{"id":5793,"date":"2016-01-26T11:04:54","date_gmt":"2016-01-26T15:04:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/?p=5793"},"modified":"2017-03-29T13:33:13","modified_gmt":"2017-03-29T17:33:13","slug":"philippians-212-working-out-ones-salvation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2016\/01\/philippians-212-working-out-ones-salvation.html","title":{"rendered":"Philippians 2:12 & “Work[ing] Out” One’s Salvation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"OLYMPUS<\/a><\/p>\n

Finish line for a marathon race in Eugene, Oregon. Photo by Michael McCullough, 1 May 2011<\/span> [Flickr <\/a>\/ CC BY 2.0<\/a> license]<\/p>\n

* * * * *<\/span><\/p>\n

This came about in a closed Facebook theological group, where I had posted my paper,<\/span> The Bible on Participation in Our Own Salvation<\/a>. One of the passages presented there (it\u2019s simply a collection of Bible passages) is the following:<\/span><\/p>\n

Philippians 2:12<\/span>-13<\/span>\u00a0(RSV) Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence,<\/span>\u00a0work out your own salvation<\/span>\u00a0with fear and trembling; [13] for God is at work in you, both to will and to<\/span>\u00a0work<\/span>\u00a0for his good pleasure.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWork out your own salvation with fear and trembling\u201d is pretty straightforward stuff. Then Paul says God is at work in us, doing this. Exactly! God does<\/em> it; we cooperate<\/em> with Him, so there is a sense in which we participate through free will in our own salvation. It\u2019s always by grace<\/em>; yet it doesn\u2019t exclude<\/em> our free will work and appropriation<\/em> of that grace.<\/span><\/p>\n

An article was brought up by one of the members of the group in reply to this passage. It was written by one<\/span> Bob Wilkin<\/a>, a dispensationalist theologian (ThM and PhD from Dallas Theological Seminary) who is connected with the<\/span> Grace Evangelical Society<\/a>. He wrote in a 2010 article<\/span>, \u201cWork Out Your Salvation: Vindication at the Bema (Phil 2:12)\u201d<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Why didn\u2019t I see it before? \u201cYour salvation\u201d in 2:12 is so obviously compared to my salvation in 1:19! Paul anticipated his own vindication at the Bema. And he urges the readers to see to it that they too are vindicated at the Judgment Seat of Christ. They too faced persecution (see 1:27 -30). Would they continue to boldly magnify the name of Jesus? If not, they would face shame at the Bema. If so, they would hear Jesus\u2019 praise there.<\/span>

I have heard many labored explanation of what it means to \u201cwork out\u201d your own salvation. People struggle against works salvation. Well, this passage is preaching works \u201csalvation.\u201d But the salvation here is not eternal salvation from hell, but vindication at the Bema.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bob Wilkin has a very different view from that of Ralph Earle, a Nazarene and Professor of New Testament and Biblical Literature. In his Word Meanings of the New Testament<\/em><\/a>\u00a0(one-volume, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1987, p. 338, on this p<\/span>assage), he writes:<\/span><\/p>\n


\nThe verb is katergazesthe<\/em>. It means \u201cwork on to the finish,\u201d or \u201ccarry out to the goal.\u201d While Christ purchased our salvation and offers it to us as a free gift, yet there is a part that we must do if the salvation is to be completed in our case. . . . \u201cPaul makes no attempt to reconcile divine sovereignty and human free agency, but boldly proclaims both\u201d [citation of Baptist scholar A. T. Robertson].<\/span><\/p>\n


\nThis is precisely the Catholic position as well: synergy: co-workers or co-laborers with God.\u00a0For v. 13 Dr. Earle comments, citing Marvin Vincent, who cited Augustine:<\/span><\/p>\n


\nAugustine expressed it this way: \u201cWe will, but God works the will in us. We work, therefore, but God works the working in us\u201d . . . The point is that our energy comes from Him.<\/span><\/p>\n


\nPhilippians 2:12 (with 2:13) does not<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0teach works salvation. It teaches that God gives the grace for salvation and that we then cooperate with that grace, by His grace, to apply it to our lives and eventual hoped-for eschatological salvation (entrance into heaven).<\/span><\/p>\n

