According to Jesus, Peter--in Mark 8-- "did not have in mind the things of God, but the
things of men." Unable to accept a suffering Savior as a fundamental part of
God's will he would have shaped Jesus in his own image. Of course, God's way
of dealing with the problem of sin and human rebellion fails to conform to the
niceties of human expectations. Jesus shows no inclination to justify the ways of
God to men. He simply affirms that the way of the cross is the will of God.
What are some ways that we, like Peter, distort the character of God?
Give examples of false images, pictures, and expectations that we have of
him.
We also tend towards making gods in our own image. For example when we
say "I like to think of God as...." with total disregard for what Scripture
reveals. We develop expectations to which we want God to conform. We
decide how God ought to behave in certain situations and what ought to be given
to us. We decide which circumstances given to us are fair and which are unfair
and hold him in contempt when he does not abide by our standards. We may see
God as a Santa Claus figure, an old man who doesn't really notice how we live and who gives us what we ask for. We may view him as one whose primary job
is to secure our happiness believing that our happiness is what matters most and
that he could not possibly want us to suffer.
Making God in our own image condemns us to regular frustration and potential
bitterness because our view of reality is out line with the way the world really is.
But even more dangerously, the habit of making God in one's own image may
leave one eternally condemned. Believing ourselves to be following and
worshipping the true God, we may actually be using our religious devotion to an
invented god to keep the true God at a distance. The Bible's analysis is that what
often passes for seeking God is really just a front for evading him. The only
antidote to this tendency is to allow the Scriptures alone to be that which informs
you of God's nature and ways, and to neither add nor subtract from their
testimony. We pick and choose what we like and dislike about what the Bible
tells us about God's character, ways, and plans at our own peril.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
a couple of prophesies....
prophesied in Psalm 118:22-23
The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.
This is the Lord's doing;
it is marvelous in our eyes.
has become the cornerstone.
This is the Lord's doing;
it is marvelous in our eyes.
then....hundreds of years later.... Jesus....After telling a story making God the Landowner who sends his beloved son to speak with the tenants of his land.... they say, This is the Landowner's heir. Let's kill him." Jesus closes this story by saying:
Have you not read this Scripture:
“‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
has become the cornerstone;
this was the Lord's doing,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?” (Mark 12:10-11)
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?” (Mark 12:10-11)
prophecied in Zechariah 13:7
“Awake, O sword, against my shepherd,
against the man who stands next to me,”
declares the Lord of hosts.
against the man who stands next to me,”
declares the Lord of hosts.
“Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered;
I will turn my hand against the little ones.
I will turn my hand against the little ones.
realized in Mark 14:27
And Jesus said to them (His disciples, just before he is betrayed/arrested/killed), “You will all fall away, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’
Context of Mark 8:31 and following, the 2nd half of Mark's Gospel
Most scholars regard verse 31 of Mark 8 as the second half of Mark's gospel.
Mark's primary, though not exclusive, concern in the first half was to answer the
question, "Who is Jesus?" Peter's confession, "You are the Christ" brought this
section to it's climax.
The chief concern in the second half of the Mark's gospel is to answer the
question, "What did Jesus come to do?" What is partially answered now
becomes explicit: He has come to die for our sin and be raised from the dead so
that we might experience redemption. The second half also deals more explicitly
with the question, "What does it mean to follow Jesus."
Jesus' death becomes the paradigm upon which Christian discipleship is based
("deny yourself and take up the cross"). It is the central metaphor for what it
means to follow him. This passage (8:31-9:1) is part of a fairly distinct section of
Mark's gospel that extends from 8:31-10:52. "The primary purpose of this
section is to explain what it means for Jesus to be the Messiah and what it
requires to be identified with him."
Throughout these chapters Jesus and the disciples are on their way to Jerusalem.
This destination is finally announced in Mark 10:32ff. Therefore, while Mark is
telling us what Jesus' mission is in these chapters, we are being led closer to
Jerusalem where his mission will be accomplished. Mark 8:31-9:1 is to Mark part
II what 1:14,15 was to Mark part I: a summary proclamation about Christ and
demand for a response which is then expanded on in the chapters which follow.
