Question:  Jewish Christianity was the actual Christianity because Jesus was thoroughly Jewish, kept the Torah, and never disciplined [editor: discipled?] the Gentiles. The earliest Christians were all Torah observant Jews and saw Jesus as their Messiah, nothing else. Jewish Christianity, which emphasized keeping the Torah (among other ideas), came into conflict with Greek and Latin […]

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Question:  If Jesus was God’s son in a metaphorical sense, then Jews also called themselves God’s children. Israel was called God’s firstborn, and David was called God’s son. Thus, the reason of Jesus’ crucifixion depicted in the NT gospels seems baseless. And if Jesus was God’s literal son through spirit, then Adam also had no […]

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Editor’s Note: This is a follow-up to a question in which the person said that Christians have stolen Jesus out of the Old Testament, and taken him completely out of context.  I asked for specifics so that I could respond, and this is what came in. Question: Christians specifically misinterpreted Isaiah 53 and Zechariah 12 […]

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Question: Does Deuteronomy 12:30 forbid Christian apologetics toward other religions since we can’t inform ourselves about them?  Does the verse apply for learning about other religious practices as a whole or simply forbid taking part in the practices of other religions? Answer: This passage appears to be a command to not even learn about other […]

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Question: The NT authors thought that Isaiah was describing the crucifixion of Jesus for the sins of the world in Isaiah 53, but the fact is Isaiah is not predicting that someone will suffer in the future for other people’s sins at all. Many readers fail to consider the verb tenses in these passages. They […]

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Question: Muslims say that the prophets preached the oneness of God only. They never predicted God’s son to be born. Christians don’t worship God instead they worship Jesus. They pray to Jesus instead of God. What’s your response? Response: If this is what Muslims say then they are just plain wrong.  They are mistaken.  In […]

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Question: Hello Dr. Oakes. Hopefully all is well! My question today is regarding the entire Old Testament. Just as a disclaimer I absolutely believe that there are no contradictions in the Bible and believe that anyone who disagrees is simply being intellectually dishonest with Scripture and its context or simply is unaware of the context. In […]

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Question:  I just read your refutation of Jesus being plagiarized off of previous Mediterranean deities and I must say you cannot believe your own drivel. To argue that it couldn’t be plagiarized because only portions of the stories are similar is beyond ridiculous. I have several questions for you:  1) Was Jesus the first deity born […]

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Question:  Why did Hosea (1:2), Isaiah (32:11), Micah (1:8), and Ezekiel (23:21) possess disreputable characters and use unholy language to their listeners? Answer: Neither Hosea, nor Isaiah, nor Micah or Ezekiel ever had “disreputable characters.”  Nor did they ever use unholy language!!!   This is an absolutely unjustified charge, and anyone saying this either is being […]

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Question: What are your best biblical and historical arguments against the Roman Catholic doctrine of Purgatory? I am interested in hearing both sides and I would like to hear some insight from yourself as I do not believe you believe in Purgatory. Thank you for all you do and God bless. Answer: Honestly, you should […]

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Question: In Genesis 18:21 towards the ending of the verse, God says “if not, I will know” when concerning the people of Sodom’s sin.  Also, in Genesis 18:21 “I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know.”  Does […]

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Question: According to 1 Samuel 15:22, “Samuel said, Does the Lord take pleasure in whole-burnt-offerings and sacrifices, as in hearing the words of the Lord? behold, obedience better than a good sacrifice.” Therefore, the whole story of Jesus’ crucifixion is bogus and God didn’t order Jesus to do it.  Your response? Answer: This statement is riddles […]

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Question:  I have a question regarding a man who was baptized in my local church for the forgiveness of his sins. We found out later that this man did not know about the passage in Romans 6:1-7 when he was baptized. How does this lack of knowledge of Romans 6:1-7 affect his baptism? Should this […]

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Question: Is there any scripture evidence for the way that Apostolic/Pentecostal churches operate in tongues today? Is it biblical for people to gather and have many different people in the congregation speaking in tongues at the same time? Answer: Let me be honest with you.  This is a debatable matter.  I have a rather strong […]

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Question: I read that:  Deut. 18:15 is about Muhammad because he was similar to Moses, i.e. he brought law to, and war against non-believers, etc. The same is true of Isa. 2:2-3, which is about Mecca, not Zion, because millions of pilgrims visit Mecca but nothing like that happens at Jerusalem. Isa. 42:4 is not […]

