Not one leader in the Old Covenant was โfirst among equals.โ
Abraham, Moses, Joshua, David, the High Priest, and the royal steward all held real authority, not honorary primacy.
Jesus restores this same Davidic structure when He gives the keys to Peter alone (Matt 16:19), fulfilling Isaiah 22.
If God never led His people through equal leaders before Christ, why would He suddenly switch to it after Christ established His Kingdom?
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They preach Christ, yes, but their message is not Christian. It has nothing to do with the preaching of a Lutheran or any other serious evangelical Christianity. These so-called โevangelicalsโ preach prosperity. They promise a Gospel that does not know poverty, but simply seeks to make proselytes. This is exactly what Jesus condemns in the Pharisees of his time. Iโve said it many times: proselytism is not Christian.
He says donโt preach the prosperity gospel like Protestants. Please do your research before you speak.
It is not atomic weapons that generate #peace, but disarmament. This truth, which seemed clear in past decades when we witnessed a nuclear de-escalation, has been obscured by a race to armament that today frightens and terrifies.
God favors smallness, a sign of his discreet love, by which he leaves us free to accept or reject him. His love makes its presence felt even among the weeds, acts in a hidden and invisible way like the smallest of all seeds, and leavens the dough without making a sound. #GospelOfToday (Mt 13:24โ43)
While others chase fleeting trends, I'm deep in the timeless wisdom of the saints. This Apostolic thread, unbroken since Peter, illuminates the path, its flame unquenched. #Faith#Tradition
Acts 15 showcases the unity of the Church, with apostles and elders working together. Peter's leadership settles a dispute, and James helps implement the judgment, demonstrating that unity doesn't erase roles but brings them together under Christ for the flock's good.
Scripture doesn't overrule leaders; it confirms God's unfolding plan. Divine will is revealed through appointed leaders, then validated by scripture, ensuring harmony. Peter's judgment and Amos' prophecy speak as one message, not competing voices. #BiblicalTruth#FaithInAction
This isn't about competing leaders, but one apostle leading in unique unity with others. It's the Church's order, not domination, focused on faithfully following Jesus, not winning arguments. #ChristianLeadership#ChurchUnity
Peter highlights that God gave the Holy Spirit to Gentiles just as to Jews, making no distinction. He questions why a 'yoke' of the Mosaic Law is being placed on believers when even Jews couldn't bear it. Salvation isn't conditional on the Law, but by faith.
St. Vincent is giving a rule for recognizing apostolic doctrine, not a doctrine of ecumenical councils; unless you can cite a Church Father who explicitly teaches that a council derives its ecumenicity from later universal reception, youโve offered an inference rather than a patristic teaching. End of discussion.
God bless.
That simply restates the Orthodox conclusion rather than answering the question: please cite a Church Father who explicitly teaches that a council derives its ecumenicity from later universal reception, because the post-Florence repudiation by many Eastern bishops does not establish that reception is what constitutes a councilโs ecumenicity.
God bless.
Can you cite a Church Father who explicitly teaches that an ecumenical council derives its authority or ecumenicity from its later reception by the whole Church?
The Church Fathers repeatedly testify to the unique authority of the Bishop of Rome and the Roman See, but I know of no Father who explicitly teaches that later reception constitutes a council's ecumenicity.
God Bless.
Reception by the Church confirms the fruits of a council but does not constitute its authority; once a council is lawfully convoked, approved by the Pope, and promulgated, it is ecumenical and binding, so later repudiation by many Eastern bishops cannot retroactively nullify the Council of Florence.
God Bless.
The early church faced a major crisis: did Gentile converts need to follow Mosaic Law for salvation? Apostles gathered in Jerusalem to let scripture itself settle this question about the gospel. #Bible#EarlyChurch
False, Florence was not "immediately rejected by the entire Eastern Church," because it was formally accepted and signed by nearly all the Eastern bishops present (except Mark of Ephesus), approved by the Byzantine emperor and Patriarch, and only later repudiated by many amid intense political and popular opposition.
God Bless.
Simply saying the Orthodox Church later rejected Florence doesn't answer the point: at the time it was promulgated, it had the traditional marks of an ecumenical council, papal confirmation, the Byzantine emperor, the Eastern patriarchal delegations, and the signatures of nearly all the Eastern bishops present except Mark of Ephesus.
It is still Ecumenical and Binding on all Christians.
God bless.
You know more than the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Bishops at the Ecumenical Council of Florence?
Read the sections defining the procession of the Holy Spirit, where the Council teaches that the Spirit proceeds eternally from the Father and the Son as from one principle and a single spiration, while explicitly affirming that this does not make the Son a second source distinct from the Father.
God bless.
You know more than the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Bishops at the Ecumenical Council of Florence?
Read the sections defining the procession of the Holy Spirit, where the Council teaches that the Spirit proceeds eternally from the Father and the Son as from one principle and a single spiration, while explicitly affirming that this does not make the Son a second source distinct from the Father.
God bless.
Peter reminds the council that God chose him to be the first apostle to bring the gospel to the Gentiles. Acts 15:7 says God made a choice that by his mouth the Gentiles will hear the word of the gospel and believe. Peter reminds them of what God already did through him.
John 15:26 names the Father as the source, but it never says "from the Father alone", when read alongside John 16:15, John 20:22, and Revelation 22:1, where the river of the Spirit flows from the one throne of the Father and the Lamb, the Filioque harmonizes the whole of Scripture rather than arguing from silence.
God Bless.
Catholic theology agrees that the Creed's แผฮบฯฮฟฯฮตฯฮตฯฮธฮฑฮน refers to the Spirit's eternal origin, but Revelation 22:1 still witnesses that everything the Father gives, including the eternal communication of the Spirit, is inseparably manifested from the throne of God and of the Lamb, which is fully consistent with, though not by itself a proof of, the Filioque.
God Bless.