Problem: Paul refers to “Jannes and Jambres” who “opposed Moses” (2 Tim. 3:8). However, the OT never refers to either of these men. Who were they?
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14
Apr
2022
Month: April 2022
13
Apr
2022
2 Tim. 2:25 – Can we repent or does God cause us to repent?
Problem: Paul writes that “God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim. 2:25). Some interpreters argue that we cannot repent, unless God grants this to us (c.f. Acts 5:31). Does this eliminate the importance of freewill in regard to repentance? In other words, are we responsible for repentance or is God?
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12
Apr
2022
2 Tim 2:25 – Is repentance a gift of God or an act of man?
Problem: Paul speaks here of God “granting them repentance, so that they may know the truth” (cf. Acts 5:31). Yet in other places, repentance is considered a person’s own act. Jesus, for example, calls on people to “Repent, and believe in the Gospel” (Mark 1:15). Paul tells us that God “commands all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30). But doesn’t it have to be either an act of God or else an act of the individual believer?
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11
Apr
2022
2 Tim 2:14 – Is it wrong for Christians to argue about theological matters?
Problem: Paul seemed to forbid theological arguments when he instructed Timothy “not to strive about words to no profit” (2 Tim. 2:14) and to “avoid foolish and ignorant disputes” (v. 23). On the other hand, Paul himself argued with the Jews in their synagogues (Acts 17:2, 17) and disputed with the philosophers on Mars Hill (Acts 17:18ff). Indeed, Jude exhorted us “to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).
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10
Apr
2022
2 Tim. 2:12 – Does this passage threaten eternal security?
Problem: Paul writes, “If we deny Him, He also will deny us” (2 Tim. 2:12). The context of “we” in this passage refers to believers in Christ. Can a Christian go to hell, if they deny Christ?
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09
Apr
2022
2 Tim 1:10 – If Jesus abolished death, why do we still die?
Problem: Paul affirms in this text that Christ “has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel.” But death is not abolished, since “death spread to all men” (Rom. 5:12), and “it is appointed for men to die once” (Heb. 9:27).
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08
Apr
2022
2 Tim. 1:6 – What was Timothy’s spiritual gift?
Problem: Paul tells Timothy to “kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands” (2 Tim. 1:6). What was Timothy’s gift, and why was it given through the laying on of Paul’s hands?
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07
Apr
2022
1 Tim 6:17–18 – Should wealth be avoided or retained?
Problem: Jesus urged the rich young ruler to “sell what you have and give to the poor” (Matt. 19:21). The early disciples sold their possessions and laid the money at the apostles’ feet (Acts 4:34–35). And Paul warned that “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” (1 Tim. 6:10). However, God blessed Abraham and Job with riches, and Paul does not instruct the rich to give away all they have, but to use and “richly enjoy” (1 Tim. 6:17–18).
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06
Apr
2022
1 Tim 6:16 – Does God dwell in darkness or in light?
Problem: According to Paul, God “dwells in unapproachable light.” However, the Bible repeatedly says things like “the Lord said He would dwell in the dark cloud” (1 Kings 8:12) because “He made darkness His secret place (Ps. 18:11; cf. 97:2). Which is it—darkness or light?
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05
Apr
2022
1 Tim 6:16 – Does only God have immortality or do humans also have it?
Problem: According to Paul in this passage, God “alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light.” However, in other places, Paul speaks of Christians being raised in “immortal” physical bodies (1 Cor. 15:53) and partaking of “immortality” through the Gospel (2 Tim. 1:10). But if God alone has immortality, then how can anyone else have it?
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04
Apr
2022
1 Tim 6:15-16 – Has anyone seen God or not?
Problem: In some verses of Scripture, people see God. But, in other verses, it says they cannot see God? Is this a contradiction? It is not if you understand the Trinity and the context of those verses.
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03
Apr
2022
1 Tim. 6:1-2 – Does the Bible support slavery?
Does the Bible support slavery? Skeptics of the Bible often claim that it does. For instance, in their book What the Bible Really Says, skeptics Morton Smith and R. Joseph Hoffman write,
There is no reasonable doubt that the New Testament, like the Old, not only tolerated chattel slavery (the form prevalent in the Greco-Roman world of Paul’s time) but helped to perpetuate it by making the slaves’ obedience to their masters a religious duty. This biblical morality was one of the greatest handicaps that the emancipation movement in the United States had to overcome.[1]
How should believers respond to such claims? Does the Bible support slavery?