The Great Gift of our Union with Christ.

Here is a passage by John Owen celebrating our union with Christ. Owen stops and marvels at what a miracle it is that we have the Spirit of Christ indwelling us.

Hereby we have union with Jesus Christ, the head of the Church, and become 'members of his bones and of the flesh' (Eph. 5:30); as Eve was of Adam; she had the same nature with him, and that derived from him; so we are of him, partakers of the same divine nature; for he that is 'joined to the Lord is one Spirit' (I Cor. 6:17). How excellent then is this grace! It is the same in kind with the holy nature of Christ, and makes us one with him. How great a privilege it it! What an honour and security to the soul that has it. What duties are hence required, and how should we admire the grace and love of Christ through whose mediation we receive it. This is our life, but we cannot perfectly comprehend it, for it is hid with Christ in God' (Col. 3:3). (p. 307, The Holy Spirit: His Gifts and Power

John Owen on Self Cleansing from Sin is Impossible.

John Owen addresses directly the people who think they can cleanse themselves from sin by their own efforts. According to scripture we are too filthy and too weak to accomplish the task. External law and forces cannot do it. We need to be cleansed from the inside out.

We are unable of ourselves, without the special assistance of the Holy Spirit, to free ourselves from this pollution[the effects of sin]. It is true, it is frequently prescribed to us as our duty. We are commanded to wash ourselves, to cleanse ourselves from sin, and the like, but these expressions do not imply a power in ourselves to perform what is so required; but they teach us, that whatever God works in us in a way of grace, he prescribes to us in a way of duty; and though he does it in us, yet he also does it by us; so that the same work is an act of his Spirit and of our wills as actuated thereby. We are not able by an endeavours of our own, to cleanse ourselves from this defilement. 'If I wash myself with snow-water' saith Job, 'and make my hands ever so clean, yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch, and my own clothes shall make me to be abhorred' (Job 9:29). Means may be used whereby an appearance of cleansing may be made, but when things come to be tried, in the sight of God, all will be found filthy and unclean, 'In vain', says the prophet, 'shalt thou take to thyself soap and much nitre; you shalt not be purged' (Jer. 2:22). The most probable means of cleansing, and the the most effectual in our judgement, however multiplied, shall fail in this case. Some speak much of washing away their sins by the tears of repentance; by repentance, as prescribed in the Scripture, is of another nature, and assigned to another end: men's tears are but 'soap and nitre', which will not produce the effect intended. The institutions of the law were of themselves insufficient for this purpose; they purified the unclean legally, and as to the flesh (Heb. 9:13); of themselves they could go no further, only they signified that whereby sin was really cleansed. The real stain is too deep to be removed by any outward ordinances, and therefore God, as it were rejecting them all, promised to open another fountain for that purpose (Zech. 13:1).

John Owen has another chapter on how the filth of sin is purged by the Spirit and blood of Christ. The introduction to the chapter reveals his argument.

The purification of believers from the defilement of sin, is assigned in Scripture to various causes--to the Holy Spirit, as the efficient cause; to the blood of Christ, as the procuring cause; and, to faith and affliction, as the instrumental causes.

The Holy Spirit is the craftsman who is making the sanctification happen. The blood of Christ is the price of our redemption. Faith and affliction are the tools the Holy Spirit is using to cleanse us from our sin.

John Owen on Where Holiness Comes From

John Owen on writing about sanctification points out the fallacious reasoning of his day that holiness can be achieved without a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. There was an argument in the churches in his day that all holiness consists of is moral honesty and virtue. Many liberal churches make the same assertion today. Owen in the following paragraphs clarifies the issue of gospel holiness.

And hence we may detect many pernicious mistakes about this matter, both notional and practical. For there are some who would carry holiness beyond the bounds of a special relation to Christ, or that relation beyond the only bond it it, which is faith. For they would have it to be no more than moral honesty or virtue, and so cannot with any modesty deny it to those heathens, who endeavoured after it according to the light of nature. And what need then is there of Jesus Christ? I commend moral virtues as much any man ought to do, and am sure there is no such grace where they are not. Yet to make any thing to be our holiness that is not derived from Christ, I know not what I more abhor. Such an imagination dethrones Christ from his glory, and overthrows the gospel.

Others proceed much further. They have notions of good and evil, by the light of nature; these are improved by convictions from the law, and produce great effects. For where the soul is once effectually convinced of sin, righteousness, and judgement, it cannot but seek deliverance from the one, and the attainment of the of the other, that so it may be well with it at the last day. These convictions are still more improved, according to the means of knowledge men enjoy, or the errors and superstitions they embrace. From the latter proceed penances, vows, uncommanded abstinences, and other painful duties. Where the light received is in general according to truth, it will engage men to a reformation of life, a multiplication of duties, abstinence from sin, and a zealous profession of religion in one way or another. Such persons may have good hopes that they are holy, may appear to the world to be so, be accepted in the Church of God as such, and yet be utter strangers to true gospel holiness. And the reason is because they have missed it in the foundation; and not having in the first place obtained an interest in Christ, have built their house on the sand whence it will fall in the time of trouble.

Wherefore let them wisely consider these things, who have any conviction of the necessity of holiness. It may be that they have laboured hard in duties that materially belong to it; many things they have done, and many things forborne, on account of it; and it may be, they think that for all the world they would not be found among unholy persons on the last day. This may be the condition of many young persons, who have lately engaged in the ways of religion upon their convictions: it may be so with others, who for many years have followed after righteousness in a way of duty. But it is observable, that the duties of obedience seldom prove more easy and pleasant to such persons than they did at first, but rather more burdensome every day. Besides,they never arrive to a satisfaction in what they do, something still is wanting; and hence they often become apostates. But what is worse still, all they have done, or can do on this bottom, will come to no account, but perish with them at the great day. Would we prevent these fatal evils; would we have a real, thriving, everlasting holiness; let our first business be to secure a relation to Jesus Chris, without which it can never be attained. (pp. 275-276, The Holy Spirit: His Gifts and Power

Ephesians 4:30 -- Do Not Grieve the Holy Spirit

I thought this argument defending Paul's exegetical technique was interesting. It is commentary from Peter O'Brien's commentary on Ephesians 4. It is a short typological comparison between Isaiah 63:10 and Ephesians 4:30.

The links between the two biblical passages [Isaiah 63:10 and Ephesians 4] are so significant as to suggest a typological correspondence between the two events in the history of God’s covenant people. In Isaiah 63, which looks back to the exodus, Yahweh is presented as the Saviour of Israel, who redeemed his people from Egypt, brought them into a covenant relationship with himself, led them by his own personal presence (i.e., his Holy Spirit) through the wilderness, and gave them rest. For its part, Israel the covenant people had rebelled against its Lord ‘and grieved his Holy Spirit’ (v. 10). In Ephesians Paul addresses the new covenant community, ‘the one new man’ (2:15) comprising Jews and Gentiles who have been redeemed (1:7) and reconciled to God through the cross of Christ (2:14-18). They have become a holy temple in the Lord, the place where God himself dwells by his Spirit (2:21, 22). Using the language of Isaiah 63:10, Paul issues a warning to this new community not to grieve the Holy Spirit of God, ‘as Israel had done’ in the wilderness (cf. 1 Cor. 10:1-11), the more so since they have been sealed by that same Holy Spirit until the day of redemption (4:30). The change from the indicative (‘they [Israel] grieved his Holy Spirit’) to the imperative (‘do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God’) is deliberate and makes eminent sense in the exhortatory context. Paul picks up the Isaianic text in a chapter that highlights the work of God’s Spirit (=God’s personal presence; Isa. 63:10, 11, 14) in relation to the major salvation-historical event of the Old Testament, namely, the exodus. As he handles this scriptural passage, the apostle is obviously not engaging in some kind of atomistic exegesis, as he is often charged. Rather, he reads the Old Testament text with an understanding of its immediate context, its place in the flow of salvation history, and, apparently, within a pattern of new Exodus typology. Paul interprets the passage according to its plain sense, applying it to the new covenant community upon whom the ends of the ages have come (cf. 1 Cor. 10:11). (pp. 347-348, The Letter of Ephesians)

John Owen: Temptation Unsettles the Soul

John Owen is writing about sanctification. In the following paragraph he masterfully uses the illustration of a tree surviving a storm as an analogy of how God uses temptations and strife to encourage spiritual maturity and sanctification.

Perplexing temptations or strong corruptions may so disturb the soul for a season, that it may not be able to form a right judgement of its progress. A ship at sea may be so tossed by a storm, that the most skilful mariners may be unable to discern whether they make any way, while perhaps, they are carried on with success and speed. In such cases, grace is engaged chiefly in opposition to its enemy, and so its thriving in other respects is not discernible. If it be asked, 'How may we know that grace thrives in opposition to corruptions and temptations?' I say, that as great winds sometimes contribute to the fruit-bearing of trees, so do corruptions and temptations to the fruitfulness of grace. The wind comes with violence on the tree, ruffles its boughs, beats off its buds, shakes its root, and threatens to destroy the whole: but by this means the earth is loosed about it, and the tree gets deeper rooted, which renders it more fruitful, though it bring not forth fruit visibly till a good while after. In the assaults of temptation and corruption the soul is woefully ruffled, its leaves of profession blasted, and its beginnings of fruit-bearing much retarded; but in the mean time it secretly casts out its roots of humility, self-abasement and mourning, in constant labouring of faith and love after that grace whereby holiness really increases, and way is made for future visible fruitfulness.(p. 268-269, The Holy Spirit: His Gifts and Power by John Owen

Ephesians 4:26 -- How to be Angry and yet not sin

Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,(Ephesians 4:26)

O'Brien comments on Ephesians 4:26 using scholarship and biblical wisdom.

