Mathetes - Intro

Introduction

Before you buy the lies of Emergent heretics who would have you believe that today’s Christianity has completely got it wrong and that we need a New Kind of Christianity, you need to spend some time looking at what the earliest Christians believed, taught and confessed. When you look at the writings of the primitive historic Christian church you will discover that Brian McLaren is nothing more than a heretical innovator and that his New Kind of Christian- ity has practically nothing in common with historic Christianity.
This epistle, written circa A.D.130. by an anonymous author who gives himself the title Mathetes "a disciple of the Apostles" provides us with one of the earliest looks into the beliefs of Chris- tianity in the generation that immediately followed the Apostles.
This epistle is an ancient and pristine specimen of the apologet- ics employed against the paganism that adhered to the false gods of the ancient Greco-Roman world as well as the Judaism that re- jected Jesus Christ as the promised messiah of the Old Testament.
The careful reader of this 2nd century epistle will clearly see that Mathetes assumes that the overarching narrative of the scriptures tells of us mankind’s fall in to sin and rebellion against God and how God decisively dealt with mankind’s rebellion and sin through Jesus Christ’s penal substitutionary death, which Mathetes calls “the great exchange”.
The Postmodern reader would also be wise to take note of the fact that Mathetes, who learned the Christian faith from the Apos- tles and their associates did not believe the doctrine of hell to be contradictory to God’s nature or the Gospel. Like all Christians who hold to the Historic Christian faith, Mathetes affirmed that God is not violent and doesn’t use coercion to call people to Him- self but that the days of God’s mercy will come to an end when Jesus Christ returns in glory to judge the world and punish with the eternal fires of hell those who persist in their sin and unbelief.
Because of this epistle’s strong emphasis on God’s mercy and forgiveness, the Christian who confesses the sound Biblical doc- trines of the ancient church will find this letter to be full of comfort and glad tidings from our merciful God who calls us from sin and rebellion to the glorious light of Jesus Christ and His forgiveness won for us on the cross. Enjoy!

Thanks to Fighting for the Faith's Chris R. for all his work on this.

The Blood of Jesus has laid the path for holiness

For example, when the Christians in Corinth were struggling to understand the difference Christ had made in them, the apostle Paul gave a laundry list of sinful behaviors and reminded the Corinthians that the unregenerate, the unchanged and those unmoved by the gospel would not inherent the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:9-10). But then he says, "And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God" (1 Cor. 6:11, emphasis added).
The Blood of Christ has secured our holiness in the sight of God. Because the blood of Christ has been shed for us, our position in the eyes of God is secure. We are in Christ, and we are holy as He is holy (1 Cor 1:30).
Nevertheless, there is the ongoing work of Christ in making us practically, namely, holy. In other words, there will be times in our lives when we do not feel the ongoing, progressive nature of our sanctification. We may even get the sense that rather than progressing, we are regressing due to our perpetual struggle with indwelling sin. It is during such times that the gospel reminds us that our sanctification is not because we are willing to shed Christ's blood but because Christ was willing to shed His. It is not our blood and sacrifice that has pleased the Father; it is the blood of His beloved Son. Thus, when the battle for daily holiness appears lost, encourage yourself with the words for the old saints: "I ain't what I wanna be; I ain't what I'm gonna be; but through the blood of Christ, I ain't what I once was."
Satan knows our weaknesses, and he often sees when we fail. He is quick to remind us of our lack of progress in the Gospel and how often we appear halted in our conformity to Christ. When this is the case, consider the words of Augustus Toplady: "When Satan tempts me to despair and tells me of the guilt within; upward I look and see Him there, who made an end to all my sin."
He made an end to all our sin by suffering as our sin offering outside the gate (Lev 4:21).
So, keep moving Christian. The Bible remind us that "what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is" (1 John 3:2). In other words, God is not through with us yet.

Rev Anthony Carter, Tabletalk magazine Sept 2011

Encouragement vs flattery

There are a lot of interesting conclusions to be gleaned from the laundry list of names in Romans 16. But the one I appreciate the most is Paul's example of offering divinely inspired encouragement. According to my Biblically informed definition, encouragement means highlighting the evidences of God's Grace in the Gospel or in a Gospel-centered person to the glory of God. Each part of that definition is important. Encouragement is not spotlighting a person but underlining God's Grace in a person. It is not about commending nice people to make them feel good but about commending the work of the gospel in others to the glory of God.

