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Search by subject, then refine by approach. A prophecy study may also be apologetic or discerning because subject tells you what it examines, while approach tells you how it examines it.
52 results for “Mission”
Clear searchEzekiel 20, child sacrifice, and the judgement of being given over
…10–12. This gives us an established pattern through which to understand Ezekiel. God’s permission is judicial: He gives people over to the corruption they have chosen. He remains the judge, while their practices remain evil. E. W. Bullinger discusses this under a biblical idiom i…
Read article →The Venerable Bede · Ecclesiastical and national history · 731
…mparing significant claims with modern scholarship where necessary. Conversion of England Mission Anglo-Saxons Monasticism Kings and bishops Roman and Celtic Christianity Church history
View recommendation →Which Gospel does the Qur'an affirm?
…him. Muslims commonly and reasonably take this as rhetorical reassurance rather than an admission that Muhammad doubted his revelation. Even so, reassurance works only if the earlier readers are competent witnesses to something relevant. The cumulative pattern is clear: God gave…
Read article →A sign of Israel's renewal, not Israel's disappearance
…el's towns, taught in its synagogues, went up to its feasts, and identified His immediate mission with "the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Matthew 15:24). When He first sent the Twelve, their commission had the same national focus: "Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and i…
Read article →Samuel G. Green · Historical survey · 1904
A comprehensive history from the apostolic age to the eve of the Reformation, covering the Church's expansion, persecution, doctrinal conflicts, councils, writers, divisions, monastic movements, missions, the papacy, the Crusades, and movements for reform.
View recommendation →Isaiah, John, and the Divine Identity of Jesus Christ
…glory. Why does the Son ask to be glorified? Because the prayer belongs to His incarnate mission. John has already said that the Word became flesh, and that His glory was disclosed in that life (1:14; 2:11). In chapter 12, His approaching death is bound to His glorification. The…
Read article →The olive tree, the natural branches, and the limits of the metaphor
…Testament Church. It represents a covenantal continuity which existed before the Gentile mission and through which God's saving mercy now reaches the nations. The Church participates in that history; it did not create the root from which it receives life. Gentiles are grafted in…
Read article →Near-death experiences, neuroscience, and the authority of Christ
…ogether falling cerebral blood flow, oxygen and carbon-dioxide changes, altered neurotransmission, increased neuronal excitability, threat responses, dissociation and the brain's own top-down construction of experience. Rather than seeking one magic chemical which explains every…
Read article →How an openly transmitted text survived copying, criticism, and centuries of examination
…Christian authors quoted passages in sermons, letters, and controversies. This wide transmission made perfect uniformity impossible, but it also made coordinated corruption extraordinarily difficult. A person altering a copy in one place could not retrieve and replace the copies…
Read article →Why the final seven is unfinished, future, and centred upon Israel and Jerusalem
…before verse 27 describes the final seven. The issue is not whether an interpreter has permission to notice an interval. It is how the events explicitly placed after the sixty-nine relate to the remaining week. Daniel does not say that the seventieth week begins the next day. Els…
Read article →Why the Son assumed a complete human nature, not merely a body
…e this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.” — Luke 22:42 Jesus’ submission was not theatre. He faced the cup with a genuinely human aversion to suffering and death, yet His human will was wholly obedient to the Father. There was no sin or rebellion in that…
Read article →The crucifixion in history, Scripture and the Qur'an
…or direct verbal dependence has been established. Similarity may arise through oral transmission, a shared religious environment, indirect reception or independent theological development. The Qur'an also differs from many Gnostic systems by treating Jesus as a real human messen…
Read article →Eustathius of Antioch, the human soul of Christ and the pictures created by our words
…y. The Son did not cease to possess what belongs eternally to God. During the same saving mission in which He humbled Himself and took the form of a servant, all things continued to consist by Him (Colossians 1:17), and He continued to uphold all things by the word of His power (…
Read article →What 'yea and Amen' in Christ means for Israel and the covenants
…t it does not make every Christian Noah or give every believer the sign and historical commission given to him. God 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 s…
Read article →Origen, Arius and the line between Creator and creation
…or tendency of speech, which places the Son below the Father not merely in His incarnate mission but within the divine order itself. We must make two things clear. First, Origen did not hold the exact position, “Jesus is eternal and uncreated but not God.” He explicitly called t…
Read article →What Christ’s promise establishes—and what claims about infallible teaching still need to prove
…d the owner. The Church’s future rests on Christ’s purpose and power. Peter receives a commission within that purpose; he does not become its source. Must We Settle the Identity of the Rock? Christians have understood “upon this rock” in different ways: as referring to Peter, to…
Read article →Fulfilment in Christ, the inclusion of the Gentiles, and Israel's future mercy
…s expected a restored kingdom only because they had not yet understood Christ's spiritual mission. That explanation becomes difficult after the resurrection. Jesus had opened their understanding of the Scriptures, spent forty days teaching them "the things pertaining to the kingd…
