Matt Slick Live: June 4, 2024

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The following program is recorded content created by The Truth Network. It's Matt Slick Live!

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Matt is the founder and president of the Christian Apologetics Research Ministry, found online at karm .org.

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When you have questions about Bible doctrines, turn to Matt Slick Live for answers. Taking your calls and responding to your questions at 877 -207 -2276.

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Here's Matt Slick. Welcome to the show. It's me, Matt Slick. You're listening to Matt Slick Live.

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Hope you're all going to have a good time. And hopefully, everything sounds good here. It sounds a little bit odd to me. We had a little bit of a problem with my equipment.

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But hopefully it's good. And if you want to give me a call, as usual, all you have to do is dial 877 -207 -2276.

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Hope to hear from you. Give me a call. And let's see what else is there. I think that's about it.

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So let's see. Let's see. We got that going. We got that going. Got nobody waiting right now. Also, if you would like, you can email me to do that.

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It's really easy. Just send an email to info at carm .org.

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Info at carm .org. And once you do that, then just put in the subject line, radio question or radio comment.

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And as far as Clubhouse goes, you got to let me up in there in order to go. Because I'm not up in the top where it's working for the mic.

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I think that is it. I can't think of anything else.

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I think that's it. All right. So, okay.

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Yeah, several things going on. We had a little bit of an issue here with the sound. I don't know what happened or why it did.

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But all of a sudden, the unit I've been using now for years just kind of went wonky a little bit. And it wouldn't let me go.

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So, yeah, I've raised my hand in there, Laura. And I don't know what's going on.

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So, I can't get into the Clubhouse. See, we've got to work stuff out here.

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We have little issues. When one thing goes wrong, it really affects everything else.

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And that's just how it goes. That's all right. It's live tech stuff. So, there you go.

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Like I said, if you want to give me a call, all you have to do is dial 877 -207 -2276.

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You can also e -mail me, info at carm .org, and just put in the subject line, radio comments or radio questions.

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We get to them frequently when things get a little bit slow. And that does happen every now and then.

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Also, if you'd like to watch the show, you can do that by going to StreamYard.

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Excuse me, not StreamYard, but Rumble .com forward slash Matt Slick Live. Matt Slick Live.

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And there we go. Now I can get up to the speaker. Matt Slick Live. You can also go to YouTube and do the same thing,

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Matt Slick Live, and you can watch it on YouTube as well. It's Matt Slick. I don't know how that works.

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Anyway, so we can do that. And we have a great team of people, a great group of people in Rumble.

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You can have chat, live chat, and it's really kind of fun. We have a good time, and during the break we do have a lot of good fun.

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So there you go. We've got a couple of calls coming in. And if you're new to this show, please forgive the little bit of distraction from a couple of tech issues that happened just right at the beginning of the show, which every now and then happens.

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I'm a Christian apologist. My real name is Matt Slick. It's not a radio name. Even though it's perfect for a radio name, it's my real name.

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And I run the Christian Apologetics Research Ministry, C -A -R -M dot

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O -R -G. And if you want to check it out, you can.

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And hopefully we'll hear from you here. And by the way, it just popped into my mind as I'm talking about this little radio and stuff, I think it would be a great idea if you guys out there in radio land were to email the

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Truth Network and just say how much you appreciate all of the shows, if you do, because they do need to have that response.

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I mean, they don't need it, but it's nice to let them know that you appreciate it. All right. Hey, let's get on the phones here with Ken from Owen Oak, Virginia.

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Welcome. You're on the air. Hey, Matt. Good to talk to you again. I've actually talked to you on two different occasions.

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I've been meaning to call you about a question I had. I want to reference the book,

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I'm pretty sure, where Jesus basically says, I came down from heaven not to do my will but the will of him who sent me.

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My question would be, well, what was Jesus' will compared to his

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Father's will? Okay, that was John 6 .38. Now, that's a good question, because let me give a little bit of doctrine on the

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Trinity here. The Trinity is a teaching that one God is one substance.

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The one substance is triune. The triune substance is three persons, and each of the persons interdwells the other.

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This is called perichoresis. So, functionally, there's one mind and one soul, whatever you want to call it, and one will in God.

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But yet, when God relates to us in creation, we observe the revelation of three distinct simultaneous co -eternal persons.

