Author: preacherpollard

preacher,Cumberland Trace church of Christ, Bowling Green, Kentucky

Walking Worthy

Carl Pollard

In Ephesians 4:2, the Apostle Paul urges Christians: “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” This verse comes as Paul transitions from the profound doctrines of God’s grace in chapters 1–3 to practical living. Having been called into one body through Christ’s redemptive work (Ephesians 4:1), we are to “walk worthy” of that calling. These four virtues, humility, gentleness, patience, and forbearance in love, form the foundation for preserving “the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3).

Humility means having a low estimation of oneself, not out of self-loathing, but from recognizing our utter dependence on God’s grace. It is the opposite of pride, which destroys relationships. Jesus exemplified this perfectly, saying, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart” (Matt. 11:29). Philippians 2:5–8 calls us to have the same mindset as Christ, who emptied Himself and took the form of a servant. Without humility, we cannot serve one another or maintain unity.

Gentleness, often translated as meekness, is strength under control. Aristotle described it as the balance between excessive anger and passivity. It is not weakness but controlled power, as seen in Jesus driving out the money changers yet never sinning in anger. Galatians 5:23 lists gentleness as fruit of the Spirit. In a divided church, gentleness defuses conflict and reflects Christ’s character.

Patience. or longsuffering, means being “slow to anger.” It mirrors God’s character: “The Lord is… patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish” (2 Peter 3:9). Love “is patient” (1 Corinthians 13:4). In relationships, patience endures irritations without retaliation, remembering how much God has patiently borne with us.

Finally, we are to “bear with one another in love.” This means making allowances for others’ faults, forgiving as God forgave us (Colossians 3:13). Agape love motivates this forbearance, seeking others’ good even when it costs us.

These virtues are not optional suggestions but commands for every follower of Christ. In a world defined by division, pride, and impatience, the church must shine as a countercultural community. Imagine families, workplaces, and congregations transformed by this grace. But we cannot manufacture these traits in our strength; they flow from the Spirit as we abide in Christ (Galatians 5:22–23).

So, examine your heart: Where do pride or impatience hinder unity? Repent and yield to God. Walk in humility, gentleness, patience, and love, for in doing so, you glorify the One who first loved us and display the beauty of His calling to a watching world!

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Origen’s “On First Principles” (Book II, Ch. 4.3)

Gary Pollard

[This is a continuing translation of Origen’s systematic theology in modern language]

Since those who promote this teaching often confuse simple believers with intelligent-sounding (but deceptive) arguments, it seems appropriate to lay out their claims plainly and then expose their errors. Their argument goes like this: Scripture says, “No one has ever seen God.” Yet the God proclaimed by Moses was seen by Moses himself, and also by the patriarchs before him. By contrast, the God proclaimed by the Savior has never been seen by anyone. Therefore, they claim, the God of Moses must be different from the God revealed by Christ.

Let’s ask them (and ourselves) this question: Do they say that the God they acknowledge, whom they distinguish from the Creator, is visible or invisible? If they say that he is visible, they immediately contradict scripture, which says that Christ, “is the image of the invisible God.” It gets even more absurd, since whatever is visible must also have form, size, and color — properties that only bodies have. And if God has a body, then he must be material. If he is material, he must be composed of matter. But matter is subject to decay. On this reasoning, God himself would be subject to decay. This is not a tolerable conclusion.

Let’s question further. Is matter created or uncreated? If they claim that matter is uncreated, don’t we then have to say that part of matter is God and part of it is the world? But if they say that matter is created, then the God they describe—being composed of matter—must himself be created. This, of course, neither their reason nor ours can accept. They will then respond that God is invisible. Very well—but in what sense? If they say he is invisible by nature, then he shouldn’t be visible to the Savior. Yet Christ says, “He who has seen the Son has seen the Father.” This would indeed present a serious difficulty—unless we understand “seeing” here in the proper sense, not of bodily sight, but of understanding. Whoever truly understands the Son also understands the Father.

In this same way, Moses must be said to have “seen” God—not with the eyes of the body, but with the insight of the heart and the perception of the mind, and even then only partially. For it is clear that the one who spoke with Moses also said, “You shall not see my face, but my back.” These words must be understood in a spiritual and symbolic sense appropriate to divine speech, and not according to crude and foolish stories invented by the ignorant about physical parts of God.

Let no one suppose that we speak irreverently when we say that even the Father is not visible to the Savior. The distinction we are making is essential in answering these errors. To see and to be seen belong to bodies; to know and to be known belong to intellectual and incorporeal natures. Vision is a property of bodily creatures in relation to one another. It cannot properly be applied to the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit in their relations to one another.

The divine nature transcends vision. It grants the capacity for sight to creatures who live in bodies, but it itself is apprehended only by understanding. Therefore, for incorporeal and intellectual beings, the proper terms are not “seeing” and “being seen,” but “knowing” and “being known.” This is exactly what the Savior teaches when he says, “No one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and those to whom the Son reveals him.” He does not say, “No one has seen the Father except the Son,” but “No one knows the Father except the Son.”

“Heartaches”

“Heartaches”

Have you ever been in such emotional pain that your heart felt like it was literally aching? The worst pain in this life is not always physical.

Dale Pollard

Have you ever been in such emotional pain that your heart felt like it was literally aching? The worst pain in this life is not always physical. Often times it’s the emotional pain of saying “good bye” that can drive us to our knees. It can make us lash out in anger. It can make the toughest man alive break down in tears, and it can crush a young person’s spirit. Why would a God of love and compassion let such a thing happen? If He cares, but He can’t do anything about it, wouldn’t that mean He’s not all powerful? If He doesn’t care, but He has the power, doesn’t that mean He’s cruel?

If you’ve got “heart pain” in your life, the best thing you can do is draw closer to God. Don’t isolate yourself from the only true source of comfort and healing. Don’t throw your head up to the sky, as if looking for some eye-contact with God. Rather, let your head fall to the scriptures. God will tell you that His ways are perfect, His word has been tried and tested, and He is the shield for those who decide to take refuge in Him (Psalm 18:30).

He would also tell you that if you are a righteous individual, He’s going to deliver you from any trouble (Psalm 34:19). As a loving Father, God would tell you that He understands what you’re going through (Isaiah 53:3). God would tell you to hang in there because while there is suffering, heartache, and pain here, there is a place prepared by Him where none of that exists (John 14:2-4). God would ask you to draw near to Him, because if you do He will draw near to you (James 4:8).

We can’t always think of the appropriate words to say when someone is going through grief, but God always knows the right thing to say and He is perfect in all His ways. Bring Christ your broken life. He’ll fix it for you.

