Search — Theology Explorer

1 Corinthians 7 Mark 5:13 Acts 21:40 1 Corinthians 7 epitrepo word study

Word study on epitrepo (permit) across the New Testament

Mike examines every NT use of epitrepo to determine whether it carries authority or merely expresses personal preference.

1 Corinthians 11:16 1 Corinthians 7:17 1 Corinthians 4:17 Pauline consistency 1 Corinthians 11:16 universal application

Paul's consistent teaching across all churches

Mike argues that Paul's restrictions on women in church leadership were not unique to Ephesus but applied universally.

Genesis 2 1 Corinthians 11:8-9 1 Timothy 2:13 creation order Genesis 2 1 Corinthians 11:8-9

Adam and Eve appeal: creation order argument (1 Tim 2:13)

Mike examines Paul's use of 'For Adam was formed first, then Eve' as the basis for his restriction.

1 Corinthians 7 1 Timothy 2:15 Romans 3:28 1 Corinthians 7 justification by faith 1 Timothy 2:15

View 3: Women saved spiritually by literally having children

Mike evaluates and rejects the view that bearing children contributes to women's spiritual salvation.

1 Corinthians 7 1 Corinthians 7 Douglas Moo teknogonia

Weaknesses of View 4: teknogonia as synecdoche is unsupported and singleness tension

Mike identifies the main problems with Moo's proper female roles interpretation.

Genesis 3:15 1 Timothy 2:4-6 Galatians 4 converging evidence Messianic interpretation Genesis 3:15

Summary of positive evidence for the Messianic view

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

1 Corinthians 10:1-4 Pauline typology 1 Corinthians 10:1-4 OT typology

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.

Galatians 3:28 1 Peter 3:7 1 Corinthians 11:11-12 complementarianism Galatians 3:28 1 Peter 3:7

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

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

Hebrews 13:17 Matthew 18 1 Corinthians 5 Nympha argument from silence exousia

Linda Belleville's argument: elders don't have authority anyway

Mike addresses the egalitarian claim that NT church leaders had no special authority.

Mike Winger idea 2018-01-10

JW claim: Jesus resurrected as spirit, not bodily

Foundation of the JW invisible return theology

1 Corinthians 15:45 1 Peter 3:18 John 14:19 1 Corinthians 15:45 1 Peter 3:18 John 14:19

Mike Winger idea 2018-02-14

Bill Johnson quotes Galatians 1 anathema to condemn anyone who teaches that sickness can be God's will — including Paul's thorn in the flesh interpretations

Mike plays and analyzes a provocative Bill Johnson video on the anathema of Galatians 1

Galatians 1:8-9 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 Bill Johnson Galatians 1:8-9 2 Corinthians 12:7-9

Mike Winger idea 2018-02-14

Q&A — Is lack of faith why we cannot heal? Mike: faith is one factor, but not the only one — Paul's thorn in the flesh demonstrates God can say 'no' even to a man of great faith

First Q&A question from Elizabeth Hernandez

2 Corinthians 12:7-9 prayer 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 thorn in the flesh

Mike Winger idea 2018-02-14

Q&A — Did Jesus ever say no to healing? Mike: Not in the three-and-a-half years of recorded ministry, but Jesus did say no through Paul's thorn and other NT instances

Q&A question from Elizabeth Hernandez

2 Corinthians 12:7-9 2 Timothy 4:20 Acts of the Apostles 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 healing theology 2 Timothy 4:20

Mike Winger idea 2018-02-21

1 Corinthians 8:8 and Romans 14:14: food does not define one's standing before God; nothing is inherently unclean for the Christian.

Mike shifts from the hypothetical framework to his actual position: there is no food-law prohibition on blood for Christians.

1 Corinthians 8:8 Romans 14:14 Christian freedom 1 Corinthians 8:8 Romans 14:14

Mike Winger idea 2018-01-24

Q&A (off-topic): Divorced woman who was cheated on and physically abused asks if remarrying would be adultery after her ex-husband has now married his fifth wife.

Viewer question from 'Truth Watch' about remarriage after divorce involving infidelity and abuse.

1 Corinthians 7 1 Corinthians 7 divorce and remarriage adultery

Mike Winger idea 2018-03-14

2 Corinthians 4:4 — 'theos' used twice in one verse: once for Satan, once for God

Concrete example of 'theos' with different meaning levels in a single verse

2 Corinthians 4:4 semantic range theos 2 Corinthians 4:4

Mike Winger idea 2018-03-14

Q&A: 1 Corinthians 13:2 — 'if I have all faith but no love I am nothing' — is this faith + love = salvation?

