One of the most perplexing verses in the Bible is 1 Corinthians 15:29: “Otherwise, what will they do who are baptized for the dead? If actually the dead are not raised, why even be baptized for them?” What does this verse mean? The passage has a long history of interpretation beginning with patristic writers who find its original meaning evasive, though they attribute its malpractice to heretical sects. John Chrysostom, for example, says that Marcionite heresy does such a practice,... Read more
Paul’s omission of Jesus’s empty tomb, found in the Gospels, is a peculiarity sometimes pointed out regarding his resurrection statements. One of Paul’s clearest statements on his gospel and the resurrection of Jesus is 1 Cor 15:3–4. Here he writes, “For I delivered to you among first things what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried and that he rose on the third day according to the scriptures.” The... Read more
If you’ve been a Christian for a while, you have probably heard this question many times: “Can a believer lose his or her salvation?” This usually leads to endless debates between well-meaning Christians on both sides of the issue. The “Calvinist” props up John 10:28-30 and the “Arminian” Hebrews 6:4-6.* No one is able to pluck the believer out of Jesus’s hand vs. it is not possible for those who fall away to renew again to repentance. Okay, round two:... Read more
What can we learn about missions from Saint Paul? Dean Flemming provides us with a helpful guide in his perceptive studies.* Flemming distinguishes between a narrow and broad sense of mission in the Apostle Paul’s letters. In the narrow sense of gospel and church planting, the term involves initial activities and refers to a group of called individuals seeking to bring outsiders to faith in Jesus. This group also actively seeks to place converts into Christian communities (Rom 10:8–18; 1... Read more
I hear occasionally over pulpits and on the internet that 400 years of silence persisted between the Old and New Testaments. This allegedly marks the time between Malachi’s prediction of the future coming of Elijah (Malachi 4:5–6) and the arrival of John the Baptist, interpreted as the coming of the new Elijah (Matt 11:13–14; Mark 9:11–13; Luke 1:17). However, nowhere in Scripture does the Bible clearly speak of a period of four hundred years of silence between Testaments, whether in... Read more
Jesus claims that John the Baptist is Elijah who was to come in Matthew 11:13-14. But John himself denies that he is Elijah in John 1:21. So who is right? Can the two views be reconciled? Let’s examine these and other relevant biblical texts more closely. The Synoptic Gospels on John the Baptist as Elijah In the Synoptic Gospels John the Baptist is said to be Elijah. In Matthew 11:13–15, the text attributes to Jesus the following words: “for all... Read more
There is one sin that is unpardonable according to Jesus—blaspheming the Holy Spirit. But under which circumstances is it committed according to Scripture? Let us look at the three biblical passages where the unpardonable sin appears: Matthew 12:31–32 In Matthew 12:31-32 those who are in danger of blaspheming the Holy Spirit are Jesus’s unbelieving religious opponents. Important for our purposes, these opponents are not identified as Christ’s followers. Matthew’s Gospel includes two separate incidents where the opponents claim that Jesus... Read more
If you follow Dallas Jenkins’s film series, The Chosen, you will notice Joanna, a wealthy and prominent woman, is a follower of John the Baptist and Jesus (played by Amy Bailey). Now in season four it is clear that she has a rocky marriage with her husband, Chuza (played by Nick Chinlund). In the first episode, we find him with another woman at Herod’s banquet, an evening that famously results in John the Baptist’s beheading. What does the Bible say... Read more
Since this blog site is named “in Christ,” I think it is prudent to discuss what being “in Christ” means. It is participation in Christ, which is also known as union with Christ. When people trust in Jesus as Messiah and Lord of their life, and trust that he died for their sins and rose again, they receive the Spirit of God and Christ. Christ now lives in them through the Spirit, and they in him. They are now “in... Read more
Hebrews 6:4-6 speaks about falling away. It reads, “For it is impossible regarding those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted of the good word of God and powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to renew them again to repentance, since they are crucifying for themselves again the son of God, making a public mockery of him.” If such people... Read more
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