Defenders Podcast: Recent Episodes
William Lane Craig
Having rejected both the Rapture view and the Preterist view in prior lessons, Dr. William Lane Craig lays out the classical Christian position: Christ's return will be a single, visible event. In this lecture he examines four characteristics of that return. It will be personal, a literal coming of Christ himself, not a symbolic or figurative event. It will be glorious, a public display of power in contrast to the humility of his first coming. It will be decisive, bringing human history to its close. And it will be sudden and unexpected, which is why Scripture calls believers to readiness rather than speculation about timing. Dr. Craig supports each point from Scripture, including 1 Thessalonians 4 and 5, Acts 1, Matthew 24, Mark 14, 1 Corinthians 15, and Revelation 1.
Dr. William Lane Craig continues his critique of the preterist view that Christ's "coming" as the Son of Man was fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. He argues, first, that the New Testament consistently describes this coming as visible and public: witnessed by everyone, not a secret event hidden from history. Second, he contends that Christ was already reigning as the risen and ascended King well before AD 70, so the Olivet Discourse can't be describing his enthronement in that year; it's better read as his future return as conquering King. Third, and most decisively, Paul ties Christ's coming to the bodily resurrection of the dead, which plainly did not happen in AD 70, a problem so sharp that even interpreters sympathetic to a preterist reading, as N.T. Wright's own remarks show, end up treating Paul's resurrection hope as a separate, still-future event. Dr. Craig explains why, despite its appeal, he can't accept Preterism as the solution to the New Testament's expectation of Christ's return.
Continuing the series on the Second Coming, Dr. William Lane Craig examines the Preterist view, the position, defended by scholars including G. B. Caird, R. T. France, and N. T. Wright, that the coming of the Son of Man predicted in Jesus' Olivet Discourse already happened in AD 70 with the destruction of Jerusalem. On this reading, the Great Tribulation was the horror of the Roman siege of Jerusalem, and the apocalyptic imagery of Mark 13 (e.g., darkened sun, falling stars) is symbolic language paralleled in Isaiah 13, Ezekiel 32, and Peter's Pentecost sermon in Acts 2, not a literal description of the end. Dr. Craig walks through the Preterist case, including its appeal to Daniel 7 for the Son of Man's heavenly enthronement rather than an earthly return, and explains why Mark 13:30, "this generation will not pass away," is really what drives the view. He finds it initially attractive for solving that verse, but ultimately unpersuasive: like the Rapture view, Preterism ends up requiring an invisible coming of Christ before his final return.
Does the New Testament actually teach a secret "rapture" before Jesus' final return — or is that idea being read into the text rather than out of it? In this episode, Dr. William Lane Craig wraps up his case against the Rapture view by turning to the passage its defenders lean on most: 2 Thessalonians 2, where Paul tells the Thessalonians not to be shaken by claims that "the day of the Lord" has already come.
Dr. Craig walks through Jesus' Olivet Discourse, Paul's letters to the Thessalonians and Corinthians, and a strange episode in 2 Timothy where two men taught that the resurrection had already happened — testing each passage to see whether it points to a two-stage return of Christ or a single, unmistakable Second Coming.
Dr. William Lane Craig continues his examination of the "secret rapture" view, tracing Paul's language about the Lord's coming through 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 Corinthians 15, and Jesus' own words in John 5 and Mark 13. He argues that the "coming of the Lord" in 1 Thessalonians 4 and the resurrection described in 1 Corinthians 15 are one and the same event as Christ's visible, glorious Second Coming and not a separate, secret snatching away of believers beforehand. Comparing the Greek vocabulary Paul uses (parousia, episynagoge) with Jesus' Olivet Discourse, Dr. Craig concludes that Scripture gives no basis for a pre-tribulation rapture distinct from Christ's final return.
