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The Coming of Jesus: Introduction

  Will Jesus return in the way most of us have been taught? I suspect that when many people think of the "Second Coming" — that is, the return of Jesus, images of the world ending in a blaze of fire and glory come to mind; or of some super-war called Armageddon where the Anti-Christ battles it out with God's people one last time before the End comes. You may even think of Jesus surfing across the sky on clouds with a bunch of angel in tow, or maybe the Left Behind book and film series frames your view of the "end times." Whichever it is, one thing I can assure you of is that some of that imagery has been embellished and some misunde...

Lent: Day 5 - Ignatius to the Ephesians

...into the theology of the early church and the importance of unity amongst the believers. But there is also a lot of repetition and in places it seems quite hasty, but I suppose that's understandable considering the circumstances in which Ignatius wrote this!  ...

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...

Jesus Like You've Never Seen Before - Discoveries from Early Christian Art

...art, and theology.   Further Reading What do the hand gestures in icons mean? (aleteia.org) Jesus Holding a Magic Wand? — Biblical Archaeology Society Jesus the Magician? Why Jesus Holds a Wand in Early Christian Art · The BAS Library Christ Pantocrator (Sinai) — Wikipedia The Sacred Faith (@lukejwilsonauthor) | TikTok Earliest known depiction of Lazarus, Callistus Catacombs, Rome, 3rd Century CE : Center for Online Judaic Studies (cojs.org) The Catacombs of Saint Callixtus. The Christian Catacombs of Rome (catacombesancallisto.it) Dura-Europus | ancient city, Syria | Britannica Catacomb of Callixtus — The Good Shepherd (Cimi...

Is The Rapture Biblical?

...ought and theology, the underlying meaning of those terms hasn’t been the same as the last 100 years or so. So let's recap 1 Thess. 4 for clarity's sake: Jesus descends from heaven with “a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet” (v.16) – something which sounds very loud and obvious, and not in any way secret as some rapture theories suggest. Once this happens, “the dead in Christ will rise first” and then those who are still alive will be “caught up” to meet Jesus. This is part of the comfort and hope Paul was giving the Thessalonians in that whether dead or alive, none would be left out of the glor...

What is Monarchical Trinitarianism?

...s similar theology with Modalism/Sabellianism, was condemned as heresy in the 4th century. It denied the distinct personhood within the Godhead, positing that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are merely different modes or aspects of one God. This view was rejected by the early church for undermining the distinct personal relationships and the eternal generation and procession within the Trinity. Monarchians were opposed by “Logos theologians”, such as Tertullian, Hippolytus, Clement of Alexandria, and Origen of Alexandria. Catechism of the Orthodox Faith The Orthodox Church holds more prominently to the Monarchy of the Father in their Trinitarian doctrin...