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Agape Bible Study
Jeremiah 18 - 19
Chapter 18
In chapters 18-19 we have two more of Jeremiah's ten object lessons:
Object lesson #4: Jeremiah 18:1-17 ~ The object lesson of the potter's clay
Object lesson #5: Jeremiah 19:1-12 ~ The object lesson of the broken clay jars
Jeremiah 18:1-12 ~ The Object Lesson of the Potter and his Clay
The key word in this passage is shuv in verses 8 and 11, which means "turn back;" it is a link back to Yahweh's call for Jeremiah's repentance in 15:19 where the word is used three times. It is now used in a call for the possibility of Judah's repentance. This is Jeremiah's fourth object lesson; see the complete list of Jeremiah's Object Lessons in handout 3 for Lesson One. The passage is in prose and is divided into three parts:
- Object lesson #4 (verses 1-4)
- Oracle #1 (verses 5-10)
- Oracle #2 (verses 11-12)
In the fourth object lesson, Yahweh sends Jeremiah to a potter's workshop where the prophet observes a potter working at his wheel. The inspired writer of Sirach has a description of the working potter: Similarly with the potter, sitting at his work, turning the wheel with his feet; constantly on the alert over his work, each flick of the finger premeditated; he pummels the clay with his arm, and with his feet he kneads it; he concentrates on applying the glaze right and stays up late to clean the kiln (Sir 38:29-30).
Jeremiah observed that when the clay the potter was using didn't yield to what the potter intended and turned out misshapen, the potter would ball it up and began again to reshape the clay (verses 1-4). The word of Yahweh then came to Jeremiah in two divine oracles that follow Jeremiah's experience of observing the potter.
The first oracle makes an analogy between the potter and his clay on the one hand and God and Israel on the other.
Question: What is the object lesson of the potter and his clay?
Answer: If a potter can rework clay that is misshapen and not lending itself to his intended creation, how much more can God, the divine Creator, rework the nation of Israel that has turned out not as intended.
Like the potter who reworked the misshapen pot, God has the sovereign authority to reject what He has created when individual humans or nations refuse to yield to God's divine plan. He can destroy a sinful nation that turned out, because of God's gift of free-will, not as the perfect creation He intended unless they repent before it is too late. Jeremiah is told to use this object lesson in preaching to the people of Jerusalem. The point is that Yahweh has both creative and destructive power over the nations of the earth. God is also free to revoke a judgment He has planned for a nation when the people repent their sins and seek His intervention, as in the case of the withdrawal of divine judgment against the nation of Judah and the Assyrian siege of the city of Jerusalem in 722 BC when King Hezekiah led his people in communal repentance (2 Kng 19:20-37).
A question arises from verses 7-10: does God change His mind like a human being? The Hebrew word in verse 10 is wenihami (Strong's H6162), and is more literally translated "then I will repent." Yahweh is not like a human being who changes his mind. God knows the future, and therefore He knows when a people will respond to His warnings of divine punishment by offering genuine repentance. In those cases, God will revoke what could have been their destruction.
The first oracle after the object lesson ends on an ominous note: God says that nations judged as good will have that good revoked if they do evil or no longer listen to His voice. Of course, the only nation that has listened to the voice of Yahweh in the past has been Israel/Judah.
Jeremiah 18:13-17 ~ The Failure of Virgin Israel
This poetic section is God's judgment concerning the object lesson in verses 1-12. The people are told to ask the neighboring states two rhetorical questions to which the answer is "No." To make His point, Yahweh uses two examples from nature. Both questions concern natural laws to which the elements of nature are obedient, like the perpetual snow that covers the top of Mt. Hermon in Lebanon and feeds the rivers that flow from the mountain. God compares the obedience of nature to the disobedience of the people of Israel who abandoned the God who created the mountains and the rivers.
Question: What is the "horrible thing" in verse 13b and the "object of horror in verse 16?
