Question: How could Jesus have paid for the sins of those who will go to hell anyway?
March 5, 2025 • Dave Hunt & T.A. McMahon
Question: Can you help me with this question: “If Jesus died for all and has legally purchased all through substitutionary atonement, then how can those people go to hell? That would be a ‘Double Jeopardy’ of the sins of those people being paid for twice.” This is my husband’s main question and I would really appreciate help with it based on Calvinism.
Response: The Bible says that God wants all to be saved: “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Pet 3:9). But the Bible also says that not all will be saved (Matt 7:21-23; Lk 13:22-27, etc). Nevertheless, the Bible also tells us that God is all powerful (Ps 147:5; Jer 32:17; Matt 19:26, etc).
Calvinism has its own explanation. They strive to make things add up. “If God is all powerful,” the reasoning goes, “and God wants all people to be saved, then all people will be saved. Since not all people will be saved, Christ must have died only for some; God must not want all to be saved.”
This is unbiblical according to the much-explained John 3:16 (what “world” means), and the blunt statement of 1 John 2:1-2: “And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” But to some, it makes nice, theological sense. This is, however, putting one’s reason above God’s Word; believing what makes sense rather than believing all of what God has said.
As Dave Hunt wrote in Calvin’s Dilemma: God’s Sovereignty vs. Man’s Free Will (pp 9-10), “William L. Pettingill wrote, ‘God insists upon His sovereignty and also upon man’s responsibility. Believe both and preach both, leaving the task of ‘harmonizing’ with Him.’ In a similar vein, A. T. Pierson, although a leading Presbyterian, declared that both ‘the sovereign will of God and the freedom of man’ are taught in Scripture and that ‘if we cannot reconcile these two, it is because the subject is so infinitely lifted up above us. Man is free.... Thus the last great invitation in God’s Book is an appeal to the will.’
“Unfortunately, neither John Calvin nor many of his followers today have been willing to accept both sides of this biblical teaching. The result has been devastating in its consequences for the gospel: that man can only reject Christ; he cannot accept and believe in Him unless he is sovereignly regenerated by God. Calvinism refuses to accept what so many great evangelists have recognized is vital. Edgar Mullins expresses very well the essential balance that is missing:
“‘Free will in man is as fundamental a truth as any other in the gospel and must never be canceled in our doctrinal statements. Man would not be man without it and God never robs us of our true moral manhood in saving us.... The decree of salvation must be looked at as a whole to understand it. Some have looked at God’s choice alone and ignored the means and the necessary choice on man’s part.’”
Question: Why is Jesus called the Everlasting Father in Isaiah 9:6?
February 26, 2025 • Dave Hunt & T.A. McMahon
Response: It is true that Isaiah 9:6 says that Jesus’ name will be called “Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father,” etc. What it does not say is that Jesus is the Everlasting Father. As God, He obviously has the characteristics of God. Simply put, Jesus being part of the godhead has the attributes of God. This includes everlasting or “eternal life.”
Micah 5:2 agrees with this: “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.”
It has been asked why if Jesus’ name is “Everlasting Father,” then why don’t we call Jesus “Everlasting Father”? Or why not call him “Wonderful Counselor” or “Mighty God” or “Prince of Peace”? Isaiah 9:6 speaks of a “name,” and there are four characteristics associated with that name. Again, this reveals it is the characteristics of the coming Messiah that is in view here. The fact that the Messiah is God is shown in Hebrews 1:3 when it says, “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high….” Why shouldn’t the Lord subsequently say, “…He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father” (Jn 14:9)? Jesus is the “express image” of God the Father as His prophesied name establishes.
Question: Did the constellations correspond with the tribes of Israel?
February 19, 2025 • Dave Hunt & T.A. McMahon
Question: During the past Sunday evening Bible study, the following was presented: Some [astrological] constellations corresponded with the tribes of Israel: Judah—Leo; Dan—Scorpio; Benjamin—Gemini. Further, the tribes in the wilderness were arranged around the Tabernacle according to the “mirror reflection” of where their corresponding constellation was located in the heavens. How does one research whether or not these things are true?
Response: First of all, is this idea anywhere taught in Scripture? Certainly not! Secondly, it has been pointed out numerous times that the “Signs of the Zodiac correspond to the position of the sun relative to constellations as they appeared more than 2,200 years ago” (https://bit.ly/3csogxi). However, practitioners of Astrology, and in particular those who make their living on it, would say (without any evidence) that this makes no difference. Further, their argument is in direct conflict with verifiable science as much as it is with the Word of God.
Indeed, the Lord says in Jeremiah 10:2, “Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.”
Question: How can Psalm 40:6 and Leviticus exist at the same time?
February 5, 2025 • Dave Hunt & T.A. McMahon
Question: Psalm 40:6 reads, “Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.” Why did David say this verse when a good chunk of Leviticus made rules on sacrifice?
Response: First of all, because he was inspired by the Lord to write this down. Secondly, he’s referencing 1 Samuel 15:22, where Samuel was inspired to say, “Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.”
Further, he is speaking prophetically of the Lord Jesus. Verse 7 of Psalm 40 reads, “Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me.”
Hebrews 10:5 explains further, “Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me….”
Simply put, David wrote this verse because he was inspired by the Lord to do so and it speaks emphatically of the end of the Levitical sacrifices. In Hebrews 10:9, God inspired the writer to say, “Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.”
Question: Why do some believers fall away?
January 29, 2025 • Dave Hunt & T.A. McMahon
Question: I have a question which simply asks, “In view of all the Lord has done for believers, why do some fall away or go into apostasy?”
Response: First, as Scripture tells us, there are those who claim to be believers, who have never been saved (See—https://bit.ly/41d6nwq). Apostasy has been a part of every generation since the beginning and fall of mankind. Scripture tells us that it will culminate in the last days when the Antichrist is revealed. His religion will be an apostate Christianity—it will accommodate all religions. Although the apostasy will not be fully realized until after the Rapture of the church, its development has been ongoing from the time when sin entered the human race. Furthermore, down through biblical and church history, many true believers, either in ignorance or because of the weaknesses of their flesh, have contributed to apostasy. Solomon seems to exemplify this, he also married pagan women, which was contrary to Scripture. These women turned him to idolatry and he built temples for them to worship their false gods.
Question: Why do so many focus on Trump and America in regard to Israel?
January 22, 2025 • Dave Hunt & T.A. McMahon
Question: Why do so many focus on President Trump and America in regards to Israel? I am expecting all nations to turn against Israel, but others seem to think America is the answer to Israel’s problems. I have quite a few of your books (Dave Hunt and T. A. McMahon) and have been getting your newsletter for many years. I’m not swayed by these kinds of ideas, but I am bewildered at what is being promoted. Building the Third Temple? I know some are working on breeding red heifers, too.
Response:Some may consider America and President Trump to be the answer to Israel’s problems, but Scripture has another view. In Joel 3:2, the prophet writes, “I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land [emphasis added].”...
Question: Was it permissible to worship at the high places?
December 4, 2024 • Dave Hunt & T.A. McMahon
Question: I have a Bible question which I don't understand—would you mind teaching me? In a Zoom Bible study originating from a Hong Kong Ministry, the teacher who is teaching suggested it is permissible to worship and sacrifice to the LORD at the high places since the Temple wasn't built yet and is forbidden after the Temple was built:
But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire (Deuteronomy 7:5); And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place. Ye shall not do so unto the LORD your God. But unto the place which the LORD your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there, even unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come: And thither ye shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and heave offerings of your hand, and your vows, and your freewill offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and of your flocks…. (Deuteronomy 12:3-6)
1 Kings 3:2-3 said that Solomon offered 1,000 sacrifices to the LORD at the high place at Gibeon and after that God was revealed to him and accepted him, but in 2 Chronicles 1:5 Solomon actually went to the Tabernacle and offered at the brazen altar. So, did he do the right thing?
Response: 2 Chronicles 1:3 tells us that Solomon, early in his reign and before the temple was built, worshiped at a high place. Verse 3 reads, “So Solomon, and all the congregation with him, went to the high place that was at Gibeon; for there was the tabernacle of the congregation of God, which Moses the servant of the LORD had made in the wilderness.” We know that the tabernacle was set up there. But, both Deuteronomy 7:5 and 12:3-6 clearly tell us that all the pagan materials are to be removed from the high place prior to any worship of the Lord. A “high place” itself is not a pagan location, except if the statues and the other things used in their rituals are there.
Consequently, the reason Solomon worshiped at this particular high place was, as already noted, that the tabernacle was set up there. It was the same tabernacle that the children of Israel, according to the instructions given Moses, had constructed in the wilderness. Therefore, before the construction of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem, the tabernacle was what God had chosen for the sacrifice and worship by Israel.
It has been pointed out that Solomon’s father King David had previously worshiped the Lord at this high place in Gibeon. First Chronicles 16:39 notes, “[David left] Zadok the priest, and his brethren the priests, before the tabernacle of the LORD in the high place that was at Gibeon….” The tabernacle was where the altar of burnt offering had been set up (see 1 Chronicles 21:29).
