CONTENTS
Book of Daniel🔗 Antichrist (Dan 2, 7, 8, 11) Book of Revelation🔗 General Topics Christology🔗 Summary of all articles To receive updates of the articles on this site, or to suggest improvements, email me at andries770@gmail. |
Trinity Doctrine🔗 Pandora’s Box Other Topics🔗 The Sabbath Specific Bible Books |
BOOK OF DANIEL
The Antichrist (Daniel 2, 7, 8, and 11) [top]
🔗 Daniel 2 – The Vision of the Statue of a Man – MP3
🔗 Daniel 7 – The Vision of Four Beasts – MP3
🔗 Daniel 7 – What is the Fourth Beast? – MP3
🔗 Daniel 8 – Out of what does the Horn come? – MP3
🔗 Three Interpretations of the Little Horn – MP3
🔗 Identity of the Little Horn – MP3
🔗 Daniel 11 – Who is the Vile Person? – MP3
🔗 Daniel 11 – Antiochus IV is not Daniel’s Antichrist.
Daniel 9 [top]
🔗 Summary of the articles below
🔗 Daniel 9 Explained, Verse-by-Verse
🔗 Introduction to Daniel 9
🔗 The 70 weeks renewed God’s covenant with Israel.
🔗 What was the Decree to Restore Jerusalem?
🔗 When did the 490 end?
🔗 Are the events described chronologically?
🔗 Who makes what covenant during the last seven years?
🔗 What is the Abomination of Desolation in 9:27?
🔗 When will the goals in 9:24 be fulfilled?
🔗 When did Daniel 9 say the Messiah would come?
🔗 Does Daniel 9 describe the same crisis as Daniel 7?
🔗 Was the vision the answer to Daniel’s prayer?
🔗 Where are the 70 years of Babylonian captivity in history?
🔗 The Book of Nehemiah – Valuable context for Daniel
🔗 Dispensational Interpretation of Daniel 9
🔗 Other Anomalies in the Dispensational Interpretation
🔗 Historical-Critical Interpretation of Daniel 9
🔗 The Symbolical Interpretation of Daniel 9
Is Daniel a Fraud? [top]
🔗 Historical criticism implies that the book of Daniel is a forgery.
🔗 Daniel is true prophecy.
🔗 The Fall of Rome validates Daniel.
🔗 Who was Darius the Mede in the Book of Daniel?
🔗 According to the Dead Sea Scrolls, when was Daniel written?
BOOK OF REVELATION
General Topics [top]
🔗 Does Revelation describe events in chronological sequence?
🔗 Is a consistently literal interpretation of Revelation appropriate?
🔗 Every main part of Revelation begins in the temple in heaven.
🔗 The Return of Christ in the Book of Revelation
🔗 Is there really a hearing/seeing theme in Revelation?
🔗 What do the numbers in the Book of Revelation mean?
The Seven Seals (4:1-8:1) [top]
🔗 Summary of all articles on the Seven Seals
Revelation 4
🔗 4:1-8 – a visual description of God’s throne room.
🔗 The 24 elders in God’s throne room are people.
🔗 Worship in God’s throne room (Revelation 4 & 5)
Revelation 5
🔗 What event is Revelation 5?
🔗 What is the Sealed Book?
🔗 In the Book of Revelation – Why Jesus had to die
🔗 Revelation 5 – Verse by Verse
Revelation 6
🔗 The White Horse of the First Seal
🔗 The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
🔗 Are the souls under the altar alive?
🔗 Why must God’s people suffer?
🔗 The Sixth Seal
Revelation 7
🔗 When will God’s people be sealed? (7:1-3)
🔗 What is the Seal of God?
🔗 The Sealing in the Book of Daniel
🔗 Who are the 144,000 sons of Israel in Revelation?
🔗 Who is the multitude before the throne?
Revelation 8
🔗 Silence in Heaven (Seventh Seal)
🔗 Does the seventh seal include the seven trumpets?
🔗 Why has Christ not yet returned? What is God waiting for?
The Seven Trumpets (10-11) [top]
🔗 The Little Open Book (10:1-7)
🔗 The Church’s Final Message (10:8 to 11:2)
🔗 The Time, Times, and a Half (11:2)
🔗 God’s Two Witnesses – Who are they? (11:3-6)
🔗 The Death and Resurrection of the Two Witnesses (11:7-14)
🔗 The Seventh Trumpet is the Final Judgment. (11:15-19)
Revelation 12-14 [top]
Revelation 12
🔗 Who are the woman and her child?