Answer: The "horrible thing" is Virgin Israel's adultery with pagan gods/idol worship and defilement of Yahweh's Temple with illicit worship (verse 15).
15 And yet my people have forgotten me! They burn incense to a Nothing! They have been made to stumble in their ways, the ancient paths, to walk in paths, on an unmade road...
The complaint that the people have forgotten Yahweh is repeated again (see Jer 2:32; 3:21; 13:25; 23:27), and refers back to Moses' accusation against future generations in his final homily: You forget the Rock who fathered you, the God who made you, you no longer remember (Dt 32:18). Instead of walking the righteous path God set for the people if they followed His Law and kept His covenant, their forgetting has caused them to "stumble in their ways" and to walk a path of idolatry.
Jeremiah 18:18 ~ The Plot Against Jeremiah
In this short prose section, the people plan to do away with Jeremiah by making false accusations against him. They reason to themselves, what does the loss of life of just one priest matter? In this passage, Jeremiah becomes another Christ figure whose people also slandered His name and brought false charges against Him, calling Jesus a blasphemer, agent of Satan, and planned His death (Mt 12:24; 26:59; Mk 2:6-7; Jn 7:1; 11:49-53). Persecution and plots against Jeremiah are mentioned twelve times: 11:19; 12:6; 15:20-21; 18:18, 20; 20:10; 26:24; 36:26; 37:11-12; 38:1-16.
Jeremiah 18:19-23 ~ Jeremiah Appeals to Yahweh
In this poetry section, Jeremiah appeals to Yahweh to protect him from his enemies. He reminds the Lord that, in the past, he had offered prayers of intercession for the people, but now, since that are actively planning his death, Jeremiah asks for God's judgment to be delivered against them. Notice how Jeremiah repeats the same judgments God gave him in his various judgment oracles (c.f., Jer 11:11, 22; 12:12-13; 14:12; 15:2; 16:4). Jeremiah's anger at his people's betrayal recalls his similar angry denunciation of them in 11:20. Jeremiah's reaction is very humanly realistic: when it becomes personal, Jeremiah is not willing to ask for mercy for the people!
Chapter 19
The fifth object lesson and its preaching oracle must date prior to 605 BC. In the fourth year of King Jehoiakim's reign, in 605 BC, the Temple hierarchy barred Jeremiah from entrance into the Temple precincts (Jer 36:1, 5). The incident recorded in 19:14, when Yahweh commanded Jeremiah to preach the oracle associated with the fifth object lesson within the inner courtyard of the Temple, probably disrupted the daily liturgical worship service and led to the drastic measure of completely banning Jeremiah from entering the Temple.
Jeremiah 19:1-9 ~ The Fifth Object Lesson
All of chapter 19 is in prose. The event of the fifth object lesson and the pronouncement of Yahweh's judgment on Jerusalem associated with the object lesson probably took place in 598 BC, just before the Babylonian siege and capture of the city. As in the linen waistcloth in 13:1, Jeremiah is told to go and purchase an object to use in his preaching. This time the object is a pottery jug.
Take some of the people's elders and some of the senior priests with you. 2 Go out towards the Valley of Ben-Hinnom, just outside the Gate of the Potsherds.
That Jeremiah is able to enlist certain of the elders of the people and chief priests from the Temple to accompany him says something about Jeremiah's importance in the city and at the Temple. Perhaps these are the same elders who spoke up in Jeremiah's defense at his trial about a decade earlier at the beginning of the reign of King Jehoiakim in 609 BC (see Jer 26:1, 17). The Potsherd's Gate must have been a gate leading out of the city to the south. It was probably near the district where professional potters had their shops and where broken pots were dumped.
The Valley of Ben-Hinnom was south of the city of Jerusalem and had an infamous reputation as the site where children were burned alive in sacrificed to Baal/Molech, and it was the location of the ceremonial graveyard called the Topheth, meaning "incinerator" (see Lev 18:21; 20:2-5; Dt 12:31; 18:10; 1 Kng 16:3; 21:6; 23:10; 2 Chr 33:1, 6; Jer 7:31; 32:35; Ez 16:21).
