Archive for God
A Defense of the Deity of Christ
Posted by: | CommentsIslam claims Jesus was a mere human being, a prophet of God, superseded by Muhammad who was the last and greatest of the prophets. Christianity insists Jesus is God in human flesh. Whatever other points of commonality there may be between these two forms of monotheism, there is no adjudicating this conflict. Both beliefs are at the heart of their system, and each is diametrically opposed to the other. Since we have already considered the evidence for Muhammad’s claim, it remains to examine the Christian claim that Christ is the very Son of God.
The Holy Spirit is the Principal Person
Posted by: | CommentsJesus Christ now dwells invisibly in His church in the person of the Holy Spirit. Before leaving His disciples, Jesus assured them that the Father would send them “another Counselor … the Spirit of truth.”1 The Greek word that is translated “another” is a specific term meaning literally “another of the same kind.” For three and one-half years, in fulfillment of Isaiah’s prediction that He would be called a “Counselor” Jesus guided, instructed, rebuked, encouraged, and taught His disciples.2 He was truly their Counselor. During His ministry, of course, Jesus counseled many other individuals as well.3
The Holy Spirit and Counseling
Posted by: | CommentsCounseling Is the Work of the Spirit
Counseling is the work of the Holy Spirit. Effective counseling cannot be done apart from him. He is called the paraclete1 (“counselor”) who in Christ’s place came to be another counselor2 of the same sort that Christ had been to his disciples.3 Because unsaved counselors do not know the Holy Spirit, they ignore his counseling activity and fail to avail themselves of his direction and power.
The Work of the Spirit and Biblical Counseling
Posted by: | CommentsA recent book titled I’m Dysfunctional, You’re Dysfunctional, by Wendy Kaminer, debunks much of the mystique of modern psychology.1 The author does not purport to be a Christian. In fact, she describes herself as “a skeptical, secular humanist, Jewish, feminist, intellectual lawyer.”2 Yet she writes as a bitter critic of the marriage of religion and psychology. She notes that religion and psychology have always more or less deemed one another incompatible. Now she sees “not just a truce but a remarkable accommodation.”3 Even from her perspective as an unbeliever, she can see that this accommodation has meant a change in the fundamental message Christians convey to the world. She writes:
TRINITY: A Definition, Explanation and History
Posted by: | CommentsA commonplace of contemporary trinitarian theology is the priority it grants to the narrative and symbolic discourse of Christian worship and proclamation over the leaner, conceptual discourse of theological theory itself. Theology continues to employ conceptual forms of thought in probing the meaning of Trinity, but recently deepened appreciation of the more spontaneous discourse of lived Christian praxis—both biblical and ongoing in the life of the church—suggests a more conscious subordination of trinitarian theory to what might be called the “semantic aim” of Christian proclamation and worship.
The Openness Of God: A Critical Assessment
Posted by: | CommentsOver the last decade, careful readers of Christianity Today will have detected a major paradigm shift occurring within evangelical theology which is now leading to its potential breaking point. First it was a megashift in our language about God, sin, and salvation, that is, a shift away from the language of divine holiness, wrath, and justice to that of relationships, self-fulfillment, and love.1 Now, in recent days, it is a megashift, not only in how we talk of God, but in the very doctrine of God itself, especially in the crucial formulations of divine sovereignty, omniscience, and providence.2 At the heart of this shift is the view of “open” or “freewill theism,” promoted by a growing number of evangelicals such as Clark Pinnock, John Sanders, Richard Rice, William Hasker, David Basinger, Robert Brow, and Gregory Boyd, which proposes to be a “new” understanding of God for our generation, a middle position between classical theism and process thought.3 As the proponents of this view tell us, no longer should we view God as the sovereign Lord who for his own glory works out all things according to the counsel of his will. Rather, we should view God as the self-limiting, fellow sufferer, and loving parent who relates to his creatures in such a way that he comes to know events as they take place since he does not know the future in exhaustive detail before it happens.
Ways Of Describing The Holy Trinity
Posted by: | CommentsIn this article I want to distinguish distinctions between three ways of speaking of the Lord who is “The Trinity.” These are the biblical presentation(s) of God as a unity in plurality; the church dogma of God as the “immanent” Trinity and the teaching of theologians of God as the “economic” Trinity.
The Formation Of The Doctrine Of The Trinity In The Early Church
Posted by: | CommentsThe doctrine of the Trinity requires explanation. Over almost two millennia and throughout the world it has been one of the most central and distinctive elements of Christian faith. Yet the word “Trinity” does not appear in the Bible, and for that reason pastors who follow a rigidly expository method in their preaching may never find themselves preaching on the Trinity. Churches that observe the framework of the Christian year should hear about the Trinity annually when Trinity Sunday comes around. Nevertheless, many churches that cordially assent to the historic creeds as well as Reformation and post-Reformation confessions appear to have a tenuous awareness of this fundamental doctrine.
