Following the lead of John Owen, Edwards highlights the pneumatological dimension of the incarnation and work of Christ ( Notes on Scripture , 575): “It was by the eternal Spirit that Christ offered up himself without spot to God. It was by the Holy Spirit many ways. It was by the Holy Spirit . . . . Continue Reading »
Edwards writes: “Christ’s love – that is, His Spirit is actually united to the faculties of their souls. So it properly lives, acts, and exerts its nature in the exercise of their faculties.” There’s a great deal to say, and to like, and to wonder at, about that . . . . Continue Reading »
I offer some thoughts on Pentecost, Babel, and Enlightenment at Firstthings.com this morning. . . . . Continue Reading »
Christ’s life, says John Owen in The Death of Death in the Death of Christ , is entirely an oblation and a gift. Though “the perfecting or consummating of this oblation be set out in the Scripture chiefly in respect of what Christ suffered,” still Christ’s offering includes . . . . Continue Reading »
The Spirit joins us to Christ so we share all His gifts. The Spirit binds us in the communion of the saints. The Spirit is the earnest of our future inheritance. He is the Spirit of salvation, the Spirit of the church, the Spirit of the future. Economy reveals ontology. Therefore we can say: The . . . . Continue Reading »
John Paul also ( Man and Woman He Created Them: A Theology Of The Body , p. 161 ) notes that Adam reacts to the appearance of Eve with the first expression of joy: “For the first time, the man (male) shows joy and even exultation, for which he had no reason before, due to the lack of a being . . . . Continue Reading »
We can see, hear, taste, touch, smell. Why? Where do senses come from? What’s the theological rationale for sensation? Why this “mediation” of the world through sensible experience? (Or, is that even the right way to ask the question?) My speculative guess that the answer is in . . . . Continue Reading »
Isaiah 38:3: Remember, O Lord, I beseech you, how I have walked before You. We saw in the sermon today that Hezekiah’s prayer is a memorial. All prayer is anamnesis, an appeal to God to remember something – His promises, His great acts of the past, our loyalty to the covenant. This table . . . . Continue Reading »
Matthew 3:11: John said, “I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. When John baptizes Jesus, the Spirit comes down as a dove and rests on Jesus. . . . . Continue Reading »
Jesus ascended to become our defender, who lives to pray for us. At Pentecost, Jesus poured out the Spirit, who also intercedes for us. Our prayers to the Father are confirmed by the testimony of two divine witnesses, the heavenly witness of the Son and the earthly witness of the Spirit. The Son is . . . . Continue Reading »
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