Against Heresies: Book I
Chapter 10: Unity of the Church's Faith Across the Entire World
The Church, although spread throughout the whole world, even to the ends of the earth, has received from the apostles and their disciples this faith: She believes in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven, earth, and the sea, and all things within them; and in one Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who became incarnate for our salvation; and in the Holy Spirit, who proclaimed through the prophets the plans of God, and the advents, and the birth from a virgin, and the passion, and the resurrection from the dead, and the ascension into heaven in the flesh of the beloved Christ Jesus, our Lord, and His future manifestation from heaven in the glory of the Father "to gather all things in one," and to raise anew all flesh of the whole human race, so that to Christ Jesus, our Lord, and God, and Savior, and King, according to the will of the invisible Father, "every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth, and every tongue should confess" to Him, and that He should execute just judgment towards all; that He may send "spiritual wickednesses," and the angels who transgressed and became apostates, together with the ungodly, unrighteous, wicked, and profane among men, into everlasting fire; but may, in the exercise of His grace, confer immortality on the righteous, holy, and those who have kept His commandments, and persevered in His love, some from the beginning of their Christian journey, and others from the time of their repentance, and may surround them with everlasting glory.
As I have already noted, the Church, having received this preaching and this faith, even though it is scattered throughout the whole world, still carefully preserves it as if it were in one house. It believes these points of doctrine just as if it had one soul and one heart, and it proclaims, teaches, and hands them down in perfect harmony, as if it spoke with one voice. Although the languages of the world are different, the meaning of the tradition is the same everywhere. Churches planted in Germany do not believe or pass down anything different, nor do those in Spain, Gaul, the East, Egypt, Libya, or those established in the central regions of the world. Just as the sun, God's creation, is the same everywhere in the world, so the preaching of the truth shines everywhere and enlightens all people willing to know the truth. None of the Church leaders, no matter how eloquent, will teach doctrines different from these (for no one is greater than the Master); nor will those who are less skilled in expression harm the tradition. For the faith is ever the same: those who can speak at great length about it add nothing to it, nor do those who can say little diminish it.
The fact that people have different levels of intelligence doesn't mean they should change the core of the faith itself or invent another God besides the Creator, Maker, and Sustainer of the universe (as if He were not enough for them), or come up with another Christ, or another Only-begotten. Instead, this difference in intelligence simply means that some people might be better than others at understanding and explaining the meaning of things spoken in parables, fitting them into the overall structure of the faith; at explaining clearly how God's plans relate to human salvation; at demonstrating that God showed patience regarding the rebellion of the angels who sinned, as well as human disobedience; at explaining why the same God made some things temporary and others eternal, some heavenly and others earthly; at understanding why God, though invisible, chose to appear to the prophets in different forms for different people; at explaining why multiple covenants were given to humanity and teaching what was unique about each one; at investigating why "God has bound everyone over to disobedience so He can have mercy on them all;" at describing with gratitude why the Word of God became flesh and suffered; at explaining why the coming of the Son of God happened in these last times, at the end rather than the beginning of the world; at revealing what is contained in the Scriptures about the end times and future events; and not ignoring how God made the Gentiles, whose salvation seemed impossible, fellow-heirs and part of the same body with the saints.
They should also discuss how "this mortal body will put on immortality, and this corruptible body will become incorruptible;" and announce in what sense God says, "Those who were not a people are now His people; and she who was not loved is now loved;" and how it makes sense when He says, "More are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband." Regarding these points and others like them, the apostle exclaims: "Oh! the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God; how unsearchable His judgments, and His paths beyond tracing out!" But superior understanding is not found in thinking, beyond the Creator and Maker of the world, of the Enthymesis of a misguided Æon, their mother and his, and thereby reaching such a level of blasphemy; nor does it lie in imagining above this supposed being, a Pleroma at one time thought to have thirty, and at another time countless Æons, as these teachers lacking truly divine wisdom claim; while the Catholic Church upholds one and the same faith throughout the entire world, as we have already stated.