Let’s face it the New Testament probably calls Jesus God (or god) a couple of times and so do early Christian authors in the second century. However, no one offers much of an explanation for what they mean by the title. Did early Christians think Jesus was God because he represented Yahweh? Did they think Read more about 521 The Deity of Christ from a Greco-Roman Perspective (Sean Finnegan)[…]
Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts Recently Tom Huszti interviewed me for his YouTube channel, the Unitarian Anabaptist. We talked about the importance of geography, archeology, and Greco-Roman history for interpreting the bible, especially the New Testament. Next we delved into early church history, starting with the earliest forms of Jewish Christianity Read more about 516 Sean Finnegan on Restoring Authentic Christianity (Tom Huszti)[…]
This is part 6 of the Early Church History class. In the latter half of the second century, two kinds of Christians arose to defend the faith. On the one hand, apologists wrote defenses of Christianity directed at the Roman government. They responded to rumors, arguing that Christians were decent people who should be shown Read more about 486 Early Church History 6: Apologists & Heresy Hunters[…]
Did you know that scholars who work on Jesus divide starkly into two major camps? On the one hand, the evangelicals do such great work on the existence of God, the historicity of the resurrection, and the reliability of Scripture. But, then they read the Gospels through the filter of their theological commitments, always coming Read more about 428 Looking for the Historical Jesus between Evangelical and Liberal Scholarship (Sean Finnegan)[…]
This is part 9 of the One God Over All class. If Jesus is not the one God over all, then how should we interpret his death and resurrection? How does his death pay for our sins? What does the resurrection tell us about Jesus? Unlike medieval Christianity that taught God the Son united himself Read more about 419 One God 9: Christ’s Crucifixion and Resurrection[…]
In this lecture, you’ll learn what Jesus and the book of Acts have to say about conversion. From Jesus, we will examine his parable of the Sower with special focus on the good soil–those who hear the message, understand it, accept it, hold it fast, and bear fruit. Next we’ll work through all of the Read more about Theology 19 – Conversion[…]
In this lecture, you’ll learn about anthropology–the bible’s view of humanity. In particular, we’ll focus on the two ends of the spectrum: creation and death. We’ll see how the biblical view of humanity is rather exalted since we are made in God’s image. We’ll examine what the bible teaches about death and resurrection and how Read more about Theology 3 – Conditional Immortality[…]
I was researching N. T. Wright’s view of the kingdom the other day and came across this quote about his way of thinking about the intermediate state. He rejects both the idea of soul sleep as well as heaven as our final reward. Instead, he put forth this way of thinking about it: If we Read more about An Idea about the Intermediate State[…]
Join Professor N. T. Wright as he shows how well Paul’s epistles fit with the Hebrew prophets and the Gospels. Rather than seeing Paul as the purveyor of a heavenly hope wherein saints may enjoy disembodied bliss, Wright highlights a number of key passages that unlock Paul’s kingdom-centered hope. —— Links —— Take a look Read more about 136 Whatever Did St. Paul Do with the Kingdom of God? (N. T. Wright)[…]
Find out what the most commonly misunderstood texts about the kingdom are as well as how to interpret them within their own contexts. In this final session of the kingdom of God class, we’ll look at these important verses: Matthew 16.28 “Some…will not taste death until they see…the kingdom” Luke 17.21 “The kingdom of God Read more about 106 Misunderstood Texts (Kingdom of God 15)[…]
What is the gospel of the kingdom of God? It’s not about Jesus dying for your sins or going to heaven when you die. In fact, Jesus’ gospel of the kingdom is not new at all; it’s the message the prophets of old proclaimed–that one day God was going to make everything wrong with the Read more about 98: The Gospel of the Kingdom (Kingdom of God 7)[…]
What happens when you die? Is there an intermediate state? What does the bible teach about the dead before resurrection? These questions are important for our study of the kingdom of God. If you go straight to heaven when you die, you’re not going to care very much about what happens when Jesus returns. You Read more about 97: The Sleep of the Dead (Kingdom of God 6)[…]
What do you think happens when people die? Do they go to heaven, purgatory, hell, reincarnate, or sleep in the grave until resurrection? Watch this video to see more.