The concept of grace alone is taught in the Bible, just as the concept of the Trinity is, without that word. There is no participation in initially receiving<\/em> the gift of salvation in Catholic teaching, over against Pelagianism and Semi-Pelagianism. Catholics agree with Protestants in believing in Grace Alone,<\/span> as I have written about<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Faith<\/em> alone, on the other hand, is directly and repeatedly denied<\/em> in the Bible:<\/span><\/p>\n

James 1:22<\/strong>\u00a0But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.<\/span><\/p>\n

James 2:14<\/strong> What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him?<\/span><\/p>\n

James 2:17<\/strong> So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.<\/span><\/p>\n

James 2:19-22<\/strong> You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe \u2014 and shudder.\u00a0[20] Do you want to be shown, you shallow man, that faith apart from works is barren?\u00a0[21] Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar?\u00a0[22] You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by works,<\/span><\/p>\n

James 2:24<\/strong> You see that a man is justified by works and NOT by faith ALONE.<\/span><\/p>\n

James 2:26<\/strong> For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead.<\/span><\/p>\n

For more on the interpretation of James 2,<\/span> see my refutation<\/a> of Baptist anti-Catholic apologist James White\u2019s treatment of it, in his book, The God Who Justifies<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s beyond odd (or bizarre) that if faith is everything<\/em> in salvation and [grace-caused, grace-soaked, cooperative, responsive, co-laboring] works are nothing<\/em>, that the Bible presents (in<\/span> 50 passages that I have found<\/a>) the exact opposite<\/em>\u00a0scenario (works being discussed to the almost total exclusion of faith) when it comes to passages about judgment and being admitted into heaven.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Works are part and parcel of faith, like the back side of a coin is part of the coin.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

However anyone wants to spin their theology, it remains true that in these 50 passages about judgment and why folks should be allowed in or barred from heaven, works are front and center.\u00a0That has to be squarely and honestly faced by anyone who truly respects the Bible as the inspired revelation that it is.<\/span><\/p>\n

Knowing these facts, one cannot possibly maintain a faith-alone position with [grace-caused, grace-soaked, cooperative, responsive, co-laboring] works being excluded altogether<\/em> from the equation of salvation. Yet the vast majority of Protestants do precisely that. They separate works in a little box called \u201csanctification\u201d and believe that they have nothing whatsoever<\/em> to do with salvation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Both<\/span>\u00a0Luther<\/a> and<\/span> Calvin<\/a> tied works very closely to salvation: if not in a totally \u201cCatholic\u201d fashion, at least very close in spirit to it in many ways.\u00a0It was<\/span> Melanchthon<\/a> who really brought about the abstract separation into justification and sanctification, and never the twain shall meet. This move was unbiblical, and resulted because he and most Protestants since think in unbiblically dichotomous and \u201ceither\/or\u201d terms; whereas the Hebraic \/ biblical view is \u201cboth\/and\u201d \u2014 with striking (but non-contradictory and ultimately harmonious) paradoxes that are held together by biblical statements supporting both sides.<\/span><\/p>\n

Again, the Bible views faith and works as \u00a0two sides of one coin,\u00a0<\/span>according to massive evidence, not just in James (which is most explicit) but also in many many Pauline and Gospel passages as well.\u00a0See also, for example,\u00a0the<\/span> story of the rich young ruler<\/a>, that I recently<\/span> wrote about\u00a0twice<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

For St. Paul in particular,\u00a0faith and works are organically connected, as we see in no less than 50 passages<\/a> from his inspired writing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Stay in touch! Like Biblical Evidence for Catholicism on Facebook:<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
\n

