You may recall from previous articles that my answer to this is “no.” I though tit might be helpful to flesh out why, by engaging with some arguments that Jon Thompson makes in his book “Deliverance.” Thompson’s argument can be summarized as follows. That when the Bible talks about demons and deliverance, the term it… Continue reading Do Christians need deliverance from demons?
Category: Bible Study
Sharing your faith in the face of death, dying and bereavement
We have been working through a summer series about sharing Jesus with others at our church. One of the things we wanted to get across that this is about the whole of life and so we have picked up on a few examples of life circumstances and how to live for Jesus and speak for… Continue reading Sharing your faith in the face of death, dying and bereavement
Household baptisms, paedobaptism and the Onesimus problem
Why does Onesimus cause a problem for paedobaptists? Well a lot has been made in their argument of the descriptions of converts being baptised with their whole households. The argument is that it would run contrary to the culture for people to be only baptized if they repented themselves. Rather, we would expect them to… Continue reading Household baptisms, paedobaptism and the Onesimus problem
Household baptisms, headship, corporate salvation and paedobaptism
A common argument for infant baptism is that in Acts, whole households are baptised and that must have included children. This has also been developed by some into the argument that the culture of the Bible was more corporate with a greater emphasis on fathers acting as heads of families so that it would be… Continue reading Household baptisms, headship, corporate salvation and paedobaptism
Bible Study “Fools Wisdom” (Luke 12)
For Starters What does it mean to be called “a fool”?/What are equivalents to this today? How does it feel when someone calls you a fool/ or an equivalent? A look at the Text (what is happening) Can you summarise in your own words what each section is about? (v1-12) (v13-21) (v22-34) (v35-48) (v49-53) (v54-59)… Continue reading Bible Study “Fools Wisdom” (Luke 12)
Cyrus, Isaiah and prophecy
One of the big debates in Biblical scholarship is the dating of Isaiah. The consensus position tends to be that there were at least 2:and possibly 3 authors. The first author would then be presumed to have written in the 7th century BC and the later authors during or post exile. Often this position is… Continue reading Cyrus, Isaiah and prophecy
Return of the King: video series
If you fancy digging into a book of the Bible through the summer, here is a series of talks on the book of Revelation …and here is the accompanying E-Book.
Biblical brackets
There’s a particular technique that shows up in Scripture where writers want to show that a train of thought is being followed through from start to conclusion. It functions to bracket various thoughts, points, narratives together and is known technically as an inclusion. The method use is to repeat a word, phrase or pericope at… Continue reading Biblical brackets
The true and better story (Luke 11:14-54)
Here’s my outline for a sermon this Sunday. Look out for some articles with additional comment. You can listen to the full talk here introduction Two stories The good and great creator who loves and redeems We are the accidental byproduct of battles between little gods When the stories get muddled …. Which story are… Continue reading The true and better story (Luke 11:14-54)
Defeating the strongman: When Jesus confronts the Devil’s kingdom
This Sunday we are tackling Luke 11 in church. We cannot cover all the spin off issues in detail. So, here’s a few videos picking up on what we can know about the Devil and demons.
