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Creedal Christians: Introduction

...as born a human being and not one of the brutes; Next, that I was born a man and not a woman; Thirdly, a Greek and not a barbarian” (A quote attributed to Socrates or Thales; Diogenes Laertius, Thales 1.33). “Blessed are you, Lord, our God, ruler of the universe who has not created me a woman.” (This appears as part of a sequence of blessings found in the Talmud, which men would recite in their morning prayers) There’s also other examples of early New Testament creeds, of various lengths, which can be found in: 1 Corinthians 8:6; 1 Corinthians 11:23-29; Romans 1:3-4; 10:9; 1 Timothy 3:16, 2 Timothy 2:8; and possibly the more well known one, in P...

The Temptations of Jesus: Worship and Glory

...gs but on human things”; we also much fight daily to keep our minds focused on God so that we may stay humble and remember where the glory belongs. “He must increase, but I must decrease” as John the Baptist said (John 3:30). The devil offered Jesus the world (as if he needed it given to him), hoping to get him to compromise and place his devotion elsewhere. Jesus obviously knew better, but we sometimes need to be reminded. “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” as Paul wrote to the Colossians (3:1-4). That still rings true for us today. If you are tempted by this world and its fleeting glory, and you start to plac...

Christians and the Coronavirus (COVID-19)

...ds of the human race, to see whether they who are in health tend the sick… Around the year 260 AD, Dionysius the Great (Patriarch of Alexandria), wrote in one of his letters about this plague, describing how badly “the heathens” treated their sick in contrast to the Christians: But among the heathen all was the very reverse. For they thrust aside any who began to be sick, and kept aloof even from their dearest friends, and cast the sufferers out upon the public roads half dead, and left them unburied, and treated them with utter contempt when they died, steadily avoiding any kind of communication and intercourse with death; which, however, it was not eas...

On the Feast of the Nativity, a sermon by Leo the Great

...Divinely-human offspring in mind first and then in body. And lest in ignorance of the heavenly counsel she should tremble at so strange a result, she learns from converse with the angel that what is to be wrought in her is of the Holy Ghost. Nor does she believe it loss of honour that she is soon to be the Mother of God. For why should she be in despair over the novelty of such conception, to whom the power of the most High has promised to effect it. Her implicit faith is confirmed also by the attestation of a precursory miracle, and Elizabeth receives unexpected fertility: in order that there might be no doubt that He who had given conception to the barren, wo...

Coffee With Jesus: Luke 24

...merely a human prophet. After this they then spent their days in the temple praising God (v.53). I hope this encourages you today to continue worshipping Jesus and praising God daily in your lives, and to keep our eyes open to see Jesus in those unexpected places.  ...

The Eighth Day

...ne from a human point of view” if they are believers. Again we see this theme in Colossians 1:19-20, where Paul writes that “God was pleased” to reconcile all things to himself, whether “on Earth or in Heaven” – in other words, all of Creation. This again is echoed in Rev 21:5, where “the one on the throne” (ie. God) declares: “See, I am making all things new.” Reconcile means “the restoration of friendly relations”, so now if God is on friendly terms with “all things” in Heaven or Earth, and has given us the “ministry of reconciliation” as “co-workers with Christ”, then this must make us think about what a new earth really...