Since anger is not explicitly called ‘sin’, it has been suggested that the reference here is to righteous indignation, while the anger of v.[Ephesians 4:]31 which is to be put away is evidently unrighteous anger. There is a proper place for righteous anger, but also the ‘subtle temptation to regard my anger as righteous indignation and other people’s anger as sheer bad temper’. If ours is not free from injured pride, malice, or a spirit of revenge, it has degenerated into sin. The warning of James 1:19-20 makes the same point: ‘everyone should be … slow to become angry, for human anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires’.

In order to prevent anger from degenerating into sin a strict time limit is to be put on it: ‘Do not let the sun go down on your anger’. The particular term for ‘anger’ occurs only here in the New Testament. Elsewhere it usually signifies an active ‘provocation’ to anger that is, the source of anger rather than its result. Apparently this saying was proverbial. Plutarch mentions that if ever the Pythagoreans were led by anger into recrimination, they were never to let the sun go down before they joined hands, embraced one another and were reconciled. Similar texts appear in the Qumran literature. Sunset was regarded as a time limit for a range of activities, for example, the paying of a poor man his wages lest by failing to so one would be guilty of sinning (Deut. 24:15). In the apostle’s admonition this expression with its reference to sunset is used a a warning against brooding in anger or nursing it. It is to be dealt with promptly, with reconciliation being effected as quickly as possible. (O'Brien, The Letter to the Ephesianspp. 339-340,

Ephesians 4:25 -- How to build up the body of Christ.

Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. (Ephesians 4:25 ESV)

I thought Peter O'Brien's comments on the above verse rather poignant.

The means, by which this body is built, according to [Ephesians] 4:15, is speaking the truth of the gospel in love. Here at 4:25, the apostle’s point is that, in the body which is a model of harmonious relationships, there is no place for anything other than the truth. We are ‘no longer alienated, independent beings but people who now belong together in unity with others whom we must not rob of the truth according to which they decide and act. (O’Brien,The Letter to the Ephesians, p. 338)

John Owen on the Consistencies of Commands and Promises

In his age, John Owen argued against the prevailing arguments against the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. Here Owen shows that the command and the promises are not antithetical, but complementary.

And here we may digress a little, to consider what regard we ought to have to the command on the one hand, and to the promise on the other; to our own duty and to the grace of God. Some would separate these things as inconsistent. A command, they suppose, leaves no room for a promise; and a promise, they think, takes off the influencing authority of a command. If holiness be our duty, there is no room for grace; and if it be an effect of grace there is no place for duty. But all these arguings are a fruit of the 'wisdom of the flesh'; the 'wisdom that is from above' teaches us other things. It is true, that works and grace are opposed in the matter of justification, as utterly inconsistent; 'If it be of works, it is not of grace; and it be of grace, it is not of works.' But our duty and God's grace are no where opposed in the matter of sanctification; for the one supposes the other. Neither can we perform our duty herein without the grace of God; nor does God give us his grace to any other end than that we may rightly perform our duty. He who denies either that God commands us to be holy in a way of duty, or promises to work holiness in us in a way of grace, may with as much modesty reject the whole Bible. Both these therefore we must duly regard, if we intend to be holy.

In our regard to the command, our consciences must be affected with the authority of it, as the command of God; for holiness is obedience, and obedience respects the authority of the command. We must also see and understand the reasonableness, equity, and advantage of the command. Our service is a reasonable service; the ways of God are equal; and in the keeping of his commands there is great reward. And hence we love and delight in it as holy, just and good, because the things it requires are upright, equal, easy, and pleasant to the new nature, without any respect to the false ends before exposed.

And we have due regard to the promise, when:

1. We walk in a constant sense of our own inability to comply with with the command in any one instance, form any power in ourselves, for 'our sufficiency is of God.'
2. We adore that grace which has provided help and relief for us. Seeing without the grace promised, we could never have attained the least degree of holiness, and seeing we could never deserve the least particle of that grace, how ought we to adore that infinite bounty which has freely provided this supply!
3. We act faith in prayer and expecation on the promise for supplies of grace for all holy obedience.
4. We have a special regard to it in particular temptations and particular duties; when on such occasions we do not satisfy ourselves with a respect to the promise in general, but exercise faith on it in particular for aid and assistance.

To come yet nearer to our principal design, I say it is the Holy Ghost who is the immediate peculiar sanctifier of all believers, and the author of all their holiness. (The Holy Spirit: His Gifts and Power, pp. 253-254

John Owen on Why Sanctification is Misunderstood by Believers

I grabbed this quote from John Owen about our regeneration. Owen pointed out that we little understand our new nature, but how wonderful is the work the Holy Spirit has performed within us.

Believers themselves are often much unacquainted with it, either as to the apprehension of its true nature, causes, and effects, or at least as to their own interest in it. As we know not of ourselves the 'things that are wrought in us by the Spirit of God', so we seldom attend as we ought to his instruction of use in them. It may indeed seem strange, that as all believers are sanctified and made holy, they should not understand what is wrought and abides in them; but alas! How little do we know of ourselves, of what we are, and whence are our natural powers and faculties! How little do we know of these souls of ours? And what we do know , is by their operations. Is it strange then that we should be much in the dark as to this new nature, this new creature, which is from above, from God, and with which our natural reason has no acquaintance? It is new, is it wonderful, it is a work supernatural and is known only by supernatural revelation (p. 250, The Holy Spirit: It Gifts and Power

John Owen: Holiness Will Not Be Left Behind

John Owen in his book on the Holy Spirit was writing about how the Holy Spirit instills a new holy nature within us when Owen goes on to describe the rewards of holy endeavors. I thought this quote almost poetic.

We must also consider, that holiness is not confined to this life, but passes over into eternity and glory. Death has no power to destroy it or divest us of it. Its acts indeed are transient, but its fruits abide for ever in their reward. They who die in the Lord 'rest from their labours, and their works follow them' (Rev. 14:13). 'God is not unrighteous to forget their labour of love' (Heb. 6:10). There is not any fruit of holiness, not the least, not the giving 'a cup of cold water to a disciple of Christ, in the name of a disciple', but it shall be had in everlasting remembrance. Nothing shall be lost, but all fragments shall be gathered up, and kept safe for ever. Every thing else in this world, however specious, shall be burnt up and consumed as 'hay and stubble' when the least, the meanest, the most secret fruit of holiness, shall be gathered as 'gold and silver' into God's treasury, and become a part of the riches of the inheritance of the saints in glory. Let no soul fear the loss of any labour in the duties of holiness, in the most secret contest against sin, for inward purity, for outward fruitfulness, in the mortification of sin, resistance of temptations, in self-denial, or contentment; all that you know, and what you do not know, shall be revived, called over, and abide eternally in its reward.(p.250, The Holy Spirit: His Gifts and Power)

Christian Maturity -- Ephesians Style

until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, (Ephesians 4:13, ESV)

The verse quoted above has to be explained a bit because I am quoting it out context. First, Paul is addressing the church as a body and the unity of the Church is Paul's main theme in Ephesians. O'Brien puts it this way in his commentary on Ephesians.

‘to the mature man’. This destination to which all believers are headed is understood as a corporate entity: it is not described in individual terms, but refers to the totality of believers as the body of Christ.

Mature man is an unusual term. Brooks Simpson pointed this out in his sermon a few weeks ago. We are corporately as a body growing into a mature man. Our unity is not an option; it is foreordained. O'Brien further explains what the term means.

The phrase ‘mature man’ is somewhat unusual since the term for an adult male or full grown man is used, rather than the generic word for man or human. The adjective has the sense of ‘mature’ (cf. Cor. 2:6, 14:20; Heb. 5:14) rather than ‘perfect’, and focusses on the mature adult person in contrast with the infants of v. 14.

Here are two quotes about the goal specified by Ephesians 4:13. We have an impossibly high standard to meet that needs to be realized step by step in the present age with the help of the Holy Spirit.

The church is already the fullness of Christ (1:23; cf. 4:10). There is thus a realized dimension to its existence. But the future element is still present: the apostle has prayed that the readers might be ‘filled up to all the fullness of God’ (3:19); now in the immediate context the goal to be reached is mature manhood, and this is defined by the fullness of Christ. The maturity of this growth is measured by nothing less than Christ’s full stature. ‘The glorified Christ provides the standard at which his people are to aim: the corporate Christ cannot be content to fall short of the perfection of the personal Christ.” (O’Brien, p. 308)

When the goal is ultimately reached, and the body of Christ has grown up sufficiently to match the Head Himself, then will be seen that full-grown Man which is Christ together with His members. That spectacle will not fully appear until the day when they are glorified together with Him; but the expectation of that day will act a powerful incentive to spiritual development in the present time. (F.F. Bruce).

Jonathan Edwards's Gospel Invitation

I would characterize this as "Jonathan Edward's Gospel Invitation" at the end of one of his more famous sermons. This is a little different from his "Sinners in the hands of an Angry God."