To Be Like Obed-Edom

Neal Pollard

When studying 2 Samuel 6, we most often reference Uzzah (or even Ahio or David). Yet, there is another man who we rarely talk about in that incident. After the failed and fatal attempt to move the ark of the Lord by ox cart, “David took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Hittite” (10). The ark remained at his house for three months (11). Nothing is said of Obed-edom’s character per se. We know he was a Levitical gatekeeper (1 Chron. 15:18) and later appointed a minister of the ark (1 Chron. 16:5), but we are not told why he was appointed to these roles. As much as anything, it was likely a matter of ancestry.

But there is no mistaking what happens in those three months the ark resided in his house. Scripture says that “the Lord blessed Obed-edom and all his household” (2 Sam. 6:11b). Again, David reflects on the situation, with others affirming to him, “The Lord has blessed the house of Obed-edom and all that belongs to him, on account of the ark of God” (2 Sam. 6:12a). This news made the king glad (12b).

There are some encouraging truths gleaned from this brief notation in Scripture.

  • Blessed is the home where God’s presence is found (Psa. 128:1-4; Prov. 3:33; 14:11).
  • Scripture tells us that where the Lord is, there is not only blessing (2 Sam. 6:11-12), but peace (Num. 6:24-26), light (Psa. 36:9), refuge (Psa. 46:1), joy (Psa. 16:11), strength (Isa. 41:10), and freedom (2 Cor. 3:17).
  • Others are encouraged when they see the impact of God in our homes (cf. 1 Pet. 2:12; Acts 10:1-2).
  • The Lord actively works for good in our lives and even our possessions where He is the heart and center (Matt. 6:33).
  • When others see God doing good in our lives, they are encouraged to do good, too (Psa. 40:1-3).
  • We should be one whom others think to entrust with spiritual things–David chose Obed-Edom’s house (cf. 2 Tim. 2:2).

This account is not at all about Obed-edom as we have no further insight into his character. It is about the power of the presence of God in the home. God blesses and enhances every home where He is made to be at home. We bless everyone and everything in our home when God is firmly and visibly there! In this way, may we all strive to be like Obed-edom.

When God Says “Not Yet”: Peter’s Journey from Boldness to Readiness

Brent Pollard

Understanding Divine Timing in Your Spiritual Growth

When Jesus spoke of His approaching departure, Peter responded confidently: “Lord, why can I not follow You now? I will lay down my life for Your sake” (John 13.37). His words carried genuine sincerity. Peter meant every syllable.

Yet Jesus answered with a truth that would echo through Peter’s life and ours: “Where I go, you cannot follow Me now; but you shall follow Me afterward” (John 13.36, NKJV).

Two words changed everything: “Not now.” Peter did not lack courage—he had that. His devotion was not questionable—his heart burned with love for Christ. The issue was readiness, not willingness.

Why Spiritual Maturity Cannot Be Rushed

Peter’s bold words revealed an incomplete understanding of himself and the cross he claimed to embrace. We often think we are further along in grace than we are. Peter experienced this revelation in that moment.

He was willing to die, but he was not ready. The difference between these two states is the crucible of Christian formation.

Christ saw what Peter could not. The work in him, through him, and for him remained. Before Peter could follow Jesus into death, he needed lessons only time could teach and experiences only grace could redeem.

Growing in Knowledge: When Understanding Deepens Through Experience

Peter’s knowledge of Christ needed to grow beyond intellectual assent. It had to become a lived reality. He had already confessed, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”(Matthew 16.16)—words given him by divine revelation. Yet even this truth needed real experience to become a formed conviction.

Peter still did not grasp the necessity of Christ’s death (Mark 8.31-33), the power of His resurrection (Luke 24.11-12), the glory of His ascension (Acts 1.9-11), or the fire of Pentecost (Acts 2.1-4). These were not optional lessons. They were essential to apostolic preparation. The Spirit would lead him “into all truth” (John 16.13), but the journey could not be rushed.

We remain on earth because it is the only place with a curriculum of grace. While heaven offers eternal joys, earth allows us to trust God in darkness, choose obedience without sight, and love Christ though “having not seen Him” (1 Peter 1.8). These are the essential lessons of the school of faith that cannot be skipped: learning to trust, obey, and love Christ while on earth.

Character Formation: How God Refines Us Through Failure

Peter’s character needed refining in the furnace of weakness. He thought he was ready to die, but Jesus knew the denial to come: “Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times” (Matthew 26.34). That failure became the moment that changed Peter’s self-confidence into humble dependence.

The Lord can use our failures to cure us of self-sufficiency. Peter denied Christ three times and was restored three times (John 21.15-17). God was not just correcting Peter; He was rebuilding him. The man who claimed he was more loyal than all (Mark 14.29) wrote, “Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time” (1 Peter 5.6).

Actual readiness for service comes not from our strength but from knowing our weakness and discovering God’s sufficiency in it. Dependence on God, not self, forms the foundation of actual spiritual readiness.

God’s Preparation Has Purpose: Your Growth Blesses Others

God was still preparing Peter, and every lesson he learned later blessed the church. By the Holy Spirit, he wrote two epistles that strengthened millions. His sermon at Pentecost brought three thousand souls into the kingdom (Acts 2.41). His bold testimony before the Sanhedrin declared, “We ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5.29). Peter confessed the truth on which Christ would build His church (Matthew 16.16-18), but he needed time to mature.

What we learn while waiting becomes our wisdom for service. Each trial that teaches patience prepares us to help others in their own trials (2 Corinthians 1.3-4). Each refining fire that purifies us equips us to lead with integrity. Peter’s painful lessons benefited the church.

Our spiritual growth is never merely personal; it is preparation for service—both now and eternally. The character God forms in us determines the impact and reach of our service to others.

From Earth to Eternity: Faithfulness Now Prepares Us for Heaven

Heaven is not idleness but perfected service. Jesus said servants would be made “rulers over many things” (Matthew 25.21), suggesting that faithfulness now prepares us for future responsibilities. God seeks those through whom He can do the impossible, yet we are often distracted by tasks we feel compelled to complete ourselves. Earth is where we learn to partner with the impossible.

The parable of the talents (Matthew 25.14-30) teaches that being faithful in small tasks leads to larger responsibilities. Serving on earth is preparation for greater things ahead. What we develop here—trust in uncertainty, patience in waiting, and obedience in difficulty—equips us for our future roles. Our actions now are training for responsibilities we cannot yet see.

The Promise Fulfilled: Peter’s Courage Matured in God’s Time

After the resurrection, Jesus spoke to Peter with clear words: “When you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish” (John 21.18). Then Jesus gave the invitation: “Follow Me” (John 21.19).

