Love of Truth

Michael Grasso
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Love of Truth is dedicated to biblical theology, careful exegesis, and thoughtful engagement with the most pressing theological, cultural, and ecclesiastical questions of our time. This podcast is rooted in historic, confessional Christianity and seeks to: Exposit Scripture with seriousness and depth Defend the coherence and unity of the Bible, especially the Old Testament’s witness to Christ Address doctrinal error, cultural confusion, and rival truth claims with charity and precision Equip Christians to love God with both heart and mind

  1. Feb 18

    Is Isaiah 53 About Jesus? Responding to Rabbi Tovia Singer

    Does Isaiah 53 describe Israel—or does it describe the Messiah who suffers for Israel? In this video, I respond directly to claims made by Tovia Singer, focusing especially on a key concession that ultimately undermines his own interpretation.Singer openly acknowledges that the Messiah is the servant in Isaiah 52:13–15. That admission is crucial. He argues that the nations (“the goiim”) were mistaken in thinking the Messiah would be lowly, since he is in fact exalted. But this is not what the text actually says. Isaiah deliberately juxtaposes exaltation and humiliation. The astonishment of the nations is not that the Messiah is lowly instead of exalted, but that the one who is high and lifted up would willingly become lowly and suffer.This matters because Singer’s own admission—that the servant in Isaiah 52:13 is the Messiah—creates a continuity problem for his reading of Isaiah 53. The passage does not signal a change in the identity of the servant. In fact, Isaiah 52:13–15 and 53:1–12 describe the servant in strikingly parallel terms: righteous, exalted, rejected, afflicted, and ultimately vindicated. If the servant in the first section is the Messiah, then the servant in the second must be as well.Singer’s attempt to identify the servant in Isaiah 53 as corporate Israel therefore collapses under the weight of the text itself. It requires not only an unmarked shift in speakers at Isaiah 53:1, but also an unmarked shift in the identity of the servant—despite the literary and theological continuity of the passage.The broader context of Isaiah confirms this reading. While Israel is sometimes called God’s servant, the book repeatedly distinguishes between sinful Israel and a righteous servant who saves Israel. In Isaiah 42, the servant who opens blind eyes is explicitly contrasted with Israel, who is described as blind. In Isaiah 49, the servant is called “Israel” and yet is raised up to restore Israel and bring salvation to the nations. This is corporate solidarity: a single representative bears the name of the people and accomplishes their redemption.Isaiah 53 stands at the climax of this pattern. The servant is righteous, suffers vicariously, bears the sins of his people, dies an atoning death, and yet has his days prolonged—language that unmistakably points to death followed by resurrection and continuing intercession.This is not later Christian invention. It is Isaiah’s own message. And it is fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the righteous servant who suffered for sinners and now lives to intercede for them.#Isaiah53 #SufferingServant #Messiah #ChristInTheOldTestament #BiblicalTheology #Apologetics #HebrewBible #JesusChrist

