@FirstChurchofJerusalem
Today's Early Church Wisdom
“The professions and trades of those who are going to be accepted into the community must be examined. The nature and type of each must be established… brothel, sculptors of idols, charioteer, athlete, gladiator…give it up or be rejected. A military constable must be forbidden to kill, neither may he swear; if he is not willing to follow these instructions, he must be rejected. A proconsul or magistrate who wears the purple and governs by the sword shall give it up or be rejected. Anyone taking or already baptized who wants to become a soldier shall be sent away, for he has despised God.”
~ Hippolytus (170AD – 236AD)
This week's Psalm is Psalm 31 'My Rock, My Shield, My Song'

Perfect Submission

Bible commentators have noted that the meaning of the term dikaiosynē (righteousness) includes “compliance with everything enjoined” and active participation in God’s redemptive order. At the Jordan, Jesus, though sinless, steps into a baptism of repentance to identify with humanity and inaugurate His mission, embodying what one commentary summarises as doing “all that God requires” and modelling obedient submission. What a wonderful thought: “All” that God requires! Here we see a righteousness that is not passive purity but lived obedience. This is what John Gill describes as fulfilling both moral and appointed duties under the Father’s will, and what B. W. Johnson frames as “perfect obedience” expressed in action. The greatest power comes with the greatest love and submission to God. He gave His all for us, let us give our all for Him.