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Lent: Day 4 - Polycarp to the Philippians

Day Four: Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians (full text) Who: Polycarp of Smyrna, who was a direct disciple of the apostle John. We also have some information about Polycarp via Irenaeus (who knew Polycarp) in his book, Adv. Haer., III.3.4: “But Polycarp also was not only instructed by apostles, and conversed with many who had seen Christ, but was also, by apostles in Asia, appointed bishop of the Church in Smyrna”. What: Lots of exhortations are contained in this letter, and is also referenced by Irenaeus as being for “those who wish to do so, and are anxious about their salvation, can learn the character of his (Polycarp's) faith, and the preachin...

How many apostles are there in the New Testament?

Often in any discussion on the gifts of the Spirit and whether they are still active today (Cessationism vs Continuationism), the topic of Apostles comes up and whether the gift/office is still active today in the Church. Detractors of the Continuationist position will often quip that ‘if there were modern-day apostles, they would be world famous!’ – though I’m not sure why. Even the original Twelve weren’t “world famous” in the sense that they mean. But I digress. This isn't a question of practice, or opinion, but to examine the Scriptures to see what they say about the gift. Scripture gives us an indication that this gift, or role, wasn’t jus...

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

I was asked not so long ago what kinds of things Christians did in the Early Church (first to fourth century) as a form of spiritual discipline, on a personal level as well as a corporate one. Though the concept of an individual “personal spiritual life” would have been quite foreign to first century believers as faith and Church was very much a corporate venture that had personal implications, rather than the other way around as it can often appear to be thought of today. Much of what made Christianity structured, disciplined and set apart from society, has largely been lost in practice, or forgotten and relegated to the annals of history by many practicin...

Christians and the Coronavirus (COVID-19)

...://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/what-early-church-teach-coronavirus/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plague_of_Cyprian http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250109.htm https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Letters_of_Julian/Letter_22 https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/11/solving-the-mystery-of-an-ancient-roman-plague/543528/ http://stretchtheology.com/christians-and-pandemics-through-the-ages-260-1347-1665-2020/ https://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2020/february/coronavirus-christians-and-christ-centered-response.html https://biblemesh.com/blog/the-compassion-of-early-christians/...

BOOK REVIEW: Four Views on Hell 2nd edition

...is not a gospel solution (i.e., to eradicate sin from the sinners), but a terminator solution (i.e., to eradicate the sinners themselves). This is a drastic way of winning creation – like winning all the votes in an election by killing those who would have voted differently….Is this not a pyrrhic victory?”40 This incongruous analogy (God is not a vote-seeking candidate in an ‘election’ but a perfect Creator-Judge passing life or death verdicts, as just about every relevant biblical image from Genesis to Revelation suggests) reveals that Parry must also regard God’s OT executions as failures, since he claims that future eschatological execution...

Lent: Day 8 - Ignatius to the Romans

...Day Eight: St. Ignatius of Antioch: Letter to the Romans (full text) Who: Ignatius converted at a young age and later became Bishop of Antioch. A friend of Polycarp and fellow disciple of John, there is a long standing tradition that Ignatius was the child that Jesus held in his arms and blessed in Mark 10:13-16 What: A challenging letter in which Ignatius pours himself out to the Roman church about his impending martyrdom. Why: Ignatius wrote a series of letters to the churches in Asia Minor whilst en route to Rome to face martyrdom by wild beasts in the Colosseum around 108 AD. When: Around 107-108 AD On reading the introduction to this letter my first th...