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All right, so now we get to this issue. I've come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.

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All right, now we've got to step sideways and talk about the person of Christ. Because Jesus has two distinct natures, a divine nature and a human nature.

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Now, this is since the Incarnation. So, the attributes of both natures, including the will, are ascribed to the single person.

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This is called the communication of the properties. So, the one person of Christ has two natures.

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Each nature has a will. This is called dithelitism. And the attributes of both natures are ascribed to the single person.

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So, Jesus, we observe him, he has one will. Okay, so now that's since the

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Incarnation. But what about the state pre -Incarnation?

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Now we get into conjecture, a lot of conjecture. Because it was eternally the case that the

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Son was going to be sent and become flesh. It did not become a plan sometime, it was always the plan.

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Because God worked this eternally. Now we see the distinction between the

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Father sending the Son. And the Father electing the saved in the

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Son, Ephesians 1. So, when we get into this, we have some tough areas to deal with.

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When Jesus says, I've come down from heaven not to do my own will.

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When he says my own will, now he's speaking as a man who has two natures.

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But did he then have a distinct will from the Father before?

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Now this gets into some areas where we have to be careful how we say it. Because we can say yes and no depending on how we look at it.

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But we know that the Father sent the Son. And it was the will of the

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Father that the Son do this. Now are we then going to conclude that the will of the pre -Incarnate

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Christ was not to become man? I can't say that. So what's going on, not to do my own will?

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Does it mean it was in contradiction to the Father? Not necessarily. Because it could just simply be that the

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Father's will is what Jesus is doing. It's not his own will in that it's separate and distinct and contradictory.

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But he's just doing the will of the Father. So that we could say for example, where Jesus decides not to exercise his own will but only do the will of the

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Father. So he's not doing his will but the will of the Father. But his will is also the will of the Father. So you see, this gets difficult to really kind of fathom and figure out exactly how it works.

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So we can look at it pre -Incarnate and post -Incarnate. Pre -Incarnate, we have some issues.

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And post -Incarnate, we have some issues. And I'm saying all that because I don't have a great answer.

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Yeah, the only thing that I can maybe relate to is at the time when he asked the

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Father, you know, let your will be done. But when he asked to give up the cup.

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Right, Luke 22 .42. Now that, for sure, is in the context of the

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Incarnation. Because the attributes of his human nature are ascribed to his person. And he doesn't want to go through pain.

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He doesn't want to go through the suffering. He had to sleep. He had to eat. So then here,

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I would just say that the attributes of the human nature along with the attributes of the divine nature are there.

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And it manifests in his statement, not my will but yours. Jesus, as a man under the law,

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Galatians 4 .4, the Lord and the angels for a little while, Hebrews 2 .9, didn't want to go through the suffering.

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Who would? I wouldn't want to. Right. You know? Right. But I could also say, not my will, but your will.

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It's just a question. I've kind of been like, I'm going to call Matt and ask him about that. I had another question.

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And here's a question, and you don't even have to answer it on the air. I'm just curious. When you, at your leisure,

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I've always wondered, like, what happened to the Garden of Eden? You know, I've heard different theories.

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And I heard this one guy refer to Ezekiel 31, and I'm just wondering what it says.

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And like I say, I know you have other callers, but if you get time, you know, I'm sure you're familiar with 31, but if you get time, go back in there and read that.

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And is that semi -sort of explaining what happened to the

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Garden of Eden in Ezekiel 31? Well, it's been a while since I've looked at it.

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I read Ezekiel, let's see, garden, the cedars in God's garden could not match it in 31 .8.

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And the plain trees could not match the branches of the tree in God's garden. I have to read it and see to see if there's a different context that might be before or after.

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Oh, and it says all the trees of Eden which were in the Garden of God were jealous of it. So, yeah, it's interesting.

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I have to read it and check it out and see what I think. Yeah, and thanks for answering the first question.

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And once you get a chance to actually look at that, just, you know, like, just maybe, because I listen to your show about every day.

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If I miss it, I always go back and check out the transcripts. But I'm going to let you go because I know you have other callers probably waiting and stuff you want to discuss.

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Thanks for taking my call, Matt. You have a blessed day. Hold on one second. You said transcripts?