🔗 What are the stars of heaven (12:4) – angels or people?
🔗 When was Satan thrown out of heaven?
🔗 How Christ’s death won the victory in the war in heaven
🔗 How did they overcome Satan?
🔗 Why did God not end evil after the Cross?
Revelation 13
🔗 The Dragon is the Roman Empire.
🔗 The Beast continues the authority of the Roman Empire.
🔗 The Beast’s fatal wound is its sixth head. (13:3-4)
🔗 Revelation’s Beast is the Church of the Roman Empire.
🔗 The Mark of the Beast
The Seven Last Plagues [top]
Revelation 15
🔗 Introduction to the Seven Last Plagues
First Four Plagues
🔗 The first four are general and not interpreted individually.
🔗 The first four target the earth, sea, waters, and sun.
Fifth Plague
🔗 The Throne of the Beast is Christian Religious Authority.
🔗 The Loud Cry causes the Darkness in the Beast’s kingdom.
🔗 The Roman Empire gave the church its throne and great power.
Sixth Plague
🔗 What does it mean that the Euphrates dries up? (16:12)
🔗 The Kings from the East (16:12)
🔗 Armageddon
🔗 Jesus comes like a thief (16:15). Is this a secret rapture?
🔗 Why the Euphrates dries for the Kings from the East
🔗 Summary of the articles on the Sixth Plague
Conclusion
🔗 The Seventh Plague ends in Christ’s Return.
🔗 Purpose of the Plagues
🔗 The plagues validate God’s judgments.
Revelation’s Beasts [top]
🔗 The Seven-Headed Beasts
🔗 The seven-headed beasts are three of the seven heads.
🔗 The Seven Heads Identified
🔗 The Sixth Head receives the Fatal Wound.
Babylon, the Mother of Harlots [top]
🔗 Babylon unites the World against God.
🔗 The Harlot and the Beast
🔗 Babylon became Christian.
🔗 Babylon’s Merchants are her false teachers (18:23).
🔗 Is Babylon a literal city?
🔗 Is Babylon the Papacy?
🔗 Overview of the articles on Babylon
Revelation 17-18 [top]
🔗 17:1-3 verse-by-verse
🔗 17:4-6 verse-by-verse
🔗 The Time Perspective in Revelation 17
Revelation – External Resources
🔗 Rev 12 – Revelation 12 and the War in Heaven. (mp3)
🔗 Rev 4 and 5 (mp3)
🔗 Paulien’s commentary
CHRISTOLOGY [top]
🔗 Who is Jesus? Jesus is not God, but is equal with God.
🔗 In the Trinity doctrine, Jesus is God, but Jesus is not God.
🔗 Jesus is the First and the Last but not God Almighty.
🔗 The Son is subordinate to God. “God is the Head of Christ.”
🔗 Is Jesus eternally equal with the Father?
🔗 In many respects, the Son is equal to God.
🔗 Christ’s divinity from John’s gospel
Jesus in Specific Bible Books [top]
🔗 John consistently distinguishes between God and Jesus.
🔗 The roles of God and Christ in the letter to the Colossians
🔗 In Colossians, is Jesus God or a created being?
🔗 The Trinity Doctrine in the Book of Revelation
Jesus in Specific Bible Passages [top]
🔗 Philippians 2: Jesus was equal with God but emptied Himself.
🔗 Does 1 Corinthians 8:6 include Jesus in the Shema?
🔗 In John 10, did Jesus claim to be God?
🔗 “I and the Father are one.” Are they one Being?
Christ’s Origin and Pre-existence [top]
🔗 Does monogenēs mean “only-begotten?”
🔗 The firstborn of all creation (Col 1:15)
🔗 God created all things through the Son.
🔗 Where is Jesus in the Old Testament?
🔗 Jesus existed before His human birth.
Worship [top]
🔗 If Jesus is not God, why must we worship Him?
🔗 Jesus is worshiped. Does that mean that He is God?
🔗 Is Jesus worshiped in Revelation 5:14?
Does the Bible call Jesus “God?” [top]
🔗 Overview of these articles
John 1:1
🔗 Possible Translations
🔗 Does it mean, ‘The Word was a god?’
🔗 Theos is a count noun.
🔗 Does it mean, ‘The Word was God?’
Other Instances
🔗 When referring to Jesus, how should theos be translated?
🔗 Does John 1:18 say that Jesus is God?
