Search — Theology Explorer

Romans 16:7 Galatians 2 Junia Romans 16:7 Andronicus

Counterargument: 'well-known among the apostles' proves too much given their obscurity

Mike offers a significant rebuttal to the highest-sense reading.

Romans 16:7 Philip Payne apostolos Romans 16:7

Option 2: Junia as missionary/church planter (lower sense of apostle)

Mike explores the second option for interpreting Junia's apostleship.

Philip Payne authority in ministry Great Commission

Payne's claim that Junia had 'authority as ministers of the gospel' is vague

Mike responds to Payne's claim about authority.

Craig Blomberg Burer-Wallace paper (2001) Richard Bauckham

Richard Bauckham's rebuttal in Gospel Women

Mike introduces the main scholarly pushback against Burer-Wallace.

Burer-Wallace paper (2001) Richard Bauckham Gospel Women

Bauckham's key criticisms of Burer-Wallace

Mike summarizes Bauckham's main points.

Philip Payne moral suspicion argument women following Jesus

Philip Payne's argument: traveling with Jesus full-time raised moral suspicions

Mike presents Payne's specific cultural argument.

Philip Payne woman at the well cultural restriction argument

Five objections to Payne's cultural argument summarized

Mike itemizes his objections to the cultural-restriction thesis.

Mike Winger idea 2022-05-30

Luke 8:35 uses the same phrase 'sitting at the feet of Jesus' for the healed demoniac — who was clearly not being trained as a rabbi

Mike finds a counter-example in the same gospel (Luke), only two chapters away, using the identical phrase.

Luke 8:35 sat at the feet Luke 8:35 Gerasene demoniac

Mike Winger idea 2022-06-20

Peter's withdrawal was about soteriological status, not social discrimination broadly

Mike recontextualizes Galatians 2 to show it supports his reading, not Westfall's.

Galatians 2:11-16 Peter justification by faith Galatians 2:11-16

Mike Winger idea 2022-08-15

Keener's conclusion: Paul wrote household codes as long-range Roman cultural defense

Mike quotes Keener's concluding summary on the cultural argument.

Craig Keener Paul, Women and Wives Paul's imprisonment

Mike Winger idea 2022-03-28

Real believers exist on both sides, but the issue still matters.

Framing the tone of the debate

women in ministry charitable debate

Mike Winger idea 2022-11-11

Glory as honor connects the entire passage: headship chain produces honor chain

Mike shows how the honor interpretation unifies the passage.

honor chain headship chain Gospel of John

Mike Winger idea 2022-12-04

Problem with the education view: women were not so education-deprived in Christian context

Mike challenges the assumption that Corinthian women were significantly less educated than men in matters relevant to church.

1 Corinthians 12:2 Priscilla Apollos apostolic doctrine

Mike Winger idea 2024-03-01

Analogy to overturned German scholarship on the Gospels and Greek myths

Mike argues that entire schools of scholarly thought can be wrong and get overturned.

German scholarship Gospel origins anti-Semitism in scholarship

Mike Winger idea 2024-03-01

Women in ministry is a secondary issue but with huge practical application

Mike addresses the importance level of this theological disagreement.

secondary issue Christian unity practical application

Mike Winger idea 2024-03-01

Women evangelizing men: easy case — the woman at the well, women at the resurrection

Mike addresses women doing evangelism toward men.

John 4:28-30 evangelism John 4:28-30 woman at the well

Matthew 24:7-14 Matthew 24:7-14 Proof-texting Composite sign

JW article's proof-texting strategy: the 'composite sign'

JW argument begins with Matthew 24:7-14 as the 'composite sign'

Matthew 24:7-14 Matthew 24:7-14 Inter-advent period Church history

Matthew 24:7-14 describes inter-advent period, not end-time

Clarifying what the 'composite sign' actually refers to

Matthew 28:6 Matthew 28:6 Empty tomb Bodily resurrection

Proof text #2: Matthew 28:6 and the empty tomb

Evidence that the tomb was genuinely empty

Titus siege AD 70 Full Preterism Realized eschatology

Q&A: Full Preterism and the AD 70 argument

Responding to alternative end-times views

Bill Johnson gospel healing

Bethel's gospel is mostly intact but distorted by the addition of physical healing as a central gospel promise

Mike assesses the core gospel content at Bethel

Galatians 1:8-9 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 Bill Johnson Galatians 1:8-9 2 Corinthians 12:7-9

Bill Johnson quotes Galatians 1 anathema to condemn anyone who teaches that sickness can be God's will — including Paul's thorn in the flesh interpretations

Mike plays and analyzes a provocative Bill Johnson video on the anathema of Galatians 1

Matthew 26:11 Bill Johnson hermeneutics prosperity gospel

Examining 'Jesus-only' theology on its own terms: if we take only Jesus' three-and-a-half years, did he teach full present-tense prosperity? Matthew 26:11 — 'The poor you will always have with you'

Mike tests Bethel's Jesus-only hermeneutic against actual teachings of Jesus

evangelism Bill Johnson gospel

Q&A — Has Mike ever heard Johnson preach a clear gospel message? No — he's heard Johnson affirm the gospel but it's always followed by a pivot to signs and wonders

Q&A question from Chavita

Mike Winger idea 2018-02-21

The worst Watchtower error is not the blood doctrine but the false gospel — which condemns souls, not just physical bodies.