    11 min

  2. Feb 14

    Is Deuteronomy 18 about Christ? Responding to Rabbi Tovia Singer

    Does Deuteronomy 18 really exclude Jesus as the Prophet like Moses? In this video, I respond to arguments made by Tovia Singer, who maintains that Joshua is the complete fulfillment of Moses’ prophecy and that no future messianic expectation remains.I begin with an important concession: Joshua is indeed a genuine fulfillment of Deuteronomy 18. Singer is right to highlight the strong textual connections between Joshua and Moses, and the Hebrew Bible itself explicitly presents Joshua as “like Moses” in significant ways. Where the argument breaks down, however, is in treating Joshua as the final fulfillment even from the perspective of the Hebrew Bible itself.The same text that affirms Joshua’s likeness to Moses also explicitly denies that he is the ultimate Prophet like Moses. Deuteronomy 34:10–12—written after Joshua’s death—declares that no prophet had yet arisen like Moses, one who knew the LORD face to face, performed unparalleled signs and wonders, and accomplished a definitive salvation. These criteria go far beyond leadership succession or Spirit-anointing, and by them Joshua clearly falls short.The Hebrew Bible itself confirms this by presenting later figures who also take up the “Moses pattern.” Elijah’s ministry intentionally mirrors Moses: wilderness provision, confrontation with false gods, theophany at Sinai, miraculous signs, and even the parting of waters. His successor Elisha intensifies this pattern further, performing greater signs and proclaiming a ministry marked not only by judgment but by grace and restoration. Yet even these prophet-like-Moses figures fail to bring lasting redemption—the kingdoms still fall, exile still comes, and Israel still waits.That expectation comes into sharp focus at the close of the Hebrew canon. Malachi promises a future Elijah who will come before the day of the LORD. If Elijah himself is a new Moses, then his future role as forerunner points forward to the final and ultimate Prophet like Moses—the Messiah.That Messiah is Jesus Christ. He alone knows God face to face, performs signs and wonders surpassing those of Moses and Elisha, accomplishes a true and final exodus from sin and death, and brings his people into the everlasting Promised Land of rest and peace—something neither Moses nor Joshua could ultimately do.Deuteronomy 18 does not undermine the Christian claim about Jesus. Read in its full biblical context, it demands him.#Deuteronomy18 #ProphetLikeMoses #JesusChrist #Messiah #BiblicalTheology #ChristInTheOldTestament #Apologetics #HebrewBible

    13 min

  3. Feb 11

    Is Isaiah 53 about Israel?... Or the Messiah? Response to Dan McClellan

    Does Isaiah 53 describe corporate Israel—or does it prophesy a suffering, atoning Messiah? In this video, I respond directly to claims made by Dan McClellan, particularly the assertion that the Christian reading of Isaiah 53 arose only after Jesus’ death and resurrection.I begin by identifying a central problem with this approach: it relies almost entirely on speculation. We are told that the disciples probably expected political deliverance, probably did not anticipate a dying and rising Messiah, and probably reinterpreted Isaiah 53 only once their hopes were dashed. Yet no evidence is offered for this reconstruction, nor is there any engagement with the strong messianic expectations already present in the Hebrew Bible prior to AD 40.From there, I turn to the main interpretive claim—that Isaiah 53 must refer to corporate Israel. While it is true that Isaiah 40–55 frequently speaks of Israel as God’s servant, it is demonstrably false that every reference to the servant in this section refers to the nation. In Isaiah 42, the servant who opens blind eyes is explicitly contrasted with Israel, who is described as blind. The singular servant saves the corporate servant.The same pattern appears in Isaiah 49, where the servant is called “Israel” and yet is raised up to restore Israel and bring salvation to the nations. This is corporate solidarity: a single representative bears the name of the people and accomplishes their redemption. The servant is distinguished from the nation precisely because he stands for them.Isaiah 53 continues this same trajectory. The servant is righteous, suffers vicariously, and brings justification to others—descriptions that do not fit the nation but do fit an individual savior. This reading coheres not only with Isaiah’s immediate context but with the broader biblical pattern of a suffering Messiah: from Genesis 3:15, to Joseph, to Moses, to David, to the persecuted prophets of Israel.Isaiah 53 does not invent a new idea. It brings this long-developing pattern to its theological climax by teaching that the Messiah’s suffering is substitutionary and atoning—fulfilled definitively in the death of Jesus Christ.#Isaiah53 #SufferingServant #Messiah #BiblicalTheology #ChristInTheOldTestament #Apologetics #HebrewBible #JesusChrist

    13 min

  4. Feb 6

    Does Isaiah 9:6 say that the Messiah is God?

