Tag Archives: Holy Spirit

The Wonderful Combat, Sermon 1.4

28 Thursday Apr 2022

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III. [Jesus was Led by the Spirit]

Thirdly, we are to consider the leader, He was led by the Spirit. In which we are to note five things: not making any question, but that it was the good Spirit, for so it appears in Luke. 4. 1.[1]

First, that the state of a man regenerate by baptism[2], is not a standing still, Matt. 20. 6. He found others standing idle in the marketplace, and he said to them, Why stand ye idle all day?[3] We must not only have a mortifying and reviving, but a quickening[4] and stirring spirit. 1. Cor. 15. 45[5] which will move us, and cause us to proceed: we must not lie still like lumps of flesh, laying all upon Christs shoulders, Phil. 3. 16[6] we must walk forwards, for the kingdom of God consists not in words, but in power, 1. Cor. 4. 19.[7]

Secondly, as there must be a stirring, so this stirring must not be such, as when a man is left to his own voluntary or natural motion: we must go according as we are lead. For having given ourselves to God, we are no longer to be at our own disposition or direction: whereas before our calling, we were Gentiles, and were carried into errors, 1. Cor. 12. 2[8] we wandered up & down as masterless or careless, or else gave heed to the doctrine of devils, 1. Tim. 4.1[9] or else led with divers [various] lusts, 2. Tim. 3. 6.[10] But now being become the children of God, we must be led by the Spirit of God: for so many as be the sons of God, are led thereby, Rom. 8. 14.[11] We must not be led by the Spirit, whence the Revelation came Matt. 16. 22. from whence revelations of flesh and blood do arise: but by the Spirit from whence the voice came, This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.[12] It came not by the Spirit that minister’s wise counsel, but by that which came down upon them.

Thirdly, the manner of leading, is described to be such a kind of leading when a ship is loosed from the shore, as Luke. chapter 8. verse. 22. it is called launching forth: so, in the eighteenth chapter of the Acts, the 31. verse, Paul is said to have sailed forth.

The Holy Ghost driving us, is compared to a gale [blowing, not storm] of wind, John 3. 8[13] which teaches us, that as when the wind blows, we must be ready to hoist up sail: so must we make vs ready to be led by the spirit. Our hope is compared to an anchor, Heb. 6. 19. which must be hailed up to us; and our faith to the sail, we are to bear as great a sail as we can. We must also look to the closeness of the vessel, which is our conscience: for if we have not a good conscience, we may make shipwreck of faith, religion, and all, 1. Tim., 1. 19. And thus are we to proceed in our journey towards our Country, the spiritual Jerusalem, as it were sea-faring men. Acts. 20. 22. Now behold I go bound in spirit to Jerusalem: to which journey the love of Christ must constrain vs. 2. Cor. 5. 14.[14]

Fourthly, that he was led to be tempted. His temptation therefore came not by chance, nor as Job chap 5. vers. 6. speaks, out of the dust, or out of the earth, nor from the devil, for he had no power without leave, not only over Job’s person, Job. 1. 12. but not so much as over his goods, verse 14.[15] He had no power of himself so much as over the hogs of the Gergashites, who were profan, Matt. 8. 31.[16]

Hence gather we this comfort, that the Holy Ghost is not a stander by (as a stranger) [one who merely stands without responding] when we are tempted, Tanquam otiosus spectator [as if he were an idle spectator] but he leads us by the hand, and stands by as a faithful assistant, Esay chapter 4. verse. 13. He makes an issue out of [is concerned about] all our temptations, and will not suffer us to be tempted above our strength, 1. Cor. Chap. 10. vers. 13.[17] And he turns the work of sin, and of the devil too, unto our good, Ro. 8. 28.[18] So that all these shall make us more wary after to resist them: and hell, by fearing it, shall be an occasion unto us, to avoid that might bring vs to it: and so they shall all be fellow-helpers to our salvation.

[How might they be good?]