🔗 Did Thomas call Jesus “God” (John 20:28)?
🔗 Romans 9:5 – Paul never referred to Jesus as God.
🔗 Does Hebrews 1:8 prove that Jesus is God?
The Word of God [top]
🔗 The Word in John 1:1 – a Person or a principle?
🔗 Why is Jesus called “the Word?”
🔗 Did Philo influence the New Testament?
TRINITY DOCTRINE [top]
🔗 The Trinity Doctrine – Pandora’s Box
🔗 Eternal Generation of the Son – Is it Biblical?
🔗 An Eastern Orthodox view of the Trinity – Fr. Thomas Hopko
🔗 The Trinity Doctrine and Modalism Compared
🔗 The Athanasian Creed compared to Eastern Orthodoxy
🔗 Elohim is plural. Is God more than one Person?
External Resources
🔗 Kermit Zarley
🔗 Dr. Steven Nemes – Part 1 (mp3)
🔗 Dr. Steven Nemes – Part 2 (mp3)
ORIGIN OF THE TRINITY DOCTRINE [top]
Arian Controversy
🔗 The Truth of the Origin of the Trinity Doctrine
🔗 Errors in the Traditional Account
🔗 An informative lecture by R.P.C. Hanson
🔗 The Sabbath was part of the Arian Controversy.
🔗 What was the Core Issue in the Arian Controversy?
🔗 Views on the Incarnation
🔗 Prosopon vs Hypostasis
Pre-Nicene Fathers [top]
🔗 Justin Martyr, Father of Logos-theology
🔗 Logos-theology was the orthodox view. – MP3
🔗 Rome and Alexandria were in dispute over homoousios. – MP3
🔗 Second-century Monarchians were strict Monotheists. – MP3
🔗 Tertullian’s theology was similar to Sabellianism. – MP3
🔗 Was Sabellius an early Trinitarian?
🔗 Ignatius of Antioch described the Son as our God.
🔗 Did Polycarp believe that Jesus is God Almighty?
🔗 Irenaeus – Did the early church fathers believe in the Trinity?
🔗 Did the church fathers describe Jesus as “God?”
🔗 External resource: Dr. Tuggy’s podcasts 239-242.
Arius – Beginning of the Controversy [top]
🔗 What was the Orthodox View when the Controversy began?
🔗 Arius Scholarship over the Centuries MP3
🔗 Who was Arius? Why do many regard him as an Antichrist?
🔗 Did Arius cause the Arian Controversy?
🔗 Did Arius corrupt theology with pagan philosophy?
🔗 Arius compared to the pre-Nicene Fathers
🔗 Did Arius follow Origen?
🔗 Did Arius say time existed before the Son?
🔗 Arius described the Son as mutable but unchangeable.
🔗 What did Arius teach that caused the Arian Controversy?
The Nicene Council and Creed (AD 325) [top]
🔗 Constantine forced Nicaea to conclude what he thought best.
🔗 After Nicaea, the Church exiled the Nicene leaders.
🔗 In the Nicene Creed, is the Son equal to the Father?
🔗 Is the Nicene Creed Sabellian in nature?
🔗 He is not of another substance – What does that mean?
🔗 The Trinity doctrine did not exist in 325.
🔗 Eusebius of Caesarea’s explanation of the Nicene Creed
🔗 Should a Protestant accept the Nicene Creed?
🔗 The Trinity doctrine deviates from the Nicene Creed.
🔗 What did homoousios mean to the Nicene Council?
🔗 The word Homoousios originates from Egyptian Paganism.
🔗 Homoousios was not regarded as important at Nicaea.
🔗 The Trinity doctrine deviates from the Nicene Creed.
Arianism [top]
🔗 What is Arianism? What was its core teaching?
🔗 After Nicaea, Arian emperors dominated the church.
🔗 The term “Arian” distorts the nature of the Controversy.
🔗 The Dedication Creed – AD 341
🔗 The Macrostich (Long Lines Creed) reveals the heart of Arianism.
🔗 Did Arians describe the Son as a creature? – MP3
🔗 Homoian theology rejected Nicaea’s new terms.
🔗 The Rise and Fall of the Homoiousians
🔗 How did Arius explain John 1:1?
🔗 How did Arians interpret Colossians 2:9?
Nicenes and Nicene Theology [top]
🔗 Athanasius was deposed for violence.
🔗 The East deposed Athanasius, but the West vindicated him.
🔗 Athanasius was a Unitarian, not a Trinitarian.