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So it has transcripts, does it? Yeah, like when I go, like, for instance, if I go to,

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I listen to you on the station here in Roanoke, 101 .5,

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The Truth. And not everybody, but you're one of them that they do a transcript for most of your shows.

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So, like, for instance. It's written. They do a written. Written, exactly. Could you send me where and how and what?

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I'd like to know that. I really would. Okay. Seriously. Yeah, I'll definitely send that to you.

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Yeah, it's the, well, it's a station.

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I don't know if it's Liberty that actually sponsors it, but basically I listen to this

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Christian radio station. It's 101 .5, The Truth. It's The Truth Network.

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And you're one of them. Not everybody has the transcripts, but you're one of them that does.

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So, when I hear something that you've talked about. See, if you would, just send me info at karm .org,

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the URL and where and how so I can check it out. I have reasons for wanting that. Okay. Yeah, absolutely.

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Because a lot of times I might hear something, you know, be in another room doing something, hear something. It's like, oh, that sounded real interesting.

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Let me go back. Matt referred to this verse, this verse, or that verse. And instead of trying to remember it all, all

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I've got to do is go back and look at the transcripts. It's like, oh, Matt referred to this verse, that verse. I'm going to read this later.

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You know, so for me it's something neat to have. Okay. Sounds good. Okay. Well, you have a great day and talk to you later.

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Bye -bye. Okay. Thanks a lot. All right. God bless. Well, hey, look, perfect timing. There is the music for the break.

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So we'll be right back after these messages. If you want to give me a call, all you have to do is dial 877 -207 -2276.

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We'll be right back. It's Matt Slick live, taking your calls at 877 -207 -2276.

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Here's Matt Slick. Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the show. If you want to give me a call, it is easy.

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All you have to do is dial 877 -207 -2276.

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Easy peasy. All right. Let's get on with Jason from Arizona. Jason, welcome. You're on the air.

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Hey, Matt. I'm the Reformed guy in Arizona that's been calling you over the last couple of months, and you've been helping me work through Reformed theology, and I'm really getting rooted and grounded in it.

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But today's question is, in Romans 8 -38, when

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Paul is saying that regarding the elect, you know, they cannot be separated by the love of God, by all these different things, you know, height, depth, demons, and troubles, and all these different things.

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So is the implication, then, that nothing can separate the elect children of God from the

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Lord? Correct. Think about this. If God elected people from the foundation of the world, which is what he says in Ephesians 1 -4, then he has chosen us from the foundation of the world, as Ephesians 1 -4 says.

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For those who don't know, he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we be holy and blameless.

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So this is what God has done from eternity. Does God make mistakes? Well, of course not. What did he choose us for? To be, having an opportunity to be saved?

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That's ridiculous. No, he chose us in Christ to be glorified. And predestined us, so it's his work.

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What Paul is doing is saying, he's convinced, either death, life, angels, principalities, things present, things come, powers, heights, depth, or any other created thing, which is interesting, height, width, depth, will be able to separate us from the love of Christ.

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Nothing can. He's just making a statement. Nothing can. God's choice of us and his love for us is eternal in the past.

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It's always been the case that his thoughts and love for you, for me, for the elect, have been eternally set.

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There is no way for us to be lost out of the eternal grip of God's decrees and work.

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But when people say you can be lost, it's because they then add sovereignty to man above that of God, and then they say that man's choice can thwart

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God's. Who, from all eternity, has decreed what shall ever come to pass? He numbers the hairs on the head.

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He numbers our days. So does he not number everything else? Well, of course he does. He's the sovereign king, okay?

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So when Paul used the phrase, nor things present, nor things to come, maybe

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I'm being overly analytical, but does that cover the whole gamut that that's where the nothing in the universe can separate the elect from the

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Lord? Hold on a second. I'm distracted by something. There we go.

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Could you repeat that, please? Sure. No problem. So when Paul gives the phrase, nor things present, nor things to come, does that show the full gamut that nothing in the universe can separate the children of the

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Lord from the Lord? I would say so. Things present or future, nothing can.

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And then in the past, before I was a Reformed person, all the works -based earn -your -own -salvation people that I knew used to always say, well, sin can separate you, but if sin can separate you, then no elect can make it, because we all still battle different things from time to time, right?

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Right. That's humanist philosophy. Sin can separate you from God. Well, Isaiah 59 -2 says that your iniquities have caused a separation between you and God.

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Well, that's true. But when we're redeemed, God says he'll never leave us or forsake us,

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Hebrews 10 -5. And here in Romans 8 -38 -39, nothing's going to separate us from him.

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So that's just how it is. Well, amen. I'm getting rooted in Reformed, and most of my life

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I wasn't, but I'm accepting this theology. It's just I see it as clear as day, and so I'm just trying to get strengthened.

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And every day that goes by, I'm getting stronger and Reformed. Or I just like to say the doctrines of grace.

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Right. Yes, I view the doctrines of grace as being God -centered, and the other doctrines as being man -centered.

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Yeah, my background was basically everyone believed you earn your salvation, and one day you lose it, the next day you get it back, and all this insecurity and fear -based

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Christianity. But Reformed sets things straight. It's a cause.

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Anyway, I appreciate you, and thanks for the answer. Good, man. No problem.

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I'm glad you're not a Roman Catholic, because that's what they teach, too. You're in, out, in, out.

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It all depends on your faithfulness to the sacraments and the authority of the church. You've got to do good works to keep yourself right with the infinitely holy

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God. That heresy has crept into the Protestantism way back, and it's there as well, unfortunately.

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And real quick, Matt, the lady who keeps calling you who doesn't believe Jesus is God, I mean, isn't

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John 8 -58 just a clear text proof when Jesus said, before Abraham was,

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I am? I mean, that, to me, is a clear text proof that could bring her out of that,

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I guess she's a Jehovah Witness where they don't believe Jesus is God. Yeah, I don't know what she is, but yeah, that verse, other verses

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I've used, I've shown her, she repeatedly denies Scripture, and this is what people in cults do.

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They're brainwashed. I guess her goal is to convince you, Matt, but it ain't going to happen. It can't happen.

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It can't happen. I've done so much research and so many debates with people who hold to her position.

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For 44 years, it's just not going to happen. But like when I showed her yesterday John 14 -23, she can't answer it.

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You know, it says the Father is the one who dwells us. Yes, that's true. And Jesus does too. When I ask her specifically, no, no, no, it's by the

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Holy Spirit. I didn't ask that. Does he do it? Yes, he does. Wichita Tech says he does. And when you come up with something like this with anybody, and it happens with the non -reformed too,

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I mean, to some degree, and you read something to them, and they just have to reinterpret it or change it. It's like when

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I was talking to Leighton Flowers, and I said, look, you know, Philippians 1 -29 says God grants that you believe.

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And he said, no, God grants you the opportunity to believe. He had to change God's Word to make it fit. People do that all the time because they put their own feelings above God's Word instead of submitting to it.

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And it happens a lot. Oh, it's bad. That's right. Yeah. Well, thanks again,

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Matt. Take care. Okay. All right. God bless. All right. Hey, if you want to give me a call, 877 -207 -2276.

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Let's get to Erica from Florida. Erica, welcome. You're on the air. Hi, Matt.

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Hi. I just had a quick question about Matthew 22, verse 14.

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For many are called, but few are chosen. I've heard it, you know, referencing pastors.

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You know, I've heard it, and I've read it in context, and I, you know, have a general understanding, but I wanted to hear your take on it.

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Well, let's look at the context. Let's start back at verse 11, okay? But when the king came to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes.

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And he said to him, friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes? And the man was speechless. And the king said to the servants, bind him hand and foot, throw him into the outer darkness.

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In that place, there'll be weeping and gnashing of teeth. So this is judgment, damnation, salvation stuff.

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He says, for many are called, but few are chosen. This is not about being called to ministry.

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It's being called for salvation. That's what's going on there. Hold on. We'll get back after the break. We'll talk a little more about it.

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Hey, folks, if you want to give me a call, 877 -207 -2276.

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We'll be right back. It's Matt Slick live, taking your calls at 877 -207 -2276.

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Here's Matt Slick. All right. Welcome back to the show. We're at the bottom of the hour. If you want to give me a call, all you have to do is dial 877 -207 -2276.

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Erica, are you still there? Yes, I am. All right. Now, I don't know if I answered your question.

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Since we had the break there, do you want to move on with the question, rephrase it, or give me some feedback?

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I think you did. I just wanted to make sure I understood. Would you say it kind of ties into the whole predestination part of Scripture, referencing the fact that, you know, for many are called, but few are chosen, so that, you know, the gift of salvation is to everyone, but there's still the concept of predestination where some people are...

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Well, the Bible teaches predestination, and I know people don't like it because there are humanist philosophies overarching

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Scripture. And I just say that flat -out plainly because that's what it is. God teaches predestination.

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The Bible does. We have been predestined according to His will. That's what it says. So we've got to believe it.

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And the word there, chosen, in that particular place is a klektoi.

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And it comes from just the word klektos, and it means to choose, to select.

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That's what it means. And the word occurs 23 times in the Bible. So, for example, two chapters later, it says,

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Unless those days be not cut short, no life will be saved but for the sake of the elect.

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It's the same word as the word chosen in Greek. And then two verses later, it says,

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Or Matthew 24, 31. The angels shall gather together

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His elect from the four winds. It goes on like this. Romans 8 .33.

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Who will bring a charge against God's elect? And then here's individual.

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This is Rufus. Romans 16 .13. Greek Rufus, a choice man, a chosen man in the

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Lord. It goes on. And there's lots of them I could read. So that's what the word means.

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It's how it's used. I've done deep studies on this and taught on it. When I first didn't agree with it,

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I thought, okay, I'm going to go study it. I mean, that's what it says. So I have no problem saying that's what it says and that everybody who's a

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Christian ought to believe it because that's what it says. Okay? Okay. So, yeah, so the bottom line is that the call goes out to everyone, but you are chosen.

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Like, in other words, the elect. Right. Okay. I think I got it. And the word for call is kleitos.

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And it comes from kleitos. It means to call, to invite, to welcome.

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So generically, the call of God goes out to everyone. And the chosen one's here.

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Now, people may say, I will never accept that, Matt. Then you find me in Scripture where it says it's just up to somebody's free will.

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Because if it were up to someone's free will, then why would Jesus say in John 6, 65, You cannot come to me unless it's granted to you from the

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Father. And why would, if it's just up to our so -called free will, why does Paul the

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Apostle say that to you it has been granted to believe? And I show them these things, and they get upset.

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They don't like it. Because, in my opinion, most churches, this is my opinion, most churches have a man -centered theology when it comes to salvation.

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Because they view God under the microscope of their own boundaries of what is and is not right and is and is not fair.

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That's what I believe happens. That's my opinion. I just meet a lot of people, Matt, but that's what I believe. I agree.

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I agree. Okay, well, thank you so much. This really helped me to understand it, and I just appreciate everything you do.

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We've learned so much from you, and thank you again. Well, praise God. I just try and say this is what

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Scripture teaches. And when people correct me, if they're correcting me from Scripture, I accept it.

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I just want to see it from Scripture. That's how I am. All right? So, praise God. All right. All right.

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Well, you take care. You too. God bless. All right. We have two open lines, 877 -207 -2276,

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Pansy, North Carolina. Welcome. You're on the air. Go ahead.

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Hello. Are you there? Hello. Yes, I'm here. Yeah. Okay. Okay.

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So, the Scripture, Hebrews 10, verse 26, says,

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If we deliberately keep on sinning, after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left.

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What does that mean? In light of nothing can separate us from the love of God.

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My understanding is that nothing can separate us from the love of God.

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It's that regardless of what we do, God still loves us and wants us to come back to Him if we should stray.

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But if we love the Lord, serve Him, receive

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His salvation, and we turn our back on Him, it is possible to do that because the race is not for the swift, but the one who...

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Okay, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. Are you teaching that you can lose your salvation? No, no, no.

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No? I am just asking so that I will clarify in my mind.

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Okay, let me get to it then. Let me get to it. All right. So, what Hebrews 10, verse 26 is, in the context, the writer is speaking to the

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Hebrews. They've received the knowledge of the truth about Jesus, but they were rejecting it. The Hebrew people, the covenant people of God, have received this knowledge.

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Therefore, there was no more sacrifice for sins because Jesus' sacrifice is the only one that actually cleanses sins.

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So, what the writer is doing is saying generically, if we do this, there's no sacrifice left. He's not saying if you're a

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Christian who received Christ and believe Him, and you go on sinning willfully, oh, I'm sorry, there's no more sacrifice.

