Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 08132 The concept of “familial spirits” or “familiar spirits” appears in several English translations of the Old Testament and has generated significant discussion in both scholarly and popular Christian contexts. Understanding what the biblical text actually describes, as distinct from what later tradition or contemporary spiritual warfare teaching has made of the concept, is…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 08139 Whether angels experience something analogous to human emotion is a question the Bible does not answer systematically, but it does offer a number of passages that present angelic beings as responding to events with what looks remarkably like genuine feeling. The question matters because it touches on what it means to be a…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 08118 The fall of Satan is one of those subjects where Scripture provides real information without giving an exhaustive narrative. There is no chapter in the Bible titled “The Fall of Satan” in the way there is a chapter describing the fall of humanity in Genesis 3. What we do have are two remarkable…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 08116 Cherubim and seraphim are among the most striking and least understood figures in the biblical narrative. They appear at some of the most dramatic moments in Scripture, from the guarding of Eden to the throne room of God in Isaiah’s vision. Yet they are often confused with one another, blended into a generic…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 08113 Angels are among the most frequently mentioned yet least carefully understood beings in the Bible. Popular culture has produced a version of angels that bears little resemblance to what Scripture actually describes, replacing the powerful, purposeful servants of God with gentle, winged figures that function as celestial companions or decorative symbols. What the…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 08112 The existence of angels is affirmed throughout Scripture with such consistency and matter-of-factness that the biblical authors clearly regarded it as beyond question. Angels appear in almost every major section of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, and are involved in some of the most significant events in redemptive history. The question of…
Reading Time: 7 minutesStanding with Israel in Biblical Truth and Justice Q10141 Preamble 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…
Reading Time: 5 minutesQuestion 3044 When we read the Gospels, we encounter the title ‘Son of David’ applied to Jesus with striking frequency. The blind call out to Him using this name. The crowds shout it during His triumphal entry. Matthew opens his entire Gospel by declaring Jesus to be “the son of David, the son of Abraham”…
Reading Time: 5 minutesQuestion 2029 The answer is yes — though it requires careful qualification. The full, explicitly articulated doctrine of the Trinity belongs to the New Testament, where the personal identities of Father, Son, and Spirit are disclosed with a clarity that was not available in the earlier revelation. What the Old Testament contains is not the…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 04058 When Christians think about the future, attention tends to focus on the events of the end times: the rapture, the tribulation, the return of Christ, the millennial kingdom. Less commonly asked is what the Holy Spirit will be doing through all of this. Yet Scripture has more to say on the subject than…