    Does Isaiah 9:6 really call the Messiah “Mighty God,” or is that reading imposed by later theology? In this video, I respond to claims popularized by Dan McClellan that rely heavily on Ancient Near Eastern royal parallels to reinterpret the text.I begin by questioning the assumption that ANE conventions—especially Egyptian models of kingship—are the controlling key for interpreting the prophecy. Why should Israel, and Isaiah in particular, be bound to those categories? And even if such parallels are granted, they actually strengthen rather than weaken the claim: ANE kings were often deified, which aligns naturally with a divine Messiah.From there, I offer a constructive reading grounded in Isaiah’s own literary and theological context. The title “Mighty God” appears again in Isaiah 10, where it unquestionably refers to Yahweh himself. The surrounding context is judgment and restoration, and the promised king’s reign is explicitly said to last forever—language that builds directly on the Davidic Covenant’s promise of an eternal throne.Isaiah’s prophetic naming is not merely symbolic or aspirational. Throughout Scripture, when God names someone—Abraham, Israel, Immanuel—those names reveal something essential about God’s redemptive work. Isaiah 9:6 functions the same way: it communicates the very nature of the coming King.Finally, I trace the inner-canonical connections between Isaiah 7:14, 8:8, 9:6–7, and 11:1–16. Together, they present a coherent portrait of the Messiah as the divine Son of David whose just reign inaugurates a new creation and brings everlasting peace.The conclusion is clear: the best reading of Isaiah 9:6 is not that the Messiah merely represents God, but that he truly is God—and precisely because of this, his reign will never end.#Isaiah96 #MightyGod #Messiah #ChristInTheOldTestament #BiblicalTheology #DavidicCovenant #Apologetics #OldTestament #JesusIsGod

    11 min

  5. Feb 2

    Does 2 Thessalonians 2:15 Refute Sola Scriptura?

    Does Paul’s command to “hold fast to the traditions” in 2 Thessalonians 2:15 prove that binding Christian doctrine can exist outside of Scripture?In this video, I examine the appeal to apostolic oral tradition and the assumption that the Church today possesses authoritative teachings handed down orally from the apostles. I argue that this assumption collapses once we ask a simple but unavoidable question: how would we know that a specific doctrine not found in Scripture actually goes back to the apostles?Christians do not deny that the apostles taught orally or that their teaching was authoritative. The issue is access. We no longer hear the apostles speak. What we do have is the inspired, written record of their teaching—the New Testament. Scripture is therefore not a rejection of apostolic authority, but the only surviving form of it.When doctrines such as image veneration, purgatory, indulgences, prayers to saints, or papal infallibility are defended on the basis of alleged oral tradition—despite contradicting the apostles’ written teaching—they become historically unverifiable and immune to correction. At that point, authority no longer rests on apostolic teaching, but on ecclesiastical assertion.Some respond by claiming that God guarantees the truth of the Church, appealing to texts like 1 Timothy 3:15. But the New Testament repeatedly warns that false teachers will arise within the Church itself, claiming authority while teaching what contradicts the apostles. If appeals to unverifiable oral tradition are allowed to override Scripture, there is no way to identify or correct such false teaching.In this video, I argue that Scripture alone provides the necessary and God-given standard by which apostolic teaching is preserved, tested, and safeguarded. Sola Scriptura is not a denial of tradition—it is the only protection against false tradition.#SolaScriptura #ApostolicTradition #2Thessalonians215 #BibleAuthority #ChurchAuthority #Catholicism #EasternOrthodoxy #ChristianApologetics #ReformedTheology

    8 min

  6. Jan 30

    Did the Church Create the Bible?

    How do we know which books belong in the Bible?Did the early Church create the canon—or did it simply recognize what was already Scripture?In this video, I address the common claim that Christians cannot know which books belong in the Bible without the authority of the Church. I argue instead that Scripture itself gives us the boundaries, categories, and criteria for the canon—and that the Church’s role was never to grant authority, but to receive it.I begin with the Old Testament, where Jesus refers to Scripture as “Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms”—the well-known threefold division of the Hebrew Bible. Even the book of Sirach presupposes this fixed corpus while excluding itself from it. The New Testament era did not inherit an undefined Old Testament.I then turn to the New Testament. While Scripture does not provide a formal table of contents, it clearly teaches that apostolic writings are the Word of God and must be received as such. Paul speaks of his own preaching and letters as the Word of God, Peter explicitly refers to Paul’s letters as “Scripture,” and the Church is said to be built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets—not the other way around.Finally, I show that this is exactly how the earliest Christians understood the canon. In 1 Clement, Old Testament Scripture, the words of Christ, Paul’s letters, and even Hebrews are all treated as equally authoritative—without appeal to a council or later ecclesiastical decree.If the Church determines the canon rather than recognizing it, then Scripture is no longer inherently the Word of God. But if Scripture is God’s Word by nature, then the Church stands under it—not above it. That is the biblical and historical picture of the canon.#BibleCanon #SolaScriptura #AuthorityOfScripture #EarlyChurch #ChurchHistory #NewTestament #OldTestament #ChristianApologetics #ReformedTheology

    10 min

  7. Jan 28

    Is Sola Scriptura Unbiblical?

