Search — Theology Explorer

youth ministry apologetics J. Warner Wallace

Book: "The Next Generation Will Know" co-authored with J. Warner Wallace

McDowell introduces his new book releasing May 1

youth ministry Greg Koukl apologetics

The book is motivated by McDowell's own children and 20 years of ministry focus on the next generation

McDowell explains the need driving the book project

evangelism gospel Millennials

The problem with having a negative or contemptuous attitude toward a generation you are trying to reach with the gospel

Mike reflects on the pattern of older generations despising younger ones

apologetics fact-checking trust

Gen Z fact-checks in real time — credibility and truth-telling are now more important than ever for teachers and pastors

McDowell describes speaking at Berkeley and observing real-time fact-checking

youth ministry apologetics J. Warner Wallace

J. Warner Wallace's youth ministry lesson: teaching content vs. training for engagement — and the failure of candles-and-experience ministry

McDowell recounts how J. Warner Wallace transformed his youth ministry approach

Southern Baptist Convention Barna Research The Myth of the Dying Church

Q&A: Why is church attendance dropping? Glenn Stanton's "The Myth of the Dying Church" — mainline churches are dying, not Bible-believing churches

Audience question about church decline, particularly among Millennials and Gen Z

1 Corinthians 1 Corinthians Paul the Apostle Resurrection of Jesus

Twitter response 2: Eyewitness testimony from various continents, plus written testimony from Pilate or Sanhedrin

Second respondent's examples of extraordinary resurrection evidence.

Apologetics Evangelism Limits of apologetics

Apologetics is useful and important but should not be overstated — it works differently for different people

Mike's pastoral qualification on the limits of apologetics.

Q&A begins; note on busyness and the importance of deliberate margin in life

Transition to live Q&A.

Christian living

Youth ministry Discipleship Pastoral ministry

Q&A: Tips for young first-time pastor doing outreach to youth/college-age in a congregation of older saints

Pastoral question from a viewer.

Christian living Church accountability Pastoral correction

Q&A: Is it wrong to approach a pastor who taught something theologically unsound?

Viewer question about church accountability.

1 Corinthians James the brother of Jesus 1 Corinthians Paul the Apostle Resurrection of Jesus

Paul and James as enemy/skeptic witnesses to the resurrection — more powerful than Pilate would be

Mike argues we already have the category of evidence (non-follower witnesses) that skeptics demand.

apologetics William Lane Craig Big Bang

The Kalam Cosmological Argument leads from two premises to the conclusion that the universe has a cause with properties matching classical theism; William Lane Craig has defended it extensively

Response to question about atheist objections to the Kalam

John 8 Mary Magdalene textual criticism John 8

John 8 (woman caught in adultery) has significant textual critical issues; there is no good case for identifying her as Mary Magdalene; the absence of the man reflects a real double standard

Response to question about the woman caught in adultery

Matthew 6:14-15 Philippians 2:13 assurance of salvation forgiveness Matthew 6:14-15

Matthew 6:14-15 has a direct and uncomfortable application; persistent unwillingness to forgive may be evidence of not being in Christ, not a cause of losing salvation

Response to question about applying Matthew 6:14-15 to life situations

Matthew 26:39 atonement Matthew 26:39 Gethsemane

The necessity of Christ's atonement is biblically defensible; Jesus's Gethsemane prayer implies there was no other way to redeem fallen humanity

Response to question about whether God needed Christ's sacrifice in order to cleanse us for indwelling by the Holy Spirit

Acts 15 Matthew 5 Matthew 28 Acts 15 Hebrew Roots movement Matthew 5

Series structure announced: Matthew teachings today, then Acts, then Epistles

Winger lays out his multi-part teaching plan

Matthew 28:18-20 Matthew 5:17 Great Commission Matthew 28:18-20 119 Ministries

The Hebrew Roots argument: Matthew 5 + Matthew 28 = all nations must obey the Law of Moses

Winger presents the 119 Ministries interpretive framework before critiquing it

Matthew 10:5 Matthew 28:18-20 Matthew 5:17 hermeneutics Matthew 10:5 Matthew 28:18-20

Matthew 5 and Matthew 28 are from entirely different contexts and cannot be simply combined

First critique of the Hebrew Roots interpretive move

Hebrews 9:9-10 dietary laws Hebrews 9:9-10 Levitical law

Hebrews 9:9-10 describes Mosaic regulations as a placeholder "until the time of reformation"

Further development of the Law's built-in temporality

Matthew 5:17 hermeneutics Sermon on the Mount Matthew 5:17

Matthew 5:17 must be read pre-New Covenant: Jesus is speaking to Jews before the cross

Key hermeneutical frame for interpreting the Sermon on the Mount

Matthew 5:18 Pharisees Matthew 5:18 iota and tittle

Matthew 5:18 (not a jot or tittle will pass) is about how the Law will not be stripped piecemeal, not about its perpetual applicability

Exegesis of Matthew 5:18 against the Hebrew Roots reading

Jeremiah 31 Luke 22:20 Lord's Supper Jeremiah 31 New Covenant

The New Covenant is in Jesus's blood — Luke 22:20 at the Last Supper

Jesus himself inaugurating the New Covenant at Passover

Romans 14 Romans 14 Christian liberty conscience

Q&A: Are Jewish believers required to keep the Mosaic Law? No, but cultural/traditional practice may be permitted if not causing division

