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I read an article a few years ago (unfortunately no longer available online) whose author argued persuasively that the "greater works" referred to healings and suchlike, not to the things that evidenced Jesus' deity (such as walking on water and changing water into wine). Well, the church has...

Even in the early church, not every Christian performed wondrous miracles (read Acts, and the letters). The first promise is for the Church collectively, not for every individual Christian. And there's nothing mentioned about frequency. The second promise is to grant the things asked for in...

Context. Paul is talking specifically about building up the church. There are some people who do it badly. They don't lose their salvation, but they will lose out on any reward. They will be 'barely' saved.

My husband and I have been married for 43 and a half years. Still seem to be going strong. On the face of it, we didn't seem to be all that compatible (other than both being Christians). I am a doctor; my husband left school at 16. My background is middle-class (my father was a solicitor); he...

It's not that unusual for married couples to abstain from sex during pregnancy anyway (either for fear of 'disturbing' the pregnancy, or just because it's too uncomfortable for the woman). Joseph probably regarded his wife as 'off limits' while carrying a child conceived by the Holy Spirit...

Some churches may have good reason for quizzing people who ask for baptism. In the UK there have been a number of cases of Muslim immigrants asking for baptism in order to improve their chances of getting asylum in the UK (because if they are "Christians" they can claim to be at risk of...

It all depends on how you define "perfection" and "mistake". (6) Does the Bible contain errors? With regard to teaching doctrine, the Bible's "method" is not to give a detailed argument on any particular issue, but rather to give us direct commands (which may appear contradictory) and leave us...

In Hebrew there is a special form of the verb (the "infinitive absolute") that is used to convey strong emphasis when added to the normal verb form. This is why the word 'die' is used twice. There's really no equivalent in English, which is why the translation "dying you will die" sounds odd and...

My commentary on 1 Timothy & Titus (by John Stott) says that although Roman law banned polygamy it was nevertheless widely practised in various parts of the empire. And remember that the Jews allowed polygamy, and that Jewish converts would also be in the churches. Because of their background...

My thoughts: Sin is always a choice. We all have a bias towards sin, and each of us has a bias towards particular sins - but the element of choice is always there. I find it hard to consider murder as an "unintentional" sin unless some kind of mental illness or intoxication is involved. Any sin...

Not in modern English.

The "wedding clothes" are righteous deeds. The "outer darkness", where there is "weeping and gnashing of teeth" is Hell. James puts it more bluntly when he writes that faith without works can't save us. A "faith" that doesn't produce righteous deeds isn't true saving faith. To look at it another...

None of these issues are doctrinal. Churches have always differed on practices, because the New Testament (unlike the Old Testament) is largely non-prescriptive with regard to liturgy etc, and while all would agree on the ethical principles (e.g. modesty), there's a wide cultural and historical...

As Ronald has said, no interpretation is needed if praying in tongues in private. But even if there is an interpreter, interpretation of tongues is also a spiritual gift. So neither the speaker nor the interpreter will know the name of the language.

That I will never know unless I'm overheard by someone who speaks the language. I know that it isn't English, Welsh, French, German, Norwegian or Russian.

I still think that the traditional interpretation (in some form) is the best one. Jesus seems to be saying that we can sometimes learn a lesson even from the wicked. If only we were as astute as this steward in the management of our spiritual affairs! For, like him, we’re all ‘on notice to...

I fail to see how possession of a complete Bible makes gifts such as tongues and prophecy superfluous.

Faith (= belief in the Christian sense) co-exists with doubt to some extent. Because if we were 100% certain, we wouldn't need faith. You could say that the need for faith implies an element of uncertainty. The crucial question is whether our faith is sufficient to produce appropriate action...

Many years ago, my husband spoke to someone (a Catholic priest, of all people!) who had witnessed an instance of this. He had been with a colleague in Belgium who had prayed for a man seriously injured in a road accident. This colleague prayed in tongues. Afterwards the man said that he had...

The "wonderful plan" is for eternity. This life is just the first chapter, and like all good stories, it contains elements of struggle and suffering. Anyone who claims that the Christian life is going to be a bed of roses is guilty of misrepresentation. Christ said we each have to take up a...