    Does the Bible actually teach sola Scriptura, or is this a later Protestant invention?In this video, I examine Jesus’ confrontation with the Pharisees in Matthew 15 and Mark 7, where the issue is not whether tradition exists, but whether tradition may function as a parallel authority that overrides the Word of God. When the Pharisees challenge Jesus for not keeping the “tradition of the elders,” Jesus responds by exposing a deeper problem: traditions that nullify God’s commandments while being taught as binding doctrine.Jesus’ rebuke is not against custom as such, but against elevating human tradition to doctrinal authority in a way that undermines Scripture. This raises an unavoidable question for today: is this not the same authority structure claimed in modern Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox appeals to apostolic oral tradition?In this video, I show:Why the Pharisaic claim to Mosaic oral tradition is structurally identical to modern claims of apostolic oral traditionWhy there is no demonstrable way to show that specific post-apostolic dogmas actually go back to Moses or the apostlesHow traditions functioning as parallel authorities inevitably undermine Scripture in practiceWhy Jesus’ words in Matthew 15 directly challenge the authority model used today in Roman Catholicism and Eastern OrthodoxyAs a concrete example, I examine the veneration of images—its absence from Scripture, its condemnation in the early church, and its later dogmatic enforcement—showing how tradition can directly contradict the clear teaching of God’s Word.Far from denying history or the apostles’ teaching, sola Scriptura arises from Scripture itself as the necessary safeguard against false tradition. As Isaiah declares: “To the teaching and to the testimony!” (Isaiah 8:19–20).#SolaScriptura #BibleAuthority #Matthew15 #Mark7 #ChristianApologetics #Catholicism #EasternOrthodoxy #TraditionVsScripture #ReformedTheology

    7 min

  8. Jan 26

    Does Exodus 21 Deny Fetal Personhood?

    Does the Bible grant full personhood to the unborn? Some modern scholars argue that it does not—and that even key legal texts in the Old Testament fail to protect unborn life. In this video, I examine that claim by engaging directly with Exodus 21:22–25, one of the most frequently cited passages in the debate.Responding to arguments made by Dan McClellan, I walk through the text carefully and show that the common critical reading depends on grammatical and contextual mistakes. The passage does not describe a miscarriage followed by harm to the mother. Rather, it contrasts two outcomes related to the child: premature birth without harm, and injury or death to the child—each with corresponding penalties.I explain why the grammar of the Hebrew text requires this reading, why the Septuagint (LXX) confirms it, and why appeals to Ancient Near Eastern law codes fail to override the Bible’s own self-understanding as divinely revealed and morally distinct. Special attention is given to the first appearance of lex talionis (“eye for eye, tooth for tooth”) in Scripture—and why its initial use is so theologically significant.When read correctly, Exodus 21:22–25 teaches that unborn children possess full legal and moral personhood under God’s law. The implications are unavoidable: the taking of unborn life is a violation of the sixth commandment. The final question, then, is not merely exegetical but moral and spiritual—how will we respond to what Scripture clearly teaches?#Exodus2122 #BiblicalEthics #ProLife #AbortionDebate #OldTestamentLaw #BiblicalTheology #LexTalionis #UnbornLife #ChristianApologetics

    14 min
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About

Love of Truth is dedicated to biblical theology, careful exegesis, and thoughtful engagement with the most pressing theological, cultural, and ecclesiastical questions of our time. This podcast is rooted in historic, confessional Christianity and seeks to: Exposit Scripture with seriousness and depth Defend the coherence and unity of the Bible, especially the Old Testament’s witness to Christ Address doctrinal error, cultural confusion, and rival truth claims with charity and precision Equip Christians to love God with both heart and mind

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  • Creator
    Michael Grasso
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    20
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    © Michael Grasso
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