Biblical Evidence for Catholicism<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Finish line for a marathon race in Eugene, Oregon. Photo by Michael McCullough, 1 May 2011 [Flickr \/ CC BY 2.0 license] * * * * * This came about in a closed Facebook theological group, where I had posted my paper, The Bible on Participation in Our Own Salvation. One of the passages presented […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2331,"featured_media":5794,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[1987,1482,1985,1986,2342,244,1471,229,1123,1120,2344,1210,1988,2341,1118,243,1207],"class_list":["post-5793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-salvation-justification","tag-appropriation-of-grace","tag-catholic-soteriology","tag-co-laborers-with-god","tag-cooperation-with-gods-grace","tag-faith-alone","tag-grace","tag-grace-alone","tag-heaven","tag-imputed-justification","tag-infused-justification","tag-justification","tag-merit","tag-philippians-212","tag-salvation","tag-sanctification","tag-soteriology-2","tag-synergy"],"yoast_head":"\nPhilippians 2:12 & "Work[ing] Out" One's Salvation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"God does it; we cooperate with Him. Salvation is always by grace, yet it doesn't exclude our free will work and appropriation of that grace.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2016\/01\/philippians-212-working-out-ones-salvation.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Philippians 2:12 & "Work[ing] Out" One's Salvation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"God does it; we cooperate with Him. Salvation is always by grace, yet it doesn't exclude our free will work and appropriation of that grace.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2016\/01\/philippians-212-working-out-ones-salvation.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-01-26T15:04:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-03-29T17:33:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/572\/2016\/01\/MarathonRace.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"607\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dave Armstrong\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dave Armstrong\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2016\/01\/philippians-212-working-out-ones-salvation.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2016\/01\/philippians-212-working-out-ones-salvation.html\",\"name\":\"Philippians 2:12 & \\\"Work[ing] Out\\\" One's Salvation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-01-26T15:04:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-03-29T17:33:13+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/471eaa20e441eca4bb1ea50393cf632e\"},\"description\":\"God does it; we cooperate with Him. Salvation is always by grace, yet it doesn't exclude our free will work and appropriation of that grace.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2016\/01\/philippians-212-working-out-ones-salvation.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2016\/01\/philippians-212-working-out-ones-salvation.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2016\/01\/philippians-212-working-out-ones-salvation.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Philippians 2:12 & “Work[ing] Out” One’s Salvation\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/\",\"name\":\"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism\",\"description\":\"Catholic biblical apologetics\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/471eaa20e441eca4bb1ea50393cf632e\",\"name\":\"Dave Armstrong\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/820e6db89734ae7a9e5dac8d498f5ac7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/820e6db89734ae7a9e5dac8d498f5ac7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dave Armstrong\"},\"description\":\"Dave Armstrong is a Catholic author and apologist, who has been actively proclaiming and defending Christianity since 1981, and Catholicism in particular since 1991 (full-time since December 2001). Formerly a campus missionary, as a Protestant, Dave was received into the Catholic Church in February 1991, by the late, well-known catechist and theologian, Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave\u2019s articles have appeared in many influential Catholic periodicals, including \\\"This Rock\\\" (now called \\\"Catholic Answers Magazine\\\"), \\\"Envoy Magazine\\\" (Patrick Madrid), \\\"The Catholic Answer,\\\" \\\"The Coming Home Journal,\\\" \\\"Gilbert Magazine\\\" (American Chesterton Society), and \\\"The Latin Mass.\\\" He also writes a featured column for every issue of \\\"The Michigan Catholic\\\": published by the archdiocese of Detroit, and was editor for most of the apologetics tracts published by the St. Paul Street Evangelization apostolate. Dave\u2019s apologetics and writing apostolate was the subject of a feature article in the May 2002 issue of \\\"Envoy Magazine.