Category Archives: Holy Spirit

Cross Vision 14 – Misusing Divine Power

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Summarising chapter 15

Power – including God-given power – can be abused.

Jesus – fully human as well as fully God – submitted himself perfectly to his Father’s will.  Like us, he was tempted, but unlike us, he was without sin.  So, when the Father invested him with power, he used it wisely and obediently.  He could have abused that power (Mt 4:2-7; 26:53), but he didn’t.

But, in the case of Moses, Samson, Elijah and Elisha and others, there were times when they did abuse their God-given power. …

Eph 1:13f – ‘The seal of the promised Holy Spirit’

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1:13 And when you heard the word of truth (the gospel of your salvation)—when you believed in Christ—you were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit, 1:14 who is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of his glory.

Compare the same passage in the Authorised Version:

‘In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

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On Spiritual Gifts

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Comparison and analysis Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12 reveals that:

  1. No one has all gifts; therefore, there is no room for pride or boasting.
  2. No one is without some gift; therefore, no room for idleness or despair.
  3. Gifts differ; therefore no room for envy, jealousy or interference.
  4. God himself distributes; therefore, no room for complaint or discontent.
  5. All gifts are needful; therefore no room for neglect or indifference.
  6. All gifts derive power from the Giver; therefore, no room for weakness and inefficiency.
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The Holy Spirit and Christ

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  1. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, Mt 1:18,20; Lk 1:35.
  2. He was anointed for service by the Holy Spirit, Acts 10:38; Isaiah 61:1; Luke 4:14, 18.
  3. His public ministry was empowered by the Holy Spirit, Mt 4:1; Mk 1:12; Lk 3:22; 4:1, 14; Jn 1:32; 3:34; Acts 10:38.
  4. His miracles were performed in the power of the Holy Spirit, Mt 12:18; 1 Cor 12:9f.
  5. His extraordinary wisdom was given to him by the Holy Spirit, Isa 11:2/Mt 12:17f.
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Where is the Holy Spirit in the Lord’s Prayer?

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This is the title of a recent post by Ian Paul.  What follows is based on that article.

We might well think that prayer, if it is to be regarded as distinctively Christian prayer, should be Trinitarian.

But what, then, are we to make of the Christian’s model prayer, which does not mention the Holy Spirit at all.

Ian Paul suggests that the Holy Spirit is indeed ‘present’ in the Lord’s Prayer, even though not mentioned.…

John 15:25 – ‘The Spirit…who goes out from the Father’

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John 15:26 “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me.”

A long doctrinal debate about the ‘procession of the Holy Spirit’ has centred on this expression.  The idea of the Holy .Spirit’s ‘procession’ from the Father was understood in ontological terms.  To the basic formula the Western church added the ‘filioque’ (‘and the Son’) clause, and this was a point of division between the Eastern and Western branches of the church. …

The Holy Spirit creates evangelistic opportunities

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Tim Chester writes:

‘I remember hearing the story of a Christian couple in Iran. They were making a long journey, so they committed to share the gospel with someone each day. Towards the end of one day they went to buy petrol, and at the petrol station there was a man with a full beard and a gun, a sign that he was a radical Muslim. The wife said, ‘I think you should tell that man the gospel.’

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Six things the Holy Spirit does in Acts

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1. The Holy Spirit directs the mission of God’s people

Acts 1:8 – “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 farthest parts of the earth.”

‘We don’t need a call to mission. We already have one – the Great Commission. But sometimes the Spirit prompts a church, as he does in Acts 13:1–3, to send their best people.

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Jn 20:22/Acts 2 – How many Pentecosts?

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John 20:22 And after he said this, he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

The relationship between this gift of the Spirit and the Pentecostal outpouring is debated (Klink outlines seven different interpretations).

Some, such as Barrett, think that the two accounts cannot be harmonised.

Among those who do look for harmonisation, the following interpretations have been proposed.

1. Two versions of the same event?

Many modern commentators argue that there is one gift of the Holy Spirit, independently witnessed to by Luke and John. …

Mark 3:29; Luke 12:10 – The unpardonable sin

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Mt 12:31f “People will be forgiven for every sin and blasphemy, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 12:32 Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven. But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.”

Mk 3:29 “Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven, but is guilty of an eternal sin”

Lk 12:10 “The person who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.”…