Continuing the study of the Second Coming, Dr. William Lane Craig examines the popular "rapture" view — the idea that Christ will secretly return to snatch believers away before a visible Second Coming and the Great Tribulation. Tracing the doctrine's origins to 19th-century dispensationalist John Darby and its spread through the Scofield Reference Bible, Dallas Theological Seminary, and pop-culture works like Left Behind, the lecture tests the rapture view against key biblical texts, including Jesus's Olivet Discourse and 1 Thessalonians 4, to ask whether Scripture actually supports a two-stage return of Christ.
Dr. William Lane Craig opens the eschatology unit of Defenders 3 with a study of the Second Coming of Christ. He surveys Old Testament messianic prophecy (Isaiah 9:6-7, Isaiah 11:1-10, Daniel 7:13-14) as background, then turns to Jesus' Olivet Discourse in Mark 13, where Christ predicts wars, persecution, the "desolating sacrilege," and his own return "in clouds with great power and glory." Craig notes roughly 250 New Testament references to Christ's return and previews next week's look at Paul's parallel teaching.
Dr. William Lane Craig evaluates competing views of the Lord's Supper — transubstantiation, consubstantiation, and the Reformed spiritual-presence view — before defending his own position that the Lord's Supper is a memorial ordinance rather than a sacrament. He argues transubstantiation lacks scriptural support, showing that Jesus' words of institution and the "bread of life" discourse in John 6 use the same kind of symbolic, Semitic imagery found elsewhere in Paul (the rock as Christ, Hagar and Sarah as the two covenants) and throughout John's Gospel (new birth, living water, spiritual food), where literalistic readings are consistently shown to be misunderstandings. He also contends that a literal eating of Christ's body confuses the nature of his physical, humanoid resurrection body. He extends similar objections to consubstantiation, adding that it improperly mixes Christ's human and divine natures in violation of Chalcedonian Christology. Turning to the Reformed view, he argues that Christ's spiritual presence in the Supper is real but no different from his presence in prayer, worship, or fellowship generally, concluding that the Supper is best understood as a memorial in which believers remember Christ's death, examine themselves, confess sin, and commune with him spiritually.
Having examined the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation in previous episodes, Dr. Craig now turns to three more views of the Lord's Supper. He explains the Lutheran doctrine of consubstantiation — where Christ's body and blood are present alongside the bread and wine, grounded in Luther's doctrine of the communication of attributes (communicatio idiomatum). He then contrasts this with Calvin's Reformed view of a spiritual presence and communion with Christ, and finally with Zwingli's view of the Supper as a memorial ordinance rather than a sacrament. Next time: an assessment of these four competing views.
Dr. William Lane Craig continues his examination of the Lord's Supper with a deep dive into the Roman Catholic doctrine of the Eucharist as a sacrifice. Beyond transubstantiation, Catholics hold that the Mass is a propitiatory offering to God for the sins of both the living and the dead. Dr. Craig traces this doctrine from Irenaeus's early view of the Eucharist as a thank offering, through its codification at the Council of Trent, to its further development at Vatican II — exploring what it means for Christ to be "re-presented" to God in each celebration of the Mass.
Defenders: Doctrine of Salvation (Part 17): The Grounds, Means, and Results of Justification
Defenders: Doctrine of Salvation (Part 13): Assessment of Competing Views of Justification
Defenders: Doctrine of Salvation (Part 6): The Mystical Union of the Believer with Christ
Defenders: Doctrine of Man (Part 23): Original Sin: Semi-Pelagianism, Reformation, Enlightenment, Modern Era
https://www.reasonablefaith.org/podcasts/defenders-podcast-series-3/s3-doctrine-of-man/doctrine-of-man-part-13
Defenders: Doctrine of Man (Part 11): A Challenge to Dualism-Interactionism – The Libet Experiments
Defenders: Doctrine of Man (Part 8): Systematizing the Biblical Data Concerning the Nature of Man
Defenders: Doctrine of Man (Part 7): Paul’s Use of the Anthropological Terms Sarks and Psyche
Defenders: Doctrine of Man (Part 1): Different Approaches to Anthropology: Different Approaches to Anthropology
Defenders: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 34): Progressive Creationism – Integrating the Scientific Evidence with the Genesis Narrative
Defenders: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 31): Examining the Thesis of Common Ancestry
Defenders: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 30): Three Aspects of the Evolutionary Paradigm
Defenders: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 29): Methodological Naturalism
Defenders: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 28): Is Genesis 1 in Conflict With the Theory of Evolution?