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Then that would teach you to lose your salvation as people often go to this verse and rip it out of context and make it say what it doesn't say.

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Because every Christian goes on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth. Every one of them does. Now, some to different degrees.

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We do it by our choice, our anger. We can do it in ignorance, but we still do it willingly. Continuously.

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Yeah, we all do. I mean, we're all selfish to some degree, prideful to some degree, stubborn to some degree, whatever it is.

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And so, if they're going to be literal about this, then they're really messing themselves up.

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But this is not about individuals. It's about the people of God, the Hebrews.

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That's what's going on. And so he's talking about it. Two verses later, anyone who set aside the law of Moses dies with it.

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So he's talking to the Hebrews, and he's referencing so much Old Testament stuff.

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And he's simply talking that way. That's what's going on. Okay. So, okay, so the book of Hebrews, then, is it relating just to the

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Hebrews? No, it relates to other people, because there's other topics in there by which we can understand things.

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However, we have to understand it's written to the Hebrews. So we have to understand it in light of who it's addressed to.

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It's called task theology, T -A -S -K. Who's the book written to, and what's the reason?

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The book of Galatians written by Paul to the church of Galatia because of the Judaizers who were trying to get people to be circumcised.

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So he's writing to that group and addressing these issues. Hebrews is written to the covenant people of God, the

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Israelites, the Hebrew people. And so he's addressing things from that perspective. And there are things in there that we can certainly learn from.

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You know, Jesus is the high priest of the Order of Melchizedek, which is something the Jews would know about, not the

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Gentiles. And that's in Hebrews 6 .27 .25. So we can certainly learn about that and the new covenant and things like that.

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And so we have a lot there. But it's just that it's written to the Hebrews, mainly. And then in the context, you go, oh, if they reject

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Jesus, they've got no sacrifice for sin. There isn't anything left, okay? Okay, so you're saying then,

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I'm trying to understand, it was written to the Hebrew Christians. Well, yes and no, because we can say, if we say it's written to the

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Hebrew Christians, then are we saying it's written only to the Christians? Or is it written to the

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Hebrews and the groups of people who would hear this?

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There was a mixture of Christians and Hebrews who were putting their feet back in the

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Old Testament, trying to trod those old paths instead of in the new. So we could say that there's both believers and unbelievers in this sense in there, in the

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Book of Hebrews, addressing it, too, okay? Okay, so then, I needn't worry that, oh,

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I ask for forgiveness. Lord, forgive me. I'm a Christian, a born -again Christian. I need not go and say,

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Lord, please forgive me of my sins. Forgive me, Lord, for that which I have done not pleasing you.

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Because even every day, as I do things which are not pleasing to the

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Lord, some of which I don't know, one don't have to be worried. All you do is trust the

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Lord. In that, I, you know, I was... Okay, here we go.

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We've got the music going. We've got the music for the break, so we've got to get going. But you're right, okay?

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And God bless, and call back another time, okay? Because we've got a break coming right up. All right, God bless.

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Hey, folks, we'll be right back after these messages. We have three open lines, 877 -207 -2276.

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We'll be right back. It's Matt Slick live, taking your calls at 877 -207 -2276.

34:15

Here's Matt Slick. Everybody, welcome back to the show. Let's get on with Luke from Washington, D .C.

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Luke, welcome. You're on the air. Hello. Luke.

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Give him a little bit here. And see if he comes up. I guess not.

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I hit the button. I hit it right there, and so we'll just put him on hold. And then what we'll do is let's get to next.

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Longest waiting is Alberto from Georgia. Alberto, welcome. You're on the air. Yes, good evening,

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Matt Slick. You know, people say that the Hamas ate the Jews really bad.

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You know, they don't like them at all. Well, that's not totally true, because the Hamas...

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Let's just be a little careful. I'm sorry. Go ahead. Okay, I'm sorry. Okay, they're willing to, you know, violate them.

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And they might get threatened. I have a half Jew and a half Muslim now. So apparently, they don't hit them that bad.

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There is... Yes. But that's not an issue of hatred. It's an issue of what the right hand possesses.

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This is in battle. This is in victory. The Muslims are taught in the

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Hadith that they have the right... They have the right to be able to exercise their privileges upon women with whom they have captured.

