Calvinism — Research Notes (Cheryl Schatz)

Collection of 5 research notes on Calvinism, covering God's mercy to all (Romans 11:30-32), the purpose of divine mercy and compassion, Esau's election as about Messianic lineage not individual salvation (Malachi 1:2-3), and Calvin's concept of Evanescent Grace.

What Winger Presently Gets Wrong: Women Apostles

Response to Mike Winger's Women in Ministry Part 5 on whether women were apostles in the New Testament

Ephesians 5 Christian Liberty

This post is the essence of the sermon Spirit-Filled Living part 1 by Pastor Darrell Johnson of First Baptist Church, Vancouver, BC, Canada. If you would like to listen to the entire sermon, you can listen to the sermon here

1 Corinthians 11 And Paul

1 Corinthians 11 has been a difficult passage because of several elements that have been hard to interpret. Some of the disputed elements are the meaning of “head” in verse 3, whether head coverings are necessary in verse 5, the woman being the glory of the man in verse 7, the reference to angels i

1 Timothy 2:11-15

Sections: cross_references, debate_points, exegesis, greek_analysis

1 Timothy 1:13-16

Sections: cross_references, exegesis, greek_analysis

Genesis 3:14-19

Sections: cross_references, debate_points, exegesis, greek_analysis

Romans 9:16

Sections: cross_references, debate_points, exegesis, greek_analysis

Malachi 1:2-3

Sections: exegesis

Joshua 2:1-21

Sections: exegesis

1 Corinthians 15:28

Sections: cross_references, debate_points, exegesis, greek_analysis

τεκνογονία (teknogonia)

the childbearing

σῴζω (sozo)

to save

ὑποτύπωσις (hupotyposis)

pattern, prototype, example, outline

ἡ (anaphoric) (he (anaphoric))

the (anaphoric article — pointing back to a previously introduced noun)

The doctrinal/theological nature of testing prophecy from 1 John 4:1-3

Mike shows that testing prophecy involved theological evaluation.

Mike's assessment of View 4: his second choice, held if View 5 fails

Mike states his personal ranking of the views before presenting his preferred interpretation.

View 5: Saved through the Messiah — the childbearing refers to Christ

Mike presents his preferred interpretation: 'saved through childbearing' refers to salvation through the promised Messiah born of Eve's line.

The she/they shift in verse 15 supports the Messianic reading

Mike explains why the grammatical shift from singular 'she' to plural 'they' supports identifying 'she' as Eve.

The definite article before 'childbearing' as soft evidence for the Messianic view

Mike notes that the Greek has 'the childbearing' (tes teknogonias), not just 'childbearing.'

The Messianic view is an early patristic interpretation, not a modern invention

Mike notes that several church fathers held this view.

Schreiner's objection 1: the Messianic view requires seeing 'she' as Mary

Mike addresses Tom Schreiner's first objection to the Messianic interpretation.

Schreiner's objection 2: Paul never teaches salvation comes through the Incarnation

Mike addresses the objection that Paul doesn't elsewhere connect salvation to the birth of Christ.

Schreiner's objection 3: the definite article is not strong evidence

Mike addresses the third objection regarding the article before 'childbearing.'

Best objection to the Messianic view: teknogonia is an odd word choice for the Messiah

Mike presents what he considers the strongest push-back against his preferred view.

Summary of positive evidence for the Messianic view

Mike lists the accumulated arguments in favor of his preferred interpretation.

Paul may have used shorthand with Timothy based on shared knowledge

Mike suggests Paul and Timothy had enough shared theological background that Paul could reference complex ideas briefly.

Paul's love of OT typology supports a typological reading of childbearing

Mike provides one more example of Paul's typological interpretation of the OT.

Application of the Messianic view: women are equal in salvation, different in role

Mike explains what his preferred interpretation means for the overall passage.

Conclusion 15: Summary on 'saved through childbearing'

Mike summarizes his confidence levels on the various views of v.15.

