McIlvaine stated his revival principles in a letter to one of his parishes in his second year as bishop of Ohio. The parish, which had never enjoyed the regular services of a pastor, was clearly in need of wise and timely advice, as the teeming energies stirred by revival were producing startling results both favorable and unfavorable.

The Orthodox Patriarch studied the twenty-one points of the Augsburg Confession and wrote a response: "Epicrisis on the Confession of Augsburg."

While agreeing with some Lutheran positions, the Orthodox reject many others.

Largely, the disagreement was over the role of "tradition."

In 1 Corinthians 2.1-5, Paul contrasts Greek and Roman rhetorical practices with his own proclamation. Rhetoric is defined as the art of persuasion. Paul explains it as lofty speech and plausible words of wisdom (vv. 1, 4), or the wisdom of men (v. 5). His speech was defined not by the medium of the message but the message itself, not by clever speech but by a demonstration of the Spirit and power of God (4, 5). The difference is between persuasive speech and persuasive truth.

On May 1, 418 over two hundred bishops meeting in Carthage declared Pelagius a heretic and refused to ordain Caelestius, Pelagius's disciple, when he would not renounce the teaching. Pelagius was a 5th century British monk who was ridiculously popular for teaching the message people wanted to hear. He held a view of original sin weak enough to allow the possibility that someone can actively contribute towards their own salvation.