--from Redeemer Presbyterian Church in NYC, i think jeff white wrote it
Mark's primary, though not exclusive, concern in the first half was to answer the
question, "Who is Jesus?" Peter's confession, "You are the Christ" brought this
section to it's climax.
The chief concern in the second half of the Mark's gospel is to answer the
question, "What did Jesus come to do?" What is partially answered now
becomes explicit: He has come to die for our sin and be raised from the dead so
that we might experience redemption. The second half also deals more explicitly
with the question, "What does it mean to follow Jesus."
Jesus' death becomes the paradigm upon which Christian discipleship is based
("deny yourself and take up the cross"). It is the central metaphor for what it
means to follow him. This passage (8:31-9:1) is part of a fairly distinct section of
Mark's gospel that extends from 8:31-10:52. "The primary purpose of this
section is to explain what it means for Jesus to be the Messiah and what it
requires to be identified with him."
Throughout these chapters Jesus and the disciples are on their way to Jerusalem.
This destination is finally announced in Mark 10:32ff. Therefore, while Mark is
telling us what Jesus' mission is in these chapters, we are being led closer to
Jerusalem where his mission will be accomplished. Mark 8:31-9:1 is to Mark part
II what 1:14,15 was to Mark part I: a summary proclamation about Christ and
demand for a response which is then expanded on in the chapters which follow.
Get behind me Satan
When Jesus says to Peter, “get behind me, Satan,” he’s referring to
the fact that when Peter rebukes Jesus, and tells him not to go to the cross, he is taking is the same
approach that Satan had taken with Jesus during the time of temptation in the wilderness. The notion that Jesus seek to avoid the suffering and humiliation of the cross recalls Satan’s offer to Jesus in the wilderness. If Jesus were to do what Peter suggested, the entire plan of salvation would be undone. The Messiah’s mission would fail. Kim Riddlebarger
I'll (Rob) never forget in a class I took at RTS ORlando... RC Sproul reading this and saying, "Fellas, sometimes it can be the people who love you the most who tempt you to sin. Just because they don't realize doesn't mean you shouldn't realize it to."
Wow, when I think of that Sproul statement now I think of it primarily the other way round...
how often I have encouraged sin in people I care for deeply! Lord, have mercy!
....... on another note, in thinking about this text... Peter basically says the same as Satan had said in the wilderness... All of this, all of this can be yours
Just give me what I want and no-one gets hurt….
the fact that when Peter rebukes Jesus, and tells him not to go to the cross, he is taking is the same
approach that Satan had taken with Jesus during the time of temptation in the wilderness. The notion that Jesus seek to avoid the suffering and humiliation of the cross recalls Satan’s offer to Jesus in the wilderness. If Jesus were to do what Peter suggested, the entire plan of salvation would be undone. The Messiah’s mission would fail. Kim Riddlebarger
I'll (Rob) never forget in a class I took at RTS ORlando... RC Sproul reading this and saying, "Fellas, sometimes it can be the people who love you the most who tempt you to sin. Just because they don't realize doesn't mean you shouldn't realize it to."
Wow, when I think of that Sproul statement now I think of it primarily the other way round...
how often I have encouraged sin in people I care for deeply! Lord, have mercy!
....... on another note, in thinking about this text... Peter basically says the same as Satan had said in the wilderness... All of this, all of this can be yours
Just give me what I want and no-one gets hurt….