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Question: Jesus failed to bring universal peace (Mic. 4:1-4; Isa. 11:6-9) because, after him, bloodshed occurred multiple times in Jerusalem. Former dominion was not restored nor was kingship established as predicted (Mic. 4:6-8).  What’s your response? Answer: Jesus fulfilled Micah 4:1-4 word-for-word and in detail.  He died to establish the Church, which is the Mountain […]

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Question: Is the New Covenant everlasting? Will we be under the New Covenant in heaven? Answer: Believe it or not, this is a difficult question.  Logically, it would seem that if the answer to the first question is yes, then the answer to the second question also needs to be yes, but this is not […]

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Editor’s Note: This question comes from a Muslim, which might explain the tone of the question. Question: 1. The Christian Zionists claim that the modern Israelite state is made according to the Biblical prophecies for e.g., Ezek. 37:21-22, but the problem is: where is that king who will rule over them? Did all Jews return to Israel? […]

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Question: My question is going to be about Romans 13:1-7.  Here, Paul talks about submission to authorities. My question is this… Is Paul only referring to authorities in the time of him writing Romans, (especially when he says the authorities have been established by God) or does this apply to today as well?  If this […]

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Question: Where does your soul go when you die? Some say heaven (or hell) but if that’s true then the people that were raised from the dead were taken out of heaven and brought back to earth…? Jesus raised people before his crucifixion and Peter and Paul did too after Jesus died and rose again. […]

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Question: Why do Christians and Jews have different interpretations for the meaning of the word “Moshiach” in Daniel chapter 9 verses 25-26? Why do Jews translate “Moshiach” as “the anointed one” but Christians translate it as the word “Messiah”? Answer: If we transliterate the Hebrew word Moshiach, we get Messiah.  If we translate it, we […]

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Question: What is the relationship between the Abrahamic Covenant and the Mosaic Covenant? Also, what is the relationship between the Abrahamic Covenant and the New Covenant? Are Christians still under the Abrahamic Covenant? Answer: This is a good question.  I believe that it is (more or less) answered in Galatians 3:10-22.  In this passage Paul […]

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Question: What do Isaiah 66:17 and Isaiah 65:3-4 mean?  What are these passages about?  How should we understand these passages as Christians? How would you respond to someone who says Christians shouldn’t eat pork based on these verses and that Christians will be judged by God for eating pork based on these verses?  Those who […]

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Question: Jesus did not fulfill Zech. 9:9 because a significant part of the verse speaks about the person riding as the “victorious king of Israel”. The passage explains that at that time, universal peace will be established. This is a key feature of the Messianic age, as we see in passages like Isa. 2:4; 11:1-9 […]

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Question: 1. If Jesus’s mission was to the lost sheep of Israel, why did he fail in his mission? And why did Jesus prohibit the gfrom being preached to the Gentiles during his ministry but after his ‘resurrection’ tell them to preach the Gospel to the whole world? If Jesus really had made the latter […]

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Question: Trinitarians claim that Christ was declaring Himself to be God in John 8:58, but this sentence is not translated accurately. The New Jerusalem Bible has translated the phrase in Exodus 3:14 “I am that I am” from “Ehe’ye asher ehe’ye” (Hebrew) as “I am He who is: Ego eimi, Ho on” (Greek). The Divine […]

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Question: Zechariah Ch. 9:8 says:  “But I will encamp at my temple to guard it against marauding forces. Never again will an oppressor overrun my people, for now I am keeping watch.”  But in reality, Jerusalem was soon overrun by the Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans, who utterly destroyed the second temple in 70 […]

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Question: Sir,  George Athas writes in his book “Deuteronomy: One Nation under God” that Yahweh continued to send prophets to Jews even after they returned from exile. However, they were never able to reinstall a Davidic heir as king. Foreign kings ruled over the Jews at that time. This frustrated Deuteronomy’s condition that Israel’s king […]

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Question: What is the meaning in Genesis 1:26 where God says, “Let us make man in our image”? My NIV study notes that “us” refers to members of His heavenly court? I was always led to believe it referred to the Trinity.  Thank you Answer: Commentators give three possible interpretations of the words “us” and […]

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[Editor’s Note:  This Q & A is a follow-up to an earlier question regarding Genesis 1:30 in which the questioner proposes that before the “Fall” of Adam and Eve, both humans and animals were vegetarian.] Question: Isn’t Genesis 9:3 problematic?  God says that “Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as […]

