“What are the Dead Sea Scrolls and why are they important?”……Answer: The first of the Dead Sea Scroll discoveries occurred in 1947 in Qumran, a village situated about twenty miles east of Jerusalem on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea. A young Bedouin shepherd, following a goat that had gone astray, tossed a rock […]
“What are the Synoptic Gospels?”……The Synoptic Gospels are the first three books of theNew Testament, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. These three books plus John are called the "Gospels" because they chronicle the good news of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection-the basis of our salvation. TheGospel of Matthewwas written by Matthew the apostle, one of the […]
“What does it mean that the Bible is God-breathed?”……In2 Timothy 3:16, Paul states, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness." This is the only use in the Bible of the Greek wordtheopneustos, which means "God-breathed, inspired by God, due to the inspiration of God," but other scriptural […]
“What are the different theories of biblical inspiration?”……Inspiration is one of the most important doctrines in Christianity for the sole reason that we hold the Bible to be inspired by God, and as such is our infallible rule for faith and practice. If that rule of faith and practice is not "God-breathed" but is simply […]
” TheMessage of salvation in the four Gospels seem different to the rest of the New Testament?”……We must keep in mind that the Bible is intended to be taken as a whole. The books preceding the Four Gospels are anticipatory, and the books which follow are explanatory. Throughout the whole Bible, what God requires is […]
“What is sola scriptura?”……The phrase sola scriptura is from the Latin: sola having the idea of "alone," "ground," "base," and the word scripturameaning "writings"-referring to the Scriptures. Sola scriptura means that Scripture alone is authoritative for the faith and practice of the Christian. The Bible is complete, authoritative, and true. "All Scripture is God-breathed and […]
“Can the various resurrection accounts from the four Gospels be harmonized?”……The events surrounding Jesus' resurrection can be difficult to piece together. We must remember two things: first, the news of Jesus' resurrection produced much excitement in Jerusalem, and in the ensuing chaos many people were going many different directions. Groups were separated, and several different […]