Son of Man
The term “Son of Man” is a Greek
rendering of an Aramaic term which means “I” (first person singular), but which is almost always used in
connection with humiliation, suffering, impending danger, or even death. No doubt, Jesus uses the term
as a reference to his coming humiliation. It is also a term which is used in Daniel 7:13, where it is
clearly a messianic title. In any case, it is a self-designation used by Jesus (some fourteen times in theGospel of Mark), and is clearly the title that Jesus himself preferred to all others. It not only refers to his coming suffering and humiliation, it also has strong messianic implications. In using this selfdesignation,
Jesus is tying together Old Testament messianic expectations, while at the same time
stripping them of the false political expectations then popular in Israel. In using this term, Jesus also
connects himself to that which was foretold by the prophet Isaiah in the 52nd and 53rd chapters of his
prophecy, namely that the coming one would also be a suffering servant, who would lay down his life so
that God’s people could be delivered from the guilt and power of sin. We read of this remarkable
suffering servant in our Old Testament lesson, a passage widely-known in Jesus’ day. But having just
confessed that Jesus is the Messiah, the disciples have no category for seeing the Messiah and the
suffering servant as one in the same. Jesus must tie these two images together. Using the title “Son of
Man” helps Jesus do exactly that. --Kim Riddlebarger commenting on Mark 8:31
rendering of an Aramaic term which means “I” (first person singular), but which is almost always used in
connection with humiliation, suffering, impending danger, or even death. No doubt, Jesus uses the term
as a reference to his coming humiliation. It is also a term which is used in Daniel 7:13, where it is
clearly a messianic title. In any case, it is a self-designation used by Jesus (some fourteen times in theGospel of Mark), and is clearly the title that Jesus himself preferred to all others. It not only refers to his coming suffering and humiliation, it also has strong messianic implications. In using this selfdesignation,
Jesus is tying together Old Testament messianic expectations, while at the same time
stripping them of the false political expectations then popular in Israel. In using this term, Jesus also
connects himself to that which was foretold by the prophet Isaiah in the 52nd and 53rd chapters of his
prophecy, namely that the coming one would also be a suffering servant, who would lay down his life so
that God’s people could be delivered from the guilt and power of sin. We read of this remarkable
suffering servant in our Old Testament lesson, a passage widely-known in Jesus’ day. But having just
confessed that Jesus is the Messiah, the disciples have no category for seeing the Messiah and the
suffering servant as one in the same. Jesus must tie these two images together. Using the title “Son of
Man” helps Jesus do exactly that. --Kim Riddlebarger commenting on Mark 8:31
Friday, June 27, 2008
Freedom to love
A joyless bondage if deeply desired is still a joyless bondage | Andrée Seu
One cannot love unless one is free. One cannot be free apart from consciousness, in the moment, of being enveloped in God's love. (Oh, for freedom!) This is the whole of the matter. The rest is details.
The freedom I mean is freedom from need. All the business in the songs of "Does he need me?" and "I need him to need me" has to go. It is abject bondage and misery. The horrifying thing is that those in this bondage don't see it as bondage. Or more inscrutably, those who see it as bondage want it anyway. Those in bondage choose it. They would kill to have it.
This curiosity of human nature (It must baffle the angels no end. The only way I can write about it is as a privy insider to the infected race, testifying personally to the truth of what would otherwise be too mad too contemplate.) is partly explained as a failure of imagination. Morally, it is a failure of faith. The offer of real joy is repeatedly extended from heaven; the creature repeatedly rejects it.
A woman loved her husband but felt he did not love her back. He had other interests besides her—like friends, or reading a book. She cooked and cleaned and worked her fingers to the bone for him, to get his attention. She had little "pep talks" with him to urge the seriousness of her plight. She interspersed these with the "silent treatment." Nothing availed.
The husband tried to reassure her. She was not reassured. He kept trying till, over the years, he became a defeated shadow of a man. Ironically, her happiest times were these, for at least she knew by his deep sighing that he was paying attention to her, that he was thinking of her. And when he was thinking of her, she knew she existed.
It's a wonder to me that anyone at all can manage to love even half badly. What but a hand grenade of grace thrown into her profound solipsism can show the woman what she is doing? Her strategies are darkness. They do not produce what she intends, but the opposite. Plead with her from the light, and paint pictures of the joy of freedom, but she will block her ears and shut her eyes, for light understands the darkness, but the darkness doesn't comprehend the light.
But let us imagine better possibilities, things pertaining to salvation (Hebrews 6:9):
The woman, after all this, receives unmerited favor from above. The light that has often tried to break in upon her, she one day sees and rather than refusing it again, seizes it. The hardest part is this first crossing of the great divide. She believes and surrenders to the love of the Trinitarian God. What she thought would kill her does not.
The idea of God's love begins to dominate her life. Out of it flow new adventures. Because she is loved, accepted, cherished, delighted in, by a Lover who will never leave her or forsake her, or be distracted from her, or too busy for her—a Lover who not only doesn't mind her barging in, but insists on it as a much desired daily rendezvous—she finds inner resources.