I invite you now to a better portion. There are better things provided for the sinful miserable children of men. There is a surer comfort and more durable peace: comfort that you may enjoy in a state of safety, and on a sure foundation: a peace and rest that you may enjoy with reason, and with your eyes open. You may have all your sins forgiven, your greatest and most aggravated transgressions blotted out as a cloud, and buried as in the depths of the sea, that they may never be found more. And being not only forgiven, but accepted to favor, you become the objects of God’s complacence and delight. Being taken into God’s family and made his children, you may have good evidence that your names were written on the heart of Christ before the world was made, and that you have an interest in that covenant of grace that is well ordered in all things and sure, wherein is promised no less than life and immortality, an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, a crown of glory that fades not away. Being in such circumstances, nothing shall be able to prevent your being happy to all eternity, having for the foundation of your hope that love of God which is from eternity to eternity, and his promise and oath, and his omnipotent power: things infinitely firmer than mountains of brass. The mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed, yea, the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, yet these things will never be abolished. In such a state as this you will have a foundation of peace and rest through all changes, and in times of the greatest uproar and outward calamity be defended from all storms, and dwell above the floods, Psa. 32:6, 7. And you shall be at peace with everything, and God will make all his creatures throughout all parts of his dominion, to befriend you, Job 5:19-24. You need not be afraid of anything that your enemies can do unto you, Psa. 3:5, 6. Those things that now are most terrible to you, viz. death, judgment, and eternity, will then be most comfortable, the most sweet and pleasant objects of your contemplation. At least there will be reason that they should be so. Hearken therefore to the friendly counsel that is given you this day. Turn your feet into the way of peace, forsake the foolish and live, forsake those things which are no other than the devil’s baits, and seek after this excellent peace and rest of Jesus Christ: that peace of God which passeth all understanding. Taste and see: never was any disappointed that made a trial. Pro. 24:13, 14. You will not only find those spiritual comforts that Christ offers you to be of a surpassing sweetness for the present, but they will be to your soul as the dawning light that shines more and more to the perfect day. The issue of all will be your arrival in heaven, that land of rest, those regions of everlasting joy, where your peace and happiness will be perfect, without the least mixture of trouble or affliction, and never be interrupted nor have an end. (From the sermon The Peace Which Christ Gives His True Followers by Jonathan Edwards)

Ephesians 4: Ministries of the Word

In his commentary in Ephesians, O'Brien reflects on Ephesians 4:12 and the ministries of the word: apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherd/pastors.

In line with this salvation-historical dimension, Ephesians 4 indicates that the exalted Messiah gives ministries of the word to equip God’s people for work in his service so as to build his body. This constructing has both an extensive and an intensive dimension to it. Growth in size is implied in the mention of the gifts of apostles and evangelists (v. 11), while the introduction of the body metaphor implies the notion of development of the church as an organism from within, by means of its own God-given life. Although the expression may be built up has sometimes been interpreted individualistically, this is inappropriate, since it regularly has a corporate dimension in the apostle’s teaching, and this clearly its significance in the present context. (O’Brien, p.135).

The ministers of the Word feed us scripture in order that we may minister to one another in the Word so that we as a whole body may grow into Christ.

Shepherds/Pastors are Christ's Gift to the Church

I am still studying Ephesians 4. One thing that struck me about the following passage is our pastors are a gift to the church.

Therefore it says,
“When he ascended on high he led a host of captives,
and he gave gifts to men.”

(In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, (Ephesians 4:8-12, ESV)

Here's a couple of observations. O'Brien in his commentary writes about the phrase he might fill all things.

He [Christ] fills the universe through the exercise of his lordship over everything. This entails his functioning as the powerful ruler over the principalities (Ephesians 1:21), and giving grace and strength to his people (4:13, 15-16), through whom he fulfils his purposes.

Christ manifests his wisdom and authority to all the principalities in heaven and on earth through helping the church grow into maturity. Christ does this by giving us the gift of gifted ministers: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastor and teachers. Christ specifically chose and gifted men to minister to us so that we as a body can grow into maturity in Him. These ministers are ministers of the Word. They are not here to make us feel better or entertain us, but to explain "the faith" to us. They are to help us to understand the gospel in its entirety and help us to apply it to our lives. Have you thanked your elders/pastors/shepherds today? Have you prayed for your leaders to today? Have you thanked Christ for his gift of your leaders today?

Ephesians 4:15 "Speaking the Truth in Love"

John Piper in a sermon on October 25, 1992 comments on the phrase in Ephesians 4:15: speaking the truth in love.

Let me clear up a wrong idea here that I had for years about this phrase because I ignored the context. I used to think that the phrase, "speak the truth in love," meant, "Tell it like it is, but gently." Like: if a student bombed a test or if a man loses his job, you may have to do the tough work of telling them the truth, but you do it in love to soften the blow. So the truth which is in view here, I thought, was just the hard facts of life that a person might need to hear about in love. Well, that is no doubt part of the meaning here (especially in view of Ephesians 4:25) but the context points in a different direction, that is very crucial to see for the good of the church. The context is all about doctrinal truth—truth about God and about his Son. Notice three evidences of this.
The Context is all about Doctrinal Truth

First, the equippers of the saints in verse 11 are all truth agents: apostles (the authoritative, foundational witnesses to the truth), the prophets (the charismatic speakers of truth that apply it with supernaturally guided pointedness), the evangelists (who do the work of evangelism with the truth of the gospel in regions where apostles have planted the church), the pastors and teachers (who take the truth and use it to feed and protect the flock of God). Every one of these offices centers on the truth of God and Christ and the gospel. These people are truth agents.

Second, verse 13 says that the goal of building up the body of Christ is to attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God. So the building begins with equippers who are all agents of truth, and the aim of the building is unified knowledge, that is, unified grasp of truth.

Third, we have seen that verse 14 shows Paul's great concern is that as we grow into corporate Christlikeness, we are not to be babes who are blown around by every wind of doctrine. So again the issue is stability in true doctrine so that we will not be deceived by false doctrine.

O'Brien's commentary points out the same idea.

... the apostle is not exhorting his readers to truthfulness in general or speaking honestly with one another, however appropriate or important this may be. Rather, he wants all of them to be members of a 'confessing ' church, with the content of their testimony to be 'the word of truth', the gospel of their salvation (1:13). This truth, which is guaranteed by God and is depicted as part of his own armour, is the belt which believers are to buckle around their waist as they resist the onslaughts of the evil one (6:14).

As Christians witness to the truth of the gospel they cannot use the same methods as the false teachers or the tempter whose activity lies behind them. (O'Brien, The Letter to the Ephesians" p. 311)

I have posted this quote before from Mike Cosper about "speaking the truth in love."

Speaking the truth in love” is often understood as saying hard things or dealing with conflict: we “speak the truth in love” when we confront sin or say unpopular things lovingly. According to Peterson, though, “speaking the truth in love” is not so much about interpersonal boldness as it is about a community that shares a confession, a unified expression of faith in the God who saved them. The gathered body teaches the Word and proclaims it together; we speak the truth I love as we sing, read the Scriptures, and remember the gospel together. (Rhythms of Grace, Mike Cosper, p. 80).

Although exhortation is a key tool for building up the church, Paul is concentrating in Ephesians about doctrinal truth. We are to celebrate the truth of the gospel through our preaching, worship, and love. The path to maturity that Paul is describing is in steadfastness to the truth and love. It is not emotional maturity, although that is important, it is not what Paul is stressing in Ephesians.

Ephesians 4:6 -- God's Sovereignty and The Church's Unity

I have been studying Ephesians 4. Paul is stressing the unity of the Church since the death of Christ unified the Gentiles and the Jews into one body. Paul describes God the Father in Ephesians 4:6 --

one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4:6, ESV)

Peter O'Brien in his commentary on Ephesians makes the following observations:

God’s universal sovereignty and presence are set forth as the climactic ground for the unity of the Spirit that believers are to maintain. His universal rule is being exercised to fulfill his ultimate purpose on unifying all things in Christ. The unity of the church is the means by which the manifold wisdom of God is being displayed to the universe. The church is the eschatological outpost, the pilot project of God’s purposes, and his people are the expression of this unity that displays to the universe his final goal. (O’Brien, p. 285-286)

God the Father is using the unity of the Church, made possible by the death and resurrection of His Son and is enabled by the indwelling Holy Spirit, to display His manifold wisdom to the universe. We all have a vital role in the church to pursue unity.

What the Bible says we should do when we worship together.

I have been reading Mike Cosper's book Rhythms of Grace.. Cosper writes about what we should do when we worship both singly and in community. He has good insight on how should we should understand Ephesians 4:15:

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ

Cosper notes that "Speaking the truth in love" ia commonly misunderstood.

“Speaking the truth in love” is often understood as saying hard things or dealing with conflict: we “speak the truth in love” when we confront sin or say unpopular things lovingly. According to Peterson, though, “speaking the truth in love” is not so much about interpersonal boldness as it is about a community that shares a confession, a unified expression of faith in the God who saved them. The gathered body teaches the Word and proclaims it together; we speak the truth in love as we sing, read the Scriptures, and remember the gospel together.” (Rhythms of Grace, Mike Cosper, p. 80).

Mike Cosper writes about the Greek word for Church: "Ekklesia."