\\\" He served as the staff moderator at the Internet discussion forum for The Coming Home Network, from 2007-2010. Dave has been interviewed on many nationally syndicated Catholic radio shows, including \\\"Catholic Answers Live\\\" (twice), \\\"Faith and Family Live\\\" (Steve Wood), \\\"Kresta in the Afternoon,\\\" \\\"Son Rise Morning Show,\\\" \\\"Catholic Connection\\\" (Teresa Tomeo), and \\\"The Catholics Next Door.\\\" His large and popular website, \\\"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism,\\\" was online from March 1997 to March 2007, and received the 1998 Catholic Website of the Year award from \\\"Envoy Magazine.\\\" His blog of the same name (now transferred to Patheos), begun in February 2004, contains more than 1,500 papers, at least 500 debates or dialogues, and over 50 distinct \\\"index\\\" web pages. Unsolicited correspondence has indicated many hundreds of conversions (or returns) to the Catholic faith as a result, by God's grace, of these writings. Dave's conversion story was published in the bestselling book \\\"Surprised by Truth\\\" (edited by Patrick Madrid; San Diego: Basilica Press, 1994). Sophia Institute Press has published six of his books: \\\"A Biblical Defense of Catholicism\\\" (Foreword by Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J., 1996 \/ 2003), \\\"The Catholic Verses\\\" (2004), \\\"The One-Minute Apologist\\\" (2007), \\\"Bible Proofs for Catholic Truths\\\" (2009), \\\"The Quotable Newman\\\" (editor: 2012), and \\\"Proving the Catholic Faith is Biblical\\\" (2015). He is co-author (with Dr. Paul Thigpen) of the inserts for \\\"The New Catholic Answer Bible\\\" (Our Sunday Visitor: 2005), and editor for \\\"The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton: The Very Best Quotes, Quips, and Cracks from the Pen of G. K. Chesterton\\\" (Saint Benedict Press \/ TAN Books: 2009). \\\"100 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura\\\" was published by Catholic Answers in May 2012. His \\\"Quotable Wesley\\\" compilation was published by (Protestant \/ Wesleyan publisher) Beacon Hill Press in April 2014. Several of his 49 books are bestsellers in their field. Dave maintains a popular personal Facebook page, a Facebook author page, and has a Twitter account as well. He offers almost all of his books in e-book form on his own Biblical Catholicism site (http:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/), at a permanent deep discount: only $2.99 for ePub, mobi, and AZW, and $1.99 for PDF. His writing has been enthusiastically endorsed or recommended by many leading Catholic apologists, authors, and priests, including Dr. Scott Hahn, Fr. Peter M. J. Stravinskas, Marcus Grodi, Patrick Madrid, Steve Ray, Tim Staples, Devin Rose, Mike Aquilina, Al Kresta, Karl Keating, Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Brandon Vogt, Marcellino D'Ambrosio, and Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave has been happily married to his wife Judy since October 1984. They have three sons and a daughter, and reside in southeast Michigan (metro Detroit).\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@LuxVeritatisApologetics\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/author\/davearmstrong\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Philippians 2:12 & \"Work[ing] Out\" One's Salvation","description":"God does it; we cooperate with Him. Salvation is always by grace, yet it doesn't exclude our free will work and appropriation of that grace.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2016\/01\/philippians-212-working-out-ones-salvation.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Philippians 2:12 & \"Work[ing] Out\" One's Salvation","og_description":"God does it; we cooperate with Him. Salvation is always by grace, yet it doesn't exclude our free will work and appropriation of that grace.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2016\/01\/philippians-212-working-out-ones-salvation.html","og_site_name":"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798","article_published_time":"2016-01-26T15:04:54+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-03-29T17:33:13+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":607,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/572\/2016\/01\/MarathonRace.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Dave Armstrong","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dave Armstrong","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2016\/01\/philippians-212-working-out-ones-salvation.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2016\/01\/philippians-212-working-out-ones-salvation.html","name":"Philippians 2:12 & \"Work[ing] Out\" One's Salvation","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-01-26T15:04:54+00:00","dateModified":"2017-03-29T17:33:13+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/471eaa20e441eca4bb1ea50393cf632e"},"description":"God does it; we cooperate with Him. Salvation is always by grace, yet it doesn't exclude our free will work and appropriation of that grace.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2016\/01\/philippians-212-working-out-ones-salvation.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2016\/01\/philippians-212-working-out-ones-salvation.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2016\/01\/philippians-212-working-out-ones-salvation.