Search — Theology Explorer

objective vs subjective atonement union with Christ conversion

Objective atonement 2,000 years ago vs. subjective appropriation at conversion

Winger explains how a believer can say they died with Christ even though they were not alive when Jesus died.

1 John 2:2 limited atonement kosmos 1 John 2:2

1 John 2:2 — Jesus is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but for the sins of the whole world

Winger introduces 1 John 2:2 as perhaps the strongest single verse against limited atonement.

1 John 2:2 John 11:51-52 limited atonement 1 John 2:2 John 11:51-52

Calvinist reinterpretation of 1 John 2:2: 'whole world' means Gentile believers scattered abroad, paralleled with John 11:51-52

Winger presents the Calvinist counter-argument that 'whole world' in 1 John 2:2 means people from every nation, not every individual.

Islam apologetics Christianity

Q&A: How to respond to someone who believes all religions are true (omnism) — expose internal contradictions, reconstruct their actual theology

Viewer Q&A: how to engage someone who holds that all religions are equally true.

Luke 9:54-56 James and John Steven Anderson Luke 9:54-56 spirit of Christ vs. spirit of destruction

Luke 9:54-56: Jesus rebukes disciples who want to call down fire to destroy enemies

Biblical response to Anderson's death-wish for homosexuals

Matthew 9:11-13 Hosea 6:6 Matthew 9:11-13 tax collectors and sinners compassion over sacrifice

Matthew 9:11-13: Jesus eats with tax collectors and sinners — his heart is toward sinners

Jesus's posture of reaching toward sinners rather than destroying them

Romans 3:21-24 justification by faith grace righteousness of God

Romans 3:21-24: The law leads to Christ — righteousness through faith for all who believe

The law's positive function: pointing to Christ

Matthew 5 Matthew 5 Sermon on the Mount universal sinfulness

Jesus in Matthew 5 intensifies the law — lust equals adultery in the heart, hate equals murder

Jesus's Sermon on the Mount expands the scope of sin

Luke 13 judgment hypocrisy universal sinfulness

Luke 13: Jesus refutes the idea that some sinners deserve judgment while others are better

Jesus on universal deserving of judgment

theocracy kingdom of God Steven Anderson

The OT law is not a blueprint for running governments or establishing theocracies

Correct application of OT law to civic life

Isaiah 53:6 messianic prophecy substitutionary atonement Isaiah 53:6

Isaiah 53:6: The Lord caused the iniquity of all to fall on Jesus

Substitutionary atonement as the solution the law points to

2 Corinthians 5:21 imputed righteousness 2 Corinthians 5:21 substitutionary atonement

2 Corinthians 5:21: God made Jesus who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf

Substitutionary atonement — the great exchange

gospel substitutionary atonement Steven Anderson

The gospel reframes Anderson's death-button: the button falls on Jesus, not on us

Applying substitutionary atonement to Anderson's rhetoric

John 10:10 John 10:10 abundant life Jesus's mission

John 10:10: Jesus came that they may have life and have it abundantly

Response to Anderson's "put a bullet in your head" advice

Matthew 11:28 John 3:16-17 salvation Jesus's mission Matthew 11:28

Matthew 11:28 and John 3:16-17: Jesus's actual advice — come to me; God sent Son to save not judge

What Jesus would actually say to sinners

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 salvation justification 1 Corinthians 6:9-11

1 Corinthians 6:9-11: Such were some of you — homosexuals and all manner of sinners were washed, sanctified, justified

Direct scriptural refutation that homosexuals cannot be saved

biblical worldview universal sinfulness secular worldview

Worldview gap: secular view — people are generally good and deserve heaven; biblical view — the opposite

Explaining why gospel sounds offensive to secular ears

online skepticism Jesus mythicism historicity of Jesus

Introduction: Mike Winger introduces the topic of Jesus mythicism and its growing online influence

Opening segment of livestream

Jesus mythicism Zeitgeist (film) Religulous (film)

The Zeitgeist film and Bill Maher's Religulous cited as catalysts for the modern Jesus myth movement

Identifying pop-culture sources of Jesus mythicism

Lee Strobel Mike Licona University of Pretoria

Guest introduction: Dr. Mike Licona, historical Jesus scholar with PhD from University of Pretoria

Guest credentials and background

scholarly consensus Jesus mythicism historicity of Jesus

Scholarly consensus: Jesus mythicism is not a live discussion in academic New Testament studies or history

Mike Licona characterizes the state of scholarly opinion on mythicism

scholarly consensus Bart Ehrman Jesus mythicism

Bart Ehrman's statement: mythicist view has no foothold among modern critical scholars

Quoting agnostic/atheist scholar to demonstrate non-Christian scholarly consensus

scholarly consensus Jesus mythicism historicity of Jesus

Maurice Casey (agnostic) concludes mythicist arguments are completely spurious, put forward by incompetent and unqualified people

Quoting another non-Christian scholar on mythicism

scholarly consensus Jesus mythicism historicity of Jesus

Joseph Hoffmann (agnostic, Harvard/Oxford) calls mythicists the greatest threat to calm academic study of religion next to fundamentalism

Third non-Christian scholar quoted condemning mythicism

Jesus mythicism historicity of Jesus argument from analogy

Analogy: Entertaining Jesus mythicism is like scientists debating Flat Earth, or historians entertaining Holocaust denial

Illustrating the scholarly view of Jesus mythicism's credibility level

Josephus Tacitus historicity of Jesus

Non-Christian sources for Jesus: Josephus, Tacitus, and Lucian of Samosata all mention Jesus

