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Category Archives: Pneumatology

Framing the Issue of the Spirit’s Indwelling and the Old Testament

23 Thursday Apr 2020

Posted by memoirandremains in Pneumatology, Theology, Uncategorized

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Pneumatology

Often we misunderstand a topic because we consider the issue in fundamentally the wrong way. Having taken up the question at the wrong end, the actual solution becomes invisible.

One such issue is the matter of the indwelling of the Spirit how that relates to OT believers. I Dr. Abner Chou’s paper at the November 2018 meeting of the ETS entitled, “Revisiting the Spirit’s Indwelling of OT Saints: Ezekiel’s Contribution to the Issue” provides a good example of how recasting the issue can provide a “way forward” to resolve a long-standing quandary.

The essay begins with a survey of the various potential ways to address the issue, ranging from total continuity, through varying degrees of discontinuity. But in this discussion, the underlying issue for the commentators seems to concern the question of regeneration: “At least in recent history, people cannot speak of the indwelling without speaking of regeneration.”

The issue has been how do we talk about the salvation or sanctification of OT saints if they were not indwelt by the Spirit? And I must admit as thought of the topic, without any particular study of the issue, I began the with the question of how salvation or sanctification took place without indwelling of the Spirit.

This leads to a primary element in Chou’s argument, “such a presupposed link is not necessarily required.”

As he rehearses the various positions, it becomes clear that the primary issue among those who have been discussing the issue is how salvation and sanctification took place before the coming of  the Spirit promised in John 14: Perhaps the OT saints were indwelt, but were merely not indwelt to the same extent as NT saints. Or the Spirits work was done by the Spirit presence’s in the Temple.

The discussion thus leads to an impass. The Scripture supports non-indwelling, but theology requires indwelling (or no one was saved before Christ).

Chou puts the problem at the level of definition: The discussion of indwelling has presumed that indwelling is necessary for salvation, therefore, we must nuance the concept of “indwelling”. The emphasis has thus been upon the results of indwelling rather than the nature of indwelling.

In effect, the issue has been grabbed from the wrong end.

Rather than beginning with the presupposition that indwelling effects salvation, Chou begins with what the Scripture says about indwelling. The issue of indwelling, or the Spirit is discussed in the OT but in terms of the Spirit filling the Temple. Thus, to understand the issue, we must the Temple: The Temple is indwelt with the Spirit: For instance, the Temple is “filled” with the glory of God.

The NT believers have taken over as the Temple, and thus believers are filled with the Spirit in the exhibition of the Glory of God.

The article is 29 pages of single space 12-point text, so plainly there is a great more to be found. The Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society is available online

 

 

The Greatest and Finest Product of Human History

02 Tuesday May 2017

Posted by memoirandremains in Ecclesiology, P. T. Forsyth, P.T. Forsyth, Pneumatology, Uncategorized

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Ecclesiology, Holy Spirit, P.T. Forsyth, The Work of Christ

My contention would be that, apart from such a position as I desire to bring to your notice—some real apostolic belief in the real work of Jesus Christ—apart from that no Church can continue to exist. That is the point of view which I take at the outset. The Church is precious, not in itself, but because of God’s purpose with it. It is there because of what God has done for it. It is there, more particularly, because of what Christ has done, and done in history. It is there solely to serve the Gospel

It is impossible not to observe at the present day that the Church is under a cloud. You cannot take any division of it, in any country of the world, without feeling that that is so. Therefore I will begin by making quite a bold statement; and I should be quite prepared, given time and opportunity, to devote a whole week to making it good. The statement is that the Church of Christ is the greatest and finest product of human history. It is the greatest thing in the universe. That is in complete defiance of the general view and tendency of society at the present moment. I say the Church is the greatest and finest product of human history; because it is not really a product of human history, but the product of the Holy Spirit within history. It stands for the new creation, the New Humanity, and it has that in trust.

 

P.T. Forsyth, The Work of Christ.

Orthodox Paradoxes: The Spirit

23 Tuesday Feb 2016

Posted by memoirandremains in Pneumatology, Theology, Uncategorized

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Holy Spirit, Orthodox Paradoxes, Pneumatalogy, Ralph Venning

Section 4 of Ralph Venning’s Orthodox Paradoxes:

IV Concerning God the Spirit

35. He believes the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son; and yet he believes the Spirit to be the same being with the Father and the sone.
36. He believes that God has no corporeal members, and yet he believes that the spirit in the finger of God.
37. He believes that the Father sent forth the Son, and that the Son set forth the Spirit; and yet he believes they were never separated one from the other.

Doctrine of the Church 4: The Church is Empowered by the Spirit

13 Monday Jul 2015

Posted by memoirandremains in Ecclesiology, Lectures, Pneumatology

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Doctrine of the Church, Ecclesiology, Lecture, Lectures, Pneumatology

The Holy Spirit uses the power of the Word of God to make, development and sustain the Church. It is not programs, schemes, gimmicks, or personal charisma which creates the Church. Now, one can gather people in one place and can do churchy things without the Spirit; but only the Spirit can do the real work of the Church.

The lecture notes may be found here: Lesson 4 The Church is Empowered by the Spirit

https://memoirandremains.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/20131013.mp3

The Spiritual Chymist, Meditation 13

19 Friday Jun 2015

Posted by memoirandremains in Meditaiton, Pneumatology

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Dew, Holy Spirit, The Spiritual Chymist, William Spurstowe

(These meditations were written by William Spurstowe. To the best of my knowledge, they have remained unpublished since 1666.)