We gather because we have work to do—to remember the gospel and hold fast to our confession. The Greek word for the gathered church offers some insight into how the apostles saw their gatherings. Though the language offered a variety of options for words to describe the gathering church, the authors of the new Testament chose ἐκκλησία. According the scholar Larry Hurtado, it was an odd choice. “In its historic Greek usage, ekklesia designated the gathering of citizens of a city to conduct civic business. Such events always had a religious character and would be commenced with offerings to the gods, but the ekklesia was not precisely a gathering to conduct worship.” We gather because we have work to do. ἐκκλησία emphasizes the work of the people. We gather to do our work, which is to say, we gather to remember, to encourage, and to spur one another on.

The Work of the Holy Spirit in Regeneration

This is from John Owen's book called, The Holy Spirit. Owen starts this paragraph by explaining how the Arminian's or Semi-Pelagians outline the work of the Holy Spirit in an individual's salvation. Owen then explains how this does not fit scripture or traditional theology. In the second paragraph, Owen points out that Arminians pray for conversion for themselves and others like a Calvinist. It would be ludicrous to pray for a person' conversion, if God is helpless to change that person's heart.

It is indeed pretended by some, that grace, in the dispensation of the word, does work really and efficiently, especially by illumination and excitation of the mind and affections; and if, upon this, the will exerts itself in the choice of that which is good, then the grace thus administered concurs with it, and assists it to perfect its act, and so, that the whole work is of grace. So pleaded the Semi-Pelagians, and so do others still. Now this is, in effect, to overthrow the whole grace of Jesus Christ, and to render it useless; for it ascribes to man the honour of his conversion, his own will being the principal cause of it. It makes a man to beget himself anew, or to be born again of himself; to make himself differ from others, by that which, in a special manner, he has not received.

This is not all that we pray for, when we beg effectual grace for ourselves or others. Surely he must be very indifferent in this matter, who only prays that God would persuade him or others to believe and to obey, to be converted, or to convert themselves. The Church of God has always prayed that God would work these things in us; and those who have a real concern in them, do pray continually that God would effectually work them in their hearts; that he would convert them; that he would create a clean heart, and renew a right Spirit in them; that he would give them faith, and increase it in them; and that in all these things he would work in them by the exceeding greatness of his power, both to will and to do, according to his good pleasure. This argument was much pressed on the Pelagians by the fathers; and there is not a Pelagian in the world who ever sincerely prayed for grace and divine assistance, with a sense of his want of it, but his prayers contradicted his profession. Indeed, for any person to continue praying with importunity and fervency for what is in his own power, and can never be effected but by his own own power, is absurd and ridiculous: and they do but mock God, who pray to him to do that for them which they can do for themselves, and which God cannot do for them, but only as they choose to do it for themselves. This, some men of late, as it seems, wisely observing, begin to reproach and mock at the prayers of Christians. (The Holy Spirit: His Gifts and Power, John Owen, p. 209)

How God Uses Suffering in Building His Church

Jonathan Edwards comments on 1 Kings 6:7. He notices how the Old Testament temple is a type of the Church, which is the holy temple of the Lord (Ephesians 2:19-22). He points out that God uses affliction to smooth and shape the individual blocks (the people of God) to fit together. We are being grown together into the temple of the Lord by God.

1 Kings vi. 7. “And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither; so that there was neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron, heard in the house while it was in building.” This temple represents the church of God, who are called God’s temple, or spiritual house; Jesus Christ being the chief corner-stone, and all the saints as so many stones. Particularly, by Solomon’s temple is meant the church triumphant, as by the tabernacle, the church militant, by the exact finishing, squaring, and smoothing of these stones before they were brought thither, represents the perfection of the saints in glory; heaven is not a place to prepare them, they are all prepared before they come there; they come perfectly sinless and holy into heaven; this world is the place where God hews them, and squares them, by his prophets and ministers, by the reproofs and warnings of his word, which God compares to a hammer, and by persecutions and afflictions. There shall be no noise of those tools heard in heaven, but all the lively strains of this spiritual and glorious building are exactly fitted, framed, and polished before they come there.(The Works of Jonathan Edwards, 15, 16

The Church is more than a "mere" instrument.

I read the following quote by Pastor Herschel Martindale in the Great Commission Leadership Institute materials.

"And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all things" (Ephesians 1:22-23, ESV). The Church is the body (instrument) of Jesus. Local churches are merely a representation of this universal body or Church. A body is merely an instrument or means by which the purpose of the head is accomplished."

Actually, the article on the whole is good. However, I disagree with the phrase "merely an instrument." I think what Pastor Martincale is saying is the Church is only a means or tool to accomplish the Great Commission and nothing more. It is hard to believe Pastor Martindale used Ephesians 1:22-23 as a defense for his assertion. Ephesians 1:22-23 is one of the passages in the New Testament which magnifies most what Christ has done for the Church and how Christ plans to use the Church not only here on earth but also in the whole of creation. Paul argues in Ephesians that the Church is not only the means, but it is also one of the main goals of His redemptive work. Here is Peter T. O'Brien commentary on Ephesians 1:22-23.

This still leaves the difficulty of how to interpret 'head' in relation to the body. Perhaps if the Old "Testament notions of 'head' are combined with Greek medical ideas regarding the function of the head in relation to the body and its members, then the head is to be understood as 'inspiring, ruling, guiding, combining, sustaining power, the mainspring of its activity, the centre of its unit, and the seat of its life'. Instead of separating Christ from his body, the head is shown to be 'the cohesive and enabling factor for the body'. Accordingly, "Ephesians (and Colossians) highlights the personal presence of a powerful one who strengthens the individual through the concept of Christ as "head"". This interpretation provides the best explanation for Ephesians 4:16 and Colossians 2:19) ('from it [the head] the whole body grows') and it consistent with the thought of the head 'nourishing' the body. (The Letter to the Ephesians, p. 148)

Again O'Brein on Ephesians 1:23,

The conclusions of our exegesis of v. 23, albeit tentative, may be rendered as follows: '[the church, which is Christ's body], the fulness of him [i.e., Christ] who fills all things in every way'. God has given Christ as head over all things for the church. His supremacy over the cosmos is seen to be for the benefit of his people. (ibid, pp. 151-152)

John Piper in a sermon on Ephesians 1 puts it this way:

"Christ fills the universe with his glory by showing the universe his body--how he chose her, how he destined her, how he came for her and taught her and suffered for her and died for her and rose for her and reigns for her, how he called her and justified her and cleansed her and kept her and will raise her and glorify her and satisfy her forever and ever with himself."

The Church glorifies Christ not through what the Church can do for Christ in fulfilling the Great Commission, but by what God does for the Church through Christ's work and the Holy Spirit's ministry. This interpretation does not alter the fact that we are God's instrument in progressing the Gospel, but the Church is so much more. Paul is using "the body" as analogy to communicate a specific message. Paul did not mean for the analogy to say the Church is "merely" an instrument. Another analogy that scripture uses is the Church is the "Bride of Christ." See the following passages:

For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:2 ESV)

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. (Ephesians 5:25-27 ESV)

Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.(Revelation 19:7-9 ESV)

What difference does it make to assert that the Church is merely an instrument? First, it is just a bad interpretation of Ephesians 1. We lose sight of the glory what Christ has done, is doing, and will do for the Church by calling the Church just an instrument. Second, it is bad ecclesiology. If leaders of a local church view their church as just a mere instrument, wouldn't this eventually cause leaders to view the members of their congregation as mere instruments instead of being fellow heirs of the promises? Heirs who need to be loved, nurtured and trained up to be godly men and women in the house of God.

John Owen: How the Holy Spirit and Duty work together

John Owen addresses the age-old question is sanctification a work of the Holy Spirit or an effort of will. Owen would say both. Read it slowly and read it carefully. Owen wrote in the 17th century and his prose is prolix even for a Puritan; however, it is also very scriptural.

It is brutish ignorance in any to argue, from the effectual operations of the Spirit, that we may be slothful and negligent in our own duty. He who knows not God has promised to work in us, in a way of grace, what he requires from us in a way of duty, has either never read his Bible, or does not believe it; or never prayed, or never took notice of what he prayed for. He is a heathen, he has nothing of the Christian in him, who does not pray that God would work in him what he requires of him. This we know, that what God prescribes, we ought with all diligence and earnestness, as we value our souls and their eternal welfare, to comply with. And we know too, that whatever God has promised, that he himself will perform in us. It is our duty to believe that he will do so, and to fancy an inconsistency between these things, is to charge God foolishly.

If there be an opposition between these things, it is either because the nature of man is not meet to be commanded, or because it need not be assisted; both which suppositions are vain and false. The Holy Spirit so worketh in us, as that he worketh by us; and what he does in us, is done by us. Our duty is to apply ourselves to his commands; and it is his work to enable us to perform them.

He who can indulge sloth and negligence in himself, on account of the promised assistance of the Spirit, may look upon it as a certain evidence that he has no interest or concern it it. For where he affords his aids, he, in general, prepares the soul by diligence in duty. And as he works only in and by the faculties of our own minds, it is ridiculous, and implies a contradiction, for a man to say he will do nothing because the Spirit does all; for where he does nothing, the Spirit does nothing, except by the infusion of the first habit or principle of grace... (pp. 142-143), The Holy Spirit: His Gifts and Power by John Owen.

John Owen's Warning to Those Who Profess the Gospel

Owen was fighting a Deistic theology in his day that was creeping into the churches, so he issues a "woe" to the ministers who preach a gospel that minimizes the role of the Holy Spirit.

Woe to professors of the gospel, who are seduced to believe that all they have to do with God, consists in their attention to moral virtue. It is sottish ignorance and infidelity to suppose that under the gospel there is no communication between God and us but by laws, commands and promises on his part, and by obedience performed in our own strength on part.(p.139, The Holy Spirit: His Gifts and Power

John Owen: The Ministry of the Holy Spirit and the Church

John Owen argues for the essential ministry of the Holy Spirit in the building of Christ's Church from Acts 1:4-8.

And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:4-8, ESV)

On this promise of the coming of the Holy Spirit, John Owen argues that without the ministrations of the Holy Spirit there would be no church:

In this promise then the Lord Christ founded the church itself, and by it he builded it up. And this is the hinge whereon the whole weight of it doth turn and depend unto this day. Take it away, suppose it to cease as to actual accomplishment, and there will be an absolute end of the Church of Christ in this world. No dispensation of the Spirit, no Church. He that would utterly separate the Spirit from the word had as good burn his Bible. The bare letter of the New Testament will no more ingenerate faith and obedience in the souls of men, than the letter of the Old Testament does among the Jews (2 Cor. 3:6, 8). But blessed be God, who hath knit these things together towards his elect in the bond of an everlasting covenant (Isa 59:21). The kingdom of Christ is spiritual, and in the animating principles of it, invisible. If we fix our minds only on outward order, we lose the rise and power of the whole. It is not an outward visible ordination by men (though that be necessary by rule and precept), but Christ’s communication of his Spirit, that gives being, life, usefulness, and success to the ministry; and if any are so foolish as to expect strength and assistance in the work without him, or such success in their labours as shall find acceptance with God, they do but deceive their own souls and others. Let men therefore cast themselves into what order they please; institute what forms of government and religious worship they think proper; if the work of the Spirit be disowned or disclaimed, there is no church-state among them.(p. 135, The Holy Spirit: His Gifts and Power) by John Owen

John von Neumann and Play

In his book Prisoner's Dilemma, William Poundstone writes about the formation of Game Theory and the genius who gave Game Theory its most formal mathematical basis: John von Neumann. In the book Poundstone describes why von Neumann plays.

Many have noted von Neumann's fascination with play, his collection of children's toys, his sometimes childish humor. In this he was not atypical among scientists. Jacob Bronowski wrote (1973), "You must see that in a sense all science, all human thought, is a form of play. Abstract thought is the neoteny of the intellect, by which man is able to carry out activities which have no immediate goal (other animals play only while young) in order to prepare himself for long-term strategies and plans." (Poundstone, p. 39)

John Owen on the Works of the Holy Spirit.

John Owen comments on the Holy Spirit's work being distinct from the other two persons of the Godhead: Father and Son. In creation, John Owen points that it is the God the Father who creates ex nihilo. The Spirit hovered over the water. The Holy Spirit works with existing materials so to speak. John Owen goes on and writes:

The work of the Spirit being not an original but a perfecting work, it supposes the love, grace, counsel and eternal purpose of the Father, and the whole mediation of Jesus Christ: for it is his peculiar work to make these effectual to the souls of the elect, to the praise of the glory of the grace of God. (Owen, p. 134, The Holy Spirit: His Gifts and Power

Packer on Friesen's Book "Decision Making and the Will of God."

J. I. Packer and Carol Nystrum critiques Garry Friesen's model for decision making in their God's Will: Finding Guidance for Everyday Decisions.

In Decision Making and the Will of God (Portland: Multnoma, 1980), Garry Friesen put forward, in place of the idea of guidance by immediate "impressions" or by arresting circumstances, a Bible-based "wisdom" model for determining the will of God with regard to school, marriage, career and all other significant choices, much in line with what we have been affirming in this book so far. But it has been reported that "many...came away from his presentation with a great disquiet, a disquiet that arises from a tone that implicitly denies that existential dynamic of the Spirit in the life of the believer and substitutes instead a formula (albeit a thoroughly biblical formula) for determining legitimate options in any situation." And Friesen's book was once roundly critiqued in J. I.'s hearing as a fine statement of the "Deist doctrine of guidance"--a doctrine that is, that denies, ignores, or otherwise leaves out of account all direct action of God the Holy Spirit in the deep Christian heart and consciousness. It has to be admitted that Friesen's book, however salutary in other ways, does appear overall as an example of the subspiritual mindset in action.

Packer and Nystrum go on to explain what the subspiritual believer does wrong: he overvalues reason, and he undervalues the grace of faithful waiting.

God will dwell in the tents of Shem. (Genesis 9:27)

Walter Kaiser Jr., in his book Toward an Old Testament Theology, traces what he calls the "Canonical Theological Center," which is the revelation of the promised seed throughout the Old Testament. He shows how Noah's cursing and blessing of his descendants in Genesis 9, provides further revelation about the promised seed.

The structure of Genesis 9:25-27 is a heptastich which is divided into three parts by the repeated refrain of Canaan's servitude, a son of guilty Ham:

And he said
Cursed be Canaan;
a servant of servants will he be to his brothers
--verse 25

And he said,
Blessed be the Lord God of Shem;
Let Canaan be a slave to him.
--verse 26

God will enlarge Japhet,
But He will dwell in the tents of Shem;
Let Canaan be a slave to him.
--verse 27

Now the key issue is this: Who is the subject of the verb "he will dwell" in Genesis 9:27? We concur with the judgment of the Targum of of Onkelos, Philo, Maimonides, Rashi, Aben Ezra, Theodoret, Barumgarten, and Delitzsch that the subject is God. Our reasons are these: (1) the subject of the previous clause is presumed to continue into the next clause where the subject is unexpressed; (2) the use of the indirect object of the previous line as subject ("Japhet") would require strong contextual reason for doing so; (3) the context of the next several chapters designates Shem as the first in honor of blessings; and (4) the Hebrew phrase weyiskonbe'ohole sem, "and he will dwell in the tents of Shem," hardly makes sense if attributed to Japhet, for Japhet had already been granted the blessing of expansion.

The plan of the whole prophecy appears to devote the first strophe only to Canaan, the second to Shem and Canaan, and the third to all three brothers. On balance, then, the best option is to regard God as promising to Shem a special blessing. He would dwell with the Semitic peoples. The word for "dwell" is related to the later concept of Mosaic theology of the Shekinah glory of God wherein the presence of God over the tabernacle was evidenced by the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. Hence, the man Shem would be the one through whom the "seed" promised earlier would now come. Had not God said, "Blessed be the Lord God of Shem" (Gen. 9:26)? And why did He use this distinctive form of address? Could it be that the blessing and indwelling were linked? And could it be that they were God's next provision to earths's latest crisis? (pp. 81-82, Toward an Old Testament Theology, Kaiser)

The promised seed of Eve can be traced through the line of Adam's and Eve's son, Seth. The seed then can be traced through Noah and then through Shem (father of the Semitic tribes). Abraham is from this tribe. This line of descendants can be tracked through David and thus to Christ. God gives us hope through his meticulous planning and care of the line of David. This gives us hope and comfort because we, through the Church, are adopted into this holy family.
The concept of dwelling with man is central here. God promises to dwell with Israel (Exodus 29:45). God through His Spirit promises to dwell within the Church (1 Corinthians 3:16), and individual believers as well (1 Corinthians 6:19). In Revelation, God the Father promises that the dwelling place of God is with man.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. (Revelation 21:3, ESV)

We have God in Revelation restoring the relationship with Man that Man lost in Genesis 3.

The Ruler of Promise: Genesis 49:10.

The following is from the ESV Bible. Genesis 49:10

The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him;1 and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
Footnotes
[1] 49:10 By a slight revocalization; a slight emendation yields (compare Septuagint, Syriac, Targum) until he comes to whom it belongs; Hebrew until Shiloh comes, or until he comes to Shiloh

Notice from the footnote and from older translations of the Bible (KJV, ASV) "until tribute comes to him" is translated "until Shiloh comes." In his book, "The Promise-Plan of God," Walter Kaiser argues that Genesis 49:10 adds further revelation about the Man of promise (the promised Seed of Genesis 3:15) by quoting von Orelli. Von Orelli comments on the phrase "until Shiloh comes."

The context on one hand, the oldest authorities in respect of reading on the other, conduct us to our translation. Selloh was the reading handed down from antiquity, and the LXX [Septuagint] rendered this neutrally: heos ean elthe ta apokeimena auto [until there come the things stored up for him]. Instead of this abstract neuter subject we take the personal subject dominating everywhere here and render: until he comes into that which belongs to him, therefore into his own, his possession described on the sequel. Cf. especially the blessing of Moses on Judah, Deut. xxxiii.7: we'el ammo te bi 'ennu ["to his people bring him"]. As champion of the other tribes, he will display untiring energy until he has won his territory without curtailment; and then not merely will the tribes of Israel do homage to him but other nations also will bow to his rule.

Kaiser summarizes his argument that from Judah's descendants would come the prophesied Man of promise.

For Ezekiel, or later Jewish and Christian interpreters, to regard this as another addition to the doctrine of the seed to come is therefore not unwarranted. Neither was Ezekiel's allusion in 21:27, "until he to whom it rightfully belongs shall come, to him I will give it," out of bonds either. The Man of promise would be overwhelmingly successful; he would reign over all the peoples of the earth because it was his right and destiny so to do. Furthermore, he would originate from the tribe of Judah in Israel.

Walter Kaiser on Genesis 3:15 and 4:1 -- Eve's expectation of her first born.

Walter Kaiser Jr. traces the path of the Promise through both the Old Testament and the New Testament. He makes some observations about Genesis 3:15 and 4:1.

But in the midst of the dirge of gloom and rebuke came God's surprising word of prophetic hope (Ge 3:15). A divinely instigated hostility--"I will put enmity between you [the serpent] and the woman, and between your offspring [or seed] and hers--is climaxed with the triumphant appearance of a "he"-- no doubt a representative person of the woman's seed. He would deliver a lethal blow to the head of Satan, while the best the serpent would be able or even permitted to do would be to nip the heel of this male descendant.

Who this male descendant was, was not immediately revealed. Perhaps Eve thought Cain was the one. She named her son Cain (Heb., qayin), saying she had "gotten (Heb.,qaniti) a man, even the Lord" (4:1); at least, that is a fair way of rendering the enigmatic phrase. Regardless of whether one agrees with this rendering, she was mistaken, and the biblical text only records her longings and perhaps gives us an insight into how an clear an understanding she had of Genesis 3:15 -- she expected that God would supply a person who would care for their sin that had occasioned the fall. (The Promise Plan of God by Walter Kaiser Jr., p. 43)

There is a footnote by Kaiser that Luther interpreted the passage this way in the German bible.

Other references that indicate that Old Testament believers were looking forward to the Promised Seed:

To Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time people began to call upon the name of the Lord. (Genesis 4:26, ESV)

When Lamech had lived 182 years, he fathered a son and called his name Noah, saying, “Out of the ground that the Lord has cursed, this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands.” (Genesis 5:28-29, ESV)

When Abraham puts his faith in God's promise that Abraham's seed will be from his own body, then that belief was counted as righteousness.

And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness. (Genesis 15:4-6)

Israel prophesies that from Judah the kingly line will come in Genesis 49:10.

The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. (Genesis 49:10, ESV)

Genesis 29: Who is God using to discipline you?

I found a humorous and valid application of Genesis in a commentary(Creation and Blessing: A Guide to the Study and Exposition of the Book of Genesis by Allen P. Ross). My faith family studied the life of Jacob this week. In Genesis chapter 29, Jacob, because of the deception of Laban, married both of Laban's daughters. Jacob loved the younger, Rachel, but was not in love with Leah. God used Laban's family to discipline the not so righteous Jacob. Here's what Kidner wrote in how God used Laban, Leah, and Rachel to discipline Jacob.

In Laban Jacob met his match and his means of discipline. Twenty years (31:41) of drudgery and friction were to weather his character; and the reader can reflect that presumably Jacob is not the only person to have needed a Laban is his life.

Through this man he also drank deeply of his own medicine of duplicity; yet even as the loser he displayed qualities that were lacking in Esau. The tenacity that showed at his birth and supremely, at Peniel, enabled him to regard the defeat over Rachel as only a setback.

The lesson that Ross gives from the passage is the following:

The lesson is that, even though God's people may experience God's blessing on their endeavors, God will effectively discipline them by making them painfully aware of their unresolved sins.

Ross had to be smiling when he wrote this observation.

If we use the story of Jacob as a sample, we may say that, when we are thrown together with people who are crafty, arrogant, deceitful, contentious, gossipy, or a host of other human frailties, before we lament that we have to be around such people, we perhaps should take a long look at ourselves. It may be that some of those traits characterize us and that other people may be part of God's means of disciplining us.

I let the readers of this post sort out whom God is using to discipline whom in their own lives.

The Promise of the Holy Spirit

John Owen writes about the ministry of the Holy Spirit within us.

And if we consider this promise of the Spirit as to the ends of it, we shall find that he is promised and given as the sole cause and author of all the good that we can enjoy in this world. For there is no good communicated to us, no gift, grace, mercy, privilege, or consolation bestowed upon us, but through the Holy ghost; nor is there any good in us towards God, any faith, love, duty, or obedience, but what is effectually wrought in us by him, and by him alone. (The Holy Spirit: His Gifts and Power by John Owen, pp. 112-113)

According to Ephesians 1, the Holy Spirit is the gift of God that opens the eyes of our hearts so that we understand the riches that God has bestowed upon us through salvation.

Jonathan Edward's View on Beauty in Creation

Jonathan Edwards comments on divine beauty in creation. God uses nature to communicate his beauty to His creatures.

Now we have shown that the Son of God created the world for this very end, to communicate himself in an image of his own excellency.

He communicates himself, properly, only to spirits, and they only are capable of being proper images of his excellency, for they only are properly beings, as we have shown. Yet he communicates a sort of a shadow, or glimpse, of his excellencies to bodies, which, as we have shown, are but the shadows of beings, and not real beings. He who by his immediate influence, gives being every moment, and by his Spirit, actuates the world, because he inclines to communicate himself and his excellencies, does doubtless communicate his excellency to bodies, as far as there is any consent or analogy. And the beauty of face and sweet airs in men are not always the effect of the corresponding excellencies of mind, yet the beauties of nature are really emanations or shadows of the excellencies of the Son of God. So that when we are delighted with flowery meadows, and gentle breezes of wind, we may consider that we see only the emanations of the sweet benevolence of Jesus Christ. When we behold the fragrant rose and lily, we see his love and purity. So the green trees, and fields, and singing of birds are the emanations of his infinite joy and benignity. The easiness and naturalness of trees and vines are shadows of his beauty and loveliness. The crystal rivers and murmuring streams are the footsteps of his favor, grace, and beauty. When we behold the light and brightness of the sun, the golden edges of an evening cloud or the beauteous bow, we behold the adumbrations of his glory and goodness, and in the blue sky, of his mildness and gentleness. There are also many things wherein we may behold his awful majesty, in the sun in his strength, in comets, in thunder, in the hovering thunderclouds, in ragged rocks, and the brows of mountains. That beauteous light with which the world is filled in a clear day, is a lively shadow of his spotless holiness, and happiness and delight in communicating himself; and doubtless this is a reason that Christ is compared so often to those things, and called by their names, as the Sun of Righteousness, the morning star, the rose of Sharon, and lily of the valley, the apple tree amongst the trees of the wood, a bundle of myrrh, a roe, or a young hart. By this we may discover the beauty of many of those metaphors and similes, which to an unphilosophical person do seem so uncouth.

Michael A. G. Haykin comments on Jonathan's Edwards view of divine Beauty and its enjoyment of it by us is necessary in our walk with God.

Edwards' approach could also be helpful in that it explains why aesthetic experience is for many people also a religious experience. Moreover, by emphasizing that the beauty we perceive in the created realm is a mode of God's presence, he avoids the seeming nebulousness of much of the discussion about divine beauty.

If follows, of course, for Edwards, that those who ignore the beauty of God in creation are committing a religious fault. For Edwards, 'the beatific was basic' to God and the universe. Moreover, Edwards is convinced that men and women uniformly fail in this regard, for the have lost the faculty to see the visible beauty of God in his creation. They perceive the secondary beauty, but fail to see the divine beauty that saturates nature. This faculty can only be restored through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the 'agent of conversion and of all our good'.

What the Apostle Paul Prayed for.

Ephesians 1:17-18

that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints

Peter O'Brien in his commentary on Ephesians notes the subject of Paul's prayer.

Unlike many contemporary Christians, the apostle does not pray for fresh spiritual blessings, as though he is unaware of the fact that God has graciously given them every spiritual privilege in Christ. On the other hand, Paul does not want his readers to become complacent. He does not assume that because everything is theirs in Christ they do not need to grow in their understanding or experience of these Christian blessings. (O’Brien, pp. 129-130)

Notice Paul did not pray for additional blessings for the Ephesians. He prayed that the Ephesians may understand the blessings and promises that God through Christ abundantly given us already. Paul wants us to pray for everyday needs, but we should also pray fervently that God would give us wisdom and understanding in knowing Him and His salvation for us.

The Puritan High View of Women.

I'm reading Jonathan Edwards: The Holy Spirit in Revival by Michael A. G. Haykin. The author points out that Jonathan Edwards, deeply loved his wife, Sarah. As a matter of fact, Haykin quotes Amanda Porterfield about an interesting trademark about the American Puritans.

One of the most striking phenomena about the New England Puritans is that their greatest ministers and governors -- Thomas Shepard, John Winthrop, Simon Bradstreet, Edward Taylor, Jonathan Edwards, for example -- loved their wives beyond measure. These men found their wives to be earthly representatives of God's beauty. For these men a loving wife was not only a model Christian but also an expression of the beauty of the world that pointed beyond itself to divine beauty. And the enjoyment of God's beauty was the essence of Puritan spirituality. (Haykin, p. 111)

This generation has seen a revival of the proclamation of the same doctrines to which the Puritans held. These Reformed or Calvinistic doctrines are claimed by an increasing number in our generation. Men, we can only pray that our generation of believers not only be characterized by doctrinal purity, but that we love our wives in the same manner of Edwards: our love should be beyond measure to the glory of God.

Francis Chan on Church Growth

Francis Chan, in his book Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit comments on the role of the Holy Spirit on church growth

Even our church growth can happen without Him. Let’s be honest: If you combine a charismatic speaker, a talented worship band, and some hip, creative events, people will attend your church. Yet this does not mean that the Holy Spirit of God is actively working and moving in the lives of the people who are coming. It simply means that you have created a space that is appealing enough to draw people in for an hour or two on Sunday.

