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Scripture Commentary article 2023-03-09

What Winger Presently Gets Wrong: Women Apostles

Response to Mike Winger's Women in Ministry Part 5 on whether women were apostles in the New Testament

1 Corinthians 12:28 1 Corinthians 12:7 1 Corinthians 15:5 Women in Leadership Debates

Scripture Commentary article 2021-04-05

The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus

Gary R. Habermas and Michael R. Licona — Kindle highlights from 'The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus'. 110 highlights.

Colossians 2:9 Phil 3:21 Christology Apologetics Resurrection

Scripture Commentary tweet 2025-09-15

@prot_zoomer @restoredkgdm @rightresponsem First, if Paul was just getting what was due to him, why was it that all the apostles were martyred except John, who purportedly only survived the martyrdom attempt? And why didn’t Jesus stone the woman cau...

@prot_zoomer @restoredkgdm @rightresponsem First, if Paul was just getting what was due to him, why was it that all the apostles were martyred except John, who purportedly only survived the martyrdom

What Winger Presently Gets Wrong: Women Apostles

The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus

@prot_zoomer @restoredkgdm @rightresponsem First, if Paul was just getting what was due to him, why was it that all the apostles were martyred except John, who purportedly only survived the martyrdom attempt? And why didn’t Jesus stone the woman cau...

Stephen was a deacon, not a high leader, yet he was stoned

Q&A: Jesus's swords passage — 'have a sword but don't use it' and the principle of Christian self-defense

Fourth fact (V): Violence endured by the Apostles — dramatic transformation from hiding to dying for their message

Missing body and conspiracy theories both fail to explain facts I, V, and E; conspiracy adds knowingly dying for a lie

Introduction: purpose of the video is to examine whether the original resurrection eyewitnesses genuinely believed their claims about Jesus rising from the dead

Primary source citation: Sean McDowell's book "The Fate of the Apostles" as the main resource for this content

Establishing premise: general persecution was the normal reality for first-century Christians from the very beginning

Tacitus (Annals, 109 AD) as non-Christian confirmation of early Christian persecution, crucifixion of Christ under Pontius Pilate, and the movement's origin in Judea

Pliny the Younger's letter to Emperor Trajan (112 AD): institutionalized Roman policy of executing Christians who refused to recant

Argument that Roman cultural attitudes toward Christians in 50-year span (first to early second century) remained consistent, so early second-century sources reflect first-century reality

Mark 13:9 — Jesus's prediction of persecution for his disciples as evidence that persecution was anticipated from the beginning

John 15:18-20 — Jesus warns disciples the world will hate them as it hated him, anticipating they will suffer as he suffered (including death)

Matthew 23:34 — Jesus sends prophets and scribes who will be killed, crucified, and flogged as evidence persecution was an expected norm

John 9: Expulsion from the synagogue for confessing Jesus as Christ — evidence of persecution even during Jesus's ministry

The book of Acts as a sustained narrative of persecution — Paul's pre-conversion role as persecutor and post-conversion experience of being persecuted

Prison epistles and other NT letters as evidence that suffering was a church-wide reality needing sustained pastoral address

Focus narrowed to Peter, James the brother of Jesus, and Paul as the three central resurrection eyewitnesses whose sincerity needs to be established

Gary Habermas's scholarly consensus claim: early data report the martyrdoms of Peter, James the brother of Jesus, and Paul; few scholars doubt this

John 21:18-19 — Jesus's prediction of Peter's death (stretching out his hands) as biblical evidence for Peter's martyrdom, with dual-hypothesis argument

John 21 context: the Good Shepherd motif and Peter's commissioning to shepherd reinforces that Peter would follow Jesus including in death

John 13:36-38 — Jesus tells Peter he cannot follow now but will follow later; Peter's boast and denial as literary and historical backdrop for his ultimate martyrdom

2 Peter 1:12-14 — Peter's awareness of his impending death and intent to leave a written legacy; response to Bart Ehrman's pseudonymity argument

1 Clement 5 (c. 95-97 AD) — non-apologetic, community-memory reference to Peter and Paul both suffering and dying for their faith

Refutation of Candida Moss's argument that "suffered unto death" in 1 Clement is not a reference to martyrdom, using Polycarp's parallel usage

Ignatius of Antioch — two letters (Smyrnaeans and Romans) as early second-century evidence for Peter's martyrdom and bodily resurrection conviction

Catalog of additional sources for Peter's martyrdom: Apocalypse of Peter, Ascension of Isaiah, Acts of Peter, Apocryphon of James, Dionysius of Corinth, Tertullian, Muratorian Canon

2 Corinthians 11:24-28 — Paul's own catalog of sufferings as direct first-person evidence of his willingness to endure persecution for Christ

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

2 Timothy 4:6-8 — Paul describes himself as being poured out as a drink offering, anticipating his imminent death

Eight sources within the first and second centuries referencing Paul's martyrdom, per Sean McDowell; Polycarp references Paul's sufferings and those of all the Apostles

James the brother of Jesus as the leader of the Jerusalem church; Acts 15 and 1 Corinthians 15 as key evidence for his role and resurrection witness

1 Corinthians 15 early creed: dating, content, and the list of resurrection witnesses including Peter, James, Paul, and the 500

Hegesippus's account of James the Just's martyrdom — legendary elements identified and evaluated; the historical core extraction methodology applied

Hegesippus account continued: James thrown from Temple pinnacle, stoned, and killed by a fuller's club; "forgive them for they know not what they do" echo; his burial near the Temple

F.F. Bruce's distillation of the historical core in Hegesippus: James killed because he refused to deny that Jesus was the Messiah, threatening the political stability of the Jewish leadership

Josephus, Antiquities 20: The death of James, brother of Jesus who was called Christ, under High Priest Ananus — a non-Christian, undisputed historical source

Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-250 AD, preserved in Eusebius) on two men named James: one thrown from the Temple pinnacle and beaten to death with a fuller's club, one beheaded

Additional sources confirming James's martyrdom: First Apocalypse of James, Second Apocalypse of James, Pseudo-Clementine Recognitions (c. 280 AD)

Darrell Bock on the charge against James: "breaking the law" refers to his Christological allegiances and likely a blasphemy charge, paralleling Stephen's case

Absence of any recantation tradition for Peter, James, or Paul — an argument from silence that is evidentially significant given second-century apologetic engagement

Conclusion: Peter, Paul, and James were sincerely convinced they had seen Jesus alive — the conspiracy/lying hypothesis is eliminated by the evidence

Response to the objection "9/11 bombers were also sincere" — the distinction between sincere indoctrinated believers and sincere eyewitnesses

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

Q&A: How to respond to the argument that members of non-Christian religions also die for their beliefs — eyewitness distinction restated

Revelation 6:11 — question about whether the passage refers to martyrs specifically or all believers; Mike declines to give a definitive answer

Q&A on John 14:2-3 "I go to prepare a place for you" — Mike's understanding of the intermediate state and the new heaven and new earth

Context note: this video is part of Mike's preparation for a live debate with Matt Dillahunty on the resurrection, hosted on Capturing Christianity (April 11)

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