Christian persecution in US and UK

Sheep, Wolves, Snakes and Doves

When Jesus sends us to bear witness to Him in the World, He does not send us out as dominant and strong but as weak and seemingly defenseless in ourselves. The only reason I say "seemingly" defenseless is that it is possible that, since "all authority" belongs to Jesus (Matt 28:18), He might intervene and shut the mouths of the wolves, like he did the mouths of the lions that surrounded Daniel.

But that does not appear to be His intention. He goes on to say that the "wolves" will deliver the "sheep" to courts, flog them, drag them before governors, have parents and children put to death, hate them, persecute them from town to town, malign them, and kill them (Matt 10:17-23). So it is clear that when Jesus says He is sending us as sheep in the midst of wolves, He means that we will be treated the way wolves treat sheep. 

Was Michelangelo a proto-Lutheran?

Forget the Illuminati — Michelangelo and the Spirituali Call Your Office

So PBS’ Secrets of the Dead this evening featured a fascinating program on Michelangelo — rooted specifically in the theory of Italian art historian Antonio Forcellino that Michelangelo was a member of an informal 16th-century Italian reform movement called the Spirituali.

While studying Michelangelo’s sculpture of Moses, part of the Tomb of Julius II, Forcellino began to notice certain “anomalies” that gave him pause. Further research, especially in the Vatican archives, led him to the relationship between Michelangelo and Cardinal Reginald Pole, Cardinal Ercole Gonzaga, and Vittoria Colonna, a noblewoman.

What these folks had in common was a desire to reform the Catholic Church from within. In fact, Pole’s views on justification, like Gaspar Contarini’s, bears a striking resemblance to Luther’s, although not identical to it.

Forcellino believes a tortured and conflicted Michaelangelo began to ask that question that seemed to be in the 16th-century air: “What must I do to be saved?”  (Its too bad so few Christians and non-christians ask this question today but I guess Americans are too busy having ‘their best life now!’) ”Grace cannot be purchased,” Michelangelo wrote to Colonna in light of the indulgences controversy, and, influenced by the Spirituali and their Christocentric discussions of reform and renewal, the work of il Maestro began to focus increasingly on Christ and a direct relationship with God, rather than on the institutional church, its clergy, and its sacraments.

By 1547, Pole, then a papal governor in northern Italy, was at the center of a network of reformed-minded clergy, laity, and artists. They were educated, wealthy, and sympathetic to many of the same concerns as the Protestants, although they themselves were not Protestants.

Pole was seen as a man who could bridge the divide between Rome and the Reformers. Michelangelo, a member of this network, began to produce images “that mirror these ideas,” says one scholar in the Secrets documentary.

But the Spirituali began making the authorities nervous, and Cardinal Caraffa, a nobleman from Naples, became Pope Paul III’s top heresy hunter, Inquisitor General for Rome. He despised anything that smacked of Lutheranism, and to him the Spirituali were secret Lutherans.

And that included, believe it or not, Michelangelo. Caraffa denounced the master painter’s Second Coming of Christ, not only because of the rampant nudity, but also because it focused too much on man and his relation to Christ, not the church.

With Gonzaga and Pole relatively protected because of their high status, Caraffa went after Vittoria Colonna’s favorite preacher, Bernardino Ochino, and other lesser known reform-minded Italians. Ochino fled north to Switzerland. “They want to reform the church starting with my death. Now I can take off the mask and speak the truth,” he later wrote to Colonna, who, strangely, betrayed him and turned the letter over to Caraffa, which enflamed his mission to stamp out heresy, pushing the Spiritualli underground.

According to the program, “The Benefit of Christ’s Death” would be the lasting work of the Spirituali, the supreme expression of their belief that reform of the Church meant a focus on Christ and the Cross. While good works are important, justification by faith is the key to salvation. The Church, its clergy, and its sacraments, again, are nowhere to be found.

The book was published anonymously, but it fell into Caraffa’s hands and was immediately banned. Once again, Michelangelo’s name comes up in connection with the nascent reformation movement and its chief work. Letters written by members of the Spirituali and confiscated by “Caraffa’s spies” — and available today in the Vatican archives – include one by Colonna in which she mentions that Michelangelo “was in attendance” when publication of the infamous “Benefit of Christ’s Death” was mentioned.

However, the only references I could find to “The Benefit of Christ’s Death” are to the publication by Fontanini and Flaminio, members of Juan de Valdes’ circle, which would indeed overlap with the Spirituali. (As would Peter Martyr Vermigli, a signal figure in the Reformation who would go on to write a history of the movement that would be a standard reference text literally for centuries.)