So that temptations, whether

[1] they be (as the fathers call them) rods to chasten us for sin committed,

[2] or to try and sift us, Mat. 3. 12. and so to take away the chaff, the fan is in the Holy Ghost’s hand:

[3] or whether they be sent to buffet us against the prick of the flesh, 2. Cor. 12. 7,[19]

[4]or whether they be as matters serving for our experience, not only for ourselves, that we may know our own strength, Rom. 5. 3. and to work patience in us:

[5] but to the devil also, that so his mouth may be stopped, as in Job 2. 3. Hast thou marked my servant Job, how upright he is, and that in all the world there is not such a one?

Howsoever they be, the Devil has not the rod or chain in his hands, but the Holy Ghost to order them, as may best serve for his glory and our good: and as for the devil, he binds him fast, Rev. 20. 2.[20]

Fifthly, by the Greek word here used, is set forth the difference between the temptations of the Saints, and reprobates. In the Lord’s Prayer one petition is, Lead vs not into temptation: but there, the Word imports [carries] another manner of leading, than is here meant. We do not there pray against this manner of leading here, which is so to lead us, as to be with us, and to bring us back again, Heb. 13. 20[21] but we pray there, that he would not cast or drive us into temptations; and when we are there, leave vs, by withdrawing his grace and Holy Spirit, as he doth from the reprobate and forsaken.

Notes

In this section, Andrews considers the clause from Mathew 4:1, that Jesus was “led by the Spirit” into the wilderness. From this he draws a series of conclusions.

First, the Spirit which the believer receives is a Spirit which brings about change and movement. Jesus was led, but we too are put into motion.

Second, we are being led: the Spirit has now taken control: “we are no longer to be at our own disposition or direction.” Before, we were led about by our own passions. But if we now are God’s we are led by the Spirit: Romans 8:14 (ESV) “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.”

Third, as such, we are like ships which are blown by the wind. He takes this from the analogy of the Spirit to the wind (the two words are the same in Greek) in John 3. From this he draws out the analogy to the a “shipwreck of our faith” if we defile and refuse our conscience.

Fourth, being led out to be tempted is not a whole evil, because God uses all things for God. To be tempted and tried may prove to be (1) correction for our past sin; (2) a trial which takes sin away from us (sifting us like wheat to remove the chaff and leave the grain); (3) it may be a trouble which protects us from further sin by making us humble; (4) we may be humbled by learning our limitations and dependence; (5) it may even be a rebuke to Devil, as it was in the case of Job.

[1] Luke 4:1 (ESV) “And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness.”

[2] Article 27 of the Church of England respecting baptism provides as follows: “Baptism is not only a sign of profession, and mark of difference, whereby Christian men are discerned from others that be not christened, but it is also a sign of Regeneration or New-Birth, whereby, as by an instrument, they that receive Baptism rightly are grafted into the Church; the promises of the forgiveness of sin, and of our adoption to be the sons of God by the Holy Ghost, are visibly signed and sealed; Faith is confirmed, and Grace increased by virtue of prayer unto God.”

[3] The text cited refers to a parable of Jesus; the language as cited has no direct application to Andrews’ argument. Here he is using the reference as an illustration, not as evidence.

[4] To be “quick” is to be alive and moving. To “quicken” is to make alive, restore life.

[5] 1 Corinthians 15:44–46 (ESV) “44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual.”

[6] Andrews’ argument in this place is better understood and supported if we look to more of the context for v. 16:

Philippians 3:14–16 (ESV) “14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. 16 Only let us hold true to what we have attained.”

[7] 1 Corinthians 4:19 (ESV) “But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power.”

[8] 1 Corinthians 12:2 (ESV)  “You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led.”

[9] 1 Timothy 4:1 (ESV) “Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons.”

[10] 2 Timothy 3:6 (ESV) “For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions.” Rather than “various passions,” the Geneva has “divers lustes”.

[11] Romans 8:14 (ESV)  “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.”

[12] Matt. 3:16.

[13] John 3:8 (ESV) “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

[14] 2 Corinthians 5:14 (ESV) “For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died.”

