Recently Mike Winger, a pastor and featured teacher on Biblical Thinker online, posted a very long series of videos exploring the subject of women in Christian ministry.[1] In part twelve of that video series, Winger does a careful examination of Paul’s use of the term authenteō in 1 Timothy 2:12, which he believes limits the […]
It seems clear from Scripture that Jesus was both human and divine. Could it be that both natures combined to form a single, hybrid nature? That’s the logic behind a view called “monophysitism.” Background and Summary To understand monophysitism, it’s helpful to go back and look at the debate over whether Jesus was one or […]
The word “Trinity” takes the prefix “tri” (three) and connects it with the word “unity.” The doctrine teaches that God is a unity of three persons. The word itself isn’t used in the Old or New Testament. Is it a biblical teaching, nonetheless? What follows is a brief retelling of the story of how early […]
It’s clear from Scripture and our own experience that humans, though created in God’s image, are sinners. We have a decided inner propensity toward sin. But is it at least possible that a regular human who is capable of sinning could somehow live a sinless life? Theoretically? That’s where “Pelagianism” comes in. Background of the Pelagian […]
In its early centuries, the church wrestled with how exactly to describe Jesus. When Arius taught that Jesus wasn’t fully God, the church consensus clarified that Jesus was, in fact, fully God. Then, when Apollinarius swung the pendulum to the other side, suggesting that Jesus couldn’t have been fully human, the church clarified that Jesus […]
Choose Courageous Renewal We have articulated the principles by which we believe church leaders and churches can meet the most important challenge we face right now: Courageous Renewal Courage is needed because we are now living in a culture whose values and practices are such that people are increasingly hostile toward many of the stands […]
At the Council of Nicea in A.D. 325, the vast majority of the church’s leaders affirmed that Jesus was fully God (contrary to the teaching of Arius). Yet, if Jesus is fully God, then doesn’t that call into question Jesus’ full humanity? Wouldn’t it be easier to believe that Jesus was of only one nature, […]
After the Roman emperor Constantine used Christianity to unify his empire, his son Constantius went one step further: He attempted to unify the Roman empire under an even more unifying version of Christianity: Arianism. Arianism, with its less-than-fully divine Jesus, made for an easier version of Christianity for pagans to assimilate into. But was it […]
