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All (202) Scripture Commentary (44) Theology (12) Mike Winger (145) Pulpit (1)
Mike Winger idea 2018-01-31

LDS apologist argument #4: we don't know enough about Egyptology yet — future discoveries might vindicate Smith

Fourth main LDS apologetic response

Joseph Smith Book of Abraham Egyptology
Mike Winger idea 2018-01-31

Argument from the Mormon authority hierarchy: when the Bible, LDS standard works, and the Holy Spirit contradict each other, which do Mormons follow?

Epistemological challenge to Mormon missionaries

Holy Spirit LDS Church standard works
Mike Winger idea 2018-01-24

Book of Abraham (Pearl of Great Price), chapter 4: creation is described as 'the gods' organizing matter — explicitly polytheistic and not ex nihilo.

Mike reads from official Mormon scripture to demonstrate the polytheistic view of creation embedded in LDS canonical texts.

Joseph Smith Book of Abraham Pearl of Great Price
Mike Winger idea 2018-01-24

Mormon view: matter is eternal; God only organized pre-existing matter. The Book of Abraham uses 'organized' rather than 'created.'

The Mormon doctrine of creation directly contradicts ex nihilo — in LDS theology, God is not the source of matter itself.

Book of Abraham creation by organization ex nihilo creation
Mike Winger idea 2018-03-14

Protestant counter using Romans 3:28 and Romans 4 — Abraham justified by faith, not works

Presenting the Protestant response to James 2:24

Romans 3:28 Romans 4 justification by faith Abraham Romans 3:28
Mike Winger idea 2018-03-14

Catholic counter using James 2:21 — Abraham justified by works when he offered Isaac

Continuing the back-and-forth debate structure

James 2:21 Abraham Isaac faith vs. works
Mike Winger idea 2018-03-14

Full reading of James 2:14-26

Setting the passage before beginning verse-by-verse analysis

James 2:24 James 2:21 James 2:14-26 Abraham James 2:24 James 2:21
Mike Winger idea 2018-03-14

James 2:21 — 'justified by works when he offered Isaac' uses 'justified' in the vindication sense, not the salvific sense

Interpreting the justification of Abraham in James 2:21

James 2:21 Abraham Isaac James 2:21
Mike Winger idea 2018-03-14

Genesis 15:6 — Abraham's salvific justification happened decades before the Isaac incident

Key chronological argument proving James's use of 'justified' is not salvific

Genesis 15:6 Abraham salvation by faith imputed righteousness
Mike Winger idea 2018-03-14

Genesis 22:12 — 'Now I know that you fear God' — the Isaac incident is God/the observer confirming Abraham's faith is real

What happened at the Isaac offering and its theological significance

Genesis 22:12 Abraham Isaac vindication
Mike Winger idea 2018-03-14

James 2:22-23 — faith was active with works; faith was completed by works; Genesis 15:6 fulfilled in the Isaac offering

Reading James 2:22-23 with the Genesis timeline in mind

Genesis 15:6 James 2:22-23 Abraham demonstration of faith Genesis 15:6
Mike Winger idea 2018-03-14

Application: real faith will eventually bear fruit/works, even if years later (as with Abraham)

Practical application of the Abraham timeline

Genesis 15 Genesis 22 Abraham Genesis 15 Genesis 22
Mike Winger idea 2018-03-14

James 2:25 — Rahab the prostitute also 'justified by works' in the same sense as Abraham — demonstrating real faith through action

Verse-by-verse analysis of James 2:25

James 2:25 Rahab vindication demonstration of faith
Mike Winger idea 2018-03-14

Q&A: Does faith necessarily produce works, or are works only the way the world sees faith? James 2 is about justification in the eyes of men, not God

Viewer question about the relationship between faith and works

James 2 James 2 demonstration of faith works as evidence of faith
Mike Winger idea 2018-03-14

Q&A: Romans 4:16 — is it about saving faith? Is Abraham a prototype for saving faith?

Viewer asks Mike's view on Romans 4:16

Romans 4:16 justification by faith Abraham saving faith
Mike Winger idea 2018-03-14

Abraham as the paradigmatic prototype of saving faith in Romans 4 and Galatians — changes how you read both books

Elaboration on Abraham's role as prototype

Romans 4 Galatians justification by faith Abraham Romans 4
Mike Winger idea 2018-04-11

Reason 4 refuted: The psychological power of contradiction lists outweighs their actual evidential force; contradictions would not disprove inspiration anyway

The skeptic links to the Skeptic's Annotated Bible list of hundreds of alleged biblical contradictions.