Read article →What the Father's love for the Son reveals about God
…eceive life through Him. This does not mean that God became love when He sent Christ. The mission in history manifests what is eternally true of God. The cross does not manufacture divine love. It reveals and accomplishes the saving purpose of the God who is love. Richard of St V…
Read article →Why Israel's failure cannot make the word of God fail
…ations. No promise reaches fulfilment apart from Him. But the New Testament describes His mission as confirmation: "Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers: And that the Gentiles might glor…
Read article →History, heresy, and the temptation of private Christianity
…d to one uniform Cathar church. What relationship can be responsibly claimed? Direct transmission from second-century Gnostic schools to Bogomils has not been demonstrated. Bogomil influence on some western dualist communities is plausible and in some cases probable, but its exte…
Read article →A history of interpretation, polemic, and forgotten tension
…tile Church. It asked how Gentile believers could be received without circumcision and submission to the Mosaic law. Paul taught the full equality of Jew and Gentile in Christ. He also warned Gentile believers not to boast against Israel's natural branches and anticipated those b…
Read article →Signs, expectancy, and the event the Church is told to await
…with an undated, direct expectation of Christ. What about Peter's death and the Great Commission? Imminency should not be overstated. Jesus foretold the manner of Peter's death (John 21:18-19). The gospel was to go to the nations. Paul knew at certain moments that he had ministr…
Read article →A response to Hank Hanegraaff on resurrection, Daniel’s final week, and the Tribulation
…es not explicitly call the 144,000 evangelists. Prediction of a future temple does not commission Christians to build one. Sensational language about a future Jewish holocaust can obscure the restorative purposes Daniel and the prophets actually announce. None of those correction…
Read article →Testing Islam's evidence for divine revelation
…g. This is not comparable to an error-checking code whose rules are specified before transmission. It is pattern hunting after transmission. Numbers can decorate an argument. They cannot convert a selected modern arrangement into revelation. Does perfect preservation prove a mira…
Read article →The covenant son and the sacrifice that points to Christ
…pe. We should not claim more about his inward knowledge than the text reveals, but his submission forms part of the scene. Christ's submission is explicit: "Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I l…
Read article →The question reaches beyond prophecy to the faithfulness of God
…therefore creates a profound problem for every interpretation, but it does not give us permission to supply Paul's answer for him. He speaks of severity, mercy, a remnant, broken branches, Gentile inclusion, natural branches grafted in again, and an irrevocable calling. Every ele…
Read article →Two failures, two responses, and the difference between remorse and repentance
…Judas’s story does not teach that suicide is an unpardonable sin, nor does it give us permission to make sweeping judgements about those who die in moments of severe distress. It teaches something more immediate and personal: remorse without faith cannot save us. A guilty consci…
Read article →A response to Michael Horton on the land promise, Amos 9, and the people of God
…ael's God through Israel's Messiah. James does not, however, say that the present Gentile mission exhausts every element of Amos 9. Nor does he quote the final verses concerning Israel's return, rebuilt cities, agricultural blessing, and permanent planting in the land. Acts 15 es…
Read article →The divine identity of Jesus across the Gospels
…from God, affirms His virgin birth and attributes extraordinary signs to Him by God's permission. It does not dismiss Him as an impostor or an insignificant religious teacher. But it draws an absolute boundary around that honour. Jesus is a messenger and servant of God, not God…
Read article →Why the Trinity is not polytheism—and why Christians confess one God
…truly became man, took the form of a servant, and accepted the humiliation of His earthly mission (Philippians 2:6–8). He can therefore speak from that humbled, incarnate position without ceasing to possess the divine nature. Scripture requires us to confess both truths. The Son…
Read article →Sources behind Qur’anic narratives
…e should distinguish several possibilities: direct copying from a written text; oral transmission of a written story; dependence upon a shared earlier tradition; indirect cultural reception; or coincidence. We cannot always identify the route. We can often identify the narrative…
Read article →An unrequited love for the historic Church
…es not make error true, nor does an unbroken succession of hands guarantee an unbroken submission to apostolic doctrine. I would welcome oversight, correction, discipline and fellowship. What I cannot accept is the proposition that submission to Christ requires unconditional subm…
Read article →Spiritual ecstasy, altered states, and discerning what is from God
…festations Christians should seek, impart, or welcome. Expectation, environment, and transmission These movements also demonstrate the influence of expectation. Visitors heard testimonies, watched others receive prayer, and entered meetings already hoping that something extraordi…
Read article →Marvin W. Meyer · Historical sourcebook · 1987
…s background of his own Gentile world. Mystery religions Greco-Roman world Paul's Gentile mission Ancient worship Initiation Sacrifice Life after death
View recommendation →The Messiah cut off before the Temple fell
…o circulated in ancient Greek. The earlier Old Greek translation arose within Jewish transmission before it was displaced in most Christian manuscripts by the version associated with Theodotion. The Old Greek and Theodotionic versions are not identical to one another or to the la…
