By Mark W. Christy, PhD Upon one Sabbath, Christ’s disciples were feeding themselves by picking grains from a field when the Pharisees came upon them and charged them with doing that which was unlawful (Luke 6:1-2). Even though Deuteronomy 26:38 permits the disciples’ activity, the Pharisees viewed their efforts as unlawful because of the many additional laws that had been constructed on top of Mosaic Law in the never-ending quest of the Jews to pursue a relationship with God only through a ...

Throughout Christian history, one of the more debated passages has been Genesis 6:1-4. In these verses, scholars wrangle over whether or not “sons of God” refers to angels or humans, and whether or not their progeny resulted from unjust relations between angels and humans. Though multiple views exist and each has its own variations among scholars, this article will briefly discuss the two primary views and consider the supporting evidence for each. The most ancient of sources suggest the ang...

By Mark W. Christy, PhD When it comes to understanding and applying the Bible, sound thinking is absolutely critical, but such thinking can become quickly obscured by many exegetical fallacies including word-study, grammatical, logical, and presuppositional and historical fallacies. In this article, an overview of the fallacies within each of these categories will be examined. The first group, word-study fallacies, incorporates a host of fallacies which are commonly committed by interpret...

By Mark W. Christy, PhD Among evangelicals, many continue to debate the continuation of sign gifts (e.g., gifts of working miracles, speaking in tongues, prophecy, and healing). Within this discussion, the apostle James offers some words which seemingly suggest that at least the gift of healing should still be active in the church (at least in some way): “Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the n...

In a recent article series, the belief statement from a Prosperity Gospel was carefully studied and ultimately determined to be misguided (see https://battlehardenedbeliever.com/?p=859). In a nutshell, their statement employed Scripture that in general discussed God’s temporal blessings of the faithful and declared them to be certain in a believer’s life. While these verses did most certainly support the belief that God delights in blessing His people even during their earthly existence, these ...

Psalm 19:7-14 offers a great overview on the usefulness of Scripture. In v.7, we learn that Scripture is “perfect” (i.e complete) and it “restores the soul”. Scripture contains everything we need to maintain right belief, right action, and right character. It has the ability to revive (transform) one’s inner person and correctly conform him/her to Christ (i.e. the person God wants them to be). As Romans, 6:15-18 states, Scripture offers a “pattern of teaching” that sets us free from bondage to ...

Throughout the Bible, God declares Himself to be the only God (Ex 20:3-6). Likewise, Jesus declares Himself to be only Way to God (John 14:6). In 1 Corinthians 12:13, we are told that Christians are “all baptized by one Spirit.” Our Triune God, therefore, is exclusively God and therefore serves as the exclusive authority governing all things. As God’s word (cf. previous discussion in 1a), the Bible alone offers an authoritative message that is perfect (Ps 18:30), holy (Jer 23:9), righteous (Ps ...