James 2 James 2 inspiration tests biblical contradictions
Mike Winger idea 2018-08-16

Sye's ultimate evidential claim: everything proves God's existence because you cannot make sense of evidence itself without God — he is 'the ultimate evidentialist'

Sye's reframing of himself as a supreme evidentialist

Galatians 3:8 John the Baptist presuppositional apologetics evidence as God-dependent Galatians 3:8
Mike Winger idea 2018-08-16

Islam is internally self-contradictory: it claims to derive from the Bible but must assert the Bible was corrupted whenever it disagrees with Islamic teaching

Audience question about Islam; Sye's presuppositional critique of Islam

Genesis 22 Islam Genesis 22 typology
Mike Winger idea 2019-03-20

Galatians 3:16 — Jesus as descendant of Abraham, fulfilling Abrahamic promises

Extending the genealogical claims Paul makes about Jesus to include Abrahamic descent.

Galatians 3:16 Abrahamic covenant Messiah/Christ Old Testament fulfillment
Mike Winger idea 2018-12-19

Romans 4:1-5 — Abraham justified by faith, not works, citing Genesis 15:6

Mike uses Abraham as the foundational Old Testament example of faith-based justification

Genesis 15:6 Romans 4:1-5 justification by faith Abraham imputed righteousness
Mike Winger idea 2018-12-19

Romans 4:6-8 — David as second Old Testament example: righteousness apart from works (Psalm 32)

Continuing Romans 4

Romans 4:6-8 Psalm 32:1-2 David imputed righteousness forgiveness
Mike Winger idea 2018-12-19

Q&A: Were Jews chosen as an ethnic or religious group? — ethnic bloodline with a missional purpose

Answering viewer question from T. Kua

Genesis 12:3 Abraham covenant Messiah
Mike Winger idea 2019-01-16

Abraham and Sarah in Hebrews 11: faith as trust in specific divine promises, not evidence-free belief

Further examples from Hebrews 11 illustrating that the characters had specific reasons to believe.

Hebrews 11:8 Hebrews 11:11 Sarah Abraham faith
Mike Winger idea 2019-01-16

The Hebrews 11 heroes had concrete reasons for their faith: direct speech from God, angelic visitations, inherited testimony

Mike argues that the faith-figures in Hebrews 11 are not examples of 'faith without evidence.'

Hebrews 11 Moses Sarah evidence-based faith
Mike Winger idea 2019-01-23

Abraham Lincoln's anti-slavery argument applied analogously to abortion — differences do not justify denying rights

Historical parallel between pro-slavery arguments and pro-choice arguments about arbitrary distinctions

reductio ad absurdum abortion human rights
Mike Winger idea 2019-01-30

119 Ministries misrepresents mainstream Christianity as teaching the Old Testament is "no longer true" — Mike corrects this as a straw man

Mike plays and analyzes a 119 Ministries clip that characterizes traditional Christianity as teaching the Old Testament is no longer true.

Genesis 22 Abraham Genesis 22 Law of Moses
Mike Winger idea 2019-01-30

119 Ministries uses Hebrews to argue Jesus does not change, therefore the Bible does not change, therefore you must obey OT law — Mike dissects this logical chain

Mike traces the logical steps of 119 Ministries from the immutability of Christ to the conclusion that Torah-observance is mandatory.

Hebrews 13:8 Genesis 12 Abraham 119 Ministries Old Testament application
Mike Winger idea 2019-01-30

John 6:53 — "eat my flesh and drink my blood" is symbolic, not a basis for the Catholic doctrine of the Eucharist

Q&A: an ex-Catholic questioner asks whether John 6:53 has legitimate Hebrew roots or is scripture-twisting in support of the Eucharist.

Hebrews 11 John 5 John 6:53-63 Abraham Hebrews 11 John 5
Mike Winger idea 2019-02-13

Did Jesus go to hell? Mike does not think he was tortured there; references 1-2 Peter and Jude on descent

Viewer asking whether Jesus went to hell between death and resurrection

1 Peter 2 Peter Jude 1 Peter 2 Peter descent into hell
Mike Winger idea 2019-03-27

Q&A: Hebrews 11:1 is a description of faith in action, not a definition of faith

Question from "search for truth" about Hebrews 11:1

Hebrews 11 Hebrews 11:1 Hebrews 11 Hebrews 11:1 Amy Hall
Mike Winger idea 2019-04-03

Q&A on John 14:2-3 "I go to prepare a place for you" — Mike's understanding of the intermediate state and the new heaven and new earth

Viewer question on the afterlife and the meaning of Jesus preparing a place

John 14:2-3 Revelation 21 eschatology new heaven and new earth intermediate state
Mike Winger idea 2019-04-10

How Old Testament believers were saved by faith before Christ — Romans 4 and Genesis 15:6

Q&A: JoseCJ asks how OT believers were saved before Christ's work on the cross

Romans 4 Genesis 15:6 justification by faith Abraham salvation by faith
Mike Winger idea 2019-04-10

Abraham and David in Romans 4 as Old Testament examples of justification apart from works