Read article →Creation, judgement, and the coming reign of Christ
…belongs ultimately to the Giver, and that receiving something for use does not confer permission to waste or ravage it. "The earth is the LORD'S, and the fulness thereof" (Psalm 24:1). Every beast of the forest is His; the cattle upon a thousand hills are His; He knows all the f…
Read article →How the Lord knows His own—and how their lives bear His name
…. Yet the same seal speaks to everyone who names Christ. A Christian profession is not permission to make peace with sin. The name we bear calls us away from iniquity. Paul does not say that departing from sin purchases a place among God's people. Nor does he say that belonging t…
Read article →The brothers of Jesus, the sons of Mary, and an argument of strong plausibility
…from thee.” Because Jesus was sinless, this statement cannot be attributed to Him as an admission of personal wrongdoing. But this does not remove the psalm’s sufferings from their messianic application. Psalm 69 can contain both David’s personal voice and a prophetic pattern ful…
Read article →Israel's Messiah, Israel's Scriptures, and a gospel for the world
…eclared that they testified of Him, answered temptation from Deuteronomy, interpreted His mission through Isaiah, and insisted that He came not to destroy the law and prophets but to fulfil them (Matthew 5:17; Luke 4:16-21; John 5:39). Calling Jesus a first-century Jewish teacher…
Read article →Regathering, national rebirth, and the spiritual renewal still to come
…ople, they need the gospel of Jesus Christ. They are therefore a legitimate and necessary mission field, and Christians should desire their salvation rather than treating their present national restoration as though it removed their need of Messiah. Nor does their present unbelie…
Read article →Two accounts of judgement, mercy, and the sinner's hope before God
…umility and holiness. Nobody can boast in a moral balance, and nobody can use grace as permission to cherish sin. Why assurance is possible If my final hope rests upon the quality of my record, I must continually ask whether it is enough. If it rests upon God's unexplained decisi…
Read article →Christianity, Islam and the verdict of the evidence
…love, the crucifixion, divine justice, forgiveness and assurance. We have tested the transmission of the Bible, the missing Islamic Injeel, the Qur’an’s miracle claim, alleged prophecies of Muhammad, the covenant line through Isaac, Daniel’s cut-off Messiah and the Qur’an’s relat…
Read article →One Messiah, one gospel, and God's continuing purpose for Israel
…cannot reconcile anyone to God apart from Christ. Israel remains a legitimate and urgent mission field. Yet present opposition to the gospel does not abolish election. Paul immediately explains: "For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance." —Romans 11:29 Israel's bl…
Read article →The glory philosophy could not contain
…ohn’s Gospel. The surviving wording is known through this Christian citation, so its transmission context should be acknowledged even though its dependence upon John 1 is unmistakable. Cyril of Alexandria, That Christ Is One. Cyril’s formula guards the unity of Christ’s Person wi…
Read article →What Jesus promised the apostles about Israel's future
…know the timing, not the identity of the kingdom's recipient (Acts 1:6-8). The worldwide mission had to proceed, but it did not make the earlier promise void. The sequence is coherent: Israel rejects its King; a believing remnant bears witness; the gospel reaches the nations; Is…
Read article →Born, begotten and firstborn in the eternal identity and saving work of the Son
…hing to do with resurrection. The answer is that resurrection belongs to the Son’s saving mission within history; it does not mark the beginning of His eternal identity. Eternity and economy In Christian theology, the eternal or immanent Trinity refers to who the Father, Son and…
Read article →Four popular claims tested in context
…the weak. Verse 4 says that he will not fail until he has established judgement, but his mission must be understood as a whole. It is not enough to seize upon judgement, law or later divine warfare and ignore the Servant's stated manner. Matthew names the Servant Once again, the…
Read article →The wicked husbandmen, the fruit-bearing nation, and what Jesus said afterwards
…mediate task was worldwide witness in the power of the Holy Ghost (Acts 1:8). The present mission of the Church therefore delays speculation about the kingdom's timing without cancelling the restoration about which they asked. Calvin famously regarded the question as deeply confu…
Read article →The Gospel, Human Perception, and the Illuminating Work of the Holy Spirit
…nbelief. Yet he describes himself as a blasphemer and persecutor, and identifies Christ’s mission as the saving of sinners. His ignorance was relevant to the mercy he received; it did not remove his need for a Saviour. 1 Timothy 1:13–16. These texts prevent us from treating a per…
Read article →Constantine, Arius, the Trinity, the biblical canon—and the myths that refuse to die
…differ in detail, but they share a method: the surviving records are rarely quoted. That omission is revealing. We do not possess complete minutes of the council, and the eyewitnesses were not neutral modern reporters. Eusebius of Caesarea admired Constantine; Athanasius spent mu…
Read article →Labour, purpose, and faithfulness in a fallen world
…ivate what God has given Genesis presents human beings as made in the image of God and commissioned to exercise responsible rule within His creation (Genesis 1:26–28). We do not create from nothing as God does, but we receive what He has made and develop it for good. That include…
Read article →How Christians can think politically without surrendering conscience to a package deal
…and UK research confirms that misinformation is not a distant problem. In 2024, Ofcom commissioned an online survey of 4,269 politically representative UK adults aged sixteen and over. Forty-three per cent said that they had encountered misinformation or deepfake content during…
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