Again, it was not the high place itself that made it a suitable place for the sacrifices, but rather a place cleansed of all pagan paraphernalia and with the tabernacle already set up there.
Question: Should Paul's Epistles be part of Scripture?
November 27, 2024 • Dave Hunt & T.A. McMahon
Question: What can you tell us about a group who say they are Christians, but tell us that Paul’s epistles should not be in the New Testament? Also, they say that we must learn the Scriptures through Hebrew eyes and culture. Finally, the names “Hebrews,” “Israel,” “Israelites,” and “Jews” have different meanings in today’s context and that “Israel” and “Jews” don’t mean the same people.
Response: From what you have said, you very likely have met a cultist who is presenting himself as the authority when it comes to learning Scripture. The intent to help Christians understand better the Scriptures through Hebrew eyes and culture is not in itself “bad.” But, if any group places emphasis upon these aspects, such as how someone is saved, we’re only seeing through their eyes and their assumed culture.
To them the Bible “must” be in error, because it contradicts what they teach. Yet, if they won’t include Paul as a part of the New Testament, consider what Peter said in 2 Peter 3:16: “As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they doalso the other scriptures, unto their own destruction” (emphasis added).
Further, the Lord has promised to preserve His Word, as in Psalm 12:6-7: “The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever.”
Regarding your question about the meaning of “Hebrews,” “Israel,” “Israelites,” and “Jews,” all speak of the descendants of Jacob (Israel). The Lord distinctly said that “...though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished” (Jer 30:11).
As to their importance as “signs of the times,” the prophet Joel recorded that “I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land” (Jl 3:2; see also Zechariah 7, 8, 12, 14, etc.). Finally, the apostle Paul also noted that God was far from finished with the nation of Israel (Rom 11:1-25).
Question: Do Christians still commit sin?
November 20, 2024 • Dave Hunt & T.A. McMahon
Question: Our church is teaching that Christians will not commit sins if they are truly saved. So, are scriptures such as 1 Peter 4:15 talking about unbelievers?
Response: Concerning your question, 1 Peter 4:15 tells us: “But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters.”
Peter is writing “…to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied” (1 Pet 1:1-2).
It is to these believers that Jesus warns, “But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief…[etc.]” (1 Pet 4:15). It is to believers that John writes in 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Consequently, Peter wouldn’t warn those who cannot sin, nor would John have written of a remedy for those who haven’t sinned. Though the saved (still living in the “old man,” i.e., the flesh) can still say, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Eph 2:10).
Yet, Peter still warns the church in 1 Peter 4:15.
Question: If Christ paid the debt in full, then there's no need for us to repent...
November 13, 2024 • Dave Hunt & T.A. McMahon
Question: If Christ took upon Himself the grave and the Lake of Fire, then there is no need of repentance and trusting Him for our salvation. Wouldn’t both penalties be paid in full?
Response: We could not be saved unless Christ paid in full the penalty demanded by God’s judgment against our sin. The penalty of sin is death. That is the sentence death has already passed upon man and will culminate in his separation from his body and from this planet and from God forever. God cannot merely make a bookkeeping entry in heaven. The debt demanded by His justice must be paid in full for man to be pardoned.
Why do we need to repent and believe in Christ if the penalty has been paid in full for everyone? The good news of the gospel is that salvation is offered to all.
Question: If eternal security is true, why are there scriptures that seem to contradict it?
November 6, 2024 • Dave Hunt & T.A. McMahon
Question: Though I’ve read your excellent discussions on eternal security, I still need understanding of the following Scriptures—Romans 11:21-22: “...if thou continue in His goodness” sounds conditional; Colossians 1:22-23, “If ye continue in the faith…” ditto; Hebrews 3:6, 14 have the same idea; 2 Peter 2:20-22 speaks of those who have “escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord…and who were washed…being entangled again and overcome.” If these apparent contradictions could be covered in a future “Q&A,” it would be greatly appreciated.
Response: The New Testament contains frequent exhortations to godly living, to “continue in the faith” and to “hold fast the confidence firm unto the end” (Hebrews 3:6, 14) and to “walk worthy of the Lord” (Ephesians 4:1; Colossians 1:10), and warns of being “cut off” (Romans 11:22).
The exhortation is to two classes of people: (1) Those who are false professors, in order to show them that their lives demonstrate that they do not truly know the Lord; and (2) Christians who are living in disobedience, to warn them that if they continue to dishonor their Lord, He will severely discipline them. The latter could be “cut off” from fellowship with other believers, or from this life....
Question: Should we befriend Catholics?
October 30, 2024 • Dave Hunt & T.A. McMahon
Question: First Corinthians 5:11 says, “But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.” Since Catholics are idolaters, where should a line be drawn in our social, familial, and work relationships with them? I frankly believe (and I used to be a strong Catholic) that we have become far too “chummy” with Catholics. Or am I just going overboard in my new zeal?
Response: The many Roman Catholics who become Christians find it necessary for conscience’ sake to leave that church very shortly thereafter, as you apparently did. Catholics thus encountered as neighbors or at work are in the same category as Mormons, Buddhists, or atheists as far as your relationship with them goes. No more with a Catholic than with an atheist should you join in a business partnership or marry or otherwise enter into any relationship that could be categorized as being “unequally yoked together with unbelievers.” Such alliances are forbidden (2 Corinthians 6:1-18)...
Question: Why do Christians worship on Sunday?
October 23, 2024 • Dave Hunt & T.A. McMahon
Question: Why do Christians worship on Sunday? I see no biblical basis to omit one commandment. I must settle this, because I want to obey the Lord.
Response: We addressed this in the May ’99 TBC (see—https://bit.ly/3xv5aor). Critics claim that Constantine (or the Roman Catholic Church) changed the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. Who cares? No one has the power to change the Sabbath. It was and always will be Saturday. But Christians do not worship on the Sabbath, the day in which God rested from His work of the first creation. We are not part of that old creation, but each Christian is “in Christ…a new creature: old things are passed away…all things are become new” (2 Cor 5:17). Christ rose from the dead on Sunday, the first day of a new week, the “firstborn from the dead” (Col 1:18), the progenitor of a new race of born-again men and women. That is why we meet together to worship the Lord on Sunday, “the first day of the week” (Acts 20:7).
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Question: How can God accept sinners into a sinless place?
October 16, 2024 • Dave Hunt & T.A. McMahon
Question (From three Muslims): In Christianity, it is taught that everyone is born a sinner. If that is true, then how can God accept us in heaven [since] that is a sinless place? According to what standard are we judged worthy or unworthy to enter paradise/heaven? What is good enough? God requires sinless perfection, which we can never attain to by our works. Will He accept something less? How can He?
Response: Your question goes to the very heart of the difference between true biblical Christianity and Islam (and all other religions). The issue is God’s infinite justice in relation to man’s undeniable sin and outright rebellion against God. As the Bible says, “All have sinned [and] the wages of sin is death” (Rom 3:23; 6:23). Even if it were possible, living a perfect, sinless life in the future could never pay the penalty for sins of the past. Justice does not work that way.
Islam (like every other world religion, and much that calls itself Christianity) urges its followers to do good (the greatest “good” is to die in jihad) in the hope that their good deeds will outweigh their bad ones in the “last day” judgment. Of course, there is no court of law on earth that would release anyone from the penalty prescribed by the law because they had done “more good than evil.” Nor will God accept such a plea from anyone, including Muhammad. As for suicide bombers, they cannot pay for their sins by committing suicide, and especially not by killing innocent people in the process. It does not speak well for either Muhammad or Allah to make Paradise the reward for committing murder!
Jesus Christ, who is God, became a man through a virgin birth, lived a perfect sinless life (in contrast to Muhammad whom the Qur’an commands to confess his sins), and died for our sins on the cross, paying the penalty that God’s infinite justice demanded for the sins of all mankind, and resurrected from the dead. On this righteous basis, God offers a just pardon of all sins for those who believe that Christ paid that penalty and rose from the grave.
Question: How can you believe both in God’s foreknowledge and that man has the power of choice
October 9, 2024 • Dave Hunt & T.A. McMahon
Question: How can you believe both in God’s foreknowledge and that man has the power of choice? If God knows ahead of time that Mr. A is going to do something, how can Mr. A decide for himself? Isn’t foreknowledge the same as predestination?
Response: The biblical doctrine of foreknowledge simply states that God knows everything that will happen before it happens—which, as God, He must know. Prophecy, in which God reveals His foreknowledge, is the major part of Scriptures, the great proof that God exists and that the Bible is His Word (Isaiah 42:9; 43:10; 46:9-10; 48:5, etc.). Prophecy is also the foundation of the gospel (Romans 1:1-3; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, etc.). Scripture never says or even implies that God knows all beforehand because He has caused it—much less that He must cause it in order to know it. The future is as plain to Him as the past.
The future is part of time, which is part of this physical universe. God is not part of the universe (which He created out of nothing), but He is separate from it. Perhaps He observes the universe from the outside including past, present, and future time, seeing it all at once. It is not necessary for us to know how God knows the future but we know He must.
