Dr Paul Allen

Speaking in tongues, or glossolalia, represents a gift of the Holy Spirit connected to baptism in the Spirit.1 The phenomenon takes two main forms: glossolalia refers to unintelligible speech patterns unfamiliar to speakers, while xenolalia involves the miraculous use of known languages not learned through conventional means.2 In the New Testament, tongues appear as a sign accompanying Spirit-empowerment. At Pentecost, believers filled with the Holy Spirit spoke in other tongues, with each listener hearing their own native language. (Acts 2:1–11)  The gift also manifested among Gentile converts and those receiving Paul’s ministry. (Acts 10:44–46; 19:6) However, Paul distinguishes between public and private use. When someone speaks in a tongue, they address God rather than people, uttering mysteries that remain unintelligible to listeners. (1 Cor 14) While tongue-speaking edifies the individual, prophecy builds up the church. (1 Cor 14) Paul establishes clear boundaries for congrega...

Sinful acts always have their origin in some form of unbelief. Behind every sin is a lie. The root of all our behaviour and emotions is the heart—what it trusts and what it treasures. And people are given over to sinful desires because “they exchanged the truth about God for a lie” (Rom. 1:24–25):  Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. (Eph. 4:17–19)  Humanity’s problem is futile thinking, darkened understanding, and ignorant hearts. We sin because we believe the lie that we are better off without God—that his rule is oppressive, we will be free without him, and sin offers more than God. This is true of every sin.  We can often identify...

Elijah’s flight to Mount Horeb begins in desperation—threatened by Jezebel, he abandons his servant and ventures into the wilderness, eventually collapsing beneath a broom bush where he begs God to end his life. (1 Kings 19:1–21) An angel sustains him with food and water twice, strengthening him for a forty-day journey to the mountain of God. (1 Kings 19:1–21) At Horeb, God confronts Elijah with a question about his presence there, and Elijah responds with a litany of grievances—the covenant abandoned, altars destroyed, prophets murdered, and himself alone and hunted. (1 Kings 19:9–13)  Rather than dismissing these complaints, God instructs Elijah to stand on the mountain as the divine presence passes by, beginning with a violent wind that tears mountains and shatters rocks. (1 Kings 19:9–13) Yet the Lord inhabits none of these displays—not the earthquake that follows, not the fire, but instead a gentle whisper. (1 Kings 19:9–13) The sequence carries profound theological weight. El...

Throughout Scripture, signs and wonders represent God’s power unleashed first against Egypt during Israel’s deliverance and later through Jesus Christ to inaugurate salvation history.1 These phenomena carry consistent theological weight across both testaments, functioning as more than mere spectacle. A sign fundamentally directs people toward God 2, while a wonder—derived from a Greek word related to “terror”—denotes something extraordinary that provokes amazement in observers. 2 Where signs appeal to understanding, wonders engage the imagination. 2 Though signs seek to generate belief, they don’t compel it. 2 In the Old Testament, God’s saving actions in delivering Israel from Egypt became the focal point for divine self-revelation.1 The plagues against Egypt revealed God’s identity to the Egyptians themselves, establishing God’s reputation among the nations, not merely before Israel.1 These historical events carried implications extending far beyond their moment, shaping Israel’s ong...

Satan emerges throughout Scripture as a multifaceted adversary whose nature and activities shape Christian understanding of evil. He is portrayed as a high angelic creature who rebelled against the Creator before humanity’s creation and became the chief antagonist of God and humanity. 1  He has been sinning from the beginning, holding no truth, and when he lies, he speaks his native language as the father of lies. (John 8:44) Biblical accounts depict Satan engaging in several destructive activities. He leads the whole world astray (Rev 12:9–10), while he accuses believers before God day and night. (Rev 12:9–10) He prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. (1 Pet 5:8)  He masquerades as an angel of light (2 Cor 11:14), and he blinds the minds of unbelievers so they cannot see the gospel’s light. (2 Cor 4:4) In the Old Testament, he roams throughout the earth seeking to do injury, opposes God’s people and incites disobedience, and accuses the elect before ...

The fundamental distinction between Christian and Islamic theology centres on how God’s nature is understood. The God revealed progressively through Scripture—Yahweh in the Old Testament and continuing through Christ and the apostles—differs fundamentally from Allah as presented in Islamic teaching. 1 The most significant theological divergence involves the Trinity. Christians affirm God as triune—one in essence yet three in person—where the distinctions between Father, Son, and Spirit do not create three separate deities. 1  While both faiths claim monotheism, Islam understands “one” to mean Allah is a singular spiritual being without internal plurality, and Muslims explicitly deny the Trinity as implying polytheism.2 The Qur’an categorically rejects any notion of threeness in God, treating the Trinitarian confession as blasphemy. 3 This doctrinal disagreement extends to Christology and redemption. Islam denies both the incarnation of a second person of the Trinity who accomplishe...

