Theological Library
A free online library of biblical, theological, philosophical, and historical studies by Matthew Friend, Th.D.
The Matthew Friend Library brings together full-length studies of the questions that shape Christian conviction and Christian life: the character of God, the meaning of the cross, the nature and destiny of human persons, the authority and formation of Scripture, and the great debates surrounding judgment, salvation, death, resurrection, and the Incarnation. These volumes are written for thoughtful pastors, students, teachers, and lay readers who want more than a brief answer, but who also want an argument that remains readable, organized, and anchored in the biblical text.
Each book approaches its subject as a cumulative case. Scripture stands at the center, read carefully in literary and historical context; the church’s creeds, councils, and major theological traditions are treated as serious interlocutors; and philosophical, historical, and evidential questions are addressed where they bear on the doctrine under discussion. The aim is not to ask readers to accept a conclusion by assertion, but to let them examine the texts, arguments, objections, and sources that lead to it.
The library includes studies of hell and final judgment, conditional immortality and universal restoration, postmortem salvation and the intermediate state, near-death experiences and the soul, penal and substitutionary atonement, the Septuagint and deuterocanonical books, divine temporality and divine emotion, and the full human nature of Christ. Some volumes defend positions that are contested among serious Christians; where that is so, they seek to state opposing views fairly before offering a critique.
All books are free to read online in their own folders. Several titles offer two editions: the solid button opens the regular edition, designed as the normal starting place for most readers, while an outline button opens a more extensive edition for readers who want a fuller and more detailed treatment. Choose a subject area below, then open the volume that best matches the question you are exploring.
I hope you enjoy these books.I also have books on specific topics at our sister sites: https://ndebible.com, https://graceafterdeath.com/ and https://dakebible.org.
If you have any question feel free to email.
Matthew Friend, Th.D.
Hell and Final Judgment
The Nature of Hell: God’s Presence, Judgment, and Restoration
This book argues that hell is not separation from God but the painful experience of God’s inescapable, holy love by those who resist him. It compares major views of hell and explores whether the final outcome is destruction or eventual restoration.
Conditional Immortality and the Final Fate of the Unsaved
This book makes the case that conditional immortality gives a better answer than universalism to the final fate of the unsaved. It treats universalist arguments seriously while arguing that destruction language and final judgment are better read through a CI framework.
Why Biblical Universalism Answers Conditional Immortality
This book argues that biblical universalism answers key problems that conditional immortality leaves unresolved. It is written for readers who already reject eternal conscious torment and want a strong, positive case for universal restoration.
The Case for Biblical Universalism and the Restoration of All Things
This book gives a full, positive defense of conservative biblical universalism as the most coherent and biblically faithful account of God’s purposes for humanity. Rather than only rebutting rival views, it builds a cumulative case for the restoration of all things.
Answering The Devil’s Redemption: A Defense of Universal Restoration
This book is a chapter-by-chapter response to Michael McClymond’s The Devil’s Redemption from a conservative universalist perspective. It answers his historical and theological criticisms while also building a positive case for universal restoration.
Afterlife and Human Nature
Postmortem Salvation and the Hope Beyond Death
This book argues that God continues to offer a genuine opportunity for salvation after death and that the last chance to receive Christ may occur at or during final judgment. It combines biblical exegesis, theology, patristic evidence, and afterlife discussion to defend that claim.
Near-Death Experiences, the Soul, and Consciousness Beyond the Brain
This book answers skeptical critiques of near-death experiences and argues that veridical NDEs support substance dualism and consciousness beyond the brain. It combines empirical evidence, philosophical argument, and Christian theological reflection.
Substance Dualism, the Soul, and the Problem with Physicalism
This book argues that conditional immortality does not require physicalism and is stronger when joined to substance dualism. It responds directly to Edward Fudge’s anthropology while defending a conscious intermediate state.
Atonement Theology
Penal Atonement: Christ Bearing Sin Without Dividing the Trinity
This book makes a detailed case for penal atonement while rejecting harsh caricatures that divide the Father and the Son. It treats Scripture, theology, and major objections in a way meant to stay readable for lay readers.
Substitutionary Atonement at the Center of the Cross
This book presents substitutionary atonement as the central facet of the cross while also integrating Christus Victor, satisfaction, recapitulation, and related models. It argues that the Trinity acted in unified love at Calvary and that the atonement has universal scope.
Biblical Studies, Doctrine of God, and Christology
New full-length studies in biblical canon, the doctrine of God, and Christology. Each volume is free to read online.
The Bible That Built the Church
The Case for the Septuagint and the Deuterocanonical Books
A 36-chapter study of the Septuagint, the deuterocanonical books, the Masoretic Text, and the biblical canon.
The God Beyond the Clock
A Biblical and Theological Case for Dynamic Divine Temporality
A 36-chapter case that God genuinely experiences sequence while transcending creaturely clock-time, engaging Scripture, philosophy, and theology.
The Heart of God
Does God Feel? A Biblical and Theological Case for the Emotional Life of God
A 35-chapter study of divine impassibility, passibility, Scripture, church history, and a mediating account of God’s emotional life.
The Word Made Flesh
The Incarnation, the Human Soul, and the Case Against Physicalist Christology
A scholarly Christological case for substance dualism: orthodox doctrine requires Christ to possess a complete human nature, body and soul.
