A gracEmail reader asks whether we are baptized "in" the Holy Spirit or "by" the Holy Spirit, since the Greek preposition en used in 1 Corinthians 12:13 can mean either, and what difference it makes anyway. * * * Paul's comments in 1 Corinthians 12:13 stand in contrast to his remarks about Israel's "baptism" earlier in the same epistle (1 Cor. 10:1-3). There he pointed out that all the Exodus generation of Israelites were baptized "in" the cloud and sea, "into" (or "unto") relationship with Moses. Later, in 12:13, he notes that all Christians are baptized "in" the Holy Spirit -- by Jesus, I … [Read more...]
ANOINTED PREACHING
A sister in Virginia writes, "You recently asked readers to pray that God would 'anoint' your messages during a weekend preaching mission. This is not a word commonly used by people in my church. Please elaborate on what you mean." * * * This figure of speech goes back to the Old Testament practice of pouring oil over the head of someone being formally set apart for service to God, whether the "anointed" person was a prophet, priest or king (Ex. 28:41; 1 Sam. 16:1-3; Zech. 4:14). By this act, the faith-community acknowledged that God also had "anointed" or poured out special grace on the … [Read more...]
HOLY SPIRIT & SANCTIFICATION
A gracEmail subscriber invites my thoughts concerning the role of the Holy Spirit regarding our sanctification as children of God. * * * "Sanctification" is the process of being "sanctified" (from the Latin root word) or being made "holy" (from the Anglo-Saxon word), both of which refer to being set apart exclusively for God. These words have a rich priestly background in the Old Testament where the priests, the tabernacle, the sacrifices and all the furniture and utensils related to those things were dedicated exclusively to God and were considered holy for that reason. In a fundamental … [Read more...]
HOLY SPIRIT OUTSIDE THE BIBLE
A gracEmail reader writes: "I ordered tapes from a religious event, in which someone said that the Holy Spirit works only through the Bible and does not actually live in the Christian. Would you discuss that sometime?" * * * This eccentric notion was once common in Churches of Christ but has largely disappeared today, as the result of an ongoing biblical renewal and gospel revival currently underway in that nondenomination. The argument served several purposes, none of them biblically valid. It attempted to deflect testimonies of other Christians who claimed contemporary spiritual gifts. It … [Read more...]
I BELIEVE IN THE HOLY SPIRIT
A brother in South America writes, "I noticed that you said: I 'believe in' the Lord Jesus Christ, and I 'believe in' the Father. Would it be correct also to say, 'I believe in the Holy Spirit?'" * * * Indeed, the answer to your question must be "Yes," for the Holy Spirit is none other than the Spirit of God and the Spirit of the risen Jesus Christ. Throughout Scripture, the Spirit is the personal, powerful presence of the one and only God (Gen. 1:2; Ezek. 36:27; Lk. 1:35). But before God came to dwell invisibly in the Spirit, he came and dwelled in visible form, enfleshed in the man we know … [Read more...]
JESUS, MESSIAH, CHRIST
A gracEmail subscriber asks the meaning of the words "Messiah" and "Christ," and why the Jews rejected Jesus when their prophets had foretold his coming. Part 1 The English word "Messiah" is spelled from the Hebrew word Meshiach which means "an anointed one." The English word "Christ" is spelled from the Greek word Christos, which means the same thing. In the Old Testament, prophets, priests and kings were "anointed" with oil as part of their ordination or coronation. This symbolized that they were God's appointed people, chosen by him for particular service and accountable to him for … [Read more...]
JESUS LEADS TO GOD
A gracEmail reader in England asks, "If Jesus calls himself the 'way' to the Father, then Jesus is the route and God his Father is the destination. Yet most Christian churches seem to focus on Jesus rather than on God. Is that really biblical?" * * * Christians believe the claims made by Jesus of Nazareth that the one and only living God was his Father in a unique sense which is true of no other human who ever lived. Jesus said that he came to earth from the Father and that he was going back to the Father (John 16:28). He insisted that whoever sees him sees the Father (John 14:8-9). He … [Read more...]
THE BEGINNING OF JESUS
A gracEmail subscriber asks: "Did Jesus Christ have a body before he became a man?" * * * Next door to me live Jesus, his wife and their son Jesus. Grandpa Jesus lives across the street. Although "Jesus" is a common Latino name it is rarely used among Anglos like myself. (Interestingly, both practices express the same intent, namely to show respect for Jesus Christ.) We therefore need to be reminded that the designation "Jesus Christ" includes both a name, "Jesus" (from the Hebrew "Yeshua," also translated "Joshua" in English), and a title, "Christ" (Greek for "The Anointed," or "Messiah" … [Read more...]
JESUS, JOHN’S GOSPEL & THE CREEDS
A friend urges that we accept the language of ancient Christian creeds concerning Jesus' existence before the Incarnation as eternally "God the Son." The Jehovah's Witnesses, on the other hand, say we should translate John 1:1 as "the Word was a god" and deny that God actually came as a man. What is the biblical balance here? * * * Certainly John 1 says that the Logos was divine, or God, and that it became incarnate in the man we know as Jesus of Nazareth. The Jehovah's Witnesses' "New World Translation" of the New Testament stands quite alone in claiming otherwise. On the other hand, it … [Read more...]
HUMANITY’S PURPOSE FULFILLED
Did you ever look at a starry sky on a clear night and feel very small indeed? Jesse's son David did, 3,000 years ago, as he watched his father's sheep out on the hills around Bethlehem. Later he wrote about it in Psalm 8. "When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?" (Ps. 8:4). Measured by the heavens, we humans are tiny almost to the point of invisible. Yet we have a most significant position in the divine order. God made us to exercise caring … [Read more...]