It certainly does not mean that people walk out the doors moved to worship and in awe of God. People are more likely to describe the quality of the music or the appeal of the sermon than the One who is the reason people gather for “church” in the first place.

I share this not because the Holy Spirit is not working among us, but we should not let mere growth in the numbers who attend our church convince us that we are on the right path. The Reformers had a phrase ecclesia semper reformanda. It means the church is always reforming in accordance to the Word of God. We always need to examine our practices and programs to see if they in accordance to the Word of God. Chan is emphasizing we need to check if we are depending on the Holy Spirit for guidance and growth. The mark of a growing church in not numbers, but "Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ." (Ephesians 4:15).

The Second Great Article of Gospel Truth

John Owen reflects on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit in his book, The Holy Spirit: His Gifts and Power

We may observe that the doctrine of the Spirit of God, is the second great article of those gospel truths, in which the glory of God and the good of souls, are most eminently concerned; without the knowledge of which in its truth, and the improvement of it in its power, the first will be altogether useless. For when God designed the great and glorious work of recovering fallen man, and of saving sinners to the praise of the glory of his grace, he appointed in this infinite wisdom two great means thereof: the one was the giving of His Son for them; and the other was, the giving of his Spirit to them. (Owen, p. 43)

Spiritual Blessing in Ephesians 1:3

Ephesians 1:3-14 is called an eulogy because it is a prayer of praise to God the Father for all the spiritual blessings He gives his saints (faithful members of the Church). The following is a snippet of the commentary from Peter T. O'Brien's commentary: The Letter to the Ephesians. I thought it laid out the spiritual blessing in Ephesians 1:3 rather well. I put the blessings in a list format to highlight them.

Here the adjective spiritual means ‘pertaining to or belonging to the Spirit’, and thus ‘spiritual blessings’ signify those which ‘properly pertain to the life of the Spirit’. The adjective does not primarily point to a contrast with what is material (e.g., Deut. 28:1-14), secular or worldly. Nor do Paul’s words suggest simply the spiritual gifts listed in 1 Corinthians 12:3-11. The nature of these gracious gifts is made plain in the following words of the eulogy (vv. 4-14), and include

• election to holiness,
• adoption as God’s sons and daughters,
• redemption and forgiveness,
• a knowledge of God’s gracious plan to sum up all things in Christ,
• the gift of the Spirit,
• and the hope of glory. (O’Brien, p. 97)

How can we not with Paul bless the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ in prayer for giving us this blessing.

Inspiration and the Holy Spirit

R. A. Torrey addresses the heresy that inspiration of the Holy Spirit in the Bible is just the same as an architect being inspired to design a building or a poet composing a poem.

A very scholarly and brilliant preacher seeking to minimize the difference between the work of the Holy Spirit in apostles and prophets and His work in other men calls attention to the fact that the Bible says that Bezaleel was to be "filled with the Spirit of God" to devise the work of the tabernacle (Ex. xxxi. 1-11). He gives this as a proof that the inspiration of the prophet does not differ from the inspiration of the artist or architect, but in doing this, he loses sight of the fact that the tabernacle was to be built after the “pattern shown to Moses in the Mount” (Ex. xxv. 9, 40) and that therefore it was itself a prophecy and an exposition of the truth of God. It was not mere architecture. It was the Word of God done into wood, gold, silver, brass, cloth, skin, etc. And Bezaleel needed as much special inspiration to reveal the truth in wood, gold, silver, brass, etc., as the apostle or prophet needs it to reveal the Word of God with pen and ink on parchment. [R. A. Torrey, pp. 248-249]

I would go one step further. The Christian is to honor God through the Christians's work. We can not honor God without Holy Spirit's help. The Spirit will empower us to glorify the Son through our every day work. God will provide us through our work the means and power to glorify Him.

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10, ESV)

The Author's Intention of Ephesians

I'm preparing to lead a study on Ephesians 1. Here are some good quotes from Peter O'Brien's commentary on Ephesians, "The Letter to the Ephesians."

“He [Paul] writes Ephesians to his mainly Gentile Christian readers, for whom he has apostolic responsibilities, with the intention of informing, strengthening, and encouraging them by assuring them of their place within the gracious, saving purpose of God, and urging them to bring their lives into conformity with this divine plan of summing up all things in Christ (1:10). Paul wants to ‘ground, shape and challenge’ his readers in their faith. In other words, the main purpose of his letter is ‘identity formation’. (O’Brien, p. 57) brackets mine

Cosmic reconciliation and unity in Christ are the central message of Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians. (O’Brien, p. 58)

The aorist infinitive ‘to bring all things together’ does not point to the past, but signifies purpose: the summing up of all things is the goal to be achieved. Yet the implementation of the divine plan is already under way. The letter makes it quite plain that significant steps have already been taken to set in motion the achievement of this goal: in particular, it is through Jesus’ saving work that the revelation of the mystery’s content has come about (1:7-9), while God’s placing all things under his feet and appointing him to be head over everything for the church (1:22) is an important step towards the fulfillment of this goal. But the summing up awaits the consummation, which will occur at the end. (O’Brien, p. 60).

O'Brien has a quote by Cargounis about "the summing up of all things." or anakephaloaiosis.

In his stimulating monograph dealing with the mystery in Ephesians, Chrys Caragounis claims that as Paul proceeds to amplify and explain the meaning of the anakephaloaiosis throughout the letter, he concentrates on two main representatives of these spheres, namely, the powers representing ‘the things in heaven’, and the church (particularly in relation to Jews and Gentiles in the body of Christ) representing ‘the things on earth’. Caragounis further suggests that the two obstacles which need to be overcome before the divine purposes of bringing everything back into unity in Christ can be fulfilled are (a) the rebellion of the powers, and (b) the alienation of the Jews from the Gentiles (2:11-22, as well as the estrangement of both from God, 2:16). Much of the rest of Ephesians is given over to explicating, with reference to each of these two spheres, the steps in the process that God has taken in order to ‘bring all things into unity in Christ’.

The Great Dividing Line between Rome and the Reformation

Sinclair Ferguson in his introduction to John Owen's book, The Holy Spirit: His Gifts and Power, comments on the role the doctrine of the Holy Spirit has in church history.

Indeed the famous counter-reformation Jesuit missionary to England, Edmund Campion, once said that the great dividing line between Rome and Geneva lay along the axis of the doctrine of the person and work of the Holy Spirit. In effect, in the place of the Holy Spirit the Roman Catholic Church had substituted the role of the church--its teaching authority, its priesthood, and its seven sacraments. In this respect, Owen stood on the shoulders of the Genevan reformer John Calvin whom B.B. Warfield insightfully called 'The theologian of the Holy Spirit.'

Like Calvin before him, however, Owen's exposition of the Spirit's ministry is not only set over against Roman Catholic sacramentalism but also against contemporary teaching that tended to separate the Spirit from the word of God and focus attention on individual revelation by the Spirit rather than on the Spirit's illumination of the revelation in Scripture. (p. 24)

The Joy of God's Love

R. A. Torrey writes in his book The Person and Work of The Holy Spirit about a father's love for his child. The example he gives is quite moving.

Some years ago there was a father in the state of Illinois, who had a child who had been deaf and dumb from her birth. It was a sad day in that home when they came to realize that that little child was deaf and would never hear and, as they thought, would never speak. The father heard of an institution in Jacksonville, Ill., where deaf children were taught to talk. He took this little child to the institution and put her in charge of the superintendent. After the child had been there some time, the superintendent wrote telling the father that he would better come and visit his child. A day was appointed and the child was told that her father was coming. As the hour approached, she sat up in the window, watching the gate for her father to pass through. The moment he entered the gate she saw him, ran down the stairs and ran out on the lawn, met him, looked up into his face and lifted up her hands and said, “Papa.” When that father heard the dumb lips of his child speak for the first time and frame that sweet word “Papa,” such a throb of joy passed through his heart that he literally fell to the ground and rolled upon the grass in ecstasy. But there is a Father who loves as no earthly father, who longs to have His children realize that they are children, and when we [pg 140] look up into His face and from a heart which the Holy Spirit has filled with a sense of sonship call Him “Abba” (papa), “Father,” no language can describe the joy of God.

It may be said, I think, the measure of joy in a relationship is the measure of love in the relationship especially in the parent's love for their children. Our greatest joy should be that God joys over us.

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 1 John 3:1

The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you (Zephaniah 3:17)

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8, ESV)

God's meaningful universe

John Frame in his book, The Doctrine of God, explains the significance of decrees and the job of humanity in understanding them.

God's decrees display his lordship attributes. In an obvious way, they display his control, for they are efficacious and universal. God's intentions will certainly be fulfilled, and they will be fulfilled for everything in the created world.

They also display his authority, for they are meaningful thoughts--wise plans or counsels for the world. As such, they interpret the world; they determine the meaning and significance of everything God makes. God's interpretations, of course, are always supremely authoritative. When he declares the significance of something for his purpose, that is the significance it has. So the doctrine of the decrees implies that God has authoritatively preinterpreted everything and every event. As Van Til emphasized, the interpretation of the facts precedes the facts. Our world is a world that is exhaustively meaningful, because it is the expression of God's wisdom. Among human beings, interpretation is not the work of trying to assess for the first time the significance of uninterpreted facts. Rather, ours is a work of secondary interpretation, interpreting God's interpretation. (pp. 316-317)

In theology, the universe is not random. The events and created objects are purposely created by God to declare His glory (Psalm 19:1-2) and His wrath (Romans 1:18) to anyone who will listen, and we all will listen one day. For those who love God, these facts express God's omnipresence and omnipotence and thus bring comfort and joy.

