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Lent: Day 4 - Polycarp to the Philippians

Day Four: Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians (full text) Who: Polycarp of Smyrna, who was a direct disciple of the apostle John. We also have some information about Polycarp via Irenaeus (who knew Polycarp) in his book, Adv. Haer., III.3.4: “But Polycarp also was not only instructed by apostles, and conversed with many who had seen Christ, but was also, by apostles in Asia, appointed bishop of the Church in Smyrna”. What: Lots of exhortations are contained in this letter, and is also referenced by Irenaeus as being for “those who wish to do so, and are anxious about their salvation, can learn the character of his (Polycarp's) faith, and the preachin...

The Temptations of Jesus: Testing God

...plan God had for him, and the arrest was a part of it so that the Scriptures would be fulfilled. Misapplying Phil 4:13 Jesus knew the Scriptures perfectly (because he was the incarnate Word of God), and could refute even an argument based on Scripture to try and tempt him to prove his power and authority. This is why we must be avid students of the Bible and really strive to know it as fully as possible, so that when temptation or false teachers come along in the guise of being “biblically based”, we can spot it a mile off and not fall into the trap! Test the spirits (1 John 4:1) as John writes and pray for the discernment that the Holy Spirit gives...

Creedal Christians: Introduction

...and often had various reasons behind them being required. We’ll look more into those reasons as we carry on through this series and examine each creed in more detail. The creeds I’ll be covering in the coming weeks will be: The Apostles Creed The Nicene Creed The Athanasian Creed The Chalcedonian Creed Don’t forget to subscribe using the form below so that you don’t miss any updates! Further reading: http://coldcasechristianity.com/2014/the-importance-and-early-use-of-creeds/ http://www.evidencesforchristianity.org/new-testament-creeds.html https://www.quora.com/Was-the-Bible-deliberately-altered-for-political-purposes-or-to-support-one...

40 Days with the Fathers: Source Texts Companion Book

...Available soon will be a companion book that will include all of the source texts in full, which I had hoped to get out in time for Lent, but it’s unlikely to be ready in time this year. So if you have my book and would like to read along each day with the Church Fathers as well, I’ve compiled a list of online sources where you can read the original texts. If you don’t have the book and would like it, you can order it now from Amazon and still get it in time for Lent by clicking the following link: Amazon.com; or if you would like to pledge some support towards my book writing in return for some nice perks, you can do so on my Patreon page: https://patreo...

BOOK REVIEW: Four Views on Hell 2nd edition

...tradition had more to do with heaven than hell, adding that his thesis rests on four main points: [1] Purgatory is preparatory for heaven – “not a place of probation” (147) where you might equally end up in hell; [2] “Purgatory is not a ‘second chance’” (147, italics his); [3] death-bed repentance can take you to purgatory; [4] God’s acceptance of such death-bed contrition “does not mean that the sinner ‘gets away with it’ scot-free.” (148, italics his) Walls spells out the two key historic justifications for purgatory – satisfaction and sanctification: “Whereas the sanctification model is about moral and spiritual transformation...

Lent: Day 8 - Ignatius to the Romans

...h in Rome had great influence and could have probably changed his sentence to have Ignatius set free. But he writes to them saying that he is “afraid” of their love, “lest it should do me an injury” because it was easy for the Roman church to “accomplish what [they] please” which, in his mind, would make it difficult for him to “attain to God” if they show their love to his flesh and thus cause him to have to run his race once again from the start. This letter is overall different in its tone and I found the things Ignatius said quite a challenge. Ignatius repeatedly says he will “willingly die for God” and to let him “become food for the...