Month: March 2022

Compare Paul’s concept of God’s sovereignty in Romans 9:1-23 with Justin’s concept of God’s sovereignty in Chapter XLIII: RESPONSIBILITY ASSERTED. Romans 9:1-23 says: “

9 I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit— 2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, 4 the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. 5 Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised!a] Amen.

6 It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. 7 Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”b] 8 In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring. 9 For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”c]

10 Not only that, but Rebekah’s children were conceived at the same time by our father Isaac. 11 Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: 12 not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”d] 13 Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”e]

14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15 For he says to Moses,

“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
    and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”f]

16 It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. 17 For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”g] 18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

19 One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?” 20 But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’”h] 21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?

22 What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? 23 What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory—

In this Bible reference, Paul makes it clear that God is completely sovereign, the supreme ruler of all. He said that God is completely sovereign and the Son and Father are one. In Justin Martyr’s Apology, he also states that God is supreme ruler, but He also delegates sovereignty to His Son and man. Really, they both believe God to be supreme ruler, but they also differed in the fact of God’s choices. Paul believed that God’s predestination were independent of man’s choices. But Justin Martyr believed that God’s predestination were dependent of man’s choices. They both knew that God was the supreme ruler, but they differed in their beliefs of God’s predestination.

What is an indulgence? According to Wikipedia, “In the teaching of the Catholic Church, an indulgence is ‘a way to reduce the amount of punishment one has to undergo for sins'”. So indulgence was used in the Catholic church and are still part of the Catholic tradition. Basically, it is something the Catholics sell to people to “forgive” them of their sins. It is sort of like a card that you get that means that you do not go to hell. It could also mean a ticket that gets you into heaven.

What are the sacraments? According to Wikipedia, “There are seven sacraments of the Catholic Church, which according to Catholic theology were instituted by Jesus and entrusted to the Church. Sacraments are visible rites seen as signs and efficacious channels of the grace of God to all those who receive them with the proper disposition”. The seven sacraments are Confirmation, Anointing of the sick, Matrimony, Eucharist, Reconciliation, Baptism, and Holy Orders. Some people believe that the sacraments are rituals that are used to teach and strengthen people.

What was the Great Schism? What factors brought it on? According to Britannica, “East-West Schism, also called Schism of 1054, event that precipitated the final separation between the Eastern Christian churches (led by the patriarch of Constantinople, Michael Cerularius) and the Western church (led by Pope Leo IX)”. According to the National Geographic Society, “The Great Schism came about due to a complex mix of religious disagreements and political conflicts”. So the Great Schism was a series of religious disagreements and political conflicts between the Eastern Christian churches and the Western church.

The ethical behavior of the Greek/Roman god Zeus was one of wrath and punishment. The Greeks/Romans tried their best to follow the correct rituals and sacrifices in order to try to avoid the wrath of Zeus and to avoid the punishment that comes along with it, but there was no assurance that Zeus would not just start disliking them and start putting negative sanctions on them. And his wrath was not merciful. Zeus was a ruthless guy. So Zeus was not the kind of guy that you would want to be friends with. I’m really sure that the Greeks/Romans thought so too. In many concepts when there were wars going on the gods just took sides and used their supernatural godly powers to help their side win the battle. An example of this is the Trojan War. In this war the gods took sides and tried to help their side win the war. They use humans as their “toys” or “play-things”. In Roman mythology, Jove/Jupiter is Zeus but a Roman god (the Romans get some of their mythology from the Greeks, for example, they took the Greek gods, but renamed them so it would seem that the Romans made up their own gods) and he takes this “play-thing” very far, maybe even to far. It is said that he finds random innocent people and does what is necessary to do to hide his doings from his suspicious and very jealous wife. If you did something to offend the gods or you did something that they just did  not like they were sure to punish you.

Jesus on the other hand explains that because we are sinners we can not enter the kingdom of heaven. But God sent his one and only Son to die for us and be the savior of the world. That way that if we believe in Jesus and that he came to save us and that he is God’s Son, we can have eternal life.

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved Acts 16:31

These four verses are four of my favorite verses and are very important. They explain all that I just said. Jesus taught us that God is omnipotent (all powerful) and omniscient (all knowing). His power is unlimited. He can create out of nothing and he knows past present and future all at the same time. He is also perfectly good. There is no evil in him at all whatsoever. Because of this we can trust him fully. He never turns his back on us and he never leaves nor forsakes us.

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Deuteronomy 31:6

What were the problems besetting the Church in the tenth and eleventh centuries? What was “moderate reform”? In the tenth and eleventh centuries the church began to have some problems. One of them was that the church began to deteriorate. According to the Dictionary that word means “become progressively worse”, or worsen. So the church began to worsen. The people in charge of the very large Western Empire began to not be able to do all that was required of them because the Empire was very large. So they began to hire church officials to do their work for them. The church was caught up in the feudal system. Church officials began acting like vandals. This really disrupted the church. The “moderate reform” was a period in which Pope Leo IX wrote A Collection of 74 Titles which emphasized papal authority.

