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The question of whether salvation is still available under the Law post-Calvary is really the issue. Galatians, no less than Romans, has become something of a proof text for millions of Christians to answer No. But my reading of Galatians does not actually support that answer. Rather, it...

Deut. 11:26 portrays the Law as both a blessing to those who keep it and a curse to those who don’t. Has Galatians swept the “blessing” part under the rug? Gal. 3:10 stresses that the curse follows a single slip-up (quoting Deut. 27:26). Gal. 3:11 tells us that justification does not come...

Encyclopedia Brittanica has James the "brother" of the Lord/bishop of Jerusalem as not one of the Twelve, and often mistaken for James son of Alphaeus.

I need some help here with regard to Irenaeus. Can you point to the passage you have in mind? I saw this exact claim a few years back, in a blog by Dave Armstrong which you seem to have lifted word for word. I challenged the claim then. I do so again. After studying his writings...

I'm not trying to make a point, I'm trying to understand. I have a concept of justice in my head, and the idea that a just God would ever punish A for B’s sin―whether or not A volunteered for the substitution―is a troubling one. A bloodthirsty God just might decide that “someone has to pay!”...

I've never met a single Christian who stumbles over imputed righteousness. If it's only atheists who so stumble (as the first sentence of the OP suggests), it's because they hold that there is nothing to impute, the concept of God's righteousness being premised in the first instance on God's...

Paid WHO? Some answer "Satan." This “ransom” theory, see Matt 20:28, Mark 10:45, suggests that by sinning mankind became Satan’s captives, and Jesus gave himself as a ransom to redeem mankind from Satan’s dominion, resulting in what Rom. 6:16 characterizes as a change of masters. Origen...

I don't have a dog in this fight, but I can't restrain myself from commenting: Jim B, you owe an apology here. This isn't a Spelling Bee. It's a forum for exchanging ideas. The banner at the top of this webpage says "Loving People" for a reason.

Paul himself elsewhere claimed to be “blameless” under the Law, Phil. 3:6. What are we to make of that?

My bad, @Dropship, I totally misunderstood what you were saying. Sure, Jesus likely spoke over a million words to the multitudes. I thought you were suggesting that the multitudes were able to distill the "nuclear core" contained in the four gospels from the 400 or so words that the four...

Partly because calling a son of Alphaeus a "brother of the Lord" just doesn't seem to fit. (According to Mark 2:14 Matthew is also a son of Alphaeus, yet is never called "brother of the Lord.") But mainly because there is a James referred to as Jesus' brother in Matt. 13:55 and Mark 6:3 who is...

Barney, I think we are talking past each other. I agree with everything you just said -- but I think it dodges my question, which is about God's power vel non to forgive sins without the sacrifice of Christ, not about forcing people to choose obedience. Let me try to put it another way for you...

Thanks, Barney. I don't doubt that true believers will practice what they believe. And I'm certainly not challenging that God declines to grant eternal life to the unrepentant, habitual sinner. But I hope my question hasn't been lost in the shuffle: If God desired to grant eternal life to...

I wish I understood what you meant here about Matthew, Mark, Luke and John -- the "nuclear core" -- existing "in the minds of the multitudes who heard Jesus speaking." Less than 5% of the words recorded in those gospels are recorded as being spoken to "the multitudes." Are you saying that...

Thanks for this list, Barney. Your last entry troubles me a bit. WHY is it impossible impossible for God to give those who are unrepentant and unfaithful eternal life? (It's easy to see why He WOULDN'T do it, but I'm struggling with the notion that He CAN'T do it.) BTW, would you add "it's...

Thanks for this, @Dropship. I'm no authority on what Paul did or didn't think was "simple" (if that's the best translation of ἁπλότητος) about Christian doctrine, but I'm pretty sure the four gospels didn't exist when Paul wrote to the Church at Corinth, so I doubt he was referring to those...

From Bablyon? This is news to me. (I would have bet money on Alexandria or Carthage.) Tell me more about the original source of Trinitarian doctrine.

Thank you.

MatthewG, I wish I could say this helps me answer my question. It's a great explanation of why Christ DID come down and die. But it doesn't tell me that Christ HAD TO come down and die in order for God to forgive our sins, that it was IMPOSSIBLE for God to forgive sin without that death, that...

So, out of the possible choices -- (1) James son of Zebedee (one of the twelve apostles) (2) James son of Alphaeus (one of the twelve apostles) (3) James "the Just"/first bishop of Jerusalem/"brother" of the Lord which one (or ones, if you believe that #3 is actually identical either to #1...