Defenders: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 27): Scientific Evidence Pertinent to the Origin and Evolution of Biological Complexity
Defenders: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 26): Paul’s Use of Adam in Romans 5
Defenders: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 25): Paul’s Use of Adam in 1 Corinthians 15
Defenders: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 24): New Testament Authors’ Use of the Literary Adam
Defenders: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 23): Adam in the New Testament
Defenders: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 22): The Central Truths Expressed in Genesis 1-11
Defenders: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 21): Why Read Genesis 1-3 Figuratively?
Defenders: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 20): Why Think Genesis 1-11 is Mytho-History?
Defenders: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 19): The Plasticity and Flexibility of ANE Myths
Defenders: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 18): Is the Biblical Primeval History To Be Understood as Literally True?
Defenders: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 17): The Genre of Mytho-History
Defenders: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 16): Genealogies in Genesis 1-11 (continued)
Defenders: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 15): Genealogies in Genesis 1-11
Defenders: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 14): Etiological Motifs in Genesis 2
Defenders: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 13): Did Genesis Borrow From Babylonian Myths?
Defenders: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 12): Examining the Supposed Parallels Between Genesis and Egyptian Myths
Defenders: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 11): An Assessment of the Monotheistic Hebrew Myth Interpretation
Defenders: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 10):The Monotheistic Hebrew Myth Interpretation
Defenders: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 9): A Critique of John Walton’s Functional Creation Interpretation, Part 2
Defenders: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 8): A Critique of John Walton’s Functional Creation Interpretation
Defenders: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 7): The Literary Framework and the Functional Creation Interpretations
Defenders: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 6): The Days of Divine Proclamation Interpretation
Defenders: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 5): The Day-Age Interpretation
Defenders: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 4): The Gap and Day-Gap Interpretations
Defenders: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 3): A Critique of the Literal Interpretation
Defenders: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 2): The Literal Interpretation
Defenders: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 1): Hermeneutical Principles and Concordism
Defenders: Doctrine of Creation (Part 18): Determining the Intrinsic Probability of the Resurrection
Defenders: Doctrine of Creation (Part 12): Arminian And Molinist Accounts of Divine Sovereignty and Human Freedom
Defenders: Doctrine of Creation (Part 11): A Critical Assessment of Three Views of Divine Providence
Defenders: Doctrine of Creation (Part 4): The Notion of “Bringing Something Into Being”
Defenders: Doctrine of Christ (Part 51): The Work of Christ (44) - Christian Particularism, Conclusion
Defenders: Doctrine of Christ (Part 50): The Work of Christ (43) - Christian Particularism
Defenders: Doctrine of Christ (Part 49): The Work of Christ (42) - Christian Particularism
Defenders: Doctrine of Christ (Part 48): The Work of Christ (41) - Christian Particularism
Defenders: Doctrine of Christ (Part 47): The Work of Christ (40) - Christian Particularism
Defenders: Doctrine of Christ (Part 45): The Work of Christ (38) - The Resurrection Hypothesis
Defenders: Doctrine of Christ (Part 44): The Work of Christ (37) - Resurrection Hypotheses
Defenders: Doctrine of Christ (Part 43): The Work of Christ (36) - Resurrection Hypotheses
Defenders: Doctrine of Christ (Part 42): The Work of Christ (35) - Resurrection Hypotheses
Defenders: Doctrine of Christ (Part 41): The Work of Christ (34) - Facts of the Resurrection
Defenders: Doctrine of Christ (Part 40): The Work of Christ (33) - Facts of the Resurrection
Defenders: Doctrine of Christ (Part 39): The Work of Christ (32) - Facts of the Resurrection
Defenders: Doctrine of Christ (Part 38): The Work of Christ (31) - Facts of the Resurrection
Defenders: Doctrine of Christ (Part 37): The Work of Christ (30) - Facts of the Resurrection
Defenders: Doctrine of Christ (Part 36): The Work of Christ (29) - Facts of the Resurrection
Defenders: Doctrine of Christ (Part 35): The Work of Christ (28) - Resurrection Theories
Defenders: Doctrine of Christ (Part 34): The Work of Christ (27) - Resurrection Theories
Defenders: Doctrine of Christ (Part 33): The Work of Christ (26) - Resurrection Theories
Defenders: Doctrine of Christ (Part 32): The Work of Christ (25) - The Post-Mortem Appearances
Defenders: Doctrine of Christ (Part 31): The Work of Christ (24) - The Post-Mortem Appearances
Defenders: Doctrine of Christ (Part 30): The Work of Christ (23) - The Resurrection Continued
Defenders: Doctrine of Christ (Part 29): The Work of Christ (22) - The Resurrection Continued
Defenders: Doctrine of Christ (Part 28): The Work of Christ (21) - The Resurrection Continued
Defenders: Doctrine of Christ (Part 26): The Work of Christ (19) - The Resurrection Continued
Defenders: Doctrine of Christ (Part 24): The Work of Christ (17) - Atonement, Redemption
Defenders: Doctrine of Christ (Part 23): The Work of Christ (16) - Atonement, Satisfaction of Divine Justice
Defenders: Doctrine of Christ (Part 22): The Work of Christ (15) - Atonement, Satisfaction of Divine Justice
Defenders: Doctrine of Christ (Part 21): The Work of Christ (14) - Atonement, Doctrinal Reflection Continued
Defenders: Doctrine of Christ (Part 20): The Work of Christ (13) - Atonement, Doctrinal Reflection Continued
Defenders: Doctrine of Christ (Part 19): The Work of Christ (12) - Atonement, Doctrinal Reflection Continued
Defenders: Doctrine of Christ (Part 18): The Work of Christ (11) - Atonement, Doctrinal Reflection
Defenders: Doctrine of Christ (Part 17): The Work of Christ (10) - Penal Substitution Theory
Defenders: Doctrine of Christ (Part 16): The Work of Christ (9) - Moral Influence Theory
Defenders: Doctrine of Christ (Part 9): The Work of Christ (2) - Propitiatory Sacrifices
Defenders: Doctrine of Christ (Part 8): The Work of Christ (1) - Christ's Death and Atonement
Defenders: Doctrine of God: Trinity (Part 10): The Relationship Between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
Defenders: Doctrine of God: Trinity (Part 8): Historical Survey (4) | Coherence of the Doctrine
Defenders 3: Doctrine of the Last Things (Part 18): State of the Soul after Death: Jesus’ Argument with the Sadducees
Defenders 3: Doctrine of the Last Things (Part 16): Postmillennialism & Premillennialism
Defenders 3: Doctrine of the Last Things (Part 14): Practical Application of the Second Coming of Christ
Defenders 3: Doctrine of the Last Things (Part 13): Final Thoughts on the Time of the Second Coming
Defenders 3: Doctrine of the Last Things (Part 12): Parables of the Delay of the Parousia
Defenders 3: Doctrine of the Last Things (Part 6): The Preterist Interpretation Continued
Defenders 3: Doctrine of the Last Things (Part 4): The Rapture Interpretation Concluded
Defenders 3: Doctrine of the Last Things (Part 3): The Rapture Interpretation Continued
Defenders 3: Doctrine of the Church (Part 12): Assessment of Competing Views on the Lord’s Supper
Defenders 3: Doctrine of Salvation (Part 21): Assessment of the Competing Views on Persererance
Defenders 3: Doctrine of Salvation (Part 17): The Grounds, Means, and Results of Justification
Defenders 3: Doctrine of Salvation (Part 13): Assessment of Competing Views of Justification
Defenders 3: Doctrine of Salvation (Part 9): Application of Mystical Union to Our Lives
Defenders 3: Doctrine of Salvation (Part 7): The Mystical Union with Christ - Continued
Defenders 3: Doctrine of Salvation (Part 6): The Mystical Union of the Believer with Christ
Defenders 3: Doctrine of Man (Part 23): Original Sin: Semi-Pelagianism, Reformation, Enlightenment, Modern Era
Defenders 3: Doctrine of Man (Part 13): The Question of the Historicity of Adam and Eve
