“Matter is evil!” was the cry of the Gnostics. The same teaching was vigorously defended by Paul in his epistles to the Romans and the Galatians-to areas where the Circumcision heresy had spread. In other words, one had to become a Jew to become a Christian.īut God made it clear to Peter in Acts 10 that Gentiles are acceptable to God and may be baptized and become Christians without circumcision. Because circumcision had been required in the Old Testament for membership in God’s covenant, many thought it would also be required for membership in the New Covenant that Christ had come to inaugurate. They recognized in Jesus the Messiah predicted by the prophets and the fulfillment of the Old Testament. Many of the early Christians were Jews, who brought to the Christian faith many of their former practices. The Circumcision heresy may be summed up in the words of Acts 15:1: “But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brethren, ‘Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.’” With this in mind, let’s look at some of the major heresies of Church history and when they began. Examples include Muslims, who do not practice baptism, and Jehovah’s Witnesses, who do not practice valid baptism.įinally, the doubt or denial involved in heresy must concern a matter that has been revealed by God and solemnly defined by the Church (for example, the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the sacrifice of the Mass, the pope’s infallibility, or the Immaculate Conception and Assumption of Mary). This means that movements that have split off from or been influenced by Christianity, but that do not practice baptism (or valid baptism), are not heresies, but separate religions. A person who is ready to be corrected or who is unaware that what he has been saying is against Church teaching is not a heretic.Ī person must be baptized to commit heresy. To commit heresy, one must refuse to be corrected. Heresy is the obstinate post-baptismal denial of some truth which must be believed with divine and Catholic faith, or it is likewise an obstinate doubt concerning the same apostasy is the total repudiation of the Christian faith schism is the refusal of submission to the Roman Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him” (CCC 2089). The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, “Incredulity is the neglect of revealed truth or the willful refusal to assent to it. It is not the same thing as incredulity, schism, apostasy, or other sins against faith. Heresy is an emotionally loaded term that is often misused. Paul told his young protégé, Timothy, “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths” (2 Tim. From Christianity’s beginnings, the Church has been attacked by those introducing false teachings, or heresies.