The promise of John 13.36 was explained. Peter would follow Jesus into death. Church tradition says Peter, counting himself unworthy to die as his Lord, requested crucifixion upside down. The man who once denied Christ by a charcoal fire (John 18.18) was restored by a charcoal fire (John 21.9). He would glorify God by a martyr’s death (John 21.19).

Peter’s courage was once premature but matured in God’s time. The boldness always existed. What developed was the brokenness that made his courage usable. God does not waste our willingness—He seasons it until it becomes readiness.

Living in the “Not Yet”: What God’s Delay Teaches Us

God’s “not yet” is not a refusal. It is preparation. When He says “afterward,” He does not diminish our calling but deepens our capacity. There is work to be done—in us, through us, and for us. God may be doing thousands of things in your life, but you know only a few. Trust Him for what you do not see.

Peter’s story makes us face impatience with God’s wisdom. We want instant readiness, but God requires patient formation. We see our willingness. God sees what still needs to be developed. We measure courage by intentions. God measures it by how we endure when tested by fire.

Scripture affirms this pattern of preparation many times. Joseph spent years in slavery and prison before saving nations (Genesis 50.20). Moses spent forty years in the wilderness before leading the Exodus (Acts 7.30). Paul withdrew to Arabia after conversion before his ministry (Galatians 1.17). Even Jesus waited thirty years before public ministry (Luke 3.23).

Waiting is not wasted. Every delay serves a divine purpose. Each period of preparation is designed to teach specific lessons that equip us. Through these lessons, we are shaped into vessels capable of holding and sharing the glory God will reveal through us. Our waiting is purposeful, our learning is tailored, and both are essential for fulfilling what God intends to do through us.

Your “afterward” is coming. In God’s time, when your knowledge deepens, your character is refined, and your readiness matches your willingness, you will follow Him into your purpose. Until then, learn what this moment can teach you. Trust what these trials can develop. Receive what this season alone can give.

The same Jesus who said “not now” to Peter also said “but afterward.” Both words came from the same love, served the same purpose, and led to the same destination: a God-glorifying life and a faithful servant’s death.

When God says “not yet,” He is not closing a door. He is preparing you to walk through it with wisdom, strength, and readiness that He alone can give. The afterward is about more than dying well. It is about living fully in the power of a completed preparation and achieved readiness. When your afterward comes, you will know—as Peter knew—that every moment was worth it for the glory it brought.

Trust His timing. Embrace His preparation. Your afterward is coming, and it will be glorious. Persevere in trust and preparation—God’s timing always leads to fulfillment.

Desiring God

Carl Pollard

“Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” 

  • Psalm 37:4

One of the most loved and frequently quoted verses in Scripture is Psalm 37:4. At first glance it can sound like a blank check: “Love God and you’ll get whatever you want.” But a closer look reveals something far deeper and more beautiful. The verse is not primarily about getting what we want; it is about God changing what we want until He Himself becomes the great desire of our hearts.

Psalm 37 is an acrostic wisdom psalm written by David in his old age (v. 25). Its main concern is the age-old question, “Why do the wicked prosper while the righteous suffer?” David’s answer is trust and delight in the Lord rather than envy or anger toward evildoers (vv. 1–8). In this setting, verse 4 is not a prosperity promise detached from reality; it is godly counsel for people who feel overlooked while others seem to “have it all.”

The Hebrew verb translated “delight,” is intensive and rare. It means to be delicate or pampered, to take exquisite pleasure in something. It is the same root used in Isaiah 66:11 for a nursing baby delighting in its mother’s milk, total satisfaction, soft enjoyment, unhurried pleasure.

So David is not commanding gritted-teeth duty (“Try really hard to like God”). He is inviting us into a relationship where God Himself becomes our highest pleasure, our richest feast, our greatest reward.

The Promise: “He Will Give You the Desires of Your Heart.” Grammatically, the second half of the verse can be read two ways, both of which are true and complementary:

1. Causative reading (most translations): When you delight in the Lord, He grants the desires that are now in your heart—desires that have been transformed by your delight in Him. The more we enjoy God, the more our desires align with what He loves to give.

2. Identical reading (favored by many Hebrew scholars): “He will give you the desires of your heart” means He will place new desires in your heart. In other words, the reward of delighting in God is that God Himself becomes the desire of our heart.

John Piper once summarized this second reading: “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” Psalm 37:4 is therefore the biblical basis for what has come to be called Christian Hedonism, the conviction that God is not honored by reluctant obedience but by hearts that have found their deepest joy in Him.

To “delight yourself in the Lord” isn’t a feeling we try to manufacture; it is a discipline we pursue by faith:

  • Meditate on who God is (His beauty, holiness, love, grace).
  • Remember what God has done, especially in the cross and resurrection.
  • Pray the prayers of Scripture that ask God to change our tastes (Ps 90:14; Ps 27:4; Ps 73:25–26). Tastebuds change, I used to hate onions…now I love them! Same thing happens in Christ. The longer you seek Him, the more you desire Him. The world loses its sway. 
  • Fight the fight of faith to see and savor Jesus above all competing pleasures.

When we do, something happens: the things we once thought we couldn’t live without begin to lose their grip, and we discover that the Giver is infinitely more satisfying than any of His gifts.

Psalm 37:4 is not a promise that God will fund every whim of a heart still curved in on itself. It is a promise that if we will seek our pleasure in God, He will make sure we are never disappointed. He will either satisfy our (new, God-shaped) desires, or, better yet, He will satisfy us with Himself.

“Whom have I in heaven but you? 

And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. 

My flesh and my heart may fail, 

but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” 

  • Psalm 73:25–26

Origen’s “On First Principles” (Book II, Ch. 4.2)

Gary Pollard

[This is a continuing translation of Origen’s systematic theology in modern language]

It would take too long to gather every passage in the Gospels showing that the God of the Law and the God of the Gospel are one and the same. We’ll briefly look at the Acts of the Apostles. There, Stephen and the other apostles prayed to the God who made the sky and earth, who spoke through the prophets, and who is called “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” This was the same God who brought Israel out of Egypt. These compel us to have faith in the Creator and cultivate love for him in anyone who learns to think of him appropriately.

This fits with Jesus’s own teaching. When he was asked which commandment in the Law is greatest, he answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. And the second is like it: love your neighbor as yourself.” Then he added, “On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” If he was training someone to become his disciple, why would he compel them to love the God of the Law, unless he recognized that God as the one true God?

But suppose, despite all these clear indications, someone insists that Jesus was speaking about some other, unknown God when he said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart…” In that case, how could Jesus reasonably say that “the Law and the Prophets” depend on these two commandments? If the Law and the Prophets truly come from the Creator—as even the opponents admit—how could they depend on commandments that come from a different God? What is foreign to him cannot be said to hang on him.

