Month: February 2022

Problem: Paul wrote, “And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie” (2 Thes. 2:11). But Revelation 21:8 says, “the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” But it seems inconsistent for God to condemn liars and yet send such a strong delusion that people should believe a lie.
Continue reading →

Problem: Paul writes, “God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false…” (2 Thess. 2:11). Why would God intentionally give these people a “deluding influence,” so that they wouldn’t believe in him?
Continue reading →

Problem: Some interpreters argue that this passage supports a post-tribulation rescue (or rapture) of the Church. Paul explicitly teaches that the subject of this passage is the “coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him” (2 Thess. 2:1). Then, he goes on to write that the rescue of the Church will not come until the “apostasy” and the “man of lawlessness” are revealed in the Great Tribulation (v.3) and the Antichrist sits in the temple (v.4). Since these events occur during the Tribulation, post-tribulationists argue that Paul must be consoling the Thessalonians with the fact that they had not missed the rapture, because these events hadn’t occurred yet. Is this the case?
Continue reading →

It is important to note that this is non-essential doctrine. In the end, it is relatively unimportant when the rapture will happen; it is more important that it will happen. Moreover, the premillennial position does not hinge on the rapture. Instead, the timing of the rapture is an in-house discussion within the premillennial view.
Continue reading →

Problem: Paul spoke here to the Thessalonian Christians of “we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord.” This seems to imply that he was affirming that Christ would come before he died. But Christ did not come before the death of Paul (2 Tim. 4:6–7). Did Paul make a mistake here?
Continue reading →

Problem: Some interpreters[1] argue that the “vessel” refers to a Christian man’s wife (see RSV translation). Peter uses the same Greek word skeuos in 1 Peter 3:7 to refer to Christian wives. Is Paul commanding Christian men to “possess” their wives?

Continue reading →

Problem: Critics argue that this passage refers to the destruction of the Temple in AD 70. Since Paul died before this time, critics claim that this must have been added (or interpolated) after his death. In addition to this, critics argue that this passage is Anti-Semitic, which favors the literature of the church fathers in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th centuries.
Continue reading →

Problem: Critics argue that Paul wrote this passage, because he was anti-Semitic and racist against Jews.
Continue reading →

Problem: Some interpreters argue that God chooses some believers for heaven and others for hell.
Continue reading →