Exegesis of Romans 4 on OT salvation

Romans 4 Genesis 15:6 David Abraham Romans 4
Mike Winger idea 2019-05-15

Big picture point 1: The Law had a beginning—it did not exist for Adam, Noah, Abraham, or Cain and Abel

First of three foundational contextual claims about the Law

Deuteronomy 5:2 Galatians 3:17 Abraham Deuteronomy 5:2 Galatians 3:17
Mike Winger idea 2019-05-15

Genesis 26:5 does not prove Abraham kept the Law of Moses

Response to a Hebrew Roots proof text about Abraham

Deuteronomy 5:2 Genesis 26:5 Abraham 119 Ministries Deuteronomy 5:2
Mike Winger idea 2019-05-15

The "law of Christ" in the New Covenant is the law of love — not the Mosaic Law written on the heart

Defining what Jeremiah 31's "law written on the heart" refers to

Galatians 6:2 Jeremiah 31:33 New Covenant Galatians 6:2 law written on the heart
Mike Winger idea 2019-05-16

Winger invitation to deeper study: Jesus in the Old Testament series

Mike Winger points viewers to his 20-video series on Jesus in the Old Testament and other examples of intricate harmonies (Abraham/Isaac, priestly robes, Melchizedek, the Servant of the Lord).

typology Abraham Jesus in the Old Testament
Mike Winger idea 2019-05-16

Why natural theology arguments point to the God of Christianity, not Hinduism

McLatchie explains why the cosmological and design arguments favor the Abrahamic God over polytheistic conceptions.

Mormonism polytheism monotheism
Mike Winger idea 2019-05-22

Peter's sermon in Acts 3 is directed to 'men of Israel' -- Jewish-to-Jewish evangelism with a distinctly Jewish message connecting Jesus to Messianic expectation

Survey of Acts chapter 3 sermon

Acts 3:12 Acts 3:17 Acts 3:25-26 Messianic prophecy Abrahamic covenant Peter (Apostle)
Mike Winger idea 2019-06-05

Galatians 3:21-22 — the law imprisons everything under sin so that promise comes by faith

Scriptural support for law-sin connection

Galatians 3:21-22 law and sin connection Galatians 3:21-22 imprisoned under sin
Mike Winger idea 2019-06-05

Galatians 3:23 — before faith we were held captive "under the law," referring to the Law of Moses for Jews

Surveying Pauline uses — fourth instance

Galatians 3:23 Law of Moses under the law Galatians 3:23
Mike Winger idea 2019-06-19

Analogy: Compositing Lincoln, JFK, and fictional David Palmer to "prove" Obama is a myth illustrates the fallacy of the mythicist composite method

Illustrating the logical fallacy in compositing pagan parallels

John F. Kennedy Abraham Lincoln Jesus mythicism Barack Obama
Mike Winger idea 2019-07-31

Circumcision-baptism parallel breaks down on multiple fronts: faith requirement, compulsion, and gender exclusivity

Winger extends the critique of the circumcision-baptism parallel by pressing its internal inconsistencies.

Lydia faith baptism
Mike Winger idea 2020-09-04

1 Peter 3:3-4 reinforces 1 Tim 2:9: true adornment is the gentle and quiet spirit, not external appearance

Reading and brief exposition of 1 Peter 3:3-4 as a parallel to 1 Timothy 2:9.

1 Peter 3:3-4 1 Timothy 2:9 Sarah Abraham gentle and quiet spirit
Mike Winger idea 2020-09-18

Where was Jesus's spirit during the two days between death and resurrection?

Brief lightning-round answer (no questioner name given).

1 Peter 3:19 eschatology descent into hell intermediate state
Mike Winger idea 2020-10-02

Mike's anti-Calvinist argument: faith is not a work regardless of its source; the Calvinist objection tries to smuggle faith into the "works" category

Mike's response to the Calvinist framing of faith as a "good work" that requires prior regeneration

Galatians 2 Romans 11:6 Genesis 15:6 Galatians 2 Abraham Romans 11:6
Mike Winger idea 2020-10-23

God's choices of Jacob, Abraham, Moses, prophets — not favoritism but purposive grace for non-salvific roles

Question from Ryder Ness, a "struggling Calvinist," about divine favoritism in biblical election.

Isaiah 6 Romans 9 Genesis 25 election Moses Abraham
Mike Winger idea 2020-10-30

Melchizedek question: Is Melchizedek a theophany/Christophany of Jesus, and how does Hebrews know so much about him?

Question from Christian Liang. Mike provides background on Genesis and Hebrews 7.

Hebrews 7 Genesis 14 Psalms 110 Melchizedek Christophany Hebrews 7
Mike Winger idea 2020-11-06

Romans teaches that physical descent from Abraham does not save -- only the faith of Abraham counts

Mike extends the Acts 16 argument with a Romans parallel

Romans Abraham Romans soteriology