And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. — Matthew 3:16 The Holy Spirit’s descent upon Jesus as he’s coming...
Living the Christian life without the Holy Spirit is like having the wind knocked out of you: painful and scary. Our spiritual life and health are entirely dependent on a constant, unwavering dependence on the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, like...
I was in Port-au-Prince, Haiti just a couple of weeks ago teaching a Masters course for Indiana Wesleyan University for 40 Haitian students. The title of the course was Exegetical Analysis of the Gospels. The core of the course focused on methodical...
And the Spirit was hovering over the waters… (Gen 1:2b) I’ve always been intrigued by the Spirit of God hovering over the watery chaos just before God speaks order into the vast and formless deep. On the one hand we have the watery...
Many Christians struggle with understanding how the Old Testament and New Testament fit together. One of the particular ares of difficulty is understanding how the Mosaic Law (things such as food laws and other ceremonials laws) fits together with...
We cannot miss how Paul, in the overall structure of the Epistle to the Romans, juxtaposes the contrast between Holy Spirit and the Torah as two different, but related means for sealing the covenants, both old and new. The Holy Spirit as the new...
We celebrated Pentecost last week. We are reminded during the season of Pentecost that Jesus, as he always does, fulfilled his promise to his disciples by sending the Holy Spirit. Questions remain, however, as to where we go from here. What does...
The more of N.T. Wright I read the more excited I become. To start, I find that his critique of Piper is spot on with specific regard to the following items: 1. Neglect of the covenant as the context for God’s saving the world. This point...
The Benedictus (the title being derived from the first word of the song “Blessed” in Latin: Benedictus Dominus Deus Israel), found in Luke 1:68-80, is traditionally read during the Advent season celebrating events surrounding the coming of Jesus...