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19 results for “Holy Spirit”
Clear searchWhy the Trinity is not polytheism—and why Christians confess one God
…often rejected before it is accurately defined. “The Father is God, Jesus is God, and the Holy Spirit is God,” the objection runs. “That makes three gods.” It would—if Christians believed the Father, Son, and Spirit were three separate divine beings. Historic Christianity denies…
Read article →Circumcision of the heart and the identity of Paul's inward Jew
Does Romans 2:28-29 Make Christians "Spiritual Jews"? Circumcision of the heart and the identity of Paul's inward Jew Paul's description of the inward Jew is often treated as a decisive redefinition of Israel: "For he is not a…
Read article →Regathering, national rebirth, and the spiritual renewal still to come
The Restoration of the Nation of Israel Regathering, national rebirth, and the spiritual renewal still to come Israel's history contains both judgement and preservation. The Jewish people were conquered, exiled, dispersed across continents, denied sovereignty, and repe…
Read article →The olive tree, the natural branches, and the limits of the metaphor
…the picture represent? Paul introduces two related comparisons: "For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches." —Romans 11:16 The firstfruit consecrates the lump, and the root gives the branches their covenantal standing. The…
Read article →Why the final seven is unfinished, future, and centred upon Israel and Jerusalem
…ion. Daniel confesses Israel's covenant rebellion and pleads for "thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain" (Daniel 9:16). Gabriel's answer retains those subjects: "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end o…
Read article →What 'yea and Amen' in Christ means for Israel and the covenants
…ne of the Twelve. The recipients remain meaningful because the promises are not shapeless spiritual benefits. They contain identifiable persons, relationships, events, offices, places, and outcomes. Christ secures their fulfilment according to God's purpose; He does not make ever…
Read article →The gathering of the elect, one taken and one left, and Paul's revealed mystery
…rophetic world of Israel: The abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel stands in the holy place. Those in Judea must flee to the mountains. Flight on the sabbath day creates a specific difficulty. False messianic claimants exploit Israel's expectation. The Son of man appears…
Read article →Fulfilment in Christ, the inclusion of the Gentiles, and Israel's future mercy
…le inclusion may enlarge the company of the blessed without requiring Israel's exclusion. Spiritual unity may coexist with distinctions which the New Testament itself continues to make. The question is therefore not whether the promises are fulfilled in Christ. They are. The ques…
Read article →The man of sin, the last trumpet, the first resurrection, and the last day
…be revealed" (2 Thessalonians 2:7-8). The text does not identify the restrainer, but the Spirit's present restraining ministry through the Church remains a plausible explanation. The chapter is genuinely disputed. Its purpose is to deny that the Day has arrived, not to give an e…
Read article →Why Israel's failure cannot make the word of God fail
…is name. Ezekiel declares: "I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name's sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went." —Ezekiel 36:22 The passage then promises regathering, cleansing, a new heart, and the indwelling Spirit (Ezekiel…
Read article →Conditional blessing, irrevocable promise, and fulfilment in Christ
…produce under the law. The covenants are not competing plans. Together they reveal how a holy God judges sin without surrendering the purpose He has sworn to accomplish. The Abrahamic covenant establishes the promise God called Abram and promised to make of him a great nation, g…
Read article →Signs, expectancy, and the event the Church is told to await
…does not identify the restrainer in the surviving letter, so certainty is impossible. The Holy Spirit's restraining ministry through the Church is a plausible identification, and its withdrawal fits a gathering before the lawless ruler's unveiled career. The Spirit Himself would…
Read article →Seeing God, bodily resurrection, and life in the renewed creation
…arks of crucifixion, and He ate with His disciples. Paul does call the resurrection body “spiritual” (1 Corinthians 15:44), but the contrast is not between material and immaterial. A spiritual body is a body fully animated and governed by the Spirit, no longer subject to corrupti…
Read article →What Jesus promised the apostles about Israel's future
…renewal or re-creation. Its only other New Testament occurrence refers to the believer's spiritual renewal (Titus 3:5), but Matthew supplies a different setting here: the Son of man sits upon the throne of His glory. The same Gospel later uses almost identical language: "When th…
Read article →The wicked husbandmen, the fruit-bearing nation, and what Jesus said afterwards
…tion of Jewish ethnicity. Nor is it a declaration that God's promises had always belonged spiritually to a different people. It is a polemic against identifiable rulers at a decisive moment in Israel's history. The consequences nevertheless reach beyond those individual men. Jeru…
Read article →Earth-dwellers, heaven-dwellers, and the literary structure of the Apocalypse
…nt, the Church must be present. The conclusion assumes what must be proved. Saint means a holy person. Israel had saints before Pentecost. The Church did not create God's ability to save. If the Church is gathered before the final week, people may still believe through the testim…
Read article →A forensic reading of Christ's Olivet Discourse
…re shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place... Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains." —Matthew 24:15-16 The holy place, Judea, the mountains, and the danger of returning from the housetop or field form a…
Read article →A sign of Israel's renewal, not Israel's disappearance
…roject. Nor should the believing remnant be made identical with the unbelieving nation in spiritual standing. The Twelve represent Israel as it ought to be—gathered around, taught by, and obedient to its Messiah—while calling the wider nation to the same faith. Does this make the…
Read article →The positive argument of the whole series, brought together
…me has a defined subject Daniel's seventy weeks are decreed upon "thy people and upon thy holy city" (Daniel 9:24). After the sixty-nine weeks Messiah is cut off and Jerusalem is later destroyed. The final week therefore remains distinct, with a covenant, a marked midpoint, sacri…
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