Re: The Early Christians: Creed, Confession and Scripture

Bruderhof wrote:

> There will never be another God, nor has there ever been another God
> from eternity, except the one, who created and ordered this universe. 
> Furthermore, we believe that our God is none other than yours.
> According to our faith he is one and the same God as he who with a
> strong hand and an outstretched arm led your fathers out of Egypt. We
> have placed our trust in no other God (for there is no other) but only
> in him whom you also have trusted, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and
> Jacob. 
> 
> The law proclaimed on Horeb is of course obsolete and belongs to you
> alone, whereas ours is for all men everywhere and at all times. Now
> whenever a law is laid down in opposition to another law, it
> supersedes the former one. In the same way, a later compact annuls the
> former one. Christ has been given to us as the eternal and final law.
> We can rely on the covenant, after which there will be no further law,
> no precept, no command. 
> 
> Justin, Dialogue with Trypho the Jew 11.1, 2.
> 


Do you think we conceal the object of our worship because we have no 
temples and altars? What image of God can I invent since in reality man 
himself is God’s image? What temple shall I build him when the whole 
world, the work of his hands, cannot contain him? And I, a man who lives 
comparatively spaciously, should I shut up the greatness of such majesty 
in a single small cell? Should we not rather make a sanctuary for him in 
our souls? Should we not consecrate a holy place to him in our inmost 
hearts? Shall I sacrifice little and big animals to him? After all, he 
created them for my use, and so I could only return to him his own gift.

Certainly, we cannot show or see the God we worship. He is God for us 
just because we can know him but cannot see him. In his works, in all the 
movements of the universe, we perceive his power always, whether in 
thunder, lightning, an approaching storm, or in the clear sky.

And you believe that this God knows nothing of the doings and dealings of 
men? You believe that from his throne in heaven he cannot visit all men 
or know individual men? Man, in this you are mistaken and deceived. How 
can God be far away! The whole heaven and the whole earth and all things 
beyond the confines of the world are filled with God. Everywhere he is 
very close to us, yes, much more than that, he is in us. Look at the sun 
again! Fixed in the sky, its light is still poured out over all the 
earth. It is equally present everywhere and penetrates everything. Its 
splendor is nowhere dimmed. How much more is God present, he who is the 
creator of all things and sees all things, from whom nothing can remain 
hidden! He is present in darkness, present even in our thoughts, which 
are a darkness of another kind as it were. All our deeds are done under 
his eyes. I would almost say: we live with him.

Minucius Felix, Octavius 32.1, 2, 4, 7-9.