“Yes, but . . .” It can be annoying to hear someone say “Yes, but . . .” to correct something you’re saying. It’s like when a parent says, “Yes, he was wrong to take your toy, but it was also wrong of you to hit him.” Yet the “Yes, but . . .” approach […]
*Editor’s Note: With the demands of ministry and Sunday morning around the corner, it can be tempting to cut important corners in sermon preparation. Sometimes, it’s easy to emphasize what “will preach” and not pay much attention to what the text actually teaches. I recently caught up with a preacher/professor of preaching who aims for […]
November 11, 2024 A week ago, Bobby Harrington wrote in a pre-election article for RENEW.org that an election is a reflection. He wrote, “More than anything, this election will tell us Americans where our nation is spiritually and morally.”[1] If an election functions as a reflection for us to ponder as much as a route […]
From whom does the Holy Spirit proceed—just God the Father or the Father and the Son? And does it matter? This debate would go on to play a pivotal role in fracturing two halves of the church, into West (Roman Catholic) and East (Eastern Orthodox). Background and Summary The separation of West (Roman Catholic) from East (Eastern […]
A hallmark of Old Testament Judaism was its strict opposition to idolatry, and hence to religious images that could lead to image worship. The earliest Christians seemed to follow their Jewish predecessors with an uneasiness to such things. Their rejection of image-worship contributed to their caricature in the broader society as “atheists.” At some point […]
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 […]
