Intro:

Today we're back to our walk through J. Gresham Machen's book, The Virgin Birth of Christ, chapters six and seven. And again, we're reminded of the efforts that some have gone to (1) acknowledge the historical accuracy of the New Testament documents, while also (2) trying to dispel the supernatural elements that are contained within them.

First, in chapter six, we'll wrap up Machan's rebuttal against the textual critics on the Lucan birth narrative. and in chapter seven, we’ll then take a look at the birth narrative in Matthew's Gospel.

Key points:

• Overview of The Virgin Birth of Christ, chapter 6
• Overview of The Virgin Birth of Christ, chapter 7

Scripture quoted:

• Luke 1:34-37

More sources / notes:

• PDF of The Virgin Birth of Christ
• Paperback book of The Virgin Birth of Christ
• Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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Intro:

Sheol, hades, Gehenna, inferna, hel,..

Today you get my hot take on the etymological history of the most controversial and debated line in the Apostles' Creed “...and He descended into hell.”

Key points:

• Christ descended - but to where?
• Why does the Apostles’ Creed still use “descend into hell”?
• Sheol, hades, Gehenna, inferna, hel, hell

Scripture quoted:

• Luke 23:39-43.
• Luke 23:46
• John 19:30

More sources / notes:

• Matthew Emerson, “He Descended to the Dead”
• Justinus, A Commentary on the Apostles’ Creed
• https://etymology.net/inferno/
• https://www.etymonline.com/word/Hades
• https://www.etymonline.com/word/hell
• https://www.oed.com/dictionary/hell_v1?tl=true
• https://classictheology.org/2025/05/15/conveniently-untranslatable-sheol-hades-and-gehenna/
• https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Hell
• https://taylormarshall.com/2017/03/descended-hell-latin-greek-versions-apostles-creed.html
• Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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Intro:

Romans 10:9: “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” [ESV]

Today - we’re finally getting to our introduction on creeds and confession. Should we have done this way back in the beginning? Probably. But we didn’t - so here we go

Key points:

• Creeds, confession, and catechisms.
• Submissive to Scripture
• But what about “No creed but the Bible?”
• Biblical examples of creeds in the early church
• And more!

Scripture quoted:

• Romans 10:9
• Hebrews 3:1
• 2 Timothy 1:13
• Deuteronomy 6:4-5
• Ephesians 4:4-6
• 1 Timothy 3:16

More sources / notes:

• Tony Costa, Early Christian Creeds & Hymn
• JND Kelly, Early Christian Creeds (this title is now out of print and may be difficult to find at a reasonable price)
• Chad Van Dixhoorn, Creeds, Confessions, & Catechisms
• Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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Intro:

J. Gresham Machen is quoted as saying: “‘Christ died’ - that is history. ‘Christ died for our sins’ - that is doctrine. Without these two elements, joined in an absolutely indissoluble union, there is no Christianity.”

The 2nd stanza of the Apostles’ Creed proceeds from Christmas to Good Friday to Easter. As we continue through the Apostles’ Creed - we are now at the line: Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.

Today - we’ll untangle the events of Good Friday.

Key points:

• Background
• The trial
• The cross

Scripture quoted:

• Matthew, chapters 21-28
• Mark, chapters 11-16
• Luke, chapters 19-24
• John, chapters 12-21
• Isaiah, chapters 52-53

More sources / notes:

• Martin Hengel, Crucifixion: In the Ancient World and the Folly of the Message of the Cross

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Intro:

We find plenty of warnings in Scripture to be on the lookout for those who will lead the church astray. Jude’s letter is one such warning. This is a remarkably rich letter - only containing 25 verses and about 600 words in the ESV.

Key points:

• A call to contend
• On Wolves
• This call is to every person in the church

Scripture quoted:

• Jude 1-4
• Eph 4:12
• Ephesians (5.6-7,11)

More sources / notes:

• Thomas Manton, Commentary on Jude
• William Jenkyn, An Exposition upon the Epistle of Jude
• John Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress
• Thomas Schreiner, Commentary on 1&2 Peter and Jude

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Intro:

Today, as we continue through the Apostles’ Creed, you might recall that the first few episodes focused on the first stanza that described God - and that declaration of God separates the Christian faith from those religions that are not monotheistic, such as Hinduism and Buddhism.

The second stanza, moves the focus on to Jesus - and here we find those points that separate Christianity from the other monotheistic religions of Judaism and Islam.

Key points:

• His only Son
• Our Lord
• Born of the virgin Mary

Scripture quoted:

• Genesis 3:15
• Isaiah 7:14
• Isaiah 9:6
• Matt 16:13-16
• John 3:16

More sources / notes:

• CS Lewis, Mere Christianity
• J Gresham Machen, The Virgin Birth of Christ
• Norm Geisler and Frank Turek, I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist
• AA Hodge, The Westminster Confession of Faith: A Commentary
• Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogatics
• The Apostles’ Creed

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Intro:

In our first 2 episodes on Machen’s The Virgin Birth of Christ - we covered the first 2 chapters of his book wherein Machen diligently established an early date for the birth narrative and demonstrated that Luke’s birth and infancy narrative are cohesive with the rest of Luke’s writing.

In the next 3 chapters, we will read that, though cohesive - there is still this unique style to Luke's section on the birth and infancy narrative that needs to be addressed. Today - let’s pull that 3 chapter arc together.

Key points:

• Intro to Machen
• Chapter 3: Characteristics of the Lucan Narrative
• Chapter 4: The Hymns of the First Chapter of Luke
• Chapter 5: The Origin and Transmission of the Lucan Narrative

More sources / notes:

• PDF of The Virgin Birth of Christ
• Paperback book of The Virgin Birth of Christ
• Brief bio on Machen
• Machen, Mountains and Why We Love Them

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Intro:

Today we continue working our way through the Apostles’ Creed with “Maker of Heaven and Earth”. Our question today - why is there something rather than absolutely nothing?

Key points:

• The universe, and everything in it, hasn’t always been here.
• How did the universe get here: (1) it created itself or (2) it was created.
• God also created humans in His image.
• Why does that matter?

Quoted / Referenced Scripture:

• Gen 1
• Matthew 5:21-22
• Mark 12:31
• John 14:9
• Col 1:15
• Heb 1:3

More sources / notes:

• The Apostles’ Creed
• The Nicene Creed
• R. Albert Mohler Jr., The Apostles’ Creed
• Aristotle, Physics
• William Lane Craig, The Kalam Cosmological Argument
• Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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