John,
Wouldn’t Montanus have had some followers? I am thinking that if not, he would not even have been mentioned in early Christian writings.
And as for Tertullian (c. 155 – c. 240 AD), was he against or for Montanus?
Thanks,
Wendell
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Hi Wendell.
Yes, Montanus had many followers, probably even more than his detractors admitted. But I am a little uncomfortable referring to them as “followers”, in the usual sense. I believe they were just people like him who enjoyed with him the Spirit-filled way of life that he stood for. We know by our own experience how Christians will label as heresy any truth of Jesus that exposes the folly of their religion, and will try to make those who love the truth appear to be cult members following a deluded man.
Interestingly, although Christians eventually settled on the name “Montanism” for the Spirit-filled way of life that Montanus preached, they at first labeled it by another man’s name (I can’t recall that man’s name right now). They just kept throwing mud at the truth until something stuck.
As for Tertullian, he was at first a devout and well-known defender of the emerging Christian religion, but he somehow came in contact with some folk (we do not know when or how) who were Spirit-filled. Tertullian was then converted to what Christians call “Montanism”. I suspect that he was just converted to the real Jesus, that is, baptized with the holy Ghost, and then started acting like Montanus and others, speaking in tongues and worshipping “in spirit and in truth”. Scholars all say that from that point, Tertullian’s writings reflect the change. If the apostle Paul had a label for that, it was “true holiness”.
Pastor John