Church History – Page 3 – What Does This Mean?

Just Another Day That Changed the World

Encore Post: On a chilly October morning, Martin Luther left the Black Cloister to walk to the Castle Church. A light breeze blew a few leaves across his path. When he passed Saint Mary’s Church, a few students hurried to join him. As they walked along, they asked questions about their last lesson. The town was busy that morning. Children played in the street. Farmers came to sell their crops and goods. Pilgrims walked along the same street. They hoped to see the relics on display at the church. Relics are parts of a deceased holy person’s body or belongings that are kept as objects of reverence. Luther walked up the stairs to the door of the Castle Church. He moved several notices nailed there to make room for his announcement. After nailing his call for a disputation — a conference — to discuss the power of indulgences, he headed for his classroom. It was an ordinary day, but one that would change the world.

Luther’s announcement on that ordinary day, October 31, 1517, touched off an explosion throughout the Western Christian Church. Known as the 95 Theses, Luther’s announcement seemed to suggest that the pope did not have the power to offer indulgences. Pope Leo X sent a messenger to convince Luther to apologize for his comments and to be quiet. Instead, Luther studied the Bible even more carefully. Finally, at a disputation between the reformer and Johann Eck, which was held in Leipzig, Germany, Luther said that much of what Jan Hus had said was right. Then, in the days that followed the debate, Luther wrote that the church was mistaken about other beliefs.

In 1520, Pope Leo X condemned Luther’s teachings as heretical and threatened to excommunicate him. Undeterred, Luther burned the pope’s letter, as well as many of the church’s books, in a bonfire in Wittenberg. Later, at the Diet of Worms in 1521, an assembly of the officials of the Holy Roman Empire, Martin Luther was condemned as an outlaw.

The 95 Theses themselves were not all that important. Yet because they were like lighting the fuse for a bomb, they set off the explosion that brought the precious Gospel back to light in Christ’s Church. From the rubble of that explosion rose the Lutheran Church. That is why we thank God for Martin Luther on October 31st.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Pastor Emeritus

Fort Wayne, Indiana

The Great Library of Alexandria

Encore Post: Ptolemy I, one of Alexander the Great’s generals, claimed the throne of Egypt and painted a layer of Greek culture over the top of Pharaonic Egypt. He claimed he was a true pharaoh, which also his heirs did. He assumed the gods, trappings, and some customs of ancient Egypt. His dynasty lasted until the death of his descendant, Cleopatra, and the Roman conquest of Egypt.

His son, Ptolemy II Philadelphus, enriched the capital of Alexandria, building the two great wonders of the world — the lighthouse of Pharos, which guided navigation on the Mediterranean Sea for nearly 100 miles until its destruction in the 14th Century, and the Ancient Library of Alexandria. He became an aggressive collector of books, including the searching of incoming ships. Copies of these books were made, and the copy was given to the owner. The originals ended up in the Library of Alexandria. According to tradition, Ptolemy II commissioned the translation of the Old Testament into Greek. Known as the Septuagint and abbreviated LXX, this translation was quoted by the writers of the New Testament when they mentioned the Old Testament.

The Ptolemies were defenders of the Jewish people. As a result, the largest Jewish population outside of Israel settled in Alexandria. One of these Jews, Philo of Alexandria, became the most prominent philosopher of Judaism in ancient times.

God prepared the way for His Son when He installed the Ptolemies. They provided a home for his people where they could be safe, learn Greek culture, and be introduced to the Scriptures. With the translation of the Septuagint, he provided the Apostles with a tool accessible to the pagan world around them, where the church grew and thrived.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Pastor Emeritus

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Note: This series of blog posts is available as a Kindle book and eventually as a print booklet at: Amazon.com: Preparation for the Gospel. Please note the author makes a small profit on the sale of this book.

Alexander the Great

Encore Post: Alexander the Great, King of Macedonia, one of the greatest generals in history, reigned in Macedonia and Greece beginning in 336 B.C. and reigned until 323 B.C. He conquered Greece, Persia, Egypt, and Palestine. As a student of Aristotle, he had a vision of extending the Greek language and culture throughout his lands and merging the peoples of his empire into a unified nation. At his death, the vision of a single empire died, but three large kingdoms, ruled by his generals and their heirs, emerged and established Greek culture throughout the Western world.