Upon Morning Dew

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The meditation of this subject is no less facile than delightful, like Jacob’s venison, it is soon come by, because God has brought it to my hand having often in his Word resembled dew (which makes the earth fruitful), to his Grace, that makes the hearts of men, naturally barren, to bring forth fruits of righteousness, so that it is not difficult task for to draw a useful parallel between the one and the other in sundry respects.

The dew if of a heavenly original, the nativity thereof is from the womb of the morning, it tarries not for man, not waits for the sons of men. And is it not thus in the grace of conversion? Is not that wholly from above, without any preparations, congruities, concurrencies, that do or can arise from the flesh? We are made active by grace, but we are not at all agents in fitting ourselves to grace. As no man ca be antecedently active to his first birth; so neither can he be to his second birth. Of God’s own will we are begotten by the Word of Truth.

The dew also in its descent and fall is silent and imperceptible, it flies every sense of which it may seem to be a proper object. It is so subtle as that the sharpest eye, as that the sharpest eye cannot see it; so silent, as that the quickest ear cannot hear it; and so thin, as that the naked hand cannot feel it. When it is come, it is visible: but how it comes, who can tell?

After such a secret manner oft times are the illapses [movements, descents; it was the word which the Puritans often used to describe the work of the Holy Spirit] of the Spirit, and the operations of his grace upon his heart; his teachings, his tractions, his callings, are all efficacious to draw, to persuade, yet the way is hidden, and the soul, ere ever it is aware, is made like chariots of Aminadab [Song of Songs 6:12, KJV].
The dew again, as Naturalists observe, is most abounding in calm and serene seasons, when the heaves are least disturbed with winds and storms; it is a moisture drawn up the sun in the day and then falling by small innumerable drops in the night. And is it not thus in the grace of God? Are not those hearts refreshed most with it, that are least disquieted with earthy cares and tossed to and fro with anxieties? Are not such, like Gideon’s fleece, plentifully wet with evidence of God’s love, when others, like the ground about it, are wholly dry?

Lastly, the dew is of a growing and reviving nature, which brings a life and verdue to the fields, vineyards, gardens, flowers, which the cold would chill or the heat would scorch. Therefore, when God promised to Israel the beauty of the Lilly, the stability of the cedar, the fruitfulness of the olive, to effect all this he says, “He will be as dew.”

And what ground can but bring forth when he who is the Father of Rain, and begets the drops of the dew, shall himself descend upon it in the bounty and goodness? Who can but love him with a love of duty, whom he shall thus tender with a love of mercy? Who can but love him with a love concupiscence [here, extremely strong desire, not a mere sexual desire], as being more desirous of new influences, than satisfied with former receipts, whom he so freely loves with a love of benefice?

O Lord,
My Soul thirsteth for thee as the gaping and chapped earth doth for the moisture of thy heavens;
I am nothing,
I can do nothing without thee;
My first fruits
My growth,
My life
Depend wholly upon the droppings of thy grace
When thy dew leith all night upon my branch
My glory is fresh in me
And my whole man is as the smell of a field with the Lord hath blessed.
Be not therefore unto me
O my God
As a cloud without rain
Lest I be as a tree without fruit.
But let thy grace always distill upon me as the dew
And as the small rain upon the tender herb
And then shall I be as the ground which drinketh in the showers that come oft upon it
And bringeth forth fruit meet for him by whom it is dressed
And receive also new blessing from God.

Shepherds Conference 2015, Sinclair Ferguson, “The Holy Spirit and Inerrancy”

07 Saturday Mar 2015

Posted by memoirandremains in Bibliology, Christology, John, Pneumatology

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Bibliology, Gospel of John, Holy Spirit, John, Pneumatology, Shepherds Conference 2015, Sinclair Ferguson, Trinity

Sinclair Ferguson
The Holy Spirit & Inerrancy

John 14:15–17 (ESV)

15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

(The Spirit who had dwelt in and on Jesus would come to the believers at Pentecost. There is no other Spirit who indwells the believer.)

John 14:15–31 (ESV)

15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.
25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. 28 You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. 30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, 31 but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.

 

John 15:26–27 (ESV)

26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. 27 And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.

John 16:12–15 (ESV)

12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

John 17:8 (ESV)

8 For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.

John 20:30–31 (ESV)

30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

The Scriptures Come to Us as a Gift of the Holy Trinity:

When our fathers spoke about the Trinity, they noted two basic truths of the Trinity’s communication to human beings & creation. When God does something all three persons of the Trinity are operative: such as in incarnation, the sending of the Spirit. The external works of the Trinity are indivisible.

Doctrine of the Appropriations: Each person of the Trinity engages in work in a unique way. Only the Son died; only the Father can be praised for sending him.

[[opera ad extra (Lat., works to the outside) Also, notae externae. Activities and effects by which the Trinity is manifested outwardly. They include creation, preservation, and government of the universe as a function of the Father; redemption as a function of the Son; and inspiration, regeneration, and sanctification as a function of the Holy Spirit.
opera ad intra (Lat., works to the inside) Also, notae internae. Immanent and intransitive activities of the Trinity or actions which the three persons of the Trinity exercise toward one another, such as the eternal generation of the Son and the Procession of the Holy Spirit. — Nelson’s Dictionary]]
The same principles apply to the creation of the Scripture.

