Search — Theology Explorer

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.

natural theology Jonathan McLatchie DNA

Biological complexity — DNA as digitally encoded information pointing to design

McLatchie introduces biological fine-tuning and intelligent design via biological complexity.

Jonathan McLatchie biological fine-tuning intelligent design

Doug Axe's research — probability of functional proteins

McLatchie cites Douglas Axe's research on the ratio of functional to non-functional protein sequences.

Jonathan McLatchie intelligent design homochirality

Homochirality problem — origin of life obstacle

McLatchie raises the chirality problem as a further challenge to naturalistic origin-of-life scenarios.

biological fine-tuning intelligent design Antony Flew

Antony Flew's conversion from atheism due to biological complexity

Winger cites Antony Flew as a historical example of someone persuaded by biological complexity to abandon atheism.

Jonathan McLatchie biological fine-tuning intelligent design

Fine-tuning of the genetic code itself

McLatchie argues that the genetic code is itself exquisitely fine-tuned beyond what chance could produce.

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.

natural theology Jonathan McLatchie cosmic fine-tuning

Cosmic fine-tuning — constants and fundamental properties of the universe

McLatchie presents the argument from cosmic fine-tuning: the fundamental constants of the universe appear precisely calibrated for life.

natural theology Jonathan McLatchie cosmic fine-tuning

Bayesian approach: fine-tuning evidence favors theism over atheism

McLatchie articulates a Bayesian argument: the fine-tuning evidence is far more expected on theism than on atheism.

John Leslie Jonathan McLatchie apologetics objections cosmic fine-tuning

Objection: anthropic principle — we shouldn't be surprised we live in a life-permitting universe

McLatchie addresses the anthropic objection to the fine-tuning argument.

Mormonism polytheism monotheism

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.

1 John 4:8 Trinity Islam Richard Swinburne

Philosophical argument for the Trinity from God's essential love

McLatchie presents a philosophical argument that the triune nature of God is required by God's essential attribute of selfless love.

1 Corinthians 15 Acts 1 Luke Craig Keener 1 Corinthians 15 resurrection of Jesus

Historical case for the resurrection — basis and overview

McLatchie introduces the historical argument for the resurrection of Jesus, which is the seventh main line of argument.

1 Corinthians 15:3-7 Galatians 1:18-19 Paul Peter resurrection creed

1 Corinthians 15 creedal tradition — early apostolic testimony to the resurrection

McLatchie analyzes 1 Corinthians 15:3-7 as a pre-Pauline creed containing the earliest testimony to the resurrection.

John 21 Paul Peter Origen

Martyrdom of Peter and Paul as evidence for the sincerity of resurrection belief

McLatchie cites the willingness of the apostles to die for their testimony as evidence they genuinely believed in the resurrection.

Acts 1 James the brother of Jesus John 7:5 Josephus resurrection of Jesus Acts 1

James the brother of Jesus — conversion from skeptic to martyr

McLatchie presents the conversion and martyrdom of James, Jesus's brother, as particularly strong evidence for the resurrection.

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.

Mary Magdalene empty tomb criterion of embarrassment

Empty tomb evidence — women as primary witnesses

McLatchie presents the role of women as primary witnesses to the empty tomb as evidence for its historicity.

Matthew 28 empty tomb resurrection of Jesus Matthew 28

Earliest Jewish polemic presupposes the empty tomb — Matthew 28

McLatchie points to the earliest Jewish counter-argument to the resurrection as presupposing the tomb was empty.

Mark 16:1 Matthew 28:1 Luke 24:10 empty tomb Jonathan McLatchie historicity of the Gospels

Irreconcilable variation in empty tomb accounts — evidence for independence

McLatchie presents apparent discrepancies between Gospel accounts of the empty tomb as evidence for their independence.

Luke 8:2-3 Luke 24:10 Luke 23:55 Luke 8:2-3 Mary Magdalene Joanna

Undesigned coincidence within Luke: women from Galilee thread through Luke 8, 23, and 24

McLatchie presents an intra-Gospel undesigned coincidence within Luke demonstrating the authentic, non-fabricated character of the resurrection narrative.

apologetics cumulative case apologetics Jonathan McLatchie

The cumulative case — power and robustness of multiple converging arguments

McLatchie explains the logic and strength of the cumulative case approach as the seventh and final major point.

apologetics Jonathan McLatchie Apologetics Academy

Closing remarks and resources — Apologetics Academy

Winger and McLatchie wrap up the livestream with closing remarks and resource recommendations.

Acts 8:27-40 proselytes Philip (Evangelist) Acts 8:27-40

The Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8 appears to be Jewish or a proselyte (he was in Jerusalem to worship and had Isaiah), so this is still not a full Gentile conversion

Survey of Acts 8, Ethiopian eunuch

Acts 9:15 Acts 9:20 Paul the Apostle Acts 9:15 Acts 9:20

Acts 9: Saul is converted and called as the apostle to the Gentiles, but immediately begins preaching in synagogues to Jews -- the Gentile mission has not yet begun

Survey of Acts chapter 9, Paul's conversion

Acts 11:22-26 discipleship Barnabas Torah observance

Barnabas and Saul spend a full year discipling the Antioch church; disciples are first called Christians there. This extended discipleship with no mention of Torah observance is a key data point.

Survey of Acts 11:22-26, Antioch discipleship

James (brother of Jesus) Acts 15:20-21 table fellowship James (brother of Jesus) Acts 15:20-21

Acts 15:19-21 -- James decrees four abstentions for Gentiles: things contaminated by idols, fornication, what is strangled, and blood. The reason given: Moses has been preached in every city.

James's four-fold decree for Gentiles

Acts 15:20-21 table fellowship dietary laws Acts 15:20-21

Two interpretations of the four commands: (1) universal moral standards for all Gentile believers, or (2) specifically for Jewish-Gentile table fellowship. Winger favors table fellowship.

Competing interpretations of the Apostolic Decree

Timothy Jewish identity fulfillment theology

Timothy was not circumcised because he was Jewish -- he was circumcised for ministry effectiveness. This distinction is critical: it is fulfillment theology, not law-keeping.

Clarification on Timothy's circumcision motivation

Galatians 3:21-22 law and sin connection Galatians 3:21-22 imprisoned under sin

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

Scriptural support for law-sin connection

1 John 4:3 circular reasoning Law of Moses 119 Ministries

119 Ministries' circular argument: freedom from law of sin requires obeying the Law of Moses via 1 John 4:3

Critique of 119's overall logical structure

Romans 6:14 Romans 6:15 Law of Moses under the law Romans 6:14

Romans 6:15 refutes 119's interpretation of Romans 6:14 by context

Contextual argument using the immediately following verse

1 Corinthians 9:20-21 Law of Moses law of Christ under the law

1 Corinthians 9:20-21 — Paul uses "under the law" four times, clearly meaning Jews/Jewish law observance

Surveying Pauline uses — third instance