Reading Time: 6 minutesQuestion 7099 This question gets to the heart of the Gospel. If God is all-powerful and merciful, why couldn’t He simply forgive our sins without requiring the death of His Son? Couldn’t an omnipotent God just declare us forgiven and be done with it? The cross seems so brutal, so extreme. Was it really necessary?…
Reading Time: 5 minutesQuestion 7101 These two words, propitiation and expiation, are among the most important in Christian theology, yet they are rarely heard outside theological discussion. Modern Bible translations sometimes avoid them altogether, substituting simpler but less precise language. Yet understanding what these words mean unlocks the heart of what Jesus accomplished on the cross. They describe…
Reading Time: 6 minutesQuestion 7100 What exactly happened when Jesus died on the cross? Christians have always agreed that the cross is central to salvation, but they have understood its meaning in different ways throughout history. Various “theories of the atonement” have been proposed, each highlighting a different aspect of what Jesus accomplished. Some of these theories are…
Reading Time: 5 minutesQuestion 7102 Jesus said He came “to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). Paul wrote that Jesus “gave himself as a ransom for all” (1 Timothy 2:6). But what does “ransom” actually mean? The word conjures images of kidnapping and hostage negotiations. Is that what the Bible is teaching? Were we…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 07109 The Levitical legislation is perhaps the most practically puzzling portion of the Old Testament for modern readers — chapters of regulations governing sacrifices, priestly garments, clean and unclean animals, skin conditions, and mould in houses that seem remote from everyday Christian life. The question of whether Christians are obligated to observe this material…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 7084 The question is designed to be uncomfortable, and that discomfort is itself theologically informative. By naming the most notorious mass murderer of the modern era, it is really asking something else entirely: is there a limit to grace? Is there a category of human evil so profound that the gospel cannot reach it?…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 07075 The word “gospel” appears so frequently in Christian conversation that it can begin to lose its force through familiarity. But the gospel is not a general category of good religious news or a vague sense of divine goodwill toward humanity. It has a specific content, and that content can be stated with considerable…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 03014 The resurrection of Jesus Christ is not an optional extra attached to the Christian faith for those who find it encouraging. It is the event on which everything stands or falls. Paul is blunt about this in 1 Corinthians 15:17: “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you…
Reading Time: 5 minutesQuestion 03016 The question of why Jesus had to rise is not the same as asking why the resurrection matters, though the two are closely related. To ask why He had to rise is to ask what would have been left incomplete, unresolved, or false had the tomb remained occupied. The answer is sobering: without…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 10115 Purgatory is the Roman Catholic doctrine that believers who die in a state of grace but with unforgiven venial sins or unpaid temporal punishment must undergo purification before entering heaven. While this belief has shaped Western Christianity for centuries and remains official Catholic teaching, we must ask whether it has any foundation in…