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Philippians 2:12 & “Work[ing] Out” One’s Salvation"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/","name":"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism","description":"Catholic biblical apologetics","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/471eaa20e441eca4bb1ea50393cf632e","name":"Dave Armstrong","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/820e6db89734ae7a9e5dac8d498f5ac7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/820e6db89734ae7a9e5dac8d498f5ac7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dave Armstrong"},"description":"Dave Armstrong is a Catholic author and apologist, who has been actively proclaiming and defending Christianity since 1981, and Catholicism in particular since 1991 (full-time since December 2001). Formerly a campus missionary, as a Protestant, Dave was received into the Catholic Church in February 1991, by the late, well-known catechist and theologian, Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave\u2019s articles have appeared in many influential Catholic periodicals, including \"This Rock\" (now called \"Catholic Answers Magazine\"), \"Envoy Magazine\" (Patrick Madrid), \"The Catholic Answer,\" \"The Coming Home Journal,\" \"Gilbert Magazine\" (American Chesterton Society), and \"The Latin Mass.\" He also writes a featured column for every issue of \"The Michigan Catholic\": published by the archdiocese of Detroit, and was editor for most of the apologetics tracts published by the St. Paul Street Evangelization apostolate. Dave\u2019s apologetics and writing apostolate was the subject of a feature article in the May 2002 issue of \"Envoy Magazine.\" He served as the staff moderator at the Internet discussion forum for The Coming Home Network, from 2007-2010. Dave has been interviewed on many nationally syndicated Catholic radio shows, including \"Catholic Answers Live\" (twice), \"Faith and Family Live\" (Steve Wood), \"Kresta in the Afternoon,\" \"Son Rise Morning Show,\" \"Catholic Connection\" (Teresa Tomeo), and \"The Catholics Next Door.\" His large and popular website, \"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism,\" was online from March 1997 to March 2007, and received the 1998 Catholic Website of the Year award from \"Envoy Magazine.\" His blog of the same name (now transferred to Patheos), begun in February 2004, contains more than 1,500 papers, at least 500 debates or dialogues, and over 50 distinct \"index\" web pages. Unsolicited correspondence has indicated many hundreds of conversions (or returns) to the Catholic faith as a result, by God's grace, of these writings. Dave's conversion story was published in the bestselling book \"Surprised by Truth\" (edited by Patrick Madrid; San Diego: Basilica Press, 1994). Sophia Institute Press has published six of his books: \"A Biblical Defense of Catholicism\" (Foreword by Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J., 1996 \/ 2003), \"The Catholic Verses\" (2004), \"The One-Minute Apologist\" (2007), \"Bible Proofs for Catholic Truths\" (2009), \"The Quotable Newman\" (editor: 2012), and \"Proving the Catholic Faith is Biblical\" (2015). He is co-author (with Dr. Paul Thigpen) of the inserts for \"The New Catholic Answer Bible\" (Our Sunday Visitor: 2005), and editor for \"The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton: The Very Best Quotes, Quips, and Cracks from the Pen of G. K. Chesterton\" (Saint Benedict Press \/ TAN Books: 2009). \"100 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura\" was published by Catholic Answers in May 2012. His \"Quotable Wesley\" compilation was published by (Protestant \/ Wesleyan publisher) Beacon Hill Press in April 2014. Several of his 49 books are bestsellers in their field. Dave maintains a popular personal Facebook page, a Facebook author page, and has a Twitter account as well. He offers almost all of his books in e-book form on his own Biblical Catholicism site (http:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/), at a permanent deep discount: only $2.99 for ePub, mobi, and AZW, and $1.99 for PDF. His writing has been enthusiastically endorsed or recommended by many leading Catholic apologists, authors, and priests, including Dr. Scott Hahn, Fr. Peter M. J. Stravinskas, Marcus Grodi, Patrick Madrid, Steve Ray, Tim Staples, Devin Rose, Mike Aquilina, Al Kresta, Karl Keating, Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Brandon Vogt, Marcellino D'Ambrosio, and Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave has been happily married to his wife Judy since October 1984. They have three sons and a daughter, and reside in southeast Michigan (metro Detroit).","sameAs":["https:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@LuxVeritatisApologetics"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/author\/davearmstrong"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2331"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5793"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5793\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}