Why did Tertullian object to bishops pardoning sins?

“Blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.”
“It is certain because it is impossible.”
“What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?”

Such tart epigrams are typical of the works of Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus—or Tertullian. A native of Carthage, he had been reared in a cultured pagan household and trained in the literary classics, speech making, and the law. About 196, when he turned his powerful intellect to Christian topics, he changed the face of thinking and literature in the Western church.
Up to this point, most Christian writers had used Greek—a flexible, subtle language, perfect for philosophizing and hair splitting. And often the Greek-speaking Christians carried this bent for philosophy into their faith.

Though the African Tertullian knew Greek, he preferred writing in Latin, and his works reflect the Latinspeaking Romans’ practical, morals-oriented streak. This influential lawyer drew many other writers to his favorite language.
While Greek Christians squabbled over the divinity of Christ and His relation to the Father, Tertullian sought to unify the faith and clarify the orthodox position. So he laid down a helpful formula that we still use today: God is one substance, consisting of three persons.

As he anticipated what became the doctrine of the Trinity, Tertullian drew his terminology not from the philosophers, but from Roman law courts. The Latin substantia did not mean “material,” but “property rights.” God’s substantia is His “turf,” so to speak. Persona did not mean “person” as we use the word; it referred to a party in a legal action. Used that way, it is conceivable that three personae could share one substantia. Three persons (Father, Son, and Spirit) share one substance (the divine sovereignty).

Though Tertullian asked, “What has Athens [philosophy] to do with Jerusalem [the church]?” the Stoic philosophy, which was popular during his age, influenced him. Some say that the idea of original sin passed from Stoicism, to Tertullian, to the Western church. Tertullian seems to have thought that the soul was in some way material: As a body is formed by conception, so is a soul. Adam’s sin is passed on like a genetic trait.

The Western church took hold of this idea, but it did not pass into the East (which took a more optimistic view of human nature). About 206 Tertullian left the church to join the Montanist sect, a group of “puritans,” who reacted against what they perceived as lax morals among Christians. They expected the Second Coming to occur soon and emphasized the immediate leadership of the Holy Spirit, not the ordained clergy.

Though Tertullian had begun by emphasizing the idea of apostolic succession—the passing on of the apostles’ power and authority to bishops—he became disturbed by the bishops’ claim that they had the power to pardon sins. This would lead to moral laxity, he believed, and the bishops presumed too much in claiming it. After all, he reasoned, weren’t all believers priests? Was this a church of saints who administered themselves or a rabble of saints and sinners administered by a professional “class,” the clergy?

Tertullian was swimming against the tide. For more than twelve hundred years the clergy would have a special place. Not until Martin Luther challenged the church would an emphasis on “the priesthood of all believers” be recaptured.


Curtis, A., Lang, J. S., Petersen, R., & Curtis, J. S. L. A. K. (1998). 100 most important events in christian history, the. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker.