Search — Theology Explorer

Ephesians 4:26 Genesis 4 marriage anger Ephesians 4:26

Ephesians 4:26 — 'be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger' is about harboring anger in your own heart, not about resolving every marital dispute before bed.

Common misuse of the verse corrected; the passage is linked to Cain's sin in Genesis 4.

Proverbs 29:22 sin anger inner life

Proverbs 29:22 — a person 'given to anger' causes much transgression; anger is the internal gateway to sin.

Sixth Proverbs passage applied to those who easily default to anger.

Proverbs 25:28 self-control anger character

Proverbs 25:28 — a man without self-control is like a city with broken walls; anger is the enemy that raids it.

Seventh Proverbs passage; illustrated with a statistic about job loss.

Romans 12:17-21 anger Romans 12:17-21 repay evil

Romans 12:17-21 — do not repay evil for evil; leave vengeance to God; overcome evil with good, even toward enemies.

New Testament passage on retaliation and the theological grounding for non-retaliation.

Colossians 3:8 marriage relationships Colossians 3:8

Malice (Colossians 3:8) is bottled-up anger that becomes a twisted, bitter lens through which a person sees someone — the opposite of wrath.

Third element of the Colossians 3:8 list; Mike defines malice as stored bitterness.

Colossians 3:8 sanctification anger Colossians 3:8

Slander and obscene talk (Colossians 3:8) are what anger does to the tongue — attacking character and saying hateful things; Colossians 3:8 is a complete map of what to put off.

Final two elements of the Colossians 3:8 list; synthesis of the whole passage.

Q&A: Controlling anger toward someone consistently hurting you does not mean passivity — it means replacing anger as your motive with wisdom and godliness.

First Q&A question; addressing ongoing relational harm.

wisdom relationships Q&A

repentance forgiveness Q&A

Q&A: 'Forgive and forget' is imprecise; forgiveness is unilateral but restoration of relationship requires the other person's repentance and change.

Q&A on forgiveness and how to regard past offenses after forgiving.

Jeremiah 10 church history apologetics Christmas trees

Jim's claim about Christmas trees: first-century Romans practiced Christmas trees, first-century Christians adopted it, and the New Testament contains a specific passage telling them to stop — but they ignored it

Fifth major claim Mike refutes — biblical origin of Christmas trees

Jeremiah 10 Old Testament exegesis idolatry

Refutation: the only text Jim could be referring to is Jeremiah 10, written 600 years before Jesus — it describes carving a tree into an idol, not decorating a Christmas tree, and has nothing to do with New Testament Christianity or Roman practices

Mike carefully exegetes Jeremiah 10:1–5 to show what the passage actually means

fruit of the Spirit assurance of salvation pastoral

Q&A: How do you witness to nominal or hypocritical Christians who are not bearing fruit? Mike notes that those who don't love the Lord are ironically less worried about their spiritual state than genuine believers

Question from Nick Kinsman

Luke Matthew 2 hermeneutics Luke historicity

Q&A: The Massacre of the Innocents appears in Matthew but not Luke because Luke telescopes events and omits details that don't serve his narrative aims — absence from one Gospel does not imply it didn't happen

Question from Cam Spire about why the Massacre of the Innocents is not in Luke

Exodus-21 hermeneutics discernment apologetics

Zahnd deliberately misrepresents Exodus 21 on slavery to children at a youth camp in order to discredit the Bible

Winger plays and responds to a video clip of Zahnd describing how he used Exodus 21:20–21 at a youth camp to provoke students into rejecting the Bible's moral authority.

Psalm-40 Hebrews-10 Mark-1-44 atonement apologetics Jesus

Hebrews 10 and Mark 1:44 show that Jesus fulfilled the sacrificial system rather than rejecting or editing it

Winger addresses Zahnd's claim that Jesus 'picked a side' against sacrifice and against the Torah.

