‘But Paul Rebuked Peter!’

‘But Paul Rebuked Peter!’

Protestants often object to the Catholic doctrine of papal infallibility by appealing to Galatians 2:11 where Paul records how he rebuked Peter because “he clearly was wrong” (NAB Translation). “You see,” the argument goes, “the Bible says Peter was wrong. Therefore,...
Did Jesus Have to Die for Us?

Did Jesus Have to Die for Us?

The Bible teaches that Jesus is “the expiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2). This is the heart of the Christian message: Christ made satisfaction for our sins (paid a debt) through his death on the cross....
Don’t Exclude the Saints

Don’t Exclude the Saints

Some Christians object to the practice of invoking the saints’ intercession because they think it takes away from the unique mediation of Jesus (1 Tim. 2:5—“There is one mediator between God and man, the man Jesus Christ”). But those who invoke the saints counter that...
What Good is Hell?

What Good is Hell?

When it comes to the Christian doctrine of hell, there is no lack of critics. One critique, espoused by David Bentley Hart, is that hell necessarily entails punishment without reform, which seemingly would be contrary to God’s goodness. In his book That All Shall Be...
When Jesus Got Mad . . . Twice

When Jesus Got Mad . . . Twice

There’s no shortage of details in the New Testament that skeptics use to undermine the historical credibility of the Gospels. One is the timing of Jesus’ cleansing of the Temple. John places the event at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry (John 2:13-22). The Synoptics,...
These Doctrines Aren’t Demonic

These Doctrines Aren’t Demonic

In 1 Timothy 4:1-3, St. Paul speaks of a time when some will turn away from the faith and “give heed to…doctrines of demons,” which he identifies as the forbidding of marriage and the consumption of meat. Some Protestants see this passage as a condemnation of the...