The Father sealed us in the Son with the Holy Spirit. The indwelling Spirit is a pledge of greater things to come. This is Ephesians 1:13–14 in a nutshell. But what exactly is this sealing, and how is the Spirit a pledge? Sealed with the Spirit Sealing something in the Old or New Testament has… Read More »
The Holy Spirit helps us on our way to heaven. He lives within us, empowering us for good and enabling us for service, and He endeavors by praying for us to the Father. Romans 8:26–27 teaches us about the Spirit’s ministry of intercession. Some of what Romans 8:26–27 teaches is fairly clear. Our human weakness… Read More »
Romans 8:16 asserts, “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” What does this verse mean? The verb “bears witness with” is all one word in the Greek (summartureō), a combination of the preposition “with” (sun) and the verb “to bear witness” (martureō). Paul uses this verb only two… Read More »
What is the filling of the Spirit? This article attempts to concisely answer to this question from the NT as it describes those who were full of or filled with the Spirit. Luke and Acts describe many who were filled with the Spirit for the purpose of speaking the Word of God. John the Baptist… Read More »
If one were to do a bit of reading, he would see that many who have historically asked the first titled question really intend to answer, “Was the Holy Spirit active in an Old Testament believer’s salvation and sanctification?” And, because most would at least say that the Spirit was active at the initial point… Read More »
In contrast to antichrists who deny essential truths about Jesus Christ (1 John 2:18–19; cf.2:22; 4:3; 2 John 7), the readers of 1 John are told, “But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge” (1 John 2:20), literally translated, “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and… Read More »
We have a guest speaker this Sunday at my church. He’ll be preaching from 1 Thessalonians 1, and this is a blurb I’ve pulled from my dissertation and added to our bulletin to complement his sermon. Paul reminded to the Thessalonians that “our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power… Read More »
Last week we saw that the OT prophets prophesied the Spirit’s outpouring, and John the Baptist prophesied that Christ would baptize with the Spirit. After having considered why there was a change of metaphor, we might ask, does the change of metaphor make any difference? In one sense, it makes no difference to say that we… Read More »
Several prophets prophesied that the Spirit of God would be poured out upon those who God graced to receive such a pouring (Ezek 39:29, Joel 2:28–29, and Zech 12:10). One would expect that John the Baptist’s message of the Spirit’s work to come would use this same metaphor of pouring, especially when the OT prophesied… Read More »
Yesterday, I posted a list of nine spiritual gifts that I believe are no longer operative today. Here is a list of the remaining six that have been in use in the church since its birth at Pentecost.1 Teaching (Rom 12:7; cf. teachers, 1 Cor 12:28, 29): Teaching involves one’s proper understanding and effective communication of… Read More »