The Appointment of the Apostles:

These men were called to be eyewitnesses to the acts of Jesus. They in particular received the Holy Spirit to become the prophets, the spokesmen of Jesus for the New Age: New Age, new prophets (the apostles).

Three Aspects of How Jesus Sends the Spirit to the Apostles; particularly in relations to their writing Scriptures.

First: The sending of the Spirit to the Apostles is for the purpose to give the Word to the Church. John 13 through the end is sometimes called the book of glory (as opposed to the book of signs). Calvin: the other gospels show us Christ’s body; John shows us Christ’s soul.

Judas has gone out into the night; Jesus can now bare his soul to those whom he will not lose.

Jesus tells the Apostles that he is sending the Spirit so that they can give the word of truth to the church. The Son will ask the Father to send the Spirit.

As Peter alludes in his sermon, Pentecost is the evidence of a hidden event of God: What they see is the Son asking the Father, who gives the nations to the Son, sending the Spirit.

When the Spirit comes he will take what the Father has given to the Son.

This passage in John shows not merely salvation but also bibliology.

Stage One: Jesus is giving them the Spirit to empower them to be his spokesmen. The Spirit will come to empower the apostles to his disciples.

Notice the Amen statement: 13:16 & 20,
John 13:20 (ESV)

20 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”

This is the pattern of a prophet: When Moses speaks, it is God who speaks. When Aaron speaks, it is Moses spokes.

Sheliam: (sending) was as the man himself.

This is seen in the story of those [the man] who went to Jesus for the Centurion’s servant. A man who spoke as sent for another spoke as the man himself — thus, that man himself spoke. Analogy: power of attorney.

The Apostles have the power of attorney (so to speak).

That is why we are not embarrassed at
John 20:23 (ESV)

23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”

We see this in how Jesus relates to the Father: Jesus is sent as the representative of the Father. The Spirit is another parakelet, of the same sort as Jesus.

Stage Two: The Spirit comes to the apostles to give the New Testament to the Church.

John 14:26,

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

16:13, while he the Spirit not speak on his own authority? He is God. The pattern of sending.

16:12

“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
Jesus is going to speak to the apostles later through the Spirit.

Jesus is not speaking to us or about us at this time, because we were not there.

The Spirit is going to come and he is going to breathe out Scripture through you (not me).

There is an economic unity with the Spirit and the Son as to Scripture.

There are many things you still need to learn. My Spirit will be to you as I have been to you.

Stage Three: The Spirit comes as the Spirit of Truth: which guarantees the truthfulness, the inerrancy of what he gives to the Church.

Jesus repeatedly refers to the Spirit of Truth.

The Spirit of Truth who the world cannot know, receive.

The Spirit will bear witness about me.

As the Spirit of Truth he will lead the apostles into all truth.

Jesus sends the apostles into the world with the words.

The possibility that the Spirit lied to the apostles is the same possibility as the Father lying to the Son or the Son lying to the apostles.

Jesus affirms the inerrancy of the OT. He then sends his apostles to show that the OT prophecy was fulfilled in him. How could we possibly think that Jesus would send them to write an errant Scripture.

Think of the fact the Spirit killed those who lied to him (Acts 5): could he have possibly lied to the Church through the apostles. The Holy Spirit has no bad breath, my brothers.

Stage Four: It is this work of the Spirit that Jesus’ prayer in John 17 makes effectual in the apostles and in the world.

17:8, I am praying for them — the ones the Father has given to them.

What is it: I have given them the words
18: as you sent me into the world, with your words, so I have sent them into the world with my words.

And then asks for those who will believe in Jesus through the apostles’ words.

Stage Five: John understands that his Gospel is answer to Jesus’ prayer.

These things are written : gegrapthi, the language which is used of Scripture: the Gospel is calling itself Scripture.

Jesus gives the Spirit & the Word. These things are written that you may believe through this Word.

The idea that the apostles were ignorant of the fact that they were giving Scripture to the NT is utterly indefensible on the basis of the what NT says of itself.

What a moment it must have been for John as he was writing the Gospel: he is writing that Jesus’ prayer was answered through John’s Gospel.

Father to Son words, Son sends the Spirit to the apostles, who themselves the words started from the Father: he is writing and seeing Jesus’ prayer answered. What John as given to the Church is the word of Truth — which is as reliable as any word the Father has spoken to the Son.

The Scripture’s very existence is to depend upon a theology of inerrancy.

it is not just the integrity of the Scriptures is at stake; rather the very integrity of the relationships within the Trinity. The Father does not lie to the Son.The Son does not lie to the Spirit. The Spirit does not lie to the apostles. This knowledge underscores the authority of the apostles’ writing.

That is why Paul says that we can “take note of that person”. How does have that arrogance: it is not Paul’s authority but rather the Father’s, Son’s Spirit’s.

Application:

One’s conviction that the Scripture is God-breathed and utterly without error comes through in the way in which one preaches.

It transforms those who gaze through the unveiled words, the inerrant word.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating thereof.

[His mother on why they could not have sugar on their porridge but rather had salt: Because that’s the way the English eat it.]

Inerrancy matters because it honors the Spirit who glorifies the Son who glorifies the Father.