The oracle that begins in verse 3 is to be addressed to the Kings of Judah and the people in the presence of the delegation of elders and chief priests. That Jeremiah's announcement is to include the "Kings of Judah" (plural in verse 3), may suggest that Jehoiakim had made his eighteen-year-old son, Jehoiachin, a co-ruler. Both Davidic Kings Jehoiakim and Jehoiachin were deposed by the Babylonians and carried away into exile in 598 BC (2 Kng 24:1-9; 2 Chr 36:5-10). Chapter 21 will take place during the reign of Jehoiachin's successor, King Zedekiah, the last Davidic king of Judah.
In verses 3-15 Jeremiah lays out the reason for the covenant lawsuit: the kings of Judah and their people have abandoned Yahweh and His covenant and have worshipped false gods (verse 4). What follows is a list of sins and a description of divine punishment for their apostasy and idol worship.
They have filled this place with the blood of the innocent; 5 for they have built high places for Baal to burn their sons as burnt offerings to Baal, a thing I never ordered, never mentioned, that had never entered my thoughts.
The "blood of the innocent" probably not only includes child sacrifice but the miscarriage of justice. Yahweh's firm stand against the Canaanite practice of child sacrifice, later adopted by the Phoenicians and other neighboring states, is repeated numerous times in the Law (see for example: Lev 18:21; 20:2-5; Dt 12:31; 18:10). If God feels so strongly about the misguided practice of sacrificing children to a false god like Baal/Molech, what will be the judgment against nations that have legalized abortion?
9 I shall make them eat the flesh of their own sons and daughters: they will eat one another during the siege, in the shortage to which their enemies, and those determined to kill them, will reduce them.'
It is a fact that sometimes people suffering under a prolonged siege will resort to cannibalism. This happened to Jerusalem during the Babylonian siege and centuries later during the Roman siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD. It was an event that was prophesied in the covenant curse-judgments in Deuteronomy 28:53-57.
Jeremiah 19:10-15 ~ The Broken Jug
Jeremiah completes the object lesson by delivering the oracle and breaking the clay jug in the presence of the crowd while announcing that Yahweh will destroy the city and its people in the same way and with such force that it will never be the same again. He delivered the first part of his oracle in the ritual cemetery outside the southern gate of Jerusalem in the Valley of Ben-Hinnom, and then he returned to the Temple, perhaps to the inner court where the sacrificial altar stood, to complete the last part of his oracle.
Question: According to Jeremiah's prophecy, the ceremonial burial ground for sacrificed children will be put to what new purpose?
Answer: It will become a burial ground for the citizens of Jerusalem.
Agape Bible Study
Ezekiel 47 - 48
Chapter 47: The Spring in the Temple and the Frontiers of the Holy Land
Ezekiel 47:1-12 ~ The Spring Flowing from the Temple
The water flowed out of the Temple from the west to the east and out of the closed eastern gate (44:1-2) all the way down the Arabah that is Rift Valley and includes the Jordan River Valley and the Dead Sea area stretching to Elath and the Gulf of Aqaba. Everywhere the water from the Temple flowed it became deeper until it formed a great river, and the land was purified and brought forth life. The only exception was the marshes and lagoons that remained salty. The fruit trees on either side of the river were eternally healthy and continually bearing fruit and leaves that healed sickness.
Question: What are the similarities between Ezekiel's vision of the River of Life and St. John's vision in the Book of Revelation 22:1-2?
