The Protestant Libertarian Podcast

In this episode I offer an introduction to the doctrine of sanctification. I explore how the language of sanctification is related to holiness-language, and that ‘holiness’ primarily denotes a state of being set apart for a particular purpose and is the Greek behind the NASB’s ‘saints’. I explore how holiness is related to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament by exploring Ephesians 1, then demonstrate that the Spirit was promised in the Old Testament in passages like Ezekiel 36 and Joel 2 (tracing their lineage back to Deuteronomy 30 and complimented by Jeremiah 31) which prophecy that in the eschatological era God will establish a faithful people by giving them the Holy Spirit, a promise which is fulfilled at Pentecost in Acts 2. We then explore how sanctification works in two Pauline passages, Romans 6:19-22 (and by extension Romans 8) and 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8, both of which use the language of sanctification as it relates to the presences of God’s Spirit and the obedient moral transformation it effects. Sanctification is, then, the process of becoming in practice what God has declared His people to be at their justification, namely, holy. If we are holy, we cast off sin and cultivate obedience through the power of the Spirit, living into our holy identity, which is the process of sanctification. Sanctification is a life-long process which God will complete for us in the resurrection and allows us to overcome the degenerative power of sin and death in the present. 
 
Media Referenced:
Overcoming Sin Through the Spirit: https://libertarianchristians.com/episode/ep-267-overcoming-sin-through-the-spirit/
 
Ephesians 1: https://libertarianchristians.com/episode/ep-248-far-above-all-rule-and-authority-ephesians-115-23/
 
The Active and Passive Wrath of God: https://libertarianchristians.com/episode/ep-270-the-active-and-passive-wrath-of-god-romans-1-and-6/
 
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 theprotestantlibertarian@gmail.com.  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 with Dr. John J. Collins, Holmes Professor of Old Testament Criticism and Interpretation Emeritus at Yale University and the world’s leading scholar of apocalypticism and apocalyptic literature, about his brand-new book Apocalypticism as a Worldview in Ancient Judaism, out June 25, 2026 on Eerdmans. Dr. Collins discusses his career and life-long interest in apocalypticism and his role in formulating the standard definition of apocalyptic literature. He explains how ‘apocalyptic’ should only be used as an adjective and why the noun ‘apocalypticism’, denoting a worldview of related concepts, is more appropriate. When then discuss how apocalypticism works in ancient Judaism and its primary characteristics, including a view of history which offers a hope beyond ‘the end’, the use of myths and symbolism to communicate apocalyptic ideas, the cosmic scope of apocalypticism which includes a spiritual realm inhabited by spiritual beings which are sometimes at war with humanity, and the social and political crises which generate apocalypticism. We also discuss the relationship between millenarianism and apocalypticism, why early Christians transmitted apocalyptic literature, how apocalypticism manifests itself in modernity, and the impact of apocalypticism on Christian theology in today. 
  
Media Referenced:
Apocalypticism as a Worldview in Ancient Judaism: https://www.eerdmans.com/9780802885005/apocalypticism-as-a-worldview-in-ancient-judaism/
 
John J. Collins Amazon Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B00AZMCO66?ccs_id=f0f3d77f-61af-4a1c-b058-3eb29998dc25
 
Wikipedia Page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_J._Collins
 
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 theprotestantlibertarian@gmail.com.  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 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 theprotestantlibertarian@gmail.com.  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 theprotestantlibertarian@gmail.com.  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 theprotestantlibertarian@gmail.com.  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!