Amillennialism in the Early Church
Unfortunately, it is a bit difficult for us to know precisely what the early church taught about eschatology for a few reasons. First, they don't appear to have written much on the subject. Second…
Calvinism vs. Arminianism: A Worthwhile Debate
As far as Calvinism and Arminianism are concerned, I do think the issue is an important one. However, for the most part, I also think it is an in-house debate. That is, I believe that most Calvinists…
Passover and the Early Church
The quartodecimans (from the Latin for "fourteen") is a term that has been given to Christians in the second century who believed that Easter was to be celebrated on the same day as the Jewish…
Crucifixion of Women and Roman Citizens
According to Hengel ( Crucifixion , Fortress Press, 1977), Roman law allowed that Roman citizens could be crucified, but the penalty was rarely inflicted on Roman citizens. Where citizens were…
Calvin, Salvation, Baptism
On the specific issue of Calvin's view of baptism and that represented in the Westminster Standards, the two are basically the same. Also, just as a side note, Calvin himself said that his…
Calvin and Servetus
It is hard to tell from the research that I have seen exactly how many people were executed during Calvin's time in Geneva. I would have to say that the modern day opponents of Calvin like to give…
Simon the Magician
Simon Magus (a.k.a. Simon the Magician) is a very interesting character. The Bible records his encounter with Peter in Acts 8, and several early Christian writings tell of things that later happened…
Pharisees and Works Righteousness
It is my understanding that the Pharisees did not teach works-based salvation. According to the New Testament, their doctrine of salvation had some flaws, but trusting in personal merit is not…
Which is the True Church?
There are various ways of describing the true church. My preference is to speak of it as the body that contains the faithful remnant. Faithfulness, in turn, is not reckoned by purity of doctrine.…
Apostolic Succession and Denominationalism
First, I'd be careful about how much weight you hang on apostolic succession by laying on of hands. Depending on how we define it, it is a valid concept. And ordination is normally accompanied by it.…
Protestant Transubstantiation (History of)
The use of grape juice began during the American Temperance Movement, which began in the early 1800s and culminated in Prohibition in the early 1900s. The motivations for switching to grape juice…
From Dualism to Postmodernity
This sounds remarkably like an essay topic assigned to a class by someone who has recently read A Primer on Postmodernism by Stanley J. Grenzà As I'm sure you are aware, there are many forms of…
Church Supported Arianism
The church officially refuted Arianism at the Council of Nicea in A.D. 325. Following Nicea, however, Arianism actually became the official position of the church during the end of the reign of the…
Apocrypha Accounts?
Most Protestant churches do not recognize the inspiration or authority of these books. However, they are still used in many churches today (such as Episcopal churches). The authority and authenticity…
Old Testament Date of Composition
The Old Testament was written over a long period of time, ranging from approximately the 15th century B.C. for some of the older books (e.g. Genesis, Exodus) to perhaps as late as the 4th century…
Baptism, Salvation
Sorry it's so confusing. The "certain blessings of salvation" phrase was intentionally vague, since Calvin and the Westminster don't say precisely the same thing. According to the Confession, those…
Ancient Near-Eastern Covenant Distinctions
I believe that sharp distinctions between different kinds of covenants paralleling ancient Near-Eastern texts are not as sure as they once were (Compare NIV Study Bible on Genesis 6). Abram's…
Southern Baptist Catholics?
As it is most commonly used today, the term "Protestant" refers to any church that has descended from the tradition of the Reformation, and to some that are closely associated with those churches.…
Nicaea 325 AD and Arius?
The number that attended Nicaea is disputed, however all but two voted against Arius. Constantine had invited all 1800 bishops of the Christian church (about 1000 in the east and 800 in the west)…
Historical Purgatory and Prayers for the Dead
On purgatory and prayers for the dead, I doubt that many Catholic theologians would argue that all the church fathers believed in prayers for the dead and in purgatory. That would be a rather odd…
Opposition to Contraception
It does appear that many, many Protestants wrote or spoke against the practice of birth control on the basis of the Onan incident (in Gen. 38:8-10 Onan "spilled his seed on the ground" every time he…
Apostolic Succession?
I have heard conflicting accounts of Calvin's ordination in the Roman Catholic Church, but to my mind his lack of ordination in a Protestant church is good evidence that he was ordained as a…
Christian Women That Made a Difference
Books abound from multiple denominations (thousands of them) with names of women who have made a difference in Christianity's history. I'm sure there are as many more that never made it into a book…
John and Patmos
We are not told specifically why John was on Patmos, but the Roman Empire used the island as a place for exiles. In Revelation 1:9 John related that he was on Patmos as a "fellow partaker in the…