In my discussions with other professing Christians, I often encounter those who employ quotes from the early church fathers as a means of establishing the truth of some doctrine or practice. It seems as though a great many Christians believe that if you can demonstrate that some first or second century, post-apostolic Christian believed some particular thing, and documented it outside the canon of scripture, that this somehow establishes that this particular belief is correct beyond any further dispute. But let me say this very, very clearly so that there can be no misunderstanding on the matter:
The early church fathers were a cornucopia of error and confusion that are often at great variance with the word of God, which alone is able to throughly furnish us with respect to matters of doctrine and practice. (TETH)