Paul’s own words make this point even more clearly. When he writes, “I thank my God, whom I serve from my ancestors with a pure conscience,” he shows that he did not turn to a new or foreign deity when he came to Christ. Who are Paul’s ancestors, if not those about whom he says, “Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I”? The opening of Romans makes the same point for anyone who understands Paul’s language. He begins with, “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was born from the seed of David according to the flesh and appointed Son of God in power by his resurrection…” This proves that the God Paul preached is the same God who spoke long ago through the prophets and promised the coming of Christ.

Paul also interprets the Law in ways that reveal its divine purpose for the church. When he quoted the command, “Do not muzzle the ox that is treading out the grain,” he asked, “Does God care about the ox, or was this written for our sake?” And he answered, “It was written to to benefit us,” meaning that the God who gave the Law gave it for the benefit of the apostles who preach the gospel. Elsewhere Paul embraces the promises attached to the Law, saying, “Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with a promise: that it may go well with you, and that you may live long on the land the Lord your God gives you.” By this he clearly showed that the Law, its God, and the promises attached to it are good in his sight.

Whiter Than Snow

Dale Pollard

The most snow ever to accumulate from a single storm happened from February 13-19th in 1959. The storm hit Mount Shasta Ski Bowl in California with a total of 15.75 feet of snow (Guinness Book of World Records). 

Snow appears only a handful of times in the Bible, but when it does, it gives the reader some powerful illustrations. In a Middle Eastern climate where snowfall was pretty rare and memorable, snow became an image to describe God’s purity, or forgiveness, and even His ultimate authority over nature.

One of the most famous references is found in Isaiah 1:18, where God declares, “Though your sins be as scarlet, they will be as white as snow.” Here, snow represents a total cleansing — a visual for guilt being completely erased. The contrast between blood-red sin and snow-white purity made the promise pop to ancient readers— and not lost on the modern reader. 

Snow is also used to describe God’s control over the natural world. Job 37:6 says, “For to the snow he says, be on the earth.” Unlike modern scientific explanations, the Bible portrays snow as something that responds directly to God’s command. God established natural law and order so either way, even the most powerful weather phenomena are under divine authority.

In Psalm 147:16, snow becomes a symbol of provision, with a little mystery: “He gives snow like wool.” The comparison to wool is referring to the softness and abundance. The point? That which seems harsh and cold is still part of God’s sustaining design.

Even the terrifying becomes symbolic. When Moses’ hand turns leprous in Exodus 4:6, it is described as “white as snow,” and this really makes that cleansing of sin stand out more. Instead of being left with a disease as white as snow, we’re sanctified and made clean, like snow. 

Throughout Scripture, snow is used as a powerful image of transformation — from sin to cleansing, fear to awe, and then it’s obvious beauty. It’s a good reminder that even the coldest seasons are held within the hand of God.

“Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.”

A Dangerous Lie We All Believe

Neal Pollard

We tell it in different ways. It may be, “Nobody is as bad, broken, or beaten as I am.” Or, “nobody understands what it’s like.” Or, “if anyone knew the ‘real’ me, they wouldn’t want anything to do with me.” Really, there are an infinite combination of ways we say it, but all of them boil down to some equivalent of “I am beyond the reach of God’s acceptance.”

Why is this lie so dangerous? It actually keeps us away from Him and His blessings. Our belief in our unworthiness is so deep that we keep ourselves from trying to get close to Him. Our guilt drives us to darkness, isolation, and despair. In this state, we actually feed sinfulness and encase ourselves in lethal isolation. We cannot be at our best in relationships with others and we put greater focus on self, leading to further misery and emptiness.

Perhaps the common and caustic nature of this lie is why the Bible stresses the transforming and truthful rebuttal to this devilish deception. How does the Bible respond to the idea that I am not good enough for God’s love? Consider these biblical answers.

  • God’s love is unconditional. “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:6-8).
  • God IS love. “The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love” (1 John 4:8).
  • God’s love is unconquerable and indomitable by any force or power. “Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).
    • God wants us to overcome. “This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:3-4).
    • God doesn’t want anyone lost. “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).
    • God’s forgiveness is faithfully and fully applied. “But if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:7-9).
    • God’s love is universal and proven. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

Who is it that wants us to shun these beautiful truths? What do we gain by ignoring and rejecting them? What do we lose? None of us is perfect (Roman 3:10,23; 5:12). All of us struggle, with temptation (James 1:13-15; 1 Corinthians 10:13), with worldliness (1 John 2:15-17), with fear, and with weakness (Psalm 103:14). God has given us the resources we need to combat this terrible lie. We must see our intrinsic value in His eyes, fueled by His nature and proven by His actions. When we reject the lie, we choose the path of purpose and productivity. We can become what He intended for us to be and desires us to be. Our problems and struggles won’t disappear, but our resources to address them will become inexhaustible. Reject the lie!

The History of Christmas: How Christendom Came to Celebrate Christ’s Birth

Brent Pollard

Consider for a moment how we came to stand where we are. The manger scene feels ancient—as though Christendom has always paused each December to marvel at the incarnation. Yet history reveals something startling: the first Christians never celebrated Christmas.

This is not a scandal but a testimony. The cherished celebration emerged slowly, like dawn breaking over centuries, as believers reflected deeply on what it means that God became man. What began as an unobserved event in Bethlehem became a worldwide moment of worship—not by apostolic command, but through man’s appreciation of glory made flesh.

The New Testament: A Conspicuous Silence on Annual Celebration

Matthew and Luke give us the nativity accounts with luminous detail: angelic announcements, shepherds startled in the night, magi following a star. These chapters overflow with wonder. Then the narrative rushes forward to Jesus’ ministry, His cross, His resurrection, His return.

What’s missing? Any instruction to celebrate His birth annually.

The apostles gathered on the first day of the week, remembering Christ’s death and resurrection through the Lord’s Supper. They proclaimed His gospel with urgency. But they left no pattern, no command, no practice for memorializing His birth each year. This was not oversight—it was simply not their focus.

Early Christianity: Avoiding Birthday Traditions

The earliest believers lived in a world where birthdays carried pagan associations. Jewish tradition paid little attention to such celebrations, and Roman birthday customs often intertwined with idolatrous practices. As a result, Christians in the first two centuries steered clear of birthday observances entirely—even Jesus’ birthday.

Origen, writing in the third century, expressed the prevailing sentiment: only the birthdays of sinners like Pharaoh and Herod were celebrated in Scripture. The righteous did not.

This wasn’t legalism. It was discernment. God’s people were learning to walk differently in a pagan world, careful not to blur the lines between sacred and profane.

The Growing Curiosity: When Was Christ Born?

By the late second and early third centuries, Christian scholars began asking a natural question:

When, exactly, was Jesus born?