She is able to ask forgiveness of her mate, even in cases where the fault is not mainly hers, and even if he does not admit blame. She is able to overlook unintentionally hurtful remarks because she is confident in her status with her Lover—"The King is enthralled by your beauty" (Psalm 45:11). She is able to overlook deliberately hurtful remarks because she has behaved that way herself, and so knows the misery of its origin and is pained into praying for her mate's release. She "believes all things" about her mate and is able to visualize his future glory, when all blemishes will be removed to release the real saint.
Heaven has already begun. Already all our needs are met, and we can love because we don't need. We can also have a joy that is not hostage to another's insistence on misery. Already "the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining" (1 John 2:8). Why wait another hour? "For freedom Christ has set us free" (Galatians 5:1).
Copyright © 2008 WORLD Magazine
February 09, 2008, Vol. 23, No. 3
Are Paul & James At Odds on Faith & Works?
“FOR WE MAINTAIN THAT A MAN is justified by faith apart from observing the law” (Rom. 3:28). So writes the apostle Paul. “You foolish man,” argues James, “do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? . . . You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone. . . . As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead” (James 2:14 - 26, especially vv. 20, 24, 26).
The formal contradiction between Paul and James is so striking that it has called forth relentless discussion across the centuries. Many contemporary critics, skeptical that God has really spoken in the Bible, think the passages are irreconcilable, and that together they demonstrate that from the beginning there were disparate branches of Christianity with distinctive and even mutually contradictory interpretations. Others think that the real secret to the relationship between Paul and James lies in very different meanings of “works” or “deeds.”
Several explanatory syntheses have been offered, but they cannot be evaluated here. It may be helpful, however, to reflect on the following points:
(a) Paul and James are facing very different problems. Paul is facing those who want to say that works, whether good or bad, make a fundamental contribution to whether one becomes a Christian (see one of his responses in Rom. 9:10 - 12). His answer is that they do not and cannot: God’s grace is received by faith alone. James is facing those who argue that saving faith is found even in those who simply affirm (for instance) that there is one God (James 2:19). His answer is that such faith is inadequate; genuine faith produces good works, or else it is dead faith.
(b) Issues of sequence are thus at stake. Paul argues that works cannot help a person become a Christian; James argues that good works must be displayed by the Christian. But on this point, Paul would not disagree; see, for instance, 1 Corinthians 6:9 - 11.
(c) Paul’s dominant usage of “justification” has to do with that act of God by which, on the basis of Christ’s work on the cross, he declares guilty sinners acquitted and just in his eyes. Such justification is entirely gracious (Rom. 3:20; Gal. 2:16). James focuses rather more on “justification” before peers (James 2:18) and even on final judgment. A genuinely Christian life, says James, must be a transformed life. Again, Paul does not disagree: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad” (2 Cor. 5:10). The allotment of rewards may be of grace, for even our good deeds finally spring from God’s grace — but the deeds are not therefore less necessary.
-- by Don Carson, aka D.A. Carson
The formal contradiction between Paul and James is so striking that it has called forth relentless discussion across the centuries. Many contemporary critics, skeptical that God has really spoken in the Bible, think the passages are irreconcilable, and that together they demonstrate that from the beginning there were disparate branches of Christianity with distinctive and even mutually contradictory interpretations. Others think that the real secret to the relationship between Paul and James lies in very different meanings of “works” or “deeds.”
Several explanatory syntheses have been offered, but they cannot be evaluated here. It may be helpful, however, to reflect on the following points:
(a) Paul and James are facing very different problems. Paul is facing those who want to say that works, whether good or bad, make a fundamental contribution to whether one becomes a Christian (see one of his responses in Rom. 9:10 - 12). His answer is that they do not and cannot: God’s grace is received by faith alone. James is facing those who argue that saving faith is found even in those who simply affirm (for instance) that there is one God (James 2:19). His answer is that such faith is inadequate; genuine faith produces good works, or else it is dead faith.
(b) Issues of sequence are thus at stake. Paul argues that works cannot help a person become a Christian; James argues that good works must be displayed by the Christian. But on this point, Paul would not disagree; see, for instance, 1 Corinthians 6:9 - 11.