Charity and Its Fruits.1 “Charity, or Love, the Sum of All Virtue”

05 Tuesday Nov 2013

Posted by memoirandremains in 1 Corinthians, Biblical Counseling, Jonathan Edwards, Love, Pneumatology, Preaching

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1 Corinthians 13, 1 Corinthians 13:1-3, 2 Corinthians 3:18, Charity and Her Fruits, Charity or Love the Sum of All Virtue, Glory of Christ, Holiness, Holy Spirit, Jonathan Edwards

Edwards series of sermons on love (published as “Charity and Her Fruits). The sermons as published by Yale may be found here in volume of 8 of the collected works of Jonathan Edwards, Ethical Writings: www.edwards.yale.edu

Charity, or Love,  the Sum of All Virtue

The text:

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. I CORINTHIANS13:1–3.

 Edwards begins his sermon with the observation that love is of greater value than any other virtue mentioned in the New Testament:

IN these words may be observed

1. Something spoken of as of special importance, and as peculiarly essential in Christians, which the Apostle here calls charity. Charity we find abundantly insisted on in the New Testament by Christ and his apostles. And indeed there is no virtue so much insisted on by them.

Having raised his topic, Edwards immediately dispenses with a potential problem in the text. The word English word “charity” had far too narrow a significance for Edwards’ congregants in 1738. They must not think of giving alms or having kind thoughts about another person. Rather, when they read the word they must think of a broader idea, “that disposition or affection whereby one is dear to another”.

Edwards then makes  second observation about the text, any action—even “the most excellent things that ever belong to natural men—are of no true importance if not stemming from love.

Based upon his observations, Edwards draws out the doctrine which he will explain in the sermon:

All that virtue which is saving, and distinguishing of true Christians from others, is summed up in Christian or divine love.

Now the word “love” can be used in a variety of ways to describe a variety of things. Therefore, Edwards begins explanation by setting out the nature of true Christian love:

I. I would speak of the nature of a truly Christian love.

A. That all true Christian love is one and the same in its principle.

When love springs from my desire to some-thing, then the love will vary because of my heart and will vary with the thing loved.  A truly Christian love cannot be so. This is a strange idea, because we naturally experience a different love toward friends than toward someone we have never met. And that is Edwards’ point for his hearers. The love which the Bible commends and commands has a different source and nature than our common affections.  Edwards makes three points to demonstrate that Christian love is unique in its source and purpose:

First, such love is an operation of the Holy Spirit in and on the human heart:

It is all from the same Spirit influencing the heart. It is from the breathings of the same Spirit that the Christian’s love arises, both towards God and men. The Spirit of God is a spirit of love. And therefore when the Spirit of God enters into the soul, love enters. God is love, and he who has God dwelling in him by his Spirit will have love dwelling in him. The nature of the Holy Spirit is love; and it is by communicating himself, or his own nature, that the hearts of the saints are filled with love or charity.

This must be understood: The love which a Christian is called upon to possess, exhibit, expend does not originate with the individual human being. True Christian love is God’s work in the Christian’s life.

The difficulty which Christians often experience in their love toward neighbor lies in a failure to understand this point.  They look upon the requirement to love neighbor—and even their enemies—and think, I can’t make myself do that. Of course not. The love which a Christian must expend is a love which comes from God. Therefore, the Christian’s trouble lies in their Godward relationship: They are not receiving love from the Spirit’s work and thus have no true love to expend.

If I send my child to the market to buy something, I give him money to spend. God does not merely command love, but God also supplies the love.

Edwards proves this point with the following Scripture references:

Hence the saints are said to be “partakers of the divine nature” [2 Peter 1:4]. And Christians’ love is called the love of the Spirit. Romans 15:30, “Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, and for the love of the Spirit.” And having bowels of love and mercy seems to signify the same thing with having the fellowship of the Spirit in Philippians 2:1, “If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies.” It is the Spirit which infuses love to God.8 Romans 5:5, “The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost.” And it is by the indwelling of this Spirit that the soul dwells in love to men. 1 John 4:12–13, “If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.”9 And ch. 1 John 3:23–24, “And this is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.”

Second, the love which the Christian shows to God is the same love which the Christian shows to neighbor:

The Spirit of God in the work of conversion renews the heart by giving it a divine temper. Ephesians 4:23, “And be renewed in the spirit of your mind.” And it is the same divine temper which is wrought in the heart that flows out in love both to God and men.

Third, true love proceeds from motive to glorify God. Things in nature, particularly human beings, are loved with reference to God. The Christian is love neighbor because of God. Not as a fearful, if I don’t love I’ll get in trouble. Rather, the Christian must love neighbor because God is excellent, beautiful, holy:

When God and men are loved with a truly Christian love, they are both loved from the same motives. When God is loved aright he is loved for his excellency, the beauty of his nature, especially the holiness of his nature. And it is from the same motive that the saints are loved; they are loved for holiness’ sake. And all things which are loved with a truly holy love are loved from some respect to God. Love to God is the foundation of a gracious love to men. Men are loved either because they are in some respect like God, either they have the nature or spiritual image of God; or because of their relation to God as his children, as his creatures, as those who are beloved of God, or those to whom divine mercy is offered, or in some other way from regard to God.

Why then do Christians have such difficulty with the love described herein by Edwards? A great deal of the fault lies with their guides, their pastors and teachers. The love which the Christian must exhibit flows from a sight of the surpassing glory and beauty of God in Jesus Christ. Love does not proceed by merely haranguing people to “love”.