The Case for Christ, a classic apologetics book that provides evidence for Jesus’ resurrection, is now a movie! The film follows the lives of Lee and Leslie Strobel, a happily married non-religious couple in the Chicago area. One night out a restaurant, their daughter begins choking on something and nearly dies. However, at the last Read more about Case for Christ Movie Nails It[…]
The best chapter on resurrection in the bible is 1 Corinthians 15. In it, the Apostle Paul masterfully lays out the Christian position on resurrection while overcoming common objections in the culture. As it turns out, people living in Corinth thought the idea of resurrection seemed real bizarre. Looking at tombstone inscriptions, Plato’s Phaedo, and Read more about Podcast 80: Resurrection People (Sean Finnegan)[…]
The gospel is the message we believe in that results in immortality (2 Tim 1.7-10). If I were the devil, I would target the gospel message so that even if some Christians rustled up the courage to actually share it with others, they’d have a distorted or partial message. In fact, scripture tells us that Read more about Podcast 70: Getting the Gospel Right (Sean Finnegan)[…]
Apologetics 8: More Evidence for the Resurrection Because secular historians don’t accept the inspiration of the bible, they don’t trust the Gospels as reliable witnesses about Jesus. Consequently, they’ve come up with various “criteria of authenticity” to sift the sayings and deeds recorded in the Gospels into historical and mythical categories. Last time we saw Read more about Podcast 57: More Evidence for the Resurrection (Apologetics 8)[…]
Apologetics 7: Evidence for the Resurrection During this lecture, I played a video of William Lane Craig making a case for the historicity of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. What’s so brilliant about Craig’s approach is that he doesn’t assume the bible is true to make his case. He treats the Gospels and Paul’s letters Read more about Podcast 56: Evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus (Apologetics 7)[…]
Richard Hays, Professor of New Testament at Duke Divinity School, explains the incredible effect Jesus’ resurrection has on theology and practice. His lecture divides into two parts: (1) a proper New Testament understanding of the resurrection requires a robust affirmation of the resurrection of the body and (2) resurrection of the body is a sign Read more about Podcast 47: Resurrection Implications (Richard Hays)[…]
Historical Jesus 16: Resurrection Traumatized by their rabbi’s crucifixion, Jesus’ disciples endured maddening grief and cognitive dissonance as they tried to come to grips with what had happened. Into the midst of despair and helplessness, Jesus appeared. Although the first “Christians” were also the worst believers in his resurrection, eventually they came to see him, Read more about Podcast 40: Resurrection (Historical Jesus 16)[…]
Check out Dustin Smith’s Ten Minute Truth Talk for a short, funny, and informative account on what the bible teaches about where persons go when they die. In his presentation he puts forward the doctrine called “the sleep of the dead,” which teaches the dead are unconscious until the resurrection when Jesus returns.
I was listening to Tim Keller’s sermon called “Culture” in his series, The Vision of Redeemer, and encountered this amazing summary of the Christian hope: In the future you have all these cultural activities going on. Why? Because our future is a material future. The book of Revelation makes it very clear. At the end Read more about Tim Keller on the Kingdom on Earth[…]
by Sean Finnegan What happens when people die? In this sermon I mention show the biblical “evidence” for heaven, hell, purgatory, ghosts, and reincarnation before revealing the overwhelming number of texts supporting the sleep of the dead. Focusing on John’s Gospel, I establish that (1) the dead are in their tombs asleep until they hear Read more about Podcast 19: Death Then What? (Sean Finnegan)[…]
Here’s the original paper in pdf form. I presented this talk at the 18th Theological Conference held near Atlanta, GA. In it I present a case for the radical practice of loving our enemies. Whether you believe Christians can and should use violence to defend themselves or others or if you think more along the Read more about Podcast 15: A Theology of Nonviolence (Sean Finnegan)[…]