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Lent: Day 6 - Ignatius to the Magnesians

...of Jesus Christ That's some high standards to live up to! It's no wonder the qualifications for these positions were strict if this was the thinking behind them even when Paul first penned his letters to Timothy and Titus (1 Tim 3:1-7; 8-13; Tit 1:5-9). But it's also because of this that Ignatius instructs that no one do anything “without the bishop and presbyters” since, as Jesus did nothing without the Father, and the Apostles without Jesus, so neither should the Church without their leadership. It's interesting to see that this church structure was active from so early on, and not something created hundreds of years after the fact. The final chapter...

Fasting: A spiritual and physical discipline

...The topic of fasting often comes up in online discussion groups that I'm a part of, more often in Protestant circles where the practice is more often sidelined in low churches. So let's take a look at the practice of fasting from a practical and historical view, as it seems to be a spiritual discipline which has been pushed aside in many churches today, with prayer, worship and bible reading taking more precedence in a Christian's life instead (not that those are bad things to do!). Why fast? There are many reasons to fast, and recent studies have shown a lot of health benefits that can be derived from fasting. But on the spiritual side of life, there are also...

Spiritual Disciplines of the Early Church: Ancient Practices for the 21st Century

...I was asked not so long ago what kinds of things Christians did in the Early Church (first to fourth century) as a form of spiritual discipline, on a personal level as well as a corporate one. Though the concept of an individual “personal spiritual life” would have been quite foreign to first century believers as faith and Church was very much a corporate venture that had personal implications, rather than the other way around as it can often appear to be thought of today. Much of what made Christianity structured, disciplined and set apart from society, has largely been lost in practice, or forgotten and relegated to the annals of history by many practicin...

What are the Seraphim, and was the devil one of them?

...feat when Christ triumphed over death and the “powers and authorities” on the cross (Col 2:15). There’s a lot of scriptures to cover which mentions all of these themes, but I’ll just list a few here where we find the words for seraphim and serpent translated in various ways: Numbers 21:6; Job 26:13; Isaiah 6:6–7; 14:29; 27:1; 30:6. Then the New Testament references to the dragon: Revelation 12:9; 13:1; 20:2. Serpents in the Garden With this in mind, maybe it could change our view on the serpent in the Garden of Eden. Could it be that it wasn’t an actual snake speaking to Eve, but rather a seraphim-angel of some type? It would explain why no one w...

Did a Roman Catholic priest perform 'invalid' baptisms for years?

...of Jesus Christ, working through the priest. I agree with the principle on a theological level, and in some ways, seeing ordination as a sort-of “human sacrament” to the community etc., but I don’t believe that Jesus is not going to impart the Holy Spirit and his grace to the one being baptised just because the priest said the wrong words. This is not magic that needs the correct spell to be cast in order to make it effective. The faith and intent of all involved should suffice as far as this part is concerned. A few caveats though, as I don’t want my words to be misconstrued. There are correct words that need to be said for baptism to be valid on one...

Lent: Day 10 - Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans

...truth of Christ – that he was born of a virgin, was baptised and truly did suffer and die on the cross for us; not, as some were saying, that “He only seemed to suffer”. To these, Ignatius says that they “only seem to be [Christians]” because of their false teaching! He defends the resurrection by telling of how the Apostles ate and drank with, and touched the risen Christ since “He was still possessed of flesh”, but to this he also adds that he believes Jesus is still possessing a body of flesh, whilst being spiritually “united to the Father”. I'm not sure if he means this in the same way we might today when we talk about the glorified/resur...