Theology For the Rest of Us | Quick Answers to the Questions About God and the Bible

Multiple times in the Gospels, Jesus is called the "son of man." In fact, it seems to be Jesus' favorite term to use when referring to Himself. In this episode, Kenny dives into the importance of the term "son of man" and its reference to Jesus' humanity. The term also refers to a Messianic symbol found in the book of Daniel. When Jesus uses this term to describe Himself, He is indeed affirming that He is the Messiah that will "stand for the saints of the Most High."  

In this episode, Kenny interviews pastor Matt McAfee for a second time. In this interview, Kenny and Matt dive into a conversation about understanding the "fruit of the Spirit" and why that is more important than seeking the "gifts of the Spirit." Matt makes two great points that all of us need to consider: 1- The fruit of the Spirit is how we judge the Christian life, not the gifts of the Spirit. 2- Only those people with the fruit of the Spirit can truly be trusted with the gifts of the Spirit.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus uses the term "earthly things" as He is telling the inquiring Nicodemus that some spiritual things are simply just not going to be understood by humans (see John 3). A regular listener of the podcast sent in an email asking for clarity on Jesus' intent when using that specific term. In this episode, Kenny explains what the term "earthly things" means, but more importantly, Kenny also dives into the some of the great lessons we learn about God from this famous passage of Scripture.

Many people have asked, "Why didn't God send Jesus to Earth sooner?" It seems that God waited too long. Why did God choose to send Him at that particular time in human history? In this episode, Kenny highlights Galatians 4:4, which tells us that Jesus came when the "fullness of time" had come. Kenny makes the case that, in essence, God waited for the perfect moment in human history; the specific time period that would make the most sense for the rapid expansion of the Gospel message. Then, Kenny expounds upon the things that made it more likely for the Gospel to spill over into Gentile nations. 1- The nation of Israel needed to be prepared to receive the Messiah in the way God wanted them to receive Him. God was waiting for there to be a culture of "expectancy" amongst the Jewish people. 2- God wanted people of Jewish decent to be living around the world because they would be the initial conduits for the Gospel to spread. 3- God waited for the development of Roman civil affairs and physical infrastructure that would allow for the rapid expansion of the Gospel message and the circulation of Apostolic writing. The primary elements that contributed to this were: the Pax Romana (time of peace), the Roman trade roads, and the establishment of a common trade language.

Jesus promised us "abundant life" but whenever we honestly consider and examine the life of most believers, we discover that most believers are not experiencing an abundant life at all. The problem is that many believers have never found the "breathing room" they actually need in this life in order to experience the vibrant abundance that Jesus wants to give to His followers. Finding breathing room in our finances, daily schedules, and interpersonal relationships leads to enjoying and savoring life instead of simply going through the motions. Most followers of Jesus never even scratch the surface of experiencing the freedom that Jesus wants them to experience, but it doesn't have to be that way. In this episode, Kenny interviews pastor and author Josh Reich about the topic of finding "Breathing Room" in our lives, which happens to be the topic of Josh's newest book. In this interview Josh talks about diagnosing the bad habits and distractions of our lives (often rooted in identity issues) and then he challenges us to shift our attitudes, carve out time for new habits, and chase after Jesus-focused disciplines that will do more than just help us "catch our breath" but will help us find the ultimate road to experiencing the vibrant abundant life that we may have come to believe is impossible. Josh says abundant life can be found in Jesus! Josh Reich is the founding pastor of Revolution Church in Tucson, AZ. Connect with Josh Reich Get a copy Pastor Josh's book "Breathing Room" Follow Pastor Josh Reich on Twitter: @joshuareich Check out Pastor Josh's Website: http://joshuareich.org  

We received an email, from a regular listener, asking about how we, as Bible-believing Christians, ought to approach areas and genres of our lives that the Bible isn't totally clear about, and whether or not our convictions in those genres of life should or should not be built upon any sources of information other than the Bible. In this episode, Kenny dives into understanding how we ought to approach all sources of information other than the Bible. Kenny makes it clear that we ought to have a very high regard for the Bible, and it should be the primary source of truth in our lives, but should it be the only source of truth? To that question: Kenny says no! The Bible should not be the only source of truth in our lives. "All truth is God's truth" therefore anything that is true can be embraced, regardless of its source. The Bible should be the ultimate authority when we are determining our convictions and developing our philosophies, because it is the inspired and inerrant Word of God. The Bible should be the filter through which we examine all other observations, advice, and sources of information, but when we couple the Bible with those secondary sources of information, we will likely end up with a more holistic view on how to practically apply theology to our lives. Highlighted Passages: 1 Corinthians 10

  The baptism of Jesus is outlined in all four Gospels, and in each case we are told that the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus like a dove immediately after His baptism. The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit (the 3rd person of the Godhead) took on a bodily form and descended on Jesus. Why did this happen? And what is its significance? In this episode, Kenny explains that the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus to symbolize that the power of God was on Jesus, but the Holy Spirit specifically took on the form of a dove to symbolize certain things about Jesus. The "dove" is a symbol of purity and innocence. Jesus possessed the fullness of the power of God, but He also possessed the fullness of the purity and innocence of God as well. Highlighted Passages: Luke 3:21-22 John 1:32-34 Mark 1:9-11 Matthew 3:13-17  

In this episode, Kenny responds to an email that came from a regular listener, asking him to clarify a term he used in a previous episode. Kenny used the term "God-Man" in a previous episode, and he explains what that term means by explaining the doctrine known as the "Hypostatic union."

There are two commonly held beliefs examined in this episode. The first is the fact that most people believe that one of the greatest themes of the New Testament is taking care of the poor. The second common belief among many people in modern Western societies is the idea that American Conservative Republicans don't care about the poor, and that Republican politicians supposedly are fighting to pass legislation that is harmful to people living in poverty within the United States. It is certainly true and right that one of the greatest themes of the New Testament is indeed taking care of the poor. However, is that second common belief true? Is it true that Republicans don't care about the poor? If so, why would anyone, who embraces the New Testament as true, support any Republican candidate? If Jesus commanded Christians to take care of the poor, why do some many Christians vote for Republican candidates; when these candidates supposedly don't want to take care of the poor? In this episode, Kenny challenges some of the presuppositions held by many people and then outlines several important historical truths that must be fairly examined. Kenny concedes that some Republicans haven't cared about the poor like they should and he highlights the fact that he does not agree with several of the elements of the Republican platform. But Kenny points out that conservative Republicans in America give more money to charity than liberal Democrats, so it seems unfair to claim that they don't care about the poor at all. Kenny also reminds us that the mandate to take care of the poor was given to Christians and churches, not government officials. We must take the mandate very serious, but this is to be taken up by individual people and churches, not the central government. Individual people, as well as local churches and charities, ought to be the ones providing for the poor and meeting the needs of society's most vulnerable. The government should not ever be the primary long-term provider, but rather the government ought to be the protector of the system which enables individual people or individual groups of people to serve those people living in poverty. Christians are mandated to step in and serve the poor and meet the needs of the people in their communities. Government must never make this task difficult or burdensome. In this episode Kenny gives us three reasons why he believes the government should not be the primary source of long-term provision for people living in poverty: 1- Historical research and trends show that government provision, in the name of helping poor people, will eventually make the poor people dependent on the government. 2- Any central government that becomes the primary long-term provider will eventually need to grow in scope and size and power, and world history has proven to us over and over again that any central government that grows in such a manner will eventually become oppressive towards its people. In order to protect the people from tyranny, the government must be intentionally limited. 3- Free market enterprise/capitalism is the greatest system the world has ever seen to pull people from poverty. More than 1 Billion people have escaped poverty over the last 20 years because of the expansion of free market principles around the globe. There are some very real negatives to capitalism, so it must be implemented fairly and the central government must properly protect the people from abuse and exploitation, but even with the very real potential pitfalls of free markets, capitalism is still the greatest system in the world,