Answer: The comparison between the vision of the River of Life in Ezekiel and the Book of Revelation:
| River of Life in Ezekiel 47:1-12 | River of Life in Revelation 22:1-2 |
| It began as a stream flowing to the east from under the Temple threshold (Ez 47:1). | The angel identifies the river as "the river of life" (Rev 22:1a). |
| The water flowed out of the Temple's outer east gate on the right side (Ez 47:2). | It began flowing, crystal clear, from the throne of God and the Lamb and flowed down the middle of the new Jerusalem (Rev 22:1b-2a). |
| Every thousand cubits, the stream grew deeper as Ezekiel waded in the waters (Ez 47:3-5). | John sees the river but does not wade into it (Rev 22:1a) |
| It became a great river impossible to cross, and the guide placed Ezekiel on the shore (Ez 47:6). | John only sees the river flowing through the new Jerusalem. |
| Trees grew on either side of the river banks that bore fruit every month and with leaves with healing properties (Ez 47:7, 12). | On either bank were "trees of life" that bore twelve crops of fruit a year and leaves "which are the cure for the nations" (Rev 22:2). |
| The waters flowed east to the Arabah and then south to the Dead Sea which became purified (Ez 47:8). | John does not see the river's destination. |
| Everywhere the river flowed, it brought forth abundant life (Ez 47:9-10). | The river will bring life "to the nations" (Rev 22:2c). |
| The marshes and lagoons will remain salty (Ez 47:11). | |
| Michal E. Hunt Copyright © 2018 | |
Ezekiel shares his vision of the river flowing from the end of the Temple and emptying into the Dead Sea as it revitalizes everything it meets on its journey, including the purification of the salty, lifeless waters of the Dead Sea. However, there is no end to the river's flow that brings the "cure" (of sin) to the nations of the earth.
Question: This is one of the most startling images in the book. What river does it recall from Genesis Chapter 2 and what tree? What does this link suggest symbolically? How is this river different and what does this difference suggest?
Answer: The stream flowing out of the Temple in Ezekiel (and the River of Life flowing from the throne of God and the Lamb in Revelation) is reminiscent of the river that flowed out of Eden, dividing into four branches to sustain life on the earth in Genesis 2:10-14 before the fall of Adam. The trees in Ezekiel' vision recall the fruit bearing trees in the Garden of Eden and especially the Tree of Life in the center of the garden (Gen 2:8-9). In Ezekiel and Revelation, however, the single river itself gives life and health, and the trees are all "trees of life." The symbolism of the vision shows that the renewal of liturgical worship will bring blessings to the whole of the covenant people and the land in a new creation. God will present a remedy for the curse of the sin of Adam that hurt humanity and all creation.
Ezekiel's vision of the river of life also recalls Jesus words in John 7:37 on the last day of the Feast of Shelters when He proclaimed: "If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, "'Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.'" The Fathers of the Church link this text of St. John with Ezekiel's vision. They saw in the river flowing from the Temple the waters of Christian Baptism that flow from Christ who is life, and from the water that burst forth from Christ's side as He hung on the altar of the Cross (Jn 19:34). St. Barnabas wrote: "We go down to the water's edge steeped in our sins and impurity, and we walk out of the water, our hearts filled with grace, fear of the Lord and hope in Jesus" (Epistles of Barnabas, 11.10).
Verses 7-9 and 12 also remind us of the promises made to the Church of the redeemed in the Book of Revelation. In Revelation 7:17 and the vision of St. John in Revelation 22:1-5 (quoted previously), he describes the new Jerusalem and the new Temple of the new Heaven and earth after the Second Coming of Christ and the Last Judgment:
- For the Lamb who is in the center of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to springs of life-giving water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes (Rev 7:17).
- Then the angel showed me the river of life-giving water, sparkling like crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of its street. On either side of the river grew the tree of life that produces fruit twelve times a year, once each month; the leaves of the trees serve as medicine for the nations. Nothing accursed will be found there anymore. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will look upon his face, and his name will be one their foreheads. Night will be no more, nor will they need light from lamp or sun, for the Lord God shall give them light, and they shall reign forever and ever (Rev 22:1-5).