Matthew-5-17 Luke-16-17 Mark-12-36 law apologetics Jesus

Luke 16:16–17 and Matthew 5:17–18 show Jesus's own high view of Scripture — he came to fulfill, not edit, the law

Winger marshals Jesus's direct statements about the permanence and authority of Scripture to counter Zahnd's 'Jesus edits the Bible' method.

hermeneutics discernment self-deception

Zahnd's Jesus is actually Zahnd — the method of 'asking Jesus what he thinks' produces only the teacher's own preferences

Winger plays a video clip in which Zahnd describes his hermeneutical method: pausing over Old Testament texts and asking Jesus what he thinks of them.

sexual ethics biblical clarity sin

Sin concerns specific bedroom behaviors, not identity, orientation, or the relationship as a whole

Winger clarifies what he means — and what the Bible means — when calling homosexual behavior sin.

Romans 1:26-27 exegesis sin homosexuality

Romans 1:26-27 — the New Testament's clearest condemnation of homosexual behavior

Winger begins a brief but direct survey of key biblical passages on homosexuality, starting with Romans 1.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 Matthew Vines homosexuality 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 arsenokoitai

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 and the Greek terms for homosexual behavior — a direct condemnation with redemptive hope

Winger examines 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, which lists behaviors that disqualify people from inheriting the kingdom of God.

Matthew Vines Romans 1 hermeneutics eisegesis false teaching

Matthew Vines' approach to Scripture is driven by a prior commitment to affirm homosexuality, not honest exegesis

Q&A question about advocates like Matthew Vines who try to make homosexuality fit within Scripture.

evangelism pastoral care homosexuality

How to reach someone struggling with homosexuality: one-on-one honesty with genuine love

Q&A question about practical outreach to someone in a homosexual lifestyle.

Jeremiah 10 Jeremiah 10 Christmas trees Anachronism in Bible interpretation

Introduction: Jeremiah 10 and the Christmas tree question

Mike launches a surprise Monday livestream to address a common question before Christmas

Jeremiah 10 Hermeneutics Jeremiah 10 Anachronism

Anachronism: the fundamental interpretive error in reading Jeremiah 10 as being about Christmas trees

Mike identifies the method error before examining the passage

Jeremiah 10:1-2 Contextual interpretation Jeremiah 10:1-2 Ways of the nations

Jeremiah 10:1-2 context: 'Don't learn the ways of the nations' is not a blanket prohibition

Reading the passage from the beginning

Jeremiah 10:3-4 Christmas trees Jeremiah 10:3-4 Idolatry

Jeremiah 10:3-4: The craftsman detail rules out Christmas trees

Verse-by-verse examination of the passage

Jeremiah 10:5 Idolatry Jeremiah 10:5 Scarecrow analogy

Jeremiah 10:5: The passage explicitly calls the object an idol, not a tree

The passage self-identifies what it is describing

Jeremiah 10:5 Psalm 115:4-8 Idolatry Jeremiah 10:5 Psalm 115:4-8

Psalm 115 as a parallel passage: idols have mouths but cannot speak

Connecting Jeremiah 10 to a closely parallel text

Jeremiah 10:6-9 Idolatry Jeremiah 10:6-9 Pagan religion

Jeremiah 10:6-9: The passage continues with explicit idol language, not tree language

Reading further in the passage to confirm the subject

Jeremiah 10:10-15 Idolatry Jeremiah 10:10-15 Living God vs. false gods

Jeremiah 10:10-15: The climax of the passage — idols vs. the living God

The passage reaches its theological conclusion

Proof-texting Anachronism Idolatry under green trees

Other misapplied passages: 'prostituted themselves under every green tree' is about idols under trees, not trees themselves

Preempting another common proof-text used to condemn Christmas trees

Christmas trees Liberty of conscience Judging fellow believers

Christians are not obligated either to have or to avoid Christmas trees — liberty of conscience

Applying the correct conclusion from the exegesis

Philippians 2:6-8 kenosis incarnation Philippians 2:6-8

Philippians 2:6-8 — Jesus lived a humble, godly life and died by crucifixion

Continuing the biographical details about Jesus that Paul records.