It is possible to manipulate and guilt people into particular actions. But all such manipulated behaviors will fall short of what Paul commends in 1 Corinthians 13. Indeed, Paul’s point is that such actions are inadequate because they do not proceed from true Christian love: such actions are “nothing”.

If true Christian love proceeds from the operation of the Holy Spirit and proceeds on the basis of exalting in the beauty and excellencies of God, then love can only be rightly motivated by a sight of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18). 

The Church is Empowered by the Spirit

10 Thursday Oct 2013

Posted by memoirandremains in Acts, Ascension, Ecclesiology, Ministry, Pneumatology, Union With Christ

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Christian Ministry, Church and Discipleship, Ecclesiology, Holy Spirit, Pneumatology, spirit, The church and Discipleship

(This is the fourth lesson in the series on the Church and Discipleship. The previous lesson can be found here:  https://memoirandremains.wordpress.com/2013/10/02/the-church-is-logocentric/

The Church is Empowered by the Spirit

I.        The Spirit’s Work in Acts

A.      Acts 1:2: “After he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.”

1.  One interesting question remains in the last half of v. 2. How does the Holy Spirit fit in? The NIV translates “after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit.” The account in Luke 24:44–49, however, has the risen Jesus personally instructing the disciples, as does Acts 1:3–8. The Greek order is somewhat ambiguous in verse 2b and could also be translated “after giving instructions to the apostles whom he had chosen through the Holy Spirit.”12 Either translation shows a close connection of Jesus with the Holy Spirit, and this is fully in accord with the picture in Luke’s Gospel. During Jesus’ ministry, there is no reference to the Holy Spirit being upon anyone except Jesus. The Spirit descended upon him at his baptism (Luke 3:22), filled him as he returned from the Jordan (Luke 4:1), led him both in and out of the wilderness (Luke 4:1, 14), and rested upon him in his programmatic sermon at Nazareth (Luke 4:18).13 The introduction of the Spirit in Acts 1:2 is probably not incidental for Luke. He emphasized that the same Spirit who rested upon Jesus in his ministry would empower the apostles for witness. And the same Jesus who taught them during his earthly life would continue to instruct them through the presence of the Spirit once they experienced the Spirit through the presence of Jesus. Formerly they had experienced the Spirit through the presence of Jesus. After Pentecost they would experience Jesus through the presence of the Spirit.[1]

2. “The testimony o f the Spirit is more excellent than all reason. For as God alone is a fit witness of himself in his Word, so also the Word will not find acceptance in men’s hearts before it is sealed by the inward testimony of the Spirit. The same Spirit, therefore, who has spoken through the mouths of the prophets

B.      Acts 1:3-4:

1. They are commanded to await the “promise of the Father”.

a. John 14:15-17

b. John 14:25-26

c. John 15:26

d. John 16:7

e. Matthew 28:20

2. Baptized with the Holy Spirit.

a. This promise goes back to the John the Baptist:  Luke 3:16

b. John was announced earlier by Isaiah: Luke 3:1-6.

c.       The Spirit’s work was also announced by Joel: Acts 2:16-17.

C.  Acts 1:8-11

1.           You will receive power.

2. You will be my witnesses.

3. The Ascension

a. Ephesians 1:3. All of the benefits which the Church receives are given in Christ and communicated to his people by the operation of the Holy Spirit. That power promised by the Father and Christ comes only from the Father, through the Son, mediated by the Spirit.

Ascension and Power. Clearly the greatest theological emphasis of the New Testament regarding the ascension is that Christ now regains the glory he had with the Father before the world began, is now able to send his powerful Spirit into the world, and reigns from heaven over every authority and power in heaven and earth. Thus, in John, Jesus connects attaining his glory and the sending of the Spirit with ascending to the Father (6:61–63; 7:39; 12:12–16; 16:5–11). Similarly, Acts 2:33–36 presents the ascended Jesus as the one who has been placed on the throne of David; the appearances of the ascended Christ are exclusively in Acts those of a powerful, enthroned Christ (Acts 7:56; 9:3–9 and pars.). Paul writes that God put his “mighty strength” to work “in Christ when he … seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come” (Eph. 1:20–21). It is from this exalted position that he “gave gifts to men” (Eph. 4:8–10). Peter, too, emphasizes the power that is now Christ’s because of the ascension: “[He] has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him” (1 Peter 3:21–22).

The author of Hebrews shows this in his unique analogy between the exalted Son of God (4:14) who has “entered the inner sanctuary” and the priest/king Melchizedek (6:16–20). Melchizedek blessed Abraham, was king of righteousness and peace, and was without father, mother, genealogy, beginning of days or end of life (7:1–3). Only the ascended Jesus is powerful enough as the one who, like Melchizedek, has the power of an indestructible life (7:16) to enter before the throne of grace as a high priest who is “exalted above the heavens” to offer himself once for all (7:26–27).[2]

b.      Garrett Dawson wrote a book on the Ascension (Jesus Ascended – excellent book) in which he explains the trouble in the Church broadly and in his local congregation as related to this matter. Now neglect of a doctrine may be a mere historical curiosity – but Dawson draws a practical pastoral implication. He reviewed the nature of the life of his local congregation:

All of these signs point to a membership composed of committed Christians who are living in the grip of a world that has claimed them as its own. I do not believe my people are consciously trying to serve two masters. Generally, I do not think they even realize the contradiction between our beliefs and our life as a church. They are kind, happy, forgiving, dear church fold. Their pastor, however, knows himself to be compromised, realizes that he, too, has ‘the world is too much with us’ disease, and wants to get better (21).