Mike closes his main argument by placing the blood transfusion issue within the broader context of JW false gospel teaching.

evangelism Jehovah's Witnesses Watchtower

Mike Winger idea 2018-02-07

Todd White's ministry approach of showing love and compassion is genuinely effective as a witness — but his repeated formula of 'Jesus thinks you're amazing' strips truth of important counterbalancing truths.

Evaluating the positive and problematic aspects of Todd White's interpersonal approach.

Psalm 139:14 Todd White gospel presentation Psalm 139:14

Mike Winger idea 2018-02-07

Q&A: Mark 7:32-34 and Jesus spitting/making mud — Mike lacks a definitive interpretation but shares a missionary anecdote about a tribe that attributed magical powers to shamans' spit, making Jesus' spitting highly significant for them.

Viewer question from TruthandGrace about the theological significance of Jesus using spit in healing.

Mark 7:32-34 John 9 hermeneutics Mark 7:32-34 John 9

Mike Winger idea 2018-04-18

Q&A: Pre-trib vs. post-trib rapture — Mike's personal uncertainty and call not to divide over it

Question from 'Detective in Christ' about the timing of the rapture.

Calvary Chapel eschatology rapture

Mike Winger idea 2017-12-27

Mike's personal ministry goal: maximize online reach as a form of global gospel stewardship

Q&A/closing section. Mike shares his own goals for the new year as a personal application of the tips.

evangelism apologetics stewardship

Joseph Smith God was once a man King Follett Sermon

King Follett Sermon quote: 'God himself was once as we are now and is an exalted man' — Joseph Smith teaches that God's pre-divine humanity is the 'great secret.'

Direct quotation from the King Follett Sermon establishing the Mormon doctrine that God was once a mortal man.

Joseph Smith God was once a man King Follett Sermon

Joseph Smith teaches that God lived on another earth, was born, lived, died, and was resurrected — just like Jesus — before becoming God.

Continuation of the King Follett Sermon quote, extending the doctrine that God was once a man by drawing an explicit parallel with the life of Jesus.

Mormonism vs. Christianity doctrine of God blasphemy

Christian and Mormon concepts of God are mutually exclusive — not just different perspectives but contradictory definitions of what God is.

Mike wraps up the 'God' vocabulary section by emphasizing the incompatibility is categorical, not merely a difference of emphasis.

Christian soteriology gospel faith

Christian definition of the gospel: the good news of forgiveness through faith in Jesus Christ's death and resurrection — sufficient for complete salvation.

Ninth vocabulary comparison: 'the gospel.' For Christians, the gospel is straightforward good news requiring faith, not works.

Pharisaism Joseph Smith works-based salvation

Mormon definition of the gospel: a complex set of new teachings restored by Joseph Smith that must be learned and performed — not 'good news' but a difficult path.

The Mormon gospel adds a body of doctrine and performance requirements that make it not 'good news' in any conventional sense.

apologetics Mormonism vs. Christianity interfaith categories

Conclusion: Mormonism and Christianity use the same vocabulary but are completely opposed in meaning — Mormonism is a false Christianity that fails historically, biblically, and rationally.

Mike summarizes the entire vocabulary comparison section and delivers his conclusion about the categorical incompatibility of the two faiths.

sola gratia works-based salvation cults and false gospels

Christian cults always remove salvation by grace — Mike attributes this pattern to demonic influence, citing the book of Galatians.

Viewer question from 'Douglas Dobbins': 'Have you ever noticed that Christian cults always throw out salvation by grace?'

Pearl of Great Price Book of Mormon Doctrine and Covenants

The LDS church is quietly distancing itself from past presidential statements and Journal of Discourses rather than formally changing doctrine — 'plausible deniability.'

Mike explains the mechanism by which Mormonism is changing: not reforming doctrine but retreating from its sources.

Mormonism Jehovah's Witnesses sola fide

Catholicism, Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses all oppose sola fide — Mike sees their agreement as confirming the unique gospel

Positioning the debate lines

James 2 apologetics James 2 works as symptom of faith

James 2 is 'radically abused' by false groups to twist the gospel — knowing it is necessary for apologetics

Summary statement on the misuse of James 2

James 2 James 2 sola fide dead faith

Summary of theological points: James does not contradict sola fide; it combats dead faith / easy believism

Theological summary after the verse-by-verse study

James 2 repentance James 2 dead faith

Pastoral warning: there are people who think they know Christ but do not — James 2 is a wake-up call, not a condemnation

Pastoral application before Q&A

Mike Winger idea 2018-03-21

The foundation metaphor: Jesus Christ is the foundation; building on it = post-salvation ministry to believers

Exegesis of 1 Corinthians 3:10-11 and the nature of building on the foundation

1 Corinthians 3:10-11 Paul discipleship Jesus Christ

resurrection alternate theories conspiracy theory (resurrection)

Conspiracy theory: the disciples deliberately stole or fabricated the empty tomb story

Seventh alternate theory — described as the oldest, going back to first-century opponents of Christianity

Gospel origins Richard Carrier ad hoc reasoning

Carrier constructs a 'Frankenstein theory' drawing on ancient literature to claim Gospel narratives were plagiarized from myths

Carrier's literary dependence argument for the Gospel narratives

resurrection Dan Barker methodological naturalism

Dan Barker's four reasons to reject the resurrection: problem of history, possible natural explanations, internal Bible contradictions, legendary growth

Overview of Barker's case against the resurrection

resurrection Dan Barker historical method

Barker's internal contradictions objection is a red herring — the five historical facts don't depend on biblical inerrancy

Mike's critique of Barker's third objection