🔗 Athanasius on the Incarnation and Soteriology
🔗 The Council of Serdica (AD 343)
🔗 What did 4th-century Sabellians teach?
🔗 Athanasius’ revised explanation of the Nicene Creed
🔗 Basil of Caesarea taught three divine Beings.
🔗 The Meletian Schism – Athanasius vs. Basil of Caesarea
End of the Controversy [top]
🔗 Emperor Theodosius made Nicene theology the State Religion.
🔗 Why did Theodosius succeed in ending the Arian Controversy?
🔗 Council of Constantinople – AD 381
🔗 The creeds of 325 and 381 compared
Later Centuries [top]
🔗 The Decline and Fall of the Western Roman Empire
🔗 Why the Empire fell
🔗 After the Fall of Rome, Arianism dominated.
🔗 The Abomination of Desolation (Daniel 12:11)
🔗 Arianism ended in the 6th to 8th centuries. – MP3
🔗 How the Roman State Church became the Roman Church
🔗 The Catholic Church called for the Waldensian massacres.
THE SABBATH [top]
In the Old Testament
🔗 The Seventh Day was sanctified at Creation.
🔗 Evolution makes the Bible’s core message null and void.
🔗 The cycle of seven days before the time of Moses
🔗 The Sabbath in the Ten Commandments is a Day of Rest.
🔗 The Sabbath in the Traditions of the Elders
Jesus’ Sabbath Healing Miracles [top]
🔗 Christ’s first two Sabbath healing miracles
🔗 The withered hand
🔗 The crippled woman
🔗 The Paralytic at Bethesda
🔗 The man born blind
Jesus’ Sabbath Teachings [top]
🔗 The Sabbath was made for man.
🔗 Christ deliberately contravened the traditions.
🔗 Why they killed Jesus
🔗 Why did Jesus perform miracles?
🔗 What did Jesus teach about the Sabbath?
🔗 Jesus taught a different Sabbath.
🔗 The Law of Christ
Sabbath in the New Testament [top]
🔗 No Sabbath Commandment
🔗 Each must be fully convinced in his own mind.
🔗 The Sabbath was part of the Arian Controversy
OTHER SUBJECTS
The Law of Moses [top]
🔗 The Law of Christ replaced the Law of Moses.
🔗 The Old Testament implies that Moses’ Law would fall away.
🔗 Christ replaced the Law with higher standards.
🔗 What is the Law of Christ?
🔗 Summary of the previous four articles
Sermon on the Mount [top]
🔗 Jesus fulfilled the Law and the Prophets.
🔗 Objections to the previous article
🔗 Did the Church Council in Acts 15 contradict Jesus?
🔗 Sermon on the Mount
Atonement – Why Jesus had to die [top]
🔗 What does “atonement” mean?
🔗 Overview of the main theories of Atonement
🔗 How this website explains Atonement
🔗 Metaphors for Salvation
🔗 Christ’s death enabled God’s grace.
🔗 An explanation of the atonement to a Moslem
🔗 A brief overview of these articles
External Resources:
🔗 Graham Maxwell – Part 1
🔗 Noah Worcester Part 1
🔗 Noah Worcester Part 2
Justification [top]
🔗 God judges people by their deeds and justifies some by grace.
🔗 Justification is not a mere legal process. It really changes the person.
State of the Dead [top]
🔗 Are the souls under the altar in the fifth seal alive?
🔗 Do people have immortal souls? (1 Corinthians 15)
🔗 UCG – The Immortal Soul (An external resource)
🔗 With what kind of body will the dead be resurrected?
🔗 Evidence for the Resurrection of Christ (External mp3)
Eternal Torment [top]
🔗 God will annihilate the lost.
🔗 The smoke of their torment will rise forever.
🔗 Tormented day and night forever
🔗 The evidence for eternal torment
🔗 Summary of these articles
🔗 Only God’s people will receive eternal life.
External Resources
🔗 Why I am an Annihilationist (Glenn Peoples)
🔗 A Final Word With Edward Fudge
🔗 The Case for Annihilationism
🔗 Traditional Objections Answered
Why does Evil exist? [top]
🔗 The Origin of Evil
🔗 Why Satan thought he could win
🔗 Who are the rulers and authorities?
🔗 How did the Cross disarm the rulers and authorities? (Col 2:15)
Very Early Church History [top]
🔗 For the first years, the church was a sect of Judaism.
🔗 The 490-year covenant ended when Israel killed Stephan.