Their calculations varied widely—March, May, November—but the question itself signaled something important. These believers were not merely theologians; they were people falling deeper in love with the incarnation. To wonder about the timing of His birth was to treasure it.

Yet even then, no feast day emerged. The curiosity was intellectual, not liturgical.

December 25: The First Christmas Celebration

The earliest solid evidence for celebrating Christ’s birth on December 25 appears in a Roman calendar from around AD 336. Why this date?

Two theories dominate:

Theological Calculation: Some early Christians believed Jesus was conceived on the same date He died—March 25. Counting forward nine months places His birth on December 25.

Cultural Context: December 25 fell near Roman festivals like Sol Invictus (the ‘Unconquered Sun’) and Saturnalia. Choosing this date may have offered believers a Christian alternative to pagan revelry, declaring boldly that the true Light has come into the world.

Both explanations reflect the church’s dual task: theological precision and cultural engagement. The church was not absorbing paganism—it was confronting it with truth.

East Meets West: Different Dates, Same Savior

While the West settled on December 25, Eastern Christians initially observed Christ’s birth on January 6, called Theophany or Epiphany. By the fifth century, most Eastern congregations also adopted December 25 for the nativity, reserving January 6 for celebrating Christ’s baptism and the revelation of His divine identity.

This convergence is instructive. Though separated by geography and culture, believers across the empire felt the same pull—to set aside a day each year to contemplate the mystery Paul described:

‘Great indeed is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh’ (1 Timothy 3:16).

The Medieval Church: Layering Tradition on Truth

As Christianity shaped Europe’s cultures through the Middle Ages, Christmas absorbed many traditions: nativity plays dramatizing the Bethlehem scene, carols sung in village streets, gift-giving recalling the magi’s offerings, and evergreen decorations symbolizing eternal life.

These additions were not corruptions. They were expressions—imperfect, human, sometimes misguided—of a truth too glorious to contain in words alone. The church has always been a community of storytellers, and Christmas became the story believers told again and again, in every creative form available.

The Reformation: Christmas Under Scrutiny

When the Reformation arrived, Christmas faced fresh examination. Lutherans and Anglicans embraced the celebration as a legitimate way to honor Christ’s incarnation. Puritans, however, rejected it, viewing Christmas as an invention unmoored from Scripture.

Both positions reflected sincere convictions about how to honor God. The Puritans feared idolatry and human tradition; the Lutherans treasured gospel proclamation wherever it appeared.

Modern Christmas: Sacred Truth Meets Cultural Expression

From the 1800s onward, Christmas continued to evolve. Charles Dickens’ writings awakened social conscience, Santa Claus captured children’s imaginations, and commercialization introduced both celebration and distraction.

Today’s Christmas is a complex blend: nativity scenes beside reindeer, worship services near shopping frenzies, profound theological truth intertwined with consumer excess.

Conclusion: Celebrating the Incarnation

Christmas is not commanded in Scripture. The apostles did not practice it. Its date may be symbolic rather than historical. Yet it endures because it points to something utterly real:

God became man.

In Bethlehem, divinity clothed itself in human flesh. The infinite became finite—the eternal entered time. The Creator took the form of a creature. This is the heartbeat of Christianity—not merely that God loves us, but that He came to us.

John wrote it plainly:

‘The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth’ (John 1:14).

So whether we observe Christmas or not, let us never stop marveling at what happened in Bethlehem. Let us preach it, sing it, tell it to our children and our neighbors. Let us declare with unshakable confidence that God has acted in history, that heaven has invaded earth, and that nothing will ever be the same.

This is the glory of the incarnation—and it deserves to be celebrated every single day.

Immortality

Carl Pollard

Immortality

“the ability to live forever, eternal life.” 

As a Christian, the gospel you believed is not mainly about escaping hell, it’s about entering eternal life. Immortality is the center of our hope. From the beginning, God formed us for eternal life. The Tree of Life stood in Eden as a sign. Humanity was meant to live, and to walk with God without end (Gen 2:9). Sin broke that design and brought the sentence of death (Gen 3:22-24). Death became the doorway through which grace would one day lead us back to life.

And grace has come. Jesus Christ, the Resurrection and the Life, has “abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Tim 1:10). When He rose, He unveiled the firstfruits of a new humanity, bodies raised imperishable, souls made whole, creation set free (1 Cor 15:42-49; Rom 8:21). The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is the down-payment on our own resurrection (Eph 1:13-14; Rom 8:11).

This is why the New Testament writers spoke with triumph. “Death is swallowed up in victory!” (1 Cor 15:54). The last enemy is defeated, not negotiated with.

What will this immortality feel like? Revelation gives us the clearest glimpse: God Himself will wipe away every tear. Death, mourning, crying, and pain will be former things, remembered no more (Rev 21:4). We will see His face (Rev 22:4). We will know as we are known (1 Cor 13:12). Every longing planted in us by the Creator, longings for beauty, for love, for purpose, for home, will be satisfied beyond imagination, yet never exhausted. Eternity will not be monotonous; it will be the ever-fresh discovery of the infinite God! 

The world groans, our bodies weaken, our hearts break, but none of it is the final word. Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. And when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is (1 John 3:2).

Until that day, let this joy shape everything. Work without despair. Love without fear of loss. Suffer without bitterness. Give without calculation. The clock is broken, the future is secure. We are headed toward a life where sin cannot diminish us, death cannot touch us, and God will be our everlasting light.

This is the joy of immortality: not just that we will live forever, but that we will live forever with Him, fully alive and fully home.

Come, Lord Jesus.

Origen’s “On First Principles” (Book II, Ch. 4.1)

Gary Pollard

[This is a continuing translation of Origen’s systematic theology in modern language]

Now that we’ve laid out these points as clearly as we can, let’s return to our original purpose and refute people who claim that the Father of our master Jesus Christ is a different God from the one who gave the Law to Moses, sent the prophets, and is the God of our ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This is the first and most essential point of Christian belief, and we must stay firm in it. 

First, consider the repeated phrase in the gospels that shows up around many of Jesus’s actions, “…that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet.” It’s clear that these prophets were sent by the same God who made the world. Therefore, the Father is the same God who sent the prophets and predicted what would happen to Christ. 

Next, the way Jesus and the apostles repeatedly quote the Old Testament shows that they treat the ancient scriptures as authoritative. When Jesus told his disciples to imitate God, he said, “Be perfect, like your Father in the heavens is perfect. He makes his sun rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and unjust.” It’s obvious even to a simple reader that he is referring to the Creator who made the sun and gives rain. So when Jesus teaches us how to pray, “Our Father who is in the heavens,” he teaches us to look for God in the highest and best parts of creation. He prohibits the practice of swearing oaths “by heaven, because it is God’s throne, or by earth, because it is his footstool,” He is clearly echoing the prophet’s words, “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.” 