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They've captured them. So, I know that the

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Quran says that, but still, apparently, they don't hit them that badly. I mean, they're willing to...

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Well, yeah, but that's not an issue of hate. They can violate them as a form of hatred.

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And plus, they're... Okay, so there's a lot of bad stuff there. All right. There you go. All right.

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I want to see my view. My perspective. I'll look at that. All right.

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Okay. All right. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome, buddy. God bless you. All right.

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Now, let's get to Rich from Virginia. Rich, welcome. You're on the air.

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Hey, Matt. I appreciate your ministry. I've been listening to you since you replaced the answer of the

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Bible man on the air. And I'll start by apologizing for the question. It's a little bit of a touchy question.

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And I'll tell you that, you know, I believe in the inerrancy of the Bible and that Scripture's all sufficient.

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But I was reading, sequentially reading through the New Testament and got through 1st, 2nd

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Corinthians, and I was just struck by what Paul says. He writes several paragraphs about women who are praying and are not undercover.

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In other words, they don't have head coverings on. And I belong to a church, and we, the preacher goes through verse by verse through the

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Bible, and he doesn't avoid bad things, but I haven't heard him talk about this. So I believe the Bible's inerrant.

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I believe it says what it says. You've always said that since I've been listening to you for years. I'm just curious what your thought is in terms of whether women should wear head coverings when they're in service or in prayer.

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You know, I'm an ex -Catholic. We left the Catholic Church about a decade ago, and we were looking for churches for a couple of years.

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And if you're hooking your wagon new, you're not tolerating anything that's not biblical.

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But I don't know any church today where women wear head coverings. And I realize it's a nonessential, and there are essentials and nonessentials, but I'm just curious what your thoughts are on this.

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It's a difficult one, and there are different interpretations to go. So you're talking about 1

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Corinthians 11, and it says in verse 5,

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But every woman who has her head uncovered while praying or prophesying disgraces her head.

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What does that mean, disgraces her head? We think, or some theologians think, that it deals with the issue of authority.

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For she is one and the same as the woman whose head is shaved. So in that context, a prostitute who was caught, an adulteress was caught, they would often have her head shaved as a public sign of disgrace.

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For if a woman does not cover her head, let her also have her hair cut off. But it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved.

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Let her cover her head. So this is talking about the issue of infidelity and or the, how to put this, the rebellion that a lot of women would have in not being in subjection in the familial structure, where it's

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Christ, man, woman, child, and it's not an issue of superiority, it's an issue of order.

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And so there were some women in their stubbornness, in their rebellion, wanting to control, would bring shame upon their husbands.

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And so a lot of times in that culture when that was very bad, they were publicly shamed.

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So some think that it might be related to that. And it goes, so this is very cultural.

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And then we go on. It says, verse 7, for a man ought not to have his head covered, since he is the image and glory of God.

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Okay, why is this issue of head not being covered by a man? Well, does it mean a man is in sin if he has a toupee on?

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Or if he has a hat on, maybe he's got a bandage around his head or something, and he needs a hat to cover, you know, the blightness, whatever.

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So is how legalistic do we want to be with this? And this gets to be just difficult. So generically speaking, a man shouldn't have his head covered, at least in the church context, since he's the image and the glory of God, but the woman's the glory of man.

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So it has to do with authority is what it looks like. And then it ties it into the created order.

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For man does not originate from woman, but woman from man. For indeed, man was not created for a woman's sake, but woman for man's sake.

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Therefore, the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head. So this seems to be what he's talking about.

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And the issue of authority goes back a few verses about not being under authority in the church.

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And that if a woman is to act independently from her husband and or the headship in the church, then this is wrong.

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She shouldn't do that. And then what's really problematic, it says, because of the angels.

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And to be honest, I don't know what that means, because of the angels. Because it says, therefore, the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head because of the angels.

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It might refer to something in the Garden of Eden, but we tend to think there's one angel there.

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And maybe I'll go to Ezekiel 31 and do some other reading about this, but that's going on.

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And so then it says, however, in the Lord, neither is woman independent of man or man independent of woman. For as the woman originates from the man, so also the man has his birth through the woman.

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And all things originate from God. Judge for yourselves. Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered?

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All right, and it goes on. Now, my opinion is, this is my opinion. I think that it's a good idea for women to have their heads covered.