Dawson locates recovery of the doctrine of the Ascension as vital antidote to the poison of worldliness:

 

A solution to the world’s being too much with us is an increasing awareness of how much our true identity and life’s destination is located in heaven, followed by the change in life here on earth that comes from the transformation in vision. (26)

Dawson then makes a reference to the postscript of Swete’s volume which bears more substantial examination.  Swete identifies seven ways in which right knowledge of the doctrine of Ascension would affect the manner in which we live as Christians in the current age.

The first aspect (which Dawson quotes in part) is that the doctrine directly countermands the spirit of the age: The current age of the world seeks to make the here and now, the getting and spending, as the beginning and end of human existence.  Yet, when we rightly realize there is a human being – God incarnate, Jesus Christ at the right hand of majesty on high and that he is ushering in the age to come, it transforms the manner in which we think of this world:

The Ascension and Ascended Life bear witness against the materialistic spirit which threatens in some quarters to overpower those higher interests that have their seat in the region of the spiritual and eternal. They are as a Sursum corda—’ lift up your hearts’—which comes down from the High Priest of the Church who stands at the heavenly altar, and draws forth from the kneeling Church the answer Habemus ad Dominum—’ we lift them up unto the Lord.’ Faith in the Ascended Christ was S. Paul’s remedy for the sensuality which he encountered in the Greek cities of Asia Minor: seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are upon the earth; for your life is hid with Christ in God; mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth. How strong a motive this appeal supplied is evident from the history of the primitive church. The grosser vices of paganism have less attraction for our age, but the downward pressure of external things remains; at a time when life is being reduced to a complex machinery for the production of wealth, there is ample room for a doctrine which points men persistently to an order of realities which are at once present and eternal, a world which already surrounds us and waits only for the coming of the Lord to be manifested in overwhelming power. (Swete, 155-156).

D.      Prophecy: The matter of prophecy runs through the scope of Acts.  Prophecy and Scripture come by the Holy Spirit’s work. This demonstrates foreknowledge, direction and care for the Church by the Holy Spirit.

1. Peter states they must pick a new apostle, and he relies upon a prophecy in Psalm 69. Acts 1:20

2. Peter explains the work of the Spirit in light of prophecy. Acts 2:16, et seq.

3. Peter’s sermon explains Jesus’ ministry in light of prophecy. Acts 2:25, et seq.

4. When the church faces a trial, it turns to Psalm 2. Acts 4:23-31. The result was “they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness” (Acts 2:31).

5. Stephen’s sermon (Acts 7) relies upon the unscripturated history of the people and the prophetic utterance to rebuke the unbelieving and defend the Church.

6. Philip uses prophecy to evangelize. Acts 8:25-40.

7. Paul’s sermon in Antioch in Pisidia (which may take as a model for at least of some Paul’s preaching) relies heavily upon prophecy. Acts 13:13-41.

8. James resolves the conflict over Gentile circumcision with a quotation of prophecy. Acts 15:13, et seq.

9.           The description of Paul’s ministry ends with Paul turning to the gentiles with a citation to Isaiah 6: Acts 28:23-31.

E.      The Church begins with the coming of the Spirit. Acts 2:1-4

F. The Spirit worked through preaching: 

1. Peter, having been filled with the Spirit, stood and preached on Pentecost. Acts 2:14; cf. 6:10.

2.           Peter states that such preaching of Christ is empowered by the Spirit. 1 Peter 1:10-12.

3. “[P]reaching [is] an activity under the influence and power of the Holy Spirit” (Lloyd-Jones, Preachers and Preaching, 98).

 

 

G.      Salvation comes and the Church grows by the work of the Spirit:

So we find here that these people underwent a complete change. How did it happen? It was not the preaching of Peter. If you read Peter’s sermon, you see that he quotes Scriptures, he develops certain arguments. Quite right. Logically sound. He makes his case, and you cannot contradict it. But Peter’s sermon, read in cold print, does not account for the fact that something vital happened to 3,000 people! What accounts for that is the action of the Holy Spirit. “They were pricked in their heart” (Acts 2:37). The men and women standing there and listening to an exposition of certain Old Testament Scriptures were in trouble. They were disturbed, and they cried out. This was the work of the Holy Spirit, and there would never have been a Christian church but for this. This is what makes her; this is what causes her to persist. This is the explanation of the revivals and reformations down through the centuries.[3]

H.      The Church proceeds through the empowerment of the Spirit. Acts 4:8

I.   The Holy Spirit provides correction within the church. Acts 5:1-6

J.       The Holy Spirit empowered people for ministry.

1. Acts 6:5

2. Acts 6:10

3. Acts 7:55

4. Acts 20:28

5. 1 Corinthians 12

K.      Acts 11:12. Peter explains mission to the Gentiles was directed by the Holy Spirit.

II.       The Spirit’s Work.

A.      The Spirit begins the work of discipleship by convicting:

1. The first step in discipleship is the evangel proclaimed.

2.           The words of the evangel bring conviction by the work of the Holy Spirit.

a. Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would convict.