Defenders 3: Doctrine of Man (Part 11): A Challenge to Dualism-Interactionism – The Libet Experiments
Defenders 3: Doctrine of Man (Part 8): Systematizing the Biblical Data Concerning the Nature of Man
Defenders 3: Doctrine of Man (Part 2): Biblical Data Concerning Man as the Image of God
Defenders 3: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 34): Progressive Creationism – Integrating the Scientific Evidence with the Genesis Narrative
Defenders 3: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 33): Inadequacies of the Neo-Darwinian Mechanisms
Defenders 3: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 32): Evidence for the Neo-Darwinian Mechanisms
Defenders 3: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 31): Examining the Thesis of Common Ancestry
Defenders 3: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 30): Three Aspects of the Evolutionary Paradigm
Defenders 3: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 29): Methodological Naturalism
Defenders 3: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 28): Is Genesis 1 in Conflict With the Theory of Evolution?
Defenders 3: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 27): Scientific Evidence Pertinent to the Origin and Evolution of Biological Complexity
Defenders 3: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 26): Paul’s Use of Adam in Romans 5
Defenders 3: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 25): Paul’s Use of Adam in 1 Corinthians 15
Defenders 3: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 24): New Testament Authors’ Use of the Literary Adam
Defenders 3: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 23): Adam in the New Testament
Defenders 3: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 22): The Central Truths Expressed in Genesis 1-11
Defenders 3: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 21): Why Read Genesis 1-3 Figuratively?
Defenders 3: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 20): Why Think Genesis 1-11 is Mytho-History?
Defenders 3: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 19): The Plasticity and Flexibility of ANE Myths
Defenders 3: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 18): Is the Biblical Primeval History To Be Understood as Literally True?
Defenders 3: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 17): The Genre of Mytho-History
Defenders 3: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 16): Genealogies in Genesis 1-11 (continued)
Defenders 3: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 15): Genealogies in Genesis 1-11
Defenders 3: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 14): Etiological Motifs in Genesis 2
Defenders 3: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 13): Did Genesis Borrow From Babylonian Myths?
Defenders 3: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 12): Examining the Supposed Parallels Between Genesis and Egyptian Myths
Defenders 3: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 11): An Assessment of the Monotheistic Hebrew Myth Interpretation
Defenders 3: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 10): The Monotheistic Hebrew Myth Interpretation
Defenders 3: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 9): A Critique of John Walton’s Functional Creation Interpretation, Part 2
Defenders 3: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 8): A Critique of John Walton’s Functional Creation Interpretation
Defenders 3: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 7): The Literary Framework and the Functional Creation Interpretations
Defenders 3: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 6): The Days of Divine Proclamation Interpretation
Defenders 3: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 5): The Day-Age Interpretation
Defenders 3: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 4): The Gap and Day-Gap Interpretations
Defenders 3: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 3): A Critique of the Literal Interpretation
Defenders 3: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 2): The Literal Interpretation
Defenders 3: Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity (Part 1): Hermeneutical Principles and Concordism
Defenders 3: Doctrine of Creation (Part 4): The Notion of “Bringing Something Into Being”