🔗 Dispute over the Law when the first Gentiles became Christians
🔗 Acts 15 Church Council – distinguished Jews and Gentiles.
🔗 Early Church History – Important context for theology
🔗 Chronology
Christ’s Return [top]
🔗 When and how will Jesus return?
🔗 Christ’s Return in the Book of Revelation
🔗 What will happen at the End of the Age?
🔗 Christ’s teachings of the end-time
🔗 A comparison of Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21
🔗 Christ promised to return soon.
🔗 This generation passes away. (Matt 24:34)
🔗 His disciples finish going through the cities of Israel.
🔗 Some of His contemporaries would die. (Matt 16:28)
🔗 Does God delay Christ’s return?
Was Jesus’ promise to return soon already fulfilled through:
🔗 The outpouring of the Holy Spirit?
🔗 Or through the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70?
General [top]
🔗 Christmas
🔗 Christianity became integrated with Paganism.
🔗 About Author
SPECIFIC BOOKS
Romans [top]
🔗 Romans 1
🔗 Romans 2
🔗 3:1-8 Did God reject Israel?
🔗 What does the term “Israel” mean? (Romans 9-11)
🔗 Summary of the previous article
🔗 God elected Israel for a mission, not to save them.
Recommended external podcast –
🔗 – Arminianism as a God-centred Theology
🔗 – Dr. John Piper on the election
Romans 14
🔗 The dispute was not about the Law of Moses (14:1-4).
🔗 “Unclean” does not refer to unclean animals. (14:14).
🔗 We see the same dispute in Corinthians 8 and 10.
🔗 Is the weekly Sabbath optional (14:5-6)?
🔗 God will judge people by their deeds (14:7-13).
🔗 Rather, abstain from meat (14:13-23).
Galatians [top]
1-5 – Jesus gave Himself to rescue us.
6-9 – The dangerously distorted gospel
10-12 – Paul received his gospel from Christ.
13-14 – The Traditions of the Elders
15-24 – Overview of Galatians 1
2:1-10 – Circumcision
2:11-14 – The Circumcision Party
2:15-16 – Must Gentile Christians be circumcised?
2:17-18 – The dividing wall between Jew and Gentile
2:19-20 – Christians are not subject to the Law of Moses.
2:21 – Attempts to earn “righteousness” through the Law
🔗 Overview Galatians 1 & 2
3:1-5 – The Galatians want to continue in their own power.
3:6-9 – Those who believe are sons of Abraham.
3:10-14 – No one is justified by the Law.
3:15-18 – Jesus Christ inherited the covenant promises.
3:19-25 – Christ replaced the Law as our Tutor.
3:26-29 – Israel no longer has a separate role in God’s plan.
🔗 Overview Galatians 1 to 3
Galatians – General
🔗 When was Galatians written?
🔗 What did the Galatians do wrong?
🔗 List of articles with a bit more detail
Colossians [top]
Colossians 1
🔗 Introduction (1:1-8) – The hope laid up for us in heaven
🔗 1:9-14 – The Father rescued us.
🔗 1:15-19 – The Colossian Deception
🔗 1:20-22 – War in heaven
🔗 1:23-28 – Gentiles are fellow members of the body.
Colossians 1
🔗 2:1-4 – Deceivers merged the gospel with mystery religions.
🔗 2:5-8 – The Colossian deception was not Judaism.
🔗 2:9-10 – The deception claimed to obey supernatural rulers.
🔗 2:11 – A heart circumcised by the Spirit hates sin.
🔗 2:11-14 – In Christ, Christians are already complete.
Cheirographon (2:14-15)
🔗 Compare 2:14 to Ephesians 2:15.
🔗 Different translations of cheirographon
🔗 The Cheirographon is a certificate of debt.
🔗 The rulers and authorities disarmed – 2:15
Colossians 2:16
🔗 Who criticized whom with respect to the Sabbath?
🔗 Festivals, New Moons, and Sabbaths
🔗 Are these weekly or annual Sabbaths?
🔗 The Colossians were criticized for HOW they kept the Sabbath.
Hebrews [top]
🔗 To become High Priest, Jesus had to suffer and die without sin.
🔗 Jesus is a better priest than the Levitical priesthood.
🔗 Christ sits on His Father’s throne and appears before God for us.
🔗 Come to the throne with confidence, for Jesus is our high priest.
🔗 The Unpardonable Sin
🔗 1:1:3 – Christ’s message is superior to the Old Testament.