Paul's apologetics in Acts — consistent use of reasoning from Scripture in synagogues demonstrates apologetics is a biblical method

Biblical evidence for the legitimacy and effectiveness of apologetics

Isaiah 53: modern claim that it refers to Israel, not Messiah, is historically novel

Ra claims Isaiah 53 (the Suffering Servant) is about Israel personified, not Jesus, and that Jews have always understood it this way

Rabbinic Judaism is not biblical Judaism — it postdates Christianity and is a response to Messiah's coming

Ra implies that because modern Jews don't accept Jesus, Christians are misappropriating the Hebrew Bible

Aaron Ra's list of unmet messianic prophecies — Jesus was not Jewish? He was not of tribe of Judah?

Ra presents a list of six messianic prophecies he claims Jesus failed to fulfill

Messianic prophecy: Messiah must 'come to the temple,' not rebuild it — Malachi 3:1

Ra claims Messiah must rebuild the Jewish Temple and Jesus did not

Jesus has influenced the entire world to worship the God of Israel — messianic prophecy fulfilled

Ra's list includes: Messiah must influence the entire world to acknowledge and serve one God

Isaiah 53:10-11 — 'prolonging his days' is a resurrection prophecy, not a failed prediction

Ra claims Jesus's days were never prolonged as Isaiah 53 predicts

Psalm 22: David was not a prophet? Mike rebuts and notes Psalm 22 clearly speaks of future events

Ra argues Psalm 22 is not messianic because (1) David was not a prophet, (2) the Psalms are in the 'writings' section not the 'prophets,' and (3) David never experienced anything like what's described

Rashi and ancient rabbinic Midrash confirm Psalm 22 was understood as messianic

Were there any ancient Jewish authorities who read Psalm 22 as messianic?

Psalm 22 describes crucifixion hundreds of years before it was invented

Continuing analysis of Psalm 22 as a crucifixion prophecy

Hosea 11:1 used in Matthew 2:15 — typological fulfillment vs. direct prophecy

Viewer question: how can Hosea 11:1 ('out of Egypt I called my son') be messianic when it is clearly about Israel in context?

Ancient rabbinical tradition: entire Old Testament is about the Messiah

Continuing discussion of Matthew's typological use of Hosea

Mark 13:1-4 — the disciples' question is bigger than just the temple's destruction

Opening the Mark 13 study; Mike notes the scope of what the disciples are actually asking.

Recap of Part 1: Aron Ra's list of supposed Messianic qualifications Jesus failed to meet was demonstrably wrong on its own terms.

Brief summary of last week's content before picking up where it left off.

Ra's claim that Christians make disconnected prophetic connections is refuted by the serpent-Satan identification, which is explicitly stated in Revelation 12:9.

Ra's second rant claims Christians invent connections between unrelated texts. Winger tests this with a specific example Ra implies.

Zechariah 9:9 — Ra claims it is not Messianic and requires Gentile conversion and expanded Israeli borders for fulfillment. The text contains none of those requirements.

Ra argues Christians misappropriate Jewish prophecy for Jesus.

The Babylonian Talmud itself treats Zechariah 9:9 as Messianic — debating how to reconcile a glorious coming (Daniel 7) with a humble donkey-riding coming.

Winger uses a Jewish non-Christian source to establish the Messianic reading of Zechariah 9:9.

Valid prophecy requires dateable pre-event writing. Manuscript evidence (e.g., Dead Sea Scrolls) places Isaiah and the Psalms before Jesus, making their messianic content genuine prediction rather than post-hoc composition. This distinguishes biblical prophecy from the Book of Mormon or Quran examples.

The Old Testament was already understood by Jews — not just Christians — as pointing to a coming Messiah. The breadth and robustness of typological and prophetic connections to Jesus across the OT (seed of the woman, angel of the Lord, Melchizedek, prophet like Moses, bronze serpent, Joseph, High Priest, kinsman redeemer, Davidic King, last Adam) constitutes a meta-narrative that could only exist by design.

Romans 15:8 — Christ as servant of the circumcised fulfilling OT promises

Paired with Galatians 4:4 to further establish Jesus's Jewish identity and Messianic role.