Author Archives: Paul Pavao

Unknown's avatar

About Paul Pavao

I am married, the father of six, and currently the grandfather of five. I teach, and I am always trying to learn to disciple others better than I have before. I believe God has gifted me to restore proper theological foundations to the Christian faith. In order to ensure that I do not become a heretic, I read the early church fathers from the second and third centuries. They were around when all the churches founded by the apostles were in unity. My philosophy for Bible reading is to understand each verse for exactly what it says in its local context. Only after accepting the verse for what it says do I compare it with other verses to develop my theology. If other verses seem to contradict a verse I just read, I will wait to say anything about those verses until I have an explanation that allows me to accept all the verses for what they say. This takes time, sometimes years, but eventually I have always been able to find something that does not require explaining verses away. The early church fathers have helped a lot with this. I argue and discuss these foundational doctrines with others to make sure my teaching really lines up with Scripture. I am encouraged by the fact that the several missionaries and pastors that I know well and admire as holy men love the things I teach. I hope you will be encouraged too. I am indeed tearing up old foundations created by tradition in order to re-establish the foundations found in Scripture and lived on by the churches during their 300 years of unity.

Atonement: Part Three (I Think)

It is very hard to just step back and look at a doctrine so important to the faith as the atonement. I am always looking for ways to get my readers to hear what I am saying, to somehow not … Continue reading

Posted in Evangelicals, Modern Doctrines | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Fulness of the Law (video)

I’d guess that almost no one knows how the early Christians dealt with Matthew 5:17: “I did not come to abolish the Law, but to bring it to fullness.” The evangelical interpretation of that passage relies on a faulty translation … Continue reading

Posted in Modern Doctrines | Tagged , , | 11 Comments

The Atonement: Q&A

In my previous post, “Tackling the Atonement,” I told a story about Jesus becoming man, entering into and sharing our slavery and bondage, then undoing all the things Adam put on us as humans because he obeyed rather than disobeying … Continue reading

Posted in Evangelicals, Modern Doctrines | Tagged , | 6 Comments

Tackling the Atonement

I tried twice to day to write this post, and I deleted what I had both times. Then I found an email from a couple days ago that was sent to me by a regular reader and commenter, and I … Continue reading

Posted in Modern Doctrines | Tagged , | 3 Comments

James 1:5-7 Revisited: Nothing Doubting

We talked once about James 1:5-7 and how frightening it is that our prayers might not be answered because of a little doubt. What we determined was that the issue was not a little doubt that our prayers might be … Continue reading

Posted in Miscellaneous, prayer | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Staying on the Subject: Penal Substitution

If you read this blog much, you know how much I dislike the doctrine of penal substitution. Not only does it justify a Christian living as an enemy of Jesus, but it makes a monster out of God. Proving penal … Continue reading

Posted in Evangelicals, Modern Doctrines | Tagged , | 23 Comments

Isaiah 22:11-14

Don’t make the mistake of choosing your own way to worship God. Isaiah 22:11-14: You also made a reservoir for yourself between the two walls of the inner old pool. But you did not look to Him who made it … Continue reading

Posted in Miscellaneous | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Romans 5:17-18: The Gift of Righteousness

I have been having a great discussion about the definition of “grace” in the Bible. In the midst of it I ran across Romans 5:17-18 and was really touched by it. I am pretty sure I have read those two … Continue reading

Posted in Holiness, Modern Doctrines, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 14 Comments

Misunderstanding Paul

I wrote a post on mortal and venial sins two days ago. I got a great comment from “Jody,” which included a suggestion that “this may explain why some people accused Paul of preaching an ‘anything goes’ type message.” I … Continue reading

Posted in Evangelicals, Modern Doctrines | Tagged , | 8 Comments

Mortal and Venial Sins?

Roman Catholicism distinguishes between mortal sins, which lead to hell, and venial sins, which lead to “temporal punishment.” Is this distinction scriptural? Note: This post is the result of thinking about a recent discussion with “Jon.” He mentioned once that … Continue reading

Posted in Modern Doctrines, Roman Catholic & Orthodox | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments