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: 3 minutesQuestion 07077 The role of confession in salvation is a question that touches on both the nature of saving faith and the relationship between inward reality and outward declaration. Some traditions have treated verbal confession as a necessary and distinct condition for salvation, placing considerable weight on Romans 10:9-10. Others have treated it as effectively…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 07078 When the Philippian gaoler, shaken by an earthquake that had opened every prison door, asked Paul and Silas “What must I do to be saved?”, the answer he received was this: “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:30-31). It is one of the most concise summaries of…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 60105 When an earthquake kills tens of thousands, when a tsunami sweeps away everything a family has built, when a community watches a wildfire consume their homes and livelihoods — the question that rises instinctively is directed at God. Why? If He is all-powerful and entirely good, why does He not stop it? The…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 09014 Baptismal regeneration is the teaching that the act of water baptism itself conveys saving grace and is necessary for the forgiveness of sins and the new birth. It is held in various forms by the Roman Catholic Church, some Lutheran traditions, the Churches of Christ, and significant strands of Anglican theology. It touches…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 60106 Of all the questions people bring to God, this one carries the heaviest weight. Why does a God who is both perfectly good and all-powerful allow the abuse of children, the oppression of the defenceless, the calculated cruelty of one human being toward another? It is the question that has driven more people…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 60107 Theodicy is not a word most people encounter outside of theology or philosophy, yet it names one of the most pressing questions anyone can ask: how can a God who is both all-powerful and perfectly good allow evil and suffering to exist? The word comes from the Greek theos (God) and dike (justice),…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 10029 The question of whether modern Jewish people are still God’s chosen people sits at the intersection of some of the most important and most contested doctrines in Christian theology. The answer you give depends heavily on how you read the Old Testament promises, what you understand the relationship between Israel and the church…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion Q04014 Few questions in Pneumatology generate more confusion or more heat. The baptism of the Holy Spirit has been claimed as the defining subsequent experience of the Christian life by some traditions, treated with suspicion by others, and misunderstood by many who hold it as central to their spirituality. What Scripture actually teaches is…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 7022 This is one of the most pastorally urgent questions anyone can ask, and it deserves an answer that is both theologically honest and deeply compassionate. The grief surrounding suicide is compounded by fear, and that fear is often intensified by poorly grounded teaching that confidently declares suicide an unforgivable sin. What does Scripture…