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34 results for “Theology

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Article · Israel and the ChurchBiblical exposition

Israel and the Church: Why This Series Matters

The question reaches beyond prophecy to the faithfulness of God

…he one gospel's power, not an exception to it. Our treatment of Jewish people matters Bad theology is not the sole cause of anti-Jewish hostility, and disagreement over Israel's future does not make a person antisemitic. History nevertheless warns us that contemptuous theology ca…

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Article · Israel and the ChurchApologetics · Biblical discernment

What Is Supersessionism, and Why Does It Matter?

Defining the position before testing it

…rsessionism, and Why Does It Matter? Defining the position before testing it "Replacement theology" is a useful popular label, but it can also conceal important differences. Many Christians accused of teaching that the Church replaced Israel would reject that wording. They believ…

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Article · Christian DoctrineBiblical exposition · Apologetics · Theological reflection · Comparative theology

Eternal Love Before Creation

What the Father's love for the Son reveals about God

…repeatedly speaks of those whom Allah loves (Surahs 11:90; 85:14; 2:195; 3:159). Islamic theology does not ordinarily teach that Allah was deficient before creation or that he needed creatures in order to acquire an attribute. A Muslim may argue that Allah's attributes are etern…

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Article · Comparative ReligionApologetics · Historical study · Comparative theology · Biblical discernment

Is the Qur'an a Miracle?

Testing Islam's evidence for divine revelation

…irmation. Some of these claims are stronger than others. Some belong to classical Islamic theology; others are products of modern popular apologetics. They should not be bundled together carelessly or dismissed with mockery. Each must be allowed to establish whatever it genuinely…

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Article · Christian DoctrineBiblical exposition · Apologetics · Comparative theology

Not Three Gods

Why the Trinity is not polytheism—and why Christians confess one God

…is humanity is not an appearance, and His deity is not surrendered. This is why Christian theology distinguishes Christ's divine and human natures without dividing His Person. His submission in the work of redemption does not turn Him into a lesser kind of deity. Was the Trinity…

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Article · Comparative ReligionHistorical study · Apologetics · Comparative theology · Biblical discernment

Revelation or Reception?

Sources behind Qur’anic narratives

…asises that the miracle occurs only by Allah’s permission. That alteration suits Qur’anic theology. Forming a creature from clay and breathing life into it evokes God’s creation of Adam. Jesus appears to perform a divine kind of creative act, but the repeated qualification “by Al…

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Article · Biblical ProphecyBiblical exposition · Historical study · Apologetics · Comparative theology

The Daniel Dilemma

The Messiah cut off before the Temple fell

…tle but gives it little explanatory content. The biblical record supplies the history and theology from which the title comes. Jesus was cut off Jesus was publicly crucified under Pontius Pilate. This is established by the early New Testament testimony and corroborated by non-Chr…

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Article · Bible and ManuscriptsHistorical study · Apologetics · Comparative theology

The Injeel Problem

Which Gospel does the Qur'an affirm?

…its own repeated model of a prophet receiving a book. That may be coherent inside Islamic theology. It is not a fact established from the historical sources closest to Jesus. Is the Injeel hidden in the red letters? Another response says that the original book is lost but remnant…

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Article · Comparative ReligionApologetics · Comparative theology · Biblical exposition · Theological reflection

The Sum of These Things

Christianity, Islam and the verdict of the evidence

…eceives recognisable late-antique narrative material and reshapes it according to its own theology. The strongest Islamic answer says that these stories contain fragments of genuine history. God independently revealed their true portions, corrected the errors surrounding them and…

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Article · Christian DoctrineBiblical exposition · Apologetics · Comparative theology

Two Revelations of Divine Love

What mercy, holiness and the cross reveal about God

…declaration that Allah does not love. This is not a trivial observation. Repetition forms theology. The reader is taught to understand divine love through the distinction between those whose character and allegiance receive approval and those whose rebellion does not. What the re…

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Recommended book · Early Christianity & ChristologyBook review

Eustathius of Antioch and His Place in the Early History of Christian Doctrine

R. V. Sellers · Theological biography and history of doctrine · 1928

…larship permits, and his judgment about which fragments are authentic can depend upon the theology he expects to find. The book is most valuable when it unsettles neat retrospective accounts—not when its own reconstruction is treated as final. Nicaea confessed essential truth abo…

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Article · Israel and the ChurchBiblical exposition · Apologetics

Are Gentile Believers Grafted into Israel?

