Pliny's Test

In his book The Christians as the Romans Saw Them, Robert Louis Wilken writes about a test that Pliny used in order to determine whether or not people were Christians. For those who denied being Christians, how could Pliny know if they were telling the truth? In order to combat this problem, Pliny developed the following test:

He had statues of the emperor Trajan and of the Capitone gods--Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva--brought into the room. Those who had already admitted that they were Christians he sent off to be executed, as he had done with the first group. Those who denied the charge he asked to repeat after him a "formula of invocation to the gods" and "to make an offering of wine and incense" to Trajan's statue. He also ordered them to "revile the name of Christ" (25).

After reading this passage, 1 Corinthians 12:3 came to my mind: "Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit" (ESV). May the Spirit give each of us boldness as we stand against a world that wants us to revile our Savior. Let us stand firm in the faith and proclaim along with Peter and John: “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard" (Acts 4:19-20, ESV)

Death, Funerals, and the Life to Come

Today, during a funeral service, I looked around and noticed that most of those in attendance were older. This can be expected when the one who has died was almost 103. As I sat among those people I thought about how the older a person gets, the more that death becomes a common reality. While death can come even to the young, it is certainly less common. Most of my friends (from high school and college) are still alive. Many of them are marrying and beginning new stages in life. Yet, for the aging, they live in a time in which their friends and family are not beginning new stages of life; rather, they are finishing life in this world. Yet, even in death, there is hope for those who are in Christ Jesus. The end of this life takes us to life unending. Oh, what joy awaits those who will see Him face to face!

**1 Corinthians 15:54-57 - "When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

**Romans 8:38-39 - For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Semper Reformanda

"For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known." 1 Corinthians 13:12

As the Apostle Paul reminds us, none of us have perfect understanding. We do see in a mirror dimly. So, let us be semper reformanda--"always reforming"--as we meditate on the Word.

Father, by Your Spirit, encourage us to meditate on your precepts, move us so that we can fix our eyes on your ways, enable us to delight in your statues, sustain our minds so that we never forget your word, and teach us to number our days so that we may get a heart of wisdom.