[15]In the first chapter of Job, Satan accuses Job of serving God only for receiving material rewards. He asks and receives power to cause Job injury. First, he is granted power only over such things as around Job. Second, he is granted the power to afflict Job’s body – but not kill him.  Andrews also alludes to:

Job 5:6–7 (ESV)

            6           For affliction does not come from the dust,

nor does trouble sprout from the ground,

            7           but man is born to trouble

as the sparks fly upward.

[16] After Jesus casts out the Legion of demons from the man, the demons go into a nearby herd of hogs. Matthew 8:31 (ESV) “And the demons begged him, saying, ‘If you cast us out, send us away into the herd of pigs.’”

[17] 1 Corinthians 10:13 (ESV)  “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”

[18] Romans 8:28–29 (ESV)  “28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”

[19] 2 Corinthians 12:7–10 (ESV) “7 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

[20] Revelation 20:2 (ESV) “And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.”

[21] Hebrews 13:20 (ESV) “Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant.”

Edward Taylor, Meditation 32, Sixth Stanza

26 Friday Mar 2021

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Sixth Stanza

Thine ordinances, Grace’s wine-vats where

Thy Spirit walks and Grace’s runs do lie

And angels waiting stand with holy cheer

From Grace’s conduit head, with all supply.

These vessels full of Grace are, and bowls 

In which their taps do run are precious souls.

Summary

In this stanza, he pictures the flow from grace which runs into the souls of those who receive the ordinance, the Lord’s Supper. Grace is poured out as wine. 

Notes:

The entire stanza is a display of the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper. The rite is performed with bread and wine, hence the display of wine as the grace of God. 

The praise of the ordinance is not a matter unique to Taylor. Here, is a section from a near contemporary, Thomas Watson:

The gracious soul flies as a dove to an ordinance, upon the wings of delight. The sacrament is his delight. On this day the Lord makes “a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined,” Isa. 25:6. A sacrament day is a soul-festival day; here Christ takes the soul into his banqueting-house, and “displays the banner of love over it,” Cant. 2:4. Here are heavenly delicacies set before us. Christ gives us his body and blood. This is angels’ food, this is the heavenly nectar, here is a cup perfumed with the divine nature; here is wine spiced with the love of God. The Jews at their feasts poured ointment upon their guests; here Christ pours the oil of gladness into the heart. This is the king’s bath where we wash and are cleansed of our leprosy: the withered soul, after the receiving this blessed eucharist, hath been like a watered garden, Isa. 58:11. or like Egyptian fields, after the overflowing of the Nile, fruitful and flourishing; and do you wonder that a child of God delights in holy things? he must needs be a volunteer in religion.

Thomas Watson, A Divine Cordial; The Saint’s Spiritual Delight; The Holy Eucharist; and Other Treatises, The Writings of the Doctrinal Puritans and Divines of the Seventeenth Century. Here we see many of the same elements: wine, love, delight, angels, cups, et cetera.

Here are the particular elements of the scene:

The whole takes place at “Grace’s wine-vats.”  The word in the manuscript is apparently “fat,” but vat makes more sense

He then details what is seen there: 

First, it is the place where, “Thy Spirit walks.”  This is an unusual way to speak of the Spirit. But to have the Spirit here at the head of the understanding of the ordinance is quite understandable for Taylor. As Calvin writes in the Institutes, the Spirit communicates Christ to the recipient:

To summarize: our souls are fed by the flesh and blood of Christ in the same way that bread and wine keep and sustain physical life. For the analogy of the sign applies only if souls find their nourishment in Christ—which cannot happen unless Christ truly grows into one with us, and refreshes us by the eating of his flesh and the drinking of his blood.

Even though it seems unbelievable that Christ’s flesh, separated from us by such great distance, penetrates to us, so that it becomes our food, let us remember how far the secret power of the Holy Spirit towers above all our senses, and how foolish it is to wish to measure his immeasurableness by our measure. What, then, our mind does not comprehend, let faith conceive: that the Spirit truly unites things separated in space

John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion & 2, ed. John T. McNeill, trans. Ford Lewis Battles, vol. 1, The Library of Christian Classics (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011), 1370. And so, the Supper is indeed a place where the Spirits walks (if you will). This point could be further developed, but this suffices to show what Taylor intends by place the Spirit first at these vats of Grace.