The olive tree, the natural branches, and the limits of the metaphor

…does not carry the root: "thou bearest not the root, but the root thee" (Romans 11:18). A theology in which the Gentile Church absorbs Israel, takes ownership of its Scriptures and promises, and then boasts that Israel has been permanently displaced moves in precisely the directi…

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Article · Israel and the ChurchBiblical exposition · Apologetics

God's Unfailing Faithfulness

Why Israel's failure cannot make the word of God fail

…ael's failure cannot make the word of God fail Israel's history presents a severe test of theology. God chose the nation, gave it His law, sent it prophets, and brought the Messiah through its line. Israel repeatedly rebelled and, when Messiah came, the nation did not receive Him…

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Article · Israel and the ChurchBiblical exposition · Apologetics

The Unshaken Truth of God's Promises

One Messiah, one gospel, and God's continuing purpose for Israel

…t every supersessionist has been hostile towards Jewish people, and not every distinction theology has produced humility. The text judges the spirit in which either position is held. Belief in Israel's future must never become ethnic romanticisation, indifference to unbelief, or…

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Recommended book · Early Christianity & eschatologyBook review

The Hope of the Early Church

Brian E. Daley · Historical theology · 1991

…t quietly pushing the reader towards a preferred conclusion. This is a work of historical theology, not a direct guide to what Scripture teaches. Its value lies in showing what different early Christians believed, how their ideas developed, and where they disagreed. Some position…

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Recommended book · Early Christianity & apologeticsBook review

The Writings of Irenaeus

Irenaeus of Lyons · Early Christian theology and polemic · c. 180–190

The surviving works and fragments of a second-century Christian writer, above all Against Heresies, defending the apostolic faith against Gnostic systems through sustained appeals to Scripture, creation, incarnation, resurrection, and the unity of God's purpose.

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Article · HermeneuticsApologetics · Biblical exposition · Historical study

Defending Dispensationalism

Responding to five common criticisms without defending what Scripture does not require

…f a system's formulation does not determine whether its interpretation is true. Christian theology repeatedly developed more precise vocabulary when questions forced believers to bring biblical truths into a coherent account. Later systematisation can clarify Scripture or distort…

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Article · Biblical InterpretationBiblical exposition · Apologetics

Does Isaiah 7:14 Really Prophesy a Virgin Birth?

Matthew, the Hebrew word almah, and a sign whose meaning reaches beyond Ahaz

…realisation of a pattern rooted in Isaiah's own day. A critic may still reject Matthew's theology or deny the virgin birth. But the simple charge—“Isaiah said young woman, Matthew dishonestly changed it to virgin”—does not do justice to the evidence. Good interpretation must all…

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Article · RaptureBiblical exposition · Apologetics

Secret Rapture—or Biblical Distinction?

Why a loaded label does not settle the question

…ce is more complicated than the slogan suggests. Before Darby systematised dispensational theology, believers were already reconsidering prophecy and arguing that God retained a future purpose for national Israel. Lewis Way and Alexander McCaul belonged to that earlier prophetic…

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Article · Israel and the ChurchBiblical exposition

Twelve Thrones and Twelve Tribes

What Jesus promised the apostles about Israel's future

…statements Jesus made about the apostles' future role. It is also an awkward text for any theology in which national Israel has permanently disappeared into the Church. The promise names the rulers, their thrones, the time of their rule, and those over whom they exercise authorit…

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