Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 04042 Most Christians have heard that it is possible to grieve the Holy Spirit. The phrase comes from Ephesians 4:30, where Paul writes: “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” But what does grieving the Spirit actually look like in everyday life? And…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 02044 Mercy is the attribute of God that most people instinctively reach for in moments of crisis. When things go badly wrong — when the weight of failure, guilt, or fear becomes acute — the prayer most naturally formed is a cry for mercy. Understanding what mercy actually is, how it relates to justice,…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 02045 Of all God’s attributes, wrath is the one modern Christianity finds most uncomfortable. There is a widespread preference for a God defined entirely by love and generosity, with wrath quietly relocated to the margins or reframed as something merely metaphorical. The biblical picture is more demanding than this. God’s wrath is real, it…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion Q04018 Whether a believer can lose the Holy Spirit is not simply a question about experience or emotion. It touches the nature of salvation itself and the faithfulness of God to His covenant promises. The question deserves a careful answer drawn from what Scripture actually teaches, rather than from either fear or presumption. What…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion Q04011 Prayer is often treated as though it were entirely a human activity, a matter of finding the right words or generating sufficient sincerity. Scripture presents a far more astonishing picture. The Holy Spirit is not a passive observer of our prayer life; He is an active participant in it, working from within us…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion Q04012 The question may seem almost impertinent. Can a divine person be suppressed? Can a member of the Godhead be hindered? Yet Scripture addresses this directly, and the answer it gives has significant implications for how we understand both the Spirit’s work and our responsibility towards it. What the Text Actually Says Paul’s instruction…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion Q04013 The phrase “praying in the Spirit” appears in two places in the New Testament: Ephesians 6:18 and Jude 20. It has generated considerable discussion, particularly in Pentecostal and charismatic circles where it is often associated with speaking in tongues. Understanding what the phrase actually means requires attending carefully to what these texts say…
Reading Time: 5 minutesQuestion 04016 When Christians think about prayer, the question of who exactly we are addressing is more significant than it might first appear. Most believers instinctively pray to “God” or “Father” without pausing to consider the Trinitarian dimensions of what they are doing. But when someone asks whether it is appropriate to direct prayer specifically…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 2019 The doctrine of divine impassibility holds that God cannot be affected by anything external to Himself, that He does not suffer or experience pain, and that nothing in creation can move Him emotionally. It has a long and serious history in Christian theology, but it stands in considerable tension with how the Bible…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 6003 When God warned Adam about the forbidden tree, He said, “In the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:17). Adam and Eve ate, yet they did not drop dead on the spot. So what did God mean? Understanding the consequences of sin is essential for grasping both the…