Q: Why did Jesus refer to Himself as "Son of Man"? A: Jesus referred to Himself as the Son of Man for two main reasons: 1. As "the Son of Man" He came to represent mankind and to undo the failure of our first representative — namely, Adam. 2. Our Lord also used the term Son of Man because it was a title used of Him in the book of Daniel chapter 7. That passage says: "I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, tha ..read more

  The content of Pastor Paul's Bible Q&A Blog can now be found at ccontario.com/blog ..read more

Q: Why does Jesus say the Father is greater than he and call him "my God" if they are equal? The reason you're struggling with this question is entirely understandable. We don't call it the mystery of the incarnation for no reason. But the truths that we see in God's Word concerning Jesus and His coming to earth are not for the mind. Rather they are truths for the heart. We accept them because they are revealed in His Word. And what we see is this: Jesus is CLEARLY declared as "God" in several places in the New Testament. (John 1:1, Titus 2:13, 1 John 5:20, Colossians 2:9. Hebrews 1:3 and m ..read more

Q: How do I discover my spiritual gifts? A: I have five tips for discovering your spiritual gift. 1. Understand what the Bible says about spiritual gifts. Study the biblical passages that speak of spiritual gifts. Specifically, I would encourage being thoroughly familiar with 1 Corinthians 12, 13 and 14. Those chapters not only reveal spiritual gifts but also address motives as well as the orderly use of spiritual gifts. Also study Romans chapter 12. 2. Ask the Lord to reveal your spiritual gift and trust that He will do it Spiritual gifts are given by God (see 1 Corinthians 12:4–7) therefore ..read more

Q: I was watching your teaching on Jonah tonight and it touched on something that has recently started confusing me. I always hear people saying Jesus rose on the 3rd day, and to me it always seemed that he died on the cross on Good Friday and rose from the dead early on resurrection Sunday. To me that always seemed like two days. And in Matthew 12:38-39 Jesus even said, "For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” So, was it two or three days? For modern readers of the ..read more

 Q: What is "Oneness" Theology and why is it wrong? A: Quite simply, Oneness theology teaches that God is one person who manifests himself differently — sometimes as God the Father, other times as God the Son and sometimes as the Holy Spirit. Oneness (also called modalism or Sabellianism) is known more commonly by the name “Jesus only” since adherents of this teaching usually believe the name of the One God is “Jesus.” This teaching is traced back to the late 2nd and early 3rd centuries when two particular men, Praxeas and Sabellius, popularized and propagated this theological idea. Such ..read more

QUESTION: What would you say to the person who is fearful of praying against God's will—His plan for their life? A: I would begin by cautioning against giving in to irrational fears and anything that could be exploited by the enemy. Next, I would encourage a deeper understanding of God's Word that would supplant the places where this kind of fear might choose to dwell. The idea that a person can pray themselves out of the will of God is a diabolical thought that is sure to steal both the pleasure and the intimacy of prayer. God wants you and I to come to Him and pour out our hearts, and you ..read more

Q: The more that I learn about the sovereignty of God the more it seems like prayer can’t actually change things. The thought comes to my mind that it’s okay to not spend time in prayer because His will is going to happen anyway. Yes, our God is sovereign, but you're forgetting a few things about both God's sovereignty and prayer: 1. In His sovereignty, God created mankind with a freewill. That freewill doesn't override God's sovereignty but it works within it and our prayers can make a difference in our own and other people's lives. 2. Because God is sovereign, He has given into the hands of ..read more

Q: Is it necessary to prove God's existence? There is nothing in the Word of God that requires believers to prove the existence of God. In fact, the Bible itself never sets out to prove God's existence. It is always taken for granted from the very first page, which starts out saying, "In the beginning GOD..." No explanation, no introduction, no details...just GOD. Furthermore, in the Psalms, the Holy Spirit moved upon David to write about God's existence saying, "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork." (Psalm 19:1) That verse tells us that we don't ha ..read more

Q: Why is the Apostle John known as the beloved? Why does Scripture tend to lead us to believe Jesus loved John more than the other disciples? It's true that John referred to himself as "the disciple whom Jesus loved" on several occasions. But here are some important facts: First of all, John is the only one who uses this title for himself, so, technically speaking, he wasn't "known as the beloved" — it's simply a kind of nickname he applied to himself. But the next fact is that John never explains why he uses that title nor does he explain what it means.  I think we can be absolutely ce ..read more