De Testimony Of The Soul By Tertullian

For 2,000 years people all around the world have followed Jesus. For 2,000 years people have resisted Jesus and persecuted those who follow Him. As followers of the God of love, who is perfect and has called us to be set apart, what is our response? We cannot just sit by the side and say nothing, but we cannot retaliate. Out of resistance to the Gospel arose people called apologists. These are people who wanted to intelligently and logically defend their faith, opening the minds and heart of unbelievers to what they had to say. We can learn a lot from their bold example and their appeals to logic, emotion, and ethics. These apologists have lived out 2 Timothy 2:24-26 (NASB) The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all,

Tertullian is making points about previous proconsuls who persecuted Christians and their fate. He points to the fact that Christians are willing not only to die for their faith but also that they love their enemies. He explains that if they choose to persecute Christians that they may not face consequences here but God will be distribute retribution for their actions against him.

In De Testimonio Animae, The Testimony of the Soul, Tertullian makes a convincing stance on the soul of men pointing to God. Every man has a soul, and every man knows (whether he admits it or not) that the soul lives on even after the body dies. The pagan philosophers write books and compose teaching on the soul and about God, pointing to the fact that every man recognizes a higher being. He points to the false gods all being like man, but only the True God is godlike.

Tertullian’s most famous writings are Ad Nations (To the Nations) and Apologeticus. He wrote Nations to all the countries that were part of and in allegiance with the Roman Empire. The purpose being to open the minds of the nations to consider Christianity in light of their accusations and treatment against Christians. In 20 chapters he addresses many accusations and legal paradoxes, most often pointing out the faults and hypocrisy of the Pagans. Because of the similarities between the two writings, The Apology is said to be written after Ad Nationes as a more developed and shorter

These accusations against true Christians are of course easy to refute. As for infanticide, Tertullians main points are: 1) Pagans murder their children by leaving them to the elements or drowning them for the sake of “population control”, and; 2)Quoting Tertullian’s sarcasm, “no-one has ever come across a half-eaten baby.” (Tertullian) As for incest, that is the worship practice of Pagans and the True God counts it as sin. Tertullian discusses the love that Christians have for each other, but it is a brotherly love that is not twisted and distorted as it is with Pagans. As finally the treason against Caesar- this again, solely belongs to Pagans. In the midst of the secular revolts against Caesar, the Christians were busy praying for Caesar and the Roman Empire, which shows their Biblical and godly allegiance to the