ArmchairAdventists

Revelation; Justification by Faith The Feet of Burnished Bronze [By M.L] Revelation 1:13 (ESV): And in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest; Revelation 1:14-16 (ESV): The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. Today we are discussing the feet that are like burnished bronze. These are closely connected to the voice like the roar of many waters. The glowing, burnished bronze already makes us think of something glorious. When you put bronze in a furnace and heat it enough, it becomes almost yellow, glowing beautifully. Besides this, you can also purify bronze through a furnace. This bronze is glowing, pure, and imp...

“First then let there be laid as a foundation in your soul the doctrine concerning God; that God is One, alone unbegotten, without beginning, change, or variation; neither begotten of another, nor having another to succeed Him in His life; who neither began to live in time, nor ends ever: and that He is both good and just; that if ever thou hear a heretic say, that there is one God who is just, and another who is good, you may immediately remember, and discern the poisoned arrow of heresy. For some have impiously dared to divide the One God in their teaching: and some have said that one is the Creator and Lord of the soul, and another of the body; a doctrine at once absurd and impious. For how can a man become the one servant of two masters, when our Lord says in the Gospels, No man can serve two masters? There is then One Only God, the Maker both of souls and bodies: One the Creator of heaven and earth, the Maker of Angels and Archangels: of many the Creator, but of One only the Fathe...

  Revelation; Justification by Faith The High Priest and the Lampstands [By M.L] Revelation 1:13 (ESV): And in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest; Revelation 1:20 (ESV): As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches. Today we will focus more on the work of Jesus among those seven lampstands. Jesus is described here as wearing a robe reaching to His feet and a golden sash around His chest. This is the attire of someone of high rank. One such rank is that of the high priest in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament temple, there was also a lampstand that the high priest had to maintain. This golden lampstand gave light in the covered temple, reflecting off the golden walls and creating a beautiful effect. The high priest (Aaron in the time of Moses...

The Catechetical Lectures of Cyril of Jerusalem represent one of the most significant theological and homiletic work the early church produced, a work meant to instruct, teach, correct and serve as a guide to the fundamentals of Christian doctrine as understood in the fourth century by the christian church in Jerusalem. This work is written around the middle of the fourth century, and comes at a time when the church was facing a lot of challenges. Multitudes of pagans were joining the church, heresies were on the rise- both old and new; heresies were spreading like diseases and the persecution of Nicene Christians by Arian rulers was not uncommon. As we know, Athanasius of Alexandria, also knows as the “Champion of Orthodoxy” was exiled five times from the town where he was ministering: once in Trier (in western Germany), once in Rome and three times in the Egyptian wastelands. He spent seventeen years out of his diocese for the reason that he proclaimed and vigorously defended the Dei...

 Revelation; Justification by Faith The Seven Lampstands and Stars of Jesus [By M.L] Revelation 1:12-16 (ESV): 12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, 15 his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. Revelation 1:20 (ESV): As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches. In Revelation, seven churches are named, which we will go through one b...

This is a continuation of part one, so if you haven't read it check it out right here: https://armchair4advent.blogspot.com/2024/07/reconsidering-penal-substitutionary.html Now we shall continue to investigate whether or not the church fathers taught penal substitutionary atonement. St. Augustine of Hippo “Death comes upon man as the punishment of sin, and so is itself called sin, not that a man sins in dying, but because sin is the cause of his death. So sin means both a bad action deserving punishment, and death the consequence of sin. Christ has no sin in the sense of deserving death, but He bore for our sakes sin in the sense of death as brought on human nature by sin. The apostle boldly says of Christ, “He was made a curse for us;” for he could also venture to say “He died for all.” “He died,” and “He was cursed”, are the same. Death is the effect of the curse; and all sin is cursed, whether it means the action which merits punishment, or the punishment which follows. Christ,...

  Revelation; Justification by Faith The Sun and the Seven Stars [By M.L] Revelation 1:13-16 (ESV): 13 and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, 15 his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. This is how Jesus is depicted. Today we will look at the seven stars in His right hand in relation to His face shining like the sun in its full strength. The meaning of the stars is revealed to us in the same chapter: Revelation 1:20 (ESV): As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lamp...

Throughout Christian history, various models of the atonement have been expressed. Among some of the early models we might mention Christus Victor (G.Aúlen; the atonement is Christ's work of defeating sin, death and the devil), The Ransom Theory ( Present in Origen, and subsequently pretty much all patristic authors till the 11th century; the idea that Christ paid a ransom to eliberate us from the bondage of the devil), Recapitulation Theory (Present in the majority of patristic literature, most notably in Irenaeus; the idea that by Christ's humiliation, human nature will be exalted and “deified”). The idea of theosis (partaking of the divine nature) is also very present and intimately connected with the church fathers theology of atonement.  Throughout the Middle Ages, more theories of the atonement developed. The satisfaction theory (present in the writings of Anselm of Canterburry, the idea that Christ died on the cross to satisfy God's honor), and the Moral Influence T...