When Jesus chased out the people who were buying and selling in the temple and said, “Do not make my Father’s house a house of trade,” he was calling “Father” the same God for whom Solomon built the temple. And when He said, “Didn’t you read what God said to Moses, ‘I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living,” He made it clear that he was referring to the same God the prophets spoke of. Those patriarchs, being holy and alive to God, belong to him.

This is also the same God who says in the prophets, “I am God, and there is no other besides me.” Now, if Jesus knows that the God of the Law is the God who spoke these words, and he still calls this God his Father, then the idea that there exists some greater, unknown God above him becomes impossible. If the Creator didn’t know of a higher God, and Jesus says he is the Father, then Jesus would be calling his own Father ignorant. But if the Creator claimed to be the only God and was lying, then Jesus would be calling his Father a liar—an even more absurd conclusion. From all this, we must conclude that Jesus recognizes no Father other than the one true God, the Maker and Creator of all things.

“Coarse Jesting”: Jokes That Cross The Line

Neal Pollard

The word εὐτρᾰπελία (eutrapelia) is only found in a single New Testament verse, where Paul says, “But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints; and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks” (Ephesians 5:3-4). Notice that Paul’s warnings are against immoral behavior in verse three (immorality, impurity, and greed) and immoral speech in verse four (obscenity, foolish talk, and “coarse jesting”).

In classic Greek literature, especially Aristotle and Plutarch praise clever wit as a social grace. It seems εὐτρᾰπελία indicated a quick witted and charming conversationalist. It was predominantly a positive trait in the ancient world. Yet, in the New Testament, it is speech “involving vulgar expressions and indecent content” (Louw-Nida, 392). Many lexicons define it as “ribaldry” (referring to sexual matters in an amusingly coarse or irreverent way). So, what is Paul’s point?

In essence, Paul seems to be warning about misusing that gift of intelligent and clever speech. Given the verbal vices Paul includes with this word, it seems that coarse jesting points to jokes that contain sexual innuendo or suggestiveness–especially what will cause others to laugh or be amused. There are comedians and actors who are associated with this kind of humor. Perhaps we think of classmates, coworkers, or friends who come to mind, too. But Paul says that this is going too far to get a laugh or impress the people we are speaking to. In fact, he calls it improper and not fitting!

So what does that mean for you and me? Watch those words and phrases with double meanings, that are open to two interpretations one of which is risqué or indecent. Avoid jokes where you depict ideas and thoughts which cross the line of decency. If in doubt, don’t say it. Such words and conversations are unnecessary to have a good time. Laughing and humor are extremely enjoyable, but never should we resort to ungodliness to generate it. As His ambassadors, God wants our speech to be decent, pure, and wholesome. No one should ever leave our company feeling any further from Christ, and jokes and sentences that rely on sexual suggestiveness will not accomplish righteous representation of our Redeemer!

The Quiet Sin That Still Shouts on Black Friday

Brent Pollard

For years, Black Friday earned its reputation not from ledgers but from battlegrounds—retail floors where human dignity took a backseat to door-buster deals. News cameras captured the spectacle: grown men and women trampling one another, wrestling over discounted electronics, shouting with voices hoarse from camping overnight in cold parking lots. The scenes were shocking precisely because they revealed something uncomfortable about ourselves.

Those chaotic stampedes have largely faded, replaced by the quieter click of online carts and the convenience of sales that stretch across entire weeks. Yet we would be naive to assume the spirit behind those frenzies has disappeared. Covetousness has not been conquered; it has merely changed costumes. It still prowls, perhaps more dangerously now because it moves in the shadows of normalcy.

Understanding Covetousness in a Consumer Culture

The Scriptures speak with clarity and force about covetousness. God inscribed it among the Ten Commandments—”You shall not covet” (Exodus 20.17)—placing it alongside murder and adultery as a fundamental breach of divine order. The apostle Paul equates it with idolatry (Colossians 3.5), and Jesus Himself warned that a person’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions (Luke 12.15). These are not casual observations. They are urgent warnings about a sin that destroys souls.

Yet covetousness may well be the most overlooked sin among professing Christians today. We have learned to identify sins that announce themselves—drunkenness carries an odor, anger has volume, and sexual immorality brings scandal. But covetousness? It wears the mask of prudence. It masquerades as ambition, self-care, or simply “keeping up.” In a world built on consumption, covetousness looks like Tuesday afternoon.

This is precisely what makes it lethal. When sin begins to look like normal living, we cease to call it sin at all. If the enemy of our souls seeks to neutralize the church without triggering alarms, covetousness serves as his preferred weapon—quiet, respectable, and devastatingly effective.

The Warning of Jesus: “Take Heed and Beware”

In Luke 12.15, our Lord issues a double warning with deliberate urgency: “Take heed, and beware of covetousness.” Two imperatives, one breath. Why such emphasis? Because Jesus understood what we often forget—that the human heart is perpetually vulnerable to the lie that more will satisfy.

Notice that Christ does not merely say “avoid” covetousness. He says take heed, which means to pay careful, sustained attention, and beware, which calls for active vigilance. This is not passive resistance but intentional, disciplined watchfulness. The implication is sobering: covetousness will not announce itself. It will arrive disguised as legitimate need, reasonable desire, or innocent comparison.

Let us be clear: Black Friday itself is not inherently sinful. Wisdom in stewardship often means seeking good value, and thoughtful purchasing can serve both family and generosity. The issue is not the calendar date or the transaction but the condition of the heart engaging in it. When we participate in the marketplace, do we do so with contentment and purpose, or with the restless craving that can never be filled?

The frenzy that once defined Black Friday—and the subtler compulsions that still drive much of our economic behavior—expose three spiritual dangers we dare not ignore.

Three Spiritual Dangers of Covetousness

Covetousness Normalizes Discontent

God calls His children to contentment (1 Timothy 6.6-8; Hebrews 13.5). Yet covetousness whispers constantly that what we have is insufficient. It trains us to focus not on what we possess but on what we lack. This is not mere pragmatic planning for the future; it is a spiritual disease that robs us of peace and gratitude in the present.

As has been observed, the man who has God and everything else has no more than the man who has God alone. Covetousness blinds us to this truth. It convinces us that one more purchase, one more upgrade, one more experience will finally deliver the satisfaction we seek. But the nature of covetousness is that it never delivers. It only promises.

Consider how advertising works: it manufactures dissatisfaction. Before the ad, you were content. After the ad, you feel incomplete without the product. This is spiritual warfare dressed in marketing language, and it works because our hearts are already fertile ground for discontent.

Covetousness Trains Us to Measure Worth by Possessions

Jesus teaches that life does not consist in the abundance of things (Luke 12.15). Yet covetousness reverses this wisdom, teaching us to evaluate ourselves and others based on what can be seen, touched, and posted online.