Next, he says this is the place where “Grace’s runs do lie.”

This is the place where grace flows, which matches the remainder of the poem’s image of grace flowing from the throne. 

Next, there are angels standing as it were with cups of this heavenly wine, the “holy cheer.” The use of angels is interesting, because angels are not directly associated with the Supper. However, angels are said to be “ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit eternal life.” Heb. 1:14. Their mention also identifies this a spiritual or heavenly scene. 

The whole flows from “Grace’s conduit head” – which was identified in the previous stanza as the Father’s throne and the Lord’s heart. 

with all supply: this phrase means it is endless: the source for this grace is full-up.

The use of the word “bowls” in apposition to “vessels” makes it plain these are drinking bowls.

And in the end of the scene we see where the grace flows into “precious souls” – those who receive the supper.

At this point, it should be noted that the understanding of the “grace” received by the recipient differs among the various Christian traditions. And so Taylor would not have the same understanding of either the communication grace from God and the reception of grace by the communicant as would a contemporary Roman Catholic theologian. 

Musical

The first line contains an express pause at the comma after ordinance, but also an unmarked pause after vats:

Thine ordinances – pause – Grace’s wine-vats – pause – where

The “where” sets up the following lines; all that follows answer the question of what is there. Since it is an orphaned foot it rushes on to next line. 

The lines scan regularly from thereon. 

Richard Sibbes Sermons on Canticles, Sermon 1.2 (The Spirit & the wind)

10 Wednesday Apr 2019

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Sermon 1.2

Song of Solomon 4:16 (AV)

Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.

From the verse quoted, Sibbes meditates upon it means for the wind to blow upon the garden. In both Hebrew and Greek, the same word can be used for “wind” and “spirit”. You can see interesting example of this in John 3:8

John 3:8 (NASB95) “The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Where the word “wind” and the word “Spirit” are the same word. 

Thus, the mention of winds in Canticles 4:16 suggests such a reading, even though the poem uses specific words for “north wind” and “south wind”, rather than the word which can mean spirit or wind.

Why would God call the Spirit to blow into and through the Garden? Here is where Sibbes may seem different from what we would “normally” consider in an expository sermon. The exposition would be about the meaning of the phrase, which is quite clear. Sibbes asks a different question, “Why? Why is the wind called to blow?”

He begins with an observation about desire:

The church being sensible of some deadness of spirit, secretly desires some further quickening. Christ then answers those desires by commanding the winds to blow upon her. For ordinarily Christ first stirs up desires, and then answers the desires of his own Spirit by further increase, as here, ‘Awake, thou north wind; and come, thou south; and blow upon my garden,’ &c.

He first notes the basis for the image: Christ has control over all things, even the wind. Matt. 8:72. “The wind is nature’s fan. What winds are to the garden, that the Spirit of Christ, in the use of means, is to the soul. From comparison fetched from Christ’s commanding the winds, we may in general observe, that all creatures stand in obedience to Christ, as ready at a word, whensoever he speaks to them.”

He then makes an application (note that he does not wait until the end of the sermon to make some general application). An all-controlling Christ is a great comfort to us.

Next he notes the north and south wind blow, “winds contrary to one another.” This is because we need more correction and encouragement. This shows the wisdom of God in providing various remedies. For sometimes we are full and sluggish and thus need to be moved along. At other times, we are weak and need more strength. Since Christ is in control of both comfort and pruning, we need to acknowledge his presence in both difficult and pleasant places. “Therefore, we must acknowledge him in want or plenty of means. The Spirit of Christ in the use of means is a free agent, sometimes blows strongly, sometimes more mildly, sometimes not at all.”

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He then thinks of all the ways in which the Spirit is like the wind. This section is not strictly exegetical, but it is interesting. By pondering the nature of the wind, we gain an understanding of the nature of the Spirit: not that the Spirit is limited to the operation of the wind. Rather, Sibbes uses the metaphor to understand the original. I found this to be a useful item on the list:

5. The wind being subtle, searcheth into every corner and cranny. So the Spirit likewise is of a searching nature, and discerneth betwixt the joints and the marrow, betwixt the flesh and the Spirit, &c., searching those hidden corruptions, that nature could never have found out.