The Fathers of the Church saw the River of Life as an allusion to the third Person of the Most Holy Trinity, since living water is a symbol of the Holy Spirit, as in Baptism by water and the Holy Spirit (Jn 3:3, 5; Jn 4:10-14; Acts 1:5; Rev 21:6). On the last day of the Feast of Shelters/Tabernacles, Jesus cried out to the worshippers within the Temple: On the last day, the great day of the festival, Jesus stood and cried out: "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me! Let anyone who believes in me come and drink! As scripture says, "'From his heart shall flow streams of living water.'" He was speaking of the Spirit which those who believed in him were to receive for there was no Spirit as yet because Jesus had not yet been glorified (Jn 7:37-39).
The annual pilgrim feast of the Feast of Shelters/Tabernacles (Dt 16:16) commemorated the Mosaic water-miracle when God made life-giving water flow from a rock (Ex 17:1-7; Num 20:9-11). The festival included readings from Scripture passages foretelling life-giving water for Zion from our Ezekiel passage and Zechariah 14:8. The water of life is God's grace, which flows from Christ to His Church! This life-giving water is available to the Church now in the waters of Christian Baptism that prepare us for the greater gift of eternal life that is to come.
Ezekiel 47:13-23 ~ The Frontiers of the Holy Land
Yahweh defined the borders of Canaan for the Israelites in Numbers 34:1-15 and Joshua 1:1-5 that were ideal boundaries. The Israelites were unable to secure the promised northern border until the time of David, and then they were unable to keep them (also see lists in Gen 15:18; Dt 1-7; 11:24; Judg 20:1). The political borders of Israel only extended as far north as the territory of Hamath under Kings David of the United Kingdom of Israel (died c. 970 BC, 1 Chr 13:5) and King Jeroboam II of the Northern Kingdom (ruled c. 782-743 BC, 2 Kng 14:25).
This passage repeats some of those traditions, but there are differences. Some of the place-names are different, so cannot be identified, and, apparently, the northern frontier was to pass north of Tripoli and include the territory of Damascus (verses 15-16), which did not happen. The River Jordan marks the eastern frontier, whereas in the original division of the land there were tribes occupying land on the east side of the Jordan River: Gad, Reuben, and half of Manasseh (Num 34:14-15).
Chapter 48: Distribution of the Land and the Gates of Jerusalem
Ezekiel 48:1-29 ~ The Division of the Land
That the division refers to the land of Israel is made clear by the geographic terms that identify the borders of the nation of Israel. The division of the land is not the same as the divisions made by Joshua after the conquest of Canaan when the drawing of lots determined each portion of tribal land (Josh 13:7-19:51). The priests and Levites did not receive a portion of the land. They did receive forty-eight cities and adjoining pasture land in the original partition of the land and six cities of refuge, three on the east side of the Jordan and three on the west side (Josh 20:1-21:42).
The new plan divides the land oddly into parallel strips running north to south from the eastern frontier of the Jordan River to the Mediterranean and divided into fourteen portions. Agreeing with the boundaries set to the land in Chapter 47, this passage shows that the former Transjordan tribes resettled to the west of the Jordan River. There are seven tribes to the north. In the center is Yahweh's portion surrounding Jerusalem. This sacred portion subdivides between the priests (with Jerusalem and the Temple) and the Levites, with what is leftover assigned to Jerusalem as common land. The territory of the nasi/prince stretches from the east and west of this sacred portion. Finally, there are five tribes to the south.
48:30-35 ~ The Conclusion of the Vision
In the final vision (Chapters 40-48), Ezekiel will mention the "city" seventeen times in the Hebrew text (40:1, 2, 3; 45:6, 7 twice; 48:15 twice, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 30, 31, 35), but he never calls it Jerusalem. We assume he is referring to Jerusalem from his reference to the "city" because he mentions its "capture" or "destruction" (40:1) and that it is south of the Temple on "the high mountain" (40:2).
