumenical councils. In his History of Dogma, vol. III, p. 216, Harnack writes that, during the fourth century, the conviction gradually emerged that: “the Nicene Synod possessed an infallible authority”
He further explains that the Church came to regard the council’s doctrinal decisions as possessing “an authority above discussion”
Harnack connects this development with the belief that the bishops assembled at Nicaea had been guided by the Holy Spirit. Consequently, the Nicene definition of the Trinity increasingly came to be regarded not merely as the collective opinion of individual theologians, but as a definitive expression of the Christian faith.
in History of Dogma, vol. I, p. 4, Harnack identifies among the traditional presuppositions transformed by Luther: “the infallible teaching function of the Church”
The difference is not merely about which doctrines one happens to believe. It concerns where final doctrinal authority resides: in the Church’s authoritative confession of the apostolic faith, or in the individual’s right to reject that confession whenever his personal interpretation of Scripture leads him elsewhere. In the early history of the Christianity, Luther’s view of individual judgment would have been seen as fundamentally alien and incompatible with the apostolic faith.
Primary sources:
Adolf von Harnack, History of Dogma, vol. III, pp. 210, 216–217:
Adolf Harnack: History of Dogma - Volume III - Christian Classics Ethereal Library
Adolf von Harnack, History of Dogma, vol. I, p. 4:
Adolf Harnack: History of Dogma - Volume I - Christian Classics Ethereal Library