(c) Paul’s dominant usage of “justification” has to do with that act of God by which, on the basis of Christ’s work on the cross, he declares guilty sinners acquitted and just in his eyes. Such justification is entirely gracious (Rom. 3:20; Gal. 2:16). James focuses rather more on “justification” before peers (James 2:18) and even on final judgment. A genuinely Christian life, says James, must be a transformed life. Again, Paul does not disagree: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad” (2 Cor. 5:10). The allotment of rewards may be of grace, for even our good deeds finally spring from God’s grace — but the deeds are not therefore less necessary.
-- by Don Carson, aka D.A. Carson
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Extended Bonar Quote
“The love of God to us, and our love to him, work together for producing holiness. Terror accomplishes no real obedience. Suspense brings forth no fruit unto holiness. No gloomy uncertainty as to God’s favor can subdue one lust, or correct our crookedness of will. But the free pardon of the cross uproots sin, and withers all its branches. Only the certainty of love, forgiving love, can do this.” Free and warm reception into the divine favour is the strongest of all motives in leading a man to seek conformity to Him who has thus freely forgiven him all trespasses. A cold admission into the paternal house by the father might have repelled the prodigal, and sent him back to his lusts; but the fervent kiss, the dear embrace, the best robe, the ring, the shoes, the fatted calf, the festal song,—all without one moment's suspense or delay, as well as without one upbraiding word, could not but awaken shame for the past, and true-hearted resolution to walk worthy of such a father, and of such a generous pardon. “Revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries,” come to be the abhorrence of him round whom the holy arms of renewed fatherhood have been so lovingly thrown. Sensuality, luxury, and the gaieties of the flesh have lost their relish to one who has tasted the fruit of the tree of life.
Horatius Bonar
Horatius Bonar
Sunday, June 08, 2008
John Owen on Temptation & Watchfulness
Watch the Heart
That part of watchfulness against temptation which we have considered
regards the outward means, occasions, and advantages of temptation; we
now proceed to that which respects the heart itself, which is wrought upon
and entangled by temptation. Watching or keeping of the heart, which above
all keepings we are obliged unto, comes within the compass of this duty also;
for the right performance whereof take these ensuing directions:
Let him that would not enter into temptations labor to know his own
heart, to be acquainted with his own spirit, his natural frame and temper, his
lusts and corruptions, his natural, sinful, or spiritual weaknesses, that, finding
where his weakness lies, he may be careful to keep at a distance from all
occasions of sin.
.....
Again: as men have peculiar natural tempers, which, according as they
are attended or managed, prove a great fomes (diseased material) of sin, or advantage to the
exercise of grace, so men may have peculiar lusts or corruptions, which, either
by their natural constitution or education, and other prejudices, have got deep
rooting and strength in them. This, also, is to be found out by him who would
not enter into temptation. Unless he know it, unless his eyes be always on it,
unless he observes its actings, motions, advantages, it will continually be
entangling and ensnaring of him. This, then, is our sixth direction in this kind:
That part of watchfulness against temptation which we have considered
regards the outward means, occasions, and advantages of temptation; we
now proceed to that which respects the heart itself, which is wrought upon
and entangled by temptation. Watching or keeping of the heart, which above
all keepings we are obliged unto, comes within the compass of this duty also;
for the right performance whereof take these ensuing directions:
Let him that would not enter into temptations labor to know his own
heart, to be acquainted with his own spirit, his natural frame and temper, his
lusts and corruptions, his natural, sinful, or spiritual weaknesses, that, finding
where his weakness lies, he may be careful to keep at a distance from all
occasions of sin.
.....
Again: as men have peculiar natural tempers, which, according as they
are attended or managed, prove a great fomes (diseased material) of sin, or advantage to the
exercise of grace, so men may have peculiar lusts or corruptions, which, either
by their natural constitution or education, and other prejudices, have got deep
rooting and strength in them. This, also, is to be found out by him who would
not enter into temptation. Unless he know it, unless his eyes be always on it,
unless he observes its actings, motions, advantages, it will continually be
entangling and ensnaring of him. This, then, is our sixth direction in this kind:
Labor to know your own frame and temper;
what spirit you are of;
what associates in your heart Satan has;
where corruption is strong,
where grace is weak;
what stronghold lust has in your natural constitution,
and the like.
what spirit you are of;
what associates in your heart Satan has;
where corruption is strong,
where grace is weak;
what stronghold lust has in your natural constitution,
and the like.
taken from around page 200 in Kapic & Taylor version of OWEN
Effectual Calling
Original sin renders all human beings naturally dead (unresponsive) to God, but in effectual calling God quickens the dead.