Ezekiel 48:30-35 ~ The Gates of the City
The list of gates in Revelation 21:12-13 begins on the east instead of on the north as in Ezekiel's description. You will recall that in 44:1-2 the outer east gate must remain closed because the glory of God passed through it into the Temple complex (Ez 43:1-4); but to which of the three outer gates does this prohibition refer? It is probably the Benjamin gate that is the middle eastern gate and mentioned in Zechariah's prophecy of the return of God to the Mount of Olives (Zech 14:10-11).
In Jesus' time, eight outer gates led into the city of Jerusalem. See the document "The Gates of Jerusalem" and the document on the Eastern gate.
Question: Into which gate did Jesus, the divine Son of God, enter Jerusalem on Palm/Passion Sunday coming from Bethany on the Mount of Olives? See Zech 14:4
Answer: Since the Mount of Olives is to the east of the city of Jerusalem, He must have entered through the east gate.
Sometime after the conquest of the Holy Land by Muslim armies in the 7th century AD, their imams became aware of the prophecy concerning the return of the Jewish-Christian Messiah through the eastern gate (Zech 14:1-5; Acts 1:11). In response to the prophecy, they walled up the eastern gate that faces the Mount of Olives and dug graves up to the wall to make the site ritually unclean for a Jew. It has remained closed ever since.
The walled-in Gate in Jerusalem's eastern wall facing the Mount of Olives.
When St. John witnesses the new heaven and new earth and the passing away of the first heaven and first earth, he also saw the holy city of the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven like a Bride and heard the voice of God call from the throne, "Look, here God lives among human beings. He will make his home among them, they will be his people, and he will be their God, God-with-them (Rev 21:4). This is the classic formula of covenant formation (Gen 17:8; Ex 25:8; Lev 26:11-12; Jer 31:33; Ez 37:27; and cf. 2 Cor 6:16). The intimate presence of God among His people is the mark of His covenant relationship. It will reach its climax at the end with His Church, filling the lives of all His Baptized faithful washed with His Spirit and nourishing them with the Eucharist on their journey through life to His home in Heaven.
Ezekiel's last vision from Chapters 40-48 generates many unanswered questions:
- What is the huge, walled, fortress-like Temple so unlike previous Temples?
- Why is there no Ark of the Covenant or High Priest?
- Who is the nasi who functions as more of a religious leader than a civil leader?
- Why the elaborate list of sacrifices that do not match the commands in Mosaic Law?
- What is the purpose of the angelic guide who was continually setting boundaries and making judgments?
- What is the significance of the wooden table-altar?
- Why does the east gate remain closed?
- What is the significance of the waters flowing out of the Temple?
Perhaps it is easier to discern what the visionary Temple isn't as opposed to what it is:
- Rev 21:4
The answer to the question why there is no Ark probably lies in Jeremiah's prophecy in Jeremiah 3:16 that one day the Ark will no longer have importance. Jeremiah hid the Ark and the Altar of Incense before the destruction of the Temple, and it was never recovered (2 Mac 2:4-6). But why is there no High Priest and why does the nasi seem to assume his role?
In 1 Corinthians 13:12, St. Paul wrote: Now we see only reflections in a mirror, mere riddles, but then we shall be seeing face to face. Now, I can know only imperfectly; but then I shall know just as fully as I am myself known. It is possible that the closed eastern gate, the wooden altar-table, and the stream under the Temple are the keys to this metaphorical riddle? The Fathers of the Church believed the closed gate referred to the womb and birth canal of the Virgin Mary. Once God enfleshed had passed through, no other mortal could use the same entrance to the world of man (Ez 44:1-2). Does this mean everything in the vision points to the New Covenant in Christ Jesus? Is it possible that:
- Is the fortress-Temple the walled citadel of the Vatican, the home of the Universal Church of the New Israel? The Vatican is a walled religious fortress covering 110 acres or 4,736,121 square feet.
- Is there is no High Priest because Jesus Christ is the New Covenant High Priest, and He resides in the heavenly Temple offering His sacrifice forever until the end of the age (Heb 3:1; 4:14-15; 7:20-21; 8:1-3; 9:11-14).
