In this episode I talk with Dr. Carl-Magnus Carlstein, lecturer on Biblical Studies at Linkoping University, Sweden, about the contribution he contributed with co-author Rebekah Eklund in New Testament Ethics, out now on Eerdmans, which explores the ethics of possessions and wealth in the New Testament. We discuss the often-neglected topic of possessions, why many Christians are uncomfortable with this topic, and why it is so significant to the New Testament. Carl explains why Luke has a unique take on this subject, how Christians tend to emphasize either radical renunciation or charity as the models for thinking about the ethics of wealth, and how Jesus is more concerned with intentions, moral formation, and the heart. We then look at four passages in Luke’s gospel which address the issue of wealth and possessions, show how in case after case Jesus is concerned with the disposition of those who possess wealth and how we must be transformed to use wealth properly. Finally, we discuss how the church can implement this vision today and cultivate healthy, God-honoring motivations towards what we possess. 

Media Referenced:

New Testament Ethics: https://a.co/d/02cjLNET

Dr. Carlstein: https://liu.se/en/employee/carca26

Dr. Eklund: https://www.loyola.edu/academics/theology/faculty/directory/eklund-rebekah.html

Episode on Barclay, Wealth, and the New Testament: https://libertarianchristians.com/episode/ep-260-wealth-and-the-new-testament-a-response-to-john-barclay/

The Protestant Libertarian Podcast is a project of the Libertarian Christian Institute and a part of the Christians For Liberty Network. The Libertarian Christian Institute can be found at www.libertarianchristians.com.

Questions, comments, suggestions? Please reach out to me at [email protected].  You can also follow the podcast on Twitter: @prolibertypod, and YouTube, @ProLibertyPod, where you will get shorts and other exclusive video content. For more about the show, you can go to theprotestantlibertarianpodcast.com. If you like the show and want to support it, you can! Go to libertarianchristians.com, where you can donate to LCI and buy The Protestant Libertarian Podcast Merch! Also, please consider giving me a star rating and leaving me a review, it really helps expand the show’s profile! Thanks!

In this episode I explore the relationship between God’s active and passive wrath, demonstrating how God’s wrath is often manifested by Him allowing people to suffer the consequences of their sins, which is what Paul has in mind when he thrice says that God “handed them over” to sinfulness in Romans 1. Romans 1 and Romans 6, focusing especially on Paul’s understanding of obedience, participation in Christ, sanctification, and the Christian life. I discuss the theological categories of “active” and “passive” obedience and consider whether these categories always fit neatly within Paul’s participatory and covenantal framework. A central theme throughout the episode is the idea that Paul does not merely present salvation as a legal declaration detached from transformation, but rather as incorporation into the Messiah himself. Romans 6, in particular, emphasizes dying and rising with Christ, liberation from the reign of sin, and becoming enslaved to righteousness. I argue that Paul’s theology consistently frames obedience within the context of union with Christ and the work of the Spirit rather than autonomous moral achievement. The episode also explores how Romans 1 introduces many of the themes Paul develops throughout the letter, including the “obedience of faith,” the kingship of Christ, the gospel as the fulfillment of Scripture, and the transformation of the people of God through participation in the Messiah. Along the way, I discuss tensions within Protestant theological traditions regarding sanctification, imputation, transformation, and participationist readings of Paul, while emphasizing the deeply Christological nature of Paul’s gospel.

Media Referenced:

More work on Romans:

Romans 8:29-30 Episode: https://libertarianchristians.com/episode/ep-268-christs-image-and-human-glory-a-political-reading-of-romans-829-30

Christology and Romans: https://libertarianchristians.com/episode/ep-261-the-christology-of-romans-and-romans-13/

Government as God’s Servant in Romans 13: https://libertarianchristians.com/episode/ep-243-government-is-gods-servant-romans-13-isaiah-10-and-jeremiah-25/

Why We Get Romans 13 Wrong: https://libertarianchristians.com/episode/ep-130-everyone-is-wrong-about-romans-13-including-me/

The Protestant Libertarian Podcast is a project of the Libertarian Christian Institute and a part of the Christians For Liberty Network. The Libertarian Christian Institute can be found at www.libertarianchristians.com.

Questions, comments, suggestions? Please reach out to me at [email protected].  You can also follow the podcast on Twitter: @prolibertypod, and YouTube, @ProLibertyPod, where you will get shorts and other exclusive video content. For more about the show, you can go to theprotestantlibertarianpodcast.com. If you like the show and want to support it, you can! Go to libertarianchristians.com, where you can donate to LCI and buy The Protestant Libertarian Podcast Merch! Also, please consider giving me a star rating and leaving me a review, it really helps expand the show’s profile! Thanks!

In this episode Dr. Kevin Burr and I critique The Ballot and the Bible by Kaitlyn Schiess. Schiess is an author and co-host of The Holy Post podcast and published this book in 2023. It is an analysis of the ways in which Scripture has been used and abused in American politics, and while there is a lot of excellent content in the book Kevin and I wanted to offer a thoughtful and respectful critique of the areas in which she falls short. We discuss how the book assumes the left-right political spectrum and her own unstated commitment to center-left political policies, question the notion that state-run welfare programs actually help the poor, her conception of the ‘common good’, and her interpretation of Jeremiah 29:7 and Romans 13. We discuss the Biblical view of a church set apart to steward God’s creation and how the New Testament offers us insights into the questions addressed by Schiess in the book. We also challenge her definition of concepts such as individual rights, capitalism, individualism, and libertarianism, as well as discuss her neglect of the warfare stated aggrandized by W. Bush and Obama. 

Media Referenced:

The Ballot and the Bible: https://a.co/d/096xwBOO

Barclay Response: https://libertarianchristians.com/episode/ep-260-wealth-and-the-new-testament-a-response-to-john-barclay/

Kevin Burr Twitter: @kbburr

Faith in the Folds Twitter: @faithinthefolds

Faith in the Folds Podcast: https://rss.com/podcasts/faithinthefolds/

Faith in the Folds Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTLaLhEOui1uJi_1UrqP7oA

YouTube Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZZM-uE_LoU&t=1144s

Progressive Christian Nationalism Article: https://libertarianchristians.com/2023/10/09/progressive-christian-nationalism-left-right-authoritarian/

Listen to the article here: https://libertarianchristians.com/episode/ep-112-progressive-christian-nationalism/

The Protestant Libertarian Podcast is a project of the Libertarian Christian Institute and a part of the Christians For Liberty Network. The Libertarian Christian Institute can be found at www.libertarianchristians.com.

Questions, comments, suggestions? Please reach out to me at [email protected].  You can also follow the podcast on Twitter: @prolibertypod, and YouTube, @ProLibertyPod, where you will get shorts and other exclusive video content. For more about the show, you can go to theprotestantlibertarianpodcast.com. If you like the show and want to support it, you can! Go to libertarianchristians.com, where you can donate to LCI and buy The Protestant Libertarian Podcast Merch! Also, please consider giving me a star rating and leaving me a review, it really helps expand the show’s profile! Thanks!

In this episode I explore an easily-overlooked text with surprising political implications. In Romans 8:29-30, Paul claims that we were “predestined to become conformed to the Image of His Son” and that because of this will have been “glorified”. What does Paul mean? In her book Conformed to the Image of His Son, Dr. Haley Goranson Jacob argues that Paul is claiming believers are conformed to Jesus’s status and  function as the Son of God who rules over creation, and that our glorification denotes a sharing in that rule. She explains how ‘glory’ when applied to humans in the Greek Old Testament regularly denotes power, authority, and dominion, that the restoration of human glory is an important subtheme in Romans 5-8, and that the sharing in Christ’s inheritance which Paul articulates in Romans 8:12-17 is a participation in his rule. The language of ‘image’ in Romans 8:29 is evocative of Genesis 1 and Psalm 8, where humans are, as God’s image-bearers, given dominion over His creation, and since Jesus now rules are king over all creation his family, defined by faith and the Spirit, participate in that rule. The political implications are significant; I discuss how the church is God’s set-apart family and that we are given the task of and empowered to rule over creation, which we must do in conformity with the crucified Messiah. The church exercises political power, but the political power must be cruciform and congruent with Christ’s Messianic reign. I also discuss how passages like this should be brought into the conversation about the Bible and politics. 

Media Referenced:            

Ephesians 1 Episode: https://libertarianchristians.com/episode/ep-248-far-above-all-rule-and-authority-ephesians-115-23/

Philippians 2 Episode: https://libertarianchristians.com/episode/ep-248-far-above-all-rule-and-authority-ephesians-115-23/

Galatians 4 w/ Cody Cook: https://libertarianchristians.com/episode/ep-245-galatians-41-7-and-deliverance-from-this-evil-age-with-cody-cook/

Liberty and Authority: https://libertarianchristians.com/episode/ep-184-liberty-authority-and-the-political-spectrum/

The Protestant Libertarian Podcast is a project of the Libertarian Christian Institute and a part of the Christians For Liberty Network. The Libertarian Christian Institute can be found at www.libertarianchristians.com.

Questions, comments, suggestions? Please reach out to me at [email protected].  You can also follow the podcast on Twitter: @prolibertypod, and YouTube, @ProLibertyPod, where you will get shorts and other exclusive video content. For more about the show, you can go to theprotestantlibertarianpodcast.com. If you like the show and want to support it, you can! Go to libertarianchristians.com, where you can donate to LCI and buy The Protestant Libertarian Podcast Merch! Also, please consider giving me a star rating and leaving me a review, it really helps expand the show’s profile! Thanks!

In this first (official) installment of my semi-weekly ‘Theology Thursday’ series, I discuss how God enables us to overcome sin through the power of His Spirit. Reflecting on a recent sermon I heard from Matthew 5:27-30, in which Jesus equates lust with adultery and then instructs his audience to gouge out an eye or cut off a hand if it causes them to sin. While Jesus is obviously using hyperbole, he doesn’t in this passage explain precisely how one is to over the temptation of adultery (or any other sin). Fortunately, Paul fills in the gaps. Drawing on Romans 8, particularly 8:12-14, Paul says that it is the Spirit which enables us to put to death the deeds of the flesh. All throughout Romans Paul has drawn a parallel between sin and death, a Biblical theme reaching back to the Garden of Eden and paralleled in the covenant between God and Israel outlined in Deuteronomy 27-32. Sin necessarily leads to corruption and death, a point Paul repeatedly makes in Romans and necessitating, as Jesus implies, a surgical removal. Fortunately, those who place their faith in God’s Messiah Jesus are given the Spirit, which allows us to begin the process of resurrection in the present and overcome our sin-which-leads-to-death through the gracious, Spirit-enabled process of sanctification. We can and should work to overcome the corruption of sin and are, by God’s grace, enabled to do so through the power of the Spirit. 

The Protestant Libertarian Podcast is a project of the Libertarian Christian Institute and a part of the Christians For Liberty Network. The Libertarian Christian Institute can be found at www.libertarianchristians.com.

Questions, comments, suggestions? Please reach out to me at [email protected].  You can also follow the podcast on Twitter: @prolibertypod, and YouTube, @ProLibertyPod, where you will get shorts and other exclusive video content. For more about the show, you can go to theprotestantlibertarianpodcast.com. If you like the show and want to support it, you can! Go to libertarianchristians.com, where you can donate to LCI and buy The Protestant Libertarian Podcast Merch! Also, please consider giving me a st 

In this episode I talk with economist Eric Schansberg about how Christians should think critically about public policy. We discuss how Christians often fail to reflect on their support for particular public policies and how our faith aligns with political and economic systems in the modern world. Schansberg explains how the Bible should shape our understanding of public policy, why there is often a discrepancy between political theory and practice, how Christians must always pursue Godly ends with Godly means, and how the function of secular law. He talks about how Christians should avoid legislating social morality and economic justice, the difference between those concepts and the poorly-defined ‘legislating morality’, how economic redistribution doesn’t work and welfare programs hurt the poor, and how believers can avoid the trap of falling into the left-right spectrum. 

Media Referenced:

Buy Turn Neither to the Left nor to the Right: https://furtherstillministries.org/product/turn-neither-to-the-right-nor-to-the-left/?v=0b3b97fa6688 

Gen Men Interview: https://libertarianchristians.com/episode/ep-234-biblical-masculinity-and-the-men-of-genesis-with-eric-schansberg/

College 101 Book: https://www.amazon.com/College-101-Students-Parents-Universities-ebook/dp/B0FLW6KB83

The Protestant Libertarian Podcast is a project of the Libertarian Christian Institute and a part of the Christians For Liberty Network. The Libertarian Christian Institute can be found at www.libertarianchristians.com.

Questions, comments, suggestions? Please reach out to me at [email protected].  You can also follow the podcast on Twitter: @prolibertypod, and YouTube, @ProLibertyPod, where you will get shorts and other exclusive video content. For more about the show, you can go to theprotestantlibertarianpodcast.com. If you like the show and want to support it, you can! Go to libertarianchristians.com, where you can donate to LCI and buy The Protestant Libertarian Podcast Merch! Also, please consider giving me a star rating and leaving me a review, it really helps expand the show’s profile! Thanks!

In this episode I address the popular misconception that the apostle Paul, formerly Saul, was personally responsible for the killing of Christians before his Damascus Road experience. In popular Christian imagination, Paul was the ‘persecutor and killer’ of Christians before his dramatic encounter with the risen Jesus. While Paul did indeed viciously persecute the church, there is no New Testament evidence that any believer actually died by Paul’s hand. I look at all the New Testament texts which address Paul’s pre-Damascus attitude towards believers. In Acts, he endorses the killing of Stephen, binds and imprisons Christians, and even breathes threats of murder against them, but is never portrayed as doing the deed himself. The Roman provincial system left capital punishment, known as the ‘imperium’, in the hands of Roman rulers, and extrajudicial lynchings such as happened to Stephen were dangerous for local political leaders because they could draw the ire of Rome. Paul was too smart to play into that trap. Paul refers to himself as a zealous defender of Judaism in Galatians 1 and Philippians 3, and I explore the traditions of ‘zeal’ and “Judaism’ as a willingness to commit violence to defend Israel’s ancestral traditions, demonstrating that while Paul fit into that framework it did not result in the direct murder of believers by his hand before Damascus. I hope this episode helps dispel a popular myth about Paul and sets the record straight. 

Media Referenced:

Biography of Paul with Frank Thielman interview: https://libertarianchristians.com/episode/ep-202-paul-apostle-of-grace-with-frank-thielman/

The Protestant Libertarian Podcast is a project of the Libertarian Christian Institute and a part of the Christians For Liberty Network. The Libertarian Christian Institute can be found at www.libertarianchristians.com.

Questions, comments, suggestions? Please reach out to me at [email protected].  You can also follow the podcast on Twitter: @prolibertypod, and YouTube, @ProLibertyPod, where you will get shorts and other exclusive video content. For more about the show, you can go to theprotestantlibertarianpodcast.com. If you like the show and want to support it, you can! Go to libertarianchristians.com, where you can donate to LCI and buy The Protestant Libertarian Podcast Merch! Also, please consider giving me a star rating and leaving me a review, it really helps expand the show’s profile! Thanks!

In this episode I discuss how the covenant God made with Israel in the Old Testament was a form of an ancient Near Eastern suzerain-vassal treaty. Building from the fantastic work of Sandra Richter’s ‘Epic of Eden’ book, a suzerain vassal treaty is one in which a king or imperial power, the suzerain, makes a treaty with a lesser kingdom or people, the vassal. They are asymmetrical in the sense that the suzerain clearly holds the power but also reciprocal in that both parties are contractually obligated to one another. Generally, the vassal offers loyalty and taxes to the suzerain while the suzerain grants military protection in peace. Seen in this light, the covenant God makes with Israel depicts him as the rightful king, and in the climax of the Pentateuch, Deuteronomy 27-32, the blessings and curses of covenant faithfulness are laid out clearly. If vassal Israel honors suzerain YHWH by obeying His Law, God will bless Israel, keep them safe and well-fed in the land, protect them from outsiders, and allow them to be a light to the pagan nations. If Israel breaks covenant, God will withhold his protection. This logic, found already in the giving of the Decalogue in Exodus 19-24 and Leviticus 26, can be understood through the framework of suzerain-vassal treaty, depicting God as the true king. For Christians seeking to derive political principles from the Old Testament, this is one important aspect of ancient thought to consider. 

Media Referenced:

Epic of Eden: https://a.co/d/0hZfe5ZZ

Dru Johnson on OT Politics: https://libertarianchristians.com/episode/ep-263-the-torah-the-old-testament-and-christian-politics-with-dru-johnson/

The Protestant Libertarian Podcast is a project of the Libertarian Christian Institute and a part of the Christians For Liberty Network. The Libertarian Christian Institute can be found at www.libertarianchristians.com.

Questions, comments, suggestions? Please reach out to me at [email protected].  You can also follow the podcast on Twitter: @prolibertypod, and YouTube, @ProLibertyPod, where you will get shorts and other exclusive video content. For more about the show, you can go to theprotestantlibertarianpodcast.com. If you like the show and want to support it, you can! Go to libertarianchristians.com, where you can donate to LCI and buy The Protestant Libertarian Podcast Merch! Also, please consider giving me a star rating and leaving me a review, it really helps expand the show’s profile! Thanks!

In this episode I talk once again with Old Testament scholar Dru Johnson, who recently hosted a conference about Christianity and politics entitled “Bible First”. I ask him a wide range of questions about the political themes and consequences of the Torah and Old Testament. We explore the relationship between creation and human agency in Genesis 1-11, the patriarchal narratives and their role as shepherds of Israel, the Law as God’s covenantal contract with Israel, how Deuteronomy defines the unique role of Israel’s king, the failure of Israel and their king to keep covenant, particularly with Israel’s desire to have a king like the nations around them in 1 Samuel 8, God’s promise to David in 2 Samuel 7 that one of his descendants will establish an eternal kingdom, how the prophets deal with Israel’s failures and future hope, and how this relates to the kingship of Jesus in the New Testament. This is a wide-ranging and engaging conversation which reframes our perspective on the Old Testament and its impact on Christian political theology. 

Media Referenced:

Dru’s Website: https://drujohnson.com/

X: @Dru_Johnson

Biblical Law Episode: https://libertarianchristians.com/episode/ep-239-understanding-biblical-law-with-dru-johnson/

Genesis 3 Episode: https://libertarianchristians.com/episode/ep-232-genesis-35-and-the-problem-of-power/

1 Samuel 8 Episode: https://libertarianchristians.com/episode/1-samuel-8-biblical-critique-of-monarchy/

The Protestant Libertarian Podcast is a project of the Libertarian Christian Institute and a part of the Christians For Liberty Network. The Libertarian Christian Institute can be found at www.libertarianchristians.com.

Questions, comments, suggestions? Please reach out to me at [email protected].  You can also follow the podcast on Twitter: @prolibertypod, and YouTube, @ProLibertyPod, where you will get shorts and other exclusive video content. For more about the show, you can go to theprotestantlibertarianpodcast.com. If you like the show and want to support it, you can! Go to libertarianchristians.com, where you can donate to LCI and buy The Protestant Libertarian Podcast Merch! Also, please consider giving me a star rating and leaving me a review, it really helps expand the show’s profile! Thanks!

In this episode I discuss why Thomas Massie is the right choice for Kentucky. Thomas Massie is a real Constitutional, America First conservative and has been great on every issue that really matters to conservatives and libertarians including COVID, foreign policy, deficits and government spending, Epstein, guns, abortion, and more. In fact, Trump’s 2024 campaign was extremely similar to Massie’s policy platform and voting record. Trump, however, is trying to primary Massie, supporting Israel lobby funded Ed Gallrein, a man who believes that loyalty to Trump is more important than conservative principles. In fact, Trump has completely sold out his base, ignoring every significant campaign promise he made in 2024. Like Trump, Gallrein is more concerned about the Israel lobby than American citizens and endorses a socialist policy platform. Trump has always been a New York Democrat, and conservatives who place principle over party must support Massie over Trump. The future of freedom and American values depends on it. 

Media Referenced:

My Case Against Trump: https://libertarianchristians.com/episode/ep-156-the-libertarian-case-against-donald-trump/

Neither Trump nor Harris: https://libertarianchristians.com/episode/ep-160-i-cant-support-trump-or-harris/

The Protestant Libertarian Podcast is a project of the Libertarian Christian Institute and a part of the Christians For Liberty Network. The Libertarian Christian Institute can be found at www.libertarianchristians.com.

Questions, comments, suggestions? Please reach out to me at [email protected].  You can also follow the podcast on Twitter: @prolibertypod, and YouTube, @ProLibertyPod, where you will get shorts and other exclusive video content. For more about the show, you can go to theprotestantlibertarianpodcast.com. If you like the show and want to support it, you can! Go to libertarianchristians.com, where you can donate to LCI and buy The Protestant Libertarian Podcast Merch! Also, please consider giving me a star rating and leaving me a review, it really helps expand the show’s profile! Thanks!