Nuanced pastoral answer about Jewish Christians and the Law

Christian living modesty New Testament ethics

Q&A: Modesty in dress is a New Testament command—not law-keeping—and our culture is distorted about it

Pastoral application question about dress standards

1 Corinthians 9 Christian liberty 1 Corinthians 9 Christian and culture

Q&A: The Christian's primary cultural identity is the culture of Christ—follow Christ absolutely, adapt to culture in neutral matters

Pastoral guidance on Christianity and cultural identity

Acts 15:21 119 Ministries Gentiles and the Law Jerusalem Council

Q&A: Acts 15:21 is used by Hebrew Roots to justify Gentile Torah observance — Winger defers to full treatment next week

Preview of upcoming Acts 15 analysis

Deuteronomy 18 Isaiah 41:21-24 Deuteronomy 18 divine inspiration predictive prophecy

Predictive prophecy as criterion for divine inspiration

Jonathan McLatchie explains how the Bible itself uses predictive prophecy as a criterion for identifying divine inspiration.

Isaiah 52:13-53:12 Suffering Servant substitutionary atonement messianic prophecy

Isaiah 52:13-53:12 as messianic prophecy — full reading

McLatchie reads and introduces the Suffering Servant passage of Isaiah 53 as the premier example of messianic prophecy.

Isaiah 53 Isaiah 42 Isaiah 49 Isaiah 53 Suffering Servant messianic prophecy

Objection: Isaiah 53 is about Israel, not Jesus — and response

McLatchie addresses the modern rabbinic argument that Isaiah 53's Suffering Servant is a personification of the nation of Israel.

Mark 2 Isaiah 63:7-10 Psalm 78:40 Holy Spirit Mark 2 Jonathan McLatchie

Isaiah 63 — Three persons of the Trinity in the Old Testament

McLatchie presents Isaiah 63:7-10 as containing all three persons of the Trinity within a single Old Testament passage.

New Testament Old Testament progressive revelation

New Testament as the decryption key for Old Testament theology

Winger summarizes the unity argument: the NT makes sense of the OT, and the OT prepares for the NT.

undesigned coincidences eyewitness testimony Jonathan McLatchie

Undesigned coincidences — definition and how they demonstrate historicity

Winger asks McLatchie to explain undesigned coincidences as a distinct argument for the historicity of the New Testament.

John 6:5 John 12:21 Luke 9:10 undesigned coincidences Jonathan McLatchie John 6:5

Undesigned coincidence: why Jesus addressed Philip at the feeding of the 5,000

McLatchie's first example of an undesigned coincidence involving John 6, John 12, and Luke 9.

John 12:1 Mark 11-14 triumphal entry undesigned coincidences Jonathan McLatchie

Undesigned coincidence: John's Passover timeline and Mark's narrative calibrate perfectly

McLatchie's second Gospel-based undesigned coincidence — the precise synchronization of John 12 and Mark 11-14.

Matthew 2:22 Josephus Herod Antipas Antiquities of the Jews

Extra-biblical corroboration: Herod Archelaus and Matthew 2:22

McLatchie gives Josephus as extra-biblical corroboration explaining Matthew's otherwise puzzling reference to Herod Archelaus.

John the Baptist Mark 10:2-12 Josephus John the Baptist Herod Antipas

Extra-biblical corroboration: Mark 10 — why Jesus taught about divorce in that context

McLatchie uses Mark 10's divorce passage to show Josephus provides context explaining why the teaching is historically plausible.

John the Baptist Luke 3:14 Josephus John the Baptist Herod Antipas

Extra-biblical corroboration: Luke 3 — soldiers on active duty near John the Baptist

McLatchie presents a subtle corroboration between Luke 3's soldiers and the specific military situation in the region during John the Baptist's ministry.

God of the gaps inference to the best explanation Jonathan McLatchie

Objection: God of the gaps — and the response from information theory

McLatchie addresses the most popular objection to intelligent design: the God of the gaps fallacy.

1 Corinthians 15 James the brother of Jesus Luke 24:34 Peter 1 Corinthians 15 resurrection of Jesus

Criterion of restraint — no narratives of private resurrection appearances to Peter and James

McLatchie introduces the "criterion of restraint" as further corroboration of the resurrection's historicity.

Mike Winger idea 2019-05-22

Acts 20:16 -- Paul hurries to reach Jerusalem for Pentecost. Winger notes he missed Passover and his motivation is gospel preaching to Jews gathered for the feast, not pure feast-day observance.

Survey of Acts 20:16, Paul and Pentecost

Acts 20:16 Acts 20:24 Pentecost Paul the Apostle feast days

hermeneutics Hebrew Roots Movement 119 Ministries

119 Ministries is used as the dialogue partner because they actually engage with challenging passages

Methodological note on choosing 119 Ministries

Galatians 4:4-5 redemption sinlessness of Jesus Law of Moses

Galatians 4:4-5 — Jesus was born "under the law" to redeem those under it; proves the phrase means Law of Moses, not mastery of sin

Surveying Pauline uses — sixth instance, highly significant

Galatians 5:18 Law of Moses under the law Galatians 5:18

Galatians 5:18 — "if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law"

Surveying Pauline uses — eighth/ninth instance