Q. 31. What is effectual calling?
A. Effectual calling is the work of God's Spirit, whereby, convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, he doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ, freely offered to us in the gospel.
with scripture references:
Effectual calling is the work of God's Spirit,1 whereby, convincing us of our sin and misery,2 enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ,3 and renewing our wills,4 he doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ, freely offered to us in the gospel.5
Q. 31. What is effectual calling?
A. Effectual calling is the work of God's Spirit, whereby, convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, he doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ, freely offered to us in the gospel.
with scripture references:
Effectual calling is the work of God's Spirit,1 whereby, convincing us of our sin and misery,2 enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ,3 and renewing our wills,4 he doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ, freely offered to us in the gospel.5
- 2 Timothy 1:8-9. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God; who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.
Ephesians 1:18-20. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places. - Acts 2:37. Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
- Acts 26:18. To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.
- Ezekiel 11:19. And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh.
Ezekiel 36:26-27. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. - John 6:44-45. No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.
Philippians 2:13. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
Deuteronomy 30:6. And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.
Ephesians 2:5. Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved).
Illumination
ILLUMINATION
THE HOLY SPIRIT GIVES SPIRITUAL UNDERSTANDING
by J.I. Packer
The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 1 CORINTHIANS 2:14
The knowledge of divine things to which Christians are called is more than a formal acquaintance with biblical words and Christian ideas. It is a realizing of the reality and relevance of those activities of the triune God to which Scripture testifies. Such awareness is natural to none, familiar with Christian ideas though they may be (like “the man without the Spirit” in 1 Cor. 2:14 who cannot receive what Christians tell him, or the blind leaders of the blind of whom Jesus speaks so caustically in Matt. 15:14, or like Paul himself before Christ met him on the Damascus road). Only the Holy Spirit, searcher of the deep things of God (1 Cor. 2:10), can bring about this realization in our sin-darkened minds and hearts. That is why it is called “spiritual understanding” (spiritual means “Spirit-given,” Col. 1:9; cf. Luke 24:25; 1 John 5:20). Those who, along with sound verbal instruction, “have an anointing from the Holy One... know the truth” (1 John 2:20).
The work of the Spirit in imparting this knowledge is called “illumination,” or enlightening. It is not a giving of new revelation, but a work within us that enables us to grasp and to love the revelation that is there before us in the biblical text as heard and read, and as explained by teachers and writers. Sin in our mental and moral system clouds our minds and wills so that we miss and resist the force of Scripture. God seems to us remote to the point of unreality, and in the face of God’s truth we are dull and apathetic. The Spirit, however, opens and unveils our minds and attunes our hearts so that we understand (Eph. 1:17-18; 3:18-19; 2 Cor. 3:14-16; 4:6). As by inspiration he provided Scripture truth for us, so now by illumination he interprets it to us. Illumination is thus the applying of God’s revealed truth to our hearts, so that we grasp as reality for ourselves what the sacred text sets forth.
Illumination, which is a lifelong ministry of the Holy Spirit to Christians, starts before conversion with a growing grasp of the truth about Jesus and a growing sense of being measured and exposed by it. Jesus said that the Spirit would “convict the world” of the sin of not believing in him, of the fact that he was in the right with God the Father (as his welcome back to heaven proved), and of the reality of judgment both here and hereafter (John 16:8-11). This threefold conviction is still God’s means of making sin repulsive and Christ adorable in the eyes of persons who previously loved sin and cared nothing for the divine Savior.
The way to benefit fully from the Spirit’s ministry of illumination is by serious Bible study, serious prayer, and serious response in obedience to whatever truths one has been shown already. This corresponds to Luther’s dictum that three things make a theologian: oratio (prayer), meditatio (thinking in God’s presence about the text), and tentatio (trial, the struggle for biblical fidelity in the face of pressure to disregard what Scripture says).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Concise Theology: A Guide To Historic Christian Beliefs
Monday, June 02, 2008
Move, I beg You, upon my disordered heart
(A Puritan Prayer)
O Holy Spirit,
Move, I beg You, upon my disordered heart.