4 But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.

 “I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. 5 But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. John 16:4–11 (ESV)

b.      This was evidenced at Pentecost.  Acts 2:37-41. Here you see they were convicted and such conviction led to repentance. True repentance is a work of the Spirit (failing to understand what a surpassingly supernatural thing repentance is, can lead one into sin thinking, I can repent later):

Remedy (1). The first remedy is, seriously to consider, That repentance is a mighty work, a difficult work, a work that is above our power. There is no power below that power that raised Christ from the dead, and that made the world, that can break the heart of a sinner or turn the heart of a sinner. Thou art as well able to melt adamant, as to melt thine own heart; to turn a flint into flesh, as to turn thine own heart to the Lord; to raise the dead and to make a world, as to repent. Repentance is a flower that grows not in nature’s garden. ‘Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil,’ Jer. 13:23. Repentance is a gift that comes down from above.2 Men are not born with repentance in their hearts, as they are born with tongues in their mouths:3 Acts 5:31, ‘Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.’ So in 2 Tim. 2:25, ‘In meekness instructing them that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth.’ It is not in the power of any mortal to repent at pleasure.4 Some ignorant deluded souls vainly conceit that these five words, ‘Lord! have mercy upon me,’ are efficacious to send them to heaven; but as many are undone by buying a counterfeit jewel, so many are in hell by mistake of their repentance. Many rest in their repentance, though it be but the shadow of repentance, which caused one to say, ‘Repentance damneth more than sin.’[4]

B.      The Spirit causes regeneration. John 3:3-8; 1 Peter 1:10-12, 22-25.

C.      The Spirit performs the work of sanctification:

1. Romans 8:13; 2 Corinthians 3:18; 1 Peter 1:2

2. Here is an abbreviated section from John Owen’s The Mortification of Sin:

I have only, then, to add the heads of the work of the Spirit in this business of mortification, which is so peculiarly ascribed to him. In one word: This whole work, which I have described as our duty, is effected, carried on, and accomplished by the power of the Spirit, in all the parts and degrees of it; as, ‑‑

 

a.      He alone clearly and fully convinces the heart of the evil and guilt and danger of the corruption, lust, or sin to be mortified. Without this conviction, or whilst it is so faint that the heart can wrestle with it or digest it, there will be no thorough work made. . . . John 16:8.

 

b.      The Spirit alone reveals unto us the fullness of Christ for our relief; which is the consideration that stays the heart from false ways and from despairing despondency, 1 Cor. 2:8.

 

c.      The Spirit alone establishes the heart in expectation of relief from Christ; which is the great sovereign means of mortification, as hath been discovered, 2 Cor. 1:21.

 

d.      The Spirit alone brings the cross of Christ into our hearts with its sin‑killing power; for by the Spirit are we baptized into the death of Christ.

 

e.      The Spirit is the author and finisher of our sanctification; gives new supplies and influences of grace for holiness and sanctification, when the contrary principle is weakened and abated, Eph. 3:16‑18.

 

f.       In all the soul’s addresses to God in this condition, it hath supportment from the Spirit. . . . Zech. 12:10; Rom. 8:26. This is confessed to be the great medium or way of faith’s prevailing with God. Thus Paul dealt with his temptation, whatever it were: “I besought the Lord that it might depart from me.” What is the work of the Spirit in prayer, whence and how it gives us in assistance and makes us to prevail, what we are to do that we may enjoy his help for that purpose, is not my present intendment to demonstrate.

 

D.      The Spirit alone gives assurance of salvation: A believer who lacks assurance will constantly flounder and fail. Indeed, assurance of salvation is one of the great means and supports for transformation in the Christian life. In short, without assurance of salvation, the Christian will struggle to progress as a disciple:

In The Christian’s Great Interest, William Guthrie, sets forth the reasons why a Christian may lack a “distinct knowledge of their interest in Christ”. He first notices that a believer may lack knowledge of his saving interest in Christ, because he does not know what God does.

Imagine a man who hears that precious gems can be found in a particular canyon. He explores the canyon and finds a sapphire. However, he had thought that all precious gems looked like rubies. Therefore, picking up the blue stone, he casts it away because he does not know it is valuable.

In the same way, a believer may lack assurance because he does not know what is truly valuable. Typically, when it comes to assurance, a believer is seeking a subjective feeling of safety and peace. What Guthrie helps to demonstrate is that the subjective, should it come, would be a conclusion based upon what one has from God. The subjective emotional state is the result of understanding what God provides.

Guthrie sets forth three elements of how God ordinarily displays his love to the heart of man.  First, God reveals the man’s sinfulness (Phil. 3:8). Second, Christ is seen as the solution to the plight of man; “the full and satisfying treasure”. Third, the love of God causes the man to “approach onto a living God in the ordinances” (Ps. 62:5, 65:4).

Put differently: The love of God reveals itself to the heart of a man by showing the man his sinfulness and Christ’s merit (Guthrie combines both the merit of Christ and the desire for Christ in the phrase “full and satisfying treasure”).  — Now my sin and Christ’s merit maybe admitted to by even a false professor.  The key lies in the third element:  the desire to approach to God in Jesus Christ, sight of Christ as desirable and precious.  Only a truly converted heart can desire and love God in Jesus Christ.