Someone seeking material possessions only creates for themselves a gilded prison. When our identity becomes intertwined with our acquisitions, we trap ourselves in an exhausting cycle of comparison and competition. We measure our worth not by God’s declaration of value through Christ but by fluctuating market standards.

This is practical idolatry. The accumulation of things becomes not merely a means to life but the meaning of life itself. And when this happens, we have exchanged the Creator for created things—precisely what Paul condemns in Romans 1.25.

Covetousness Weakens Our Gratitude

Perhaps nothing reveals the corrosive effect of covetousness more clearly than its assault on thanksgiving. The covetous heart cannot truly give thanks because it is perpetually focused on what it does not yet have. Gratitude looks backward and upward, recognizing God’s provision. Covetousness looks forward and laterally, cataloging deficiencies and envying neighbors.

This is why the day after Thanksgiving can be so spiritually jarring. One day we gather to express thanks for God’s blessings; the next, we rush to acquire more as if what we have is inadequate. The irony should not escape us. Covetousness turns thanksgiving into hypocrisy.

Fighting Covetousness With Eternal Treasure

How then do we fight? Not by suppressing desire—God created us with the capacity to want, to long, to pursue. The battle against covetousness is not won by desiring less but by desiring better things.

Jesus provides the antidote in Matthew 6.19-21: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

This is not poetry; it is economics. Jesus is telling us to invest wisely. Earth’s treasures decay, disappoint, and ultimately disintegrate. Heaven’s treasures endure. The question is not whether we will treasure something—we cannot avoid doing so—but what we will treasure and where.

God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. Covetousness is defeated not when we grit our teeth and endure deprivation but when we discover a satisfaction so profound that lesser things lose their grip. When Christ becomes our treasure, sales and upgrades and status symbols fade into their proper insignificance.

If we covet trivialities, it is because we have not yet tasted the goodness of God. We chase shadows because we have not yet stood in the light.

Practical Steps to Guard Against Covetousness

All truth must become actionable or it remains mere information. What then shall we do?

First, practice intentional gratitude. Before making any significant purchase, pause to list what God has already provided. This simple discipline reorients the heart from scarcity to abundance.

Second, examine your motives. Ask: Am I buying this because I need it, or because I want what someone else has? Am I seeking to fill a legitimate need, or am I trying to fill a spiritual void with material things?

Third, give generously. Nothing breaks the power of covetousness faster than open-handed generosity. When we give, we declare that God—not possessions—is our source and security.

Fourth, fast from consumption. Consider seasons of deliberate simplicity. Skip sales. Avoid browsing. Create space to discover that you already have enough.

Fifth, redirect your desires. Cultivate hunger for spiritual realities—Scripture, prayer, fellowship, service. Feed your soul the bread of life so that the world’s junk food loses its appeal.

The Greatest Bargain Ever Offered

Black Friday will come and go with its sales, advertisements, and temptations. The receipts will fade, the products will break, and the cycle will repeat. But the danger of covetousness remains, not just on one day but every day we draw breath in this consumer culture.

Yet hear the good news: The greatest bargain ever offered is still available, and it requires no credit card. A life emptied of covetousness and filled with Christ is a life money cannot buy. This treasure is free to all who will receive it, paid for not by our purchasing power but by the precious blood of Jesus Christ.

God offers us satisfaction that lasts, joy that endures, and treasure that neither moth nor rust can destroy. The transaction is complete. The price is paid. The only question is whether we will stop chasing shadows long enough to embrace the substance.

May we be a people who treasure Christ above all things, who find in Him a satisfaction so complete that the world’s bargains become irrelevant. For in Him we have already received everything—and what we have cannot be improved by any sale, upgraded by any purchase, or diminished by any economy.

Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Choose wisely.

Reasons To Be Thankful

Carl Pollard

As a Christian, the list is endless. But here’s a few: 

  1. God is eternally good and His steadfast love never ends (Psalm 136:1) 
  2. He chose you before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:3–4)
  3. You are forgiven and your sins are removed as far as the east is from the west (Psa 103:12)
  4. Christ redeemed you with His own blood while you were still His enemy (Rom. 5:8)
  5. You have been adopted as a beloved child of God (1 John 3:1)
  6. The Spirit lives inside you as a guarantee of your inheritance (Eph. 1:13–14)
  7. Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places already belongs to you in Christ (Eph. 1:3)
  8. Nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:38–39)
  9. Your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life (Phil. 4:3) 
  10. Jesus is praying for you right now (Heb. 7:25)
  11. Death has been swallowed up in victory (1 Cor. 15:54, 57)
  12. One day you will see Him face to face and be made like Him (1 John 3:2)
  13. He will wipe away every tear and make all things new (Rev. 21:4–5)
  14. His mercies are new every single morning (Lam.3:22–23)
  15. He cares for YOU (1 Pt. 5:7) 

As a Christian, you aren’t just tolerated, you are infinitely loved, irrevocably chosen, completely forgiven, eternally kept, and destined for glory. That is why, in everything and always, we give thanks. 

“This is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you: give thanks in all circumstances.” 1 Thes. 5:18

Origen’s “On First Principles” (Book II, 3.7)

Gary Pollard

[This is a continuing translation of Origen’s systematic theology in modern language]

We have described, to the best of our ability, the three main views about the end of all things and about humanity’s final state. Each reader should carefully decide for himself which (if any) of these possibilities should be accepted.1 

The first is the “future incorporeal existence” possibility. It could be that conscious beings will live without bodies entirely once all things have become subject to Christ and God the father (when God is “all in all”). 

Or, it may be that bodily nature itself will be joined to the purest spirits and changed into a celestial, radiant state. This would be when all things have been subjected to Christ and God, and when conscious beings will have become “one spirit” with God. This change would occur in proportion to the quality of each person, as the apostle said, “We will all be changed.” In this view, the body becomes shining and glorious and ethereal. 

Finally, it may be that the righteous will reach the stable place above the non-wandering sphere (the απλανης), the realm beyond the stars. This would be when the visible form of earth passes away, when all corruption is removed, and when we have left behind everything in the visible cosmos — including the planets. This region is described as “the good land,” “the land of the living,” and “the inheritance of the meek and gentle.” 

Above this land is the true sky, far greater and more beautiful, which surrounds our own sky. In this highest sky — and in its own earth — the end and perfection of all things may safely be placed. People who have been disciplined and purified may be granted a home in that land. This would fulfill the sayings, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” And, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, they will inherit the kingdom of the heavens.” And then the psalm, “He will exalt you, and you will inherit the land.” 

