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33 results for “Mary”
Clear searchThe brothers of Jesus, the sons of Mary, and an argument of strong plausibility
The Messiah and ‘My Mother’s Children’ in Psalm 69 The brothers of Jesus, the sons of Mary, and an argument of strong plausibility Psalm 69 is one of the clearest portraits of the suffering Messiah in the Psalter. Its language repeatedly reappears in the New Testament’s accou…
Read article →Why the Son assumed a complete human nature, not merely a body
…ist’s humanity was not a costume, a container or a body waiting for a divine occupant. Primary passages: Matthew 26:38–39; Luke 2:40, 52; Luke 22:42; Hebrews 2:14–18; Hebrews 5:7–9; Hebrews 10:5–10 --- “A body hast thou prepared me.” Those words from Hebrews 10:5 may be among the…
Read article →Eustathius of Antioch, the human soul of Christ and the pictures created by our words
…nd fully man. What Christ do the teacher’s words actually teach the hearer to imagine? Primary passages: John 1:1–3, 14; Luke 2:40, 52; Matthew 26:38–39; Colossians 1:15–17; Philippians 2:5–8; Hebrews 1:1–3; 2:14–18 --- The incarnation is often explained through pictures. God put…
Read article →Origen, Arius and the line between Creator and creation
…what Scripture teaches from the language Christians gradually developed to defend it. Primary passages: John 1:1–3; John 5:17–23; John 8:54–59; John 17:5; Colossians 1:15–17; Hebrews 1:1–12; Isaiah 44:6, 24 --- In the previous study, we considered Ambrose’s wonderfully direct an…
Read article →An unrequited love for the historic Church
…ter. I am standing there because I cannot enter without leaving my conscience outside. Primary Sources Irenaeus, Against Heresies 1.10.1–3, “Unity of the Faith of the Church Throughout the Whole World.” Didache 16, “Watchfulness; the Coming of the Lord.” Justin Martyr, Dialogue w…
Read article →Born, begotten and firstborn in the eternal identity and saving work of the Son
…cally be treated as the origin of the eternal Son in the being of God. The Son is born of Mary in the economy; He does not thereby begin to exist as the eternal Son. He is declared and installed as the Messianic Son-King through resurrection in the economy; He does not thereby ac…
Read article →Constantine, Arius, the Trinity, the biblical canon—and the myths that refuse to die
…our God, Jesus Christ, was, according to the appointment of God, conceived in the womb by Mary.” —Ignatius, Letter to the Ephesians, 18 This does not mean that Ignatius possessed every term later used in Nicene theology. It establishes the point necessary here: Constantine did no…
Read article →History, heresy, and the temptation of private Christianity
A historical and theological investigation of ancient Gnosticism, medieval dissident movements, Philip J. Lee's critique, and the genuinely gnosticizing temptations within evangelical Christianity.
Read article →The Venerable Bede · Ecclesiastical and national history · 731
…cal source and a vivid encounter with the Christian memory of early England. Bede is a primary witness with theological, ecclesiastical, regional, and political commitments; he is not a detached modern historian. His miracle accounts, speeches, chronology, judgments, and treatmen…
View recommendation →Sources behind Qur’anic narratives
…travels to the limits of the earth and constructs a metal barrier against Gog and Magog. Mary receives dates and water beside a palm tree. These are not stories found in the Torah or the four Gospels. Yet recognisable forms of them appear within the religious narrative world of…
Read article →The positive argument of the whole series, brought together
The complete positive case brought together through Christ's distinct movements, Daniel's unfinished programme, promised deliverance, expectancy, and the necessary interval.
Read article →Isaiah, John, and the Divine Identity of Jesus Christ
…ed. and trans., The Trinitarian Controversy (Fortress Press, 1980), pp. 23–26; scanned primary-source translations. Especially relevant are the final sections of the letter to Eusebius and the account of the Son’s origin in the letter to Alexander. “Before” here concerns dependen…
Read article →The incarnation, the limits of created perspective and the love philosophy could not imagine
…was. He assumed a complete human nature while remaining fully divine. The One who entered Mary’s womb continued to uphold creation. The infant in the manger was the One by whom all things consist. The man who slept from weariness upon the ship was the Creator of the sea. The man…
Read article →Why the final seven is unfinished, future, and centred upon Israel and Jerusalem
…ndars should be correlated, and which date best fits the crucifixion. Even the popular summary of Anderson's arithmetic is often misstated: the final twenty-four days are not simply the difference between 173,880 and 476 multiplied by 365.25. The futurist case does not stand or f…
Read article →What the historical evidence proves—and what it does not
…ginal universal Christian position." The sources do not sustain either claim. The best summary is more nuanced: Elements later incorporated into pretribulationism existed throughout Christian history, and substantially pretribulational constructions existed before Darby. Darby sy…
Read article →El, the Exodus, and the God Who Came from Sinai
…d Julius Wellhausen belong to the theory’s much longer development. See Friedman’s own summary of current documentary theory. For the unsettled state of the Elohist question, see Jan C. Gertz, “Genesis in Source and Redaction Criticism Today”, and Joel S. Baden, “The Re-Emergence…
Read article →The crucifixion in history, Scripture and the Qur'an
