4- God's Only Begotten Son

Section 3 of my blog, Universal Salvation, shows that universal salvation is biblical. God will make it happen. One way God has made it happen is through Jesus preaching to the imprisoned spirits in 1 Peter 3:19-20 and 4:6 for their salvation. While these verses are an amazing example of God’s grace and love towards all, even towards those who died in the flood whose every thought was inclined towards evil (Genesis 6:5), Peter seems to indicate that Jesus’ preaching in these

Helpful Background on Reincarnation 1.              The definition of reincarnation is: the rebirth of “the aspect of an individual that persists after bodily death” (sometimes referred to as soul or spirit) in another body (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, 2024). The Bible distinguishes between the soul and the spirit (Hebrews 4:12, 1 Thessalonians 5:23). The “soul” is who a person is, and it is that aspect that reincarnates if reincarnation is real. Adam, for example

A.    Introduction In this post, my goal is simply to show that reincarnation is possible biblically and that nowhere in Scripture is reincarnation stated as unbiblical . This does not, of course, prove that reincarnation is true. Again, I do not think one can make a theology of universal reincarnation from Scripture as God simply does not address it much. However, that does not mean universal reincarnation is not true as the Bible does not speak to everything in life that is

Introduction  What stops humans from being conformed fully to the image of Christ? One thing: our sin.  To fully understand the biblical reality that all people will be images of the invisible God one day (addressed in section 5 of this blog), it is first vital to have a biblical understanding of sin. Additionally, to further understand who Jesus is and how God used reincarnation in his life (explained in future posts), it is vital to have a biblical understanding of sin. Wh

A.    Malachi 4:5  “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet   before  the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.” If God meant He would send someone LIKE Elijah before the day of the Lord, why didn’t He say so? Why did He simply say He will send Elijah? If this is best to not interpret literally, why not? Maybe John the Baptist is literally Elijah. Further, if John the Baptist was not Elijah, did the Messiah really come in the person of Jesus? This verse is saying Elijah

A.        Jesus preexisted his life on earth in Israel. Micah 5:2 “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.” Jesus is “from of old, from ancient days." He clearly existed before his birth in Bethlehem. John 1:29-30 “The next day he [John the Baptist] saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, w

Is there biblical evidence that Jesus had any other past lives? A.    Was Jesus God’s “only” son? John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son , that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” “Only”, of course, means “exclusively” – the only one. How can this be true if God called others His “son” in Scripture? What made Jesus unique – the “only Son”? For example, in psalm 2:7 David says, “I will tell of the decree: the Lord s

Introduction This post is a necessary prerequisite to understanding how the Bible describes Jesus' own salvation in 1 Timothy 2:13-15. As already shown, Jesus sinned as Adam, David, and Jesus. As already explained in section 1 part 12 of this blog, Jesus, as the great high priest, paid for his sin as Jesus and the sin of the world. However, as will be explained in detail in "Jesus, Saved by Grace, Part 2- Through Childbearing", Jesus did not pay for his sin as Adam and David

Just like every other person (see Is Jesus God? Part 12: Was Jesus always sinless or did he become sinless? ),  Jesus sinned during his life, though he uniquely completely overcame sin and became sinless and perfect. As explained in previous posts, Jesus had past lives as Adam and David, and they sinned. How then, can Jesus be saved? Did Jesus save himself? Did he pay for his own past sin on the cross? The Bible is not silent on these questions and explicitly explains exactly

I.               Introduction What will Christ be like when he returns? How will he return? Scripture gives certain clues regarding Christ’s return and what it will be like. I will explain fully in a future post that Christ in Matthew 19:28 potentially references reincarnation as the way he and his disciples would return to earth to establish his kingdom. Or will Christ literally  come in the clouds (Revelation 1:7)? 1 John 3:2 says that when Christ appears, we will be like h

How was Jesus able to be a perfect sacrifice for the world? How did he have the strength to accomplish what he did on the cross? 1.     David, who Jesus was, was a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14, Act 13:22). Unlike in the life of Adam, we see in the life of David the foundations of the kind of man who could be Christ: one who sought the Lord with all of his heart, repented when confronted with sin (Psalm 51), and desired God above all else (Psalm 27:4). David loved

While Christians universally agree that sanctification, or holiness, is one of the goals of the Christian life, and that a Christian’s eternal state will be sinless, there are varying perspectives on how a Christian will become sinless. Protestants generally believe that upon death, a Christian, regardless of if they are “perfected” or “sinless”, goes straight to heaven and enters God’s presence. Catholics believe that when a person dies, God immediately judges them and deter

Does what the Bible says about life after death indicate universal reincarnation could not be possible? There is an intermediate state between death and the final resurrection when Jesus returns. This is shown in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31). In “Hades”, this intermediate state, Lazarus and Abraham are comforted and the sinful rich man is tormented. There is memory of the past for those in this parable. This state also involves fellowship with Chris

Note: While the commentary is mine, I owe many of the Scripture references to the ideas of Kevin Williams in his book, "Nothing Merciful Than Reincarnation" (2019). Introduction: The Bible does not talk much about universal reincarnation though, as already shown, the Bible reveals that reincarnation is not unbiblical and God used reincarnation in the life of Jesus, Elijah, and Eve. If universal reincarnation exists, God clearly did not want it to be a focus. A.             Jo

1.     The type of reincarnation believed in Hindu, Buddhist, and other religions is decidedly unbiblical. 2.         God may  use reincarnation to give the lost multiple opportunities to be saved. God is all about everyone being saved (1 Timothy 2:4), so reincarnation is not inconsistent with His character. The Bible nowhere contradicts the existence of reincarnation. If God does not use universal reincarnation, as there is not certain biblical proof of universal reincarnati

Admin. (2017, August 7). Deuterocanonical books in the New Testament . Scripture Catholic. https://www.scripturecatholic.com/deuterocanonical-books-new-testament/ Atkin, J . Defending the deuterocanonicals: EWTN . EWTN Global Catholic Television Network. (n.d.). https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/defending-the-deuterocanonicals-996 Bfablog. (2024, September 10). The three parts of man-spirit, Soul, and body . Bibles for America Blog. https://blog.biblesforamerica.org/th