Overview of non-Christian historical sources for Jesus

criterion of embarrassment Pontius Pilate Tacitus

Tacitus places Jesus's execution under Tiberius Caesar while Pontius Pilate was procurator; both Tacitus and Lucian are hostile to Christianity

Significance of hostile sources attesting to Jesus

1 Corinthians James (brother of Jesus) Paul 1 Corinthians James (brother of Jesus)

Paul as historical witness: he knew Jesus's brother James, persecuted the church, and lived in the same region and time as Jesus

Discussing Paul's evidence for the historical Jesus

Paul Jesus mythicism historicity of Jesus

Argument: Paul's conversion is inexplicable if Jesus were fictional — he was in Jerusalem at the same time as the crucifixion

Using Paul's personal proximity to events to argue against mythicism

John the son of Zebedee Peter Gospel of John Gospel of Mark

The Gospels (especially Mark and John) contain eyewitness testimony, serving as evidence for a historical Jesus

The Gospels as historical sources

Jesus mythicism historicity of Jesus early Christianity

The rapid genesis and spread of the Christian movement is hard to explain if Jesus were fictional and not within living memory

Sociological argument for historical Jesus

James (brother of Jesus) Josephus James (brother of Jesus) Antiquities of the Jews

Josephus mentions Jesus twice: Antiquities 18.63 (disputed) and Antiquities 20.200 (virtually undisputed)

Explaining the two Josephus passages

Josephus Origen Antiquities of the Jews

The Testimonium Flavianum (Antiquities 18.63) was interpolated by a Christian, but most scholars think an authentic Josephus reference to Jesus underlies it

Scholarly consensus on the interpolation question in Josephus

John Meier Josephus historicity of Jesus Testimonium Flavianum

Louis Feldman (leading Josephus scholar, Jewish, non-Christian) believed Josephus mentioned Jesus in both passages, estimated 3-to-1 or 5-to-1 ratio of scholars who agree

Expert Josephus scholarly opinion on the authenticity question

Pontius Pilate Tacitus historicity of Jesus

Tacitus spells "Christos" correctly even while initially writing "Chrestus" — the full passage explicitly identifies Christ as executed under Pontius Pilate under Tiberius

Addressing the "different group" objection to Tacitus

Richard Carrier Tacitus Jesus mythicism

Richard Carrier's claim that all extra-biblical sources simply copy Gospel accounts is refuted by Tacitus's late date and hostile stance

Refuting Carrier's hypothesis that non-Christian sources merely echo the Gospels

Paul Jesus mythicism historicity of Jesus

The dying and rising gods parallel argument fails because Paul and non-Christian sources still have to be explained independently of the Gospels

Initial response to the Greco-Roman dying/rising gods parallel argument

early Christianity dying and rising gods pagan mythology

First-century Christians were pious, Torah-observant Jews who debated minutiae of Jewish law — making wholesale borrowing from pagan myths implausible

Cultural argument against the pagan parallels theory

historicity of Jesus argument from analogy dying and rising gods

Analogy: Parallel details in the B-29 Empire State Building crash (1945) and 9/11 do not mean 9/11 was copied — you need a causal connection

Illustrating that parallel details alone prove nothing without demonstrating causal connection

historicity of Jesus dying and rising gods pagan mythology

Historians are unpersuaded by pagan parallels because the parallels are not actually that similar; Asclepius is the closest pre-Jesus parallel and only heals/occasionally raises dead

Examining specific pagan parallels to Jesus

resurrection Apollonius of Tyana historicity of Jesus

Apollonius of Tyana, the closest post-Jesus parallel, did not believe in resurrection and has only one account of an after-death appearance — in a dream to one disciple

Examining the post-Jesus pagan parallel most cited by mythicists

Apollonius of Tyana Jesus mythicism historicity of Jesus

Mythicists must composite multiple figures (Dionysus, Horus, Asclepius, Apollonius, Hercules) to approximate Jesus — historians reject this method

Exposing the composite methodology of Jesus-myth parallels

John F. Kennedy Abraham Lincoln Jesus mythicism Barack Obama

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

Paul Richard Carrier Jesus mythicism

Richard Carrier's claim that Paul only describes a Jesus in outer space, never on earth

Presenting a key mythicist argument from Richard Carrier about Paul

Romans 1:3 Paul Richard Carrier Davidic descent

Romans 1:3 refutes the "outer space Jesus" claim — Paul explicitly places Jesus as a historical descendant of David born in the flesh

Exegetical refutation of Carrier's cosmic Jesus interpretation

James (brother of Jesus) Paul James (brother of Jesus) Jesus mythicism

Some mythicists argue "James the brother of the Lord" means a fellow believer, not a biological brother of Jesus

Mythicist reinterpretation of Paul's reference to James

Galatians James (brother of Jesus) Matthew 13:55 Josephus Galatians multiple attestation

Refutation: Paul and Jesus use "brothers" for all believers, but Matthew names four brothers of Jesus including James — confirmed by Josephus

Multiple source attestation for James as biological brother of Jesus

Acts James (brother of Jesus) John 7 Acts James (brother of Jesus) resurrection appearances

John 7 records Jesus's brothers not believing in him during his ministry, then Acts records them as believers after resurrection — this disbelief/conversion arc supports biological relationship

The conversion of Jesus's brothers as evidence for their biological relationship

James (brother of Jesus) Josephus multiple attestation James (brother of Jesus)

Multiple independent attestation from Paul, Matthew, John (special L), and Josephus — the strongest form of historical evidence — confirms Jesus's brothers including James

Summary of multiple attestation for Jesus's brothers