One of the largest and most intriguing blocks of teaching in the Gospel of John is the upper room discourse in chapter 13-17. This block of time begins with the washing of the disciples’ feet (13) and ends with Jesus’s high-priestly prayer (17). In the middle chapters (14-16), we encounter Jesus preparing his followers for his departure. They still didn’t quite understand what was to happen with his arrest, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. Even so, Jesus laid out teaching that would make sense for them after he was gone. Much of that teaching centered on the spirit of truth, which was to come after Jesus ascended to the Father.

In what follows we’ll explore three main theories about the holy spirit in John 14-16: (1) the spirit is a person other than Christ; (2) the spirit is a personification; and (3) the spirit is Christ’s alter ego in his heavenly ministry. After considering the first two options, I’ll explain why the last one–that the spirit is a way of talking about Christ’s activity among us while he is in heaven–fits the best.

I originally presented this content in Australia where I had an unfortunate run in with a leech. I had told this story earlier to this audience and mentioned in the talk. I had gone on a “bush walk” and picked up the blood sucker without realizing it. After it had its fill, it released and I continued to bleed for hours, not realizing that leeches inject and anticoagulant. In this presentation, I refer back to this incident, so now you know what I was talking about.

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This talk was originally presented at a Unitarian Christian Alliance (UCA) event held at the Tops Conference Centre in Stanwell Tops, Australia on March 28, 2026. Thanks to the Australian UCA planning committee, especially Matt Bradley, for their hard work in putting on this event.

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Have you ever heard the expression “a smoking gun”? It comes from an earlier era of guns when black powder produced a good cloud of smoke each time someone fired the weapon. Originally a smoking gun referred to a situation when someone was caught with the weapon in hand, still emitting smoke. The implication of this is not just that the smoking gun is evidence of the person’s guilt, but that such is conclusive and undeniable evidence.

Today were going to consider the topic of bias in our English Bible translations. I’m going to present to you four independent grammatical smoking guns of Trinitarian mischief in evangelical translations. In each case, rather than rendering the source language into the target language, we’ll see how translators tweak the translation to support the personality of the holy spirit.

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This talk was originally presented at a Unitarian Christian Alliance (UCA) event held at the Cantebury Christadelphian Ecclesia in Melbourne, Australia on March 21, 2026. Thanks to the Christadelphians for providing a venue and giving me access to the recording.

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This episode is part of the Restoration Theology class.

Today is our last episode in our Restoration Theology class. Believe it or not, not everyone thinks restorationism is great. In fact, most Christians, both Catholic and Protestant, are against restorationism, preferring the confessional approach.

Have you started to face objections and dismissive language when you talk to others about restoration theology yet? If not, you will. Today, I want to familiarize you with the kinds of criticisms they make against us and give you some thoughts on how to answer them.

Then we’ll transition our focus to consider three advantages of restorationism, including that it provides a stable identity, a way forward for unity, and evangelistic opportunities. In the end, I believe restoration theology is not just an excellent way to evaluate your beliefs; I believe it’s also the key to changing the world!

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This episode is part of the Restoration Theology class.

Today is the capstone episode of this entire class on Restoration Theology. We’re going to put together what we’ve learned so far into a twenty-question diagnostic. The purpose of this method is to evaluate any Christian belief or practice. You can use it on your own doctrines to refine what you believe, or you can apply it to others.

In what follows I’m going to run through the method a total of three times. First, I’ll simply list off the twenty questions. Then I’ll take two theological books and run through the method twice more. My hope is that once I’m done with this, you will understand how to use the diagnostic.

Ultimately, my prayer is that this method will provide Christians from all kinds of backgrounds a more systematic and comprehensive approach to figure out what to believe. This method is how we do restoration theology–how we restore authentic Christianity. I hope you will find it helpful.

Here’s a link to the twenty-question diagnostic.

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This episode is part of the Restoration Theology class.

About a year ago I was listening to a podcast that said black plastic cookware comes from recycled electronics. Such plastics are loaded with chemicals like fire retardants and should not be used in cooking. I was thinking about the black plastic spatula our family used regularly. I imagined how each time it was heating up, bad chemicals were leeching into our food.