If the Spirit is the wind, what does it mean to say that the wind will blow upon the garden (the Church?):

And we need blowing: our spirits will be becalmed else, and stand at a stay; and Satan will be sure by himself, and such as are his bellows, to blow up the seeds of sinful lusts in us. For there are two spirits in the church, the one always blowing against the other. Therefore, the best had need to be stirred up; otherwise, with Moses, Exod. 17:12, their hands will be ready to fall down, and abate in their affection. Therefore we need blowing—

1. In regard of our natural inability.

2. In regard of our dulness and heaviness, cleaving to nature occasionally.

3. In regard of contrary winds from without.

Satan hath his bellows filled with his spirit, that hinders the work of grace all they can; so that we need not only Christ’s blowing, but also his stopping other contrary winds, that they blow not, Rev. 7:1.

4. In regard of the estate and condition of the new Covenant, wherein all beginning, growth, and ending, is from grace, and nothing but grace.

5. Because old grace, without a fresh supply, will not hold against new crosses and temptations.

Use. Therefore when Christ draws, let us run after him; when he blows, let us open unto him. It may be the last blast that ever we shall have from him. And let us set upon duties with this encouragement, that Christ will blow upon us, not only to prevent us, but also to maintain his own graces in us. But O! where is this stirring up of ourselves, and one another, upon these grounds!

 Richard Sibbes, The Complete Works of Richard Sibbes, ed. Alexander Balloch Grosart, vol. 2 (Edinburgh; London; Dublin: James Nichol; James Nisbet And Co.; W. Robertson, 1862), 7–10.

How Narratives Work, Part 2

11 Saturday Nov 2017

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After noting the plot points in the section under consideration, we should note how this particular section of Acts 4 fits into the larger narratives.  First, this scene of Peter and John before the counsel fits into a larger section running from Acts 3:1 and ending with 4:35.

The scene in chapter 3 begins with Peter and John coming to the temple to pray. They meet a lame beggar at the Beautiful Gate. The beggar hopes to receive alms. Peter tells the man what he does not have (“silver and gold”) but he also makes an offer:

But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!”

Acts 3:6 (ESV). If the close of the extended is 4:35, there is an interesting parallel concerning wealth, because 4:32-35 concerns the distribution of wealth throughout the church. If the section ends with 4:31, it closes with prayer. Acts 3 begins with the apostles going to prayer and having no wealth.

The man having been healed in the name of Jesus, a crowd gathers. Peter preaches a Gospel sermon “proved” by the power of Jesus in healing this man and the power of God in raising Jesus:

15 and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. 16 And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.

Acts 3:15–16 (ESV).

Chapter 4 then begins with the power of the state in arresting and trying Peter and John. Luke parenthetically points to the power of the Word of God:

But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.

Acts 4:4 (ESV). The apostles are interrogated concerning the source of the miracle: “By what power or in what name”? Whose authority is at play here?

Peter responds with a quotation from Psalm 118, that Jesus is the cornerstone.

There is then the famous response of Peter concerning God’s authority versus the authority of the state:

 

19 But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, 20 for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”

Acts 4:19–20 (ESV).  Having been threatened by the powers that be, Peter and John return to the church.

The church prays: first, a praise to God for his sovereignty even persecution: Jesus was killed by wicked me which was “whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place” (Acts 4:27). They then pray for boldness to stand against the threats and persecution.

This section fits within the larger narrative of the primitive church’s growth and Peter’s preaching.

Finally, there is the master narrative set forth in the prologue: Luke was the “beginning” of what Jesus did and taught (Acts 1:2); and Jesus’ programmatic statement for Acts:

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Acts 1:8. Jesus will continue to work and teach, but it will be through the power of the Holy Spirit and it will be through the witness of these disciples. The events of Acts 3 & 4 are further examples of how Jesus healed a man; how the disciples were witnesses to Jesus; and how this was done through the work of the Spirit (Acts 4:8, “Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit’).

