Read Part 1.

Example: Transubstantiation

The Fourth Lateran Council of the Catholic Church in 1215 mentioned the term “transubstantiation” to describe what happened in the Mass. Transubstantiation taught that the bread and wine actually and literally became the body and blood of Christ. But how could this be, seeing how everyone still tasted bread when they partook? The doctrine had been building steadily for some three centuries prior, but how could the…

Most of us took our church history classes¹ in Bible college or seminary (or both) because we had to complete another requirement to graduate. Of course, there were some famous episodes within the last 2,000 years of Christian history that we wanted to know about. And we were told, as the common maxim goes: “Those who do not learn from the errors of [church] history are destined to repeat them.” Also, I remember one revered seminary professor at Faith telling us that the department of church history was always the last in a…

The 6^th commandment (“You shall not murder,” Ex 20:13) seems pretty simple at first glance. Many assume that, if they have never taken a life, they have fulfilled this law.

Yes and no.

In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is speaking to believers about what his Christian counterculture must look like—about how believers must live as children of God. And so, when it comes to “murder,” Jesus gives us what I’ll call a “maximal interpretation” of the statute, to show us the spirit behind the letter of this law. He extends the definition of “…