Search — Theology Explorer

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

1 Corinthians 10:13 temptation 1 Corinthians 10:13 suicide

1 Corinthians 10:13 refutes the idea that any temptation including suicidal impulse is unavoidably overpowering; God always provides a way of escape; the sense of enslavement is often a lie believed about oneself

Response to question about Christianity and suicide and whether God ever gives more than one can bear

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

John 16 Calvinism soteriology free will

Winger rejects irresistible grace: God's Spirit convicts all people universally but some freely reject him; Winger believes he personally would likely not believe without the Spirit's work

Response to question about whether Winger would believe in the Resurrection without God's testimony

Romans 14 Romans 6 1 Corinthians 10:13 Romans 14 temptation sanctification

Multi-step biblical strategy for overcoming lust: believe 1 Cor 10:13, make no provision for the flesh, remove high-value stumbling blocks, and fight temptation at its earliest stage not its peak

Response to question about being enslaved to the sin of lust

Matthew Hebrew Roots movement Matthew Law of Moses

Central question: Does Jesus want Gentile Christians to obey the Law of Moses today?

Opening framing of the video

Hebrew Roots movement Sabbath Torah observance

Hebrew Roots movement defined: a scattered, loosely organized group seeking to practice the Law of Moses

Background on the movement being critiqued

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 5:17 typology Matthew 5:17 Levitical law

The Law in Matthew is not merely instructive but predictive—even ritual laws point to who Jesus is

A key interpretive insight about the nature of the Law

John the Baptist Matthew 11:13 John the Baptist Matthew 11:13 Law and prophets prophesied

Matthew 11:13 — "All the prophets and the law prophesied until John" — indicates a new era beginning with Jesus

Additional scriptural support for the transitional nature of the Law

Galatians 3:19 Galatians 3:24-25 Galatians 3:19 Galatians 3:24-25 paidagogos

Galatians 3:19, 24-25 — the Law was a temporary guardian "until the offspring [Christ] should come"

Pauline support for the Law's transitional termination at the first coming

Galatians 3:24 Galatians 3:24 Sermon on the Mount paidagogos

The Law functions as a tutor to lead people to Christ—Sermon on the Mount sets up the gospel

Soteriological purpose of the Mosaic Law

John 13:34 Jeremiah 31:33 New Covenant John 13:34 new commandment

John 13:34 — Jesus gives a "new commandment" to love one another, which becomes the defining law of the New Covenant

The law of Christ defined

Galatians 6:2 Jeremiah 31:33 New Covenant Galatians 6:2 law written on the heart

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

Messianic Messianic Judaism completed Jew

Q&A: "Messianic" is a synonym for "Christian"—every believer in Jesus is messianic in the biblical sense

Response to audience question about non-Jews identifying as Messianic

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

second coming Holy Spirit kingdom of God

Q&A: The kingdom of God is wherever God rules as king—inaugurated by Christ, to be consummated at the second coming

Theological definition of the kingdom of God

1 John 3:4 1 John 3:4 anomia lawlessness

Q&A: 1 John 3:4 — "sin is lawlessness" refers to transgression of God's commands broadly, not specifically the Law of Moses

Response to a Hebrew Roots proof text

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

apologetics cumulative case apologetics Jonathan McLatchie

Introduction: cumulative case for Christianity

Mike Winger introduces Jonathan McLatchie and the format for the livestream — seven lines of argument for Christianity, each with an explanation, example, and objection.

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.

Ezekiel 26 Ezekiel 26 Nebuchadnezzar Alexander the Great

Prophecy of the destruction of Tyre (Ezekiel 26)

McLatchie presents Ezekiel 26 as a case study in fulfilled non-messianic predictive prophecy.

Ezekiel 26 Zechariah 9 Zechariah 7:1 Ezekiel 26 Alexander the Great prophecy of Tyre

Objection and response: the pronoun shift in Ezekiel 26 and Zechariah 9

Addressing the objection that the plural pronoun in Ezekiel 26 still refers only to Nebuchadnezzar.

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 52:13 Isaiah 6:1 Isaiah 2 Suffering Servant deity of Christ Jonathan McLatchie

Argument for the deity of Christ from Isaiah 52:13 — "high and lifted up"

McLatchie presents one of four arguments for the deity of the Messiah embedded within Isaiah 52-53.

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.

divine inspiration Jonathan McLatchie unity of Scripture

Unity of the Bible as a second argument for divine inspiration

Mike Winger introduces the unity of Scripture as a distinct argument from prophecy for divine inspiration.

Zechariah 2 Zechariah 4:8-9 Jonathan McLatchie intricate harmonies Zechariah 2

Divine plurality in Zechariah 2 — Yahweh sent by Yahweh

McLatchie gives Zechariah 2 as an example of intricate harmonies pointing to the Trinity in the Old Testament.

Hosea 11:1 Proverbs 30:1-4 Hosea 11:1 divine sonship Jonathan McLatchie

Proverbs 30:1-4 — God and his Son in the Hebrew Bible

McLatchie highlights Proverbs 30:1-4 as an often-overlooked text implying the divine sonship within the Hebrew Scriptures.

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.

Malachi 3:1 Judges 2:1 Malachi 3:1 Jonathan McLatchie Trinity in Old Testament

The Angel of the Lord as the messianic figure — Malachi 3 and Judges 2

McLatchie connects the Angel of the Lord to the "messenger of the covenant" in Malachi 3, establishing the Angel of the Lord as a messianic figure.

typology Abraham Jesus in the Old Testament

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).

Islam divine inspiration Quran

Why unity argument doesn't work for Islam — Quran vs. Bible authorship

Cameron Bertuzzi's question: if unity of Scripture argues for divine inspiration, why doesn't it work for the Quran?

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.

1 Corinthians 4:17 Luke 1 Corinthians 16:10 Paul Timothy 1 Corinthians 4:17

Undesigned coincidence: 1 Corinthians 4 and Acts 19 — Timothy's route to Corinth

McLatchie gives an example of undesigned coincidences between Paul's epistles and the book of Acts, confirming Luke as Paul's traveling companion.

undesigned coincidences Lydia McGrew historicity of the Gospels

Lydia McGrew's book on undesigned coincidences

Winger references Lydia McGrew's scholarly work as a resource for deeper study on undesigned coincidences.

methodological naturalism Jonathan McLatchie historicity of the Gospels

General reliability of the Gospels and Acts as a fourth argument

Winger and McLatchie introduce the general historical reliability of the Gospels and Acts as an additional, related argument.

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.

Acts 23:1-5 Josephus Jonathan McLatchie historicity of Acts

Acts corroboration: Ananias falsely acting as high priest — Acts 23

McLatchie gives a final Acts example showing extra-biblical corroboration explaining an apparent difficulty in the text.

Peter Williams historicity of the Gospels Can We Trust the Gospels?

Peter Williams — Can We Trust the Gospels?

Winger recommends Peter Williams's book as a resource for the general reliability of the Gospels.

Numbers 23:19 Deuteronomy 21:23 resurrection deity of Christ Justin Martyr

Unlikely origin of the disciples' belief in the deity of Jesus — fifth argument

McLatchie introduces the argument that the disciples' belief in Jesus's deity is historically inexplicable without the resurrection, given the Jewish context.

deity of Christ Jonathan McLatchie pagan deity parallels

Objection: Jesus's deity borrowed from pagan deities — and response

Addressing the popular online claim that the deity of Jesus was borrowed from pagan mythologies.

Big Bang natural theology Kalam cosmological argument

Kalam Cosmological Argument — everything that begins to exist has a cause

McLatchie presents the Kalam Cosmological Argument as part of natural theology.