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Creedal Christians: The Apostle's Creed

...ment from Scripture: Old Roman Creed The Apostle’s Creed Scripture I believe in God the Father almighty; I believe in God the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth; Genesis 1:1; Genesis 17:1; Exodus 20:11; Isaiah 40:28; and in Christ Jesus His only Son, our Lord, And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, Matthew 14:33; Matthew 16:16; Mark 3:11; Luke 1:32; John 1:34; John 1:49; Romans 1:4; 1 Corinthians 1:9; Hebrews 1:5; 1 John 5:20; Who was born from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born from the Virgin Mary, Matthew 1:18; Luke 1:34...

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

...emorising Scripture Memorising Scripture – specifically the Psalms and Gospels Singing/praying the Psalms as worship to God Both of these principles are based on Psalm 1:1–3 and Colossians 3:16. “Every Psalm brings peace, soothes the internal conflicts, calms the rough waves of evil thoughts, dissolves anger, corrects and moderates profligacy.” Commentary on Psalm 1, Basil the Great (4th century)   Prayer and Fasting Another common practice that was expected of believers was regular fasting, since Jesus had said “when you fast”, not “if”. Typically, fasting was done every week on Wednesday and Friday, based on Matthew 6:...

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

...Have you ever wondered about what the devil is — or was, pre-Fall? You’ve probably been told that he used to be an angel with God, so then why is he often described as a snake, serpent or dragon? Though there isn’t a great deal given away in Scripture as to the nature of angels, or the heavenly realms in general, we get some glimpses from the visions of the prophets. But what we can also look at is the words which the Bible uses; some of which aren’t translated and so lose their original meaning in English. The Seraphim The word “seraphim” is a transliteration of a Hebrew word, rather than a translation, so in English we often will miss the me...

The Coming Kingdom of the Son of Man

...The importance of context of what's being said, and to whom, in Scripture. I came across this image the other day (in the header above; see larger here) that links together three parts of Matthew’s Gospel to highlight the connection which many often miss, or read as separate events. I like the image because it shows that when Jesus spoke these things, he would have been saying them directly to the disciples and others who were listening to his teaching, and not in some cryptic, ambiguous dictation to a prophetic scribe, devoid of all context and meaning to those around him at the time. Update Feb 2017: I am adding some additional information to this to dis...

An Examination of Conditional Immortality (Part Two)

...Welcome to Part Two of my study and examination of Conditional Immortality (aka Annihilationism). If you missed part one, you can read that one here. As with part one, this will be a long post as there is still much ground to cover before we can really grasp the bigger picture about what Scripture teaches. So with that said, I’ll pick right up where we left off. In part one, I covered a lot of New Testament texts, a few Old Testament passages, plus a look at what some of the earliest church leaders also wrote on the topic to the early church. In this one, we will be looking at a few more Old Testament examples and how they relate to the imagery used in Revela...

The Relationship Between Jesus and Sophia

...Wisdom” Scriptures closer. Other than those two previously mentioned, the interpretation and understanding was pretty unanimous for the first few centuries: “Sophia” is Jesus. I’ll give a few examples from the Early Church Fathers below, ranging in date between AD 150 to around 250-ish, so you can see how this conclusion was drawn, though you can read many more quotes from them here. I shall give you another testimony, my friends,” said I, “from the Scriptures, that God begat before all creatures a Beginning, [who was] a certain rational power [proceeding] from Himself, who is called by the Holy Spirit, now the Glory of the Lord, now the Son, agai...