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Question: Thank you for taking my question, My question is about the meal talked about in Exodus, that was eaten in haste, in which they ate the lamb they sacrificed. My question is this: in Jesus’s day, would that meal have been eaten on Friday night? Is that called the Passover meal? If it was […]

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Question: Why don’t Christians need to follow the Old Testament Laws (especially the Old Testament Civil Laws) anymore? Answer: Christians do not need to follow the Old Testament law because Jesus fulfilled the Law (Matthew 5:17).  Jesus replaced the Law of Moses with the Law of Christ (1 Corinthians 9:21, Galatians 6:2).  The requirements of […]

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Question: I have some questions regarding the interpretation and fulfillment of Joseph’s second dream.  1. What do the sun, moon and 11 stars represent in the dream?  2. Was Jacob right at the interpretation of Joseph’s second dream?  3. If Jacob was sun, 11 stars were 11 sons of Jacob, then who was moon?   Do […]

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Question:  I have a few questions about evolution. First of all evolution means death of animals before sin and that is super inconsistent with the Bible and there is no way God would allow death and suffering. And the last thing is if we evolved over time couldn’t we humans evolve into something else? Would […]

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Question:  Isaiah 42 does not talk about Jesus if you read with a broad mind, because KJV says.  “and the isles shall wait for his law.”  But the truth is Jesus did not bring new laws for Jews and he never nullified the laws of the Torah. Paul, who never met Jesus, distorted the true […]

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Question: I was reading your article on baptism and have a question. What happens to believers who are not baptized e.g the person who repented on the cross next to our Saviour? Answer: The person who repented on the cross is not a particularly helpful example for your question for a couple of reasons.  First […]

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Question: Mark 13:30 has bugged me for some time now. For context, in chapter 13 Jesus predicts the Temple’s destruction, then lists events that signal the end times, saying, “Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.” (NIV)  But this doesn’t make sense: how can Jesus’ […]

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Question: I’ve been comparing some “Messianic passages” from the Tanakh (the Hebrew Bible) to the corresponding verses in our Christian Bible (KJV, NKJV, NASB).  And I’ve noticed that, in many passages, the Tanakh translation differs significantly from our OT/NT translations.  Psalm 22, Isaiah 53, and Zechariah 12, for example, are quite different in the Tanakh, […]

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Question: Jesus is not from the “David Lineage” and he did not fulfill the Hebrew scriptures. Proofs are:  1) Messiah must be a descendent of David through his son Solomon (2 Sam. 7:14; 1 Chr. 17:11-14, 22:9-10, 28:4-6) but Luke 3:31 describes the lineage of David’s son Nathan, not Solomon.  2) Ezekiel (37:26-28) said “he […]

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Question: I see in the Bible lots of references to God stretching out the heavens l.e, Isaiah 44:24, Isaiah 42:5 etc. Is this a potential reference to the universe’s expansion as approved by the vast majority of scientists today?  Is there any Hebrew to support this view in these “heaven stretching” passages with the universe’s […]

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Question: Israel, in the singular, is called God’s servant throughout the Bible, for e.g. Isa. 45:4; 48:20; 49:3; Jer. 30:10. Also, note that in Jer. 30:17, the servant Israel is regarded by the nations as an outcast, forsaken by God, as in Isa. 53:4; Jer. 46:27-28; Ps. 136:22, a messianic reference. Also, given the Christian […]

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Question: Is Israel God’s firsborn son (Exodus 4:22) or Jesus (Hebrews 1:6)? My understanding is it’s both but in different senses. Would this be correct? In what sense is Israel God’s firstborn? Is it in the sense that Israel was chosen among the nations? In what sense is Jesus God’s firstborn? Is it in the […]

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Question:  It is impossible for any part of God, even if incarnate, to decompose in any way and still be considered God. The everlasting, one God, in whole or in part, does not die, disintegrate, or decompose: ‘For I the Lord do not change.’ (Malachi 3:6).  Did Paul invent God-Son concept to attract Romans? Answer: […]

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Question: How would you respond to someone who asked whether Jesus was born again? If He wasn’t, what about His statement, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3)?  What does it mean to be born again? And what is “circumcision of the […]

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[Editor’s note: This is a series of challenges from a Muslim regarding Jesus to be the fulfillment of Old Testament messianic prophecies.  My answers are interspersed among the questioner’s examples in italics] Claim: There are many biblical prophecies which do not fit into Jesus, for e.g. Response: Whether Jesus fulfilled all potential messianic prophecies is […]

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