Search — Theology Explorer

Empty tomb Historicity Multiple attestation

Multiple attestation of empty tomb across 4 Gospels plus Acts sermons

Establishing historicity of the empty tomb through independent sources

Mark's Gospel Early attestation Mark's Gospel

Early attestation - all NT documents are 1st century with sources within 7 years

Arguing for early date of empty tomb testimony

Mark's Gospel Mark's Gospel Aramaic Source criticism

Mark's Aramaic phrasing 'first day of the week' vs 'third day' formula

Evidence of pre-Gospel source material

Gospel of Peter Literary analysis

Mark's unadorned narrative vs legendary Gospel of Peter's elaborate details

Contrasting early and late accounts of the resurrection

Acrosolia tomb type - archaeologically confirmed matches Gospel descriptions

Physical archaeology of 1st century Jerusalem tombs

Acrosolia Archaeology

Preparation day Sabbath Internal consistency

Burial on day of preparation before Sabbath - corroborated across Gospels

Internal consistency of burial timeline

Criterion of embarrassment Joseph of Arimathea

Joseph of Arimathea - multiply attested, named, testable, criterion of embarrassment

Joseph as historical figure validating burial account

Mike Winger idea 2019-03-14

Humans are worse than they think they are, but Christ loves them more than they know — the paradox of the gospel

John wraps up his reflection on suffering and human nature

gospel grace human nature

Mike Winger idea 2019-03-14

Closing message to skeptics from John: separate psychological/emotional persuasiveness from logical validity; the gospel has explanatory power for the whole world

Closing messages to atheist/skeptic viewers

John McCrae gospel logical fallacies John McCrae

Mike Winger idea 2019-03-14

Closing message from Mike to skeptics: the evidence for Christianity is robust and surprising; Jesus really died for sins; God is personal and loves people; life is not purposeless

Mike's closing address to skeptic viewers

atonement gospel apologetics

Mike Winger idea 2019-03-27

Q&A: What about those who cannot understand the gospel due to severe mental illness? God holds people accountable for what they can know

Audience question about severely mentally ill people and salvation

Salvation Age of accountability Mental illness and salvation

Mike Winger idea 2019-03-27

Q&A: What to tell a toddler who asks if they are a child of God — children below the age of accountability are covered by Christ

Question from "wholesome home" about young children and salvation

Salvation Age of accountability Children and salvation

Mike Winger idea 2019-03-27

Closing appeal: false intellectual barriers constructed by Street Epistemology prevent people from seriously considering the gospel

Mike's closing statement

Evangelism Gospel Street Epistemology

Mike Winger idea 2019-04-03

Philippians — Paul's pastoral management of his congregation's grief over his suffering as evidence that his persecution was a given, publicly known reality

Paul's suffering was so consistent and well-known that he had to repeatedly address the pastoral fallout from it

Philippians Paul the Apostle apostolic martyrdom apostle sincerity

Mike Winger idea 2019-04-03

Three embarrassing facts that authenticate the disciples' sincerity: Peter's denial, James's pre-resurrection unbelief, and Paul's role as persecutor of the church

The criterion of embarrassment applied to the three key witnesses

James the brother of Jesus James's pre-resurrection unbelief resurrection Paul the Apostle criterion of embarrassment

Mike Winger idea 2019-04-10

Mike announces a verse-by-verse study through the Gospel of Mark beginning in May

Ministry announcement

Gospel of Mark verse-by-verse Bible study

Mike Winger idea 2019-04-10

Disciples' failure to cast out demons vs. faith as a mustard seed — two distinct teachings not to conflate

Q&A: Haggar Vid asks about the disciples having little faith and the mustard-seed faith saying

mustard seed faith disciples casting out demons little faith (oligopistia)

youth ministry apologetics J. Warner Wallace

Book: "The Next Generation Will Know" co-authored with J. Warner Wallace

McDowell introduces his new book releasing May 1

evangelism gospel Millennials

The problem with having a negative or contemptuous attitude toward a generation you are trying to reach with the gospel

Mike reflects on the pattern of older generations despising younger ones

parenting discipleship worldview

Practical idea: worldview movie nights — watch culturally relevant films with kids and discuss them

McDowell shares a practical tip while waiting for Q&A questions to come in

marriage gospel Millennials

Millennial and Gen Z church return: life-stage markers like marriage and children are happening later or not at all, making the expected return uncertain

McDowell addresses the question of whether lapsed young people will return

Mike Winger idea 2019-05-01

Adding corroborating evidence: reasons to believe God exists and Scripture is reliable further overcome any prior improbability

Mike adds to the cumulative case by connecting evidence for God and Scripture to the prior probability question.

Existence of God Prior probability New Testament reliability

Mike Winger idea 2019-05-01

Apologetics is useful and important but should not be overstated — it works differently for different people

Mike's pastoral qualification on the limits of apologetics.

Apologetics Evangelism Limits of apologetics

Mike Winger idea 2019-05-08

The church must maintain evangelism as its primary posture toward unbelievers; community service without gospel proclamation is insufficient

Response to question about churches focusing solely on community service vs. discipleship and evangelism

discipleship evangelism church mission

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

Romans 1:16 Gentile mission Romans 1:16 to the Jew first

Romans 1:16 — "To the Jew first and also to the Greek" reflects a sequential gospel mission, not simultaneous Law-imposition

Connecting the Jewish-first mission to the broader outreach pattern

Matthew 28:20 Hebrew Roots movement Great Commission Gentiles and the Law

Three problems with the Hebrew Roots use of Matthew 28: it misreads Matthew 5, ignores everything Jesus commanded, and contradicts how the Apostles actually applied it

Winger's three-pronged critique of the Matthew 28 argument

Matthew 7:14 Matthew 7:14 universalism unevangelized

Q&A: Those who never hear the gospel — Winger says the way is narrow but defers to his dedicated teaching on the topic

Classic theological question about the unevangelized

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

Acts 1:8 Judea Great Commission Acts 1:8 progressive revelation

Acts 1:8 establishes the progressive geographic expansion of the gospel: Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, uttermost parts of the earth

Survey of Acts chapter 1

Acts 8:1 Acts 1:8 Acts 8:1 Acts 1:8 progressive revelation

Acts 8:1 -- Saul's persecution scatters the church throughout Judea and Samaria, fulfilling the Acts 1:8 progression

Survey of Acts chapter 8

Acts 11:19 Acts 8:5 Gentile mission Acts 11:19 Acts 8:5

Acts 11:19 reveals that scattered believers preached only to Jews -- the assumption was still that the gospel was exclusively for Jews

Survey of Acts 8 and 11:19

Acts 8 John (Apostle) Acts 8 Holy Spirit Peter (Apostle)

The Holy Spirit did not fall on the Samaritan believers until Peter and John came and laid hands on them -- the Apostles were required to officially open the gospel to the Samaritans

Analysis of Holy Spirit delay in Samaria