Take away my unruly desires and hateful lusts.
Lift the mists and darkness of unbelief. Brighten
my soul with the pure light of truth. Make it . . .
fragrant as the garden of paradise,
rich with every goodly fruit,
beautiful with heavenly grace,
radiant with rays of divine light.
Be my . . .
comforter,
light,
guide,
sanctifier.
Take of the things of Christ and show them to my
soul. Through You may I daily learn more of His . . .
love,
grace,
compassion,
faithfulness,
beauty.
Lead me to the cross and show me . . .
His wounds,
the hateful nature of evil,
the power of Satan.
May I there see my sins as . . .
the nails which transfixed Him,
the cords which bound Him,
the thorns which tore Him,
the sword which pierced Him.
Help me to find in His death--the
reality and immensity of His love.
Open for me the wondrous volumes of truth in His
death. Increase my faith in the clear knowledge of . . .
atonement achieved,
redemption completed,
guilt done away,
my debt paid,
my sins forgiven,
my soul saved,
hell vanquished,
heaven opened,
eternity made mine.
O Holy Spirit, deepen in me these saving lessons.
Write them upon my heart, that my walk be . . .
sin-loathing,
sin-fleeing,
Christ-loving.
O Holy Spirit,
Move, I beg You, upon my disordered heart.
Take away my unruly desires and hateful lusts.
Lift the mists and darkness of unbelief. Brighten
my soul with the pure light of truth. Make it . . .
fragrant as the garden of paradise,
rich with every goodly fruit,
beautiful with heavenly grace,
radiant with rays of divine light.
Be my . . .
comforter,
light,
guide,
sanctifier.
Take of the things of Christ and show them to my
soul. Through You may I daily learn more of His . . .
love,
grace,
compassion,
faithfulness,
beauty.
Lead me to the cross and show me . . .
His wounds,
the hateful nature of evil,
the power of Satan.
May I there see my sins as . . .
the nails which transfixed Him,
the cords which bound Him,
the thorns which tore Him,
the sword which pierced Him.
Help me to find in His death--the
reality and immensity of His love.
Open for me the wondrous volumes of truth in His
death. Increase my faith in the clear knowledge of . . .
atonement achieved,
redemption completed,
guilt done away,
my debt paid,
my sins forgiven,
my soul saved,
hell vanquished,
heaven opened,
eternity made mine.
O Holy Spirit, deepen in me these saving lessons.
Write them upon my heart, that my walk be . . .
sin-loathing,
sin-fleeing,
Christ-loving.
After this introduction the apostle tells his Roman readers frankly of his feelings towards them. He makes four points.
1). He thanks God for them all (8).
Allowing for a degree of legitimate hyperbole, it is still true that wherever the church has spread, the news that there were Christians in the capital had spread also. And although Paul had not been responsible for bringing the gospel to them, this did not inhibit him from giving thanks that Rome had been evangelized.
2). He prays for them. (9-10).
In Paul’s apostolic ministry, preaching and praying go together. He assures them that, even though most of them are unknown to him personally, he yet intercedes for them *constantly* (9) and *at all times* (10a). This is no pious platitude. He is telling the truth, and calls on God to witness his statement. In particular, he prays that *now at last by God’s will*, that is, if it is his will, *the way may be opened* for him to come to them (10b). It is a humble, tentative petition. He presumes neither to impose his will on God, nor claim to know what God’s will may be. Instead, he submits his will to God’s. When we reach chapter 15, we will consider how his prayer was answered.
3). He longs to see them and tells them why. (11-12).
His first reason is this: *so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift (charisma) to make you strong* (11). At first sight it seems natural to interpret such a gift as one of those *charismata* which Paul listed in 1 Corinthians 12 and will list later in Romans 12 and Ephesians 4. There seems to be a fatal objection to this, however; namely that in those other passages the gifts are bestowed by the sovereign decision of God (Rom. 12:6), Christ (Eph. 4:11) or the Spirit (1 Cor. 12:11). So the apostle could hardly claim to be able to ‘impart’ a *charisma* himself. He appears therefore to be using the word in a more general sense. Perhaps he is referring to his own teaching or exhortation, which he hopes to give them when he arrives, although there is ‘an intentional indefiniteness’ about his statement, perhaps because at this stage he does not know what their main spiritual needs will be.
