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

...cy in the Old Testament which not only is used to prove the power of God, but also to show that the different ways prophecies are spoken demonstrates who inspired them; ie. some are from the Father, some Christ and others, the Spirit. This in itself is demonstrating a view of the Trinity within prophecy, too. The Father Quoting various passage from Isaiah, Justin makes the point that when a prophecy is spoken from a “thus saith the Lord” perspective, then that is the Father speaking through the prophet; for example— Isaiah 66:1 Thus says the Lord:Heaven is my throneand the earth is my footstool;what is the house that you would build for me,and what...

The Eighth Day

...es in the Old Testament, specifically in the last of the great feasts: the feast of booths (Leviticus 23:33 onwards), and circumcision on the eighth day after birth. The priests and Nazirites also had seven days of cleansing before offering sacrifices specifically on the eighth day (Numbers 6, Leviticus 8:33ff). The apostles pick up on these themes, like with the eight people, including Noah, who were “saved through water” (1 Peter 3:20) and how we now have a spiritual circumcision of the heart instead of a physical procedure (Romans 2:29). But if we look back at the gospel in John 7:37-38 and also John 8:12, we can see that during the festival of booths Je...

How was Jesus a sacrifice?

...orah, the Old Testament, and look at this from a Jewish perspective and what the sacrificial lamb initially meant. The main comparison that is drawn between Jesus and the Old sacrifices, is that of the Passover lamb. The link between the two is really quite amazing and to be honest, I didn't realise just how much of this Jesus fulfilled in himself until I was writing this. First we need to go back to the very first Passover to see what it meant for Israel. The whole story can be found in Exodus 12, but the relevant parts to the lamb are about how it should look and be prepared, and the reason for the blood covering: Exodus 12:5-7, 13 Your lamb shall be wi...

Man-Made Tradition vs Apostolic Tradition

...Quite often in discussions which are about or involve some aspects of early church history or practices earlier Christians did, someone will inevitably throw out the "show stopper" that is "it's all just man made tradition" therefore not valid and the discussion is over. It’s as though saying it's "man made", without considering anything other than that they can't find an isolated chapter and verse in the bible which states something explicitly, means they've "won" the debate! Nothing more to see here folks, someone tOld us it's man made so we can all go home now. Either that, or the mere mention of the word “tradition” and suddenly you’re accused of be...

The Deity of Christ in the Gospel of Matthew - Part 2

...ct in the Old Testament is needed. In the book of Genesis man is created (and woman from his side), then they are placed in the garden of Eden where they enjoy the presence of God who walked with them, until they act disobediently to him after which he came to them and it is written; (Genesis 3:8): “Now they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.” The result is a curse on the ground and the tempter who led them to sin. Along with this curse God pronounced judgement on them, man was driven out of the garden, separ...

What does the word "Catholic" mean?

...  For many people today, non-Christians and (low church) Christians alike, when they hear the word “Catholic”, certain images spring to mind: the Pope, the rosery, Catholic school, big Old churches buildings, choirboys, maybe monks or statues of Mary even; and sadly more recently, sex abuse scandals. But, generally speaking, all of these are actually aspects of Roman Catholicism — a particular branch of Christianity, and not what the word “catholic” truly means as we’ll see when examining how the early church used the word and what the original Greek word means. καθολικός (katholikos) The Greek word where we get the English word “c...