In 277 B.C., after years of civil war, the empire was divided into three hereditary kingdoms: one under Ptolemy in Egypt, Macedonia and Greece under Antigonus II, and the Seleucid Empire in Syria, Palestine, and Asia. These kingdoms shared the same language, Koine (Common) Greek, the same culture, philosophy, love of learning, and a similar appreciation for sports. Even the up-and-coming Roman Republic, which came early to absorb Greek colonies in southern Italy, came to appreciate much of Greek culture and to use common Greek to communicate with other nations.

God used Alexander and the Greeks, then, to prepare the way for the birth of his Son. Jesus may have taught in Greek and communicated in Greek. The New Testament was written in that language, and it used the Greek translation of the Old Testament when quoting Scripture. Paul also employed this language and its common culture to share the Good News of salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Because of this common culture, the disciples of Jesus established the church throughout the entire Roman world within one generation.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Pastor Emeritus

Fort Wayne, Indiana

The Birth of Judaism

Encore Post: When the Babylonians conquered Judah, destroyed the temple and the walls of Jerusalem, and carried off most of her people into exile, the people had a crisis of faith. How could they worship God without a temple where they could sacrifice? How could they relate to him at all? God sent prophets to help them work all this out. The result was the birth of a brand new religion — Judaism. A religion is a series of customs, duties, practices and rites that people do to serve their god or gods. It is a culture, really. God used Judaism as a place where true faith in him could be planted, nurtured, and grow, even when there was no temple, sacrificial system, and functioning priesthood to support it.

Judaism — especially the party of the Pharisees — was built on a devotion to the Torah. They read it, taught it, and even vowed to practice traditions that kept them from ever violating the commandments it teaches. To prevent accidental violation of a particular commandment, the Rabbis taught that you should follow a tradition stricter than the Law requires. So, for example, to avoid taking the name of the Lord in vain, they did not pronounce the name of God at all, but said Adonai — my Lord — instead. This practice is called “building a hedge around the Torah.”

During the exile, wherever ten men were available to worship (called a minyan), Jews would gather to pray on the Sabbath. These congregations became known by the Greek word “Synagogue” (“coming together”). When they built houses of prayer, these buildings became known as synagogues. By New Testament times, the worship service had settled into a pattern of saying the Shema (“Hear, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one”), prayer, readings from the Torah and the prophets, a sermon, and a benediction.

When Cyrus the Great ended the exile, not all Jews returned home. Some stayed in Babylon and Persia; others moved to Greece, Rome, and other parts of the world. The synagogue accompanied them, along with different aspects of Judaism. In these events, God prepared the world for the ministry of Jesus, the apostles, and especially the Apostle Paul.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Pastor Emeritus

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Note: This series of blog posts is available as a Kindle book and will eventually be published as a print booklet on Amazon.com: Preparation for the Gospel. Please note that the author makes a small profit on the sale of this book.

Three Men in the Furnace — or is it Four?

[Thirty-ninth in a series of posts on Bible Stories] Encore Post: Ancient peoples looked upon their leaders as lesser gods, worthy of worship. They built statues to honor themselves and required all people to worship them. This practice continued even in Roman times, to the pagan Caesars. It was seen as a patriotic act, similar to reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and saluting the flag. From time to time, kings would enforce public worship of their statues or the statues of their gods to test the loyalty of their subjects.

For Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, loyalty to God was more important than their own lives. They trusted God could deliver them and placed full trust in Him. Yet they were prepared for God to take them to His side instead. God sent his Son as the Angel of the Lord to protect his servants in the fire. The writer of the book of Hebrews included these men in the great chapter on faith. (Hebrews 11:32-34) Christian martyrs throughout the centuries looked up to these men for inspiration when called to choose between God and country.

Faith is trusting God to keep his promises. It holds on to the fact that God kept the most important of his promises to his people in the Old Testament. In the person of the Son of God, he became a man in the womb of the Virgin Mary, lived a perfect life for us, suffered and died at the hands of a pagan government, rose again from the grave, and ascended to heaven. Because he has done these things, we are certain that he will keep the rest of his promises — to bring us to be with him forever when we die and raise us from the grave on the last day. It is that faith that sustained Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, their friend Daniel, and all the martyrs for the faith who obeyed God rather than man. With them numbered may we be, here and in eternity.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Pastor Emeritus

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Happy birthday, Lutheran Church!

