Tertullian

Tertullian (155-220) wrote, “Prayer alone conquers God.”  But I thought nothing could conquer God.  I’ll say more about his quote in a moment but first some background on Tertullian.  He lived in Carthage in North Africa, second only to Rome as a vital nerve center of early Christianity.  Tertullian became a Christian in his late 30’s.  The determination and moral rigor of Christian martyrs at the gladiatorial games influenced him to follow Christ.  He emerged as a leading theologian as the church was transitioning from a small, persecuted minority to a formidable power for positive change in the Roman Empire.  He was a prolific writer, employing a ready wit, biting satire and even inventing words to describe his theology.  He coined the word “Trinity” to describe this vital, yet hard to understand doctrine of our three-in-one God and provided the first written exposition of the Lord’s Prayer in the early church.  One such treatise, De Oratione (On Prayer), included the above quote about conquering God.  He didn’t mean to suggest that prayer could override God’s sovereignty.  It was his way of provoking his readers into active thought about how God chooses to be influenced by our prayers.  He continued, “Christ has imbued prayer with every power for doing good.  Prayer flushes out sins, repels temptations, stamps out persecutions, comforts the fainthearted, gives new strength to the courageous, brings travelers safely home, calms the waves, confounds robbers, feeds the poor, overrules the rich, lifts up the fallen, supports those who are falling and sustains those who stand firm.”  There are so many Tertullian quotes worth citing but I mention only one on forgiveness, “You can’t undo anything you’ve already done, but you can face up to it. You can tell the truth. You can seek forgiveness. And then you can let God do the rest.”  He described prayer in his treatise as an offering to God: