# Bible Proclaimer


## Posts

- [Is Social Justice Biblical?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1100-is-social-justice-biblical/): Social justice is a phrase that can mean almost anything depending on who is using it, and I think that ambiguity is exactly why the question deserves careful unpacking rather than a reflexive yes or no.
- [When Were Hebrew Vowel Points Added to the Old Testament Text?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1108-when-were-vowel-points-added-to-hebrew-text/): Hebrew vowel points are the small dots and dashes printed above, below and inside the consonants of our printed Hebrew Bibles, and the question of when the Hebrew vowel points were added takes us into one of the more fascinating corners of textual history.
- [What Does 'God Is Spirit' Mean?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q2063-what-does-god-is-spirit-mean/): God is Spirit. When Jesus told the Samaritan woman this in John 4:24, He was making one of the most consequential theological statements in the whole of Scripture, and it is worth slowing down to see exactly why.
- [What About Grammatical Irregularities in the Greek New Testament?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1105-what-about-grammatical-errors-in-greek-nt/): Grammatical irregularities do appear here and there in the Greek New Testament, and the book of Revelation is the most famous case, containing what specialists call solecisms, places where John seems to break standard Greek grammatical agreement, most noticeably around the throne room visions in the early chapters.
- [What Is the Textus Receptus and Should We Treat It as Definitive?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1109-what-is-the-textus-receptus/): The Textus Receptus is the name given to a particular printed edition of the Greek New Testament that dominated the Protestant world from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, and if you have ever heard someone insist that the Textus Receptus is the only trustworthy Greek text, you deserve a clear and honest answer about where it came from and what it actually is.
- [Will we recognise people in heaven?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10061-will-we-recognise-people-in-heaven/): Question 10061.
- [What does it mean to love God with all your mind (Mark 12:30)?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11041-what-does-it-mean-to-love-god-with-all-your-mind/): Question 11041.
- [What Made the Noble Bereans Noble? (Acts 17:11)](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0024-what-were-the-bereans-doing-that-made-them-noble/): The noble Bereans have become a byword in Christian circles for careful discernment, and rightly so.
- [Jesus said not one stone would remain, so why is the Western Wall still standing?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60042-western-wall-jesus-prophecy-not-one-stone/): Question 60042.
- [Why is Dan not mentioned in Revelation 7?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10174-why-is-dan-not-mentioned-in-revelation-7/): Question 10174.
- [What is heaven?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10055-what-is-heaven/): Question 10055.
- [What resurrections besides Jesus should I know about?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3062-what-other-resurrections-are-in-the-bible/): The other resurrections of the Bible are far less famous than the empty tomb, but they are worth knowing well: nine raisings by my count, spread from the days of Elijah to the ministry of Paul.
- [What is the resurrection?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3061-what-is-the-resurrection/): Christianity stands or falls on bodily resurrection, and Paul says so without blinking: 'if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins' (1 Corinthians 15:17).
- [Did Jesus descend into Hell/Hades?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3063-did-jesus-descend-into-hell/): Few lines in the Apostles' Creed cause more raised eyebrows than the confession that Jesus did 'descend into hell'. What can that possibly mean?
- [What is believer's baptism?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q9000-what-is-believers-baptism/): Question 09000.
- [Why Did the Early Church Use Catechisms?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0010-why-did-the-early-church-use-catechisms/): Early church catechisms are something many evangelicals have either never heard of or quietly suspect of being a Roman Catholic invention, and both reactions miss a rich and useful history.
- [Can Christians disagree on doctrine and still have fellowship?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q009-can-christians-disagree-on-doctrine-and-still-have-fellowship/): Doctrinal disagreement is not the end of fellowship, and I want to say that clearly at the outset because so many believers fear that it is.
- [Which doctrines are essential for salvation?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0008-which-doctrines-are-essential-for-salvation/): Which doctrines are essential for salvation is a question that deserves great care, because the wrong answer in either direction is dangerous.
- [How Should I Respond to “Doctrine Divides, but Jesus Unites”?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0048-doctrine-divides-jesus-unites-response/): Question 00048.
- [What are the elementary doctrines of Christ (Hebrews 6:1-3)?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7053-what-are-the-elementary-doctrines-of-christ/): The elementary doctrines of Christ are listed in Hebrews 6:1-3, and the passage has puzzled readers for a long time.
- [Did God's forever temple promise fail (1 Kings 9)?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10041-did-gods-forever-temple-promise-fail/): Question 10041.
- [If God Is Love, Why Does Hell Exist?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q2060-if-god-is-love-why-does-hell-exist/): Why hell exists is one of the hardest questions people bring to me, and it deserves a careful, honest answer rather than either a dismissive dodge or a callous shrug.
- [What is the difference between primary, secondary, and tertiary doctrines?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0007-difference-between-primary-secondary-tertiary-doctrines/): Learning to tell primary truths from secondary doctrines is one of the most useful skills a Christian can develop, and the lack of it has wrecked more friendships and split more churches than I care to count.
- [What is angelology and demonology?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q8000-what-is-angelology-demonology/): Angels and demons are two of the most talked about subjects in our culture and two of the least carefully studied in our churches, which is a strange combination when you think about it.
- [What is Ecclesiology?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q9001-what-is-ecclesiology/): Question 09001.
- [What is apologetics?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60000-what-is-apologetics/): Question 60000.
- [What is soteriology?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7011-what-is-soteriology/): Question 07011.
- [What is Hamartiology?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q6000-what-is-hamartiology/): The doctrine of sin, known formally as hamartiology, is the branch of theology that asks what sin is, where it came from, what it has done to us, and why the answer shapes everything else we believe.
- [What Is Pneumatology? A Plain Account of the Doctrine of the Spirit](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4000-what-is-pneumatology/): The doctrine of the Spirit is the part of Christian teaching that asks who the Holy Spirit is, what He does, and what His nearness means for an ordinary believer trying to follow Jesus on an ordinary day.
- [What is Christology?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3000-what-is-christology/): Christology, once you get past the imposing name, is simply the study of Christ, and I want to start there because the word puts people off far more than the subject deserves.
- [Can I love Jesus without caring about theology?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0006-can-i-love-jesus-without-caring-about-theology/): Can I love Jesus without caring about theology is one of the most sincere questions I am asked, and I never want to crush the heart behind it.
- [Is everyone a theologian whether they realise it or not?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0005-is-everyone-a-theologian/): Everyone is a theologian, whether they realise it or not, and I do not say that to flatter anybody or to play with words.
- [Why Does Paul Call It Sound Doctrine?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0004-why-paul-calls-teaching-sound-healthy-doctrine/): Why does Paul call right teaching sound doctrine, and what does the word sound actually mean?
- [Were there really giants (Nephilim)?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q8015-were-there-really-giants-nephilim/): Nephilim giants are one of those biblical subjects where sober readers go quiet and speculative readers go loud, and the result is that most Christians have no settled view at all.
- [What must I do to be saved?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7999-what-must-i-do-to-be-saved/): The question of what a person must do to be saved is the most important question anyone ever asks, and Scripture gives an answer so short that people often refuse to believe it.
- [What Does Theopneustos (Breathed Out by God) Mean?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0003-what-does-god-breathed-theopneustos-mean/): What does it mean that Scripture is breathed out by God?
- [Does God Exist?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q2000-does-god-exist/): God's existence is not something I can prove to you the way I could prove that the kettle is boiling, by pointing at it and letting you see the steam, but that does not mean the question is unanswerable or the evidence is thin.
- [Does Doctrine Divide the Church?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0002-does-doctrine-divide-the-church/): Does doctrine divide the church? You have probably heard it stated as though it were settled fact: doctrine divides, but love unites.
- [What Is Doctrine, and Why Does It Matter?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0001-what-is-doctrine-and-why-does-it-matter/): If you want to know why doctrine matters, start by noticing how quickly people's eyes glaze over when the word is mentioned.
- [What is Babylon in Revelation?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10035-what-is-babylon-in-revelation/): Question 10035.
- [Who Was Martin Luther?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q13002-reformation-day-who-was-martin-luther/): Question 13002.
- [Should Christians celebrate Halloween?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08171-should-christians-celebrate-halloween/): Question 08171.
- [Why Use the Bible to Answer Everything?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0000-why-use-the-bible-to-answer-everything/): Why do I keep going to the Bible for answers when the world is full of other voices?
- [A Counter-Statement](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10141-a-counter-statement/): As an Evangelical Baptist committed to the authority of Scripture and the unchanging promises of God, I find myself compelled to respond to recent statements from Baptists Together, BMS World Mission and Baptist Union of Wales that mischaracterise Israel's legitimate right to self-defence and misrepresent both the current conflict and God's enduring covenant with the Jewish people.
- [Imprecatory Psalms and Loving Your Enemies](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q01156-imprecatory-psalms-love-your-enemies/): Question 01156.
- [When Scholarship and the Plain Reading of Scripture Disagree](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q01157-scholarly-consensus-versus-plain-reading-of-scripture/): The plain reading of a biblical passage is where I always start, and I have learned over the years in the pulpit that it is also where I should usually end up, even when a scholar somewhere is telling me otherwise.
- [Have the Dead Sea Scrolls Undermined the Documentary Hypothesis?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q01163-dead-sea-scrolls-documentary-hypothesis/): The documentary hypothesis has dominated critical Old Testament scholarship for a century and a half, and I think the evidence uncovered since its heyday has quietly eaten away at its foundations far more than most textbooks admit.
- [How Should a Church Respond Pastorally to a KJV-Only Member?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q01165-church-respond-kjv-only-member/): Question 01165.
- [What Are Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus, and Why Do They Matter?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q01168-codex-sinaiticus-codex-vaticanus/): Question 01168.
- [Was the Latin Vulgate Once Held as Authoritative as KJV-Onlyists Regard the King James?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q01167-latin-vulgate-authority-reformation-kjv-only/): Question 01167.
- [What Are the Major Greek Manuscript Families, and What Are Their Key Differences?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q01169-greek-manuscript-families-new-testament/): Question 01169.
- [How should a Christian student handle a university course taught from a higher-critical perspective?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60081-christian-student-higher-critical-university-course/): Question 60081.
- [Academic Theology and Practical Doctrine](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0030-difference-between-academic-theology-and-practical-doctrine/): The difference between academic theology and practical doctrine is one of those distinctions that sounds dry until you realise how much harm comes from getting it wrong.
- [Can Unity Exist Without Doctrinal Agreement?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0027-can-unity-exist-apart-from-doctrinal-agreement/): Few questions expose the fault lines in the modern church as quickly as whether unity can exist without doctrinal agreement.
- [Is a Disagreement Worth Breaking Fellowship Over?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q00029-how-do-i-know-if-disagreement-is-worth-breaking-fellowship/): Sooner or later every believer who takes both truth and relationships seriously has to ask whether a disagreement is worth breaking fellowship over.
- [Which Doctrines to Divide Over: A Biblical Guide](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0028-what-doctrines-should-i-be-willing-to-divide-over/): Knowing which doctrines to divide over is one of the most important and most difficult judgements a believer ever has to make.
- [Can Someone Be Doctrinally Correct but Spiritually Dead?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0049-doctrinally-correct-spiritually-dead/): Question 00049.
- [Why Do People Prefer Teachers Who Tell Them What They Want to Hear?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0046-why-people-prefer-ear-tickling-teachers/): The phrase itching ears comes from one of the most honest descriptions of human nature in all of Scripture, and Paul saw it coming with painful accuracy.
- [How Did Christians Learn Doctrine Before Complete Bibles?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0037-how-did-christians-learn-doctrine-before-complete-bibles/): It is a fair question, and the answer turns on the apostolic teaching that filled the gap before the New Testament was gathered into one book.
- [The Best Resources for Doctrinal Growth](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0034-what-resources-should-i-use-to-grow-in-doctrinal-understanding/): When people ask me what resources will help their doctrinal growth, I always start in the same place, because the answer matters more than any book list.
- [Why Can't I Just Read the Bible Without Theology?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0040-why-cant-i-just-read-bible-without-theology/): It sounds wonderfully humble to say that you just want to read the Bible without theology, taking the plain words at face value and leaving all the systems and arguments to the academics.
- [How to Grow a Real Appetite for Doctrine](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0033-how-can-i-develop-appetite-for-doctrinal-study/): If you long for an appetite for doctrine that you do not yet feel, take heart, because that very longing is already a seed of the thing you want.
- [Why Theology Feels Dry to So Many Christians](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0032-why-do-some-christians-treat-theology-as-dry-or-irrelevant/): I understand exactly why theology feels dry to so many Christians, because I have felt it myself and I have watched it in others for years.
- [Why Does Paul Warn About Itching Ears?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0013-itching-ears-warning/): Itching ears is one of Paul's most quietly devastating phrases, and it describes a danger that is more alive today than ever.
- [Doctrine as the Soul’s Spiritual Immune System](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0031-how-does-doctrine-function-as-immune-system-for-soul/): Sound doctrine works in the soul rather like a spiritual immune system works in the body, and once you see the picture you cannot unsee it.
- [How Can I Detect False Teaching?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0016-how-can-i-detect-false-teaching/): To detect false teaching is a skill every believer needs, and not only the pastors and scholars among us.
- [What Is Progressive Christianity?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0015-progressive-christianity-response/): Progressive Christianity is a movement many believers have heard named but few could define clearly, and that vagueness is part of what makes it so difficult to respond to.
- [How Studying Doctrine Is an Act of Love](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0020-how-is-studying-doctrine-an-act-of-love/): How is studying doctrine an act of love?
- [Why Right Belief Leads to Right Behaviour](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0017-why-does-right-belief-lead-to-right-behaviour/): Why does right belief lead to right behaviour?
- [Why So Many Christians Stay Spiritual Infants](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q00019-why-are-so-many-christians-still-spiritual-infants/): Why are so many Christians still spiritual infants after years of faith?
- [Why the Apostles' Teaching Came First (Acts 2:42)](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0025-why-did-early-church-devote-to-apostles-teaching-first/): Acts gives us a photograph of the very first Christian community in Jerusalem, taken just after the Day of Pentecost, and the early church devoted itself first of all to the apostles' teaching.
- [Spiritual Maturity in Hebrews 5 and 6](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0018-what-does-spiritual-maturity-look-like-hebrews-5-6/): What does spiritual maturity look like according to Hebrews 5 and 6?
- [Why Paul Put Doctrine Before Application](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0023-why-did-paul-start-letters-with-doctrine-before-application/): Why did Paul always start his letters with doctrine before application rather than practical instruction?
- [What Happens When Experience Is Valued Over Doctrine?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0041-what-happens-when-experience-valued-over-doctrine/): When a church begins to prize experience over doctrine, the change is rarely announced and rarely sudden.
- [Does Having the Holy Spirit Mean I Do Not Need Doctrine?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0039-does-having-holy-spirit-mean-no-need-to-study-doctrine/): Some Christians treat the Spirit and study as competitors, as though leaning on the Holy Spirit means I can set aside the effort of learning sound doctrine.
- [What Does the Virgin Birth Accomplish Theologically?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3073-what-does-the-virgin-birth-accomplish-theologically/): The virgin birth is not a decorative detail on the edge of the Christmas story; it is load-bearing doctrine, and if you remove it the whole structure of the Gospel begins to crack.
- [What is the study of the 'historical Jesus' all about?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3052-what-is-the-study-of-the-historical-jesus/): The historical Jesus is a phrase you will meet in television documentaries, paperback bestsellers and undergraduate courses, usually delivered with a knowing tone: behind the Christ of the church's faith, we are told, stands a rather different figure, the real Jesus of Nazareth, whom scholarship must excavate from beneath layers of legend.
- [How is Jesus different from other religious leaders?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3053-how-is-jesus-different-from-other-religious-leaders/): How is Jesus different from other religious leaders?
- [Is Jesus the angel Michael?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3054-is-jesus-the-angel-michael/): Is Jesus Michael the archangel?
- [What do Jesus' genealogies tell us?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3056-what-do-jesus-genealogies-tell-us/): The genealogies of Jesus look, at first glance, like the least promising material in the New Testament: lists of names, many of them unpronounceable, standing between you and the story.
- [Why are there two different genealogies?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3055-why-are-there-two-different-genealogies/): Open Matthew 1 and Luke 3 side by side and you will meet a genuine puzzle: two genealogies of Jesus that do not match.
- [Why did Jesus speak in parables?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3057-why-did-jesus-speak-in-parables/): The parables of Jesus are among the most famous stories ever told.
- [What about the 'lost years' of Jesus (12-30 years old)?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3058-what-about-the-lost-years-of-jesus/): People love a gap, and the so-called lost years of Jesus are one of history's most famous.
- [Was Jesus married?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3059-was-jesus-married/): Every few years the claim that Jesus married resurfaces, usually with a book launch attached.
- [What does 'Son of David' mean?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3044-what-does-son-of-david-mean/): Son of David is the very first title given to Jesus in the New Testament: 'The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham' (Matthew 1:1).
- [What does 'Messiah/Christ' actually mean?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3045-what-does-messiah-christ-mean/): Messiah and Christ both mean the anointed one, and that single fact unlocks more of your Bible than almost any other piece of vocabulary.
- [Why is Jesus called the 'Lamb of God'?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3046-why-is-jesus-called-lamb-of-god/): Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29).
- [Did Jesus claim to be God?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3048-did-jesus-claim-to-be-god/): The deity of Christ is often said to be a later invention, a doctrine bolted onto the memory of a humble rabbi by councils and emperors centuries after his death.
- [What is the 'blood of Jesus' and why does it matter?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3036-what-is-the-blood-of-jesus/): The blood of Jesus is one of the most repeated themes in the New Testament, and yet I find that many Christians are hazy about what it actually means.
- [Who killed Jesus?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3037-who-killed-jesus/): Who killed Jesus? It sounds like a simple historical question, the kind a detective could close in an afternoon.
- [Why was Jesus crucified? Why that specific method?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3038-why-was-jesus-crucified/): The crucifixion of Jesus raises a question most of us have never stopped to ask: why that particular death?
- [Why did Jesus ascend? Why not stay on earth?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3041-why-did-jesus-ascend/): The ascension of Jesus is the forgotten doctrine of the Christian faith.
- [What does Jesus' title 'Lord' (Kyrios) mean?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3043-what-does-jesus-title-lord-kyrios-mean/): Jesus is Lord. Three words, and the earliest, shortest confession of the Christian faith (Romans 10:9).
- [What does Jesus' resurrection body tell us about ours?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3040-what-does-jesus-resurrection-body-tell-us-about-ours/): The resurrection body of Jesus is the single best piece of evidence for what your own future body will be like.
- [How Is Jesus Different From Angels?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3031-how-is-jesus-different-from-angels/): Jesus is superior to angels in a way that the New Testament, particularly the opening chapters of Hebrews, takes considerable care to establish, because a persistent confusion in the first century, and in some circles even today, has tried to place Him within the angelic order rather than far above it.
- [Why Was Jesus Tempted if He Couldn't Sin?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3030-why-did-jesus-need-to-be-tempted-if-he-couldnt-sin/): The impeccability of Christ, the conviction that Jesus was actually unable to sin, raises an honest and important question.
- [What Does 'Firstborn Over All Creation' Mean?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3029-what-does-firstborn-over-all-creation-mean/): Firstborn over creation is one of the titles most frequently misused by groups who want to argue that Jesus was God's first created being.
- [How Can Jesus Be Eternal if He Had a Birth?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3028-how-can-jesus-be-eternal-if-he-had-a-birth/): Eternal generation is the theological term that answers what sounds, at first, like a contradiction: how can Jesus be eternal, without beginning or end, if He was also born in Bethlehem at a specific point in history?
- [What Happened to Jesus Between His Death and Resurrection?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3025-what-happened-to-jesus-between-death-and-resurrection/): Jesus' descent into Hades is a phrase drawn from the historic creeds, and it has confused almost as many Christians as it has clarified, because the words can sound as though Jesus spent three days suffering in hell.
- [What Is Jesus Doing in Heaven Right Now?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3022-what-is-jesus-doing-in-heaven/): Jesus is not idle in heaven, and His heavenly intercession for believers is only one part, though the most frequently mentioned part, of an active present ministry that Scripture describes in surprising detail.
- [Where Is Jesus Now? Understanding the Session of Christ](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3021-where-is-jesus-now/): Where is Jesus now is a question with a precise biblical answer, and theologians have a specific term for it: the session of Christ, His seated reign at the Father's right hand following His ascension.
- [Is Jesus Still Human Now? Will He Always Be Human?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3027-is-jesus-still-human-now/): Jesus is still human now, and His glorified humanity is not a temporary costume He will one day set aside once His earthly mission is fully wrapped up.
- [Did Jesus Really Rise From the Dead?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3019-did-jesus-really-rise-from-the-dead/): Did Jesus really rise from the dead in a bodily resurrection, or is this simply a comforting story the early church told itself?
- [What Happened at the Transfiguration of Jesus?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3015-what-happened-at-jesus-transfiguration/): The transfiguration of Jesus is one of the strangest and most wonderful scenes in the Gospels, the moment when the ordinary appearance Jesus had worn for thirty years briefly gave way to something the disciples could barely describe.
- [What does 'Son of God' mean? Is it different from 'Son of Man'?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3012-son-of-god-son-of-man-meaning/): Son of Man is the title Jesus used of Himself more often than any other in the Gospels, and it is also the one most commonly misunderstood among ordinary readers today.
- [Did Jesus have a sin nature?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3007-did-jesus-have-sin-nature/): The sinlessness of Christ is where this question ultimately lands, though getting there requires asking something quite specific first.
- [Do All Christians Have All the Fruit?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4010-do-all-christians-have-all-the-fruit/): The fruit of the Spirit is one of those phrases I hear quoted so easily that we rarely stop and ask what it actually promises about the Christian life.
- [How does the Spirit guide us?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4008-how-does-the-spirit-guide-us/): The guidance of the Spirit is one of the dearest privileges of the Christian life, and also one of the most misunderstood.
- [What is the still small voice?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4007-what-is-the-still-small-voice/): The still small voice is one of those phrases that has wandered a long way from its home, and I want to walk it back.
- [Does the Spirit speak audibly?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4006-does-the-spirit-speak-audibly/): The Spirit's voice is something believers ask me about constantly, usually after someone has told them that God spoke to them in an audible voice and they are wondering why it has never happened to them.
- [Can the Spirit Be Grieved? Understanding Ephesians 4:30](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4004-can-the-spirit-be-grieved/): Can we really grieve the Spirit?
- [What Is Being Filled with the Spirit? A Pastoral Answer](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4003-what-is-being-filled-with-the-spirit/): Being filled with the Spirit is one of those phrases that gets pulled in two opposite directions, and I think both of them miss it.
- [When Do We Receive the Holy Spirit? A Careful Answer](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4002-when-do-we-receive-the-holy-spirit/): When do we receive the Holy Spirit?
- [What is the fruit of the Spirit?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4009-what-is-the-fruit-of-the-spirit/): The fruit of the Spirit is Paul's lovely picture of the character that God grows in a believer's life, and it is found in Galatians 5 where he lists love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
- [Who Is the Holy Spirit? The Person of the Spirit Explained](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4001-who-is-the-holy-spirit/): The person of the Spirit is the first thing I want settled when anyone asks me who the Holy Spirit really is, because almost every mistake people make in this area flows from getting that one point wrong.
- [Was Jesus fully human?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3006-was-jesus-fully-human/): We rightly emphasise the deity of Jesus, but the humanity of Jesus receives just as much insistence in Scripture, and I do not think we can afford to let either truth crowd out the other.
- [Why was Jesus baptized if He was sinless?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3011-why-was-jesus-baptized-if-sinless/): The baptism of Jesus raises an obvious question the moment you think about it seriously.
- [Did Jesus know He was God from birth?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3010-did-jesus-know-he-was-god-from-birth/): Working out the consciousness of Christ during His earthly life pushes us further into the mystery of the incarnation than almost any other question in this series.
- [What did Jesus know as a child?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3009-what-did-jesus-know-as-child/): The childhood of Jesus receives only the briefest treatment in the Gospels, and yet those few verses raise questions that repay careful attention.
- [Could Jesus have sinned?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3008-could-jesus-have-sinned/): Whether the impeccability of Christ is actually true has occupied theologians for most of church history, and I understand why the question keeps resurfacing.
- [What is the hypostatic union?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3005-what-is-hypostatic-union/): The hypostatic union is, in my judgment, one of the most profound truths in the whole of Christian theology, and also one of the most practically important.
- [Is Jesus God?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3004-is-jesus-god/): The deity of Jesus is the foundation Christianity stands or falls on. If Jesus is not God, Christianity collapses and we remain in our sins.
- [Why "It is finished" Gr: tetelestai (John 19:30)?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3076-why-it-is-finished-tetelestai/): Few words in all of Scripture carry the weight of those spoken by Jesus from the cross in John 19:30: “It is finished.” In the original Greek, this is a single word, tetelestai (τετέλεσται), and it is one of the most theologically significant words in the entire New Testament.
- [How Many Trials Did Jesus Go Through?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3077-how-many-trials-did-jesus-go-through/): The trials of Jesus, when you lay the four Gospel accounts side by side, turn out to number six distinct hearings, three before Jewish authorities and three before Roman ones, all crammed into the hours between His arrest in Gethsemane and the sentence of crucifixion the next morning.
- [Who is Jesus?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3001-who-is-jesus/): The identity of Jesus is, I think, the one question none of us gets to avoid indefinitely.
- [Did Jesus have brothers and sisters?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3002-did-jesus-have-brothers-and-sisters/): Whether there were genuine brothers of Jesus has been argued over for most of Church history, largely because of the Roman Catholic doctrine of Mary's perpetual virginity.
- [What Does 'Only Begotten Son' Mean?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3026-what-does-only-begotten-son-mean/): Only begotten Son is a phrase that has caused more confusion than almost any other title given to Jesus, because in ordinary English "begotten" sounds like it describes a beginning, a moment when the Son came into existence.
- [What Does It Mean That Scripture Is Infallible?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1000-what-does-scripture-infallible-mean/): Question 01000.
- [Were the Apostles' Doctrines Shaped by Their Fallen Nature?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1004-were-doctrines-influenced-by-apostles-fallen-nature/): Question 01004.
- [How Does False Doctrine Spread Like Gangrene?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0012-false-doctrine-spreads-like-gangrene/): False doctrine spreads like gangrene. That is not my phrase but Paul's, and it is one of the most arresting medical images in all his letters.
- [Equipped for Every Good Work: What 2 Timothy 3:17 Means](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1139-equipped-for-every-good-work/): Equipped for every good work is the phrase Paul uses to describe the purpose of Scripture in the life of a believer, and it comes at the climax of one of the most personal and urgent letters in the New Testament.
- [How do we defend the faith?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60001-how-do-we-defend-the-faith/): Question 60001.
- [What Is Bibliology?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1137-what-is-bibliology/): The doctrine of Scripture is the foundation everything else in Christian theology is built upon, and most believers use the word Bibliology without ever having had it properly explained to them.
- [What Does Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth Mean?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1138-rightly-dividing-word-of-truth/): Rightly handling Scripture is what the apostle Paul commands every believer who teaches or studies the Bible to do, and the phrase comes from one of the most important verses in the New Testament for how we approach the text.
- [Are Christians still under the Mosaic law?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7080-are-christians-under-mosaic-law/): The Mosaic law is one of the places where careless answers do the most damage in either direction.
- [What is the difference between Israel and the Church?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10013-difference-between-israel-and-church/): Question 10013.
- [Can you activate your healing by speaking God's Word?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11040-can-you-activate-healing-by-speaking-gods-word/): Question 11040.
- [Does “by your stripes I am healed” refer to physical healing?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7079-does-by-your-stripes-i-am-healed-refer-to-physical-healing/): Physical healing as a guaranteed benefit of the atonement is taught confidently in a good many places, and the proof text is almost always the same.
- [How Does God's Providence Fit with Human Suffering?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q2064-gods-sovereignty-and-human-suffering/): God's providence raises one of the hardest pastoral questions I ever get asked.
- [How Do We Handle Woke Interpretations of Scripture?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1097-how-to-handle-woke-interpretations-of-scripture/): Woke interpretations of Scripture have become common enough in recent years that I think every believer needs some tools for recognising them, not so we can win arguments online but so we can guard the actual meaning of the text we love.
- [Can New Manuscript Discoveries Change Doctrine?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1107-can-new-manuscript-discoveries-change-doctrine/): Manuscript discoveries make headlines from time to time, a newly identified papyrus fragment, an early codex found in a monastery library, and each one raises the same anxious question in some readers, could a find like this overturn something Christians have always believed?
- [How Does Scripture Address Critical Race Theory?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1098-how-does-scripture-address-critical-race-theory/): Critical race theory has become one of the most contested phrases in public conversation, and church members ask me about it often enough that I want to address it directly rather than duck the question because it feels politically charged.
- [Did God Dictate Scripture Word for Word?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1101-did-god-dictate-scripture-word-for-word/): I hold to verbal plenary inspiration without embarrassment, and it is worth being precise about what the doctrine actually claims, because plenty of people, believers and sceptics alike, picture something closer to the Islamic doctrine of the Qur’an than to what Scripture says about itself.
- [Have I Been Misunderstanding Isaiah 64:6 All Along?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1140-have-i-been-misunderstanding-isaiah-64-6/): Filthy rags is the phrase most Christians know from Isaiah 64:6, quoted in countless evangelistic sermons, including plenty of my own over the years, to prove that even our best efforts before salvation are worthless to God.
- [Why These Sixty-Six Books? Understanding the Bible's Canon](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1074-why-these-66-books/): Why these sixty-six books, and not more, and not fewer?
- [How Was the Canon of Scripture Formed?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1073-how-was-the-canon-of-scripture-formed/): The canon of Scripture, the settled collection of sixty-six books that make up our Bible, did not come together the way many people imagine, as though a committee somewhere sat down centuries after the events and voted particular books into existence.
- [What About the Apocrypha?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1075-what-about-the-apocrypha/): Question 1075. The Old Testament Apocrypha sits quietly on the shelf of most study Bibles that include it, and I get asked about it more often than you might expect, usually by someone who has just noticed that a Catholic or Orthodox friend's Bible is a good deal thicker than their own.
- [What Does Scripture Say About Prophecy Fulfilment?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1081-what-does-scripture-say-about-prophecy-fulfilment/): Question 1081. Prophecy fulfilment is, in my judgement, one of the strongest evidences we have for the divine origin of Scripture, and I do not say that lightly after years of studying the alternatives on offer.
- [Should We "Claim" Verses in Prayer?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1091-should-we-claim-verses-in-prayer/): Claiming verses is something I have watched sincere believers do in genuine faith, and something I have also watched leave people confused and hurt when the outcome they claimed never arrived.
- [What About Supposed Scientific Errors in the Bible?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1083-what-about-supposed-scientific-errors-in-the-bible/): Question 1083. Scientific errors are what critics claim to find scattered through the Bible, arguing that Scripture reflects the primitive cosmology of ancient peoples and cannot be trusted as God's Word on anything else either.
- [How Does Archaeology Confirm Scripture?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1082-how-does-archaeology-confirm-scripture/): Question 1082. Biblical archaeology has quietly become one of the most persuasive answers I can give a sceptical friend, because it deals in something they cannot simply wave away: dirt, pottery, inscriptions, and dated strata pulled directly out of the ground.
- [Are Biblical Numbers Literal or Symbolic?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1085-are-biblical-numbers-literal-or-symbolic/): Question 1085. Biblical numbers appear throughout Scripture: forty days of flood, seven churches, twelve tribes, 144,000 sealed servants, 666 as the number of the beast.
- [How Accurate Are Biblical Genealogies?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1084-how-accurate-are-biblical-genealogies/): Question 1084. Biblical genealogies can seem tedious to modern readers, long lists of unpronounceable names we are tempted to skip on our way to the next narrative section.
- [How Does Scripture Function in Worship?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1087-how-does-scripture-function-in-worship/): Scripture in worship is not decoration set around the edges of a service.
- [What About Numerical Patterns in Scripture?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1086-what-about-numerical-patterns-in-scripture/): Question 1086. Numerical patterns in Scripture fascinate people, and I understand why they do.
- [How Does Scripture Relate to Prayer?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1090-how-does-scripture-relate-to-prayer/): Scripture and prayer belong together so closely that I have never known a season of neglecting one that did not, sooner or later, weaken the other.
- [What Role Does Scripture Play in Counselling?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1089-what-role-does-scripture-play-in-counselling/): Scripture in counselling is where I keep returning whenever I sit with someone in pain, because the Bible speaks to the whole person, not only to their beliefs about God.
- [Can AI Help With Bible Study? Should It?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1093-can-ai-help-with-bible-study/): AI Bible study is something I get asked about often now, usually by people who are not sure whether using a tool like this on their Bible reading is clever stewardship or a shortcut around the very discipline that forms the soul.
- [What Does It Mean to Meditate on Scripture?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1092-what-does-it-mean-to-meditate-on-scripture/): Meditating on Scripture is one of the oldest disciplines in the Christian life, and one of the most misunderstood, because the word "meditation" now carries associations that have very little to do with what the Bible means by it.
- [Bible Movies and Dramatic Readings: How Should We Watch Them?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1096-bible-movies-and-dramatic-readings/): Bible movies and dramatic readings have exploded in popularity over the last few years, and I get asked about them often enough that I think the question deserves a proper answer rather than a shrug from the pulpit.
- [Bible Apps or a Physical Bible: Which Should I Use?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1094-bible-apps-vs-physical-bibles/): Bible apps have changed how most of us meet with Scripture each morning, and I think that change deserves more thought than a shrug and a download.
- [Audio Bibles: Are They as Good as Reading?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1095-audio-bibles-are-they-as-good-as-reading/): Audio Bible listening has become one of the most common ways church members tell me they get through Scripture, usually confessed with a slightly apologetic tone, as though listening were a lesser cousin of proper reading.
- [What About Errors in Old Testament Quotations Within Scripture?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1104-what-about-errors-in-quotations-within-scripture/): Old Testament quotations in the New Testament rarely match their source word for word, and if you line up Matthew’s citation of Isaiah next to your Old Testament text, you will often notice small differences in wording almost immediately.
- [Does Inspiration Extend to Chapter and Verse Divisions?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1103-does-inspiration-extend-to-chapter-verse-divisions/): Verse divisions feel so permanent, printed neatly into every Bible you own, that it is easy to assume they came down from Sinai along with everything else.
- [How Can Scripture Be Fully Human and Fully Divine?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1102-how-can-scripture-be-fully-human-and-fully-divine/): The dual authorship of Scripture is one of those doctrines that sounds like a contradiction until you actually sit with it, because we are so used to thinking of authorship as a single, exclusive category.
- [How Detailed Is Biblical Preservation Promised?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1106-how-detailed-is-biblical-preservation-promised/): Biblical preservation is a doctrine people often assume promises far more than it actually claims, and getting the scope right matters enormously, especially once you learn that our thousands of New Testament manuscripts contain small variations between copies.
- [What Is Literal Interpretation?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1037-what-is-literal-interpretation/): Literal interpretation is the single most misunderstood term in the whole discussion of how we read the Bible, mostly because critics and defenders alike often use it to mean something it was never meant to mean.
- [What Role Do Creeds and Confessions Play Alongside Scripture?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1036-role-of-creeds-and-confessions-alongside-scripture/): Creeds and confessions are summaries, not sources. That single sentence answers most of the confusion I encounter around this question.
- [What Is Typology, and How Do We Identify Types?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1039-what-is-typology-how-identify-types/): Biblical typology is the study of persons, events, and institutions in the Old Testament that God designed in advance to prefigure greater realities fulfilled in Christ and the new covenant.
- [What Is Allegorical Interpretation, and Should We Use It?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1038-what-is-allegorical-interpretation/): Allegorical interpretation treats a biblical text as a coded surface concealing a deeper, often quite different, spiritual meaning beneath it, and it has a long and influential history in the church, particularly through the Alexandrian tradition associated with Origen and later through much of medieval exegesis.
- [What Is Biblical Sufficiency?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1031-what-is-biblical-sufficiency/): biblical sufficiency is the settled conviction that Scripture provides everything a believer genuinely needs for faith and godly living, and I want to be precise about exactly what that claim covers, because it is regularly misunderstood in both directions at once.
- [How Do We Identify Genre in Scripture?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1040-how-identify-genre-in-scripture/): Biblical genre is the single most overlooked factor in careless Bible reading, and identifying it correctly is not an optional refinement of interpretation but a basic requirement of reading any piece of literature responsibly, biblical or otherwise.
- [What Does "Scripture Interprets Scripture" Mean Practically?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1033-scripture-interprets-scripture-practically/): Scripture interprets Scripture is one of those phrases preachers use so often that it risks sounding like a slogan rather than a method.
- [Is Scripture Our Only Authority or Our Final Authority?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1032-scripture-only-or-final-authority/): When I say Scripture is my final authority, people sometimes hear something I have not actually said.
- [What Is Christocentric Interpretation of Scripture?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1041-what-is-christocentric-interpretation-of-scripture/): Christocentric interpretation reads the whole of Scripture, Old Testament and New, as a unified story that finds its centre and its goal in Jesus Christ.
- [Why Is Scripture Necessary? Could Not God Reveal Himself Other Ways?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1034-why-is-scripture-necessary/): Special revelation is not God's only way of making Himself known, but it is His only sufficient way of making Himself known for salvation, and that distinction answers most of what lies behind this question.
- [How Important Is Cultural and Historical Context in Interpreting Scripture?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1044-how-important-is-cultural-historical-context/): Cultural and historical context is not an optional extra for serious Bible readers, it is the very air the text was written to breathe.
- [The Dangers of Eisegesis Versus Exegesis](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1043-what-are-the-dangers-of-eisegesis-vs-exegesis/): Eisegesis and exegesis sound like a pair of obscure Greek terms you could safely ignore, but the difference between them decides whether a sermon, a Bible study, or your own private reading actually hears God or simply hears an echo of your own opinions dressed up in religious language.
- [What Role Does Archaeology Play in Understanding Scripture?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1045-what-role-does-archaeology-play-in-understanding-scripture/): Biblical archaeology occupies an unusual place in my ministry, because it sits right at the boundary between faith and physical evidence, and I find that boundary endlessly interesting rather than threatening.
- [What Makes a Good Commentary?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1052-what-makes-a-good-commentary/): A good commentary is not always easy to spot on a crowded shelf, and that is the honest problem behind this question.
- [How Do We Handle the Samaritan Pentateuch?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1051-how-do-we-handle-the-samaritan-pentateuch/): The Samaritan Pentateuch sounds like the kind of obscure manuscript detail that only specialists need worry about, but it raises a question worth answering plainly: if the Samaritans have their own version of the first five books of the Bible, and it differs here and there from the Hebrew text we use, how should we actually handle it?
- [Is It Okay to Mark in My Bible?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1055-is-it-okay-to-mark-in-my-bible/): marking your Bible is not only permitted, I would go further and say it is one of the more underused tools available to an ordinary Christian who wants to grow in their understanding of Scripture over years of reading rather than simply months.
- [What Bible Study Tools Are Essential?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1054-what-bible-study-tools-are-essential/): Bible study tools multiply faster than most of us can keep track of, with software, websites and apps proliferating alongside the traditional printed options, and the choice can feel overwhelming if you are serious about going deeper than devotional reading alone.
- [Why Did Jesus and the Apostles Quote from the Septuagint?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1047-why-did-jesus-apostles-quote-septuagint/): Septuagint quotations appear throughout the New Testament far more often than most readers realise, and noticing this raises a fair question.
- [Septuagint vs Masoretic Text: Which Is Authoritative?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1046-septuagint-vs-masoretic-text-which-is-authoritative/): When I open my Old Testament, I am reading a translation of ancient Hebrew manuscripts, and the Masoretic Text is the specific textual tradition standing behind almost every English version on my shelf, including the ESV.
- [What About 1 John 5:7 and the Johannine Comma (Comma Johanneum)?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1050-1-john-5-7-johannine-comma/): The Johannine Comma is the name given to a few extra words that appear in 1 John 5:7-8 in the King James Version and nowhere in modern translations, and if you have ever noticed the difference and wondered what happened to the Trinity, you are asking exactly the right question.
- [What About the Woman Caught in Adultery (John 7:53-8:11)?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1049-woman-caught-adultery-john-7-53-8-11/): Few passages in the Gospels are as beloved as the story of the woman caught adultery, found in John 7:53 through 8:11.
- [Should Christians Memorise Scripture? How?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1056-should-christians-memorise-scripture-how/): memorising Scripture is one of the most quietly transformative habits available to any Christian, and I say that as someone who finds it genuinely hard work rather than a natural gift.
- [What About the Longer Ending of Mark (16:9-20)?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1048-longer-ending-mark-16-9-20/): If you open your Bible to the end of Mark's Gospel, you will likely find a note indicating that Mark's longer ending does not appear in the earliest manuscripts.
- [What Is Form Criticism, and Why Does It Trouble Me?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1060-what-is-form-criticism/): Form criticism is not a phrase you will hear from the pulpit very often, yet its fingerprints are all over the seminary training that shaped a great many ministers now standing in British and American pulpits.
- [Should Children Use Children's Bibles?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1059-should-children-use-childrens-bibles/): children's Bibles are not simply acceptable for young children, they are, in my experience raising and teaching children over many years, one of the most effective tools available for building early familiarity with Scripture's great story before a child has the reading stamina or vocabulary to engage the unabridged text directly.
- [What Is Redaction Criticism, and What Should We Make of It?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1062-what-is-redaction-criticism/): Redaction criticism studies carefully how each Gospel writer selected, arranged, and shaped his received material to bring out a particular theological emphasis, and and of all the various higher critical methods I have addressed on this site so far, it is the one I find least troubling in itself, even though it grew directly out of the same German scholarly soil as form criticism and source criticism.
- [What Is Source Criticism, and How Should Christians Weigh It?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1061-what-is-source-criticism/): Source criticism asks a question that is, on the surface, entirely reasonable: did the authors of biblical books draw on earlier written documents, and if so, can we identify them?
- [What Is the Q Source Theory, and Should It Worry Us?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1064-what-is-the-q-source-theory/): The Q source theory proposes that Matthew and Luke, in addition to using Mark's Gospel as a source, also drew on a second, now-lost document consisting mainly of Jesus's sayings, a document scholars have never found and have simply labelled Q, from the German Quelle, meaning source, related to the Greek concept of logos, or word, since Q is imagined chiefly as a collection of sayings rather than a narrative.
- [What Is the JEDP Theory, and Why Do I Think It Is Wrong?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1063-what-is-jedp-theory-and-why-is-it-wrong/): The JEDP theory, also called the documentary hypothesis, is the most influential and, in my judgement, the most damaging conclusion that source criticism has ever produced.
- [What Is the Majority Text Theory of the New Testament?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1110-what-is-the-majority-text-theory/): The Majority Text theory holds that the true wording of the Greek New Testament is best found by following the reading supported by the largest number of surviving Greek manuscripts, and if you have never met this idea before, it is worth understanding both its genuine strengths and its real limitations before you decide how much weight to put on it.
- [How Do We Respond to the Jesus Seminar?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1065-how-do-we-respond-to-the-jesus-seminar/): Question 01065.
- [Why Are There So Many New Testament Papyri Fragments Rather Than Whole Books?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1111-why-are-there-so-many-papyri-fragments/): New Testament papyri fragments survive from the ancient world in far greater number as small scraps than as complete books, and once you understand why, this fact becomes a source of real encouragement rather than concern about how much of the Bible has actually reached us intact.
- [How Do We Handle Harsh Passages in Scripture?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1115-how-do-we-handle-harsh-passages-in-scripture/): The harsh passages of Scripture are the ones people bring to me most often when they want to know whether the Bible can really be trusted.
- [Why Did God Allow Difficult Passages in Scripture?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1114-why-did-god-allow-difficult-passages-in-scripture/): Difficult Bible passages are something every serious reader eventually meets, genealogies that seem endless, prophecies that stay obscure, apparent tensions between accounts, and commands that jar against modern sensibilities, and the honest question worth asking is why a God who wanted to communicate clearly would give us a book containing so much that puzzles us.
- [What Materials Were Biblical Manuscripts Written On?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1113-what-materials-were-biblical-manuscripts-written-on/): Biblical manuscript materials range from stone and clay to papyrus and animal-skin parchment, and tracing what the prophets and apostles actually wrote on takes us right into the dust and workshops of the ancient world, reminding us that the eternal word of God reached us through thoroughly earthly, physical means.
- [Scrolls and Codices: How Did the Early Church Read Its Scriptures?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1112-how-were-scrolls-vs-codices-used/): Scrolls and codices were the two great book formats of the ancient world, and the choice between them turns out to carry more theological weight than you might expect, because the early church's adoption of the codex over the scroll was one of the most striking cultural decisions the first Christians ever made.
- [Are There Real Contradictions in the Bible?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1136-alleged-bible-contradictions/): Bible contradictions are one of the first objections most Christians run into once they start talking about their faith outside the safety of church, and I have lost count of the number of conversations that started with someone reciting a list they found online.
- [What Makes Scripture Different from Other "Holy Books"?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1134-scripture-different-from-other-holy-books/): Holy books are not in short supply.
- [What's the Difference Between Biblical Literalism and Wooden Literalism?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1132-biblical-literalism-vs-wooden-literalism/): Wooden literalism is the caricature that gets thrown at every Bible believing Christian sooner or later, usually by someone convinced that anyone who trusts Scripture must also believe the four winds are held by four literal angels at the four literal corners of a flat earth.
- [How Do We Defend Biblical Authority in a Post-Truth Culture?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1131-defending-biblical-authority-post-truth-culture/): Biblical authority sounds like an old-fashioned phrase to defend in a culture that has largely stopped agreeing there is such a thing as truth to be authoritative about.
- [Does Dispensational Hermeneutics Require Different Rules for Different Ages?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1130-dispensational-hermeneutics-different-rules/): Dispensational hermeneutics gets accused, fairly often and rather confidently, of playing a shell game with the biblical text: reading the Old Testament literally when it suits the argument and switching to symbol whenever a plain reading becomes awkward.
- [How Does Biblical Literalism Relate to Scientific Literalism?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1129-how-does-biblical-literalism-relate-to-scientific-literalism/): Biblical literalism gets blamed for a great deal it never actually claimed, and nowhere is the confusion thicker than in the running argument between Scripture and science.
- [Is It Okay to Skip Boring Genealogies?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1125-is-it-okay-to-skip-boring-genealogies/): Biblical genealogies have glazed over more eyes than almost any other section of Scripture.
- [What If I Don't Understand What I'm Reading?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1124-what-if-i-dont-understand-what-im-reading/): Understanding Scripture is not always straightforward, and if you have ever hit a passage that made no sense at all, read it twice, maybe three times, and remained thoroughly confused, you are in very good company.
- [Does Literal Interpretation Require a Young Earth?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1120-does-literal-interpretation-require-young-earth/): Does literal interpretation require a young earth position?
- [What is the difference between conditional and unconditional covenants?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10020-conditional-vs-unconditional-covenants/): Question 10020.
- [Why Do Textual Variations Exist in Scripture?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1002-bible-translation-textual-variations/): Question 01002.
- [Should We Only Be Using the King James Version?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1001-kjv-onlyism-examination/): Question 01001.
- [Is Biblical Authority Circular Reasoning?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1151-is-biblical-authority-circular-reasoning/): Question 01151.
- [Do You Need Scholars to Understand Scripture?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1007-do-you-need-scholars-to-understand-scripture/): Question 01007.
- [Did God Reveal Truth Gradually](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1014-did-god-reveal-truth-gradually/): The truth we call progressive revelation answers a question that shapes the way you read the whole Bible, namely whether God handed down everything He wanted us to know in one go, or unveiled His truth and His purposes step by step across the centuries.
- [Should I Use Study Bibles? Which Ones?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1053-should-i-use-study-bibles-which-ones/): Study Bibles are everywhere you look.
- [How Does the Bible Cohere Over 1,500 Years?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1016-how-does-the-bible-cohere-over-1500-years/): Biblical coherence across roughly fifteen centuries of writing, in three different languages, by more than forty human authors in wildly different circumstances, kings, shepherds, fishermen, priests, prisoners and statesmen, is one of the most striking evidences for Scripture's divine origin that I know, and it rarely gets the attention it deserves in ordinary church teaching.
- [What Is Higher Criticism?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1019-what-is-higher-criticism/): Higher criticism has generated strong reactions in the church for more than two centuries, and having watched its effects on ordinary congregations over the years, I think those reactions are largely warranted.
- [Do the Old and New Testaments Contradict?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1015-do-old-and-new-testaments-contradict/): Biblical contradictions get raised in nearly every conversation I have with sceptical friends, and honestly, they deserve a serious answer rather than a defensive one.
- [What Is Textual Criticism?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1018-what-is-textual-criticism/): Textual criticism can sound alarming when you first hear the phrase, as though scholars are sitting in judgement on the Bible and finding it wanting.
- [Can Unbelievers Understand the Bible?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1017-can-unbelievers-understand-the-bible/): Spiritual understanding of the Bible is not the same thing as being able to read it, and the difference has real implications for how we do evangelism, how we engage non-Christian friends around Scripture, and how we understand the Holy Spirit's own work in a person's life.
- [What Is the Difference Between Inspiration and Illumination?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q01203-difference-between-inspiration-and-illumination/): Inspiration and illumination are two words that get used almost interchangeably in casual church conversation, and the blur causes real confusion.
- [What Does "the Faith Once Delivered to the Saints" Mean (Jude 3)?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q01204-faith-once-delivered-to-the-saints/): The faith once delivered to the saints is the phrase Jude reaches for when he explains why his short, urgent letter changed direction partway through the opening line.
- [What Is the Bible's Main Message?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1020-what-is-the-bibles-main-message/): The Bible's main message gets lost surprisingly easily under the sheer size and apparent diversity of Scripture, sixty-six books, more than forty authors, several languages, a story stretching across roughly fifteen hundred years, and I want to state that central message plainly rather than leaving it buried under all that surrounding detail.
- [What Happened to the Original Manuscripts?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1024-what-happened-to-original-manuscripts/): What happened to the original manuscripts of Scripture is a question that catches many believers off guard the first time it occurs to them, since no autograph, no original document written by Moses, Isaiah, Paul or John, survives anywhere in the world today.
- [What Does the Bible Say About Itself?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1030-what-does-bible-say-about-itself/): The word of God makes some remarkable claims about itself, and I think the place to start is simply to listen to them before we start assessing them.
- [Can science contradict the Bible?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60088-can-science-contradict-bible/): Question 60088.
- [The Holy Spirit's Role in Understanding Scripture](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1028-what-role-holy-spirit-understanding-scripture/): The Holy Spirit's role in understanding Scripture is something I have watched play out in my own reading more times than I can count.
- [How Can the Bible Be One Book?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1027-how-can-the-bible-be-one-book/): The unity of Scripture across sixty-six books, more than forty authors and roughly fifteen hundred years of composition is, on reflection, a genuinely remarkable fact, and it is worth pausing to ask directly how a collection this large and this diverse manages to read as a single, coherent book rather than a loosely bound anthology.
- [How Does the Old Testament Relate to the New Testament?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1026-how-does-old-testament-relate-to-new-testament/): The continuity of Scripture across the Old and New Testaments is one of those questions that sounds academic until you actually try to read the Bible straight through and hit the jarring transition from Malachi's closing warnings to Matthew's opening genealogy, and find yourself wondering how these two halves of one book actually relate to each other.
- [Is the Bible Clear Enough? (Perspicuity)](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1025-is-the-bible-clear-enough-perspicuity/): Biblical perspicuity, the historic term for Scripture's own clarity, asks a genuinely practical question every ordinary reader eventually faces: is the Bible clear enough for me to understand on my own, or does its meaning stay locked behind specialist training and expert interpretation.
- [How do we answer the claim that truth is relative?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60089-responding-to-postmodern-truth-relativism/): Question 60089.
- [What Is the Difference Between General and Special Revelation?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q01142-general-revelation-and-special-revelation/): General revelation is God's self disclosure through the created order, through history, and through the human conscience, available in principle to every person who has ever lived, whether or not they have ever held a Bible in their hands.
- [What Is the Difference Between Illumination and New Revelation?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q01148-illumination-versus-ongoing-revelation/): Ongoing revelation is the phrase I want to handle carefully here, because the Spirit's genuine, active work in a believer's life gets confused constantly with the very different claim that God is still adding new binding content to Scripture.
- [Are faith and reason opposed to each other?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60090-faith-reason-and-biblical-authority/): Question 60090.
- [Personal Experience vs. Biblical Teaching](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q01150-responding-to-personal-experience-versus-biblical-teaching/): Question 01150.
- [How Does the Spirit's Inspiration Relate to His Work in Interpretation?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q01149-inspiration-and-the-spirits-work-in-interpretation/): The Spirit's inspiration of Scripture and His work helping us interpret it are two acts of the same Person, separated by many centuries but joined by the same purpose, and I think keeping that connection in view changes how you approach Bible study.
- [In What Sense Is Scripture Sufficient?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q01147-in-what-sense-is-scripture-sufficient/): The sufficiency of Scripture is a claim that sounds simple until someone asks you to define exactly what it does and does not cover, and I find most confusion about this doctrine comes from people assuming it means something the historic Protestant position never actually claimed.
- [Has the Bible Been Corrupted Through Copying and Translation?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q01146-has-the-bible-been-corrupted-through-copying-and-translation/): Textual corruption is the accusation I hear most often from people who have never actually looked at how the Bible was copied, only heard somewhere that thousands of years of hand copying must have hopelessly garbled the original text.
- [Wisdom Literature: Job, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q01154-wisdom-books-job-proverbs-ecclesiastes-redemptive-narrative/): Question 01154.
- [What the Dead Sea Scrolls Confirm About the Old Testament](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q01153-dead-sea-scrolls-old-testament-textual-criticism/): Question 01153.
- [How Progressive Revelation Shapes a Dispensational Reading of Scripture](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q01159-progressive-revelation-dispensational-understanding-scripture/): Progressive revelation is not simply a compatible partner to a dispensational reading of Scripture, it is the exegetical foundation the whole approach is built on.
- [Did Constantine create the Bible?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60087-did-constantine-create-the-bible/): Question 60087.
- [Is Esdras a Book We Should Read?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q01183-is-esdras-a-book-we-should-read/): Is the book of Esdras a book we should read, and does it belong anywhere near our study of Scripture?
- [What is the firmament?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60095-what-is-the-firmament/): Question 60095.
- [Was Noah's flood global?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60094-was-noahs-flood-global/): Question 60094.
- [Verses Commonly Misinterpreted](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q01200-verses-commonly-misinterpreted/): Some of the most commonly misinterpreted verses in the whole Bible are also some of the most quoted, which is exactly why the confusion spreads so widely.
- [Who Wrote Hebrews?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q01197-who-wrote-hebrews/): The authorship of Hebrews is the oldest literary puzzle in the New Testament, and honesty requires me to say at the outset that nobody can answer it with certainty.
- [Why Is the Greek of Revelation So Bad?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q01205-why-is-the-greek-of-revelation-so-bad/): The Greek of Revelation has puzzled and occasionally embarrassed readers since the earliest centuries of the church, because John writes sentences that any first year Greek student would be marked down for.
- [What Does It Mean That Jesus Learned Obedience?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3075-what-does-it-mean-that-jesus-learned-obedience/): That Jesus learned obedience is the startling claim of Hebrews 5:8: "Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered."
- [What does touch not my anointed mean?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09114-what-does-touch-not-my-anointed-mean/): Touch not my anointed is one of the most misused sentences in the English Bible, and I have heard it deployed to shut down every kind of legitimate question.
- [Where did sin come from?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q6002-where-did-sin-come-from/): The origin of sin is one of the deepest questions a believer can ask, because it presses on the character of God Himself.
- [What is sin?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q6001-what-is-sin/): The nature of sin is the first thing we must get clear if the gospel is ever going to make sense, and yet our culture has almost lost the word.
- [What is the difference between sin, transgression, and iniquity?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q6004-difference-between-sin-transgression-iniquity/): Sin, transgression and iniquity appear together so often in Scripture that many readers assume they are interchangeable, but each word carries its own weight, and together they diagnose us more thoroughly than any one of them alone.
- [What are the consequences of sin?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q6003-what-are-the-consequences-of-sin/): The consequences of sin reach further than most people ever suspect, and understanding them is essential if we are to grasp what the Lord Jesus actually accomplished on the cross.
- [Can Christians live without sinning?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q6007-can-christians-live-without-sinning/): Sinless perfection has been promised by more than one movement in church history: the claim that a Christian can reach a point in this life where sinning stops altogether.
- [What is the 'sin nature'?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q6006-what-is-the-sin-nature/): The sin nature is the Bible’s explanation for a fact every honest person has noticed: we do not become sinners by sinning; we sin because something in us leans that way from the start.
- [Are all sins equal?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q6005-are-all-sins-equal/): Are all sins equal in God’s eyes?
- [How do we overcome sin?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q6009-how-do-we-overcome-sin/): Overcoming sin is the daily concern of every genuine believer, and the honest ones will tell you how the usual methods have gone: willpower failed, resolutions broke, promises to God lasted a fortnight.
- [What is confession?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q6008-what-is-confession/): Confession of sin is one of those practices every Christian knows they should maintain and many quietly find confusing.
- [Are we responsible for sins we commit unknowingly?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q06073-are-we-responsible-for-sins-we-commit-unknowingly/): Unintentional sin is a genuine biblical category, and the answer to whether we are responsible for it is yes, with a very large mercy attached.
- [What are presumptuous sins?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q6010-what-are-presumptuous-sins/): Presumptuous sins are singled out in one of David’s best-known prayers, and the singling out is deliberate: "Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me!"
- [Is it a sin to feel angry?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11068-is-it-a-sin-to-feel-angry/): Question 11068.
- [What Is Anthropology?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q5000-what-is-anthropology/): Biblical anthropology sounds like an intimidating phrase, but it names one of the most practical questions theology ever asks: what, exactly, is a human being?
- [What Is the Relationship Between the Mind and the Brain?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q5001-relationship-between-mind-and-brain/): The mind and brain question sits at one of the most interesting crossroads of science and Scripture.
- [What Is Biblical Masculinity?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q5004-what-is-biblical-masculinity-2/): Ask ten people to define biblical masculinity and you will get a dozen answers, most of them borrowed from culture rather than Scripture.
- [What Does It Mean That God Created Us Male and Female?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q05006-what-does-it-mean-god-created-us-male-and-female/): God created us male and female, and Genesis announces it not as biology trivia but as theology of the highest order.
- [What Is Biblical Femininity?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q5005-what-is-biblical-femininity-2/): Biblical femininity is one of those subjects where the caricatures arrive before the Bible does.
- [How Should Christians View Those with Disabilities?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q05010-how-should-christians-view-those-with-disabilities/): How the church treats people with disabilities reveals what it really believes about the image of God.
- [How does the imago Dei bear on the Christian's responsibility toward the environment?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q05041-imago-dei-christian-responsibility-environment/): Question 05041.
- [Why did God create us?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q05039-why-did-god-create-us/): Question 05039.
- [What distinguishes human consciousness from artificial intelligence?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q05043-human-consciousness-artificial-intelligence/): Question 05043.
- [What does Scripture say about human longevity and ageing?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q05042-human-longevity-ageing-bible/): Question 05042.
- [What Does It Mean to Be 'Dust'?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q05024-what-does-it-mean-to-be-dust/): To be made from dust is Scripture's blunt, unflattering, and strangely comforting description of what we are.
- [Body, soul and spirit: are we two parts or three?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q05045-body-soul-spirit-dichotomy-trichotomy/): Question 05045.
- [The brain and the soul: what does disease mean for identity and accountability?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q05044-brain-soul-disease-personal-identity/): Question 05044.
- [What Will Our Resurrection Bodies Be Like?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q05026-what-will-our-resurrection-bodies-be-like/): Resurrection bodies are the great forgotten hope of the Christian faith.
- [What Is the Breath of Life?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q05025-what-is-the-breath-of-life/): The breath of life is what turned a beautifully shaped pile of dust into a living man.
- [What Is the Relationship Between Body and Soul?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q05028-what-is-the-relationship-between-body-and-soul/): Body and soul belong together; that is the short answer to the body and soul question, and almost every error on this subject comes from pulling them apart.
- [What Is the Soul?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q05030-what-is-the-soul/): The human soul is spoken of everywhere and defined almost nowhere.
- [What Does It Mean to Be Made in God's Image?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q05029-what-does-it-mean-to-be-made-in-gods-image/): God's image is the single most important truth about you that you did not choose, earn, or vote on.
- [What Is the Conscience?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q05033-what-is-the-conscience/): The human conscience is the courtroom God built into every human heart.
- [What Is the Spirit?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q05031-what-is-the-spirit/): The human spirit is the dimension of you that was made for God Himself, and it is the least understood part of human nature.
- [Are We Born Sinners?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q05035-are-we-born-sinners/): Are we born sinners, or do we become sinners later by imitation and bad choices?
- [What is original sin?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q06074-what-is-original-sin/): Original sin is the doctrine that describes what happened to the human race through Adam's fall and what every one of us has inherited as a result.
- [What Is the Purpose of Life?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q05038-what-is-the-purpose-of-life/): The purpose of life is the question every human being carries, whether they ever say it aloud or not.
- [Do We Have Free Will?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q05037-do-we-have-free-will/): Free will is one of those subjects where philosophers tie knots, theologians draw swords, and ordinary believers quietly wonder what they are allowed to think.
- [What Is the Difference Between 'Image' and 'Likeness' in Genesis 1:26?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q05017-image-and-likeness-genesis-1-26/): The words image and likeness in Genesis 1:26 have generated more theology per syllable than almost any pair in the Bible, and one of the first questions people ask is whether they mean two different things.
- [What Happens to Babies and Young Children Who Die?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q05013-what-happens-to-babies-and-young-children-who-die/): The question of babies who die is not an academic one, and I refuse to treat it academically.
- [What is total depravity?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q06075-what-is-total-depravity/): Total depravity is one of the most misunderstood terms in Christian theology, and a good deal of the misunderstanding is caused by the word total.
- [What Does It Mean to Be 'A Little Lower than the Angels'?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q05018-a-little-lower-than-the-angels/): Psalm 8 begins under a night sky, and you can almost see David leaning on his shepherd's staff, looking up.
- [What Is the Age of Accountability?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q05012-what-is-the-age-of-accountability/): The age of accountability is the idea that a child is not held responsible before God for accepting or rejecting the gospel until they are capable of genuinely understanding it.
- [What Is the Difference Between Human Beings and Angels?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q05020-difference-between-humans-and-angels/): Humans and angels are the Bible's two great orders of rational creatures, and comparing them is one of the most clarifying exercises in theology.
- [Do Animals Have Souls?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q05019-do-animals-have-souls/): Whether animals have souls sounds like a child's question, usually asked through tears over a dead pet, but it opens onto real theology, and the Bible's answer is more interesting than most people expect.
- [What Is Personhood?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q05023-what-is-personhood/): Human personhood is the question beneath nearly every moral battle of our age, though it rarely gets named.
- [What Does It Mean That We Are 'Fearfully and Wonderfully Made'?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q05021-fearfully-and-wonderfully-made/): To be wonderfully made is not a compliment David pays himself in Psalm 139; it is worship he pays to his Maker.
- [What Can an Unregenerate Person Perceive Spiritually?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q05008-total-depravity-unregenerate-spiritual-perception/): Spiritual perception is a real capacity, and the Bible is remarkably precise about how much of it an unregenerate person actually has.
- [What Is Human Dignity?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q05022-what-is-human-dignity/): Human dignity is the worth that belongs to every human being simply because God made us in His own image, and that single sentence carries more weight than whole libraries of philosophy.
- [What is the unforgivable sin (blasphemy against the Holy Spirit)?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7006-what-is-the-unforgivable-sin/): Question 07006.
- [Why Did the Samaritans Receive the Spirit Only When Hands Were Laid on Them?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4105-acts-8-delay-of-the-spirit-samaritans/): laying on hands by the apostles, rather than the moment of their belief, is what Luke tells us the Samaritans in Acts 8 were actually waiting for before they received the Holy Spirit, and the gap between believing and receiving has puzzled careful readers for as long as the passage has been studied.
- [Were the Ephesian Disciples in Acts 19 Already Believers?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4099-acts-19-disciples-holy-spirit-new-birth/): Receiving the Spirit is exactly what Paul asks these Ephesian men about in Acts 19:2, and the answer they give has been fought over ever since, mostly by people looking for support for a doctrine Luke was not trying to teach.
- [What Is the Difference Between the Baptism of the Spirit and the Filling of the Spirit?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4060-spirit-baptism-vs-spirit-filling/): Spirit baptism and the filling of the Spirit get muddled together constantly in popular teaching, and the confusion is not simply academic, because getting this distinction wrong has produced entire movements built on the idea that some believers possess the Spirit more fully than others.
- [Is the Holy Spirit Actually God?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4059-is-the-holy-spirit-fully-god/): The Holy Spirit's deity is not a matter of theological hair splitting, because how you answer it shapes how you pray, how you read the New Testament, and how seriously you take the words Jesus Himself spoke against dishonouring Him.
- [What Are the Three Conditions for Spirit-Filled Living?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4063-three-conditions-for-spirit-filled-living/): Spirit filled living is commanded, not simply commended as an optional extra, in Ephesians 5:18, and Paul does not leave the command floating vaguely in the abstract for believers to guess at.
- [Is Prophecy the Same Category of Thing as Scripture?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4062-is-prophecy-the-same-as-scripture/): The relationship between prophecy and Scripture is often assumed rather than genuinely examined, and the assumption usually runs in one of two mistaken directions, either treating every prophetic word as functionally equal to the Bible itself, or dismissing prophecy altogether simply because it is not Scripture.
- [What Does "When the Perfect Comes" Mean in 1 Corinthians 13:10, and Does It Refer to the Completed Canon?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4061-what-does-the-perfect-mean-in-1-corinthians-13/): Whether spiritual gifts today continue to operate the way they did in the first century turns, for a great many cessationist writers, on a single disputed phrase tucked inside 1 Corinthians 13:10, and I want to examine that phrase carefully rather than simply asserting a conclusion and moving on.
- [How can a church honour the Spirit's gifts while avoiding charismatic excess?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q9109-honouring-the-spirit-while-avoiding-charismatic-excess/): How does a church honour spiritual gifts without sliding into charismatic excess?
- [Why Is the Gift of Healing So Rarely Seen the Way the New Testament Describes?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4068-why-are-gifts-of-healing-rarely-seen-today/): The gift of healing has not ceased, but it has also never operated the way the New Testament describes at every point in church history since Pentecost, and those two statements are not actually in tension once the New Testament's own pattern is examined closely.
- [How Do You Weigh a Prophetic Word Biblically?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4066-how-to-weigh-a-prophetic-word/): A prophetic word is never simply accepted on the strength of someone's confidence in delivering it.
- [What Is Third Wave Charismatic?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04117-what-is-third-wave-charismatic/): Question 04117.
- [How Does Every Believer Discover and Use Their Spiritual Gift?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4065-how-to-discover-and-use-spiritual-gifts/): Spiritual gifts are not an aspiration to work towards but a settled fact about every believer in Christ.
- [What Is 'Impartation' in Charismatic Circles?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04118-critique-impartation-charismatic-circles/): Question 04118.
- [What Is the Sealing of the Holy Spirit?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04119-what-is-the-sealing-of-the-holy-spirit/): Question 04119.
- [Does God Have a Gender? What Scripture Teaches](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q2021-does-god-have-a-gender/): Question 2021. God's gender is a live question in a culture busy renegotiating what gender even means, and I want to answer it carefully rather than reaching for the nearest slogan.
- [Why Is God Referred to as He? Masculine Language Explained](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q2022-why-is-god-referred-to-as-he/): Question 2022. Masculine language for God runs through the whole Bible, "He," "Him," "Father," "King," and I am often asked why, given that God is spirit and not literally male, as I explained in my article on whether God has a gender.
- [How Do We Explain the Imprecatory Psalms?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1117-how-do-we-explain-the-imprecatory-psalms/): The imprecatory psalms are the prayers that stop most Bible readers in their tracks, the ones where the psalmist asks God to shatter an enemy's teeth, to let their children be orphaned, or to dash infants against rocks.
- [Are There Different Views on the Trinity Among Trinitarians?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q2002-different-views-trinity-among-trinitarians/): Different views on the Trinity exist even among careful believers who fully affirm Trinitarian orthodoxy, hold firmly to the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, and would never dream of calling themselves anything other than mainstream evangelical Christians.
- [How does the doctrine of God's sovereignty bring peace?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q02084-how-does-doctrine-of-gods-sovereignty-bring-peace/): We live in an age of anxiety.
- [What is the difference between common grace and saving grace?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7063-what-is-the-difference-between-common-grace-and-saving-grace/): Common grace is the undeserved kindness God shows to everybody without exception, and saving grace is the undeserved kindness by which He rescues those who trust Jesus.
- [What was Gnosticism, and which New Testament letters address it?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q13011-how-did-gnosticism-threaten-the-early-church/): Question 13011.
- [Was Jesus Crucified Since the Foundation of the World? (Revelation 13:8)](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3078-was-jesus-crucified-since-foundation-of-world/): The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world is one of the most arresting phrases in the whole Bible, and depending on which translation you pick up, Revelation 13:8 can sound as though Jesus was actually crucified before the world was even made.
- [Did Jesus Really Feed 5,000+ People?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q03085-did-jesus-really-feed-5000-people/): The feeding of the five thousand is the only miracle of Jesus, apart from the resurrection itself, recorded in all four Gospels (Matthew 14:13-21; Mark 6:30-44; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:1-15), and that fourfold attestation is itself worth pausing over.
- [Is the Cross Still the Most Cruel Form of Torture?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q03084-is-the-cross-still-the-most-cruel-form-of-torture/): Roman crucifixion has a strong claim to being the cruellest method of execution human beings have ever devised, and the question of whether anything since has surpassed it deserves an honest answer rather than a pious one.
- [When Jesus Was Angry, Did He Sin?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q03082-when-jesus-was-angry-did-he-sin/): Righteous anger sounds to many people like a contradiction in terms, because most of the anger we have ever seen, or produced, has been anything but righteous.
- [Why Did Jesus Curse the Fig Tree?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q03081-why-did-jesus-curse-the-fig-tree/): The fig tree that Jesus cursed has puzzled readers for centuries, and I understand why: at first glance it looks like an overreaction to a piece of vegetation, and Mark even tells us "it was not the season for figs" (Mark 11:13).
- [Did Jesus Laugh or Tell Jokes?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q03080-did-jesus-laugh-or-tell-jokes/): The humour of Jesus is a subject that makes some Christians nervous, as though laughter were somehow beneath the Man of Sorrows.
- [Was Jesus Walking on Water Real?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q03079-was-jesus-walking-on-water-real/): Jesus walking on water tends to provoke one of two responses: straightforward acceptance of a miracle performed by the Son of God, or a hunt for some naturalistic explanation that keeps the story while quietly removing the supernatural from it.
- [Why do we often speak about 'Christ' rather than Jesus?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q03003-why-do-we-speak-about-christ-rather-than-jesus/): The meaning of Christ gets lost the moment we treat the word as though it were simply Jesus' surname, the way we might say John Smith.
- [Why Did Jesus Weep If He Knew He Would Raise Lazarus?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3074-why-did-jesus-weep-if-he-knew-he-would-raise-lazarus/): "Jesus wept" is the shortest verse in our English Bibles, and it may be the most surprising, because the One shedding tears at the tomb of Lazarus knew perfectly well that within minutes He would call the dead man out alive.
- [Why Do Christians Disagree About What the Bible Teaches?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1005-why-do-christians-disagree-about-bible-teaching/): Question 01005.
- [Dreams, Visions and Prophecy Today](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1008-what-about-dreams-visions-prophecy-today/): The question of dreams and visions and prophecy today stirs up real confusion and no small amount of division in the church.
- [Are There Lost Books of the Bible?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1080-are-there-lost-books-of-the-bible/): Question 1080. Have we lost books of the Bible?
- [What Is the Best Bible Translation?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1079-what-is-the-best-bible-translation/): People ask me what the best Bible translation and the honest answer is that it depends rather a lot on what you are trying to do with it that week.
- [Can We Trust the Manuscript Transmission of the Bible?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1077-can-we-trust-manuscript-transmission/): Question 1077. Manuscript transmission is the unglamorous term for a question that genuinely keeps some people awake at night: how do we know the Bible we hold today says what was originally written, given that the ink on the original pages dried out and turned to dust many centuries ago?
- [What Is Biblical Inerrancy?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1070-what-is-biblical-inerrancy/): Biblical inerrancy is the conviction that Scripture, in its original manuscripts, is entirely true and without error in everything it affirms, and I want to give this doctrine the fuller Deep Dive treatment it deserves, because it sits underneath almost every other confidence a Christian holds.
- [What About the Gnostic Gospels?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1076-what-about-the-gnostic-gospels/): Question 1076. The Gnostic gospels turn up every few years in a documentary or a bestselling novel, usually with the claim that the church suppressed a truer, more mystical version of Jesus that these texts supposedly preserve.
- [What Is Verbal Plenary Inspiration?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1069-what-is-verbal-plenary-inspiration/): Question 01069.
- [What Is Biblical Inspiration?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1068-what-is-biblical-inspiration/): Question 01068.
- [How Do We Know the Bible Is True?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1067-how-do-we-know-the-bible-is-true/): Question 01067.
- [Is the Bible Really God's Word?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1066-is-the-bible-really-gods-word/): Question 01066.
- [Are There Contradictions in the Bible?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1072-are-there-contradictions-in-the-bible/): Bible contradictions are one of the first objections any believer meets once they start talking about their faith with a sceptical friend, and I think we do ourselves no favours by either dismissing the question too quickly or panicking as though the whole edifice of Scripture rests on winning every single one of these debates.
- [What Is Biblical Infallibility?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1071-what-is-biblical-infallibility/): Biblical infallibility is a close cousin of biblical inerrancy, but the two words are not simply interchangeable, and getting the distinction right matters if we want to speak carefully about what kind of trust Scripture actually deserves.
- [What Does It Mean That Our Body Is the Temple of the Holy Spirit?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04045-what-does-it-mean-that-our-body-is-the-temple-of-the-holy-spirit/): Question 04045.
- [How Can I Be More Sensitive to the Spirit's Leading?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04044-how-can-i-be-more-sensitive-to-the-spirits-leading/): Question 04044.
- [How Do You Grieve the Spirit in Practice?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04042-how-do-you-grieve-the-spirit-in-practice/): Question 04042.
- [What Is the Spirit's Work in Those Who Fall Away?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04041-what-is-the-spirits-work-in-those-who-fall-away/): Question 04041.
- [What Is the Spirit's Role in Regeneration?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04040-what-is-the-spirits-role-in-regeneration/): Question 04040.
- [What Is the Difference Between Jesus and Christ?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3017-what-is-the-difference-between-jesus-and-christ/): Jesus and Christ get used interchangeably by most Christians, myself included in ordinary conversation, and there is nothing wrong with that shorthand.
- [What is replacement theology?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10066-what-is-replacement-theology/): Question 10066.
- [What did Jesus look like?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3060-what-did-jesus-look-like/): Ask about the appearance of Jesus and most people can supply an answer instantly: long hair, flowing robe, serene European features, perhaps a soft glow.
- [What Is Significant About the Resurrection of Jesus?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q03014-what-is-significant-about-jesus-resurrection/): The resurrection of Jesus is the hinge on which the entire Christian faith turns, and I say that without any exaggeration.
- [Why Did Jesus Have to Rise From the Dead?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q03016-why-did-jesus-have-to-rise-from-the-dead/): Jesus had to rise from the dead, and I mean that word "had" with full theological weight rather than as a loose figure of speech.
- [What is the evidence for Jesus' resurrection?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60022-what-is-the-evidence-for-jesus-resurrection/): Question 60022.
- [Is purgatory biblical?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10115-is-purgatory-biblical/): Question 10115.
- [What About the Silent Years Between the Testaments?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1118-what-about-the-silent-years-between-testaments/): The silent years sit between Malachi, the last prophetic voice of the Old Testament, and the opening pages of Matthew, roughly four centuries in which the Bible itself records no new inspired prophecy.
- [What did Bultmann mean by demythologisation, and why is it incompatible with orthodoxy?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60083-what-did-bultmann-mean-by-demythologisation/): Question 60083.
- [What is the Catholic view of salvation versus the Protestant view?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7069-what-is-the-catholic-view-of-salvation-versus-the-protestant-view/): The Catholic and Protestant accounts of salvation differ at the point where it matters most: whether a sinner is declared righteous once and for all on the basis of what Jesus has done, or is gradually made righteous through a process the church administers.
- [How can Baptists defend religious liberty when Islam is on the rise?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q12045-baptists-religious-liberty-islam-and-idolatry/): Question 12045.
- [What did the Reformers teach about salvation (the five solas)?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q13013-what-did-the-reformers-teach-about-salvation-five-solas/): Question 13013.
- [How can Jesus be God if He prayed to God?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3065-how-can-jesus-be-god-if-he-prayed-to-god/): When Jesus prayed, who was listening? It is one of the sharpest questions a sceptic, or a Muslim friend, or an honest child can put to a Christian.
- [What day of the week was Jesus crucified?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3064-what-day-of-the-week-was-jesus-crucified/): The day Jesus died is fixed in the Christian calendar as Good Friday, and most believers have never thought to question it.
- [What Is God's Love?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q02042-what-is-gods-love/): God's love is not primarily a feeling, and it is not the vague affection our culture usually means when it uses the word.
- [What Is God's Holiness?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q02041-what-is-gods-holiness/): God's holiness is the attribute Scripture reaches for more often than any other to describe who He is, and it means two things held together, that God is entirely set apart from His creation in majesty, and that He is entirely set apart from sin in moral perfection.
- [What Does Divine Omnipresence Mean?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q02040-what-does-omnipresence-mean/): Divine omnipresence means that God is fully and equally present everywhere at once, in every place, at every moment, without being spread thin, divided into portions, or contained by any location.
- [What Is God's Mercy?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q02044-what-is-gods-mercy/): God's mercy is His compassionate refusal to give sinners what their sin actually deserves, withholding deserved judgement out of tender, active compassion.
- [What Is God's Justice?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q02043-what-is-gods-justice/): God's justice is His settled commitment always to do what is right, to treat every person exactly as they deserve, and never to let evil go unaddressed forever.
- [What Is God's Supreme Rule Over All Things?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q02047-what-is-gods-sovereignty/): God's supreme rule means that He reigns as King over every person, every nation and every event in history, with nothing genuinely outside His authority or beyond His final purposes.
- [Is God's Wrath Compatible with His Love?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q02046-is-gods-wrath-compatible-with-his-love/): Wrath and love feel, to many people, like they must belong to two different gods, one frightening and one kind, rather than to a single, coherent character.
- [What Is God's Wrath?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q02045-what-is-gods-wrath/): God's wrath is His settled, righteous opposition to sin, not a sudden fit of temper or an emotional outburst He later regrets.
- [Does God Change His Mind?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q02049-does-god-change-his-mind/): Change his mind is a question Scripture answers in two apparently different ways, and I think both answers need to be taken seriously rather than one quietly explained away.
- [What Is God's Providence?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q02048-what-is-gods-providence/): God's providence is His continuous, active care in directing the events of creation and history toward His good purposes, quietly working through ordinary causes rather than only through dramatic miracle.
- [Does the Trinity Share One Consciousness or Three?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q02059-does-the-trinity-share-one-consciousness-or-three/): The Trinity and consciousness is a question that takes me right to the frontier of what can actually be known about God, and it turns out to sit at the frontier of what the word consciousness is even equipped to mean once it is applied to a divine being rather than a human one.
- [What Is Middle Knowledge?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q02058-what-is-middle-knowledge/): Middle knowledge, in Latin scientia media, is the theological concept sitting at the very centre of Molinism, the framework I looked at in a companion article on this site.
- [What Is Molinism?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q02057-what-is-molinism/): What Molinism teaches has attracted considerable attention among evangelical theologians over recent decades, and it deserves both a fair explanation and a careful assessment rather than a caricature in either direction.
- [Does God Need Us?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q02056-does-god-need-us/): God's self-sufficiency is the reason the answer to this question is a clear and unqualified no.
- [How Do God's Attributes Relate to One Another?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q02053-what-is-the-relationship-between-gods-attributes/): God's attributes are not a set of competing interests inside a divine committee, however often popular preaching makes it sound that way.
- [What Is Divine Aseity?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q02052-what-is-divine-aseity/): Divine aseity is one of those doctrines that sounds abstract until you actually sit with it, and then it quietly rearranges how you think about everything else you believe about God.
- [What Is Divine Simplicity?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q02051-what-is-divine-simplicity/): Divine simplicity means that God is not assembled out of separate parts or ingredients the way a created thing is, a portion of love here, a measure of power there, a quantity of holiness added on top.
- [Is Beauty a Divine Attribute?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q2072-is-beauty-a-divine-attribute-gods-beauty-and-other-attributes/): Divine beauty is not a category Christians spend much time thinking about, next to holiness, love, or justice, yet Scripture reaches for it often enough that I think it deserves a proper place among the attributes we teach.
- [What Is Divine Immutability?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q02050-what-is-divine-immutability/): Divine immutability means that God's character, His purposes and His promises never change, improve, decay or shift in any respect.
- [What Does It Mean That God 'Repented' or 'Relented'?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q2070-what-does-it-mean-that-god-repented-or-relented/): Divine repentance is the term theologians use for those startling verses where God is said to have 'repented' or 'relented' of something, most famously Genesis 6:6, where the LORD 'regretted that he had made man on the earth' (Genesis 6:6).
- [Is Anything Genuinely New in God's Experience?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q2069-is-there-anything-genuinely-new-in-gods-experience-can-god-be-surprised-or-grieved/): God's experience is not static in the way a statue is static, even though His character never shifts an inch.
- [How Should Christians Think About God's Silence?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q2068-how-should-christians-think-about-gods-silence/): God's silence is one of the hardest experiences a believer can walk through, that stretch of praying into what feels like an empty room when heaven simply does not answer.
- [How Does Divine Eternity Shape Prophecy?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q2067-how-does-gods-relationship-with-time-affect-prophecy/): Divine eternity is the doctrine underneath one of the most fascinating questions in all of theology, and one with genuinely practical consequences for how I read Scripture's prophetic material.
- [What Do the Compound Names of God Reveal About Him?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q2066-compound-names-of-god-el-shaddai-el-elyon-adonai/): The names of God in the Old Testament form one of the richest veins of theological material in all of Scripture, and I never tire of returning to them.
- [Could God Have Created a World Without Evil?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q2065-could-god-have-created-world-without-evil-and-given-humanity-genuine-freedom/): Genuine human freedom sits at the very centre of one of the oldest and hardest questions in theology.
- [What Does 'God Is Light' Mean?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q2062-what-does-god-is-light-mean/): God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.
- [Why Did David and Bathsheba's Baby Die?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q02080-why-did-david-and-bathshebas-baby-die/): David's child died on the seventh day of his illness, the son born to David and Bathsheba after their affair and the arranged death of her husband Uriah, and the story in 2 Samuel 12 remains one of the most emotionally difficult passages many parents ever read.
- [Why Did God Harden Pharaoh's Heart?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q02079-why-did-god-harden-pharaohs-heart/): Pharaoh's hardened heart troubles many readers of Exodus for a very understandable reason: if God hardened Pharaoh's heart, how could Pharaoh be justly held responsible for refusing to let Israel go?
- [Why Did God Kill Uzzah for Touching the Ark?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q02077-why-did-god-kill-uzzah-for-touching-the-ark/): The death of Uzzah is one of those Old Testament episodes that stops readers cold: a man reaches out to steady the ark of the covenant when the oxen stumble, and God strikes him dead on the spot (2 Samuel 6:6-7).
- [Is God in Hell?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q02076-is-god-in-hell/): Is God in hell?
- [Why Did God Command the Canaanite Conquest?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q02075-why-did-god-command-genocide-in-the-old-testament/): The Canaanite conquest is the single hardest passage cluster in the Old Testament for most modern readers, the commands in Deuteronomy and Joshua to devote entire cities, men, women and children, to complete destruction.
- [Does God Hear the Prayers of Unbelievers?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q02074-does-god-hear-unbelievers/): The prayers of unbelievers raise a question I get asked often, usually by someone recalling a moment of crisis, a hospital corridor, a plane hitting turbulence, when they cried out to a God they were not otherwise sure they believed in.
- [Does Prayer Change God's Mind?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q02073-does-prayer-change-gods-mind/): Changing God's mind through prayer sounds, on the surface, like a contradiction of everything else Scripture teaches about His unchanging character.
- [Can You Lose the Holy Spirit Once You Have Him?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04018-can-you-lose-the-holy-spirit/): Can you lose the Holy Spirit once you have Him? This is a tender question, and it is usually asked by someone who is frightened rather than curious.
- [What Is Resisting the Holy Spirit? A Biblical Answer](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04017-what-is-resisting-the-holy-spirit/): What is resisting the Holy Spirit, and is it something a Christian can do?
- [What Is Praying in the Spirit?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04013-what-is-praying-in-the-spirit/): Praying in the Spirit is a phrase that has been pulled in two very different directions, and I want to bring it back to what Scripture actually means by it.
- [Can the Spirit Be Quenched?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04012-can-the-spirit-be-quenched/): To quench the Spirit is a phrase Paul drops into a single short verse, and yet it carries a warning every believer needs to hear.
- [What Is the Role of the Spirit in Prayer?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04011-what-is-the-role-of-the-spirit-in-prayer/): The role of the Spirit in prayer is one of the most comforting truths I know, and also one of the most neglected.
- [Why Did God Accept Abel's Offering but Not Cain's?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q02078-why-did-god-accept-abels-offering-but-not-cains/): Abel's offering is where the whole tragic story of Cain and Abel turns, and the question people bring to me most often is simply why.
- [What Does It Mean That the Father Is Greater Than the Son?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q2071-father-greater-than-son-john-14-28-eternal-functional-subordination/): Functional subordination is the term I use to describe what Jesus means in John 14:28 when He tells His disciples, 'the Father is greater than I' (John 14:28).
- [Why Did God Create Us?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q02055-why-did-god-create-humans/): God created us, and the reason why sits underneath most of the anxiety that drives people towards religion in the first place, and towards its alternatives too.
- [How Does the Spirit's Illuminating Work Differ From His Convicting Work?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04120-spirit-illuminating-work-vs-convicting-work/): Question 04120.
- [Can We Pray to the Holy Spirit, or Only the Father?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04016-can-we-pray-to-the-holy-spirit/): Can we pray to the Holy Spirit, or should we only ever pray to the Father or the Son?
- [Is Laying on Hands for Healing a Legitimate Biblical Practice?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04121-is-laying-on-of-hands-for-healing-biblical/): Question 04121.
- [Can you give glory to the Holy Spirit?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04005-can-you-give-glory-to-the-holy-spirit/): Giving glory to the Spirit is something many believers feel oddly uncertain about, and the question deserves a straight answer.
- [What was Paul's thorn in the flesh?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q06076-what-was-pauls-thorn-in-the-flesh/): Paul's thorn in the flesh is one of the great unanswered questions of the New Testament, and I have come to think the silence is deliberate.
- [Where did Cain's wife come from?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60093-where-did-cains-wife-come-from/): Question 60093.
- [What is Noah's nakedness in Genesis 9?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q13012-noahs-nakedness-genesis-9/): Question 13012.
- [What Is the Significance of Ruth in Israel's Story and the Davidic Royal Line?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q03087-significance-of-ruth-in-davidic-royal-line/): The book of Ruth is only four chapters long, a quiet rural story of famine, bereavement, gleaning, and a wedding, set in the lawless era of the judges.
- [Where did the Word of Faith movement come from, and what shaped its theology?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60082-word-of-faith-historical-origin-theological-genealogy/): Question 60082.
- [What does it mean that Christ is our advocate with the Father (1 John 2:1)?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3013-christ-as-advocate-1-john-2-1/): Christ our advocate is one of those short phrases that manages to be both deeply pastoral and precisely theological all in a single breath.
- [What is the Scapegoat theory of atonement?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7086-scapegoat-theory-of-atonement/): The scapegoat theory of atonement is a way of understanding the cross that draws on the ritual of Leviticus 16 and, in its modern form, on sociological accounts of how communities discharge their violence onto a chosen victim.
- [What Is Open Theism, and Is It Biblical?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q2004-what-is-open-theism-and-is-it-biblical/): Open theism is the teaching that God does not exhaustively know the future, particularly the future free choices of human beings, because those choices do not yet exist to be known even by an omniscient God.
- [What Is the Difference Between God's Will and God's Desire?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q2003-what-is-the-difference-between-gods-will-and-gods-desire/): God's will is not one simple, single thing, and confusing its several different senses causes no end of pastoral confusion.
- [What is common grace, and what can unbelievers genuinely perceive through it?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q02085-what-is-common-grace/): The term "common grace" describes the benefits God extends to all people regardless of whether they are in a saving relationship with Him.
- [Does God Control or Permit Evil?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q2006-does-god-control-or-merely-permit-evil/): Question 2006. Whenever I sit with someone walking through real suffering, I find that the honest answer to whether God permits evil or actively causes it decides everything else about how we cope with what has happened to them.
- [Does God Ordain Everything That Happens?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q2005-does-god-ordain-everything-that-happens/): God's providence is one of the most misunderstood doctrines in the whole of Theology Proper, largely because two opposite errors keep pulling the conversation off balance.
- [How Does God Speak Today?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q2008-how-does-god-speak-today/): Question 2008. People ask me constantly whether God speaks today, and I understand why the question keeps surfacing.
- [How Do the Persons of the Trinity Communicate with Each Other?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q2011-how-do-the-persons-of-the-trinity-communicate/): Question 2011. Ask a room of Christians how the persons of Trinity actually communicate with one another, and you will likely get some puzzled looks.
- [What Does It Mean to Fear God?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q2010-what-does-it-mean-to-fear-god/): Question 2010. The fear of the Lord is, in Solomon's words, "the beginning of wisdom" (Proverbs 1:7), and it is also one of the most persistently misunderstood ideas in the whole Bible.
- [The Procession of the Spirit: What Does It Mean?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04015-what-does-procession-of-the-spirit-mean/): When someone asks me what the procession of the Spirit means, I usually start by admitting that it is one of those phrases the church has used for centuries while ordinary believers were left wondering whether it mattered at all.
- [What Does 'Eternal Generation of the Son' Mean?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q2013-what-does-eternal-generation-of-the-son-mean/): Question 2013. The phrase eternal generation of the Son appears in no single verse of Scripture in those exact words, and that immediately raises a fair question.
- [Does the Father Love the Son More Than He Loves Us?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q2012-does-the-father-love-the-son-more-than-he-loves-us/): Question 2012. The question of the Father's love for ordinary believers, compared with His love for the eternal Son, feels almost presumptuous at first glance, as though we are asking to be measured against the Son of God Himself.
- [Does God Have Favourites? Divine Favouritism Examined](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q2017-does-god-have-favourites/): Question 2017. Does God practise divine favouritism, choosing to love some people more than others, or is that impression something we bring to the text rather than something the text actually teaches?
- [Is the Economic Trinity Essential or Just a Role?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q2015-are-the-roles-of-the-trinity-essential-or-just-economic/): Question 2015. Is what we call the economic Trinity, the roles the Father, Son and Spirit play toward creation and redemption, essential to who God is, or is it just a convenient arrangement they could have swapped around?
- [What Does Divine Impassibility Mean? A Deep Dive](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q2019-what-does-divine-impassibility-mean/): Question 2019. What does divine impassibility mean, and is it something the Bible actually teaches or something Greek philosophy smuggled into Christian theology?
- [If God Is All-Loving, Why Doesn't He Save Everyone?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q2018-if-god-is-all-loving-why-doesnt-he-save-everyone/): Question 2018. If unlimited atonement really means Christ's death was sufficient for every person, why doesn't an all-loving God simply save everyone?
- [Is the Trinity in the Old Testament?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q2029-is-the-trinity-in-the-old-testament/): Question 2029. Is the Trinity in the Old Testament, or does it only appear once the New Testament arrives with Jesus and Pentecost?
- [What Is Trinity Doctrine? A Full Deep Dive](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q2028-what-is-the-doctrine-of-the-trinity/): Question 2028. Trinity doctrine is, without much question, the single most distinctive claim Christianity makes about the very nature of God, and yet many Christians could not explain it clearly if asked.
- [How Can the Triune God Be Three Persons Yet One?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q2027-how-can-god-be-three-persons-yet-one-god/): Question 2027. How can the triune God be three persons and yet one God, without that being either a contradiction or three gods wearing a trench coat?
- [Why Does God Require Worship? A Full Answer](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q02031-why-does-god-require-worship/): Question 2031. Why does God require worship, and doesn't a God who demands to be worshipped sound uncomfortably like the insecure, glory-hungry rulers Scripture itself condemns?
- [Can God Be Tempted? God and Temptation Explained](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q02030-can-god-be-tempted/): Question 2030. God and temptation seem, on the surface, to sit uneasily together in Scripture, since James tells us plainly that God cannot be tempted, and yet the Gospels tell us just as plainly that Jesus was tempted in the wilderness.
- [If God knows everything, do we have free will?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q02033-if-god-knows-everything-do-we-have-free-will/): The question has a sharp edge to it.
- [Does God Experience Emotions Like We Do?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q02032-does-god-experience-emotions/): Divine emotions is a phrase I use carefully, because Scripture clearly describes God loving, grieving, rejoicing and growing angry, yet these responses are not identical to the changeable, often involuntary feelings that sweep over us.
- [What Does Divine Omnipotence Mean?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q02039-what-does-omnipotence-mean/): Divine omnipotence means that God is able to do all that He wills to do, without effort, without rival, and without any power outside Himself limiting what He can accomplish.
- [What Does Divine Omniscience Mean?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q02038-what-does-omniscience-mean/): When people ask me what divine omniscience means, I always start in the same place.
- [If Jesus is God, who ran the universe while He was dead?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3066-if-jesus-is-god-who-ran-the-universe-while-he-was-dead/): Here is a question that sounds mischievous but deserves a careful answer: if Jesus is God, and Scripture says that in him 'all things hold together' (Colossians 1:17), then who kept the universe running between Good Friday and Easter Sunday?
- [Was Jesus a political revolutionary?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3067-was-jesus-a-political-revolutionary/): Was Jesus a political revolutionary, executed for taking on an empire?
- [Was Jesus a Jew or a Christian?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3068-was-jesus-a-jew-or-a-christian/): The Jewish identity of Jesus is the plainest fact on the pages of the four Gospels, yet the question in our title still catches people out.
- [What Is the Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament, and Why Does It Matter for Translation?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q01176-nestle-aland-greek-new-testament/): Question 01176.
- [What Is the Difference Between the Textus Receptus and a Critical Greek New Testament?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q01173-critical-edition-vs-received-text/): Question 01173.
- [Is there a difference between the forgiveness received at conversion and the ongoing forgiveness available to the believer?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7088-conversion-forgiveness-vs-ongoing-forgiveness/): Ongoing forgiveness and the forgiveness received at conversion are related but not identical, and failing to distinguish them causes two opposite problems.
- [Can demons believe and yet not be saved (James 2:19)?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07076-can-demons-believe-and-not-be-saved-james-2-19/): That demons believe correct theology and remain lost is one of the more unsettling statements in the New Testament, and James makes it deliberately.
- [What is the gospel in its simplest form?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07075-what-is-the-gospel-in-its-simplest-form/): The gospel message can be stated in a sentence, and it needs to be, because most of the conversations in which it matters will not give you twenty minutes.
- [What does “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ” actually mean?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07078-what-does-believe-on-the-lord-jesus-christ-mean/): To believe on Jesus is the single condition Scripture attaches to salvation, and it is worth being precise about it, because the English word believe has grown thin.
- [What is the role of confession in salvation?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07077-what-is-the-role-of-confession-in-salvation/): The place of confession in salvation is one of those subjects where a single verse has been made to carry more weight than it can bear.
- [Why does God allow natural disasters?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60105-why-does-god-allow-natural-disasters/): Question 60105.
- [What is baptismal regeneration and is it biblical?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09014-what-is-baptismal-regeneration-and-is-it-biblical/): Question 09014.
- [What is theodicy?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60107-what-is-theodicy/): Question 60107.
- [Why does God allow evil?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60106-why-does-god-allow-evil/): Question 60106.
- [Are modern Jews still God's chosen people?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10029-are-modern-jews-still-gods-chosen-people/): Question 10029.
- [Can God create a rock so heavy He can't lift it?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60201-can-god-create-a-rock-too-heavy-to-lift/): Question 60201.
- [Where is heaven located?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10169-where-is-heaven-located/): Question 10169.
- [What Is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04014-what-is-the-baptism-of-the-holy-spirit/): The baptism of the Holy Spirit is one of the most misunderstood doctrines in the modern church, and few subjects have caused more confusion, division and quiet discouragement among sincere believers.
- [Where is hell located?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10168-where-is-hell-located/): Question 10168.
- [Can we see what is happening on earth from Heaven?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10167-can-we-see-what-is-happening-on-earth-from-heaven/): Question 10167.
- [Will there be a one-world government?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10166-will-there-be-a-one-world-government/): Question 10166.
- [Is modern technology related to end times prophecy?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10146-is-modern-technology-related-to-end-times-prophecy/): Question 10146.
- [Is Heaven boring?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10109-is-heaven-boring/): Question 10109.
- [Where do those who take their own lives go?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7022-where-do-those-who-commit-suicide-go/): Question 07022.
- [What does the Bible teach about a one-world religion?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10106-what-does-bible-teach-about-one-world-religion/): Question 10106.
- [How should Christians respond to wars and rumours of wars?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10092-how-should-christians-respond-to-wars-and-rumours-of-wars/): Question 10092.
- [Will the Holy Spirit be removed during the tribulation?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10082-will-holy-spirit-be-removed-during-tribulation/): Question 10082.
- [What role does the Holy Spirit play in the end times?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10053-role-of-holy-spirit-in-end-times/): Question 10053.
- [What is the difference between the times of the Gentiles and the fullness of the Gentiles?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10036-times-of-gentiles-vs-fullness-of-gentiles/): Question 10036.
- [How do the biblical covenants relate to eschatology?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10014-how-do-biblical-covenants-relate-to-eschatology/): Question 10014.
- [Is 666 literal?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10010-is-666-literal/): Question 10010.
- [Can a Believer Lose the Filling of the Spirit Through a Single Act of Sin, or Is It a More Gradual Process?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4079-lose-filling-spirit-single-act-sin/): Whether losing the filling of the Spirit happens through a single, dramatic act of sin or through a slower, more gradual drift is a genuinely practical pastoral question, and Scripture's answer turns out to be more nuanced than either a strict once-off model or a purely gradual one alone.
- [What Does It Mean to Be Drunk in the Spirit?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04038-drunk-in-the-spirit/): Question 04038.
- [How Does the Filling of the Spirit Relate to Intercessory Prayer?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4078-filling-spirit-intercessory-prayer/): How the Spirit's filling relates to intercessory prayer is a connection Scripture draws explicitly, and understanding it will change how you approach prayer for others, particularly when you genuinely do not know what to pray or how to pray it.
- [How Do We Understand the Laying on of Hands in Relation to the Spirit's Reception in the Acts Narratives?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4077-laying-on-of-hands-spirit-reception-acts/): The laying on hands appears repeatedly in the Acts narratives connected to the Spirit's reception, and I want to work through those specific passages carefully, because the pattern is genuinely more varied than a single, simplified formula for how believers receive the Spirit today.
- [Is There Biblical Evidence for a 'Second Blessing' Experience?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4076-second-blessing-biblical-evidence/): Second blessing language has circulated in evangelical churches for well over a century, usually describing a dramatic, identifiable post-conversion experience in which a believer receives a fuller measure of the Spirit than they had at conversion.
- [How Does Spirit Baptism Relate to Water Baptism?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4075-spirit-baptism-water-baptism-relationship/): Spirit baptism and water baptism are related but distinct realities, and confusing the two has caused more pastoral trouble in Baptist churches than almost any other misunderstanding in this area of doctrine.
- [What Is the Spirit's Role Within the Eternal Counsel of God?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4074-holy-spirit-eternal-counsels-godhead/): The counsel of God is not a phrase Scripture uses lightly.
- [How Do We Distinguish the Spirit's Personhood from the Father and Son Without Tritheism?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4073-spirit-distinct-personhood-trinity-tritheism/): The Spirit's distinct personhood is one of those doctrines that sounds like abstract technical furniture until you try to pray, worship, or teach without a clear grasp of it, at which point you discover how much rests on getting it right.
- [What Does It Mean That the Spirit Searches the Deep Things of God?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4072-spirit-searches-deep-things-of-god/): The deep things of God are the subject of one of Paul's boldest claims about the Holy Spirit, made in passing in a letter to a fractious, spiritually immature congregation in Corinth.
- [How Does Pneumatology Relate to Trinitarian Theology as a Discipline?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4070-pneumatology-trinitarian-theology/): Trinitarian pneumatology is not an optional specialism sitting alongside the doctrine of the Holy Spirit.
- [What Does the Old Testament Teach About the Spirit Before Pentecost?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4069-holy-spirit-activity-old-testament-before-pentecost/): The Spirit before Pentecost operated on a genuinely different basis from His ministry today, and understanding that difference clears up a great deal of confusion about how Old Testament believers related to God's Spirit.
- [How does a person's heart become progressively hardened toward God?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07031-progressive-hardness-of-heart/): The hardening of the human heart is rarely a sudden event.
- [Can the Spirit Speak Through Dreams Today?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4089-can-the-spirit-speak-through-dreams-today/): I get asked about this more than almost anything else in pastoral conversation, so let me say plainly that guidance through dreams is something Scripture treats with real seriousness, without ever making it the normal channel for hearing from God.
- [What role does the gathered church play in discerning the Spirit's guidance?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09022-gathered-church-discerning-spirits-voice/): Question 09022.
- [Distinguishing Spirit Prompting From Your Own Reasoning](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4087-distinguishing-spirit-prompting-from-own-reasoning/): Distinguishing spirit prompting from your own reasoning is one of the most practically pressing skills a Christian needs to develop, because the stakes of getting it wrong run in both directions.
- [Does the Spirit's Conviction Give Real Ability to Respond?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4086-spirit-conviction-and-capacity-to-respond/): Spirit's conviction of sin is one of the most significant realities in the whole business of evangelism, and the question of what it actually does inside a person when they hear the gospel deserves a careful answer.
- [Is Spiritual Dryness a Sign I Have Grieved the Spirit?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4083-spirit-grief-and-spiritual-dryness/): Spiritual dryness is one of the most disorienting experiences a Christian can go through, the sense that yesterday's warmth in prayer has gone cold overnight and nothing you do brings it back.
- [Does Grieving the Spirit Affect His Intercession?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4082-grieving-the-spirit-and-intercession/): Spirit's intercession is one of the most quietly comforting truths in the whole of Romans 8, and it is worth asking directly whether grieving the Spirit through unconfessed sin switches it off.
- [Grieving the Spirit vs Quenching the Spirit](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4081-grieving-the-spirit-vs-quenching-the-spirit/): Grieving the Spirit is one of two warnings Paul gives about how believers can disrupt their relationship with the Holy Spirit, and the other, quenching the Spirit, gets confused with it so often that most Christians I talk to treat the two as interchangeable.
- [Does the Filling of the Spirit Affect My Assurance of Salvation?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4080-filling-of-the-spirit-and-assurance-of-salvation/): Does the filling and assurance of a believer's salvation genuinely connect to one another, or are they two entirely separate matters that should never be confused.
- [Why Does Paul Use a Fruit Metaphor Rather Than Virtues?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04098-why-paul-uses-fruit-metaphor-not-virtues-or-disciplines/): The fruit metaphor Paul chooses in Galatians 5 was not his only option, and that is worth sitting with for a moment.
- [How Does the Fruit of the Spirit Relate to Character Formation?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04097-fruit-of-spirit-character-formation-psychological-maturity/): Character formation is a phrase psychologists reach for almost as often as pastors do, and that overlap is worth pausing on before going any further.
- [What Is the Relationship Between the Fruit of the Spirit and the Beatitudes?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4096-fruit-of-spirit-and-the-beatitudes/): I get asked fairly often whether the fruit of Spirit in Galatians 5 and the character Jesus describes in the Beatitudes are really describing the same thing, and my answer is yes, with one qualification worth unpacking.
- [How Does the Spirit Guide Where Scripture Gives No Direct Instruction?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04095-how-spirit-guides-where-scripture-gives-no-direct-instruction/): Scripture does not specify which career I should pursue, which city I should live in, or which of two apparently godly people I should marry.
- [Should Believers Today "Put Out a Fleece" Like Gideon?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04094-is-it-valid-to-put-out-a-fleece-like-gideon/): Gideon's fleece has become popular shorthand in contemporary Christianity for a particular approach to guidance: placing a condition before God and taking the outcome as confirmation of His will.
- [How Do I Distinguish My Own Desires from the Spirit's Leading?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04093-distinguishing-desires-from-spirit-leading/): Learning to discern Spirit's leading from my own preferences, fears and appetites is, in my experience, one of the hardest and most necessary skills in the Christian life.
- [What Is the Significance of Elijah's Journey to Horeb?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04092-theological-significance-elijah-journey-horeb/): Elijah's journey to Horeb is one of the most emotionally honest passages in the entire Old Testament, and I think that is exactly why so many believers find themselves drawn back to it.
- [Biblical Phrases We Have Misunderstood](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q01141-biblical-phrases-misunderstood-popular-meanings/): Misunderstood Bible phrases circulate everywhere, in sermons, in devotionals, on inspirational graphics shared across social media, and popular culture has never been particularly careful about accuracy when it borrows from Scripture.
- [How Did God Communicate with Old Testament Prophets?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q01119-how-did-god-communicate-with-old-testament-prophets/): Old Testament prophets received God's word through a range of different means, and Scripture itself is refreshingly candid about how varied that process actually was.
- [Are the Gifts of the Holy Spirit Still Active Today?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04116-gifts-holy-spirit-for-today/): Question 04116.
- [Are televised faith healers genuine?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60023-are-faith-healers-on-tv-real/): Question 60023.
- [Why does the geographical sequence in Acts 1:8 matter theologically?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11056-acts-1-8-geographical-progression-church-expansion/): Question 11056.
- [Does God Still Do Miracles Today?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04113-does-god-still-do-miracles-today/): Question 04113.
- [What does Philip’s mission to Samaria tell us about cross-cultural ministry?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11081-samaritan-mission-cross-cultural-ministry-acts/): Cross-cultural ministry has a founding case study in Acts 8, and it is not the one most people expect.
- [How Water Baptism and the Spirit's Coming Relate Across the Book of Acts](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04111-water-baptism-spirit-baptism-acts-patterns/): Water baptism does not sit in the same fixed relationship to the Holy Spirit's coming everywhere we look in Acts, and that surprises people the first time they notice it.
- [Does Philip's Healing in Samaria Prove Sign Gifts Were Never Just for Apostles?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04109-philip-healing-ministry-samaria-sign-gifts/): Sign gifts are often assumed, even by thoughtful Christians, to have belonged exclusively to the twelve apostles, as a kind of one-off credential to authenticate their unique office.
- [Reading Acts 2, 8, 10, and 19 Together: The Spirit's Pattern of Reception](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04108-acts-2-8-10-19-spirit-pattern/): The spirit reception pattern that runs through Acts 2, 8, 10, and 19 is one of the more rewarding things to trace through the whole book, because Luke is not simply recording four unconnected incidents.
- [Simon Magus and the Danger of Treating the Spirit's Power as a Commodity](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04107-simon-magus-spirit-gifts-purchase/): Simon Magus is one of the more unsettling figures in the book of Acts, precisely because he looks, for one brief moment, like a genuine convert.
- [Philip the Evangelist and the Spread of the Gospel Beyond the Apostles](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04106-philip-evangelist-spiritual-gifts-acts-8/): Philip the evangelist is one of my favourite characters in the whole book of Acts, and I suspect he does not get nearly the attention he deserves.
- [Why Are We Commanded to Walk by the Spirit If We Already Have Him?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4104-walk-by-spirit-be-filled-command/): walking in Spirit is commanded throughout the New Testament precisely because having the Spirit and yielding to the Spirit are two different things, and the gap between them is where most of ordinary Christian struggle actually lives.
- [How Does Water Baptism Relate to Spirit Baptism?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04103-water-baptism-spirit-baptism-relationship/): Spirit baptism and water baptism are related closely enough in the New Testament that Christians regularly confuse the two, but they are not the same event, and keeping them distinct actually protects both doctrines rather than diminishing either.
- [Can the Spirit's Indwelling Ever Be Lost?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04101-can-spirit-indwelling-be-lost/): Spirit indwelling and whether it can ever be lost is not an abstract puzzle for theologians to argue over on a wet afternoon.
- [What Did Jesus Mean in John 20:22, 'Receive the Holy Spirit'?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04102-john-2022-receive-holy-spirit/): receiving the Spirit is exactly what the disciples appear to be doing on resurrection evening, when Jesus breathes on them behind locked doors and says, 'Receive the Holy Spirit,' and yet the scene raises a genuine puzzle that deserves careful, patient handling rather than a quick answer.
- [The Gift of Healing](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04051-what-is-the-gift-of-healing/): Few subjects in the church today generate more heat and less light than the gift of healing.
- [The Gift of Interpretation of Tongues](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04050-what-is-the-gift-of-interpretation-of-tongues/): The interpretation of tongues is the gift that quietly does the heavy lifting whenever tongues are used in the gathered church, and yet it is the one we hear about least.
- [What Is the Gift of Word of Knowledge?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04054-what-is-the-gift-of-word-of-knowledge/): The word of knowledge appears exactly once in Paul's list of gifts in 1 Corinthians 12, and that single appearance has carried an enormous amount of theological weight ever since, not least because charismatic ministry has attached a very specific meaning to it that may or may not reflect what Paul had in mind.
- [The Gift of Miracles](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04052-what-is-the-gift-of-miracles/): The gift of miracles tends to be handled in one of two unhappy ways.
- [What Is the Gift of Word of Wisdom?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04055-what-is-the-gift-of-word-of-wisdom/): The word of wisdom is easy to confuse with wisdom in the broad biblical sense, the kind James promises every believer may ask God for in James 1:5, but Paul has something more specific in mind when he lists it as a distinct gift in 1 Corinthians 12:8.
- [What Is the Gift of Discernment of Spirits?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04053-what-is-the-gift-of-discernment-of-spirits/): I get asked about the gifts of the Spirit more than almost any other subject in pastoral ministry, and the gift of discernment of spirits sits near the top of the list of things people misunderstand.
- [What Is the Spirit's Role in Resurrection?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04057-what-is-the-spirits-role-in-resurrection/): The Spirit and resurrection are linked in Scripture far more tightly than most Christians realise, and once you see the connection you will not read Romans 8 the same way again.
- [Are Apostles and Prophets Still Given Today?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04056-are-apostles-and-prophets-still-given-today/): Few questions in contemporary church life generate more confusion, and in some quarters more dangerous claims, than whether apostles and prophets still function today with the same authority they carried in the first century.
- [What Will the Spirit's Role Be in the Millennium and Eternal State?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04058-what-is-the-spirits-role-in-the-millennium-and-eternal-state/): The Spirit in the Millennium is a subject Scripture addresses more directly, and more beautifully, than most believers realise, and I want to trace what the Old and New Testaments actually promise about this coming era rather than leaving the question in vague, general terms.
- [Who are the Nicolaitans?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60104-who-were-the-nicolaitans/): Question 60104.
- [The Spirit in Worship: How God Makes Praise Real](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04029-what-is-the-spirits-role-in-worship/): The role of the Spirit in worship is something I wish more congregations understood, because so much confusion about worship comes from forgetting it.
- [The Spirit in Evangelism: The Real Worker in Witness](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04028-what-is-the-spirits-role-in-evangelism-witness/): The work of the Spirit in evangelism is the most overlooked factor in the whole business of telling people about Jesus.
- [Assurance of Salvation: The Spirit Who Makes Us Sure](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04027-what-is-the-spirits-role-in-assurance-of-salvation/): The assurance of salvation is one of the sweetest gifts the Holy Spirit gives, and one of the most attacked.
- [The Spirit in Prayer: How God Helps Us Pray](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04026-what-does-the-spirit-do-in-prayer-intercession/): When I think about the Spirit in prayer, I am always brought back to a verse that quietly demolishes a lot of false confidence about my own praying.
- [The Spirit's Illumination: Teaching Us the Scriptures](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04025-what-is-the-spirits-role-in-illumination-teaching-scripture/): Question 04025.
- [The Spirit's Role in Conviction of Sin Explained](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04024-what-is-the-spirits-role-in-conviction-of-sin/): Question 04024.
- [Walking in the Spirit or the Flesh: How to Tell](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04023-how-do-we-know-if-walking-in-spirit-or-flesh/): Question 04023.
- [What Does It Mean to Walk by the Spirit?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04022-what-does-it-mean-to-walk-by-the-spirit/): Question 04022.
- [Can Unbelievers Experience the Holy Spirit?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04039-can-unbelievers-experience-the-holy-spirit/): Question 04039.
- [Fruit and Gifts of the Spirit: The Difference](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04020-difference-between-fruit-and-gifts-of-the-spirit/): Question 04020.
- [What Does It Mean to Be Slain in the Spirit?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04037-slain-in-the-spirit/): Question 04037.
- [The 'Second Blessing' Doctrine](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04036-second-blessing-doctrine/): Question 04036.
- [Born, Baptised, Filled and Sealed by the Spirit](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04035-born-baptised-filled-sealed-by-spirit/): Question 04035.
- [The Holy Spirit's Role in Jesus' Life and Ministry](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04034-spirits-role-in-jesus-life-and-ministry/): Question 04034.
- [The Holy Spirit's Role in the Inspiration of Scripture](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04033-spirits-role-in-inspiration/): Question 04033.
- [The Holy Spirit's Role in Creation](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04032-spirits-role-in-creation/): Question 04032.
- [The Gift of Tongues](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04049-what-is-the-gift-of-tongues/): The gift of tongues has caused more heat and less light than almost any subject I deal with as a minister.
- [What Happened on the Day of Pentecost?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04031-what-happened-at-pentecost/): The day of Pentecost is one of those hinge moments in the Bible where the whole story turns.
- [The Gift of Prophecy](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04048-what-is-the-gift-of-prophecy/): The gift of prophecy is one of the most discussed and most misunderstood of all the gifts the Spirit gives to the church, and I want to take my time with it.
- [What Are the Different Spiritual Gifts Listed in Scripture?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04047-what-are-the-different-spiritual-gifts-listed-in-scripture/): Question 04047.
- [What Is the Spirit's Guarantee or Deposit?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04046-what-is-the-spirits-guarantee-deposit/): Question 04046.
- [Is Islam compatible with Christianity?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60051-is-islam-compatible-with-christianity/): Question 60051.
- [Is Smoking a Sin?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q12049-is-smoking-a-sin/): Question 12049.
- [Who are the three enemies of the Christian life, and how do we fight them?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11065-battling-the-world-flesh-and-devil/): Question 11065.
- [Body/soul/spirit: are we two parts or three?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/body-soul-spirit-are-we-two-parts-or-three-make-the-biblical-case-for-both/): Whether human beings consist of two parts — body and soul/spirit — or three distinct parts — body, soul, and spirit as separate entities — is a question that has divided careful biblical scholars for centuries.
- [How do you cultivate greater awareness of the Spirit's presence without becoming mystical or subjective?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11067-cultivating-awareness-of-the-spirits-presence/): Question 11067.
- [How do you know if unconfessed sin or a resisted prompting is hindering the Spirit's work in your life?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11066-is-unconfessed-sin-grieving-the-spirit/): Question 11066.
- [What does the Bible say about euthanasia?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q12063-what-does-the-bible-say-about-euthanasia/): Question 12063.
- [What does the Bible say about abortion?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q12062-what-does-the-bible-say-about-abortion/): Question 12062.
- [Is depression a sin or a spiritual problem?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11070-is-depression-a-sin-or-a-spiritual-problem/): Question 11070.
- [What happens to a person in the time between death and the resurrection?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10200-intermediate-state-death-and-resurrection/): Question 10200.
- [What does the Bible say about fear and anxiety?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11069-what-does-the-bible-say-about-fear-and-anxiety/): Question 11069.
- [How should I prepare to give an answer for the hope I have?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60077-how-should-i-prepare-to-give-an-answer-for-the-hope-i-have/): Question 60077.
- [How should parents teach doctrine to their children?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11072-how-should-parents-teach-doctrine-to-their-children/): Christian parents are the first theologians their children will ever meet, and most of us only realise it long after the lessons have started.
- [What is the relationship between truth and love in Scripture?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11071-relationship-between-truth-and-love-in-scripture/): Question 11071.
- [What is the danger of religious consumerism?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09111-what-is-the-danger-of-religious-consumerism/): Religious consumerism is the habit of approaching church the way we approach every other service we buy, and it has crept into congregations so quietly that most of us do not notice we are doing it.
- [Why does understanding justification bring freedom from shame?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07095-why-does-understanding-justification-bring-freedom-from-shame/): Freedom from shame is one of the least advertised benefits of the doctrine of justification, and for many believers it is the one they need most.
- [What is Satan's role as the accuser of the brethren?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q8049-what-is-satans-role-as-the-accuser-of-the-brethren/): Of all the titles Scripture gives him, Satan the accuser is the one that touches ordinary Christians most often.
- [What does it mean that Satan "asked" to sift Peter?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q8048-what-does-it-mean-that-satan-asked-to-sift-peter/): The words are among the most striking Jesus ever spoke to a friend.
- [Can Satan appear in dreams?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q8047-can-satan-appear-in-dreams/): People ask me whether Satan can appear in dreams more often than almost any other question in this area, and they usually ask quietly, after a bad night, when they are not sure whether they are being silly.
- [Can Satan appear as an angel of light?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q8046-can-satan-appear-as-an-angel-of-light/): Paul says it directly: Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.
- [Can Satan perform miracles?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q8045-can-satan-perform-miracles/): Can Satan perform miracles?
- [What are Satan's schemes or devices?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q8044-what-are-satans-schemes-or-devices/): Paul assumes that Satan's schemes can be recognised.
- [Who or what is Beelzebub?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q8043-who-or-what-is-beelzebub/): The name Beelzebub turns up in the Gospels on the lips of people trying to destroy Jesus, and it has a long history behind it before it ever gets there.
- [What does Lucifer mean?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q8042-what-does-lucifer-mean/): Ask most people where the name Lucifer comes from and they will tell you it is the devil's proper name, the one he had before he fell.
- [Is Satan a literal being or just a symbol of evil?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q8041-is-satan-a-literal-being-or-just-a-symbol-of-evil/): Whether Satan is a literal being or a poetic way of describing the darker side of human nature is not an idle question, and I get asked it far more often than you might expect.
- [What happened to the demons Jesus cast out?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q8040-what-happened-to-the-demons-jesus-cast-out/): When Jesus cast out demons the Gospels almost never tell us where they went, and the silence is consistent enough to look deliberate.
- [Are demons the same as fallen angels?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q8031-are-demons-the-same-as-fallen-angels/): Whether demons are fallen angels is a question the Bible answers by implication rather than by definition, which is why it still gets discussed.
- [Are angel encounters in near-death experiences real?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08030-are-angel-encounters-in-near-death-experiences-real/): Reports of angel encounters during near-death experiences have become a publishing industry of their own, and I am asked about them more often than almost any other question in this area.
- [Can demons take physical form?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q8034-can-demons-take-physical-form/): Whether demons can take physical form is a question people usually ask because they have seen something, or because someone they trust has.
- [Where do demons live?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q8032-where-do-demons-live/): Asking where demons live sounds like an odd question until you notice how much Scripture actually says about it.
- [Can demons cause physical illness?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q8035-can-demons-cause-physical-illness/): Whether demons can cause physical illness is a question the New Testament answers with more directness than many Christians expect, and with more care than many teachers show.
- [What is the abyss or bottomless pit?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q8033-what-is-the-abyss-or-bottomless-pit/): The bottomless pit turns up at some of the most dramatic moments in Scripture, and it is easy to read past it as atmosphere. It is not atmosphere.
- [What are unclean spirits?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q8037-what-are-unclean-spirits/): The phrase unclean spirits runs right through the Synoptic Gospels and the book of Acts, and most readers slide past it as a synonym for demons.
- [Can demons cause mental illness?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q8036-can-demons-cause-mental-illness/): Few questions at the meeting point of theology and pastoral care carry higher stakes than whether demons cause mental illness.
- [Can animals be demon-possessed?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q8039-can-animals-be-demon-possessed/): The question of demons and animals arises from one specific incident in the Gospels, and it is worth examining that incident carefully rather than speculating around it.
- [What are lying spirits or deceiving spirits?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q8038-what-are-lying-spirits-or-deceiving-spirits/): Lying spirits are not an occasional tactic of the enemy but the whole shape of his operation.
- [Can we see angels?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q8021-can-we-see-angels/): Whether we can see angels is one of those questions that people ask me quietly, usually after a service, usually because something has happened that they cannot explain.
- [Do angels appear to people today?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q8020-do-angels-appear-to-people-today/): Whether angels appear today is a question I get asked more often than almost any other in this category, usually by someone who has heard a story and does not know what to do with it.
- [Can we speak to angels?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q8022-can-we-speak-to-angels/): Whether we may speak to angels is a fair question, because the Bible is full of people who did exactly that. Zechariah answered Gabriel. Mary questioned him.
- [Can we command angels?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q8024-can-we-command-angels/): The idea that we can command angels has become surprisingly common in certain circles, usually presented as a believer’s neglected authority.
- [Can we pray to angels?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q8023-can-we-pray-to-angels/): Whether we may pray to angels is a question I want to answer with real clarity, because the stakes are higher than they first appear.
- [What is the role of angels in answered prayer?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q8027-what-is-the-role-of-angels-in-answered-prayer/): The connection between angels and answered prayer is one of the quieter themes of Scripture, and it is easy to miss because the Bible almost never draws attention to it.
- [Will we judge angels?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q8026-will-we-judge-angels/): Paul says that we will judge angels, and he says it in the middle of telling off a church for suing one another. "Do you not know that we are to judge angels?
- [Do angels attend church services?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q8028-do-angels-attend-church-services/): The question of angels in worship sounds either startling or sentimental, depending on what you already assume about Sunday mornings.
- [Will we become angels when we die?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q8025-will-we-become-angels-when-we-die/): The idea that we become angels when we die is everywhere, and I have heard it spoken at gravesides by people who meant every word of it kindly.
- [Do angels help in evangelism?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q8029-do-angels-help-in-evangelism/): The place of angels in evangelism is one of the most encouraging themes in the book of Acts, and one of the most consistently overlooked.
- [Who is the Angel of the LORD in the Old Testament?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q8010-who-is-the-angel-of-the-lord/): The Angel of the LORD is the most intriguing figure in the Old Testament, and working out who He is has been one of the most rewarding studies I have ever undertaken.
- [Can angels and demons read our minds?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q8009-can-angels-read-our-minds/): Can angels and demons read our minds?
- [Who is Gabriel?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q8012-who-is-gabriel/): The angel Gabriel is the second of only two angels named in Scripture, and where Michael fights, Gabriel explains. Every appearance follows the same shape.
- [Who is Michael the archangel?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q8011-who-is-michael-the-archangel/): Michael the archangel is one of only two angels named in the canonical Scriptures, and of the two he is the one consistently found in conflict.
- [What is the difference between angels and the host of heaven?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q8014-angels-and-the-host-of-heaven/): The phrase host of heaven runs right through the Old Testament, and it does two quite different jobs depending on where you find it.
- [Are there other named angels in Scripture?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q8013-are-there-other-named-angels-in-scripture/): Named angels are far rarer in Scripture than most Christians assume.
- [Who is Abaddon or Apollyon?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q8017-who-is-abaddon-or-apollyon/): Abaddon and Apollyon are two names for a single figure, and Revelation 9:11 gives us both because John is writing for readers in two languages.
- [Who are the "sons of God" in Genesis 6?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q8016-who-are-the-sons-of-god-in-genesis-6/): The sons of God in Genesis 6:1 to 4 have been argued over for well over two thousand years, and the argument shows no sign of settling.
- [What are the "living creatures" in Ezekiel and Revelation?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08019-what-are-the-living-creatures-in-ezekiel-and-revelation/): Ezekiel opens his book with a vision so strange that readers have been arguing about it for two and a half thousand years, and at the centre of it are four living creatures.
- [Who are the four angels bound at the Euphrates?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q8018-four-angels-bound-at-the-euphrates/): The four angels bound at the great river Euphrates appear in Revelation 9:14 and 15, and the detail that stops most readers is not the binding but the timing.
- [How does Revelation draw on and complete Old Testament prophetic imagery?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10201-how-revelation-draws-on-old-testament-prophets/): Question 10201.
- [How do we read the Canaanite conquest in Joshua honestly?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60091-canaanite-conquest-joshua-gods-justice/): Question 60091.
- [Was Jesus a real historical person?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60029-was-jesus-real-historical-person/): Question 60029.
- [What is the atonement?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7097-what-is-the-atonement/): The atonement of Christ is the centre of the Christian faith, and the word itself is one of the few great theological terms that began life in English.
- [How do we know the Gospels accurately record the words of Jesus?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60078-how-do-we-know-gospels-accurately-record-jesus-words/): Question 60078.
- [What is substitutionary atonement?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7098-what-is-substitutionary-atonement/): Substitutionary atonement is the teaching that Jesus died in the place of sinners, bearing what they deserved so that they need not bear it themselves.
- [Why did Jesus have to die? Couldn't God just forgive?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7099-why-did-jesus-have-to-die-couldnt-god-just-forgive/): The question of why Jesus died rather than God simply issuing a pardon is one of the most honest questions anyone can ask, and it is usually asked with real feeling.
- [What is propitiation? What is expiation?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7101-what-is-propitiation-what-is-expiation/): Propitiation and expiation are two words that most Christians have met in a hymn and few could define.
- [What happened on the cross? (Theories of atonement)](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7100-what-happened-on-the-cross-theories-of-atonement/): The theories of atonement are the church's various attempts to answer one question: what exactly happened when Jesus died?
- [What does 'ransom' mean?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7102-what-does-ransom-mean/): When Jesus said that the Son of Man came to give His life a ransom for many, He was using a word His hearers understood immediately and we mostly do not.
- [Is Jesus the only way to God?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7103-is-jesus-the-only-way-to-god/): Whether Jesus is the only way to God is the question that makes Christians most uncomfortable in polite company, and it is the one the New Testament answers most bluntly.
- [Is believing in Jesus' resurrection really necessary for salvation?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7105-is-believing-in-jesus-resurrection-really-necessary-for-salvation/): Belief in the bodily resurrection of Jesus is not an advanced doctrine for keen Christians.
- [How can I have a personal relationship with Jesus?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7104-personal-relationship-with-jesus/): The phrase personal relationship with Jesus is everywhere in evangelical speech and nowhere in the Bible, which is worth noticing before we go any further.
- [What does 'seated at the right hand of God' actually mean?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7107-what-does-seated-at-the-right-hand-of-god-mean/): To be seated at the right hand of God is the New Testament's favourite way of describing where Jesus is now, and it is quoted or alluded to more than twenty times.
- [Why can't I just believe in God without Jesus?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7106-why-cant-i-just-believe-in-god-without-jesus/): A great many people believe in God and want nothing much to do with Jesus. They are not hostile.
- [What will happen when Jesus returns?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10012-what-will-happen-when-jesus-returns/): Question 10012.
- [When will Jesus return?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10011-when-will-jesus-return/): Question 10011.
- [What is easy believism?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7067-what-is-easy-believism/): Easy believism is a label applied to any presentation of the gospel that reduces saving faith to a bare mental agreement and leaves out repentance, the identity of Jesus, and any expectation that a converted person will be different afterwards.
- [Is the Eastern Orthodox doctrine of theosis compatible with evangelical Christianity?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60080-eastern-orthodox-theosis-vs-new-age-human-divinity/): Question 60080.
- [Must Jesus be Lord for salvation, or can He be Saviour only?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7066-must-jesus-be-lord-for-salvation/): Receiving Jesus as Lord is not a second step that follows conversion, and it is not an extra condition attached to it either.
- [What is Lordship salvation?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7065-what-is-lordship-salvation/): Lordship salvation is the teaching that saving faith necessarily includes a submission to Jesus as Lord, and that a profession of faith without submission is not saving faith at all.
- [Was Judas Iscariot ever saved?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7062-was-judas-iscariot-ever-saved/): Judas Iscariot was never saved.
- [Is there a specific moment of salvation or can it be gradual?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07055-is-there-a-specific-moment-of-salvation/): There is always a moment of salvation, even when nobody can identify it.
- [What is conversion?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07054-what-is-conversion/): Christian conversion is the moment a person changes hands.
- [What about the thief on the cross?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07057-what-about-the-thief-on-the-cross/): The dying thief is the single clearest illustration in Scripture that salvation is by grace through faith and nothing else.
- [What is the relationship between faith and repentance?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07056-what-is-the-relationship-between-faith-and-repentance/): Faith and repentance are two words for one turn.
- [Can a true Christian commit apostasy?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07059-can-a-true-christian-commit-apostasy/): Can a true Christian commit apostasy? My answer is no, and the reason is not that believers are strong but that God is faithful.
- [What about deathbed conversions? Are they valid?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07058-what-about-deathbed-conversions/): Deathbed conversions are genuine when the faith behind them is genuine, and the New Testament gives us no reason whatever to treat a late turning as second class.
- [What role does the gathered church play in interpreting Scripture?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q9113-role-of-gathered-church-in-interpreting-scripture/): What role does the gathered church play in helping believers interpret Scripture? For many evangelicals the honest answer is none at all.
- [What is Paul's mystery in Ephesians 3 and Colossians 1?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q009112-what-is-the-mystery-in-ephesians-3-colossians-1/): The mystery of the church is one of those phrases that sounds forbidding until you discover what Paul meant by it, at which point it becomes one of the most liberating ideas in the New Testament.
- [Was Jonah and the whale a true story?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60096-was-jonah-and-the-whale-a-true-story/): Question 60096.
- [Does the Bible support slavery?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60092-does-the-bible-support-slavery/): Question 60092.
- [Did the Red Sea part?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60097-did-the-red-sea-part/): Question 60097.
- [What about those who have never heard the gospel?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7021-what-about-those-who-never-heard-the-gospel/): Question 07021.
- [What is the cosmological argument?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60099-what-is-the-cosmological-argument/): Question 60099.
- [What is the difference between the last trumpet in Paul and the seventh trumpet in Revelation?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10202-difference-between-last-trumpets-corinthians-revelation/): Question 10202.
- [What is the moral argument?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60101-what-is-the-moral-argument/): Question 60101.
- [What is the teleological argument?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60100-what-is-the-teleological-argument/): Question 60100.
- [Why doesn't God just show Himself?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60103-why-doesnt-god-just-show-himself/): Question 60103.
- [What is the ontological argument?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60102-what-is-the-ontological-argument/): Question 60102.
- [Could Hitler have gotten saved?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7084-could-hitler-have-gotten-saved/): Whether the worst sinners imaginable could be forgiven is a question people ask in two very different tones of voice, and the tone matters.
- [How were people in the Old Testament saved?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7083-how-were-people-in-the-old-testament-saved/): Old Testament believers were saved in exactly the same way we are, by grace through faith, and it is worth saying that plainly at the outset because a good deal of confusion surrounds this question.
- [What is definitive sanctification versus progressive sanctification?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07072-definitive-sanctification-versus-progressive-sanctification/): Progressive sanctification is the part of this doctrine most Christians have heard about, and it is the part that feels true to experience.
- [What does “born again” mean, and what change does it describe?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7089-what-does-born-again-mean/): Born again has become one of the most misused phrases in religious English.
- [What does the Bible say about pride?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q6029-what-does-the-bible-say-about-pride/): The sin of pride is the one the Bible singles out for direct divine opposition.
- [Is addiction a sin or a disease?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11082-is-addiction-a-sin-or-a-disease/): The disease model of addiction has become the default explanation in medicine, in the media and increasingly in the church.
- [Is it a sin to have intrusive thoughts?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11084-is-it-a-sin-to-have-intrusive-thoughts/): Intrusive thoughts are among the most distressing things Christians experience and among the least talked about.
- [What does the Bible say about lust?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q06032-what-does-the-bible-say-about-lust/): The sin of lust is one of the areas where believers most often feel defeated, and part of the defeat is caused by a misunderstanding.
- [What does the Bible say about anger?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q06031-what-does-the-bible-say-about-anger/): Not all anger is sinful anger, and any teaching that starts by treating the emotion itself as a fault will lose the argument with Scripture very quickly.
- [What does the Bible say about envy and jealousy?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q06030-what-does-the-bible-say-about-envy-and-jealousy/): Envy and jealousy get used interchangeably in ordinary speech, and Scripture is more careful than we are. One of them is always sinful.
- [What is apostasy?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07070-what-is-apostasy/): Biblical apostasy is a word we reach for quickly and understand slowly.
- [Are sinful dreams a sin?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11085-are-sinful-dreams-a-sin/): Sinful dreams trouble sincere Christians far more often than anyone admits from a pulpit.
- [Does God Hate Sinners, or Only Sin?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q02014-does-god-hate-sinners-or-just-sin/): Question 2014. Does God hate sinners, or does He only hate sin?
- [What is the difference between weakness and wickedness?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q6042-difference-between-weakness-and-wickedness/): The difference between weakness and wickedness is one of the most useful distinctions in pastoral work, and one of the most frequently missed.
- [Is there such a thing as a 'respectable' sin?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q6041-is-there-such-a-thing-as-a-respectable-sin/): A respectable sin is one that a Christian community has quietly stopped treating as sin.
- [Why do good people suffer while wicked people prosper?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q6040-why-do-good-people-suffer-while-wicked-prosper/): Why the wicked prosper while decent people are ground down is not a question invented by modern sceptics.
- [Why do Christians still sin after being saved?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q6049-why-do-christians-still-sin-after-being-saved/): Christians still sin after conversion, and the honest recognition of that fact is one of the more important things a new believer can be told early.
- [What is the 'old man' and 'new man' in Paul's writings?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q6044-what-is-the-old-man-and-new-man-in-paul/): When Paul speaks of the old man he is not describing a sinister lodger who lives in the believer's spare room.
- [Is all suffering a result of personal sin?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q06058-is-all-suffering-a-result-of-personal-sin/): Is all suffering a result of personal sin? No, and Scripture says so with unusual force.
- [What is the relationship between suffering and sin?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q06057-relationship-between-suffering-and-sin/): The relationship between sin and suffering is one of the first questions people ask me when life caves in, and it is usually asked in a whisper.
- [What is secret sin, and does God see it?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q06062-what-is-secret-sin/): Secret sin is the sin nobody knows about except you and God.
- [What is habitual sin, and can a believer fall into it?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q06061-what-is-habitual-sin/): Habitual sin is sin that has stopped being an event and become a pattern. It is no longer the thing you did on a bad Tuesday.
- [What does it mean to mortify sin?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q06060-what-is-mortification-of-sin/): The mortification of sin is Paul's blunt name for the daily work of putting sin to death, and it is the least fashionable idea in modern Christian vocabulary.
- [What is wilful sin, and what does Hebrews 10:26 mean?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q06063-what-is-wilful-sin/): Wilful sin is sin committed with open eyes.
- [Does God Use Evil for Good? Genesis 50:20 Explained](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q2016-does-god-use-evil-for-good-purposes/): Question 2016. Does God use evil for good, and if so, does that make Him responsible for the evil in the first place?
- [Where does temptation end and sin begin, and was the temptation of Jesus genuine?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q06065-relationship-between-temptation-and-sin/): Temptation and sin are not the same thing, and confusing them has done enormous damage to sensitive Christians.
- [Is habitual or addictive sin spiritual, psychological or physical, and what does that mean for pastoral care?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11090-habitual-and-addictive-sin-spiritual-psychological-physical/): Habitual sin is the pastoral problem that will not go away.
- [What is the difference between attraction and lust?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q06072-lust-vs-attraction/): Lust and attraction are not the same thing, and a great many sincere Christians have been tormented by the assumption that they are.
- [Is masturbation sinful?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q06071-is-masturbation-sin/): Scripture defines sexual sin with considerable care, and masturbation is never named among the things it defines.
- [What is the difference between sin, transgression, and iniquity in the Old Testament?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q06070-sin-transgression-iniquity-distinctions/): The Old Testament does not use a single word for sin.
- [Are there degrees of sin?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q06069-are-there-degrees-of-sin/): Are there degrees of sin? Yes and no, and both halves of that answer need holding at once or you will end up in one of two ditches.
- [What is the biblical process for handling public sin and restoring a fallen church member?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09024-church-discipline-and-restoration/): Question 09024.
- [Is private confession to God enough, or does Scripture require confession to others?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q06067-confession-of-sin-private-or-corporate/): Confession of sin to God is always sufficient for forgiveness. There is no human intermediary, no priest, no queue and no waiting period.
- [What does Jeremiah mean that the heart is deceitful?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q6019-jeremiah-heart-is-deceitful/): Jeremiah 17:9 says the heart is deceitful above all things, and the doctrine of the deceitful heart has been used to prove a great deal that Jeremiah never said.
- [What is the difference between godly sorrow and worldly sorrow?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q6018-godly-sorrow-vs-worldly-sorrow/): Paul says that godly sorrow produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.
- [What Role Does Satan Play in Sin?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08084-what-role-does-satan-play-in-sin/): Satan's role in human sin is one of those subjects where we tend to overshoot in one direction or the other.
- [Can we blame the devil for our sins?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q6017-can-we-blame-the-devil-for-our-sins/): It is tempting to blame the devil for our sins, and the temptation is almost as old as sin itself.
- [What does the Bible mean by 'the world'?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q6015-what-does-the-bible-mean-by-the-world/): Ask what the Bible means by the world and the answer is that it means three different things, and the one that causes all the trouble is the world system.
- [Why does God allow us to be tempted?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q6014-why-does-god-allow-us-to-be-tempted/): The question behind the question is usually this: if God allows temptation, and He could stop it, does that make Him complicit in my failure?
- [What is a besetting sin?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q6013-what-is-a-besetting-sin/): A besetting sin is the sin that knows your address: the particular temptation that returns again and again long after other struggles have faded, the one you have confessed more times than you can count.
- [What are the seven deadly sins? Are they biblical?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q6012-are-the-seven-deadly-sins-biblical/): The seven deadly sins are among the most famous religious ideas in the world: pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth.
- [What is the sin unto death in 1 John 5:16-17?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7009-what-is-the-sin-unto-death/): Question 07009.
- [Is there a difference between Peter's gospel and Paul's?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60098-peters-gospel-versus-pauls-gospel/): Question 60098.
- [What about dinosaurs?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60004-what-about-dinosaurs/): Question 60004.
- [What about the age of the earth?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60003-what-about-the-age-of-the-earth/): Question 60003.
- [What makes Christianity unique?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60008-what-makes-christianity-unique/): Question 60008.
- [What about other religions?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60007-what-about-other-religions/): Question 60007.
- [What about the problem of evil?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60006-what-about-the-problem-of-evil/): Question 60006.
- [What Is Open vs Closed Communion?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q9009-what-is-open-vs-closed-communion/): Churches answer the question of who is welcome at the Lord's table in three broadly different ways, and open communion is the practice I hold and teach.
- [How Often Should We Take Communion?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q9008-how-often-should-we-take-communion/)
- [Who Can Take Communion?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q9007-who-can-take-communion/): When the bread and cup come round, somebody in the room is always wondering whether they may take communion, and that wondering is usually a good sign rather than a bad one.
- [What Is the Lord's Supper?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q9006-what-is-the-lords-supper/): The Lord's Supper goes by a number of names, and each carries some freight: communion, the breaking of bread, the Lord's table, the Eucharist, and in some traditions the Mass.
- [What Is the Correct Mode of Baptism?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q9005-what-is-the-correct-mode-of-baptism/): Christians disagree about the mode of baptism, with some pouring, some sprinkling and some immersing, and the disagreement is older than any of us.
- [Should Infants Be Baptised?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q9004-should-infants-be-baptised/): Infant baptism is practised by the majority of professing Christians worldwide, and any Baptist writing about it should begin by admitting that he is in a minority and that the people he disagrees with include many he expects to meet in glory.
- [Who Should Be Baptised?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q9003-who-should-be-baptised/): The question of who should be baptised has divided sincere Christians for centuries, and it is not settled by asserting a tradition loudly.
- [Does the Bible Support Gender Identity Separate from Biological Sex?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q5003-does-the-bible-support-gender-identity-separate-from-biological-sex/): The question of gender identity has moved from academic journals to school classrooms in a single generation, and Christians cannot avoid it.
- [What Does the Bible Teach About Human Sexuality and Gender?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q5002-what-does-the-bible-teach-about-human-sexuality-and-gender/): The Bible treats human sexuality as one of God's good gifts, given before sin ever entered the world, and that starting point changes everything.
- [When does human life begin?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q5007-when-does-human-life-begin/): Ask me when human life begins and I will not reach first for a laboratory or a law court.
- [What Is the Relationship Between Scripture and Church Tradition?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1035-scripture-and-church-tradition/): Scripture and tradition are not enemies, whatever the sharper edges of Reformation rhetoric sometimes suggest.
- [What Is the Place of Public Scripture Reading?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1057-what-is-the-place-of-public-scripture-reading/): public Scripture reading is commanded in the New Testament, not simply permitted as an optional liturgical flourish, and I think many churches, my own included at various points, have quietly let the practice shrink until Scripture is heard mainly in short snippets attached to a sermon rather than read at length in its own right.
- [What Is Dispensational Interpretation?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1042-what-is-dispensational-interpretation/): Dispensational interpretation is the framework I use to make sense of some genuinely puzzling features of the Bible that I meet almost every week in pastoral ministry.
- [What do angels look like?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q8001-what-do-angels-look-like/): Angelic appearance is one of those subjects where our imagination has done far more work than our Bible reading.
- [How does Jesus' death save people in the Old Testament?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3039-how-does-jesus-death-save-old-testament-believers/): How were Old Testament believers saved, when the cross lay centuries in their future? It is one of the best questions a thoughtful reader of Scripture can ask.
- [Family Bible Reading: How Do We Make It Effective?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1058-family-bible-reading-how-to-make-it-effective/): family Bible reading fails in most homes not because parents lack good intentions but because it is attempted with the wrong expectations, either too ambitious a plan collapsing within a fortnight, or too passive an approach that never moves past reading words aloud without any real engagement.
- [Are there female angels?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q8003-are-there-female-angels/): Female angels are everywhere in our culture and almost nowhere in our Bibles, and that gap is worth examining rather than glossing over.
- [Do angels have wings?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q8002-do-angels-have-wings/): Do angels have wings?
- [Can angels eat and drink?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q8005-can-angels-eat-and-drink/): Whether angels eat looks like a curiosity question until you notice how much rests on it.
- [Do angels have bodies?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q8004-do-angels-have-bodies/): Angelic bodies have puzzled thoughtful readers of the Bible for a very long time, and the reason is simple.
- [Do angels have emotions?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q8008-do-angels-have-emotions/): Angelic emotions are more visible in Scripture than most readers expect, and once you start looking for them they are difficult to miss.
- [Can angels die?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q8007-can-angels-die/): Can angels die? Jesus answered part of this question directly, and His answer is the natural place to begin.
- [Could angels rebel again?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q8126-could-angels-rebel-again/): Question 08126.
- [Do angels have free will?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q8006-do-angels-have-free-will/): Angelic free will is one of those doctrines that seems abstract until you realise it is the only way to explain how evil entered a universe made entirely good.
- [Can Women Teach or Preach Scripture? What Does Scripture Say?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1135-can-women-teach-preach-scripture/): Women teaching and preaching generates more heat in contemporary Christianity than almost any other practical question I am asked, and I understand why.
- [What About God's Commands to Destroy Nations?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1116-what-about-gods-commands-to-destroy-nations/): The Canaanite conquest is the single hardest chapter in the Old Testament for most readers to sit with, because it involves God commanding Israel to remove entire nations from the land.
- [How Do I Teach My Children to Love Scripture?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1128-how-do-i-teach-my-children-to-love-scripture/): Helping children love Scripture is, I think, one of the most important tasks any Christian parent takes on, and also one of the most quietly daunting.
- [How Does Scripture Address the Deconstruction Movement?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1133-scripture-deconstruction-movement/): The deconstruction movement has become impossible to ignore in Christian conversation, whether you first met the word on social media, in a bestselling memoir, or in the empty seat of someone who used to sit near you on a Sunday.
- [What If I've Tried Reading Plans and Failed?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1127-what-if-ive-tried-reading-plans-and-failed/): A Bible reading plan started with such good intentions back in January. This would finally be the year you read through the whole thing.
- [Should I Read Straight Through or Jump Around?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1126-should-i-read-straight-through-or-jump-around/): A Bible reading approach is one of those decisions that sounds small until you actually sit down with your Bible and wonder where to begin.
- [How Do I Read My Bible When It Feels Dry?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1123-how-do-i-read-my-bible-when-it-feels-dry/): Bible reading dryness is something every Christian I have ever pastored has experienced at some point, myself very much included. The pages seem flat.
- [What Hermeneutic Leads to Amillennialism?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1122-what-hermeneutic-leads-to-amillennialism/): The amillennial hermeneutic is the method of reading Scripture, particularly Revelation 20, that leads a great many sincere and careful Christians to conclude there is no future, earthly, thousand year reign of Jesus.
- [What is the "mystery" of the Church that Paul describes?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09200-mystery-of-the-church/): Question 09200.
- [How Does Pretribulationism Depend on Scripture?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1121-how-does-pretribulationism-depend-on-scripture/): The pretribulational rapture is not, as some of its critics sometimes suggest, a doctrine simply invented out of thin air by nineteenth-century prophecy teachers with no genuine textual foundation behind it.
- [What is paradise?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10117-what-is-paradise/): Question 10117.
- [What does the Bible say about near-death experiences?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10116-what-does-the-bible-say-about-near-death-experiences/): Question 10116.
- [What is the beatific vision?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10114-what-is-the-beatific-vision/): Question 10114.
- [Will we have free will in heaven?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10113-will-we-have-free-will-in-heaven/): Question 10113.
- [What crowns will believers receive?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10111-what-crowns-will-believers-receive/): Question 10111.
- [What is the Bema seat (judgment seat of Christ)?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10110-what-is-the-bema-seat-judgment-seat-of-christ/): Question 10110.
- [What is the marriage supper of the Lamb?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10112-what-is-the-marriage-supper-of-the-lamb/): Question 10112.
- [Will there be marriage in heaven?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10107-will-there-be-marriage-in-heaven/): Question 10107.
- [What is the New Jerusalem?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10105-what-is-the-new-jerusalem/): Question 10105.
- [Will ethnic Israel be saved in the future?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10016-will-ethnic-israel-be-saved-in-the-future/): Question 10016.
- [Will there be animals in the new heaven and new earth?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10104-will-there-be-animals-in-new-heaven-new-earth/): Question 10104.
- [What is the "fullness of the Gentiles"?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10018-what-is-the-fullness-of-the-gentiles/): Question 10018.
- [What does "all Israel will be saved" mean in Romans 11:26?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10017-what-does-all-israel-will-be-saved-mean-romans-11-26/): Question 10017.
- [What were the purposes of the Mosaic law?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10019-what-were-the-purposes-of-the-mosaic-law/): Question 10019.
- [What about evolution?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60002-what-about-evolution/): Question 60002.
- [Should Christians be pacifists?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q12047-should-christians-be-pacifists/): Question 12047.
- [Is Christian Nationalism Biblical?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q12046-is-christian-nationalism-biblical/): Question 12046.
- [What is the relationship between law and grace?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7081-relationship-between-law-and-grace/): Law and grace are usually discussed as though they were opponents, with the Christian obliged to pick a side.
- [How do we balance 'love your neighbour' with controlling borders?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q12048-love-your-neighbour-and-controlling-borders/): Question 12048.
- [What does the primal heresy look like today?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60049-primal-heresy-modern-manifestations/): Question 60049.
- [What About Climate Change?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q12050-what-about-climate-change/): Question 12050.
- [Did Satan need permission to attack Job's children?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q8127-did-satan-need-permission-to-attack-jobs-children/): Question 08127.
- [Should Christians tithe?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11003-should-christians-tithe/): Question 11003.
- [How should Christians give to the church?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11093-how-should-christians-give-to-the-church/): Christian giving is one of those subjects that makes a congregation shuffle in its seats, and I understand why.
- [How should we respond to the scandal at Bethel?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60027-how-should-we-respond-to-the-scandal-at-bethel/): Question 60027.
- [What about Filipino Israelism?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60067-what-about-filipino-israelism/): Question 60067.
- [What about British Israelism?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60066-what-about-british-israelism/): Question 60066.
- [What is a cult?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60018-what-is-a-cult/): Question 60018.
- [How do we recognise false teachers?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60024-how-do-we-recognize-false-teachers/): Question 60024.
- [What is the New Age movement?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60015-what-is-the-new-age-movement/): Question 60015.
- [What about Scientology?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60021-what-about-scientology/): Question 60021.
- [What about Mormonism?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60020-what-about-mormonism/): Question 60020.
- [What about Jehovah's Witnesses?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60019-what-about-jehovahs-witnesses/): Question 60019.
- [What of the cover-up culture in the charismatic movement?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60075-cover-up-culture-charismatic-movement/): Question 60075.
- [What about the New Apostolic Reformation and its leading ministries?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60074-nar-him-che-ahn-bill-johnson/): Question 60074.
- [What is the eternal covenant?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07037-what-is-the-eternal-covenant/): Question 07037.
- [What About Speaking in Tongues Today?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04123-speaking-in-tongues-today/): Question 04123.
- [What is apostolic succession?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09018-what-is-apostolic-succession/): Question 09018.
- [What is the difference between Catholic and Protestant churches?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09017-difference-catholic-and-protestant/): Question 09017.
- [Why are there so many denominations?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09016-why-so-many-denominations/): Question 09016.
- [What happened at the Reformation?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q13004-what-happened-at-the-reformation/): Question 13004.
- [What Is the Difference Between Prophecy and Prediction?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q01006-difference-between-prophecy-and-prediction/): Question 01006.
- [How Should We Interpret the Book of Revelation?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q01021-how-should-we-interpret-the-book-of-revelation/): How you interpret the book of Revelation shapes an enormous amount of what you go on to believe about the last days, and it is worth being honest from the very outset that faithful, Bible-believing Christians have read this book in several quite different ways across church history.
- [What Percentage of the Bible Is Prophecy?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q01003-what-percentage-of-bible-is-prophecy/): Question 01003.
- [What Is Apocalyptic Literature](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q01013-what-is-apocalyptic-literature/): The phrase apocalyptic literature turns up constantly in biblical studies, and if you do not understand what it means you will struggle to read whole stretches of the Bible well.
- [What about The Turning revival in Reading, UK?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60073-the-turning-revival-reading-uk/): Question 60073.
- [What is repentance?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7051-what-is-repentance/): True repentance is one of those words the church uses constantly and explains rarely, which is a pity, because a great deal of unnecessary misery grows in that gap.
- [Is faith the gift, or salvation, in Ephesians 2:8 and 9?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7000-is-faith-the-gift-or-salvation-ephesians-2-8-9/): Paul calls our salvation the gift of God in one of the best known sentences he ever wrote, and generations of readers have argued about which part of it he meant.
- [Can General Revelation Save Anyone](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1011-can-people-be-saved-through-general-revelation-alone/): Few pastoral questions trouble thoughtful Christians more than this one, and at its heart sits the matter of general revelation.
- [What is faith?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7052-what-is-faith/): Saving faith is the hinge on which everything in the Christian life turns, and it is also the thing people most commonly misunderstand.
- [Can someone be saved and not know it?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7003-can-someone-be-saved-and-not-know-it/): Can a person be saved and have a lack of assurance about it? Yes, and that is not the same thing as a lack of salvation.
- [What is assurance of salvation and how can I have it?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7001-what-is-assurance-of-salvation/): Assurance of salvation is the settled confidence that you belong to God and will not be lost.
- [What if I don't feel saved?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7004-what-if-i-dont-feel-saved/): Question 07004.
- [What are the biblical evidences of genuine salvation?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7002-biblical-evidences-genuine-salvation/): Genuine salvation leaves marks.
- [How does James 2 relate to salvation by faith alone?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7010-how-does-james-2-faith-without-works-relate-to-salvation/): Question 07010.
- [What is the difference between saving faith and intellectual belief?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7005-difference-saving-faith-intellectual-belief/): Question 07005.
- [What does Hebrews 6:4-6 teach about falling away?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7008-what-does-hebrews-6-teach-about-falling-away/): Question 07008.
- [What does work out your salvation with fear and trembling mean?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7007-what-does-work-out-your-salvation-mean/): Question 07007.
- [Do I need to forgive myself?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11087-do-i-need-to-forgive-myself/): Do I need to forgive myself?
- [Can a true Christian fall away?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07050-can-a-true-christian-fall-away/): Few things trouble a tender conscience quite like the fear of falling away.
- [What is backsliding?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q06035-what-is-backsliding/): The word "backsliding" has an old-fashioned ring to it in some quarters, but the reality it describes is anything but historical.
- [What is antinomianism?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07082-what-is-antinomianism/): The antinomian error is the conviction, held openly or lived out quietly, that because a Christian is under grace, God's moral commands no longer have any claim on him.
- [How is a person saved?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07013-how-is-a-person-saved/): Question 07013.
- [What is salvation?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07012-what-is-salvation/): Question 07012.
- [What is legalism?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07071-what-is-legalism/): Religious legalism is the instinct to add something of our own to what Jesus has already finished, and it is remarkably persistent in the human heart.
- [Can salvation be lost?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07019-can-salvation-be-lost/): Question 07019.
- [What is grace?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07018-what-is-grace/): Question 07018.
- [What is regeneration?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07017-what-is-regeneration/): Question 07017.
- [What is glorification?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07016-what-is-glorification/): Question 07016.
- [What is sanctification?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07015-what-is-sanctification/): Question 07015.
- [What is redemption?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07029-what-is-redemption/): Question 07029.
- [What is justification?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07014-what-is-justification/): Question 07014.
- [What is reconciliation?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07028-what-is-reconciliation/): Question 07028.
- [What is adoption?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07027-what-is-adoption/): Question 07027.
- [What is imputation?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07026-what-is-imputation/): Question 07026.
- [Is faith alone enough, or do works matter?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07025-is-faith-alone-enough-or-do-works-matter/): Question 07025.
- [What is the sinner's prayer?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07024-what-is-the-sinners-prayer/): Question 07024.
- [Is baptism necessary for salvation?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07023-is-baptism-necessary-for-salvation/): Question 07023.
- [What should a pastor do when someone has made multiple decisions for Christ but shows no genuine change?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07090-counselling-multiple-decisions-no-evidence-of-change/): Few situations in pastoral work are as uncomfortable as sitting with someone who has come forward at three separate meetings, prayed the same prayer each time, and can point to no genuine change of any kind.
- [What is eternal security?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07020-what-is-eternal-security/): What is eternal security? Can we lose our salvation? No! is the emphatic answer.
- [What does adoption give the believer that justification does not?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07092-adoption-distinct-from-justification-pastoral-implications/): The doctrine of adoption is one of those truths that gets quietly folded into justification and lost.
- [How can a believer know they are genuinely saved, and what does the Spirit's witness in Romans 8:16 mean practically?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07091-assurance-of-salvation-witness-of-holy-spirit/): The question of assurance of salvation is one I am asked more often than almost any other, and it is usually asked by people who are already believers.
- [Is water baptism necessary for salvation, or is it a public declaration of what faith has already accomplished?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07094-water-baptism-and-salvation/): Whether water baptism is necessary for salvation is a question that has divided sincere Christians for centuries, and it is not settled by quoting one verse loudly.
- [Is union with Christ the foundation of all soteriological blessings, or one blessing among several?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07093-union-with-christ-justification-sanctification/): Union with Christ is the most frequent way the New Testament describes a Christian, and one of the least discussed in ordinary church life.
- [What does it mean to be "in Christ"?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7047-what-does-it-mean-to-be-in-christ/): Being in Christ is Paul's favourite way of describing a Christian, and I suspect most of us read straight past it.
- [What is union with Christ?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7046-what-is-union-with-christ/): Union with Christ is the doctrine that a believer is not simply forgiven by Jesus and helped by Jesus but is genuinely joined to Him, so that what is true of Him becomes true of those who belong to Him.
- [What does it mean that Jesus died "for all" yet not all are saved?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7045-jesus-died-for-all-yet-not-all-saved/): Scripture says plainly that Jesus died for all, and just as plainly that not everyone will be saved.
- [What is the extent of the atonement (for whom did Christ die)?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7043-what-is-the-extent-of-the-atonement/): Unlimited atonement is my answer to the oldest question in this discussion: for whom did Jesus die?
- [What is the perseverance of the saints?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7041-what-is-the-perseverance-of-the-saints/): The perseverance of the saints, or final perseverance, is the fifth point of the Calvinist system, and it teaches that everyone God has chosen will certainly continue in faith and holiness to the end.
- [What is prevenient grace?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7040-what-is-prevenient-grace/): Prevenient grace is a term drawn mainly from Wesleyan and Arminian theology, and the word prevenient simply means going before.
- [What is limited atonement (particular redemption)?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07039-what-is-limited-atonement/): Question 07039.
- [What is irresistible grace (effectual grace)?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07038-what-is-irresistible-grace/): Question 07038.
- [What is the difference between Calvinism and Arminianism?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07036-what-is-the-difference-between-calvinism-and-arminianism/): Question 07036.
- [What is effectual calling?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07035-what-is-effectual-calling/): Question 07035.
- [What is predestination?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07034-what-is-predestination/): Question 07034.
- [What is election?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07033-what-is-election/): Question 07033.
- [What is the ordo salutis?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07032-what-is-the-ordo-salutis/): Question 07032.
- [What is Arminianism?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07108-what-is-arminianism/): Arminian theology is the other great system in the English-speaking Protestant world, and it is almost as frequently misrepresented as Calvinism.
- [What Should I Do If I Have Been Involved in the Occult?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08103-what-to-do-if-involved-in-the-occult/): If you are carrying past occult involvement and wondering what to do about it, I want to say the most important thing at the very start. Jesus is enough.
- [What are the five points of Calvinism?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q13005-what-are-the-five-points-of-calvinism/): Question 13005.
- [What is Calvinism?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07096-what-is-calvinism/): The Calvinist system is the most influential account of salvation in English-speaking evangelicalism, and it is also the one most often described inaccurately by both its friends and its critics.
- [What are the Five Solas?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07087-what-are-the-five-solas/): The Five Solas are the five Latin slogans that summarise what the Reformers recovered from Scripture in the sixteenth century: Scripture alone, faith alone, grace alone, Christ alone, and to the glory of God alone.
- [What should we make of the Evangelical Baptist Network in the UK?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09110-evangelical-baptist-network-uk/): The Evangelical Baptist Network is a relatively recent body, and it exists because of a specific crisis inside Baptists Together, the Baptist Union of Great Britain.
- [What about church history?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q13008-what-about-church-history/): Question 13008.
- [Who was John Calvin?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q13003-who-was-john-calvin/): Question 13003.
- [What was the Reformation?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q13001-what-was-the-reformation/): Question 13001.
- [Who were the Church Fathers?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q13000-who-were-the-church-fathers/): Question 13000.
- [What about the Latter Rain and Manifest Sons of God movement?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60072-latter-rain-manifest-sons-of-god/): Question 60072.
- [Did Jesus Preach to Demons Between His Death and Resurrection?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08087-did-jesus-preach-to-demons-between-death-and-resurrection/): The question of Jesus preaching to demons between his death and resurrection comes up more often than you might expect, usually after somebody has read 1 Peter 3 or recited the line in the Apostles' Creed about descending to the dead.
- [What Is Theology Proper?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q02001-what-is-theology-proper/): Theology Proper is the branch of systematic theology devoted entirely to the study of God Himself: His existence, His nature, His attributes, His works, and the relationships within the Godhead.
- [What is the Free Grace movement?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7068-what-is-the-free-grace-movement/): The Free Grace movement is a loose body of teachers who insist that salvation is received by faith alone, entirely apart from works, commitment or any promise of future obedience.
- [Can a nation sin?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60025-can-a-nation-sin/): Question 60025.
- [Does God Forget Our Sins When He Forgives?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q02009-does-god-forget-our-sins-when-he-forgives/): Question 2009. Several passages promise that God forgets our sins, and I find that people respond to this in two opposite ways.
- [Carnal and Spiritual Christians: The Difference](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04019-difference-between-carnal-and-spiritual-christians/): What is the difference between carnal and spiritual Christians?
- [What Is the Role of the Holy Spirit in Salvation?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04100-what-is-the-role-of-the-holy-spirit-in-salvation/): The Spirit in salvation does far more work than most believers realise, and most of it happens before we are even aware anything is happening at all.
- [What Is Conviction of Sin?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04200-what-is-conviction-of-sin/): Question 04200.
- [Can We Trust Our Hearts?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q05011-can-we-trust-our-hearts/): Can we trust our hearts? Our culture answers before the question is finished: follow your heart, be true to yourself, you do you.
- [What does it mean to harden your heart?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q6021-what-does-it-mean-to-harden-your-heart/): To harden your heart, in biblical language, is to make yourself progressively less responsive to God. It is not usually a decision anyone announces.
- [Do the sins of parents affect their children?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q6024-do-the-sins-of-parents-affect-their-children/): The sins of parents do affect their children, and anyone who has done pastoral work for a fortnight knows it.
- [What does it mean to have a seared conscience?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0622-what-does-it-mean-to-have-a-seared-conscience/): Paul warns Timothy about teachers with a seared conscience, and the image he chooses is a surgical one.
- [What does the Bible say about gluttony?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11083-what-does-the-bible-say-about-gluttony/): The sin of gluttony is the one item on the traditional list of deadly sins that the modern church has quietly dropped.
- [What is corporate sin?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q6025-what-is-corporate-sin/): Corporate sin is the biblical recognition that groups, not only individuals, can be guilty before God.
- [What is the relationship between Satan and the Antichrist?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08080-what-is-the-relationship-between-satan-and-the-antichrist/): Satan and Antichrist are not the same being, and confusing them is one of the commonest mistakes in popular prophecy teaching.
- [What is Satan's role in the tribulation?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08079-what-is-satans-role-in-the-tribulation/): Satan's role in the tribulation is described more fully than at any other point in Scripture, and Revelation gives us a sequence rather than a snapshot.
- [What is the prayer of Jabez and spiritual warfare?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08078-what-is-the-prayer-of-jabez-and-spiritual-warfare/): The prayer of Jabez occupies two verses buried in a genealogy, and for a few years around the turn of the century it was among the best known passages in the English-speaking church.
- [What does "binding and loosing" actually mean?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08077-what-does-binding-and-loosing-actually-mean/): Binding and loosing has become one of the most quoted and least examined phrases in contemporary Christian speech.
- [Should Christians pray against principalities over cities?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08076-should-christians-pray-against-principalities-over-cities/): The question of whether praying against principalities over cities is a legitimate Christian practice sounds technical, but a great deal hangs on it.
- [What is spiritual mapping?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08075-what-is-spiritual-mapping/): Spiritual mapping is the practice of researching the history, religion and moral record of a place in order to identify the demonic powers believed to control it, so that intercessors can then target those powers in prayer.
- [What are territorial spirits?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08074-what-are-territorial-spirits/): The phrase territorial spirits refers to fallen angelic beings thought to exercise influence over particular nations, regions or cities.
- [What is territorial warfare?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08073-what-is-territorial-warfare/): Territorial warfare is the practice of identifying and confronting demonic powers believed to rule over geographical areas, and then attempting to break their hold through organised prayer.
- [Can any Christian cast out demons?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08072-can-any-christian-cast-out-demons/): Whether any Christian can cast out demons is a question that usually arrives with a good deal riding on it.
- [What Is the Covering Cherub in Ezekiel 28?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08094-what-is-the-covering-cherub-ezekiel-28/): The covering cherub of Ezekiel 28 is one of the most discussed and most disputed figures in the Old Testament.
- [What Does Prince of the Power of the Air Mean?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08093-what-does-prince-of-the-power-of-the-air-mean/): Satan's authority is the subject of the strange title Paul gives him in Ephesians 2, where he is called "the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience."
- [What Does God of This World Mean?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08092-what-does-god-of-this-world-mean/): Spiritual blindness is the whole point of the verse where Paul calls Satan the god of this world, and if we miss that we will misunderstand the title badly.
- [What Does Powers and Principalities Mean?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08091-what-does-powers-and-principalities-mean/): The phrase powers and principalities has become one of those bits of church vocabulary that everyone recognises and few can define.
- [Who Is the Prince of Persia in Daniel 10?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08090-who-is-the-prince-of-persia-daniel-10/): The prince of Persia in Daniel 10 is one of those figures who lifts the curtain for a moment and then lets it drop again.
- [Who Are the Spirits in Prison in 1 Peter 3:19?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08086-who-are-the-spirits-in-prison-1-peter-3-19/): The spirits in prison of 1 Peter 3:19 have generated more commentary per word than almost any other verse in the New Testament, and Martin Luther famously admitted he did not know what Peter meant.
- [Will Demons Be Judged Separately From Satan?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08085-will-demons-be-judged-separately-from-satan/): Demonic judgement is a subject Scripture treats with more restraint than most of us would like.
- [Why Is Satan Released After the Millennium?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08083-why-is-satan-released-after-the-millennium/): Satan's release at the end of the thousand years is one of the strangest turns in the whole prophetic landscape, and I understand why people stumble over it.
- [What is the meaning of the great chain in Revelation 20?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08082-meaning-of-the-great-chain-revelation-20/): The great chain of Revelation 20 is one of those details that decides far more than it appears to.
- [What are familial spirits?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08132-what-are-familial-spirits/): Question 08132.
- [Why did God create Satan?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08131-why-did-god-create-satan/): Question 08131.
- [Can demons perform miracles?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08128-can-demons-perform-miracles/): Question 08128.
- [How should a pastor respond to claims of angelic visitations?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08141-how-to-respond-to-claims-of-angelic-visitations/): Question 08141.
- [Will Christians have authority over angels, and what does that mean now?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08140-will-christians-have-authority-over-angels/): Question 08140.
- [Do angels experience emotions?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08139-do-angels-experience-emotions/): Question 08139.
- [What role did angels play in giving the Law at Sinai?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08138-what-role-did-angels-play-in-giving-the-law/): Question 08138.
- [Does Satan know Scripture, and how does he use it?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08137-does-satan-know-scripture/): Question 08137.
- [Why do angels long to look into the gospel (1 Peter 1:12)?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08136-why-do-angels-long-to-look-into-the-gospel/): Question 08136.
- [What do angels know, and what don't they know?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08135-what-do-angels-know/): Question 08135.
- [What will happen to Satan?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08124-what-will-happen-to-satan/): Question 08124.
- [What is Satan doing now?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08123-what-is-satan-doing-now/): Question 08123.
- [Can we bind Satan?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08122-can-we-bind-satan/): Question 08122.
- [What is spiritual warfare?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08121-what-is-spiritual-warfare/): Question 08121.
- [Can Christians be demon-possessed?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08120-can-christians-be-demon-possessed/): Question 08120.
- [What are demons?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08119-what-are-demons/): Question 08119.
- [How did Satan fall?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08118-how-did-satan-fall/): Question 08118.
- [Who is Satan?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08117-who-is-satan/): Question 08117.
- [What are cherubim and seraphim?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08116-what-are-cherubim-and-seraphim/): Whatever else cherubim and seraphim are, they are not the plump winged infants of Renaissance ceilings, and the gap between the artistic tradition and the biblical description is one of the more comical failures in the history of Christian imagination.
- [Do we have guardian angels?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08115-do-we-have-guardian-angels/): Question 08115.
- [How many angels are there?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08114-how-many-angels-are-there/): Question 08114.
- [What are angels?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08113-what-are-angels/): Question 08113.
- [Do angels exist?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08112-do-angels-exist/): Question 08112.
- [Can hypnosis open doors to demonic influence?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08111-can-hypnosis-open-doors-to-demonic-influence/): Question 08111.
- [Are martial arts spiritually dangerous?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08110-are-martial-arts-spiritually-dangerous/): Question 08110.
- [Can meditation open doors to demons?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08108-can-meditation-open-doors-to-demons/): Question 08108.
- [How do I protect my children from spiritual attack?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08107-how-do-i-protect-children-from-spiritual-attack/): Question 08107.
- [Should I be afraid of Satan and demons?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08106-should-i-be-afraid-of-satan-and-demons/): Question 08106.
- [What if deliverance ministry doesn't seem to work?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08105-what-if-deliverance-ministry-doesnt-work/): Question 08105.
- [Can Christians have demons cast out of them?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08104-can-christians-have-demons-cast-out/): Question 08104.
- [Should Christians Read Books About Demons and the Occult?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08102-should-christians-read-books-about-demons-and-occult/): The question of whether Christians should read occult books needs one distinction made before anything useful can be said.
- [Can Watching Horror Films Invite Demonic Activity?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08101-can-horror-films-invite-demonic-activity/): Whether horror films can invite demonic activity is a question I get asked more often around the end of October than at any other time of year, and it deserves a better answer than either of the usual ones.
- [How Does Satan Attack Churches?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08100-how-does-satan-attack-churches/): The way the enemy attacks churches tells you a great deal about what he fears, and it is rarely what we expect.
- [How Does Satan Attack Families?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08099-how-does-satan-attack-families/): When the enemy attacks families he is going after the oldest institution God ever made.
- [How Does Satan Attack Marriages?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08098-how-does-satan-attack-marriages/): Understanding how the enemy attacks marriages begins with understanding why he bothers.
- [Is It Demonic or Just Psychological?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08097-demonic-or-psychological-how-to-discern/): Asking whether something is demonic or psychological is one of the most delicate questions a pastor gets, and getting it wrong in either direction causes real damage.
- [How Do I Know If I Am Under Spiritual Attack?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08096-how-do-i-know-if-under-spiritual-attack/): Knowing whether you are under spiritual attack is harder than most books on the subject admit, and I want to be honest about that before offering anything more useful.
- [Did One Third of the Angels Fall With Satan?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08095-did-one-third-of-angels-fall-with-satan/): The idea that a third of the angelic host became fallen angels is so widely repeated that most Christians assume it is stated somewhere in plain terms.
- [What happens to Satan in the end?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10156-what-happens-to-satan-in-the-end/): Question 10156.
- [Is yoga spiritually dangerous?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08109-is-yoga-spiritually-dangerous/): Question 08109.
- [What is the role of angels in end times events?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10155-role-of-angels-in-end-times/): Question 10155.
- [What Does Resist the Devil Mean Practically?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08088-what-does-resist-the-devil-mean-practically/): When James tells us to resist the devil, he is not handing us a slogan to shout at the ceiling.
- [Does God want us to be wealthy?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11080-does-god-want-us-to-be-wealthy/): Material wealth is one of those subjects on which the Bible says a great deal more than most congregations want to hear, and it says it in both directions.
- [Should there be dancing in the Church?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11091-should-there-be-dancing-in-the-church/): Dancing in church divides congregations more sharply than the biblical evidence really warrants, and it does so because the argument is almost never about the texts.
- [What is the role of music in worship?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11094-role-of-music-in-worship/): Ask ten Christians what music in worship is for and you will get ten answers, several of them contradictory and at least two delivered with some heat.
- [What is private worship?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11015-what-is-private-worship/): Question 11015.
- [Can we worship outside of church?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11014-can-we-worship-outside-of-church/): Question 11014.
- [What is Buddhism?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60014-what-is-buddhism/): Question 60014.
- [Should Christians sing music from Bethel, Elevation and Hillsong?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60026-music-from-bethel-elevation-hillsong/): Question 60026.
- [What about worship styles?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11029-what-about-worship-styles/): Question 11029.
- [Should we use instruments in worship?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11095-should-we-use-instruments-in-worship/): Whether we should use instruments in worship is one of those questions that sounds trivial until you meet someone for whom it is anything but.
- [How should we worship?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11028-how-should-we-worship/): Question 11028.
- [What is worship?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11027-what-is-worship/): Question 11027.
- [What about liturgy?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11031-what-about-liturgy/): Question 11031.
- [Should we raise hands?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11030-should-we-raise-hands/): Question 11030.
- [Does fasting make prayer more effective?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11054-does-fasting-make-prayer-more-effective/): Question 11054.
- [Should we pray aloud or silently?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11053-should-we-pray-aloud-or-silently/): Question 11053.
- [What is intercessory prayer?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11052-what-is-intercessory-prayer/): Question 11052.
- [How long should we pray?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11051-how-long-should-we-pray/): Question 11051.
- [Should we pray written prayers?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11048-should-we-pray-written-prayers/): Question 11048.
- [Why are prayers ended with 'in Jesus' name'?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11047-why-are-prayers-ended-with-in-jesus-name/): Question 11047.
- [Why do prayers end in 'Amen'?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11046-why-do-prayers-end-in-amen/): Question 11046.
- [Should We Pray to the Father, Jesus, or the Spirit?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q02020-should-we-pray-to-father-jesus-or-holy-spirit/): Question 2020. What does Trinitarian prayer look like, and should we pray to the Father, to Jesus, or to the Holy Spirit?
- [What about Job's suffering?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q06016-what-about-jobs-suffering/): The suffering of Job is the passage everyone reaches for when life collapses, and it is also the book most often misused.
- [What started the transgender movement?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q12029-genesis-of-transgender-movement/): The transgender movement seemed to arrive suddenly, and that impression is part of why it has been so disorienting.
- [Does God Cause Suffering or Just Allow It?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q06011-does-god-cause-suffering-or-allow-it/): Does God cause suffering, or does He only allow it? I have stood at enough hospital beds and gravesides to know this is never an academic question.
- [What about wills and estate planning?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11039-what-about-wills-and-estate-planning/): Question 11039.
- [What are Biblical Perspectives on Economic Systems?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q12061-biblical-perspectives-on-economic-systems/): Question 12061.
- [Is debt always wrong?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q12060-is-debt-always-wrong/): Question 12060.
- [Should we leave inheritance?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11038-should-we-leave-inheritance/): Question 11038.
- [What about charging interest?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q12011-what-about-charging-interest/): Charging interest has a long and awkward history in Christian ethics.
- [Can Christians be landlords?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q12012-can-christians-be-landlords/): Christian landlords are asked to justify themselves far more often than they used to be.
- [What about cryptocurrency?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11035-what-about-cryptocurrency/): Question 11035.
- [What about student loans? (For American Audiences)](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11034-what-about-student-loans/): Question 11034.
- [Should we save for retirement?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11033-should-we-save-for-retirement/): Question 11033.
- [How much money is enough?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11032-how-much-money-is-enough/): Question 11032.
- [What is Biblical Stewardship?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11064-what-is-biblical-stewardship/): Question 11064.
- [Should Christians be poor? Or in poverty?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11063-should-christians-be-poor/): Question 11063.
- [Is gender a biological reality?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q12027-gender-as-biological-reality/): Whether sex is a biological reality or a social construct has moved from academic seminars to primary schools in about two decades, which is remarkably fast for an idea that reverses something humanity has assumed for all of recorded history.
- [What about psychology?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11059-what-about-psychology/): Question 11059.
- [What is the prosperity gospel and why is it dangerous?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60048-prosperity-gospel-dangers/): Question 60048.
- [What about giving?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11004-what-about-giving/): Question 11004.
- [Is Church Discipline a Form of Love or a Contradiction of It?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09089-is-church-discipline-love-or-contradiction/): To modern ears church discipline sounds like the opposite of love, which is why so few congregations practise it and so many members would leave if theirs began.
- [How Should a Church Handle a Pastor Who Falls Into Serious Sin?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09088-how-should-a-church-handle-a-pastor-who-falls-into-sin/): Few situations test a congregation like a fallen pastor, and few are handled worse.
- [How often should we take communion?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09008-how-often-should-we-take-communion/): The New Testament commands the church to observe the Lord's Supper but does not specify how frequently.
- [Is the Alpha Course Biblical?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09073-is-the-alpha-course-biblical/): The Alpha course is probably the most widely used evangelistic tool in the English speaking church, and asking whether it is biblical tends to make people defensive on both sides.
- [What are the marks of a true church?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09047-marks-of-a-true-church/): Question 09047.
- [Is Israel the same as the Church?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09044-is-israel-the-same-as-the-church/): Question 09044.
- [What is revival?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09037-what-is-revival/): Question 09037.
- [What are signs of an unhealthy church?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09030-signs-of-an-unhealthy-church/): Question 09030.
- [What is the Regulative Principle of Worship?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09027-what-is-the-regulative-principle-of-worship/): Question 09027.
- [Is the instruction in 1 Corinthians 14:34 and 35 cultural or timeless?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09104-1-corinthians-14-34-35-cultural-or-timeless/): The instruction in 1 Corinthians 14 that women should keep silent in the churches is among the hardest sentences in Paul for a modern congregation to hear, and the debate about whether it is a cultural instruction or a timeless one has been running for a very long time.
- [Should the Church Pay Taxes?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09083-should-the-church-pay-taxes/): Church tax exemption comes up more often now than it did twenty years ago, and the question is usually asked with an edge.
- [Pastors and Teachers: One Calling or Two?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09081-pastors-and-teachers-one-calling-or-two/): Whether pastors and teachers in Ephesians 4:11 describe one office or two is one of those questions that looks like a footnote and turns out to shape a great deal.
- [Why Are Churches Declining in the West?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09079-why-are-churches-declining-in-the-west/): Church decline in Britain and across much of the West is not a matter of opinion.
- [What Is the Role of a Pastor?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09078-what-is-the-role-of-a-pastor/): Ask ten church members what pastoral ministry involves and you will get ten answers, most of them shaped by the last minister they had rather than by the New Testament.
- [Is Online Church Biblical?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09077-is-online-church-biblical/): Whether online church is biblical has moved in a few short years from a curiosity to a live pastoral question in almost every congregation I know.
- [How should a church handle disagreement over women in ministry?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09103-navigating-disagreement-womens-ministry-roles/): Few subjects can empty a church faster than a badly handled disagreement about women in ministry.
- [What is the difference between prophecy and the teaching office?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09102-prophecy-vs-teaching-office-1-corinthians-14/): The relationship between prophecy and teaching is one of those questions that looks like a technicality until it lands in the middle of a church meeting.
- [Are pastor, elder and bishop different offices?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09100-pastor-elder-bishop-difference/): Are pastor, elder and bishop three different offices or three words for the same one?
- [Are church covenants biblically required?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09098-what-is-a-church-covenant/): A church covenant is a written statement of mutual promises that members make to God and to one another when they join a congregation.
- [What distinguishes complementarianism from egalitarianism?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09107-complementarian-vs-egalitarian-position/): The complementarian and egalitarian positions are the two main answers evangelicals give to the question of how men and women relate in the home and in the church, and the labels get thrown about with far more confidence than accuracy.
- [What does 1 Timothy 2:12 mean in context?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09105-what-does-1-timothy-2-12-mean-in-context/): What does 1 Timothy 2:12 mean in context?
- [Are there prophets today?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09013-are-there-prophets-today/): Question 09013.
- [What Makes a Church Biblical?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09076-what-makes-a-church-biblical/): People ask me what makes a biblical church far more often than they used to, and I take that as a healthy sign.
- [What is the difference between positional and practical sanctification?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07073-positional-versus-practical-sanctification/): Positional sanctification describes where you stand before God; practical sanctification describes how you are getting on.
- [Can Christians achieve sinless perfection in this life?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07074-can-christians-achieve-sinless-perfection/): Sinless perfection in this present life is taught by a number of sincere traditions, and I want to treat the question with the seriousness it deserves rather than waving it away.
- [What is Eastern Orthodoxy?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09042-what-is-eastern-orthodoxy/): Question 09042.
- [What is the Christian Perspective on Immigration?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q12055-christian-perspective-on-immigration/): Question 12055.
- [Should There Be Flag Waving in Church?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09085-should-there-be-flag-waving-in-church/): Flag waving in church covers two quite different practices that often get muddled in the same conversation.
- [What are the philosophical roots of transgender ideology?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q12030-philosophical-roots-rousseau-to-transgender/): Transgender ideology did not begin in a clinic or on a university campus in the 1990s.
- [What is meant by being spiritual not religious?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60113-spiritual-not-religious/): Question 60113.
- [How do we comfort those who suffer?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60112-how-do-we-comfort-those-who-suffer/): Question 60112.
- [What about chronic illness?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60111-what-about-chronic-illness/): Question 60111.
- [Why do some prayers for healing fail?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60110-why-do-some-prayers-for-healing-fail/): Question 60110.
- [Does the Quran prove the Bible is true?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60017-does-quran-prove-bible-true/): Question 60017.
- [Do Christians and Muslims believe in one God?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60016-do-christians-and-muslims-believe-in-one-god/): Question 60016.
- [What is Hinduism?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60013-what-is-hinduism/): Question 60013.
- [What is Islam?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60012-what-is-islam/): Question 60012.
- [What is Judaism?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60011-what-is-judaism/): Question 60011.
- [Should Christians be involved in politics?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60028-should-christians-be-involved-in-politics/): Question 60028.
- [Does relativism lead to intolerance?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60037-relativism-leading-to-intolerance/): Question 60037.
- [What is the biblical view of expressive individualism?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60036-expressive-individualism-effects/): Question 60036.
- [Should Christians use AI?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60033-should-christians-use-ai/): Question 60033.
- [Is artificial intelligence a threat to humanity?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60032-is-artificial-intelligence-a-threat-to-humanity/): Question 60032.
- [What does the Bible say about environmentalism?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60031-what-about-environmentalism/): Question 60031.
- [Is there life anywhere else in the Universe?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60060-is-there-life-anywhere-else-in-the-universe/): Question 60060.
- [How could light exist before the sun?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60059-how-could-light-exist-before-the-sun/): Question 60059.
- [Does life need death (e.g. plants need mulch to survive)?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60058-does-life-need-death/): Question 60058.
- [Are the mountains of Ararat the same as in ancient times?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60057-are-the-mountains-of-ararat-the-same/): Question 60057.
- [Did the sun really stand still?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60056-did-the-sun-really-stand-still/): Question 60056.
- [Does Christianity cause trauma?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60038-christianity-causing-trauma/): Question 60038.
- [Is there a difference between the social gospel and the biblical gospel?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60035-social-gospel-versus-biblical-gospel/): Question 60035.
- [What is the Bible's view on systemic racism?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60034-systemic-racism-biblical-perspective/): Question 60034.
- [What does the Bible say about racism?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60030-what-about-racism/): Question 60030.
- [What about Christian Zionism?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60071-what-about-christian-zionism/): Question 60071.
- [What about unreached peoples?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11022-what-about-unreached-peoples/): Question 11022.
- [What about praying to Mary or the saints?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60065-what-about-praying-to-mary-or-the-saints/): Question 60065.
- [What about Catholic miracles?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60064-what-about-catholic-miracles/): Question 60064.
- [Are education and faith compatible?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60063-education-and-faith-compatibility/): Question 60063.
- [Why trust the Church with so many abuse scandals?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60061-why-trust-the-church-abuse-scandals/): Question 60061.
- [What about numerology?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60054-what-about-numerology/): Question 60054.
- [What about the Da Vinci Code?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60053-what-about-the-da-vinci-code/): Question 60053.
- [What about string theory?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60052-what-about-string-theory/): Question 60052.
- [Can you be pro-choice and Christian?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60047-can-you-be-pro-choice-and-christian/): Question 60047.
- [Why do some American Christians focus on guns and borders?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60046-why-do-some-american-christians-focus-on-guns-and-borders/): Question 60046.
- [What should Christians think about being 'woke'?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60045-what-should-christians-think-about-being-woke/): Question 60045.
- [Is Roman Catholicism Christian?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60062-is-roman-catholicism-christian/): Question 60062.
- [Is there freedom of religion in Islamic lands?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60070-is-there-freedom-of-religion-in-islamic-lands/): Question 60070.
- [What about aliens and UFOs?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60055-what-about-aliens-and-ufos/): Question 60055.
- [What does the Bible say about intersectionality?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60044-what-does-the-bible-say-about-intersectionality/): Question 60044.
- [How does progressivism affect theology?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60041-how-does-progressivism-affect-theology/): Question 60041.
- [What is the difference between deconstruction and reformation?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60040-difference-between-deconstruction-and-reformation/): Question 60040.
- [Why is antisemitism wrong?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60109-why-is-antisemitism-wrong/): Question 60109.
- [Is reincarnation biblical?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60108-is-reincarnation-biblical/): Question 60108.
- [How do fulfilled prophecies prove the reliability of Scripture?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60079-fulfilled-prophecies-prove-reliability-of-scripture/): Question 60079.
- [Have there ever been dragons?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60005-have-there-ever-been-dragons/): Question 60005.
- [What is Soul Sleep and Is It Biblical?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10103-what-is-soul-sleep-and-is-it-biblical/): Question 10103.
- [Was Peter in Rome?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60009-was-peter-in-rome/): Question 60009.
- [How Does Scripture Address Gender Ideology?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1099-how-does-scripture-address-gender-ideology/): Gender ideology is one of the most pastorally sensitive subjects I address, because behind every abstract question sits a real person, often someone genuinely struggling, sometimes a parent frightened for a child, sometimes a young person in real distress.
- [How Creation Reveals God](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1012-how-does-creation-reveal-god/): Scripture teaches that creation reveals God to every person on earth, whether they live under bright city lights or open desert skies, and that truth runs far deeper than mere sentiment.
- [What is the danger of Ouija boards?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08059-what-is-the-danger-of-ouija-boards/): Ouija boards are sold in toy shops and used at sleepovers, and that is precisely what makes them worth talking about.
- [Can demons enter through occult practices?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08058-can-demons-enter-through-occult-practices/): Scripture forbids occult practices in the strongest language it uses about anything, and the reason is not that they are silly.
- [Is sleep paralysis demonic?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08057-is-sleep-paralysis-demonic/): Sleep paralysis is one of the most frightening experiences a person can have, and it is also one of the most misunderstood.
- [Are ghosts real or are they demons?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08056-are-ghosts-real-or-are-they-demons/): When people ask about ghosts and demons they are usually asking two questions at once.
- [Can a house or place be haunted?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08055-can-a-house-or-place-be-haunted/): The question of whether a haunted house is a real thing comes up more often than you might expect, and rarely from people looking for entertainment.
- [Can demons attach to objects or places?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08054-can-demons-attach-to-objects-or-places/): Whether demons can attach to objects or places is a question I get asked after house moves, after clearing out a relative's belongings, and by new Christians wondering what to do with things from a former life.
- [Can Christians be demonically oppressed?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08053-can-christians-be-demonically-oppressed/): Can Christians be demonically oppressed?
- [What is the difference between demonic possession, oppression, and influence?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08052-demonic-possession-oppression-and-influence/): The words demonic possession, oppression and influence get used almost interchangeably in Christian conversation, and the confusion causes real harm.
- [How does Satan blind unbelievers?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08051-how-does-satan-blind-unbelievers/): Paul says something in 2 Corinthians 4 that explains a great deal of what we see in evangelism.
- [What is exorcism?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08071-what-is-exorcism/): The practice of exorcism carries a great deal of cultural baggage, most of it supplied by films rather than by Scripture, and that makes it difficult to discuss calmly.
- [What is the snare of the devil?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08050-what-is-the-snare-of-the-devil/): The phrase snare of the devil comes from Paul's letters to Timothy, and it is worth noticing how ordinary the context is.
- [What is deliverance ministry?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08070-what-is-deliverance-ministry/): Deliverance ministry covers a wide range of practice, from careful pastoral work with genuinely troubled people to something closer to a stage act.
- [What are spiritual strongholds?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08068-what-are-spiritual-strongholds/): Talk of spiritual strongholds has become so common that most believers assume they know what the term means without ever having looked at where it comes from.
- [What does "give no place to the devil" mean?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08067-what-does-give-no-place-to-the-devil-mean/): The instruction to give no place to the devil is one of those phrases that has floated free of its context and now gets used to mean almost anything.
- [Can we rebuke Satan or demons?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08066-can-we-rebuke-satan-or-demons/): Whether a believer may rebuke Satan directly is one of those questions where practice has run a long way ahead of the text.
- [What is the difference between temptation from Satan and temptation from our flesh?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08064-difference-between-temptation-from-satan-and-flesh/): Telling temptation from Satan apart from the ordinary pull of your own flesh is harder in practice than most teaching admits, and I think we should say so at the start.
- [Can curses affect Christians?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08063-can-curses-affect-christians/): Whether spoken curses can affect a Christian is a question I have been asked in quiet voices more than once, usually after something unpleasant has happened.
- [Are generational curses real?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08062-are-generational-curses-real/): The question of whether generational curses are real comes to me most often from people carrying something heavy.
- [Can horoscopes open doors to demonic activity?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08061-can-horoscopes-open-doors-to-demonic-activity/): I get asked about reading horoscopes more often than you might expect, usually by someone who has done it for years without thinking twice and has suddenly started to wonder whether it matters.
- [What is the danger of tarot cards and fortune-telling?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08060-danger-of-tarot-cards-and-fortune-telling/): Tarot cards have moved a long way from the fairground.
- [What is the relationship between Satan and the False Prophet?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q08081-what-is-the-relationship-between-satan-and-the-false-prophet/): The False Prophet is the least discussed of the three figures who dominate Revelation 13, and that is a pity, because his role explains a great deal about how the tribulation actually functions.
- [What does 'Maranatha' mean?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10152-what-does-maranatha-mean/): Question 10152.
- [What is the resurrection of the just and unjust?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10151-what-is-the-resurrection-of-the-just-and-unjust/): Question 10151.
- [What are the books opened at the final judgment?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10150-what-are-the-books-opened-at-the-final-judgement/): Question 10150.
- [What is the book of life?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10149-what-is-the-book-of-life/): Question 10149.
- [Who wrote the book of Revelation?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10147-who-wrote-the-book-of-revelation/): Question 10147.
- [What did Jesus mean when He said 'this generation will not pass away'?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10164-this-generation-will-not-pass-away-meaning/): Question 10164.
- [What is the significance of the fig tree in Matthew 24?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10163-significance-of-fig-tree-in-matthew-24/): Question 10163.
- [What is the idealist approach to Revelation?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10139-what-is-the-idealist-approach-to-revelation/): Question 10139.
- [What is typology in biblical prophecy?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10158-typology-in-biblical-prophecy/): Question 10158.
- [What is prophetic double fulfilment (law of double reference)?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10157-prophetic-double-fulfilment-law-of-double-reference/): Question 10157.
- [How should eschatology affect how we live today?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10154-how-should-eschatology-affect-how-we-live-today/): Question 10154.
- [What is Gehenna?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10121-what-is-gehenna/): Question 10121.
- [What will we do in heaven?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10062-what-will-we-do-in-heaven/): Question 10062.
- [What is the Great Tribulation?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10045-what-is-the-great-tribulation/): Question 10045.
- [What is the tribulation?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10044-what-is-the-tribulation/): Question 10044.
- [When will the rapture happen?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10043-when-will-the-rapture-happen/): Question 10043.
- [What is the new heaven and new earth?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10060-what-is-the-new-heaven-and-new-earth/): Question 10060.
- [What is universalism?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10059-what-is-universalism/): Question 10059.
- [What is annihilationism?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10058-what-is-annihilationism/): Question 10058.
- [Is hell eternal?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10057-is-hell-eternal/): Question 10057.
- [What is hell?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10056-what-is-hell/): Question 10056.
- [What is the Great White Throne judgment?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10054-what-is-the-great-white-throne-judgment/): Question 10054.
- [What is postmillennialism?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10052-what-is-postmillennialism/): Question 10052.
- [What is amillennialism?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10051-what-is-amillennialism/): Question 10051.
- [Where Do Believers Go Immediately When They Die?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10102-where-do-believers-go-when-they-die/): Question 10102.
- [What is the Intermediate State?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10101-what-is-the-intermediate-state/): Question 10101.
- [What is the Lake of Fire?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10100-what-is-the-lake-of-fire/): Question 10100.
- [What is the second death?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10099-what-is-the-second-death/): Question 10099.
- [What is the second resurrection?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10098-what-is-the-second-resurrection/): Question 10098.
- [What is the first resurrection?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10097-what-is-the-first-resurrection/): Question 10097.
- [What is the Olivet Discourse?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10078-what-is-the-olivet-discourse/): Question 10078.
- [What are the birth pains Jesus mentions in Matthew 24?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10077-what-are-the-birth-pains-jesus-mentions-in-matthew-24/): Question 10077.
- [What is the role of Israel during the tribulation?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10076-what-is-the-role-of-israel-during-the-tribulation/): Question 10076.
- [What is Daniel's 70 weeks prophecy?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10075-what-is-daniels-70-weeks-prophecy/): Question 10075.
- [What happens to those who take the mark of the beast?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10074-what-happens-to-those-who-take-the-mark-of-the-beast/): Question 10074.
- [What signs precede Christ's return?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10073-what-signs-precede-christs-return/): Question 10073.
- [What is the Day of the Lord?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10072-what-is-the-day-of-the-lord/): Question 10072.
- [What is the battle of Armageddon?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10071-what-is-the-battle-of-armageddon/): Question 10071.
- [What is the millennium?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10049-what-is-the-millennium/): Question 10049.
- [What is the Second Coming?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10048-what-is-the-second-coming/): Question 10048.
- [What is the mark of the beast?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10047-what-is-the-mark-of-the-beast/): Question 10047.
- [Who is the Antichrist?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10046-who-is-the-antichrist/): Question 10046.
- [Who are the 144,000?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10070-who-are-the-144000/): Question 10070.
- [Will the temple be rebuilt?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10069-will-the-temple-be-rebuilt/): Question 10069.
- [Are there degrees of punishment in hell?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10064-are-there-degrees-of-punishment-in-hell/): Question 10064.
- [Are there degrees of reward in heaven?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10063-are-there-degrees-of-reward-in-heaven/): Question 10063.
- [Is America Mystery Babylon in Revelation?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10175-is-america-mystery-babylon-in-revelation/): Question 10175.
- [Will people be saved during the tribulation?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10040-will-people-be-saved-during-the-tribulation/): Question 10040.
- [What is the time of Jacob's trouble?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10039-what-is-the-time-of-jacobs-trouble/): Question 10039.
- [What is the image of the beast?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10038-what-is-the-image-of-the-beast/): Question 10038.
- [Who is the false prophet?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10037-who-is-the-false-prophet/): Question 10037.
- [What about Messianic Jews?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09045-what-about-messianic-jews/): Question 09045.
- [What is the Church?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09002-what-is-the-church/): Ask ten people what the church is and you will get ten answers, most of them about buildings, denominations or a vague sense of religious community, and the New Testament church is none of those things.
- [Is Church Membership a Biblical Requirement or a Human Invention?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09090-is-church-membership-biblical-requirement-or-human-invention/): The objection to church membership is easily stated and deserves a straight answer.
- [Can a Church Lose Its Identity as a True Church?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09087-can-a-church-lose-its-identity-as-a-true-church/): Whether a congregation can stop being a true church is not a theoretical question in Britain, where a good many buildings still open on Sunday for gatherings in which the gospel has not been preached for two generations.
- [The Universal Church and the Local Church: Are They the Same Thing?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09086-universal-church-and-local-church-relationship/): The relationship between the universal church and the local congregation is one of those doctrines that quietly determines how people live.
- [Should Christians Go on a March for Jesus?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09072-should-christians-march-for-jesus/): A March for Jesus, or something like it, comes round in most towns sooner or later, and the invitation usually arrives with an assumption that any serious Christian will want to be there.
- [What Is Ecumenism, and Should Evangelicals Join In?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09071-what-is-ecumenism/): The word ecumenism, and the ecumenical movement that carries it, has become one of those terms that generates more heat than light.
- [Should We Seek Spiritual Gifts?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09070-should-we-seek-gifts/): Should we seek gifts from God, or is that presumption dressed up as devotion?
- [Can Spiritual Gifts Be Misused?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09069-can-gifts-be-misused/): Anyone who has spent time in church life knows that misused gifts are not a theoretical problem. They are a pastoral one.
- [How Do We Discover Our Spiritual Gifts?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09068-how-do-we-discover-our-gifts/): Few questions reach me more often than this one: how do I work out what my spiritual gifts actually are?
- [What is consubstantiation?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09066-what-is-consubstantiation/): Question 09066.
- [What is transubstantiation?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09065-what-is-transubstantiation/): Question 09065.
- [Is communion just symbolic?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09064-is-communion-just-symbolic/): Question 09064.
- [What does communion mean?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09063-what-does-communion-mean/): Question 09063.
- [What are the ordinances?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09057-what-are-the-ordinances/): Question 09057.
- [What is excommunication?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09056-what-is-excommunication/): Question 09056.
- [What is church discipline?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09055-what-is-church-discipline/): Question 09055.
- [What about the house church movement?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09054-what-about-the-house-church-movement/): Question 09054.
- [Should Christians attend church?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09053-should-christians-attend-church/): Question 09053.
- [What is church membership?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09052-what-is-church-membership/): Question 09052.
- [What is the role of deacons?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09050-what-is-the-role-of-deacons/): Question 09050.
- [What is the role of elders?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09049-what-is-the-role-of-elders/): Question 09049.
- [What is church government?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09048-what-is-church-government/): Question 09048.
- [What is the purpose of the Church?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09046-purpose-of-the-church/): Question 09046.
- [When did the Church begin?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09043-when-did-the-church-begin/): Question 09043.
- [What is the autonomy of the local church?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09039-autonomy-of-the-local-church/): Question 09039.
- [What is the difference between the church and the kingdom of God?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09038-difference-between-church-and-kingdom-of-god/): Question 09038.
- [What is a church covenant?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09036-what-is-a-church-covenant/): Question 09036.
- [Should churches be involved in politics?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09035-should-churches-be-involved-in-politics/): Question 09035.
- [What is the church's relationship to the state?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09034-church-relationship-to-the-state/): Question 09034.
- [Can online church replace physical attendance?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09033-can-online-church-replace-physical-attendance/): Question 09033.
- [What is parachurch ministry?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09032-what-is-parachurch-ministry/): Question 09032.
- [What is church planting?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09031-what-is-church-planting/): Question 09031.
- [When should you leave a church?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09029-when-should-you-leave-a-church/): Question 09029.
- [What is expository preaching?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09028-what-is-expository-preaching/): Question 09028.
- [What distinguishes a parachurch organisation from a church?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09099-parachurch-organisation-vs-church/): What distinguishes a parachurch organisation from a church?
- [How often should a church observe communion?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09097-new-testament-frequency-of-communion/): How often should a church observe communion? Weekly, monthly, quarterly, or whenever the diary allows?
- [What role do deacons actually fill in the New Testament?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09096-what-does-the-new-testament-say-about-deacons/): Ask ten churches to describe the role of deacons and you will get ten different answers, most of them shaped by whatever that particular congregation has always done rather than by anything in the New Testament.
- [Does Scripture prescribe an ideal church size?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09095-what-does-scripture-say-about-church-size/): Whenever church size comes up in conversation, somebody always wants a number. Is a congregation of forty too small to be viable?
- [What is presbyterian church government?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09021-presbyterian-church-government/): Question 09021.
- [What is episcopal church government?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09020-episcopal-church-government/): Question 09020.
- [What is congregational church government?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09019-congregational-church-government/): Question 09019.
- [Are there apostles today?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09012-are-there-apostles-today/): Question 09012.
- [How should pastors be trained and called?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09011-how-should-pastors-be-trained-and-called/): Question 09011.
- [What is ordination?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09010-what-is-ordination/): Question 09010.
- [What does it mean to break bread together?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09094-what-does-break-bread-mean-lords-supper-full-meal/): The phrase breaking bread appears often enough in the New Testament that people assume it always means the same thing, and that assumption causes a good deal of confusion about whether the Lord's Supper was originally a full meal.
- [Should a church ever partner with a government or state agency?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09093-should-a-church-partner-with-government-or-state-agency/): Questions about church and state partnership land on my desk more often than people might expect.
- [Should a Church Be Led by One Pastor or a Team of Elders?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09092-should-a-church-be-led-by-one-pastor-or-team-of-elders/): Whether a congregation should be led by one pastor or by a plural eldership is a question with more practical consequence than most people expect.
- [Is It Ever Right to Leave a Church, and How Should It Be Done?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q09091-is-it-ever-right-to-leave-a-church/): The decision to leave a church is one that most believers face at some point, and it is usually made badly.
- [What is discipleship?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11019-what-is-discipleship/): Question 11019.
- [How do we share the gospel?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11018-how-do-we-share-the-gospel/): Question 11018.
- [How do we make disciples?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11020-how-do-we-make-disciples/): Question 11020.
- [What Biblical guidance is there for single Christians on marriage?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11062-biblical-guidance-for-single-christians/): Question 11062.
- [Can Christians date non-Christians?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11061-can-christians-date-non-christians/): Question 11061.
- [What about soul ties?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11055-what-about-soul-ties/): Question 11055.
- [Why are prayers unanswered?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11049-why-are-prayers-unanswered/): Question 11049.
- [How does doctrine help me in times of suffering?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11073-how-does-doctrine-help-in-times-of-suffering/): Doctrine in suffering sounds, at first hearing, like the least useful thing on offer.
- [How do I balance doctrinal conviction with humility?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11074-balance-doctrinal-conviction-humility/): Doctrinal conviction and humility are usually presented as rivals, as though a man could have one only by giving ground on the other.
- [What Bible reading plan should I use?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11075-what-bible-reading-plan-should-i-use/): A Bible reading plan is a tool, and like every tool it is only as good as the job you are asking it to do.
- [How much time should I spend reading the Bible?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11076-how-much-time-reading-bible/): Daily Bible reading raises a question of quantity almost immediately, and the question is usually asked with a slightly guilty face. How long is long enough?
- [What is the difference between cheap grace and costly grace?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7064-what-is-the-difference-between-cheap-grace-and-costly-grace/): Cheap grace is a phrase coined by Dietrich Bonhoeffer to describe grace that has been stripped of any consequence, and costly grace is his term for the real thing.
- [Is re-dedication different from being saved again?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7061-is-re-dedication-different-from-being-saved-again/): Christian re-dedication is not being saved again, and the difference matters more than it might sound.
- [What is a backslider and can they return to God?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7060-what-is-a-backslider-and-can-they-return-to-god/): A backsliding Christian is a believer who has drifted away from close fellowship with God, and yes, they can come back.
- [What about Lot offering his daughters?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60086-lot-offering-his-daughters-genesis-19/): Question 60086.
- [What is meant by you will be given whatever you ask for in my name?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11077-whatever-you-ask-in-my-name/): Asking in my name is one of the most quoted promises Jesus ever made and one of the most consistently mishandled.
- [What is meant by speak to this mountain?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11078-what-is-meant-by-speak-to-this-mountain/): Speaking to this mountain has become one of the standard phrases of a certain kind of Christian teaching, usually meaning that a believer may address a problem out loud and command it to shift.
- [Why is there no thanksgiving in the Lord’s Prayer?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11079-why-is-there-no-thanksgiving-in-the-lords-prayer/): The Lord’s Prayer contains adoration, submission, petition, confession and a request for protection, and somebody always notices that it contains no thanksgiving.
- [Why pursue holiness if already sanctified?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q7085-why-pursue-holiness-if-already-sanctified/): If God has already set me apart, why pursue holiness at all?
- [Should Christians keep Jewish festivals?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11044-should-christians-keep-jewish-festivals/): Question 11044.
- [Should we worship on Saturday or Sunday?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11092-should-we-worship-on-saturday-or-sunday/): Saturday or Sunday is a question that arrives in two very different tones.
- [What is the role of the law for Christians today?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11089-role-of-the-law-for-christians/): The law of Christ is the phrase Paul uses when he wants to say that a believer released from the Mosaic covenant is not therefore released from moral obligation.
- [Is modern Israel prophetically significant?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10065-is-modern-israel-prophetically-significant/): Question 10065.
- [What happens to unbelievers who die during the Millennium?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10197-unbelievers-who-die-during-the-millennium/): Question 10197.
- [What is the Land (Palestinian) covenant?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10008-what-is-the-land-covenant/): Question 10008.
- [What is the Abrahamic covenant and why is it significant for eschatology?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10005-abrahamic-covenant-and-eschatology/): Question 10005.
- [How many dispensations are there in the Bible?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10002-how-many-dispensations-are-there/): Question 10002.
- [What is the abomination of desolation?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10031-what-is-the-abomination-of-desolation/): Question 10031.
- [Who are the two witnesses in Revelation 11?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10030-who-are-the-two-witnesses-in-revelation-11/): Question 10030.
- [What is the partial rapture theory?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10028-what-is-the-partial-rapture-theory/): Question 10028.
- [What is the pre-wrath rapture view?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10027-what-is-the-pre-wrath-rapture-view/): Question 10027.
- [What is midtribulationism?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10025-what-is-midtribulationism/): Question 10025.
- [What is pretribulationism?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10024-what-is-pretribulationism/): Question 10024.
- [What is the difference between the rapture and the Second Coming?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10023-difference-between-rapture-and-second-coming/): Question 10023.
- [Is the rapture taught in Scripture?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10022-is-the-rapture-taught-in-scripture/): Question 10022.
- [What is the apostasy or falling away before Christ returns?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10085-what-is-the-apostasy-before-christs-return/): Question 10085.
- [What is the man of lawlessness (man of sin)?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10084-what-is-the-man-of-lawlessness/): Question 10084.
- [What is the restrainer in 2 Thessalonians 2?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10083-what-is-the-restrainer-in-2-thessalonians-2/): Question 10083.
- [What is the doctrine of imminence?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10081-what-is-the-doctrine-of-imminence/): Question 10081.
- [Why is date setting for Jesus' return wrong?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10080-why-is-date-setting-for-christs-return-wrong/): Question 10080.
- [Can we know when Jesus will return?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10079-can-we-know-when-jesus-will-return/): Question 10079.
- [What are the bowl (vial) judgements in Revelation?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10034-what-are-the-bowl-vial-judgments-in-revelation/): Question 10034.
- [What are the seal judgements in Revelation?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10032-what-are-the-seal-judgments-in-revelation/): Question 10032.
- [What is the difference between historic and dispensational premillennialism?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10094-historic-vs-dispensational-premillennialism/): Question 10094.
- [What role does Jerusalem play in end times events?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10093-role-of-jerusalem-in-end-times-events/): Question 10093.
- [What is the significance of the temple in end times prophecy?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10091-significance-of-the-temple-in-end-times-prophecy/): Question 10091.
- [Is the Church promised deliverance from God's wrath?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10090-is-the-church-promised-deliverance-from-gods-wrath/): Question 10090.
- [What is the wrath of God in the tribulation?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10089-wrath-of-god-in-the-tribulation/): Question 10089.
- [What are the four horsemen of the Apocalypse?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10088-four-horsemen-of-the-apocalypse/): Question 10088.
- [What is the meaning of one taken, one left in Matthew 24?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10087-meaning-of-one-taken-one-left-matthew-24/): Question 10087.
- [What will happen to children at the rapture?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10086-what-will-happen-to-children-at-the-rapture/): Question 10086.
- [What is futurism in biblical interpretation?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10137-what-is-futurism-in-biblical-interpretation/): Question 10137.
- [What is preterism?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10136-what-is-preterism/): Question 10136.
- [What is the relationship between the Millennium and the eternal state?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10132-relationship-between-millennium-and-eternal-state/): Question 10132.
- [What is the blessed hope?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10153-what-is-the-blessed-hope/): Question 10153.
- [What is the significance of the seven churches in Revelation?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10148-what-is-the-significance-of-the-seven-churches-in-revelation/): Question 10148.
- [What is the "already/not yet" tension in Scripture?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10145-what-is-the-already-not-yet-tension-in-scripture/): Question 10145.
- [What is inaugurated eschatology?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10144-what-is-inaugurated-eschatology/): Question 10144.
- [What is realised eschatology?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10143-what-is-realised-eschatology/): Question 10143.
- [Is the kingdom of God present or future?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10142-is-the-kingdom-of-god-present-or-future/): Question 10142.
- [How does Elam fit into the last days?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10199-how-does-elam-fit-into-the-last-days/): Question 10199.
- [What form does worship take in the Millennium, and are Ezekiel's sacrifices memorial?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10198-millennial-worship-and-ezekiels-sacrifices/): Question 10198.
- [How does the new covenant operate during the Millennium?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10196-new-covenant-in-the-millennium/): Question 10196.
- [When are fallen angels judged in relation to the Millennium?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10195-judgement-of-fallen-angels/): Question 10195.
- [What is the prophetic significance of Israel becoming a nation in 1948?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10162-prophetic-significance-of-israel-becoming-nation-1948/): Question 10162.
- [Will believers have different levels of millennial authority based on faithfulness?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10193-different-levels-of-millennial-authority/): Question 10193.
- [Why does anyone rebel after a thousand years of Christ's visible rule?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10192-why-does-anyone-rebel-after-the-millennium/): Question 10192.
- [Has Revelation already happened?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10187-has-revelation-already-happened/): Question 10187.
- [Has the Church replaced Israel in God's purposes?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10009-has-the-church-replaced-israel/): Question 10009.
- [What is the kingdom of God?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10140-what-is-the-kingdom-of-god/): Question 10140.
- [What is the New Covenant and how does it relate to Israel and the Church?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10007-new-covenant-israel-and-the-church/): Question 10007.
- [Were there Jews in the land before the State of Israel?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10170-were-there-jews-in-the-land-before-israel/): Question 10170.
- [What is the Davidic covenant?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10006-what-is-the-davidic-covenant/): Question 10006.
- [What is progressive dispensationalism?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10004-what-is-progressive-dispensationalism/): Question 10004.
- [What is the difference between dispensational theology and covenant theology?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10003-dispensational-vs-covenant-theology/): Question 10003.
- [What is dispensationalism?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10001-what-is-dispensationalism/): Question 10001.
- [What is posttribulationism?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10026-what-is-posttribulationism/): Question 10026.
- [What are the signs of the times?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10021-what-are-the-signs-of-the-times/): Question 10021.
- [What are the trumpet judgements in Revelation?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10033-what-are-the-trumpet-judgments-in-revelation/): Question 10033.
- [What is premillennialism?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10050-what-is-premillennialism/): Question 10050.
- [What is the rapture?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10042-what-is-the-rapture/): Why we should believe in the 'Rapture' (from the Latin for 'caught up')
- [What are the covenants with Israel?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10068-what-are-the-covenants-with-israel/): Question 10068.
- [Who are Gog and Magog in Revelation 20? Are they different to the Ezekiel ones?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10096-who-are-gog-and-magog-in-revelation-20/): Question 10096.
- [Does God still have a plan for Israel?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10067-does-god-still-have-a-plan-for-israel/): Question 10067.
- [What happens at the end of the millennium?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10095-what-happens-at-the-end-of-the-millennium/): Question 10095.
- [Will we remember our earthly life in heaven?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10127-will-we-remember-our-earthly-life-in-heaven/): Question 10127.
- [Will we eat and drink in heaven?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10126-will-we-eat-and-drink-in-heaven/): Question 10126.
- [What does it mean that God will dwell with His people?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10125-what-does-it-mean-god-will-dwell-with-his-people/): Question 10125.
- [Why is there no temple in the New Jerusalem?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10124-why-is-there-no-temple-in-the-new-jerusalem/): Question 10124.
- [Why is there no sea in the new earth?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/10123-why-is-there-no-sea-in-the-new-earth/): Question 10123.
- [What is Tartarus?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10122-what-is-tartarus/): Question 10122.
- [What is Hades?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10120-what-is-hades/): Question 10120.
- [What is Sheol?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10119-what-is-sheol/): Question 10119.
- [What is Abraham's bosom?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10118-what-is-abrahams-bosom/): Question 10118.
- [What is historicism in biblical interpretation?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10138-what-is-historicism-in-biblical-interpretation/): Question 10138.
- [Will the earth be renewed or replaced?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10133-will-the-earth-be-renewed-or-replaced/): Question 10133.
- [What does it mean that we will reign with Christ?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10131-what-does-it-mean-that-we-will-reign-with-christ/): Question 10131.
- [What is the tree of life in Revelation 22?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10130-what-is-the-tree-of-life-in-revelation-22/): Question 10130.
- [What is the river of life in Revelation 22?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10129-what-is-the-river-of-life-in-revelation-22/): Question 10129.
- [How can heaven be joyful if loved ones are in hell?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10128-how-can-heaven-be-joyful-if-loved-ones-are-in-hell/): Question 10128.
- [How does the Spirit make Scripture come alive during personal devotional reading?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4189-spirit-in-devotional-reading/): There is a world of difference between reading the Bible and meeting God in it, and that difference is the whole point when we ask how the Spirit makes Scripture come alive during devotional reading.
- [What is the Spirit's role in the believer's resurrection and entry into glory?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4199-spirit-and-resurrection/): The bond between the Spirit and resurrection is one of the richest truths the New Testament holds out to us, and it answers a question that sits quietly in the heart of every believer.
- [What about headship and submission?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11105-headship-and-submission/): Few phrases in Christian teaching have done as much good and as much harm as headship and submission.
- [What are the roles of husband and wife?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11104-roles-of-husband-and-wife/): What Scripture asks of a husband and wife has become one of the hardest subjects to discuss calmly, partly because the words have been abused and partly because most people arrive at the conversation with a picture already in their heads.
- [How do I know God's will?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11005-how-do-i-know-gods-will/): Question 11005.
- [Is divorce ever permitted?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11007-is-divorce-ever-permitted/): Question 11007.
- [What about dating and marriage?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11006-what-about-dating-and-marriage/): Question 11006.
- [If Christ Fulfilled the Law, Why Temple Sacrifices?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07199-temple-sacrifices-after-the-cross/): If Jesus fulfilled the law, why did Paul still offer temple sacrifices in Acts 21, why will sacrifices return in the millennial temple, and why do certain things carry on from one age to the next?
- [What is fasting?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11002-what-is-fasting/): Question 11002.
- [How should Christians read the Bible?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11001-how-should-christians-read-the-bible/): Question 11001.
- [How should Christians pray?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11000-how-should-christians-pray/): Question 11000.
- [How do I know if something is a sin?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11088-how-do-i-know-if-something-is-a-sin/): Discerning sin is one of the ordinary tasks of the Christian life, and it is a good deal harder than the lists suggest.
- [What did Jesus mean by cut off your hand if it causes you to sin?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q06059-if-your-right-hand-causes-you-to-sin-cut-it-off/): When Jesus says of the offending hand, cut it off, He is not opening a clinic.
- [What does the Bible say about work?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11009-what-does-the-bible-say-about-work/): Question 11009.
- [What is evangelism?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11017-what-is-evangelism/): Question 11017.
- [What about remarriage?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11008-what-about-remarriage/): Question 11008.
- [How does the Spirit minister to believers in depression?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4185-the-spirit-in-depression/): I want to write about the Spirit in depression with great care, because this is a subject where careless words from a pulpit have wounded many sincere believers.
- [What about gambling?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q12031-what-about-gambling/): Christians and gambling is a question that cannot be settled by looking up a verse, because there is no verse.
- [Why is dispensationalism important to me?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10203-why-dispensationalism-matters-to-me/): Question 10203.
- [Is sex before marriage wrong?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q12057-is-sex-before-marriage-wrong/): Question 12057.
- [How does the Holy Spirit sanctify us?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4021-how-the-spirit-sanctifies/): How does the Spirit sanctifies us? I love the question because the answer takes us straight to the heart of how God changes a person.
- [Is spanking biblical?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q12056-is-spanking-biblical/): Question 12056.
- [What is the Biblical View on Family Planning and Reproductive Choices?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q12054-family-planning-and-reproductive-choices/): Question 12054.
- [What about therapy and counselling?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11102-what-about-therapy-and-counselling/): Therapy and counselling make some Christians uneasy, and I understand why.
- [What about mental illness?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11100-what-about-mental-illness/): Mental illness is one of the areas where the church has too often made things worse, and I say that as a pastor who has watched it happen.
- [Should we expect persecution?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11099-should-we-expect-persecution/): Should we expect persecution, or is that something that happens to Christians in other countries and other centuries?
- [Why do Christians suffer?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11098-why-do-christians-suffer/): Christian suffering is the question that empties pews and fills prayer meetings, and anyone who answers it briskly has probably not sat long enough with somebody in the middle of it.
- [What Is the Difference Between Formal and Dynamic Equivalence in Bible Translation?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1022-formal-and-dynamic-equivalence/): formal equivalence and dynamic equivalence describe two competing philosophies of Bible translation, and understanding the difference will genuinely change how you read the footnotes and prefaces of whatever translation currently sits on your shelf.
- [Why Are Some Old Testament Passages Written in Aramaic?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1160-why-is-part-of-the-old-testament-in-aramaic/): Aramaic passages appear in the Old Testament at a handful of specific points, and the first time someone notices this in Daniel or Ezra, they usually assume it is a copying error rather than a deliberate feature of the text.
- [Why Was the New Testament Written in Koine Greek?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1161-why-was-the-new-testament-written-in-greek/): Koine Greek was the language God chose to carry the New Testament to the world, not the Hebrew of Moses and the prophets, and not the Aramaic Jesus almost certainly spoke day to day.
- [What Is Concursive Inspiration?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1170-what-is-concursive-inspiration/): Concursive inspiration is the term theologians use for the way God produced Scripture through human authors without either overriding their personalities or leaving the outcome to human judgement alone.
- [How Do We Interpret Biblical Prophecy?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1164-how-do-we-interpret-biblical-prophecy/): Interpreting biblical prophecy rightly is, I think, one of the more neglected disciplines in the church today, and one of the most abused outside it.
- [How Do We Rightly Interpret Biblical Parables?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1162-how-do-we-interpret-biblical-parables/): Biblical parables are, in my experience, some of the most loved and most misread passages in the whole Bible, because readers are tempted to hunt for a hidden meaning behind every single detail rather than asking what one main point Jesus was actually making.
- [How Should We Read Old Testament Narrative?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1177-how-should-we-read-old-testament-narrative/): Old Testament narrative makes up a larger share of Scripture than any other single genre, the accounts of Abraham and Sarah, Joseph and his brothers, the exodus from Egypt, David and Saul, Elijah and the kings of Israel, and yet it may be the genre most often misread in ordinary Bible study.
- [What Is the Muratorian Fragment?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1175-what-is-the-muratorian-fragment/): The Muratorian fragment is one of the earliest surviving pieces of direct evidence for how the church recognised the New Testament canon, and it answers a question I am asked often, sometimes by sincere believers who have absorbed a popular but mistaken idea from films and bestselling novels: was the list of New Testament books decided late, by the vote of a powerful council centuries after the apostles, quietly suppressing other equally valid gospels?
- [How Should We Read Hebrew Poetry?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1029-how-should-we-read-hebrew-poetry/): Hebrew poetry does not work the way English poetry does, and readers who go looking for rhyme or a regular metre come away thinking the Psalms and Proverbs are simply prose with unusual line breaks scattered through them.
- [How Should We Read New Testament Epistles?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1178-how-should-we-read-new-testament-epistles/): New Testament epistles make up a large part of the New Testament, thirteen from Paul alone, plus further letters from James, Peter, John, Jude and the writer to the Hebrews, and they contain some of the richest doctrinal teaching in all of Scripture, alongside deeply practical instruction for ordinary Christian living.
- [What Translation Philosophy Lies Behind the ESV?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1023-translation-philosophy-behind-the-esv/): The ESV translation philosophy is worth understanding on its own terms rather than assuming it works exactly the same way as every other modern English Bible, because the ESV was built around a deliberate, clearly stated set of translation commitments from the outset.
- [What Was the Antiochene School of Biblical Interpretation?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1182-what-was-the-antiochene-school-of-biblical-interpretation/): The Antiochene school of biblical interpretation stands as the great historical counterweight to the allegorical excesses I described in What Was the Alexandrian School of Biblical Interpretation?, and its influence on how careful readers approach Scripture still matters today.
- [What Was the Alexandrian School of Biblical Interpretation?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1181-what-was-the-alexandrian-school-of-biblical-interpretation/): The Alexandrian school of biblical interpretation shaped how the early church read Scripture for centuries, and understanding it helps explain why so much older commentary reads so differently from the careful, literal-grammatical-historical method I use and teach today.
- [How Did Jesus Interpret the Old Testament?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1188-how-did-jesus-interpret-the-old-testament/): If we want a model for biblical interpretation, we could have no better teacher than the Lord Jesus himself.
- [How Does John's Gospel Relate to the Synoptic Gospels?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1187-how-does-john-s-gospel-relate-to-the-synoptic-gospels/): Read Matthew, Mark and Luke one after another and you soon notice they are telling one connected story, which is exactly why scholars group them together as the Synoptic Gospels.
- [What Is the Book of Jasher Mentioned in Joshua and 2 Samuel?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1185-what-is-the-book-of-jasher-mentioned-in-joshua-and-2-samuel/): What is the book of Jasher mentioned in Joshua and 2 Samuel, and should its brief, tantalising appearances in Scripture make us curious about a lost inspired text?
- [How Did the Apostles Use Old Testament Prophecy?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1189-how-did-the-apostles-use-old-testament-prophecy/): The apostles' handling of prophetic fulfilment can look bewildering to a modern reader trained to expect a strict one to one correspondence between a prediction and its outcome.
- [How Can Christians Study the Bible Without Knowing Greek or Hebrew?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1180-how-can-christians-study-the-bible-without-knowing-greek-or-hebrew/): Can an ordinary believer genuinely study the Bible well without ever learning a word of Greek or Hebrew?
- [How Should We Read Biblical Wisdom Literature?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1179-how-should-we-read-biblical-wisdom-literature/): Wisdom literature occupies a strange and wonderful middle section of the Old Testament, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon, and it is read badly more often than almost any other part of Scripture, precisely because readers bring the wrong expectations to it.
- [Is it antisemitic to say the Jews killed Jesus?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q60202-jews-killed-jesus/): Question 60202.
- [In What Sense Does the Mosaic Law Speak Today?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q01166-mosaic-law-still-speaks-to-christians-2/): To ask in what sense the Mosaic law still speaks to Christians today is to ask one of the most practical questions in the whole of biblical theology, because the answer shapes how we read more than half of our Bibles.
- [When Were the Four Gospels Written?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1152-when-were-the-four-gospels-written/): Question 01152.
- [Was Isaiah Written by One Author or Three?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1144-was-isaiah-written-by-one-author-or-three/): Isaiah authorship became a battleground topic the moment nineteenth century scholars noticed that chapters 40 through 66 read differently in tone, vocabulary, and historical setting from chapters 1 through 39, and concluded that at least two, and often three, separate writers must be responsible for the finished book we call Isaiah.
- [What Is the Evidence for Mosaic Authorship of the Pentateuch?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1143-evidence-for-mosaic-authorship-of-the-pentateuch/): Mosaic authorship of the first five books of the Bible is one of those questions that sounds academic until you realise how much rests on it.
- [Who Wrote 2 Peter? The Case for Petrine Authorship](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1158-who-wrote-2-peter/): Petrine authorship of Second Peter has taken more scholarly fire than almost any other claim in the New Testament, and I think the letter deserves better than the suspicion it usually receives.
- [The Case for Pauline Authorship of All Thirteen Letters](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1155-did-paul-write-all-thirteen-letters/): Question 01155.
- [What Are the Bodmer Papyri?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1174-what-are-the-bodmer-papyri/): The Bodmer papyri are, alongside the Chester Beatty collection, among the most significant early witnesses we possess to the text of the New Testament, and together these two collections have done more than almost anything else in the last century to close the historical gap between the apostles and our earliest substantial manuscript evidence.
- [What Are the Chester Beatty Papyri?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1171-what-are-the-chester-beatty-papyri/): The Chester Beatty papyri are among the earliest and most significant witnesses we possess to the text of the New Testament and the Greek Old Testament, and I want to walk through what they are, how they were found, and why they matter so much to anyone asking whether the Bible we read today faithfully preserves what was originally written.
- [What Is the Synoptic Problem?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1078-what-is-the-synoptic-problem/): Question 1078. The synoptic problem is the scholarly puzzle of why Matthew, Mark, and Luke overlap so closely in wording, order, and even sentence structure in places, and yet differ from each other in the details each writer chooses to include or leave out.
- [What Is the Book of Enoch, and Is It Scripture?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1184-what-is-the-book-of-enoch-and-is-it-scripture/): What is the book of Enoch, and is it Scripture?
- [When Was the Book of Daniel Written?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1145-when-was-the-book-of-daniel-written/): The dating of Daniel is, more than almost any other Old Testament question, a straightforward test case for whether you believe God can tell the future.
- [How should Christians react to gender dysphoria?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11103-gender-dysphoria-compassion/): Gender dysphoria is a subject on which the church has managed to be both too loud and too silent, and the people caught in the middle of it are suffering.
- [Should Christians be using preferred pronouns?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q12026-preferred-pronouns-christian-perspective/): Preferred pronouns have turned an ordinary part of speech into a test of allegiance, and believers are being asked to take that test at work, at university and increasingly in the family.
- [What about sexual purity?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q12024-what-about-sexual-purity/): Sexual purity has become an embarrassing phrase in some circles, partly because it has been handled badly.
- [Should Christians Obey the Levitical Law?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07109-should-christians-obey-levitical-law/): The question of whether Christians should obey the Levitical law comes up whenever a believer notices the rules about diet, clothing, festivals, and ritual purity in Leviticus and wonders if they still apply.
- [How Do We Apply Old Testament Law Today?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07042-how-apply-old-testament-law-today/): To ask how we apply Old Testament law today is to ask one of the most practical questions a Bible reader faces, because so much of Scripture is law and yet we plainly do not keep all of it.
- [What Does It Mean Jesus Is Our High Priest?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q3047-what-does-it-mean-jesus-is-our-high-priest/): To say that Jesus is our High Priest is to say that He is the one who represents us before God and brings God to us, the mediator who deals with our sin and keeps us in fellowship with the Father.
- [What about pornography?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q12023-what-about-pornography/): The sin of pornography is the one I am asked about most often in private and preached about least often in public, and that imbalance tells you something.
- [What about situational ethics?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q12002-what-about-situational-ethics/): Situational ethics is the view that no act is right or wrong in itself, and that the loving thing in the particular circumstances is the only real moral rule.
- [Can Christians marry non-Christians?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11060-can-christians-marry-non-christians/): Question 11060.
- [What Is the Gospel of Thomas?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1186-what-is-the-gospel-of-thomas/): What is the Gospel of Thomas, and why does it keep surfacing in popular articles and documentaries about the "hidden" or "suppressed" gospels?
- [Should we pray for the dead?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11043-should-we-pray-for-the-dead/): Question 11043.
- [How Does Scripture Function in Evangelism?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1088-how-does-scripture-function-in-evangelism/): Scripture in evangelism is not a set of proof texts we reach for after we have already made our own case.
- [What about contraception?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q12015-what-about-contraception/): Birth control is one of those subjects on which Christians have grown noticeably quieter, and I think that silence has left couples to work it out alone with very little help.
- [What about IVF?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q12016-what-about-ivf/): IVF treatment is a subject I approach carefully, because behind almost every question about it is a couple carrying a grief that most people around them know nothing about.
- [What does the Bible say about homosexuality?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q12017-what-does-bible-say-about-homosexuality/): Homosexual practice is the subject on which the church in the West is most frequently accused of cruelty, and it is the subject on which we most often deserve at least part of the accusation.
- [What about transgenderism?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q12019-what-about-transgenderism/): Transgender identity is not really a question about pronouns, bathrooms or sport, though those are where the arguments usually happen.
- [What Books are Recommended for Pastors?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11026-recommended-books-for-pastors/): Question 11026.
- [What about cremation vs burial?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q12013-cremation-vs-burial/): Cremation and burial is one of those questions that arrives at the worst possible moment.
- [Should we memorise Scripture?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11016-should-we-memorise-scripture/): Question 11016.
- [What about tattoos?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q12004-what-about-tattoos/): Christians and tattoos is a subject that produces a good deal of confident assertion and rather little careful reading.
- [What about entertainment?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q12036-what-about-entertainment/): Question 12036.
- [What about alcohol?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q12003-what-about-alcohol/): Few subjects generate more heat and less light among British believers than Christians and alcohol.
- [Should Christians attend gay weddings?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q12059-should-christians-attend-gay-weddings/): Question 12059.
- [What about cohabiting before marriage?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q12058-what-about-cohabiting-before-marriage/): Question 12058.
- [Is it biblical to love the sinner and hate the sin?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q12064-love-the-sinner-hate-the-sin-analysis/): Question 12064.
- [What about alternative medicine?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11097-what-about-alternative-medicine/): The phrase alternative medicine covers such an enormous range of things that treating it as one subject is the first mistake most of us make.
- [Should Christians use doctors?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11096-should-christians-use-doctors/): Should Christians use doctors, or does going to the surgery show a shortage of faith?
- [Should Christians take medication?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11101-should-christians-take-medication/): Should Christians take medication, particularly the sort that works on the mind?
- [What is biblical marriage?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q12010-what-is-biblical-marriage/): Biblical marriage is not a religious variation on a general human institution.
- [What about singleness?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11106-what-about-singleness/): Christian singleness is a subject most churches handle badly, and I include myself in that criticism.
- [Are there any 'white lies'?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q12009-are-there-any-white-lies/): White lies are so woven into ordinary life that most of us have never stopped to examine them. "You look wonderful in that." "The meal was lovely."
- [What about lying?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q12008-what-about-lying/): The sin of lying looks like the easiest ethical question in the Bible. God says do not lie, so do not lie. Case closed.
- [What about self-defence?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q12007-what-about-self-defence/): Biblical self-defence stops being an abstract question the moment you hear glass breaking downstairs at two in the morning.
- [What about war?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q12006-what-about-war/): Just war thinking has been the settled position of most Christians for something like sixteen centuries, and yet I find that very few believers could tell you what it actually claims.
- [What about capital punishment?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q12005-what-about-capital-punishment/): Capital punishment is one of those questions where sincere believers land in different places, and I want to say that plainly before I say anything else.
- [How do we make moral decisions?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q12001-how-do-we-make-moral-decisions/): Most moral decisions a Christian faces are not the dramatic ones.
- [What is Christian ethics?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q12000-what-is-christian-ethics/): Christian ethics is the study of how followers of Jesus ought to live, and that sounds dull until you notice that almost every difficult decision you will make this year falls under it.
- [What is Preaching versus Teaching?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11025-preaching-versus-teaching/): Question 11025.
- [What does it mean to be a disciple?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11024-what-it-means-to-be-a-disciple/): Question 11024.
- [What is the Great Commission?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11023-what-is-the-great-commission/): Question 11023.
- [When we say 'all Israel will be saved' what do we mean?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10108-when-we-say-all-israel-will-be-saved-what-do-we-mean/): Question 10108.
- [What is missions?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11021-what-is-missions/): Question 11021.
- [The Discipline of Silence: A Biblical Guide](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11109-the-discipline-of-silence/): The discipline of silence is the deliberate practice of quieting both our surroundings and our own restless talking so that we can attend to God and to His Word without the constant noise that fills ordinary life.
- [What Are the Spiritual Disciplines?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11108-spiritual-disciplines/): The spiritual disciplines are the ordinary, repeated practices through which believers place themselves in the way of God’s grace so that they may grow to know and love Him more.
- [What does the Bible say about parenting?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11107-what-does-bible-say-about-parenting/): Biblical parenting is a phrase that has sold a great many books, most of which contain considerably more method than the Bible does.
- [The Shema: Does 'The LORD Is One' Deny the Trinity?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q2116-the-shema/): The Shema is Israel's great confession of faith, recited morning and evening by devout Jews for three thousand years, and it stands at the head of every serious conversation about God's oneness: "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one" (Deuteronomy 6:4).
- [Oaks of Mamre: Who Appeared to Abraham?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q2115-oaks-of-mamre/): The oaks of Mamre witnessed one of the most remarkable afternoons in the Old Testament: the day God came to lunch.
- [Who Wrestled with Jacob at Peniel?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q2114-wrestled-with-jacob/): The figure who wrestled with Jacob at Peniel is introduced with deliberate mystery: "And Jacob was left alone.
- [Shekinah Glory: The Dwelling Presence of God](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q2113-shekinah-glory/): The shekinah glory is the visible, radiant presence of God dwelling among His people - the cloud and fire and brightness that filled the tabernacle, settled on the temple, and made Israel unique among all the nations of the earth.
- [Pillar of Cloud and Fire: What Was It Really?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q2112-pillar-of-cloud/): The pillar of cloud and fire is one of the most striking sights in the entire Old Testament: a towering column that led two million people through a trackless wilderness for forty years, glowing like a furnace by night and standing like a banner by day.
- [Burning Bush: Who Spoke to Moses from the Flame?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q2111-burning-bush/): The burning bush is one of the most famous scenes in the whole Bible, yet ask who actually spoke to Moses from it and you will get a surprising variety of answers.
- [What Is a Christophany? Christ Before Bethlehem](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q2109-a-christophany/): A Christophany is an appearance of the Son of God before His incarnation - the eternal Christ showing Himself to people in the Old Testament, centuries before Bethlehem.
- [What Is a Theophany? A Bible Definition](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q2108-a-theophany/): A theophany is a visible appearance of God to human beings, and once you know the word you will start spotting them all over your Old Testament.
- [Eternity and Everlastingness: What Is the Difference?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q2107-eternity-and-everlastingness/): Eternity and everlastingness sound like two words for the same thing, and most of us use them interchangeably without a second thought.
- [Before Creation: Was There Ever a "Before"?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q2106-before-creation/): Was there a "before" before creation?
- [What are the major differences between pneumatology in the Reformed, charismatic, and dispensational traditions?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4071-doctrine-of-the-spirit-traditions/): When I am asked to compare the doctrine of the Spirit across the Reformed, charismatic and dispensational traditions, I always begin by reassuring people that the disagreements, real and important as they are, sit on top of a vast shared foundation.
- [What is the gift of administration?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4090-the-gift-of-administration/): People are sometimes genuinely surprised that the gift of administration appears in the Bible at all, as though spreadsheets and rotas and Spirit-given gifts belonged to two entirely different worlds.
- [What is the gift of helps and service?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4088-the-gift-of-helps/): I have a real and settled fondness for the gift of helps, because it is the gift that the church most takes for granted and could least possibly do without.
- [What is the gift of pastoring or shepherding?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4085-the-gift-of-pastoring/): When people ask me about the gift of pastoring, I always start with the picture buried right inside the word itself, because the word pastor simply means shepherd.
- ['Let Go and Let God': Is It Biblical?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4067-let-go-and-let-god-biblical/): Few slogans have travelled further or faster through Christian circles than let go and let God, and I am regularly asked whether it is actually biblical or just a comforting piece of folk wisdom.
- [What is the gift of teaching?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4064-the-gift-of-teaching/): Of all the gifts I could be asked about, the gift of teaching is one I hold especially dear, because it is the gift God has largely given to me, and I have watched it feed and steady His people over many years.
- [What are the 'works of the flesh' versus the 'fruit of the Spirit'?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4043-works-of-the-flesh-and-fruit/): In Galatians 5 Paul sets two lists side by side, the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit, and I cannot think of a passage anywhere that more honestly maps the daily battle of the Christian life.
- [What is the difference between the Spirit's work in the Old and New Testaments?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4030-the-spirits-work-old-and-new/): When I trace the Spirit’s work from the opening chapter of Genesis through to the book of Acts, I find one and the same Person at work throughout, and yet a real and glorious change in the way He works once Jesus is glorified.
- [Can a person reach a point where they can no longer respond to the gospel?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4084-point-of-no-return-gospel/): Few questions are as heavy as this one, and I never treat it lightly: is there a point of no return, a place where a person has so hardened themselves against God that they can no longer respond to the gospel at all?
- [What Is the Unction of the Holy One in 1 John 2:20?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4128-unction-of-the-holy-one/): Question 4128. The phrase "unction of the Holy One" appears in the King James Version of 1 John 2:20 ("But ye have an unction from the Holy One"), and it is a phrase that has lodged itself in Christian consciousness in a way that more modern translations of the same verse - "you have been anointed by the Holy One" (ESV) - have not quite replicated.
- [How Does the Spirit's Anointing Differ from the Spirit's Filling?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4127-spirits-anointing-vs-filling/): Question 4127. The Spirit's anointing is a phrase that is used very freely in contemporary Christian conversation, not always with a great deal of precision.
- [Is Martyrdom a Spiritual Gift?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4126-martyrdom-spiritual-gift/): Question 4126. The question of whether martyrdom is a spiritual gift - and whether there is a special grace for martyrdom - is one that requires both honest exegesis and pastoral care.
- [Is Singleness a Spiritual Gift?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4125-celibacy-spiritual-gift/): Question 4125. The question of whether celibacy is a spiritual gift tends to generate two opposite responses: either people dismiss it as a peculiarly Roman Catholic concern that has nothing to do with evangelical Christianity, or they embrace it so enthusiastically that they effectively make every unmarried Christian feel as though they must have a special supernatural calling to justify their marital status.
- [What Is the Gift of Leadership?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4124-gift-of-leadership/): Question 4124. The gift of leadership is one of those gifts about which there is both too much talk and too little clarity in the contemporary church.
- [What Is the Law of the Spirit?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4122-law-of-the-spirit/): Question 4122. The phrase "law of the Spirit" appears in one of the most important sentences Paul ever wrote.
- [What Is the Gift of Hospitality?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4115-gift-of-hospitality/): Question 4115. The gift of hospitality is one that sits interestingly between what we would normally classify as a spiritual gift and what Scripture presents as a universal Christian obligation.
- [What Is the Gift of Exhortation?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4112-gift-of-exhortation/): Question 4112. The gift of exhortation is one of the motivational gifts Paul lists in Romans 12, and it is worth spending some time on the Greek behind it before diving into what the gift actually looks like in practice.
- [What Is the Gift of Giving?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4110-gift-of-giving/): Question 4110. The gift of giving is one of those spiritual gifts that Christians sometimes speak about nervously, as though naming it might somehow absolve the rest of us of the responsibility to be generous.
- [What Is the Gift of Mercy?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4091-gift-of-mercy/): Question 4091. The gift of mercy is one of the spiritual gifts listed by Paul in Romans 12, and it is perhaps the easiest to overlook and the hardest to imitate without possessing it.
- [What Does It Mean That the Spirit Bears Witness?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4138-spirit-bears-witness-romans-8-16/): "The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God" (Romans 8:16).
- [What is the Spirit of Truth in John 14-16?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4137-spirit-of-truth-john-14/): Three times in the farewell discourse of Jesus, recorded in John 14-16, the Holy Spirit is called "the Spirit of truth."
- [What Does Jesus Mean by 'Another Helper' in John 14?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4136-another-helper-john-14/): "And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper" (John 14:16).
- [Rivers of Living Water: What John 7:38-39 Means](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4135-rivers-of-living-water-john-7/): "Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’" (John 7:38).
- [What is the Power of the Holy Spirit in Acts 1:8?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4134-power-of-acts-1-8/): The power of the Holy Spirit in Acts 1:8 is Jesus’s last commission before His ascension, and it is often misread.
- [Not by Might Nor by Power: Zechariah 4:6 Explained](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4133-not-by-might-nor-by-power/): "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts" (Zechariah 4:6).
- [What is the Valley of Dry Bones in Ezekiel 37?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4132-valley-of-dry-bones-ezekiel-37/): The valley of dry bones in Ezekiel 37 is one of the most dramatic and theologically charged visions in all of Scripture.
- [New Heart New Spirit: Ezekiel 36:26-27 Explained](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4131-ezekiel-36-new-heart-new-spirit/): The new heart and new spirit in Ezekiel 36 stand at the very heart of what the new covenant promises and the Spirit accomplishes.
- [What Does Joel 2:28-29 Say About the Spirit?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4130-joel-2-spirit-poured-out/): The Joel 2 Holy Spirit prophecy is one of the most significant in the entire Old Testament.
- [What is the Sevenfold Spirit in Isaiah 11:2?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4129-sevenfold-spirit-isaiah/): The sevenfold Spirit in Isaiah 11 is not a reference to seven separate spirits but to the Holy Spirit in the fullness of His Person and ministry, described through seven distinct dimensions of divine working.
- [Why is the Spirit symbolised by fire?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4148-spirit-as-fire/): The Spirit symbolised by fire is one of the most dramatic and recurring pictures in Scripture, reaching its most famous expression at Pentecost, where "divided tongues as of fire" appeared and rested on each of the believers gathered in the upper room (Acts 2:3).
- [Why is the Spirit symbolised by a dove?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4147-spirit-as-a-dove/): The Spirit symbolised by a dove is one of the most visually arresting pictures in the whole New Testament, appearing at the precise moment of Jesus' baptism when "the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him" (Matthew 3:16).
- [What are the names and titles of the Holy Spirit in Scripture?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4146-names-and-titles-of-the-holy-spirit/): The names and titles of the Holy Spirit in Scripture are far more numerous, and far more theologically loaded, than most believers realise, and working through them carefully is one of the best correctives I know to the modern tendency to treat the Spirit as a vague spiritual influence rather than the fully divine, fully personal third member of the Trinity.
- [What does 2 Corinthians 3:17 mean by "where the Spirit is, there is liberty"?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4145-liberty-of-the-spirit/): The liberty of the Spirit in 2 Corinthians 3:17 is the freedom Paul says belongs to everyone in whom the Holy Spirit dwells, a freedom from the old covenant's condemning, veiling, life-denying power, and from the despair of trying to please God through a law that could only ever expose sin without removing it.
- [What is the ministry of the Spirit in 2 Corinthians 3?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4144-ministry-of-the-spirit/): The ministry of the Spirit in 2 Corinthians 3 is Paul's description of the new covenant he has been entrusted to preach, a covenant written not on stone tablets but on human hearts by the Spirit of the living God, and one that produces life rather than condemnation.
- [What is the spiritual man and the natural man in 1 Corinthians 2?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4143-spiritual-man-and-natural-man/): The spiritual man and natural man in 1 Corinthians 2 are Paul's two categories for describing how human beings relate to the things of God, and the difference between them is not intelligence, education or moral effort but whether or not a person has the Holy Spirit.
- [What does the Greek tense of Ephesians 5:18 imply about the Spirit's filling?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4142-continuous-filling-of-the-spirit/): The continuous filling of the Spirit is exactly what Paul has in mind when he writes "be filled with the Spirit" in Ephesians 5:18, and the Greek grammar behind that command tells us something the English translation, on its own, can easily miss.
- [What does Galatians 3 mean by receiving the Spirit by hearing with faith?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4141-receiving-the-spirit-by-faith/): Receiving the Spirit by faith is the very first argument Paul reaches for when he wants to correct the Galatian churches, and he reaches for it because it settles the whole controversy in one stroke.
- [What is the Spirit of adoption in Romans 8:15?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4140-spirit-of-adoption/): The Spirit of adoption is Paul's name in Romans 8:15 for the Holy Spirit in His specific work of bringing us, as believers, into the felt reality of being God's own children rather than His frightened servants.
- [What is the groaning of the Spirit in Romans 8:26?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4139-groaning-of-the-spirit/): The groaning of the Spirit in Romans 8:26 is Paul's description of the Holy Spirit interceding for us with what he calls "groanings too deep for words", at exactly the point where our own prayers have run dry.
- [Why is the Holy Spirit symbolised by oil?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4150-spirit-symbolised-by-oil/): The Spirit symbolised by oil is one of the oldest pictures in the Bible, and it carries a weight that is easy to miss if we only think of oil as something for cooking or for soothing dry skin.
- [Why is the Holy Spirit symbolised by wind?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4149-spirit-symbolised-by-wind/): There is a reason the Spirit symbolised by wind runs all the way through the Bible, from the second verse of Genesis to the upper room at Pentecost, and it is no poetic accident.
- [What was the Lakeland Outpouring?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4158-the-lakeland-outpouring/): The Lakeland Outpouring was a series of nightly meetings held in Lakeland, Florida, in 2008, led by a travelling evangelist and broadcast widely over Christian television and the internet.
- [What was the Brownsville Revival?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4157-the-brownsville-revival/): The Brownsville Revival was a sustained season of intense meetings that began on Father's Day in 1995 at Brownsville Assembly of God in Pensacola, Florida, and continued for several years.
- [What was the Toronto Blessing?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4156-the-toronto-blessing/): The Toronto Blessing is the name given to a wave of unusual religious phenomena that began in 1994 at a church near Toronto airport and spread to thousands of congregations across the world.
- [How is blaspheming the Spirit different from speaking against the Son of Man?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4155-blasphemy-against-the-spirit/): This is one of the genuinely puzzling sayings of Jesus, and blasphemy against the Spirit seems at first to be ranked as worse than blasphemy against the Son himself.
- [How can a believer know they have not committed the unforgivable sin?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4154-fear-of-the-unforgivable-sin/): The fear of the unforgivable sin is one of the heaviest burdens I am ever asked to help carry, and it tends to settle on the most sensitive souls rather than the careless ones.
- [Can a Christian commit the unforgivable sin?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4153-commit-the-unforgivable-sin/): Can a true Christian commit the unforgivable sin?
- [What is the unforgivable sin against the Holy Spirit?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4152-the-unforgivable-sin/): Few questions arrive in a pastor's study carrying more fear than this one, and the unforgivable sin has tormented more tender consciences than almost any other phrase in the Bible.
- [Why is the Holy Spirit symbolised by water?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4151-spirit-symbolised-by-water/): The Spirit symbolised by water is a picture that would have spoken instantly to people who knew what it was to be thirsty.
- [What Is the Practice of Soaking Prayer?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4161-soaking-prayer/): Soaking prayer is a style of prayer that grew up in renewal and charismatic circles, in which a person lies down or sits quietly, often with gentle worship music playing, and simply rests in God’s presence for a long stretch without speaking much or asking for anything in particular.
- [What Is Grave Soaking in Charismatic Circles?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4160-grave-soaking/): Grave soaking, sometimes called grave sucking or mantle grabbing, is the practice in some charismatic circles of lying on or beside the grave of a famous dead preacher in order to soak up the anointing that supposedly still lingers there.
- [What Is the Holy Laughter Movement?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4159-holy-laughter-movement/): The holy laughter movement is the label attached to a wave of charismatic experience that surged through certain churches from the early 1990s onward, in which whole congregations would dissolve into prolonged, helpless laughter presented as a direct outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
- [How the Spirit Empowers Elders to Lead](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4168-spirit-empowers-elders/): The Holy Spirit empowers elders for the work of leading a local church, and the New Testament shows us how, in the appointing of overseers, in the gifts He gives them, and in the daily strength He supplies for a demanding task.
- [How Is Anointing Oil Used Biblically?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4167-anointing-oil-biblically/): Anointing oil runs right through the Bible, from the consecration of priests and kings in the Old Testament to the instruction in James that the elders anoint the sick with oil, and many believers are unsure what it actually means or whether the church should still use it.
- [The Pentecostal Doctrine of Initial Evidence](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4166-initial-evidence-tongues/): The doctrine of initial evidence is the classic Pentecostal teaching that speaking in tongues is the necessary first sign that a person has been baptised in the Holy Spirit, so that anyone who has not spoken in tongues has not yet received this baptism.
- [The Word of Faith View of the Holy Spirit](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4165-word-of-faith-spirit/): The Word of Faith movement is the stream of teaching, popularised through prosperity preachers and broadcast ministries, that treats faith as a creative force released by spoken words and treats the Holy Spirit largely as the power that makes this force work.
- [Kenneth Hagin's Teaching on the Holy Spirit](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4164-kenneth-hagin-holy-spirit/): Kenneth Hagin, who died in 2003, was the man more than any other who gave the Word of Faith movement its shape, and his teaching on the Holy Spirit has reached far beyond his own ministry into the assumptions of millions of charismatic believers.
- [What Was the Latter Rain Movement?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4163-latter-rain-movement/): The Latter Rain movement was a revival that broke out in 1948 in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, and although it was formally disowned by the main Pentecostal denominations within a few years, its ideas have proved remarkably durable and lie behind a great deal of what we see in charismatic circles today.
- [What Is Bethel Church's Pneumatology?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4162-bethel-church-pneumatology/): Bethel Church in Redding, California, has become one of the most influential charismatic ministries in the world, and its doctrine of the Holy Spirit shapes the worship, expectations, and practices of countless congregations far beyond its own walls.
- [The Spirit and Vocational Discernment](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4178-vocational-discernment/): How does the Holy Spirit guide a believer in vocational discernment, in those large decisions about what work to take up, where to live, and how to spend the one life God has given us?
- [The Spirit and Your Calling to Ministry](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4177-calling-to-ministry/): What is the Spirit's role in a person's calling to ministry, and how can anyone be sure that the call is from God rather than from their own ambition or a passing enthusiasm?
- [What Does 'Stir Up the Gift' Mean?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4176-stir-up-the-gift/): When Paul tells Timothy to stir up the gift that is in him, what exactly is he asking his young colleague to do?
- [Spiritual Gifts and the Laying On of Hands](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4175-laying-on-of-hands-gifts/): Can a believer today receive a spiritual gift through the laying on of hands, the way Timothy seems to have received something through Paul's hands?
- [Identifying Spiritual Gifts in a Believer](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4174-identifying-spiritual-gifts/): When it comes to identifying spiritual gifts, believers often reach first for a questionnaire, tick a few boxes, and come away with a printout telling them their top three gifts as though the Spirit could be diagnosed like a personality type.
- [Do Spiritual Gifts Change Over Time?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4173-do-spiritual-gifts-change/): Do spiritual gifts change over time, or once the Spirit gives a gift is it fixed for life like the colour of your eyes?
- [Can a Christian Have More Than One Gift?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4172-more-than-one-gift/): Can a Christian have more than one gift from the Holy Spirit, or are we each handed a single speciality and told to stay in our lane?
- [Spiritual Gifts and Talents: The Difference](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4171-spiritual-gifts-and-talents/): The difference between spiritual gifts and talents, and between both of those and a learned ability, is a question I am asked more often than almost any other in this whole area of the Spirit's work.
- [Spirit-Led Preaching vs Emotion-Led Preaching](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4170-spirit-led-preaching/): The difference between Spirit-led preaching and emotion-led preaching is one of the most practically important things a preacher can learn, and one of the easiest to get wrong.
- [The Holy Spirit and Ordination](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4169-holy-spirit-and-ordination/): The Holy Spirit and ordination are joined together in the New Testament far more closely than our tidy modern ceremonies sometimes let on.
- [How does the Spirit work through preaching to convert sinners?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4188-the-spirit-in-preaching/): Anyone who has preached for long comes to feel the weight of this question, because the work of the Spirit in preaching is the difference between words that only inform and words that actually save.
- [How does the Spirit comfort a dying believer in their final hours?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4187-comfort-a-dying-believer/): There is no hour in which the ministry of the Spirit is more precious than the last, and to ask how He will comfort a dying believer is to ask about the place where all our theology is finally tested.
- [How does the Spirit minister to believers in doubt?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4186-the-spirit-in-doubt/): The ministry of the Spirit in doubt is something I wish more Christians understood, because doubt frightens believers far more than it needs to.
- [What is the Holy Spirit's ministry to believers in wilderness seasons?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4184-spirit-in-wilderness-seasons/): Most believers, if they walk with God long enough, come to know what I call the dry places, and the ministry of the Spirit in wilderness seasons is one of the least understood and most needed truths in the Christian life.
- [How does the Spirit minister to believers in suffering?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4183-the-spirit-in-suffering/): When we talk about the Spirit in suffering, we are touching one of the most tender places in the Christian life, because suffering is where our theology either becomes real or falls apart.
- [How does the Spirit help the believer overcome a besetting sin?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4182-overcome-a-besetting-sin/): Almost every Christian I have ever pastored has had at least one sin that seems to cling closer than the rest, and the longing to overcome a besetting sin is one of the most painful and persistent struggles of the believing life.
- [What is the difference between being Spirit-led and being impulse-led?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4181-spirit-led-and-impulse-led/): The difference between being Spirit-led and impulse-led is one of the most practical things a Christian can learn, and one of the most commonly muddled.
- [How does the Spirit guide in marriage decisions?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4180-spirit-and-marriage-decisions/): When people ask me how the Spirit and marriage decisions relate, they usually want one of two things.
- [What is the relationship between the Spirit and the conscience?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4179-spirit-and-the-conscience/): Few questions touch daily Christian living as closely as the relationship between the Spirit and the conscience, because both of them speak to us from within and we do not always find it easy to tell their voices apart.
- [How is the Holy Spirit the primary missionary of the church?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4198-spirit-primary-missionary/): We talk a great deal about famous missionaries and almost never about the fact that the Holy Spirit is the primary missionary of the church, and I am convinced that this single omission has done more to confuse our thinking about mission than any other.
- [How can a church grieve the Holy Spirit corporately?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4197-church-grieve-the-spirit/): We usually think it is possible to grieve the Spirit only as individuals, in the privacy of our own hearts, but Paul's warning was written to a whole church and aimed at the way its members treated one another.
- [How does the Spirit produce love among believers?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4196-love-among-believers/): The love among believers that Jesus made the badge of His disciples is not something we work up by trying harder to be nice; it is fruit the Holy Spirit grows.
- [What does Philippians 2 mean by being of one spirit and one mind?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4195-one-spirit-and-one-mind/): When Paul calls the Philippians to be of one mind, he is not asking a roomful of different people to think identical thoughts, and a great deal of needless guilt has been laid on believers who assumed he was.
- [What does Paul mean by the unity of the Spirit in Ephesians 4:3?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4194-the-unity-of-the-spirit/): When Paul tells the Ephesians to be eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Ephesians 4:3), he hands the church one of its most precious and most misunderstood phrases.
- [How does the Spirit guard a local church from division?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4193-spirit-and-church-division/): Nothing wounds a congregation quite like church division, and nothing exposes how badly we need the Holy Spirit more clearly than the way a fellowship can tear itself apart over things that will not matter in a hundred years.
- [What is the Spirit's role in church discipline?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4192-spirit-and-church-discipline/): Few subjects make a congregation more uneasy than church discipline, and almost no one stops to ask what the Holy Spirit has to do with it.
- [What is the Spirit's role in believer's baptism?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4191-spirit-and-believers-baptism/): Ask most people what the Holy Spirit has to do with believer's baptism and they will picture the water and stop there, as though the Spirit were a spectator at the side of the pool.
- [What is the Spirit's role in the Lord's Supper?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q4190-spirit-and-the-lords-supper/): We rarely stop to ask what the Holy Spirit is doing at the Lord's Supper, and I think that is because we have quietly assumed He is not doing much.
- [How Do I Overcome Bitterness?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11175-overcoming-bitterness/): Question 11175.
- [What Is Reconciliation, and Is It Always Possible?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11174-biblical-reconciliation/): Question 11174.
- [How Do I Forgive Someone Who Has Not Asked for Forgiveness?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11173-forgiving-the-unrepentant/): Question 11173.
- [How Do I Apologise Well?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11172-biblical-apology/): Question 11172.
- [How Do I Respond When I Have Wronged Someone?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11171-making-amends/): Question 11171.
- [How Do I Deal with Pride in My Own Heart?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11170-spiritual-pride/): Question 11170.
- [How Do I Cultivate Humility?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11169-cultivate-humility/): Question 11169.
- [How Do I Cultivate Self-Control?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11168-cultivate-self-control/): Question 11168.
- [How Do I Cultivate Gentleness as a Fruit of the Spirit?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11167-cultivate-gentleness/): Question 11167.
- [How Do I Cultivate Kindness as a Fruit of the Spirit?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11166-cultivate-kindness/): Question 11166.
- [How Do I Cultivate Patience as a Fruit of the Spirit?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11165-cultivate-patience/): Question 11165.
- [What Does It Mean to Love My Neighbour as Myself?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11164-love-my-neighbour/): Question 11164.
- [What Does It Mean to Walk by Faith and Not by Sight?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11163-walk-by-faith/): Question 11163.
- [Faith and Feelings: Are They the Same Thing?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11162-faith-and-feelings/): Question 11162.
- [How Do I Deal With Christian Doubt?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11161-christian-doubt/): Question 11161.
- [What Is the So-Called Dark Night of the Soul?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11160-dark-night/): Question 11160.
- [What does Hebrews 10:26-31 mean about wilful sin after knowing the truth?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q6166-hebrews-10-warning/): The Hebrews 10 warning has probably cost more sleep among sincere believers than any other paragraph in the New Testament.
- [What Is Spiritual Dryness, and How Should I Respond?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11159-spiritual-dryness/): Question 11159.
- [How Do I Help a Grieving Friend?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11158-grieving-friend/): Question 11158.
- [How Do I Grieve as a Christian?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11157-christian-grief/): Question 11157.
- [What Is Biblical Lament?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11156-biblical-lament/): Question 11156.
- [Should Christians Plan Their Own Funerals?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11155-funeral-planning/): Question 11155.
- [How Should Christians Prepare for Death?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11154-preparing-for-death/): Question 11154.
- [How Do I Care for Elderly Parents?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11153-caring-for-elderly-parents/): Question 11153.
- [What Does It Look Like to Grandparent in the Faith?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11152-christian-grandparenting/): Question 11152.
- [How Do I Parent Adult Children Who Have Walked Away From the Faith?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11151-prodigal-adult-children/): Question 11151.
- [How Do I Parent Teenagers in the Faith?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11150-parenting-teenagers/): Question 11150.
- [How Do I Love a Difficult Family Member?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11149-difficult-family-member/): Question 11149.
- [Should I Cut Off a Family Member, and on What Grounds?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11148-cutting-off-family/): Question 11148.
- [How Do I Honour a Parent Who Has Hurt Me?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11147-honouring-difficult-parents/): Question 11147.
- [What Does It Mean to Honour My Parents as an Adult?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11146-honouring-your-parents/): Question 11146.
- [How Should a Christian Handle Disagreement With Church Leadership?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11145-disagreement-with-leadership/): Question 11145.
- [What Is the Difference Between Disagreement and Division?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11144-disagreement-and-division/): Question 11144.
- [When Is It Right to Leave a Church?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11141-leaving-a-church/): Question 11141.
- [What Does It Mean to Be a Disciple of Jesus?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11136-disciple-of-jesus/): Question 11136.
- [How Do I Keep Going When Bible Reading Feels Dry?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11135-spiritual-dryness/): Question 11135.
- [Should I Use a Study Bible, and Which One?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11133-choosing-a-study-bible/): Question 11133.
- [How Do I Cope With Church Hurt?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11143-church-hurt/): Question 11143. Church hurt is a real and painful thing, and I want to say that plainly before anything else.
- [How Do I Find a New Church After Leaving One?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11142-finding-a-new-church/): Question 11142.
- [How Do I Find a Good Church?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11140-finding-a-good-church/): Question 11140. How do I find a good church?
- [Make Great Britain Christian Again: the ache is real, the project is not](https://bibleproclaimer.com/make-great-britain-christian-again/): Over the weekend of 22 and 23 August a conference called Make Great Britain Christian Again gathered at Emmanuel Free Church of England in Morecambe.
- [What Is a Small Group, and Why Does It Matter?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11139-small-group/): Question 11139.
- [Should I Have an Accountability Partner?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11138-accountability-partner/): Question 11138. Should I have an accountability partner in my Christian life?
- [What Is Christian Mentoring?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11137-christian-mentoring/): Question 11137.
- [What Is the Best Way to Begin Reading the Bible?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11134-reading-the-bible-first-time/): Question 11134.
- [What Is the Difference Between Study and Devotional Bible Reading?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11132-study-bible-reading/): Question 11132.
- [How Do I Read the Bible Devotionally Without Losing Depth?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11131-devotional-bible-reading/): Question 11131.
- [Scripture Memorisation: A Systematic Approach](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11130-scripture-memorisation-systematic-approach/): Question 11130.
- [What Is the Lord's Prayer and What Does It Teach Us?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11129-what-is-the-lords-prayer/): Question 11129.
- [What Is the Gift of Faith?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q04114-what-is-the-gift-of-faith/): Question 04114.
- [Should I Pray for My Enemies?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11128-praying-for-enemies/): Question 11128.
- [What Is Praying Scripture, and How Do I Do It?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11127-praying-scripture/): Question 11127.
- [Should I Keep a Prayer List?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11126-prayer-list/): Question 11126.
- [What Is Intercessory Prayer, and How Do I Practise It?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11125-intercessory-prayer/): Question 11125.
- [Should I Lay Hands on Someone When I Pray for Them?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11124-hands-in-prayer/): Question 11124.
- [How Should I Pray for the Sick?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11123-prayer-for-healing/): Question 11123.
- [Why Does God Seem Different in the Old and New Testaments?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q2061-gods-unchanging-character/): I hear this question often, sometimes gently and sometimes with real frustration: why does God seem so different in the Old Testament, commanding conquest and judgment, compared to the New Testament, where Jesus speaks of love and mercy?
- [Why Did God Rest on the Seventh Day If He Doesn't Get Tired?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q2007-seventh-day-rest/): Genesis 2:2-3 tells me that God finished His work of creation and rested on the seventh day, and that simple statement about seventh day rest raises an obvious question the moment I stop to think about it, one that catches most thoughtful readers sooner or later.
- [Is It Right to Raise Hands When Worshipping?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11120-raising-hands-in-worship/): Question 11120.
- [Should We Kneel to Pray?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11119-kneeling-in-prayer/): Question 11119.
- [Should I Trust My Own Reading of Scripture?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0063-private-interpretation/): Private interpretation is the phrase Peter uses to describe exactly the mistake he warns his readers against, treating a prophecy of Scripture as though it originated from the prophet's own personal insight rather than from the Holy Spirit carrying that prophet along.
- [What Is Theological Triage?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0062-theological-triage/): Theological triage borrows its name from emergency medicine, where a nurse quickly sorts arriving patients by the genuine severity of their condition rather than treating every case with identical urgency.
- [Why Does This Site Avoid the Word Sovereign?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0061-why-avoid-the-word-sovereign/): Why this site avoids the word sovereign is a question worth answering directly, since a careful reader will eventually notice the pattern and might reasonably wonder whether something doctrinal is being quietly avoided along with the vocabulary.
- [What Is the Whole Counsel of God?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0060-whole-counsel-of-god/): The whole counsel of God is Paul's own phrase for the complete substance of Christian doctrine, spoken to the Ephesian elders as he prepared to leave them for the last time, warning them that his conscience was clear precisely because he had held nothing back.
- [Is Doctrine the Same Thing as Opinion?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0059-doctrine-or-opinion/): Doctrine or opinion is a distinction our culture works hard to blur, treating every confident religious claim as though it were fundamentally a matter of personal preference, one view among equally valid others rather than a claim that could actually be true or false.
- [What Is the Difference Between Theology and Apologetics?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0058-theology-and-apologetics/): Theology and apologetics work so closely together that many believers use the two words as though they meant the same thing, but they answer genuinely different questions.
- [Why Do Theologians Use Greek and Latin Technical Terms?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0057-theological-vocabulary/): Theological vocabulary can feel deliberately designed to shut ordinary believers out, homoousios, hypostatic union, propitiation, sanctification, a wall of unfamiliar words standing between you and a faith that Jesus taught largely through simple stories about farmers, fishermen, and lost sheep.
- [Why Does Theology Divide Doctrine into Categories?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0056-categories-of-doctrine/): Categories of doctrine, Bibliology, Theology Proper, Christology, Pneumatology, Anthropology, Hamartiology, Soteriology, Ecclesiology, and Eschatology among them, might look at first glance like an artificial academic filing system imposed on Scripture from the outside.
- [What Is the Difference Between a Creed, a Confession, and a Catechism?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0055-creeds-confessions-and-catechisms/): Creeds, confessions and catechisms often get lumped together as though they were interchangeable, three names for the same kind of document, when in fact each one does a genuinely different job.
- [What Does It Mean to Entrust Sound Doctrine to Others?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0054-entrusting-sound-doctrine/): Entrusting sound doctrine to the next generation is the specific instruction Paul gives Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:2, and it describes a deliberate chain of transmission Paul lays out with striking clarity: what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.
- [What Is the Difference Between a Statement of Faith and Systematic Theology?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0053-statement-of-faith/): A statement of faith and a systematic theology serve genuinely different purposes even though both attempt to summarise Christian doctrine, and confusing the two leads to unrealistic expectations of documents that were never designed to do the other one's job.
- [What Is Confessional Christianity?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0052-confessional-christianity/): Confessional Christianity describes churches and believers who hold to a formal, written confession of faith, a Baptist confession, a Reformed catechism, a denominational statement, as a settled, publicly accountable summary of what they believe Scripture teaches, used to define fellowship, guide teaching, and train new believers.
- [What Is the Analogy of Faith?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0051-analogy-of-faith/): The analogy of faith is a hermeneutical principle stating that Scripture should always be interpreted in harmony with itself, so that no single passage is read in a way that contradicts the clear teaching of the rest of the Bible.
- [What Is the Difference Between Systematic and Biblical Theology?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0050-what-is-systematic-theology/): Systematic theology organises the whole teaching of Scripture topically, gathering everything the Bible says about a given subject, the doctrine of God, the person of Christ, the nature of salvation, into a single coherent, logically arranged treatment.
- [Why Do Christians Disagree on Doctrine?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0047-doctrinal-disagreement/): Doctrinal disagreement between sincere Christians reading the very same Bible is a question that troubles many thoughtful believers, and it deserves a more careful answer than either of the two lazy responses it usually receives: that doctrine doesn't really matter since everyone disagrees anyway, or that anyone who disagrees with you simply is not reading Scripture honestly.
- [Are Christians Still Under the Mosaic Law?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q07048-are-christians-still-under-the-mosaic-law/): The question of whether the Christian is under the Mosaic Law is one of the most practical questions in the whole of Christian doctrine, and one of the most frequently misunderstood.
- [What Is the Danger of Prooftexting?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0045-danger-of-prooftexting/): The danger of prooftexting lies in how innocent it looks while doing real damage to sound doctrine.
- [What Is Doctrinal Development?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0044-doctrinal-development/): Doctrinal development describes the genuine, historically observable way the church's articulation of certain doctrines has grown sharper and more precise across the centuries, without the underlying truth itself ever actually changing.
- [What is eschatology?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q10000-biblical-eschatology/): Question 10000.
- [Is It Wrong to Change Your Mind on a Doctrine?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0043-changing-your-mind-on-doctrine/): Changing your mind on a doctrine as you mature is not automatically a sign of instability or spiritual drift, though it can feel that way, especially if you were taught to associate strong faith with never wavering on anything you were first taught.
- [What Is Cafeteria Christianity?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0042-cafeteria-christianity/): Cafeteria Christianity describes the practice of selecting which biblical teachings to accept and which to quietly set aside, much as a diner moves along a cafeteria line choosing only the dishes that appeal to them while walking past everything else.
- [Why Does Catechesis for Children Matter?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0038-catechesis-for-children/): Catechesis for children was one of the great recovered priorities of the Protestant Reformation, and the sheer volume of catechetical material the Reformers produced tells you how seriously they took it.
- [How Do I Start Family Devotions at Home?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0036-family-devotions/): Family devotions are one of the most consistently commanded, and most consistently neglected, disciplines in ordinary Christian life.
- [How Should a New Believer Start Learning Doctrine?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0035-learning-doctrine-as-a-new-believer/): Learning doctrine can feel like standing at the bottom of a mountain when you are new to the faith, aware that entire libraries have been written about the Trinity, the atonement, eschatology, and a dozen other subjects you barely know how to pronounce, let alone explain.
- [What Is the Difference Between Orthodoxy and Orthopraxy?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0026-orthodoxy-and-orthopraxy/): Orthodoxy and orthopraxy describe two dimensions of genuine Christian faithfulness that Scripture never allows to be separated, even though believers regularly drift toward emphasising one at the expense of the other.
- [What Does It Mean to Guard the Deposit of Sound Doctrine?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0022-guarding-the-deposit/): Guarding the deposit is Paul's own phrase for one of the central responsibilities he hands to Timothy near the end of his life, and it captures something important about how sound doctrine is meant to be treated across generations.
- [How Are Doctrine and Worship Connected?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0021-doctrine-and-worship/): Doctrine and worship are not two separate compartments of church life, one for the mind and one for the heart, running along parallel tracks that occasionally intersect.
- [What Is Spiritual Discernment and How Does It Grow?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0014-spiritual-discernment/): Spiritual discernment is what allows a believer to tell true teaching from false, and it does not arrive automatically the moment someone trusts Christ.
- [What Is Divine Accommodation in Scripture?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q0011-divine-accommodation/): Divine accommodation is the term theologians use for a simple but important fact: God, who is infinite, eternal, and utterly beyond our full comprehension, has chosen to reveal Himself through finite, ordinary human language.
- [How Should Christians Read the Psalms?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1191-reading-psalms-well/): Reading Psalms well requires a different approach from reading Paul's letters or the Gospels, since the Psalms were composed as poetry for prayer and worship rather than as doctrinal exposition, and treating them as though they were straightforward propositional teaching misses much of what they were actually written to do.
- [What Is Sensus Plenior?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q1190-what-is-sensus-plenior/): Sensus plenior, Latin for fuller sense, names a genuinely contested question in hermeneutics: can a biblical text carry a deeper, fuller meaning that God intended, beyond what the human author himself consciously understood when he wrote it, a meaning only made clear later through subsequent revelation.
- [What Postures of Prayer Are Appropriate?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11118-postures-of-prayer/): Question 11118.
- [Should a Christian Fast in Secret or Tell Others?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11117-fasting-in-secret/): Question 11117.
- [Are There Health Considerations Christians Should Observe When Fasting?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11116-fasting-and-health/): Question 11116.
- [How Long Should a Fast Last?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11115-length-of-fasting/): Question 11115.
- [What Are the Different Kinds of Fasting in Scripture?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11114-types-of-fasting-in-scripture/): Question 11114.
- [Should Christians Practise Lectio Divina?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11113-lectio-divina/): Question 11113.
- [Biblical Meditation and How It Differs from Eastern Meditation](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11112-biblical-meditation/): Question 11112.
- [Christian Journalling as a Spiritual Practice](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11111-christian-journalling/): Question 11111.
- [What Is the Discipline of Solitude?](https://bibleproclaimer.com/q11110-discipline-of-solitude/): The discipline of solitude is the deliberate practice of withdrawing from the company of others and the noise of daily life in order to be alone with God.

## Pages

- [Bible & Society](https://bibleproclaimer.com/bible-and-society/): This is where I comment on the news from Scripture.
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- [Apologetics](https://bibleproclaimer.com/apologetics/)
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