Despite having given Caraffa the power to persecute those suspected of heresy, Pope Paul III wanted none other than Reginald Pole to succeed him as pope. As the program tells it, Caraffa would have none of it. Upon Paul III’s death, Caraffa managed to convince a sufficient number of cardinals that Pole was a heretic, and the reformed-minded  Englishman came up one vote short of a victory. (A more standardized version of this story has Pole’s defeat more about politics — imperial vs. French — than about supposedly heretical beliefs.)

Upon the death of Edward VI in England, Pole returned to England, where he joined Mary Tudor in an attempt to restore the Roman Church’s property and hold on the people of England. In time, that included the persecution of Protestants, which, ironically, virtually guaranteed a Protestant England in the long run. When Mary died, Pole returned to Italy, only to be imprisoned by Caraffa — then Pope Paul IV — as a suspected Lutheran. Pole died in prison awaiting exoneration.

As for the statue of Moses that makes up part of Pope Julius II’s tomb, the one that so intrigued art historian Forcellino, the head is turned to the left. Originally, the head was to face forward, toward the altar, where the priest says Mass. Michelangelo, supposedly influenced by Spirituali reform, wanted Moses looking away from the celebrant. The great lawgiver is searching for the light — “for a direct contact with God.” The priesthood is again de-emphasized.

How did Michelangelo — whose pension had already been suspended by Paul IV — manage to save his own life? According to Forcellino, by reinterpeting aspects of his own sculptures to deflect attention from their original reformist theological symbolism to that which would be considered innocuous. And by accepting one last commission — helping to salvage St. Peter’s, and thus contribute to the glory of the institutional church.

Adding to the mystery of Michelangelo’s “secret faith” is the sculpture he intended for his own tomb, a unique Pieta in which he depicts himself as Nicodemus — the man who visits Jesus at night, in secret, unable to express his faith publicly. (Alas, Michelangelo abandoned this project, and another sculpture altogether adorns his tomb.)

The great Renaissance artist, it is said, died in bed with his Bible — which was in an illegal Italian translation.

His remains were returned to Florence, his true home. He finally was free of Rome.

Whether Forcellino’s interpretations of the hidden theological import of Michelangelo’s work and the artist’s true spiritual leanings prove true, only centuries-long scholarly debate will tell. (Wake me when they come to a conclusion.) Other scholars have wrestled with these same images and questions and come to somewhat different conclusions.

The leanings of Caraffa, however, are not up for dispute. As Pope Paul IV, he strengthened the Inquisition in Rome, brought the Index of Forbidden Books to Venice (where printing presses were humming), and created the Jewish ghetto.

What would have happened had Pole been elected pope? Would reform along Protestant lines have taken place within the Catholic Church? Pole’s activities in England argue otherwise. He was a company man to the end. Study Luther’s Smalcald Articles — and the extent of the reforms sought by Luther and his contemporaries — and one can hardly believe even the Poles and Contarinis would have gone as far, even if the Caraffas had been marginalized.

But then again, once faith is understood as the sole channel through which the benefits of Christ’s Cross are imputed to us, there’s no telling the theological ripple effect.

Now why invent nonsense about a nonexistent Illuminati (certainly nonexistent in the time of Galileo, as Dan Brown would have it) when the stuff of history is rich enough for any thriller?

Posted on May 13, 2009 by Anthony Sacramone

I truly hope this is true - Salvation by Grace alone through faith alone - maybe I'll see Micelangelo in heaven one day.

Sanctified by the Blood

The story is told of Augustine, the fourth-century theologian and Bishop of Hippo in North Africa, who, after he confessed faith in Jesus Christ, ran into a former Mistress on the street. Immediately upon recognizing her, Augustine quickly reversed and began swiftly moving in the opposite direction.

The woman, surprised by seeing Augustine and equally surprised at his reversal of his route, cried out, "Augustine, it is I." Augustine, continuing to move away from her, replied, "Yes, but it is not I."

This anecdote reminds us that if we are in Christ, we are new Creations. The former has passed away. The new has come (2 Cor 5:17). In other words, the Christian is a changed person. The Gospel changes you. The Spirit of God changes you. The blood of Christ changes you.

Rev. Thabiti Anyabwile

'We are not the reason that the Gospel works; the Gospel is the reason the Gospel works.' -Ligon Duncan, Feed My Sheep

The news about the sinless Son of God - incarnated, crucified, buried, and resurrected in the place of sinners to deliver them from the judgement of God into the loving fellowship of God - produces the salvation we long for our Muslim neighbors and friends to experience. The Gospel alone does this. And we who bear this news may safely put our confidence in it.