1 Corinthians 11:23-25 Passover Last Supper 1 Corinthians 11:23-25

1 Corinthians 11:23-25 — Paul 'received from the Lord' the Last Supper tradition, predating the Gospels

Paul's detailed knowledge of the Last Supper is one of the strongest demonstrations that he knew specific events from Jesus's life.

1 Corinthians 7:10 divorce 1 Corinthians 7:10 Jesus's teaching on divorce

1 Corinthians 7:10 — Paul distinguishes Jesus's teaching from his own on divorce

Paul's explicit attribution of a teaching to 'the Lord' rather than himself demonstrates his awareness of Jesus's specific teachings.

Romans 12:17 Matthew 5:39 Romans 12:17 Paul echoing Jesus's teaching Matthew 5:39

Romans 12:17 echoes Matthew 5:39 — do not repay evil for evil / turn the other cheek

Another parallel between Paul's ethical instructions and the Sermon on the Mount.

Christian ethics sinlessness of Jesus Temple cleansing

Jesus overturning tables in the Temple — anger is not inherently sinful, but it creates temptation to sin

Q&A: question about whether Jesus's table-turning in the Temple constitutes sinful anger.

Mike Winger idea 2018-12-19

Philippians 3:10-11 — resurrection is found only through Christ, not through Jewish law-keeping

Continuing the Philippians 3 passage

Philippians 3:10-11 Paul resurrection Philippians 3:10-11

Mike Winger idea 2018-12-19

Romans 10:1-3 — Paul's prayer for Israel: they have zeal but not knowledge; seeking own righteousness

Mike quotes Paul's direct pastoral statement about Jewish people who have not received Christ

Romans 10:1-3 Paul Israel Jewish people

Deuteronomy 18:22 Jehovah's Witnesses prophecy evidence-based faith

Deuteronomy 18:22 — false prophecy as test for identifying true vs. false prophets

Mike's second Old Testament example showing God requires verification before demanding belief.

Isaiah 41:22 evidence-based faith Isaiah 41:22 predictive prophecy

Isaiah 41:22 — predictive prophecy as God's proof of his own existence and authority

Mike's third Old Testament passage, showing God challenges false gods to prove themselves through prediction.

Hebrews 11:1 Romans 1:19-20 John 20:24 apologetics methodology Hebrews 11:1 Romans 1:19-20

Pivot to objections: addressing 'but what about?' passages that skeptics use to support the faith-without-evidence definition

Mike transitions from positive case to handling counter-passages.

Hebrews 11:1 faith Hebrews 11:1 Amy Hall

Hebrews 11:1 — introduction and reference to Amy Hall's article at STR.org

Mike begins addressing the most commonly cited 'faith without evidence' passage.

Hebrews 11:1 hermeneutics faith Hebrews 11:1

Hebrews 11:1 is a description of what faith looks like, not a definition of why or how we believe

Mike's core exegetical argument about the nature of Hebrews 11.

Romans 1:19-20 evidence-based faith cosmological argument Romans 1:19-20

Romans 1:19-20 — creation itself is the evidence through which God is perceived; not faith without evidence

Mike addresses the second counter-passage sometimes used to support faith-without-evidence.

John 20:24-29 hermeneutics faith Thomas

John 20:24-29 — Thomas passage: 'not seen' does not mean 'without evidence'

Mike addresses the Thomas story as the third counter-passage.

John 13:2 omnipotence Satan spiritual warfare

Q&A: Can Satan, as a non-omnipotent being, put thoughts into people's minds?

Viewer question from Joy Chintons.

James 2:14-26 faith James 2:14-26 faith and works

James 2:14-26 — faith without works is dead; Mike references his dedicated video on Catholic vs. Protestant interpretations

Part of Jacob Englet's question on faith and obedience.