…Jesus' opponents. It does not explicitly say that God transformed a substitute, deceived Mary or caused the disciples to preach a false resurrection. A Muslim is entitled to resist details which the verse itself does not state. Yet the historical problem remains for any substitu…
Read article →What 'yea and Amen' in Christ means for Israel and the covenants
…promised that Sarah would bear Isaac, that David would have an enduring royal house, that Mary would conceive and bear the Son, and that the twelve apostles would sit upon thrones judging Israel's twelve tribes. Every promise depends finally upon Christ and glorifies God through…
Read article →Matthew, the Hebrew word almah, and a sign whose meaning reaches beyond Ahaz
…pest meaning. Here the young woman is unmistakably a virgin; the conception occurs before Mary and Joseph come together; and “God with us” is no longer merely a symbolic child's name. God has drawn near in the incarnate Son. Matthew's argument does not rest upon almah being a tec…
Read article →What Christ’s promise establishes—and what claims about infallible teaching still need to prove
…tive teachings of the pope and of the bishops in communion with him. The Vatican’s own summary makes these distinctions clear.¹ Consequently, pointing to a pope’s personal mistake or a bishop’s sinful conduct does not, by itself, disprove the doctrine being defended. The question…
Read article →What the Father's love for the Son reveals about God
…lationship which began in time. Father, Son and Holy Ghost. One God. Eternal love. --- Primary sources and further reading Matthew 3, 17 and 28; John 1, 3, 5 and 14-17; Acts 17; Romans 11; 1 Corinthians 2 and 12; 2 Corinthians 13; Hebrews 9; 1 John 4. Qur'an, Surah 2:195, Surah 3…
Read article →The man of sin, the last trumpet, the first resurrection, and the last day
…ive until after the thousand years, when they stand before the great white throne. The primary contrast is resurrection unto life versus resurrection unto condemnation. Paul had already described order within resurrection: "every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afte…
Read article →A history of interpretation, polemic, and forgotten tension
…it receives all whom He saves and refuses to rewrite the promises He came to confirm. Primary sources and further review Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, chapters 69-88, especially chapters 80-82; and chapters 109-124, especially chapter 123 Melito of Sardis, On Pascha Tertu…
Read article →Testing Islam's evidence for divine revelation
…cause, where the two revelations collide, it does not tell the truth about Christ. --- Primary sources and further reading Qur'an, Surahs 2:23–24, 10:38, 11:13 and 17:88, on the challenge to produce something comparable. Qur'an, Surah 51:47 and Surah 23:12–14, on two frequently c…
Read article →The covenant son and the sacrifice that points to Christ
…eated it. He preserved it. And through that line came Christ. The covenant stands. --- Primary sources and further reading Genesis 16–22; Exodus 3:6; 2 Chronicles 3:1; Matthew 3:17; John 1:29; 3:16; 10:17–18; 19:17; Romans 9; Galatians 3–4; Hebrews 11:8–19; 1 Peter 3:18. Qur'an,…
Read article →The divine identity of Jesus across the Gospels
…is born, grows, hungers, sleeps, prays, suffers and dies. Surah 5:75 points to Jesus and Mary eating food as evidence against their deity. But Christianity has never taught that Christ only appeared human or that His human dependence was an illusion. The claim is that "the Word…
Read article →Why the Trinity is not polytheism—and why Christians confess one God
…hould be assessed as Christians actually confess it. Orthodox Christianity does not place Mary within God, does not teach a physical begetting, and does not worship three deities. The Qur'an's warning in Surah 5:116 concerns Jesus and Mary being taken as deities; that is not the…
Read article →Why the distinction matters when we speak about Jesus
…ciated with Nestorius arose in this setting. Nestorius feared that certain language about Mary confused Christ’s humanity and deity. There was a legitimate concern behind that fear: Mary did not originate His divine nature and cannot be described as mother of the Father or of the…
Read article →The Messiah cut off before the Temple fell
…hough there are substantial arguments for the book’s own historical claims. Even the customary critical position places the final form of Daniel in the second century BC, during the crisis under Antiochus IV Epiphanes. That concession still places Daniel 9 long before Jesus was c…
Read article →Which Gospel does the Qur'an affirm?
…sion of sins should be preached in his name among all nations" (Luke 24:46-47). Paul's summary does not invent another gospel. It announces the completed saving event: "Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third…
Read article →Christianity, Islam and the verdict of the evidence
…rocession, witnesses, execution method, burial and empty tomb. Paul preserves an early summary of the apostolic proclamation: “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried,…
Read article →What mercy, holiness and the cross reveal about God
…f God is not measured by a claim detached from history. It is measured at Calvary. --- Primary sources and further reading Psalms 5 and 11; Matthew 5; Luke 6; John 3, 10 and 14; Romans 5 and 8; 2 Corinthians 5; Ephesians 2 and 5; Titus 3; 1 John 3-4. Qur'an, Surahs 7:156, 11:90,…
Read article →Four popular claims tested in context
…The Comforter is the Holy Ghost. And the Scriptures should be permitted to say so. --- Primary sources and further reading Deuteronomy 17:14–20; 18:9–22; 34:10–12; Acts 3:12–26; 7:35–53; Hebrews 3:1–6, on the Prophet like Moses. Isaiah 42; 44:21–23; 49; Matthew 12:14–21, on the S…
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