Encore Post: Most people think of October 31st, 1517 as the date of the Lutheran Church. However, Martin Luther and most Lutheran historians disagree. On the day that Martin Luther posted the 95 Theses, he was very much a Catholic. In fact, Luther on this day was upset that people did not have to suffer enough for their sins, and were being let off the hook way too easily. You could say he was more Catholic than the Pope. Considering the nature of Pope Leo X, he was.

On the first Reformation day, the Reformation was just beginning. We only first begin to recognize Luther’s complete theology in his writings in 1520. And it really wasn’t until 1529 that the reformers and their princes thought of the Lutheran tradition as a separate faith.

Emperor Charles V had many problems in 1529. The Turkish Empire of Suleiman the Great had invaded Austria and laid siege to Vienna. France and the Pope were constantly challenging his authority in southern Europe. He badly wanted to unify his German territories under Roman Catholic control. So he called all the territories together at Augsburg for a meeting of the Holy Roman Empire.

Elector John of Saxony, Luther’s Prince, commissioned Luther and his friends to create a unified statement of the disputes between the Pope and the Lutheran territories. The result was a document called the Augsburg confession. All the Lutheran princes who attended the diet of Augsburg sign the document as their own faith.

On June 25th 1530, the Augsburg confession was presented to Charles V by the Lutheran princes. To this day, June 25th is known as the birthday of the Lutheran Church.

As Time passed, the Augsburg Confession gained acceptance by Lutheran territories and theologians. It became the standard for what we believe and confess and remained so. Today, every Lutheran Pastor pledges to teach according to the Augsburg Confession and the other documents in the Book of Concord of 1580.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Pastor Emeritus

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Reading the Bible: Look for the Intended Meaning

[Fifth in a series of posts on how to read the Bible]Encore Post: In the Middle Ages, the most popular way of understanding a Bible passage was to look for four meanings in the text — the one that author intended for his readers to find there and other, “deeper” meanings. The problem Martin Luther and the Lutheran reformers found with this method is it allowed a person to find anything they wish in the Bible. So they insisted a principle summed up in the sentence: sensus literalis unus est — “there is one intended meaning [in each passage].”

What they observed is that God used human beings, using human language to speak to his people. To understand what God wants us to believe, then we find that original message, paying attention to the words, sentences, paragraphs, grammar and figures of speech the author uses. We look at the kind of literature it is (is it intended as history? Poetry? Is it a letter? A sermon? What were the customs of that time and place?) Most of the time we do this out of habit. When we do serious study of a passage, however, a good study Bible is very helpful with these efforts.

When most Christians talk about interpreting the Bible literally, they do not mean that we should always take it at face value. It means to understand it according to the words — what the author intended it to say to his readers. So, no one thinks that, when Isaiah said, “the trees clapped their hands” (Isaiah 55:12) that cedars grew limbs to clap. They understand it to be poetry to describe how they move in the wind. When we read the Bible, then, we understand what it says as normal speech when the book it is written in is a letter or a history. We understand it figuratively when the kind of literature it is poetry, parable or similar kinds of writing.

So, this rule tells us to work to find the meaning the author intended to send. It is that message that God wants us to hear and believe. We assume that the passage has only one of these meanings, unless the text tells us otherwise.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Pastor Emeritus

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Is Christmas Based on a Pagan Holiday?

Encore Post: As we discussed in an earlier post, non-Christian scholars, liberals and some conservative Christians, believe that the church created the celebration of Christmas to displace pagan celebrations. The reason for this conclusion is that Christians did not universally celebrate the birth of Jesus on December 25th. Yet the Emperor Aurelian did declare that the day be celebrated as the Birthday of Sol Invictus (the Unconquered Son). These scholars theorized that the Church decided to replace this pagan holiday with the celebration of Christ’s Birth to keep people out of the temples of this popular pagan god.

When Julius Caesar reformed the Roman calendar, December 25th fell on the winter solstice. The word solstice means “The Sun stops.” On this day, the northern hemisphere has the least amount of daylight. From this point on until the summer solstice, the Sun would seem to gain strength. So December 25th was celebrated as the beginning of its return.

