The Purpose of this Blog

 I have founded this blog for the purpose of readers properly understanding theology and ancient history as it was known in the first century. It is my intent that we understand the New Testament as the early Jewish and Gentile believers understood it. Considering that I believe Holy Scripture to be the primary authority on issues concerning morals and faith, I will be making great appeals to it in my upcoming posts.

 As more and more Christians are breaking from the orthodox worship of the past, I feel that it is my duty to critique denominations and associations that have departed from the ancient creeds. Unfortunately, many times, Christians are causing unnecessary division among one another by saying that others are not saved who do not subscribe to their exact views on justification, church authority, Holy Communion, Baptism, Mariology, and Church government. However, the Christians of the first several centuries of the church's existence often differed from one another theologically yet their disagreements were generally seen as inferior compared to their unity. For example, for fifteen hundred years before the Protestant Reformation, Christians in the west varied from each other concerning their view on the doctrine of justification. Sadly, this is no longer the case. The Council of Trent anathematized anyone who taught Sola Fide and many Calvinists today believes that anyone who has a different view of justification from them is going to hell. In reality, though, church history bears witness to Augustine of Hippo, Thomas Aquinas, and many others who had different views on this topic. Likewise, though the Filioque became a diving issue between east and west during the eleventh century, many Christians for one thousand years had differences over this, yet were still part of one church. 

My goal is that believers return to first-century Christianity. By this, I mean that we apply the doctrines of the gospels, the Pauline Epistles, and the Catholic letters of the New Testament to ourselves as did those at the time of Christ and the Apostles. Many theological perspectives have originated over time that runs quite contrary to the writings of early Christianity. When this happens, I am usually suspicious of such movements. To me, unless a very strong argument can be Biblically presented otherwise, Christians should not be quick to accept new ideas that have little roots in church history. 

In every generation of the church, reformation is needed. By this, however, I do not mean that Christians break from the study of those before us (as some have arrogantly chosen to do), but rather, that we realize that even our widely accepted traditions must always be examined by scripture. I believe that the Protestant Reformation was necessary for what it intended to do, namely, cleanse the church of God from abuse of church power. However, since that time, many Protestants have come to accept the Protestant Reformation as if it was nearly perfect while also seeing the Catholic Church as having had little right. I believe that this narrative is usually from ignorance and deception. As Christians, we should not make the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation the standard of everything. For example, it is hypocritical for some Calvinists to see the medieval theologians as simply men below scripture but then embrace the theology of the Westminster Standards or John Piper as if they are the standards. Being truly Protestant means simply that you hold everyone's views accountable to the teachings of Holy Scripture. It is also a double standard when some evangelicals do not want to hear the views of a Catholic priest because they see him as just a man but they are quick to accept their evangelical pastor's views because he has a doctorate. Protestant or Catholic, all men are fallible. If someone wants to put trust in their leaders because of their seminary education, then they shouldn't be a Protestant (and in my opinion, aren't one anyway). 

With all of that said, I hope that this blog will be used to promote a deeper study of the Jewish and Roman worlds as they existed at the time of Christ. In order to understand much of the New Testament, it is essential that we understand its historical background. I desire to write (and hopefully teach) about the world of the first century in the days ahead.