Viewer question about 1 Corinthians 13 and whether it implies faith plus love for salvation

1 Corinthians 13:2 Paul saving faith 1 Corinthians 13:2

Mike Winger idea 2018-03-14

Distinction between saving faith and faith for miracles — 1 Corinthians 13 is about the latter

Type distinction within the concept of faith

1 Corinthians 13 saving faith love charismatic gifts

1 Corinthians 3 purgatory 1 Corinthians 3 2 Maccabees 12:38-46

Two primary passages Catholic apologists use for purgatory: 1 Corinthians 3 and 2 Maccabees

Identifying the core biblical texts used by Catholics to support the doctrine

1 Corinthians 3 hermeneutics exegesis 1 Corinthians 3

Method: read 1 Corinthians 3, present the Catholic interpretation, then do verse-by-verse exegesis

Establishing the exegetical methodology for examining the passage

1 Corinthians 3:4-15 Paul Apollos works

Reading of 1 Corinthians 3:4-15

Scripture reading of the first key passage

1 Corinthians 3:13-15 purgatory Catholic apologetics purification

Catholic interpretation of 1 Corinthians 3: fire = purgatorial fire that purifies the believer

Mike fairly summarizes what Catholic apologists say about this passage

1 Corinthians 3:8 1 Corinthians 3:14 exegesis purification rewards

The key word in 1 Corinthians 3 is 'reward' (vv. 8 and 14), not purification — establishing the passage's actual theme

Verse-by-verse exegesis identifying the controlling theme of the passage

1 Corinthians 3:9-10 hermeneutics Paul ministry

Transition from planting/watering analogy to building analogy in 1 Corinthians 3:9-10

Structural analysis of the passage's two analogies

1 Corinthians 3:10-11 Paul discipleship Jesus Christ

The foundation metaphor: Jesus Christ is the foundation; building on it = post-salvation ministry to believers

Exegesis of 1 Corinthians 3:10-11 and the nature of building on the foundation

1 Corinthians 3:12 ministry works judgment

Gold, silver, precious stones vs. wood, hay, straw: quality of ministry, not purity of the person

Exegesis of 1 Corinthians 3:12 — the building materials metaphor

1 Corinthians 3:13 works purgatory purification

Critical distinction: it is the WORKS that are tested and potentially destroyed by fire, not the person

Core exegetical argument against the Catholic use of 1 Corinthians 3

1 Corinthians 3:14-15 salvation purgatory rewards

1 Corinthians 3:14-15: rewards or loss, not purgatorial suffering — salvation is never in question

Exegesis of the closing verses of the passage

1 Corinthians 3:15 hermeneutics salvation purgatory

'Saved as through fire' is an idiom/analogy, not a description of a purifying fire experience

Addressing the specific phrase Catholics emphasize in v. 15

1 Corinthians 3 hermeneutics eisegesis purgatory

Even granting purgatory is true, 1 Corinthians 3 could not be used to teach it — wrong passage entirely

Summarizing conclusion on 1 Corinthians 3

Ezekiel 2 Corinthians 12 hermeneutics eisegesis false teaching

Pattern of false teaching: take a doctrine, find a Bible passage with similar vocabulary, read the doctrine into the passage

Hermeneutical critique applied more broadly

1 Corinthians 3 eisegesis Catholic Answers purgatory

Tim Staples' argument: 'you can't separate the person from the works' — and Mike's rebuttal

Engaging a specific Catholic apologist's defense of the 1 Corinthians 3 reading

2 Corinthians 5:8 death soul sleep intermediate state

Q&A: Do we 'soul sleep' or go directly to heaven at death?

Viewer question on the state of the dead, related to purgatory discussion

1 Corinthians 15 Revelation 21:27 1 Corinthians 15 glorification purgatory

Q&A — Revelation 21:27 and the need for purification before heaven: answered by 1 Corinthians 15

Viewer challenge: doesn't Revelation 21:27 ('nothing impure can enter the New Jerusalem') support the need for purgatory?

1 Corinthians 15 Revelation 1 Corinthians 15 eschatology Revelation

Q&A — New bodies and the New Earth: souls wait, bodies come later at the resurrection

Eschatology question on timing of resurrection bodies

1 Corinthians 15 1 Corinthians 15 eschatology resurrection

Q&A — Sequence of events: go to heaven first, receive new bodies later at the future resurrection (1 Corinthians 15)

Follow-up on eschatological sequence — heaven, judgment, glorification, new earth

2 Corinthians 12 Paul resurrection 2 Corinthians 12

Q&A — Why did none of the resurrected dead (Lazarus, etc.) speak about the afterlife?

Question on what those raised from the dead could reveal about life after death

1 Corinthians 15 1 Corinthians 15 resurrection Richard Carrier

Mass hallucination theory refuted by fact I: hallucinations are individual, not shared; 1 Corinthians 15 cites 500 simultaneous witnesses

Systematic refutation of the mass hallucination theory

1 Corinthians 15 1 Corinthians 15 resurrection Paul the Apostle

Carrier teaches that in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul describes events that occurred in outer space — a cosmic/celestial resurrection rather than an earthly one

Carrier's interpretation of the Pauline resurrection kerygma

1 Corinthians 15 James brother of Jesus Cephas/Peter 1 Corinthians 15 resurrection

1 Corinthians 15:3-7 is the earliest resurrection record — within five years of the crucifixion and agreed upon by over 90% of scholars

Q&A — response to George Cook's question about the earliest scriptural record of the resurrection