Tag Archives: Christ

From Heiser to Heidelberg: How Zacharias Ursinus Answers the Heiser Question on Romans 5.12

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Episode 471: Via a Twitter/X interaction I ran across Dr. Michael Heiser’s series of blog articles on Romans 5.12. The question Heiser believes those who affirm Original Sin cannot answer is “How is Jesus, being a Son of Adam, exempted from Original Sin?” This question is not new. Dr. Zacharias Ursinus nearly 500 years ago provided an explanation in his “Commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism” under his exposition of Question 35. Tune in as I interact with both Heiser & Ursinus.

Some Brief Thoughts on “Sin Nature” by Heiser

Back to Romans 5.12 where Heiser fleshes out his question further

Commentary on Heidelberg Catechism by Ursinus (PDF)

Christ’s Proclamation to the Spirits, pt. 2

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Episode 468: Once more we turn out attention to the enigmatic text 1 Peter 3.18b-19 with an eye toward 4.6. I challenge the traditional view, offering a more consistent and coherent understanding of this tough text. Christ is risen, Christ is Lord, the angelic powers are subjected to Him, and this is good news for the church!

Christ’s Proclamation to the Spirits, pt. 1

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Episode 467: 1 Peter 3.18b-19 can be an enigmatic mystery. The traditional view sees Jesus going to the hadean realm and preaching the gospel to dead people for a posthumous opportunity at salvation. In this episode, I cut through the fog, approaching the text linguistically and exegetically for something a bit more coherent and consistent.

Walter Scott on Election, pt.1

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Episode 465: As mentioned in the previous episode, development must have taken place with Alexander Campbell concerning the doctrine of election. Perusing the archives of the Millennial Harbinger, I found four (4) articles on the subject of election. However, they were not written by Campbell, but by Walter Scott, his right hand man. Nevertheless, Campbell & Scott were sympatico and Scott elucidated the doctrine of election as understood by the Restoration Movement in the late-1820s. After a brief recap of Campbell’s 1817 “Views” essay, I begin working through Scott’s essays on election.

K. C. Moser & The Gist of Romans

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Episode 456: K. C. Moser was a preacher in the churches of Christ in the twentieth century (1920s-70s). He wrote several articles, pamphlets, as well as a couple books. In this episode, I take a brief look at his book The Gist of Romans with an eye to his other book The Way of Salvation. What can we possibly learn from this “ultra-Calvinist” (as one brother labeled [or libeled] him) or “semi-Calvinist” (as another brother styled him)? Tune in as we explore brother Moser’s grace-oriented, cross-focused, Christ-exalting approach to Romans.

Cross-Purposes: How Distorting the Cross Distorts the Gospel

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Episode 431: Liberal/Progressive theologians reinterpret the cross of Christ in a variety of ways. On this episode of the podcast, I tackle two primary ways liberal theologians distort the meaning of the cross of Christ: claiming the cross is “cosmic child abuse” and claiming “there is nothing divine in the blood of the cross.” Then, utilizing John R. W. Stott’s work, I explain the centrality of the cross to the life and message of Christ and why it was necessary for the Son of God to go to the cross.

Divine Impeccability & Incarnation

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Episode 427: “Could Jesus have sinned?” Most people assume that since Jesus was tempted, and for a temptation to be a true temptation it must be possible for the person tempted to sin, that “Yes, Jesus could have sinned.” In this episode, we cut this assumption out at the knees theologically and Christologically by situating divine impeccability, the doctrine that God is unable to sin, within the person of Christ, He being fully human and fully divine. Just in time for Epiphany!