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How was Jesus a sacrifice?

So often we hear this phrase said about Jesus, that he was “the lamb of God” and that he “takes away the sins of the world” — but what do those things mean and how did he take away sin? John 1:29The next day [John] saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! (cf. Jn 1:36) The New Testament writers repeatedly refer to Jesus as a lamb; but not only that — as a ransom too. Jesus even introduces himself that way at one point: Mark 10:45 For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many. (cf. Matthew 20:28) To better understand the termi...

God before ages becomes an infant!

I saw a beautifully sung a capella song the other day of Facebook. It was about the Nativity, the incarnation of Christ. One of the lines in the song really struck me, the profound nature of what God did summed up in a single sentence: Glorify, with the angels and the shepherds, Him who by His own will has become a newborn child, yet is our God before all ages.   Let that sink in for a moment before reading this excerpt from one of John Chrysostom's sermons on Christmas (something else I saw shared on Facebook which I think sums up this day in better words than I could muster): "What shall I say! And how shall I describe this Birth to you? For this wo...

An Examination of Conditional Immortality (Part One)

I know that "Conditional Immortality" is quite a divisive topic, and one you may have come across before (sometimes referred to as “Annihilationism”); and have been told outright that it’s “heresy” or false, or that it’s an emotional argument people want to believe because it ‘sounds nicer’ than the doctrine of Eternal Conscious Torment (ECT). Or maybe you’ve never even heard of this before and you didn’t realise there were alternative interpretations and views on hell. If you are new to this, in brief it means that “the wicked” will be removed from existence after judgement and finite torment, rather than living forever in torment. Any...

A Journey Through Church History

After many, many months of working on this in between COVID and other “life events” that kept me busy, I’ve finally released the Third Edition of my book, 40 day With the Fathers: A Journey Through Church History! The Third Edition includes: a foreword by Paul Pavao (author of Decoding Nicea), updated content and also a new chapter about the Council of Nicaea explaining what did (and didn’t) happen there. “I cannot imagine there is a better way to get familiar with 350 of the most important years of church history in seven hours spread over 40 days.” — Paul Pavao, author of Decoding Nicea If you are unfamiliar with my previous editions...

Nails, Theses, and Myth: The Truth About Luther's Famous Door

As we commemorated the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation this year, the familiar image of Martin Luther striding up to the church door in Wittenberg — hammer in hand and fire in his eyes — has once again taken centre stage. It’s a compelling picture, etched into the imagination of many. But as is often the case with historical legends, closer scrutiny tells a far more nuanced and thought-provoking story. The Myth of the Door: Was the Hammer Ever Raised? Cambridge Reformation scholar Richard Rex is one among several historians who have challenged the romanticised narrative. “Strangely,” he observes, “there’s almost n...

Before The Pumpkins: The day Two Women Defied Rome

In the last post, we looked at Polycarp — a faithful bishop who faced the flames rather than deny his Lord. His courage in the face of certain death became a rallying light for generations of believers after him. But his story is only one among many in the long line of the cloud of witnesses who ran the race before us (Hebrews 12:1). Today, we step forward a few decades to another account of extraordinary faith — that of two women, Perpetua and Felicity. Perpetua left an account of her own martyrdom (technically a Passion) which is considered historically reliable. What makes it extraordinary is that Perpetua herself wrote a portion of it in Latin b...