Is every area of doctrine important? Or are there areas of doctrine that matter more than others? Yes, every area is important, but not every area of doctrine is of equal importance. Some issues are "closed-hand" issues and some are "open-hand" issues. Closed-hand issues we hold tightly; these are essential and non-negotiable). But open-hand issues are areas of doctrine where we can lovingly agree to disagree with other believers. In other words, there are doctrines that need to divide us and there are those doctrines that need not divide us. The key is to know what to hold in which hand. Tragically, some people make open-handed things into closed handed things, which causes unneeded division among believers. In this episode, Kenny explains the difference between closed-hand issues and open-hand issues, and outlines for us how we out to approach debates and disagreements within Christianity. Closed-hand issues include the deity of Jesus, the Trinity, the inspiration of Scripture, the sinfulness of humans and our need to be rescued, the atoning death of Jesus and His physical resurrection, and a few other areas of doctrine. Overall, this list is short. Other issues concerning God’s foreknowledge, baptism, worship style, the precise understanding of the doctrine of election, eschatology, the atonement of Jesus, the spiritual gifts, our understanding of hell, how prayer works, Bible translation preferences, women in ministry, age of the Earth, and dozens of other areas of doctrine. These are things that should be held in humility in the open hand. That doesn’t mean that we don’t have convictions or strong opinions on those secondary issues, but there is no reason that Christians need to divide over these kind of issues.

As a celebration for the 100th episode of the podcast, Kenny shares the greatest lesson he has learned since launching the podcast back in January 2016: God can use anyone! After giving us that lesson, Kenny then gives us a preview of what to expect over the course of the next 100 episodes.  

What does it take to be a genuine Christian? What must a person believe and embrace in order to be considered a true Christian? Must a person embrace everything related to Christianity? There are certainly many different perspectives on this topic, and many related sub-topics as well. Many different church leaders would likely answer this question in a variety of different ways, but Kenny takes a simple approach. In this episode, Kenny examines one of the most basic and most popular passages of Scripture that give us a clear understanding of what it takes to be a Christian. Highlighted Passages: Romans 10:9-10 Acts 16:30-31  

We believe that every Christian ought to cultivate a relationship with the Holy Spirit; seeking to engage with the Holy Spirit, His supernatural wisdom, His sanctifying power, and the spiritual gifts that He gives. In this episode, Kenny interviews charismatic church planter Matt van Winkle to discuss engaging with the Holy Spirit on a daily basis. Matt tells us that each believer ought to be looking to "live by the "nudge" of the Holy Spirit, because the Spirit is constantly nudging us in the directions that He desires for us to pursue, and He is constantly giving us the power and wisdom to do the right thing at the right time. In addition, Matt also talks about how the corporate church ought to engage with the Holy Spirit, making sure that there is always proper order in the public church services whenever the gifts of the Holy Spirit are being used by believers.

In John 16, Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit would come into the world and "convict" people in the areas of sin, righteousness, and judgement. What does this mean? In this episode, Kenny explains that the term "convict" comes from a Latin origin which means "to know" or "to point towards truth." That is what the Holy Spirit does in our lives; He points us towards truth and He helps us see things clearly. The Holy Spirit does this so that we will better understand sin, so that we can better understand what it means to live a righteous life, and so that we can have a better understanding of the impending judgment on humanity. As we have a better understanding of these things, we are much more likely to become people of conviction. A person of conviction is any person that has a track record of being a person of high character or a person with a strong moral resolution. In essence, whenever a person sees something as true and begins to live their life in accordance with that truth, they are often called a "person of conviction." That's what the Holy Spirit is seeking to transform us into, people of conviction whom have built their conviction on God's morality.

The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Godhead, but why is there confusion around His name? Why do some Christians refer to Him as the "Holy Ghost" instead of calling Him the "Holy Spirit"? In this episode, Kenny answers this question by reminding us that language evolves and transforms over the course of time. The term "ghost" meant something different several hundreds of years ago, which is why many Bible translations used that term. However, as language has evolved, the term "ghost" has taken on a different meaning, which is why the term "Holy Spirit" is now more accurate.