Coming down to this present earth is called a “descent”. But entering that higher realm is called an “exaltation”. So, in this view, there appears to be some kind of road: the believer departs from this earth to those higher heavens. They don’t live forever in the “good land”, but stay there with the intention of progressing further until they ultimately receive the full inheritance of the kingdom of the heavens once they have reached the highest degree of perfection. 

1 This entire passage has likely been heavily redacted and probably doesn’t reflect Origen’s views at all. 

  1. Phrases like “supreme blessedness”, “fixed abode”, “pious and good”, etc. reflect Latin moral/legal thought, post-Nicene ascetic theology, and Rufinus’s personal vocabulary. Origen almost exclusively used words like λογος, νοητος, τοπος, θεωρια; he emphasized αποκατασταστις παντων (the restoration of all things), “movement” language like κινησις and νοερα φυσις, and an upgraded mind — not “purgation” or “discharging obligations” as this passage originally put it. 
  2. The line, “After their apprehension and their chastisement for the offences…by way of purgation, having discharged every obligation” is not Origen. To him, purification came from intellectual correction, not “chastisements” or “obligations”. In Origen’s way of thinking, souls were purified through divine teaching through ages. 
  3. The “good land” and two-tiered reward in this passage is not Origen. As stated in A, he believed in a gradual restoration of all things to God, resulting in re-integration into God (επιστροφη), when God is all-in-all. This section has suspiciously Latin, post-Nicene structure: the good land as a reward for purified believers, heaven as a higher reward for the “more perfect”, and the purged and meek inheriting the kingdom. Whether correct or not, it has little in common with Origen and much in common with a Latin moral hierarchy. 
  4. This passage repeatedly emphasizes “inheritance of heaven”. Origen almost never used inheritance language, at least not as a final state. He spoke of restoration of conscious wills, an intellectual union with God, perpetual progress (επεκτασις), and the transformation of spiritual bodies. Today’s passage is reward-based and legally-framed. Very Latin, very Rufinus. 
  5. This eschatological passage doesn’t even explicitly mention Origen’s beloved αποκαταστασις. His original Greek would almost certainly have tied the “final blessed state” to the restoration of all things. Rufinus did this many times in other similar passages. 
  6. Finally, in the surviving Greek texts (mainly Contra Celsum, Commentary on John, and Commentary on Romans), Origen never used the Latin “purgation” language seen here. He never described “the good land” and “heaven” as separate eschatological places. He never talked about “discharging obligations”. He never created a multi-tier reward ladder. 

I’ve added this to today’s article because it’s important to understand that these historical texts can and have been interfered with. Don’t take my word for it — Origen scholars Crouzel, Daniélou, Torjesen, Heine, and Remelli have all noted that Books II & III of First Principles have been extensively re-written. This passage is just one example of the orthodox smoothing, moralizing, Latin eschatological redactions, and outright omissions of speculative cosmology that Rufinus was infamous for. 

THE CRAZY WOMAN IN A ROMAN PRISON

Dale Pollard

 In A.D. 165, during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, Roman authorities dragged a Christian woman named Felicitas into a stone prison beneath the streets of Rome. The cell was so dark that the prisoners kept there couldn’t see their own hands. Food was scarce, disease wasn’t, and dampness never dried. Yet accounts record something strange— Felicitas spent her final days singing songs of thanksgiving. The guards outside stood there surprised as they listened through the iron bars. Thankfulness—in a place built to erase hope. That kind of gratitude seems nearly impossible today, but it sounds a lot like a verse from the Psalms that rarely makes its way to the microphone. 

 “I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the LORD.” — Psalm 116:17 

 Most might breeze past the line, but the phrase “sacrifice of thanksgiving” reveals something profound. The psalmist isn’t talking about gratitude when life is full, comfortable, and convenient. He’s talking about gratitude that costs something—gratitude that must be fought for. It’s the kind Felicitas offered in that Roman cell. 

 A “sacrifice of thanksgiving” is what happens when gratitude is chosen, not felt. It can be seen in something small like that “thank you” we give Him without seeing the outcome. When we praise God before we understand the plan. When we hold onto God not because everything is good, but because everything is hard.

 In a sentence, it’s the kind of thankfulness that’s forged— not found. 

 Happy Thanksgiving!

The Silence Of The Lamb

Neal Pollard

What do you contemplate during the Lord’s Supper? Your mind could go in a thousand directions, the cruelty and infliction of pain, the hatred and rejection, the eternal plan of God, His unending love, the ugliness of your sin, and on and on.

There is a curious aspect to the entire frenetic proceedings that Jesus endured. You first read about it in Isaiah’s prophecy concerning the atonement offered by the “Suffering Servant.” The prophet wrote, “He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth” (53:7; cf. Acts 8:32). For emphasis, he says it twice: “He did not open His mouth.”

At the end of the gospel accounts, after Jesus’ arrest, we see two significant periods of time where this applied to Him. Before the Jews in the farce and mockery of a trial, Jesus kept silent (Mat. 26:63; Mark 14:62; Luke 23:9). Then, when handed before the Romans and their governor, Pilate, He did not answer (Mat. 27:12-14) and He gave him no answer (John 19:9). Scholars have scoured the ancient records in an effort to find anything like it in the legal annals of the Jews or Greco-Roman society.

Why did Jesus keep silent through the judgment phase of His crucifixion? He was not totally silent (Mat. 26:64; Luke 22:67-701), but as the charges bombarded and cascaded He gave no rebuttal. It was not that He could not. He had bested them in every debate and silenced them (see Mat. 22:46).

Why the silence?

  • He came to suffer, not to speak.
  • They would not have been convinced by His words any more than His wonderful works.
  • Jesus does not see this as a legal matter, but a spiritual necessity.
  • He placed His fate in the hands of God, as He prayed in Gethsemane (Mat. 26:39; John 6:38).
  • He accepted His situation.
  • The charge brought by two witnesses in Matthew 26:60-61 was technically true, though they twisted His words.
  • It provides a stark and compelling contrast between accusers and accused, which the reader readily sees.

No doubt there are more reasons, some known only to God. But it provides as much tension and drama in the Passion as it does confirmation of prophetic claims. It stands as but one of a thousand pictures of a loving, determined Savior to endure whatever necessary to pay for our sins with His life. The next time you contemplate the various “scenes of fear and woe,” take a moment to reflect on the silence of the Lamb. Through it, He truly speaks volumes!


1The reason for this is explained well by Stuart K. Weber : “When Jesus refused to answer and the attempts of the chief priests failed to convict Jesus, Caiaphas took the lead. I charge you under oath by the living God was the priest’s trump card. According to Jewish law, the priest had the authority to force a person to testify. If Jesus remained silent, he would violate the law. His decision to answer showed his respect for civil law and authority” (Holman NTC, 446-447).