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But I also think if they don't want to, they don't have to. I think it's because of this, because I'd rather, in my opinion, try and submit to what it says than not.

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And if a woman wanted to have her head covered, I think it's beautiful. I think it's really gorgeous and feminine.

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That's great. If they don't want to, okay, then they don't. And I lean that way, 55 -60 % that way, because of this, because I don't have a good way of arguing out of it.

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To say it's just cultural. Because there is some culture in it, but it also ties into the created order. So you see the predicament?

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You see how difficult it is? Oh, absolutely. I just struggle with the argument that people very pick the scripture.

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They do what they want, and they don't do what they don't want. So I'm just trying to be a little more consistent in my belief that scripture is inerrant.

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But as I've heard you say thousands of times, you can't casually read the

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Bible, because it's much deeper than you think. And so Bible study becomes really important.

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And so thanks for the deeper explanation. I don't know whether it answers the question or not, but I appreciate your thought.

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Let me throw something else in there, in the mix. Because this is part of this, too. And I believe that a husband and wife ought to make that decision on their own.

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And that they ought to follow what Romans 14 says. And it goes in, and it says,

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Accept the one who is weak in faith, and one person who has faith may eat all things. Don't hold contempt for the one who does not eat, etc.

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Who are you to judge a servant of another to his own master? He stands or falls, and he will stand. For the Lord is able to make him stand.

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One person regards one day above another, and another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind.

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Now I don't want to take this principle and say, it's just up to you. And then transport it over to 1 Corinthians 11.

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Because here it's specifically talking about eating and worship days. And it's talking about that specifically, so that's where I want to keep it.

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But the principle idea of examining scriptures and being convinced in your own mind.

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So my wife, when we go to church, she never wears a head covering. And I've never really talked to her about it.

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Because I think it's her choice, and I don't want to put an obligation on her.

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Because it might make her stand out and become self -conscious if she's in church doing that. And since it's not super clear in 1

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Corinthians 11, I can't say this is super clear. If it was clear, if it just says, women ought to do this.

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If it just says how it says, because this is how the church should work. And this is how it should work in all churches that I'm speaking to. If that's what he says, well then we've got to do it.

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But because it's tied to the cultural stuff, it's tough. Right, but in Romans 14, it's not saying that you shouldn't have a day of worship.

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It's just saying you can choose which day it is. But it just seems unusual that Paul spent such a great deal of time on this specific subject.

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I mean, he spent a large percentage of that letter just on that. So I just found that curious how we kind of glance over that.

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And here's something else that I've read in commentaries in my research on this. Is that some of them have taught that back when they had churches, and there was segregation between the genders.

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So the males, the men, sat up forward so they could hear. And the women, when they were allowed to come into church and do other stuff, were sitting in the back.

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Segregation. And so, one of the theories is that Martha in the back would be saying to Bob up in front, the hubby,

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What do you say? You know, ask him this. And this is one of the things that they think may have been occurring.

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Not that deliberately bad, but you know, I'm just exaggerating. And that it was causing discord.

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And so the idea of authority and order, particularly in the household of God, is very, very important.

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And so I've heard commentators think that may have been part of the issue why

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Paul was addressing it. And that they were going in without their heads covered, designating that they were independent of their husbands and or churches and things like that.

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And moving independently because Christianity was giving them more freedom. And so they were taking it too far. So this is part of the mix, too, that I've read and researched, which makes me think, heck,

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I don't know. I just don't know what the right answer is. And that makes sense because Paul goes on to say that women should remain quiet in church.

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And if they had questions, they should ask their husbands when they're at home. So that's consistent with that. You know, back then, there was just discord going on.

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So it's all consistent. I appreciate that. Yeah. It's a tough one. It's a tough one.

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But I love to see women with head coverings on in church. I don't know why, but I just think, oh, man, that is so attractive.

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It's just so feminine. And they're seeking to be godly, right or wrong, or what they conclude.

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It's just awesome, you know? It's respectful. It's respectful. Thank you.

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I appreciate it. It's respectful. Oh, I never thought of it. That's exactly what it is. But God bless, buddy. I really appreciate that.

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All right. Thanks. Hey, folks, we're out of here. There's the music. May the Lord bless you this evening.