Sophia Scriptura

Prescription against Heretics 28

Tertullian · Prescription against Heretics · ca. 203 · Carthage · Read in context

Summary: If the churches had erred, their errors would differ; the agreement of so many churches in one faith shows it is tradition, not error.

Latin text · Oehler 2:25–26

Age nunc omnes erraverint; deceptus sit et apostolus de testimonio reddendo; nullam respexerit spiritus sanctus, uti eam in veritatem deduceret, ad hoc missus a Christo, ad hoc postulatus de patre, ut esset doctor veritatis; neglexerit officium dei vilicus, Christi vicarius, sinens ecclesias aliter interim intellegere, aliter credere quod ipse per apostolos praedicabat: ecquid verisimile est, ut tot ac tantae in unam fidem erraverint? Nullus inter multos eventus unus est. Exitus variasse debuerat error doctrinae ecclesiarum. Ceterum quod apud multos unum invenitur, non est erratum, sed traditum. Audeat ergo aliquis dicere illos errasse qui tradiderunt?

English · Claude translation

Suppose now that all have erred; that the apostle too was mistaken in giving his testimony; that the Holy Spirit had regard to no church so as to lead it into truth, though he was sent by Christ for this, and asked of the Father for this, to be the teacher of truth; that the steward of God, the vicar of Christ, neglected his office, letting the churches for a time understand otherwise and believe otherwise than what he himself was preaching through the apostles: is it likely that so many churches, and so great, should have erred into one faith? Among many, no outcome is one and the same. The error of the churches' doctrine would have had to vary in its results. But what is found as one among many is not error but tradition. Will anyone dare to say, then, that those who handed it down erred?

About this passage

Source
Oehler 2:25–26 · Franz Oehler, ed., Quinti Septimii Florentis Tertulliani quae supersunt omnia, vol. 2 (Leipzig: T. O. Weigel, 1854), 3–46 · Latin text: Franz Oehler (Oehler 2), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-latinLit), CC BY-SA 4.0
Text
As printed in Oehler 2. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.
Translation
Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Latin text of Oehler, vol. 2 (1854); made independently of existing English translations.
Compare
Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 3 (1885) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)
Scripture
Topics
Heresy, Trinity

Notes

Translation notes

  • The Holy Spirit is called “the steward of God” and “the vicar of Christ.” The allusions are John 14:16, 26, and 16:13.

Cite this passage

Tertullian, Praescr. 28 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-praescriptione/28/).

Plain text
Tertullian, Praescr. 28 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-praescriptione/28/).

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