Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 8037 The phrase “unclean spirit” appears throughout the Synoptic Gospels and the book of Acts, and understanding it requires attention to more than just the Greek vocabulary. The designation is theologically rich, connecting to deeply embedded categories in Israel’s religious life and revealing something specific about the character of the beings it describes. The…
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: 4 minutesQuestion 7085 The question arises naturally for anyone who takes the New Testament seriously. Paul can write to the Corinthians and call them “those sanctified in Christ Jesus” (1 Corinthians 1:2), and yet the same letter spends considerable energy addressing a congregation with serious moral and relational problems. If they are already sanctified, what is…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 07074 The question of whether a Christian can reach a state of sinless perfection in this life has been debated with considerable energy across church history, and it continues to be a live issue in certain theological traditions. The claim is made with evident sincerity and spiritual earnestness, which is part of what makes…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 02041 Of all the attributes of God presented in Scripture, holiness occupies a unique place. It is not simply one characteristic among many; it is the attribute that the biblical writers single out for the most intense emphasis. The angels in Isaiah’s vision do not cry “love, love, love” or “power, power, power.” They…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 2072 The question of whether beauty is a genuine divine attribute, something that properly belongs to who God is rather than merely a poetic description of how creation affects us, is one that systematic theology has sometimes neglected. The traditional list of divine attributes tends to run through omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, holiness, love, and…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 2062 “God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all.” Those words from 1 John 1:5 are among the most compact and striking theological statements in Scripture. They arrive without qualification, without hedging, and without any parallel phrase to soften them. But what exactly does John mean? What kind of light…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 2077 The account of Uzzah’s death in 2 Samuel 6 is one of those passages that stops readers short. A man reaches out to stop the ark from falling, an instinctive act that seems entirely reasonable and even admirable, and God strikes him dead on the spot. David is angry and afraid. Many modern…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 6007 Once we become Christians, is it possible to reach a point where we no longer sin? Some have taught a doctrine of “entire sanctification” or “Christian perfection,” claiming that believers can achieve sinless perfection in this life. Others seem to think that since we are saved by grace, it does not particularly matter…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 6010 In Psalm 19, David prays, “Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me!” (Psalm 19:13). This suggests there is a category of sin that is particularly dangerous, something beyond the ordinary sins we all commit. What are presumptuous sins, and why should they concern us? Understanding…