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lent: Day 13 - Justin Martyr: First Apology, Chaps. 12-23

...their violent and tyrannical disposition” because of the examples of Christians. After all of this, Justin then seeks to clarify the difference between those who are Christians in name only, to those who really are followers of Jesus by quoting Matthew 7:21-23 and saying, “let those who are not found living as He taught, be understood to be no Christians” and in an unexpected turn, he rounds off this section by essentially giving the Emperor permission, actually demanding, to punish those who “are not living pursuant to these His teachings, and are Christians only in name”! Civil Obedience Quoting more from Jesus, Justin makes the point that “eve...

lent: Day 15 - Justin Martyr: First Apology, Chaps. 36-47

...70 here: lentfatherscomplete.pdf Following on from yesterday's theme of prophecy which predicts Christ, Justin explains the different types, or “modes”, of prophetic messages. From utterances which foretell the future, to speaking on behalf of the Father, he goes on to say how the Jews missed the prophecies that pointed to Jesus – even those which showed that he would be crucified; and so the Jews hate the Christians who keep showing these things from the Scriptures. What follows is some really interesting interpretation of prophecy in the Old Testament which not only is used to prove the power of God, but also to show that the different ways prophecie...

lent: Day 16 - Justin Martyr: First Apology, Chaps. 48-59

...77 here: lentfatherscomplete.pdf In these chapters today, Justin is continuing with his long exposition of the prophecies concerning Christ, covering every aspect of the life, ministry and death of Jesus. He quotes Scripture at length in order to fully prove his points in order to show the Emperor, to whom he writes, and indeed any of us reading his works today, the undeniable reality that Jesus was the expected and long-awaited Messiah. I won’t quote massive amounts of these chapters, since it would be redundant, so I’ll just highlight each prophecy and give the Scriptural references which are used in Apology as proofs for Jesus's Messiahship. Finding th...

lent: Day 17 - Justin Martyr: First Apology: Chaps. 60-68

...84 here: lentfatherscomplete.pdf So we come to the final chapters of Justin Martyr's first apology, and what an interesting and lengthy read it has been! These final chapters move on from prophecies about Christ, and cover a few other areas of Christian doctrine and belief, such as: baptism, the Eucharist and weekly worship among other things. Plato and The Trinity The first chapter of this reading today concludes from the previous few about the prophetic announcement of Jesus and how even “heathens” recognise the things God has put in place, even without realising it. Case in point here, Plato. As touched on yesterday, Plato mentions in his work,...

lent Day 18: Cyprian: On the Unity of the Church: 1-9

...Day Eighteen: St. Cyprian: On the Unity of the Church: 1-9 Who: Third century bishop of Carthage (in modern Tunisia), and martyr from Africa What: A letter to encourage the unity of the church against schisms and heresy during massive Roman persecution Why: A disturbance had happened in the church because of a priest called Novatian — a schismatic of the third century, and founder of the sect of the Novatians. Cyprian wrote to counter this and argues that there can only be one united Church, and the Novatian breakaway was a false church and that Novatian was an antipope.When: Around 249 AD You can find today’s reading on page 92 here: lentfatherscomplete...

lent Day 19: Cyprian: On the Unity of the Church: 10-18

...Day Nineteen: St. Cyprian: On the Unity of the Church: 10-18 Who: Third century bishop of Carthage (in modern Tunisia), and martyr from Africa What: A letter to encourage the unity of the church against schisms and heresy during massive Roman persecution Why: A disturbance had happened in the church because of a priest called Novatian — a schismatic of the third century, and founder of the sect of the Novatians. Cyprian wrote to counter this and argues that there can only be one united Church, and the Novatian breakaway was a false church and that Novatian was an antipope.When: Around 249 AD You can find today’s reading on page 97 here: lentfatherscomple...