Andy Naselli

Thoughts on Theology

Andy Naselli

Seven Reasons I’m Still Grateful for Joe Rigney

by

About a month ago, Joe Rigney resigned as president of Bethlehem College and Seminary. (Next he plans to teach and pastor with our friends in Moscow, Idaho.) Today our school hosted a gathering to honor Joe and Jenny Rigney. Here’s what I said. (I sprinkled in some humor to try to help me refrain from choking up in tears! And below I added a handful of pictures.)

Seven Reasons I’m Still Grateful for Joe Rigney

In September 2020, the trustees of Bethlehem College and Seminary announced that they called Joe Rigney to serve as our school’s second president. On that day I wrote seven reasons I was grateful about that decision. I’d like to revisit those seven reasons and briefly reflect on them two years and eight months later. [Read more…] about Seven Reasons I’m Still Grateful for Joe Rigney

Tracing the Argument of 1 Corinthians: A Phrase Diagram

by

My latest book just released:

Naselli, Andrew David. Tracing the Argument of 1 Corinthians: A Phrase Diagram. Bellingham, WA: Logos, 2023.

Is the Holy Spirit an “It”? 7 Proofs for the Spirit’s Personhood

by

I wrote this short article for Logos:

Naselli, Andrew David. “Is the Holy Spirit an ‘It’? 7 Proofs for the Spirit’s Personhood.” Word by Word, 19 April 2023.

I start by suggesting three reasons that people (even some Christians) refer to the Holy Spirit as an “it.” Then I give seven reasons the Holy Spirit is a person—and thus seven reasons we should refer to the Holy Spirit as he and not it.

  1. The Holy Spirit is one of the three persons of the Trinity.
  2. The Holy Spirit is parallel to other persons.
  3. The Holy Spirit has characteristics of a person.
  4. The Holy Spirit acts in ways that persons act.
  5. The Holy Spirit can be sinned against as a person.
  6. The Holy Spirit is distinct from his power.
  7. The Holy Spirit’s title “Paraclete” is fitting for a person.

Related: Prooftexting the Personality of the Holy Spirit

Women and Head Coverings: Explaining and Applying 1 Corinthians 11:2–16

by

This short article released today:

Naselli, Andrew David. “Women and Head Coverings: Explaining and Applying 1 Corinthians 11:2–16.” Christ Over All, 8 March 2023.

I answer three questions about 1 Corinthians 11:2–16:

  1. How does Paul argue?
  2. What is the historical-cultural context?
  3. How should we apply it today?
    • 1. Dress in culturally appropriate ways when the church gathers to worship.
    • 2. Recognize that God has designed men and women to relate to each other in different ways.
    • 3. Show that God’s design for husbands and wives is beautiful.

Related:

  1. Do Complementarians Consistently Apply How Paul Argues from Creation in 1 Cor 11:8–10 and 1 Tim 2:13–14?
  2. My Concise Commentary on 1 Corinthians

Don’t Women Need Access to Abortion for Rape?

by

I attempt to answer this question in a short article:

“Don’t Women Need Access to Abortion for Rape?” Christ Over All, 13 January 2023.

I present three arguments to consider:

  1. Appealing to rape is often a smokescreen to justify abortion on demand.
  2. What makes a human valuable is that God creates each human in his image.
  3. Murdering an unborn baby is unjust.

Related: “Thank God for the Overturn of Roe v. Wade”

Pornography: A Spiritual Pandemic

by

Pornography was the topic in my ethics class this week. The fourth-year Master of Divinity (M.Div.) students surveyed various approaches to ethics at the beginning of the semester, and since then we’ve been studying and discussing various issues such as abortion, euthanasia, the death penalty, contraception, divorce and remarriage, homosexuality, transgenderism, critical theory, ethnicity, war, genetic engineering, and the state. In our (justified) concern about prevailing ideologies in our culture, such as LGBT and critical theory, pornography can stay under the radar as a silent corrupter.

That’s the opening paragraph to a short essay I prepared for my school’s weekly prayer letter update yesterday (which I’d encourage you to subscribe to).

In the article I share what eleven students thought about one of the required readings for our class period: Joe Rigney’s More Than a Battle: How to Experience Victory, Freedom, and Healing from Lust.

Katie Luther: A Biographical Sketch by Jenni Naselli

by

My wife gave a delightful 27-minute biographical sketch of Martin Luther’s wife, Katie, at the Godward Life Conference a month ago:

This was part of a session titled “Womanhood: Lost and Found.”