In traditional Christian understanding, demons are typically identified as fallen angels, though ancient Judaism and the early church held varying perspectives—some viewing demons as the spirits of the Nephilim, the hybrid offspring of angels and human women mentioned in Genesis 61. From this perspective, Satan and other fallen angels were originally created by God as good beings but chose rebellion and self-assertion. Demons function as personal spiritual beings actively working to advance evil throughout creation.  While fundamentally morally ambivalent in broader religious traditions, demons in Christian theology belong primarily to the sphere of evil and exert harmful influence on humans, animals, and nature. The biblical record portrays demons as intelligent agents capable of recognizing Jesus and resisting his authority. In one account, a demon-possessed man lived among tombs, could not be restrained by chains, and would cry out and harm himself (Mark 5:1–20).  When conf...

Biblical literature portrays Satan as a powerful adversary operating across multiple dimensions—spiritual, moral, and relational. Satan is depicted as “the ancient serpent” who “leads the whole world astray,” (Rev 12:9–10) while his character centres on deception, as “there is no truth in him” and “he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44) Satan’s methods reveal a calculated strategy. He “prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour,” (1 Pet 5:8) yet he “masquerades as an angel of light,” (2 Cor 11:14) suggesting his deceptions operate through disguise rather than overt force.  In the Old Testament, Satan appears as one “roaming throughout the earth” seeking to cause harm, opposing God’s people by inciting disobedience, and accusing the elect before God’s throne.1 New Testament writers describe him tempting believers to sin, ensnaring the naive, delighting in harming believers, blinding the minds of unbelievers, and masquerading as an angel of light.1 The...

Throughout Scripture, signs and wonders represent God’s power unleashed first against Egypt during Israel’s deliverance and later through Jesus Christ to inaugurate salvation history.1 These phenomena carry consistent theological weight across both testaments, functioning as more than mere spectacle. A sign fundamentally directs people toward God2, while a wonder—derived from a Greek word related to “terror”—denotes something extraordinary that provokes amazement in observers.2 Where signs appeal to understanding, wonders engage the imagination.2 Though signs seek to generate belief, they don’t compel it.2 In the Old Testament, God’s saving actions in delivering Israel from Egypt became the focal point for divine self-revelation.1 The plagues against Egypt revealed God’s identity to the Egyptians themselves, establishing God’s reputation among the nations, not merely before Israel.1 These historical events carried implications extending far beyond their moment, shaping Israel’s ongoing...

The theological meaning of “fear of the Lord” encompasses both reverence and obedience rooted in a proper understanding of God’s character and authority. Rather than representing distrustful terror, this fear constitutes reverent awe and a worshipful response of faith to God as Creator, Saviour, and Judge.1 Luther’s distinction between servile fear and filial fear illuminates this concept: servile fear resembles a prisoner’s dread of a torturer, while filial fear mirrors a child’s respect and love for a parent—anxiety about displeasing someone beloved rather than anxiety about punishment.2  The biblical emphasis on fearing the Lord centres on a sense of awe and respect for God’s majesty.2 Though believers are invited to an intimate relationship with God as Father, this intimacy doesn’t eliminate the need to maintain healthy respect and adoration.2 Practically, fearing the Lord means ordering one’s life according to divine wisdom. To acknowledge God involves obeying the wisdom and k...

The first aspect of baptism in the Gospels we need to consider is the mindset of Judaism. When trying to understand the Gospels’ teaching on baptism, one might ask the question: Where did baptism come from? We don’t find anyone being baptized in the Old Testament, and we rarely find words relating to baptism used in the Old Testament. However, the first person we encounter in Mark’s Gospel is John the Baptist, who comes baptizing. How, then, would original readers of the Gospels have interpreted baptism? The first thing that would have shaped the thinking of the original audience would have been the meaning of the terms being used for baptism. The terms for baptism come from the Greek root bapto, which was used by ancient Greeks to denote a ship sinking into the water and being submerged. This word rarely appears in the Old Testament, only showing up twice in the canonical books of the LXX (Isaiah 21:4; 2 Kings 5:14), indicating the New Testament writers used a term to describe baptism...

Many Christians are surprised to discover that bonafide and respected Christians hold not only competing views on eternal conscious punishment but also outright alternatives to it. For example, N. T. Wright  argues that the damned will indeed suffer in hell forever but will become less and less human until they no longer bear the  image of God —something like the transformation of Sméagol into Gollum in Tolkien’s  The Lord of the Rings . 1 Shawn Bawulski  also affirms eternal torment, yet he maintains that the lost will in some sense be reconciled to God, submitting to him and ceasing to sin. 2 Others have reconsidered the doctrine more dramatically. Preston Sprinkle  recently abandoned eternal torment altogether after publishing a widely read defense of it only a few years earlier. 3 Around the same time,  Terrance Tiessen  also left the traditional view behind, despite having defended it not long before in a respected academic theological dictionary....