In doing this, we are still at the observation stage of our work. We note the major plot points of a section. We then note the general themes of the section and how these look compared to the larger narrative(s).

The Spirit Always Leads People to Think

31 Monday Jul 2017

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So the first effect of Christianity is to make people stop and think. They are not simply overawed by some great occasion. They say, “No, I must face this. I must think.” That is the work of the Spirit. The people in Acts thought again. They repented—the Greek word is metanoia—they changed their mind completely. The Spirit always leads people to think, and, as I have been showing you, the greatest trouble is that men and women go through life without thinking. Or they think for a moment but find it painful, so they stop and turn to a bottle of whiskey or television or something else—anything to forget.
Is it not obvious that the world, speaking spiritually and intellectually, is in a doped condition? In all sorts of ways men and women evade the facts. They can do this with great energy, they can be very intellectual, but ultimately they end up with nothing.
What does the Spirit make us think about? Well, not first and foremost about ourselves. I must emphasize that Christianity does not start with us. It does not say, “Do you want to get rid of that sin that is getting you down? Do you want happiness? Do you want peace? Do you want guidance?” That is not Christianity. That, again, is the approach of the cults. No, these people in Jerusalem were made to think about Jesus Christ! They were given the objective, historical facts about this person. Peter had just said to them, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
The next verse continues, “Now when they heard this”—they were not thinking about themselves but were beginning to think about Him. That is always the message of the Christian church. The true Christian message brings us face to face with the historical facts.

 

Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “Becoming a Christian,” in Authentic Christianity, 1st U.S. ed., vol. 1, Studies in the Book of Acts (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2000), 53–54.

The Greatest and Finest Product of Human History

02 Tuesday May 2017

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

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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.

Should we pray to the Holy Spirit?

09 Saturday Jul 2016

Posted by in Abraham Kuyper, Charles Hodge, Charles Spurgeon, Prayer, Trinity, Uncategorized

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In Daniel Block’s “For the Glory of God”, he asks the question as to whether we should address worship specifically and personally to the Spirit.  His analysis begins with three observations:

  1.  “No one addresses the Holy Spirit in prayer, or bows to the Holy Spirit, or serves him in a liturgical gesture. Put simply, in the Bible the Spirit is never the object of worship.”
  2. “The Spirit drives the worship of believers yet does not receive worship.”
  3. “In true worship, the person of the Trinity may not be interchanged without changing the significance of the work.”

He notes two historical developments in the church. First, is the development of the Doxology,

Praise God from whom all blessings flow,

Praise him all creatures here below;

Praise him above you heavenly host;

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

He noted that it derives from Gloria Patri per Filium in Spiritu Sancto, Glory to God the Father, through the Son, in the Spirit. This was changed in response to the Arians, which sought to ontologically subordinate Jesus. To avoid that movement, the connections where changed to “and” from “through” and “in”.

The second development was the Charismatic movement to single out the Spirit for particular adoration in prayer and song.

Block is reticent to make the Spirit the unique object of worship

When we read Scripture, the focus will on God the Father or Jesus Christ the Son. However, it seems that the Holy Spirit is most honored when we accept his conviction of sin, his transforming and sanctifying work within us, and his guidance in life and ministry, and when in response to his leading we prostrate ourselves before Jesus.

This emphasis on the Spirit’s work in is matched by an interesting comment from Kuyper

It appears from Scripture, more than has been emphasized, that in the holy act of prayer there is a manifestation of the Holy Spirit working both in us and with us.

Kuyper, Holy Spirit (1946), trans. de Vries, p. 618.

James Hastings has a discussion on prayer directed to the Spirit. The conclusion comes in his last paragraph:

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Orthodox Paradoxes: The Spirit

23 Tuesday Feb 2016

Posted by in Pneumatology, Theology, Uncategorized

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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.

The Spiritual Chymist, Meditation 13

19 Friday Jun 2015

Posted by in Meditaiton, Pneumatology

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(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 in Bibliology, Christology, John, Pneumatology

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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.