Search — Theology Explorer

Galatians 2 Romans 11:6 Genesis 15:6 Galatians 2 Abraham Romans 11:6

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

Romans 10:17 faith Calvinism soteriology

Non-Calvinist view: God initiates faith through the proclaimed word, but the individual makes the decision to believe

Mike's positive account of how faith works in a non-Calvinist framework

Romans 14 Romans 14 faith and works Christian liberty

Romans 14: do not violate your conscience — if you cannot do something in faith before God, do not do it, even if it may be permissible

Question from Only in Antarctica about whether a Christian can work in the cannabis sector

Acts 5:29 Romans 13 Acts 5:29 Romans 13 COVID-19

Grace Community Church COVID decision: Mike is on the fence — neither fully endorsing nor opposing their refusal to close

Question from Teonbay about Grace Community Church defying California government COVID gathering restrictions

Mike Winger idea 2020-10-17

Fighting pornography addiction — battle is lost before you even feel overwhelmed

Q from Nathan P about why prayer seems ineffective against porn addiction.

1 Corinthians 10:13 Romans 13:14 1 Corinthians 10:13 Spiritual Warfare Pornography

Mike Winger idea 2020-10-17

Old Testament dietary laws — not binding on Christians; Isaiah 66 and Ezekiel future prophecy not a present command

Q from Ashley Koenig about whether Christians must follow OT dietary laws, citing Isaiah 66:16-17.

Colossians Romans 14 Acts Colossians Romans 14 Mosaic Law

Mike Winger idea 2020-10-30

Homosexuality passages: pedophilia reinterpretation refuted — Mike's four-part series using pro-gay Greek scholars

Question from April Stafford about the claim that biblical passages condemning homosexuality are actually about pedophilia.

Romans 1 1 Corinthians 6:9 Leviticus 18:22 biblical interpretation Romans 1 1 Corinthians 6:9

Mike Winger idea 2020-10-30

Living peaceably with a difficult family member: Romans 12:18 — 'as much as it depends on you'

Question from Josiah about conflict with a family member at home.

Romans 12:18 Romans 12:18 conflict resolution peacemaking

Mike Winger idea 2020-10-30

David Wood's apologetics style: Mike declines blanket condemnation, invokes 'who are you to judge another man's servant'

Question from Dimitar Bratov about David Wood's confrontational approach to Islamic apologetics.

Romans 14:4 Islam apologetics methodology David Wood

Mike Winger idea 2020-11-06

Unleavened bread at communion is symbolically important (sinlessness of Christ); alcoholic vs non-alcoholic wine is incidental

Responding to Kumbo Munsaka's question about whether alcoholic wine and unleavened bread are required at the Lord's Supper

Romans 14 Lord's Supper Romans 14 Christian liberty

Mike Winger idea 2018-09-26

Does God choose who is saved? — Both election and free will are simultaneously true

A viewer asks how to understand salvation as a gift if God chooses who receives it.

Romans 10:13 election Calvinism soteriology

Mike Winger idea 2018-09-26

James White's upcoming Calvinism response — Mike's posture of learning; concern about misrepresentation of Romans 1 argument

Mike closes by addressing James White's upcoming video response to his Calvinism video.

James White Romans 1 James White Calvinism Romans 1

Romans 11 Revelation 7:4 Jehovah's Witnesses tribulation futurism

Revelation 7:4 — the 144,000 are a literal future group of ethnic Jewish men

Question about what the 144,000 sealed in Revelation 7:4 means.

Romans 13 theocracy justice Romans 13

No single biblical form of government; Christianity fits any system through principles

Question about biblical support for monarchy and the Christian attitude toward it.

Romans 11 Abrahamic covenant Jewish people Romans 11

Modern Israel and biblical Israel are continuous, but God's promises do not make every Israeli action righteous

Question about how modern political Israel correlates to biblical promises for Israel.

Romans 10:1-4 John 5:46 Moses soteriology Messiah

Dual covenant theology is unbiblical; Jewish people need Jesus — Romans 10:1-4 and John 5:46

Final question about whether Jews can be saved without believing in Jesus through a special covenant.

Romans 14 Romans 14 conscience sanctification

An over-sensitive conscience may result from equating every guilty feeling with sin; Romans 14 and Mike's dedicated video on conscience address calibrating the conscience rightly.

Question about having an overly sensitive conscience

Romans 14 Romans 14 eschatology Hebrew Roots Movement

A future millennial observance of feasts does not obligate Christians now; present-tense New Testament teaching (Romans 14) is the relevant authority for current practice.

Millennial feast observance and current Christian obligation

Romans 1:24-27 natural law homosexuality sexual ethics

Romans 1:24-27 uses "natural function" (physiken chresin) as the key term defining appropriate sexual expression; lesbian and male homosexual acts are condemned as exchanges of the natural for the unnatural.

Question about sexual ethics in marriage; reading of Romans 1

Romans 1:24-27 marriage natural law sexual ethics

Applying the "natural function" standard: anal intercourse is physically harmful even between a married man and woman and is therefore unnatural and prohibited.

Applying Romans 1 framework to acts within marriage

Christian Liberty / Conscience Media Discernment Disputable Matters / Romans 14

Netflix cancellation is not a universal Christian obligation — Mike and his wife cancelled over the trend of increasingly immoral programming, but binding that choice on others is divisive infighting over a disputable matter.

Q: Should Christians cancel their Netflix subscription?

Acts of the Apostles Romans 9-11 Romans 1:16 — Jew First Acts of the Apostles Romans 9-11 Jewish Salvation / Two-Covenant Theology

The NT is pro-Jewish rather than anti-Semitic: Romans 9-11 teaches the future salvation of all Israel, the gospel goes to the Jew first, and Jesus and all the original apostles are Jewish.

Counter-argument to the anti-Semitism charge against the NT.

Romans 10:1-4 Galatians — Law as Condemner Paul Romans 10:1-4 Jewish Salvation / Two-Covenant Theology

Romans 10:1-4 refutes the idea that Jews can be saved apart from Jesus: Paul's heart's desire is that his Jewish kinsmen be saved — meaning they currently are not — despite their genuine zeal for God.

Q: How do I respond to family who believe Jews will go to heaven even if not saved by Jesus?

Romans 1:16 — Jew First Galatians — Law as Condemner Jewish Salvation / Two-Covenant Theology Romans 1:16 — Jew First Galatians — Law as Condemner

Everything possible is theologically wrong with two-covenant theology (Jews saved by law, gentiles by Christ) — it is unloving to Jewish people because it withholds their own Savior from them.

Summary judgment on two-covenant soteriology.

Exodus 32 — Moses Intercession Prayer Divine Sovereignty and Human Free Will Moses — Intercession

Prayer is powerful precisely because God's will can be conditionally contingent on prayer — he may desire to do something but not do it if we do not pray; Moses' intercession for Israel is the paradigmatic example.

Answering the secondary question: what is the point of praying if it is already God's will?