New Testament

It is time for us to wake up! For our full salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. Romans 13:11
Jesus said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 18:3

I wrote last week about the raw, organic, non-GMO gospel… This diet move that’s happening in the natural world mirrors a spiritual hunger that many Christians are longing for today when they look at the Bible, their local churches…everything. They want to read the Bible with raw, real organic lenses that aren’t processed or filtered with a man-made assumptions and theologies. They just want to see it like it is—they want to experience God in the unprocessed and authentic. 

[Feel free to skip this paragraph: Cessationism believes that the Holy Spirit stopped (ceased) working in the life of believers in power in the 300’s AD and therefore there are no spiritual gifts like healing and no miracles today. Google it if you want a deeper explanation.]

In preparation for this study, I see denominational leaders and respected professors at historically cessationist seminaries toying with the idea, “What if…? What if we can have the Holy Spirit’s power and keep our doctrine that denies the power of the Spirit working in modern times? How can we experience the power and peace and joy of the Holy Spirit and still maintain our historic doctrine?” Undoubtedly, that’s a big step for them.

But their students and parishioners aren’t being so cautious: They’re discarding the cessationist dogmata and reading the Bible for themselves and realizing that the promises of the Holy Spirit’s power residing inside of us can no longer be ignored by theologies that strain to keep the power of the Spirit at bay. (more…)

And the disciples were continually filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. Acts 13:52
Do not get drunk with wine, for that living recklessly; but be filled with the Spirit. Ephesians 5:18

Paul taught the early believers to “be filled with the Spirit.” Being filled with the Spirit is both a privilege and an essential part of living a Christian life. The word “filled” is in the present tense and is to be a constant, repeated way of life. We are to be filled and then “re-filled” again and again.

As we grow more and more intimate with Jesus, we live more completely and continuously by the power of the Holy Spirit, which is in us:

“Since the Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from death, lives in you, then he who raised Christ from death will also give life to your mortal bodies through the presence of his Spirit in you” (Rom. 8:11). (more…)

So I say, walk by the Spirit…
Yield freely and fully to the dynamic life and power of the Holy Spirit…
Let the Holy Spirit guide your lives
Galatians 5:16

We’ve been looking at the Holy Spirit theologically and so far we’ve looked at Him from the perspective of Academic theology, Historical theology, Spiritual theology, and today we’ll look at the Holy Spirit from Practical theology.

Practical theology asks the “What now?” Given the truths we’ve discovered, how do we personally apply what we know in a hands-on way? How does this change you and me?

1. First of all, the Holy Spirit gives us supernatural power. Jesus said in Acts 1:8, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. It’s telling that Paul warned us to stay far away from Christians who don’t have power (2 Tim 3:5). Just look at the disciples before and after the Spirit indwelled them at Pentecost (Acts 2ff). What now? What are we going to do with this power? (more…)

[Jesus said,] I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Holy Spirit will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. John 16:7

In today’s verse, Jesus gives us an amazing promise about the Holy Spirit, yet many of us just gloss over it: It is to our advantage, He said, that He return to heaven, because then we can receive the Spirit. If asked whether we would rather have Jesus beside us or the Spirit inside us, how many of us would really choose the Spirit? This is where Spiritual Theology comes in.

When spiritual theology looks at a principle, it asks “So what?” What difference does it make? How does this work out in our every-day lives? What does my own (and other’s) life-experience teach us about this?

Did you know that the largest Christian denomination on earth has only in the last 25 years conceded that the earth is round? That’s right. For centuries they taught flat earth. Then as that position became harder to defend they sort of let the matter go quiet. Finally, on Oct 31, 1992, they capitulated. What took them so long? They didn’t have their Spiritual Theology down. They clung to badly interpreted proof texts and ignored the evidence of orbiting spacecrafts. They ignored experience.

For many Christians, the same thing holds true when they consider the Holy Spirit. They cling to badly interpreted proof texts and ignores all that the Holy Spirit is doing in other parts of the Body. Complaining about ‘excesses’ and warning of Satan posing as an angel of light (2 Cor 11:14), they tuck the Holy Spirit into a category of things not understood and go on their way. (more…)

I will ask the Father and he will give you another Comforter (Intercessor, Counselor, Strengthener), the Holy Spirit of Truth, who will be with you—and He will never leave you…You will know him intimately, because he will make his home in you and will live inside you. John 14:16,17

Last time we talked about 4 ways to look at any hard-to-grasp topic in the Bible. 

1.      Academic theology asks What? What can we learn intellectually and how should we interpret that information?
2.      Historical theology asks When? It looks at what has been learned over time and how does it relate to our current understanding?
3.      Spiritual theology asks “So what?” How does this work out in our every-day lives? What does my own (and others’) life-experience teach us?
4.      Practical theology asks the “What now?” Given the truths we’ve discovered, how do we personally apply what we know in a hands-on way? How does this change you and me?

So today I want to look at the first way to look at the Holy Spirit: What information do we have? (more…)

Then, taking a deep breath, [Jesus] blew on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.  John 20:22

When we look at a topic like the Holy Spirit there are at least four ways to look at it: academic, historical, spiritual, and practical. All are theological, and most people only look at the Holy Spirit one or two of these ways, which accounts for why the topic of the Holy Spirit can get so clouded. 

So today I want to consider HOW we look at the Spirit…

Academic theology (including systematic, biblical, exegetical, and lexical) explores the “What?” questions. It’s based on logic, philosophical questions and cognitive understanding. If we were to look at water from this viewpoint, we’d see a combination of hydrogen and oxygen, and consider the qualities of water (liquid, solid, gas), its erosive nature, etc. Of course, Academic theology begins looking at the Spirit from the texts of the Bible, and quickly breaks down those texts in an orderly and logical way, reaching conclusions based on that orderly scholarship.

Historical theology explores the development of doctrine over time. It asks the “When?” questions. It uncovers and presents the doctrine of the Holy Spirit in evangelical tradition or other traditions and how it has evolved from the time of the Bible writes and church fathers to arrive at the state it is today. Using our water analogy, we’d see the historical: what did people used to think about water, how has that changed? Where is the latest thinking leading? Of course, historical theology begins with the texts of the Bible and quickly moves on to how those texts were interpreted in the early church, the church of the Middle Ages, the reformation, various renewal and revivals since then. (more…)