Typically, the one who lacks assurance lacks the subjective emotional sensation of being “saved.” Guthrie turns this expectation on its head: Rather than expecting that I should feel good about myself (I’m safe), I should expect to feel bad about myself (I’m sinful) but good about God (he is desirable and lovely). (That is why a successful sermon will convict and encourage. A manipulative sermon will make one guilty.)

This accords with the biblical evidence. For example, when Paul wishes to establish the assurance and safety of the Roman Christians he writes of the “love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:39). Paul earlier wrote that we have received “a Spirit of adoption” (Rom. 8:15). In another place he writes, “For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3).

Assurance would then be a conviction based upon my self-examination which reveals my admitted need for a savior and the beauty and desirability of that savior. I could know that I am saved — perhaps even feel “safe” because I know that my safety does not lie in God’s acceptance of me but in the acceptance of Jesus Christ.

How this would work in counseling/discipleship: The faltering believer will come to you to seek knowledge that somehow they are safe: they will typically come because they feel bad or because they are engaged in some sin to relieve the pressure of feeling bad.

Guthrie says, do not concern yourself primary with their feelings. First concern yourself with their expectation: Get them to see what they should expect to know from God: We are sinners, Christ is the Savior, we should desire him.

Next, we work through the individual elements: First, do you see yourself as a sinner? Second, do you see Christ as a savior? Third, do you desire him?

E.      The Spirit Illuminates the Word of God. 1 John 2:20-27; 2 Cor. 3:16-4:6; Psalm 119:18; Ephesians 1:17-18. Related: as teacher: John 14:26, 16:23.

F.      The Spirit Creates Communion with God on the Basis of Adoption: Romans 8:12-17.

G.      The Spirit creates a unity among believers. Ephesians 4:1-6. [We will explore unity at more length in a separate lesson.]

H.      The Spirit brings forth fruit. Galatians 5:22-26.

I.   The Spirit gives gifts to the church. 1 Corinthians 12; Romans 12:6-8; Ephesians 4:7-16. [This will be addressed as a separate lesson.]

J. The Spirit intercedes and produces prayer. Romans 8:26-28. Cf. John Bunyan, Prayer.


[1] John B. Polhill, Acts, vol. 26, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1995), 80–81.

[2] Walter A. Elwell, Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology, electronic ed., Baker reference library; Logos Library System (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1997).

[3] David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Authentic Christianity, vol. 1, 1st U.S. ed., Studies in the Book of Acts (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2000), 49.

[4] Thomas Brooks, The Complete Works of Thomas Brooks, ed. Alexander Balloch Grosart, vol. 1 (Edinburgh; London; Dublin: James Nichol; James Nisbet and Co.; G. Herbert, 1866), 31.

Smedes on Union With Christ.2

20 Monday May 2013

Posted by memoirandremains in 2 Corinthians, Pneumatology

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2 Corinthians 3:17, Holy Spirit, Lewis Smedes, The Spirit is Lord, Union with Christ

Smedes develops a “Situationist” Christology as he works through the doctrine of the Holy Spirit with respect to Christ. The key text for Smedes is 2 Corinthians 3:17, “The Lord is the Spirit”. His understanding works through the fact of the New Covenant, the new situation created by Christ. He even goes so far as to write, “The new covenant is Jesus Christ” (Smedes, 37).

He explains,

It seems to me that this examination of the context of Paul’s statement has established the following propositions:

(1) Paul’s line of thought is historical: the present era is superior to the old.

(2) Jesus Christ is the head of the new ear; the new age was created by His death and resurrection and is the age of His lordship.

(3) The Spirit is the prevailing and character-giving power of the new ear; it is the Spirit who writes the law on men’s hearts and brings dead men to life.

(4) These objective facts about the new covenant form the basis for the superiority of Paul’s apostolate: he is a minister of the new covenant.

(39). Thus, he explains the phrase “The Lord is the Spirit” by looking to the Holy Spirit’s work in this age, “It is still His work. But the Spirit does it. The Spirit is the Lord at work. The Spirit is Christ imminent” (40). Thus, “to live in the Spirit and to live in Christ are one and the same” (43).

The work of Christ has thus brought the future age into the present space. The Spirit is the pledge and the beginning of that new creation 46).  The life embodied in Christ, the life of the new covenant is communicated to us by the Spirit (47). 

Now it becomes curious. Smedes begins to speak of this new age as a historical, spatial, political (if you will), “Jesus is the head of the new epoch”.  However his relationship is more profound than that, “He is also the life of the new epoch” (49). The new epoch is more than just the present with Jesus as King. Jesus as King transforms the entire nature of the new epoch.

Smedes writes, “History moves on, with Christ in control” (49). That is certainly true, but we must note that history itself is not wholly continuous with the present age. “The whole life, from its fundamental being to its discrete actions is surrounded by Christ. The pilgrim journey is not a burdensome trudge up a lonely road; it is a way that cuts through Jesus Christ himself. Life begins, proceeds and ends in Christ.

Smedes then works through the question of what being in Christ means. He first reviews understandings of the topic. Smedes own position of “Situation” takes an interest cue from Barth’s understanding of “in Christ” as being where Christ is acting. Although he stringently denies an ontological identification, Barth does not make an active identification, “Chirst is spatially present where the Christian is, and the Christ is spatially present where Christ is, “not merely alongside but in exactly the same spot” (64).

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