This information caused me to doubt something I had never thought of before. I did some looking around online and found that there were other options. There are metal spatulas, silicone spatulas, and even wooden spatulas. I weighed the merits of each and purchased one. When it arrived by mail, I threw out the old black plastic one.

You probably employ this kind of reasoning all the time. However, when it comes to deeply cherished beliefs, we tend to be quite resistant to hearing criticisms or having doubts. We are often unaware of what the other theological options are. Most of us are underexposed to other Christian ways of thinking outside of our group.

Today my goal is to convince you that looking at other options and evaluating your own beliefs over against them is worthwhile for you to do. Furthermore, I want to–as always–share a method that you can use to do this process on your own. I believe that when you have the courage to allow yourself to doubt your beliefs, you will benefit by either discarding falsehood or strengthening those that are true.

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This episode is part of the Restoration Theology class.

As we continue through our survey of the major branches of theology, we come to the subject of doctrinal precedents. Who has believed a particular idea before? Were there any Christians who held position x in the past? Who were they? If the majority of the church no longer holds to a certain belief, what happened?

When I was in high school, I thought history was terribly boring. Learning the names of dead American presidents or about European wars never appealed to me. You may feel this way too. However, right from my first time encountering Christian history, I felt different. Perhaps that was a gift of God. Or maybe it’s because Christian history is family history. I was learning about my ancestors in the faith–the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Today you’re going to learn a method to do historical theology. This will empower you to test your beliefs in the laboratory of history and see who held them previously. Such an exercise is important in our quest for doctrinal truth. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I do.

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This episode is part of the Restoration Theology class.

Restoration Theology is an approach that brings together good hermeneutics and good theology. We’ve talked a great deal about hermeneutics, which how to interpret the Bible well, and now we’re working our way through all the major branches of theology. In previous episodes, we’ve looked at biblical and systematic theologies and now we’re ready to see how analytic theology can help us evaluate our doctrines.

Though analytic theology may seem intimidating at first–what with all the symbols and logical operators–it’s actually quite a commonsensical way to approach doctrine. If we boil it down, analytic theology is merely the application of reason to your belief. We all do this all the time. We look at some weird belief and say, “Well, that doesn’t make sense. I’m not going to believe that.” We come up against a different way of putting together scripture and we scrutinize the reasoning. We say, “Hey that argument doesn’t work because of this problem.” Analytic theology provides the tools to formalize this process. And I’m excited to share with you a method to harness the power of this field without having to do years of schooling or spend hundreds of hours reading dry textbooks.

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This episode is part of the Restoration Theology class.

Whereas last time we focused on differences and development, today our goal is to perceive the final form of a doctrine. Because restorationists believe God inspired scripture, we recognize that amidst the diversity we can also detect coherence. Although there were many authors, there was only one God inspiring each of them.

Today you’re going to learn about how to do systematic theology well. Rather than merely collecting a few texts that support your belief, you’ll also learn what other steps are necessary to put together a robust theological statement. You’ll also learn about the limitations of systematic theology.

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This episode is part of the Restoration Theology class.

The Bible is a collection of sixty-six books, written by dozens of authors over centuries. It did not drop from heaven, nor did it arrive all in one generation. No, God slowly revealed the Christian scriptures over time. As a result, we find development within them, which is important to understand when building theology. While next time, we’ll focus on the final form of this or that doctrine, today our focus is on how doctrines change over time. This is nothing to worry about. It’s not a bug; it’s a feature! Afterall, our God is not a stone idol, but the dynamic living God who carefully shapes history to his sovereign ends, generation by generation. Today we’ll begin our first episode in a five-part series, covering all the major branches of theology. Enjoy!

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This episode is part of the Restoration Theology class.

Although one of the most overlooked aspects of hermeneutics, figuring out how to apply scripture to your own context today is extremely important. If you interpret the Bible well, but never ask the question, “How does this affect me?” what good does it do you? Like the scholar of religion who is just curious, you can read the Bible and understand it correctly, but never experience the kind of change God wants for you.

Let’s say you want to apply the Bible to your life today. How do you do it? It won’t do to just pick a verse here and a verse there–taking this one literally and that one metaphorically as you like. No, you need a method to help keep you honest and to make sure you’re not leaving anything critical out. Today’s episode is going to equip you to apply scripture to your life today in a methodical way, not only providing some clear guidelines of what to do, but also some problems to avoid.

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