The Undivided Three: The Doctrine Of The Trinity In Church History
Posted by: | CommentsAmong the greatest achievements of the early church is the forging of the doctrine of the Trinity. It received classical expression in the fourth-century creedal statement known to history as the Nicene Creed, in which Jesus Christ is unequivocally declared to be “true God” and “of one being (homoousios) with the Father” and the Holy Spirit is said to be the “Lord and Giver of life,” who “together with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified.”1 Some historians have argued that this document represents the apex of the Hellenization of the church’s teaching, in which fourth-century Christianity traded the vitality of the New Testament church’s experience of God for a cold philosophical formula. Actually, nothing could be further from the truth. The Nicene Creed served to sum up a long process of reflection that had its origins in the Christian communities of the first century. As Douglas Ottati, an American professor of theology who teaches at Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Virginia, has recently put it: “Trinitarian theology continues a biblically initiated exploration.”2 Or, in the words of an earlier twentieth-century orthodox theologian Benjamin B. Warfield: the “doctrine of the Trinity lies in Scripture in solution; when it is crystallized from its solvent it does not cease to be scriptural, but only comes into clearer view.”3
The Doctrine Of The Trinity: Is It Biblical?
Posted by: | CommentsAmong the many things that ought to humble us is how little we know about God. We may measure this ignorance in several ways. First, we must feel keenly how little we know of the revelation of God that we have in the Scriptures. We have found Augustine’s oft-quoted maxim true: “The Scriptures are a river in which an infant may wade and an elephant may swim.”1 Some of us who once hoped to be elephantine in mastering the Book have, in fact, demonstrated the clumsiness of an elephant while wading in its fringes.
A Case for the Existence of the Trinity in the Book of Hebrews
Posted by: | CommentsThis section will focus on what the Epistle of Hebrews displays concerning the triune God. First, each Person of the Trinity will be surveyed to find out a common ground that speaks of the Trinitarian presence in Hebrews. Due to the author’s Christological emphasis, God the Son1 will be discussed extensively. Then, the analysis will concentrate on God the Father, and God the Holy Spirit, respectively. How does the Book of Hebrews speak of the second Person of the triune God?
God the Son
From the very outset, Hebrews speaks of Jesus Christ as God’s Son, Heir, Creator, Sustainer, Savior, and Ruler, who sits at the right hand of God (1:2–3). Heb. 1:1–2 introduces a contrast of God’s revelation to the fathers in the prophets (ἐν τοῖς προφήταις), and His revelation “to us in His Son” (ἐν υἰῶ). This
Signs and Miracles in John
Posted by: | CommentsIntroduction
The Bible has many different examples of Jesus performing miracles and signs. This paper will look at eight specific instances where Jesus performed a sign or miracle. The surrounding events and circumstances will be explored and how these signs and miracles show that Jesus is truly God, Immanuel with us.
The turning of water to wine
A brief description of the events of turning the water to wine:
Jesus is at a wedding in the city of Cana with his disciples and his mother, when the supply of wine for the wedding ran out. Weddings are a symbol of love and joy, and Jesus in demonstrating his love for the couple replenished their supply. It is interesting to note that Moses first sign was turning water into blood, while Jesus’ first sign was turning water into wine. (Keener, 1993) Read More→
Charismatic Gifts: Are They Still Present Today?
Posted by: | CommentsThe discussion regarding whether the Charismatic “sign” gifts are still present today is a topic which reaches to the very core of our emotions, both for those who believe the gifts are evident today, and also for those who do not. While reading through this topic in our book it is noted that the authors place together those from the extremist side of this debate and those who are just trying to worship Jesus. As one who has been to many Pentecostal (Assemblies of God) churches, it is very rare to find being “slain in the spirit”, “laughing in the spirit”, etc. in their churches, yet one does find speaking in tongues but probably not at every one. However, that said I do believe some of what you see on TV or in certain churches is not of God, or comes very close to crossing a line-It is not beneficial to name, “names” God knows who they are, but we must pray for those acting in ways we question.
Islam and Understanding The Trinity
Posted by: | CommentsA Defense of the Trinity
As Christian doctrine, the deity of Christ and the Trinity are inseparable. If one accepts the biblical teaching about the deity of Christ, then he has already acknowledged that there is more than one person in the Godhead. Conversely, if the doctrine of the Trinity is received, then the deity of Christ is already part of it. This is precisely why Muslims reject both, since to accept either is to them a denial of the absolute unity of God.
Muslim Misunderstanding of Biblical Data on the Trinity
There are several obstacles in the Muslim mind that hinder accepting the Christian doctrine of the triunity of God. Some are philosophical and others are biblical. We have already discussed how Islamic scholars engage in an arbitrary and selective use of the biblical texts as it suits their purposes (see Chapter 10). However, even the texts they pronounce “authentic” are twisted or misinterpreted to support their teachings. An examination of several of the more important ones will illustrate our point.
Read More→