No sooner has he dictated these words than he seems to sense their inappropriate one-sidedness, as if he has everything to give and nothing to receive. So he immediately explains (even corrects) himself: *that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith* (12). He knows about the reciprocal blessings of Christian fellowship and, although he is an apostle, he is not too proud to acknowledge his need of it. Happy is the modern missionary who goes to another country and culture in the same spirit of receptivity, anxious to receive as well as give, to learn as well as teach, to be encouraged as well as to encourage! And happy is the congregation who have a pastor of the same humble mind!.
4). He has often planned to visit them. (13).
Exactly what has foiled him he does not say. Perhaps the most likely explanation is the one he will mention towards the end of his letter, namely that his evangelistic work in and around Greece had not yet been completed (15:22ff.). Why had he tried to visit them? He now gives a third reason: *in order that I might have (RSV ‘reap’) a harvest among you*. ‘Harvest’ is literally ‘fruit’, and John Murray rightly comments: ‘The idea expressed is that of gathering fruit, not that of bearing it.’ In other words he hopes to win some converts in Rome, *just as...among other Gentiles* (13). It would surely be appropriate that the apostle to the Gentiles should engage in evangelistic reaping in the capital city of the Gentile world.
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1). He thanks God for them all (8).
Allowing for a degree of legitimate hyperbole, it is still true that wherever the church has spread, the news that there were Christians in the capital had spread also. And although Paul had not been responsible for bringing the gospel to them, this did not inhibit him from giving thanks that Rome had been evangelized.
2). He prays for them. (9-10).
In Paul’s apostolic ministry, preaching and praying go together. He assures them that, even though most of them are unknown to him personally, he yet intercedes for them *constantly* (9) and *at all times* (10a). This is no pious platitude. He is telling the truth, and calls on God to witness his statement. In particular, he prays that *now at last by God’s will*, that is, if it is his will, *the way may be opened* for him to come to them (10b). It is a humble, tentative petition. He presumes neither to impose his will on God, nor claim to know what God’s will may be. Instead, he submits his will to God’s. When we reach chapter 15, we will consider how his prayer was answered.
3). He longs to see them and tells them why. (11-12).
His first reason is this: *so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift (charisma) to make you strong* (11). At first sight it seems natural to interpret such a gift as one of those *charismata* which Paul listed in 1 Corinthians 12 and will list later in Romans 12 and Ephesians 4. There seems to be a fatal objection to this, however; namely that in those other passages the gifts are bestowed by the sovereign decision of God (Rom. 12:6), Christ (Eph. 4:11) or the Spirit (1 Cor. 12:11). So the apostle could hardly claim to be able to ‘impart’ a *charisma* himself. He appears therefore to be using the word in a more general sense. Perhaps he is referring to his own teaching or exhortation, which he hopes to give them when he arrives, although there is ‘an intentional indefiniteness’ about his statement, perhaps because at this stage he does not know what their main spiritual needs will be.
No sooner has he dictated these words than he seems to sense their inappropriate one-sidedness, as if he has everything to give and nothing to receive. So he immediately explains (even corrects) himself: *that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith* (12). He knows about the reciprocal blessings of Christian fellowship and, although he is an apostle, he is not too proud to acknowledge his need of it. Happy is the modern missionary who goes to another country and culture in the same spirit of receptivity, anxious to receive as well as give, to learn as well as teach, to be encouraged as well as to encourage! And happy is the congregation who have a pastor of the same humble mind!.
4). He has often planned to visit them. (13).
Exactly what has foiled him he does not say. Perhaps the most likely explanation is the one he will mention towards the end of his letter, namely that his evangelistic work in and around Greece had not yet been completed (15:22ff.). Why had he tried to visit them? He now gives a third reason: *in order that I might have (RSV ‘reap’) a harvest among you*. ‘Harvest’ is literally ‘fruit’, and John Murray rightly comments: ‘The idea expressed is that of gathering fruit, not that of bearing it.’ In other words he hopes to win some converts in Rome, *just as...among other Gentiles* (13). It would surely be appropriate that the apostle to the Gentiles should engage in evangelistic reaping in the capital city of the Gentile world.
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