- Is the nasi and are his successors Christ's earthly representative, the Vicars of Christ?
- Do differences between Ezekiel's list of sacrifices and the Mosaic sacrifices indicate the end of animal sacrifice because the Christ will fulfill all sacrifices? Is it His nasi/chief that is responsible for seeing that His single but on-going sacrifice is offered on the altars of all Catholic churches in the sacrifice of the Eucharist? Is this why the text only mentions one Tamid lamb? St. John sees Jesus in heaven and describes Him as a lamb standing that seemed to have been sacrificed (Rev 5:6). The Greek word is Arion Hestekos that means "lamb standing." The Hebrew word "tamid" means "standing" as in continual or perpetual. When Ezekiel saw a wooden table as an altar in Ezekiel 41:21-22, was he discerning the future table of the Last Supper that became the first New Covenant altar of sacrifice where "the bread of the Presence of God" became the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ?
- It is possible that the angelic guide and the River of Life represent God the Holy Spirit? It is God the Holy Spirit who gives the Church of the new Israel the judgments and boundaries for the New Covenant people of God to live holy lives in imitation of their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
The wooden altar-table (Ez 41:22), the closed gate that God passed through to return to His people (44:1-2), and the River of Life flowing from the Temple (47:1-12) are all significant clues to understanding Ezekiel's vision:
- The closed gate may represent Mary's closed womb in her perpetual virginity, or the promise that in the newly established order God will never leave His people again, or the closing of the eastern gate of Jerusalem until Christ's return in glory. Or do all of these apply to the closed eastern outer gate?
- Jesus' table of the Last Supper was a wooden table that became an altar. The consecrated altar in every Catholic church represents the table of the Last Supper, Christ's altar of sacrifice that is the wooden Cross, and the empty tomb. As for the wooden altar-table, what is its significance unless it points to the foreshadowing of Jesus' Passion as He offered Himself in His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity at the wooden table of the Last Supper?
- The River of Life that is reminiscent of the life-giving river in the first creation is the strongest symbol in Ezekiel's last vision that points to the New Covenant, a new creation in Christ Jesus, and the new, healing tree of life that is the Cross that made possible the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the earth.
"And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age" (Mt 28:20 NAB).
CHALLENGE: “The Catholic Church was created by the Emperor Constantine when he made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire.”
DEFENSE: Both of these claims are historically false.
Although Constantine is often credited with being the first Christian emperor, he didn’t make Christianity the official religion. What he did, together with his colleague and rival, Licinius, was issue the Edict of Milan in A.D. 313, which proclaimed religious toleration for Christianity among the other religions in the empire.
He also didn’t create the Catholic Church, which already existed in his day. Indeed, it had already been known by that name for more than 200 years. Thus, writing around A.D. 110, St. Ignatius of Antioch stated: “Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude also be; even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church” (Letter to the Smyrneans 8).
The fact that Ignatius introduces the phrase “Catholic Church” without stopping to explain it indicates it was already in use, and he could expect people in the distant church of Smyrna to understand what it meant. This wide circulation therefore must have begun in the second half of the first century.
The meaning of the Greek term for “Catholic” (katholikos) is “universal” (from kata holos, “according to the whole”). It was introduced as a way of identifying the universal Church established by Christ (Matt. 16:18), as distinct from local congregations. “Very quickly, however, in the latter half of the second century at latest, we find it conveying the suggestion that the Catholic is the true Church as distinct from the heretical congregations” (J.N.D. Kelly, Early Christian Doctrines, 5th ed., 190).
“The Catholic Church” was thus simply the common way of referring to the original Church established by Christ, not Constantine.
Those who make this objection frequently claim that, at the time of Constantine, various doctrinal changes were introduced that are characteristic of the Catholic Church and that separate it from apostolic Christianity. However, no doctrinal changes were introduced. Even the definition of the divinity of Christ, which occurred during Constantine’s reign at the First Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325), was an affirmation of previous Church teaching.
Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist
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