Andy Naselli

Thoughts on Theology

Andy Naselli

What If Your Neighbor Asks You to Call Her a Him? An Interview with a Suburban Christian Dad

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New article:

Naselli, Andrew David. “What If Your Neighbor Asks You to Call Her a Him? An Interview with a Suburban Christian Dad.” American Reformer, 28 August 2023.

From the introduction:

LGBT is a reigning ideology in America right now, and its tentacles are spreading and thickening as they squeeze soul after soul. You might expect this in the bluest parts of the country, but it is also happening in red suburbs and counties. It is happening everywhere.

This is a true story about it happening this summer in a middle-class Minneapolis suburb to some dear friends in my church. To respect the privacy of the people in this story, I’ll use fictitious names and be vague about some details. I’ll tell the story in an interview format with my friend Jonathan.

I end the interview by recommending some helpful resources on transgenderism:

  1. Riccardi, Mike. Male and Female He Created Them: Part 1 and Part 2. Grace Community Church, April 23 and 30, 2023. This is sound teaching on the transgender delusion. Riccardi explains five truths about gender: (1) granted by our Creator, (2) grounded in biology, (3) a gift of God’s loving care, (4) the goodness of the body, and (5) the glory of our distinctiveness.
  2. Butterfield, Rosaria. Five Lies of Our Anti-Christian Age. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2023. Butterfield, a former lesbian activist, shows why LGBTQ+ ideology is incompatible with Christianity. She gives wise and practical advice about how to love family and friends who are captured by this ideology. See also Rosaria Butterfield, “Why I No Longer Use Transgender Pronouns—and Why You Shouldn’t, Either,” Reformation21, 3 April 2023.
  3. Walker, Andrew T. God and the Transgender Debate: What Does the Bible Actually Say about Gender Identity. 2nd ed. Washington, D.C.: The Good Book, 2022. This helpful overview is by the managing editor of WORLD Opinions and a professor of Christian ethics and public theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. See also Andrew T. Walker, “Christians Volunteering Pronouns? Capitulation to Falsehood Is Not Christian Kindness,” American Reformer, 19 August 2022.
  4. Burk, Denny, David Closson, and Colin Smothers. Male and Female He Created Them: A Study on Gender and Sexuality. Fearn, Scotland: Christian Focus, 2023. This 125-page book is an eight-week study for small groups.

Winsomeness Can Be a Virtue or a Vice: Winning Some vs. Pleasing Some

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New article:

Naselli, Andrew David. “Winsomeness Can Be a Virtue or a Vice: Winning Some vs. Pleasing Some.” American Reformer, August 24, 2023.

The article has five headings:

  1. What Could Possibly Be Wrong with Winsomeness?
  2. Tim Keller’s Winsome Third Way
  3. Four Kinds of Winsomeness: A Taxonomy
  4. So How Can Winsomeness Be Sinful?
  5. How Should We Then Be Winsome?

Related:

  1. DeYoung, Kevin. “Why Reformed Evangelicalism Has Splintered: Four Approaches to Race, Politics, and Gender.” The Gospel Coalition, 9 March 2021. I riff on DeYoung’s article in my article above.
  2. “How Empathy Can Be Sinful”
  3. “Ten Resources That Have Helped Me Make Sense of Our Current Culture and How Christians Are Responding to It”
  4. Wood, James R. “How I Evolved on Tim Keller.” First Things, 6 May 2022.
  5. ———. “This Article Is Not about Tim Keller.” American Reformer, 12 May 2022.
  6. ———. “How I Evolved on Tim Keller: A Follow-Up.” First Things, 24 June 2022.
  7. ———. “The Limits of Winsome Politics: Protestants Must Be Willing to Wield Power in Pursuit of the Common Good.” The American Conservative, 21 September 2022.
  8. ———. “Sheep, Wolves, and Fools: On the Perils of a Winsome Ministry.” American Reformer, 4 October 2022.
  9. Dunson, Ben C. “The Winsomeness Wars.” American Reformer, 11 January 2023.
  10. DeYoung, Kevin. “An American Evangelist.” First Things, May 2023.

Are You a Gentle Man? Must We Be Weak to Be Gentle?

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New article:

Naselli, Andrew David. “Are You a Gentle Man? Must We Be Weak to Be Gentle?” American Reformer, August 7, 2023.

This article is an overflow from when I prepared this talk: “The Pastor and His Family: Managing Your Household Well—How a Faithful Father Shepherds His Wife and Children” (a breakout session for Serious Joy: The 35th Bethlehem Conference for Pastors in St. Paul, MN, January 30, 2023).

I condensed the gist of that talk into a short article: “What Does It Mean for a Man to Manage His Household Well?” (Christ Over All, May 2, 2023).

In the Panel Discussion (with Jonathon Woodyard and Jason Wredberg) that followed my talk, I elaborated on gentleness—particularly whether we should always be gentle or whether there may be times when it would be sinful to be gentle (see 9:58 to 14:30 in the panel).

My article on gentleness updates my research:

  • I start with a basic word study on gentleness.
  • I define gentleness as the virtue of humbly and wisely showing tender kindness to someone.
  • I unpack that definition and argue that wisdom is necessary to be gentle because sometimes it is sinful to be gentle.
  • I conclude that men should be both strong and gentle—tough and tender, authoritative and compassionate, brick and velvet.

Update: “What Does It Mean to Be Gentle? Qualifications for a Pastor” (a sermon I preached on August 3, 2025):

Yet Another Attempt to Justify What God Forbids: A Response to Cynthia Lang Westfall, “Male and Female, One in Christ” (on Galatians 3:28)

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The latest issue of Eikon is mostly a chapter-by-chapter review of the third edition of Discovering Biblical Equality.

I contributed an article on Galatians 3:28:

Naselli, Andrew David. “Yet Another Attempt to Justify What God Forbids: A Response to Cynthia Lang Westfall, ‘Male and Female, One in Christ.’” Eikon: A Journal for Biblical Anthropology 5.1 (2023): 32–39.

Here’s my phrase diagram of Galatians 3:26–29:

[Read more…] about Yet Another Attempt to Justify What God Forbids: A Response to Cynthia Lang Westfall, “Male and Female, One in Christ” (on Galatians 3:28)

Seven Reasons I’m Still Grateful for Joe Rigney

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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

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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

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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