In my opinion, in the battle over eschatology, creeds and confessions are heavily weighted toward dogmatism because eschatology has been a landmine of interpretive confusion. Let’s nail down some non-negotiable “I believes” and let combatants fight about the non-essentials in the never-ending Prophecy Wars. It’s become even more so with the advent of dispensational premillennialism. For many dispe [...]
Please help us reach $10K in donations for a matching grant Gary answers a listener question about the word “church” and how it is used by the Bible and interpreters over the years. English translations have obscured the biblical and historical meaning of ekklēsia by translating it as “church” rather than “assembly” or “congregation.” It’s unfortunate that John Wycliffe (c. 1324–1384) [...]
Someone on Facebook asking the following question: “Can one be … Postmillennial while rejecting partial preterism?” For a robust postmillennialism (a moniker I do not like), a person needs to be a preterist, even if it’s an inconsistent preterism. Revelation 20 should not be used in defense of what is labeled “postmillennialism” since there’s little in the chapter that describes what postmillennia [...]
Gary responds to a recent article by Ken Gentry that called Gary out for his views on eschatology. The Nicene Creed and its anonymous cousin, the Apostles’ Creed, have been standards of orthodoxy for around 1700 years. A charge made by some Christians who ask questions about the creeds is that the creeds use “man’s language,” thus invalidating their authority. This is a harsh and mistaken claim si [...]
I’m not at all OK with “Happy Birthday Jesus” signs during Advent season. Biblical Christology includes the incarnation, but the birth of the God-Man is not like our birth. The reaction of the Magi, Herod, and Simeon and Anna are signposts of what transpired when “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). There were theological, political, and kingdom consequences. The Christian faith [...]
When studying anything written or spoken, it’s important to pay attention to what’s stated and what is not stated. It seems so simple until you find people spouting off about something with great authority who fail at the basic level of “what does it say” and “what doesn’t it say.” We can’t move to what does something in a biblical text mean and how it applies until we cover the basics. [...]
For a few years I have been researching the debate over the “sons of God” or “angels of God" and the Nephilim. The amount of material on the topic is staggering. Much of it is downright crazy and sensationalistic, especially when eschatology is added to the mix. At the same time, many of the studies are scholarly by sticking to the biblical text. As a result, the topic has received a lot of a [...]
Many people get bent out of shape when they see ‘Xmas’ or ‘X-Mas.’ They think it’s a way of removing Jesus Christ from Christmas. Removing Christ from Christmas happens in many direct ways, but X-Mas is not one of them. “Every year you see the signs and the bumper stickers saying, ‘Put Christ back into Christmas’ as a response to this substitution of the letter X for the name of Christ. [...]
Now that the two volumes of The Hope of Israel and the Nations are available, Gary thought it was a good time to interview Kim Burgess about the books and the hermeneutic they present. The aim of this series has been to discern from Scripture itself, in the Reformation spirit and mindset of sola Scriptura, what the Bible’s, and, in particular, what the New Testament’s own hermeneutic is and then t [...]
Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope: Episode 16 In this conclusion to his interview with author Brian Godawa, Gary answers a question about so-called double fulfillment. Some claim that there will be another fulfillment, a future fulfillment. This is pure guesswork, reading into a section of Scripture what’s not there. We know this because Jesus states there will be a great tribulation before that [...]
Christianity Today reported, “Tony Campolo, a progressive Christian leader who courted controversy challenging evangelicals to see caring for the poor as an integral part of proclaiming the gospel, died on Tuesday. He was 89.” All Christians should be advocates for “the least of these,” although I would not choose the word “caring.” It strikes me as a bit paternalistic. Without a proper understand [...]
Gary continues his hermeneutics lesson with discussions about time statements and the book of Revelation. Proper interpretation of the Bible depends on the type of literature that’s being studied and the way words and phrases are used in different contexts throughout Scripture in their literary setting. “The term literal comes from the Latin litera meaning letter. To interpret the Bible literally [...]
Gary is interviewed about biblical hermeneutics (the art and science of interpretation). He gives a quick lesson about how regular Christians can and should do it for themselves. Many people grow up thinking the Bible says one thing when it actually says something else. For example, when asked who cut off Samson’s hair, a high percentage of people will say “Delilah!” By reading Judges 16:19, we qu [...]
A popular minister whose sermons are broadcast on radio and television claims the Bible teaches that God has allowed Satan to be in control of this world until Jesus returns. He gave specific passages like Satan being labeled the “prince of this world” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11) and argued that when Satan tempted Jesus in the desert and offered him the kingdoms of this world, Jesus didn’t argue or [...]
Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope: Episode 11 Gary gives a quick lesson on how to do biblical hermeneutics, which simply means how to interpret the text. Many people grow up thinking the Bible says one thing when it actually says something else. For example, when asked who cut off Samson’s hair, a high percentage of people will say “Delilah!” By reading Judges 16:19, we quickly learn that she “c [...]
Picking up with Gary’s interview with the Resistance Chicks from a few months back, this third part deals with Dispensationalism and how it influences both eschatology and politics. It is evident from Scripture that with the coming of Christ (particularly after His formal, public manifestation at His baptism) the Kingdom has drawn near. There is a repeated emphasis on the proximity of the ki [...]
Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope: Episode 9 Gary puts the popular claim of dividing Matthew 24 into past and future events under the exegetical microscope to see if it stands up under scrutiny. Matthew 24:33 tells us what audience Jesus had in view: “so, you too, when you see all these things, recognize that He is near, right at the door.” It’s obvious, and without any need for debate, that the [...]
Gary discusses the second volume of the book, The Hope of Israel and the Nations, and what Kim Burgess calls the “meta-hermeneutic” of the New Testament. History cannot be “sliced and diced” without destroying it. History is an organic whole! One also has to understand what the German term, Sitz im Leben, the “situation in life,” is getting at, for it is vital. One has to take fully in [...]
Jonathan Sedlak, author of Reading Matthew, Trusting Jesus: Christian Tradition and First-Century Fulfillment within Matthew 24-25 (listen to Gary’s fascinating two-part interview with Sedlak here and here), told me in a recent phone call that it was John MacArthur’s book The Second Coming: Signs of Christ’s Return and the End of the Age (2006) that led him to investigate preterism because i [...]
Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope: Episode 6 Gary responds to a clip on Facebook that claims to “prove” the Rapture with two Bible verses. If Revelation 3:10 is the passage that teaches that Christians won’t go through a future seven-year tribulation period, then it needs to be studied carefully. Can it be shown that John being told to “Come up here…” (4:1) is a type of rapture that [...]
