Ambrosiaster (fl. c. 366-384), on Rom. 1:11: “For the mercy of God had been given for this reason, that they should cease from the works of the law, as I have often said, because God, taking pity on our weaknesses, decreed that the human race would be saved by faith alone, along with the natural [...]
They said that he who adhered to faith alone was cursed; but he, Paul, shows that he who adhered to faith alone is blessed. (First Corinthians, Homily 20, PG 61.164) For you believe the faith; why then do you add other things, as if faith were not sufficient to justify? You make yourselves captive, and [...]
Marius Victorinus (born ca. 280) on Justification Every mystery which is enacted by our Lord Jesus Christ asks only for faith. The mystery was enacted at that time for our sake and aimed at our resurrection and liberation, should we have faith in the mystery of Christ and in Christ. For the patriarchs prefigured and [...]
Dutch humanist Desiderius Erasmus, the leading scholar of the northern Renaissance most well known for his work involving the Greek New Testament and the Church Fathers, died this day (July 12) in 1536 in Basel, Switzerland. Erasmus is best known in the Lutheran world for his argument with Luther over the power, or lack thereof, [...]
Mathetes to Diognetus: “He Himself took on Him the burden of our iniquities, He gave His own Son as a ransom for us, the holy One for transgressors, the blameless One for the wicked, the righteous One for the unrighteous, the incorruptible One for the corruptible, the immortal One for them that are mortal. For [...]
Via ANF: Vol. I, The Apostolic Fathers, First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians, Chapter 32. “Whosoever will candidly consider each particular, will recognize the greatness of the gifts which were given by him. For from him have sprung the priests and all the Levites who minister at the altar of God. From him also [...]
On this day (June 30) in 1523 “Flung to the Heedless Winds” was written by Martin Luther to commemorate the martyrdom of two young Augustinian monks, Heinrich Voes and Johann Esch, who were burned at the stake in Brussels. Voes and Esch had been condemned to death after examination by the Cologne Inquisitor, Jacob von [...]
On this day (June 25) 480 years ago, the confession of the Lutheran reformers was read before the emperor Charles V at the Diet of Augsburg. From the “Commemorations Biographies” of the Lutheran Service Book (LCMS Commission on Worship): The Augsburg Confession, the principal doctrinal statement of the theology of Martin Luther and the Lutheran [...]
It was on this day (June 24) in the year 64 the Roman Emperor Nero (AD 37–68) first began persecuting Christians. The persecution began after a fire erupted in Rome and burned much of the city over the course of five days. Several legends have spread about the course of events. The historian Tacitus, who [...]