Most pagan societies worship the sun as a god and Rome was no exception. Beginning with Nero Caesar, Roman emperors associated themselves with the Sun God Sol and its Greek equivalent, Ἕλιος (Helios). This god became a favorite of the Roman armies. As Christianity became more widely believed in Rome, pagan Emperors increased the persecution of the Church. Aurelian promoted the worship of Sol as a kind of pledge of allegiance and promoted December 25th in the same kind of way Americans celebrate July 4th. When Constantine the Great came to be Emperor, he ended the government sponsorship of the worship of Sol.

So, did the Church decide to put Christmas on December 25th to counter the worship of the Sun? Not exactly. There is no reference to the celebration of Sol Invictus in the works of the Early Church fathers related to the date of Christmas. It appears that the reverse is the case, that the Emperor instituted the pagan festival in order to counter the rise of Christianity and the first celebrations of Christmas on the date.

The early church did associate the metaphor of the Sun with Jesus, but not because of the Roman holiday. The Prophet Malachi had prophecies of the Messiah that he would be “The Sun of Righteousness” who would rise with healing in his rays. In the earliest Christmas sermons, this theme was often used. The church did use the occasion to its advantage, but not always successfully. Christians would retain ancient customs, but would pour new meaning into them. Over time, Jesus would become the reason for the season.

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Concordia Theological Seminary
Fort Wayne, Indiana

Digging into the Old Testament: The Theological Schools of Alexandria and Antioch

Encore Post: You might remember the Ebionites and those who followed Marcion from earlier posts. In this post I want to introduce the two theological schools that ruled the day and effectively have left marks on the way we interpret the Bible still today.

But why are they called schools? Don’t think of them so much as buildings but the way of thinking. The first is Alexandria. The other is Antioch. Both cities were centers of Christian thought. Paul and other apostles spent time in Antioch, and Alexandria was known throughout the world as another great center of learning.

So what was the difference between Antioch and Alexandria? Well, let’s look at Alexandria first. Alexandria was the melting pot of cultures. Greek philosophy was alive and well. Many theologians, Origen, for example, had a background in philosophy. If you were to read Origen’s writings that we have at our disposal you would see him interpreting the text not just literally but also philosophically or in an allegorical fashion. Words meant more than just the literal word for him and others that came after him in the Alexandria School. Now this is not always a bad thing, but we need to always be careful to always consider the literal text.

Antioch and the theologians there were of a different style. They interpreted scripture in a literal, historical sense. Antioch generally steered clear of the allegorical approach to interpreting Scripture. That being said, they did not always have a lot of opportunities to find Christ in the Old Testament.

Both schools had men fall of either side of the the proverbial horse. Origen allowed his mind to go too far. Some men in Antioch did not go far enough to find Christ in the text, and questioned some of the Old Testament’s use for the Christian. Again, we should be looking back to what Jesus says. The Scriptures are all about him. He fulfills what was said in the Law, Prophets, and Psalms. If we keep that in mind, we ought to be able to see Christ not only in the New Testament but also the Old.

Rev. Jacob Hercamp
St. Peter’s Lutheran Church
La Grange, MO

Meet Frederick III, “the Wise,” Elector of Saxony

Encore Post: Frederick III grew up in the noble German household of Ernest, Elector of Saxony. His father gave him a fine classical education in the Humanist tradition. Frederick grew up to be a patron of German renaissance painters, especially Albrecht Dürer, Lucas Cranach the Elder and Lucas Cranach the Younger. He founded the University of Wittenberg and systematically built it up to become prominent. He was a pious and faithful Christian, a collector of relics, a supporter of the Augustinian observant movement in Saxony.

A skillful diplomat, he negotiated major reforms in the structure of the Holy Roman Empire, increasing the power and freedom of its electors, nobles and free cities. In 1518, he was the Imperial Vicar, second only to Emperor Maximilian I, who was approaching death. When the Emperor died in January of 1519, he was regent of the Empire. The Pope, the electors, princes and cities of the Empire preferred that Frederick be crowned the next emperor rather than young Charles V of the Hapsburg dynasty. Charles was already king of Spain, Austria, and Hungary, ruler of territories in the Netherlands, France and Italy. Becoming Emperor would make him the most powerful monarch in Europe.

Yet Frederick did not want to be Emperor. He negotiated with Charles to have the Empire repay its debts to Saxony and a number of other concessions in exchange for his vote and support. After Charles was elected Emperor, Frederick used his considerable political skills and influence to protect Luther and advance the Reformation. When he died in 1525, he was succeeded by his brother John, who was an ardent supporter of the reformation.

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