How the Early Church Found the Trinity in the Old Testament

Kyle Hughes has a good summary here.

Three Mistakes when Reading the Church Fathers

Roger Pearse has a helpful post here related to errors commonly made in reading the Church Fathers.

Tertullian on the Apostolic Decree

J. Julius Scott has an interesting discussion on Tertullian's view of the Apostolic Decree in Acts 15. According to Scott,

He calls the decree the "pristine law" and the "compendia of discipline" that relaxes the OT law but binds 'from the more noxious' actions that were also prohibited by the OT. He believes the decree is "ever immutable" and exists "in perpetuity." Tertullian affirms that it "will cease [only] with
the world."

Does Tertullian interpret the decree as the basis of a new, Christian legalism? If by "legalism" we mean becoming a Christian, earning God's favor by observing laws. the answer. is negative. It would be a mistake to interpret any version of the decree, including Tertullian's, as legalism in this sense. The thrust of the earlier part of the record of the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 rejects that possibility. Salvation is clearly defined as a state received "by faith" (v 9) "through grace" (v 11). It is true that the provisions of the decree are called "necessary things" (15:28), but the letter containing them concludes with the statement that they are "necessary" in order that the Gentiles "will do well" (15:29). There is no hint in Acts that the decree was considered necessary for salvation, and Tertullian does not appear to introduce any such idea into his discussion of it.

"Legalism" may also refer to precise definition and regulation of the conduct of one already a Christian through stated ordinances. Tertullian's insistence upon the decree as a "compendium of discipline" and an irrevocable law for believers seems to indicate that he did regard it as the standard for a Christian legalism of this sort.

Scott, J. Julius, Jr. “Textual Variants of the Apostolic Decree and Their Setting in the Early Church,” In The Living and Active Word of God: Studies in Honor of Samuel J. Schultz, ed. Morris Inch and Ronald Youngblood (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1983), 179.

Online Bible Index for the Church Fathers

This looks to be a helpful resource for finding quotations on the Church Fathers.

HT: Mark Hoffman

Origen on the Prohibitions in Acts 15

Origen has an interesting take on the prohibitions in Acts 15:20, 29: 21:25. From his commentary on Romans 9:28 (Patrologia Graeca 14:1228) Origen writes,

“Now in these precepts where it says that no other burden ought to be imposed on Gentile believers except abstinence from the sacrifices of idols, from blood, from what has been suffocated and from fornication, homicide is not forbidden, nor adultery, nor theft, nor homosexual acts, nor other crimes that are punished by divine and human laws. But if it is saying that Christians must observe only that which it has recounted, it will appear to some that it granted license concerning the rest. But consider how the Holy Spirit manages affairs: since other crimes are avenged by laws of the world, it seemed superfluous for those things, which are sufficiently covered by human law, also to have been forbidden by divine law. It only decreed those things about which human law had said nothing and which seemed proper to religion.”

Prophecy of the Eucharist in Malachi?

Jake Belder has an interesting post in which he notes that some of the early Church Fathers viewed Malachi 1:10 as a prophecy of the Eucharist. Read the post here.