Describe the events that took place during the conflict between Pope Gregory VII and Henry IV. What was at stake? In 1073 Pope St. Gregory VII was elected. He hade radical ideas about the king that the king did not like. The Pope said that the king was only supposed to establish peace and order and not to elect clergymen. If he did not accomplish this the Pope said he was a tyrant. Gregory declared that the judge in this matter was the Pope. This started a showdown between Pope St. Gregory VII and King Henry IV. There were very many events that took place between the two’s conflict. One of which was when Henry asked for forgiveness from the Pope. Gregory agreed to forgive him if he stayer three days out in the cold and succeeded. However, the conflict still went on. The Pope excommunicated the king, but Henry instead exiled Gregory. He died in exile.

What was Christendom? Christendom specifically refers to Christians, the Christian world, and so much more. I am a Christian, and I live in a Christian world, so I am a part of Christendom.

Paul wrote many New Testament books of the Bible, some of which are Romans, Acts, Galatians, Ephesians, etc. He wrote them to churches in different cities throughout his life. Some of these books (some are called letters) he wrote while he was in prison. In his letters to churches he gives words of encouragement, warning, and wisdom. He even teaches them through his letters. He uses very persuasive language to persuade the people he is writing the letter to to listen to his teachings of Christianity. This method was very effective. He made sure that his letters were easy to understand. They were understood at that time and they have been very important tools to help people understand Christianity.

How were adoption and inheritance related in Paul’s thought? Paul makes this very clear in his letters. Adoption of Christianity. This means that if you turn to Christianity, God adopts you. This leads to the inheritance  of the kingdom of God.

People are really not heirs to the kingdom of God because of Adam’s sin. We are all born sinners. We as being sinful humans are not worthy of inheriting the kingdom of God. However, people can be adopted by God, therefore we are worthy enough to be able to inherit the kingdom of God. It says in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” It also says in Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” In Acts 16:31 it says, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” So you see, even though we are sinners God sent his son Jesus to die for us. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16.

Paul describes as the chief of sinners. He persecuted Christians and he was a great sinner. But he also explains that God opened his eyes and Paul adopted the faith, therefore being adopted by God. He started to preach the word of God to many people. He was recruited by God. He states that like him, many people must accept the faith and become adopted by God in order to become heirs and receive the inheritance of the kingdom of God.

Because of Adam’s sin’s, we are not heirs to the kingdom of God, however, if we accept the faith of Christianity, we can become heirs to the kingdom of God. God sent his son to die for us so that we can become heirs to the kingdom of God. Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Acts 16:31″Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16.

According to the Dictionary, feudalism is “the dominant social system in medieval Europe, in which the nobility held lands from the Crown in exchange for military service, and vassals were in turn tenants of the nobles, while the peasants (villeins or serfs) were obliged to live on their lord’s land and give him homage, labor, and a share of the produce, notionally in exchange for military protection.” So in summary it means that people were allowed to live on the lord’s lands and supply him with work and other things. What’s in it for the people living on the land? Military protection. Why would they need military protection? Because this was during the times of Barbarian and Viking invasions.

According to Britannica, “manorialism, also called manorial system, seignorialism, or seignorial system, political, economic, and social system by which the peasants of medieval Europe were rendered dependent on their land and on their lord.” So, it was the method of land ownership at this time.

The Sadducees, according to Wikipedia, were “a socio-religious sect or group of Jews who were active in Judea during the Second Temple period, starting from the second century BCE through the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE. The Sadducees are often compared to other contemporaneous sects, including the Pharisees and the Essenes”. The Sadducees’ headquarters was Jerusalem and the group was founded in 167 BC.

In the Biblical book of Acts, we find that there was a conflict between the Sadducees and the apostles. The Sadducees practiced and taught the Mosaic law while the apostles were teaching people about the new ways of Christianity. The apostles even reformed the Mosaic law. This made the Sadducees and even the priests very angry and thought of the apostles as a threat to their society, and even their teachings.

The Sadducees tried everything in their power to prevent Christianity from being spread to people, so they went as far as to even threaten, capture, imprison, and even kill the apostles. Some of these were the martyr of St. Stephen, the imprisonment and killing of the disciples,  and much more. This shows just how desperate they were to get rid of Christianity and the people who taught it. The apostles took this as a serious threat, but they kept on preaching about Christianity. As it says in 1 Corinthians 16:13, “Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.” Another verse that tells us to stand firm is 1 Corinthians 15:58, “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”. These verses tells to stand firm even when people want to “cut us down”. That is exactly what these apostles were doing. They were holding fast in the truth even when people wanted to stop them, or “cut them down”.

Because of the complete nature of the message the apostles preached, the Sadducees could not just take this issue in council. Because the Sadducees believed in the Mosaic law, they did not want any changes. They just were not open to the idea. However, the apostles preached about the One that the officials crucified, Jesus Christ.

The Sadducees did everything that they could. The threated the apostles, they killed some, they put some in prison, but nothing worked. The apostles kept on preaching. As I said in an earlier paragraph, the apostles stood firm even when the Sadducees wanted to “cut them down”. They continued to preach the word of God. They continued to preform great healings and miracles, even when the Sadducees were trying to stop them, even if they had to kill the apostles to do it. The weird thing is that the Sadducees were the only ones persecuting the Christians.

The Sadducees would not give up the Mosaic law and turn over to Christianity because they were not open to it. They believed that the people who taught Christianity were contradicting the ancient tradition that they believed in.