Genesis 17:1 -- "Walk before me and be perfect."

In his commentary on Genesis, Allen P. Ross quotes Benno Jacob (First Book of the Bible, pp. 109-110) who has some excellent insights into "I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless."

If you want to become whole, which is my request for you, you must walk before me; you place yourself under my exclusive supervision, guidance, and protection. The image is taken from the shepherd who walks behind his herd directing it by his calls, or from the father under whose eyes the child walks. It is more than the walking "with" God of Enoch and Noah who were practically lead [sic] by the hand.

When questions arise you shall take directions only from God and be devoted to him without reservation. This word does not refer to moral conduct, for that would be too insignificant in this situation and is self-understood. The high demand corresponds to God's, "Be you mine, and I will be yours." (Creation and Blessing: A Guide to the Study and Exposition of Genesis, p.331)

Ross goes on writes that the Hebrew word "perfect" (tamin includes meanings of "without fault" and "complete" or "whole.") In other words, holiness and separateness is part of the meaning of the word.

C. S. Lewis and Hebrews 1:3

A friend of mine posted on Facebook from the "Science is Awesome" website. ***********************************************************************************************************

You are currently on a 4.5 billion year old spaceship

A self sufficient, organic, complex spaceship.

You are orbiting a power source that is a million times larger than your ship.

There are 200 billion more power sources, possibly with ships like your, in your group.

There are 40 more groups in your particular neighborhood.

Your neighborhood is moving at 2 million miles per hour to an object that is 150 million light years away.

Welcome to life. It's more exciting when you think on a larger scale.

**********************************************************************************************************
My friend attributed this quote to Carl Sagan, but the web site does not say. I must agree that it is in the spirit of Sagan. This quote raises many questions. Why does astronomical sizes and millions of years make life more exciting? If that is the case, should not contemplating the end of the universe be our most exciting meditation? The most popular theory of the end of the universe is "The Big Freeze." The universe will keep expanding until it approaches absolute zero. No life, no light, nor even matter as we know it will exist. It will be the big zero. The end of the universe is a big whimper. It is indeed an exciting end to contemplate.

The author of the quote introduces meaning or purpose through the words spaceship and direction; However,  in Carl Sagan's universe, the earth is not a spaceship, but the result of random events. In Sagan's view, we are just the product of time and chance. There is no design. In Sagan's universe we do not have a direction. We are on top of a spinning globe, which is spinning around a star, which is spinning around a galaxy, which is spinning around a local group of galaxies. There is no one driving. We are literally spinning out of control. The biblical world view offers an alternative. Life has meaning; the earth has meaning; and the universe shouts meaning. Read these two quotes.

When Hebrews 1:3 speaks of Christ "sustaining all things by his powerful word," sustain is the Greek verb phero, meaning "bear, carry." This not a picture of Christ as a kind of Atlas, holding up the world on his shoulders ("upholding," KJV), but a dynamic image of him carrying the world from one point to another through time. There is a destination, and Christ's purpose is to bring the world process to that goal, that conclusion. John Frame, A Theology of Worship Volume 2: The Doctrine of God, p. 276 by John Frame.

But already in the New Testament this "Son" is identified with the Discourse or reason or Word which was eternally "with God" and yet also was God. He is the all-pervasive principle of concretion or cohesion whereby the universe holds together. All things and specially Life, arose within Him, and within Him all things will reach their conclusion--the final statement of what they have been trying to express. (C. S. Lewis, Miracles. p.76)

Christ has an ultimate end in mind for the universe, it is for his glory; and He will bring it about.

Abraham the Evangelist

I was preparing for my faith family's bible study and I came across a couple of interesting insights about Abraham in a commentary on Genesis. The first point involved Genesis 12:4-5

So Abram went, as the LORD had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, (Genesis 12:4-5 ESV)[bolding mine]

When I first read the passage about "people that they had acquired," I thought Moses meant slaves. However Allen P. Ross in his commentary pointed out translating that phrase as "slaves" would probably be incorrect. Ross wrote the following observation about Genesis 12:5.

Tucked away in this verse, easily overlooked, is the expression "and the people [nepes] whom they had acquired [`asa] in Haran." This expression probably does not refer to the acquisition of slaves, for the Hebrew word nepes would not likely be used for that. And it certainly does not refer to their children, because Sarai was barren until Isaac's birth (21:1-7). Cassuto argues that this expression probably refers to proselytes (ibid., p.310). If he is correct, then the narrative implies that, already in Haran, Abram had been sharing his faith in the Lord. (p. 265, Creation and Blessing: A Guide to the Study and Exposition of Genesis , Allen P. Ross)

I thought, "Cool, Abraham shared his faith in the friendly environs of Haran with his family around him." However, another observation in the commentary gave me an insight into Abraham's boldness. I read next in Genesis 12:7-9:

Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him. From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the LORD and called upon the name of the LORD. And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb. (Genesis 12:7-9 ESV)

Abraham's responded to God's further revelation about the land going to his descendants was worship and calling upon the name of the Lord. In Ross's commentary the verb "called upon" can mean more than just prayer.

The response to God's confirming appearance was worship. The idea of sacrifice, presumed here with the building of an altar, continues the ancient form of expressing gratitude and devotion. But at the second mention of his building an altar to worship the Lord is the report that he "made proclamation of the Lord by name..." The expression, first used in Genesis 4:26 refers to the public proclamation of faith in the Lord. The expression is used in the Bible for prayer or for praise, but in Mosaic material it seems to be broader (although a public proclamation of the faith could include prayer and praise) Martin Luther translated it "preached" (predigte), a good rendering in this context.(p. 267, ibid)

So in summary, Abraham built an altar and preached about the one true God in the country of the pantheistic and antagonistic Canaanites. Abraham was bold in his faith even at this early stage. He messed up a few times, but Abram displayed a rare quality of faith that is praised in Hebrews 11.

The Holy Spirit's Role in Creation

The following quote by Michael Reeves is on the role of the Holy Spirit in creation. I never thought about the connection between the Holy Spirit's ministry and beauty before.

So, some Scriptures speak of creation as the work of the Father (it is conceived in his love); others speak of creation as the work of the Son (he brings about his Father’s will); but still others speak of it as the work of the Spirit. “By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath [or Spirit] of his mouth” (Ps 33:6). How? What is the Spirit’s role? We have already seen that the Spirit empowers the Word, but he does even more: while the Son establishes and upholds all things (Heb 1:3), the Spirit perfects or completes the work of creation. Job 26:13 puts it delightfully: "By his breath [or Spirit] the skies became fair. In other words, the Spirit garnishes and beautifies the heavens and the earth. Our first vision of the Spirit, hovering dovelike in Genesis 1, captures something essential. It is that, like a mothering dove settling on her eggs, the Spirit vivifies, bringing what has been created to life. And so, while the Nicene Creed speaks of the Father as "Maker of heaven and earth," it speaks of the Spirit as the Lord and giver of life.

Life is something that God has always had, and in creation is it something he now shares with us. By his Spirit he breathes out life on us. And not just in the beginning: that is always the Spirit's work, to bring life. In the book of Job, Elihu says, "The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gave me life" (Job 33:4). Ongoingly in his creation, the Spirit vitalizes and refreshes. He delights to make his creation--and his creatures--fruitful. Isaiah writes of the time when "the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the desert becomes a fertile field, and the fertile field seems like a forest" (Is 32:15). The psalmist sings: "When you send your Spirit, they [the creatures] are created, and you renew the face of the earth" (Ps 104:30). Small wonder, then, that creativity, the ability to craft, adorn and make beautiful, is a gift of the Spirit:

Then the Lord said to Moses, "See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts--to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of craftsmanship." ((Ex 31:1-5).

The Spirit makes his creation alive with beauty. (Delighting in the Trinity: An Introduction to the Christian Faith by Michael Reeves)

The Rainbow in Genesis

I am reading a chapter in Sacred Bond about the Noahic covenant. The Noahic covenant is a covenant of common grace. God's makes promises to all men and all flesh. The rainbow is the sign God gives us that he remembers those promises. The authors spent some time on rainbows what it symbolizes to the ancient world and what it should symbolize to us today.

So what does the rainbow symbolize? There are two scholarly interpretations of the rainbow, both of which are worthy of mention. First, the Hebrew word for rainbow can mean either rainbow or bow, as in bow and arrow. God calls it "my bow" in verse 13. In ancient iconography, victorious kings and gods are pictured coming back from war with their bows in a horizontal position (like a rainbow). Going into battle, the king/god has the bow vertical in hand, ready to shoot; but after battle it is horizontal, symbolizing the peace after war. The rainbow, then, could be symbolic of God's war bow that hangs in the sky, symbolic of peace. God will not destroy the world again; he is no longer hostile.

Second, the ancients understood the sky or firmament as a dome-shaped barrier that held back the waters above, as in Genesis 1:6-7. Hence, when God judged the world in the flood, he opened the windows of heaven, releasing the waters above (7:11). In fact, the Hebrew word for flood refers more specifically to these celestial waters. Thus, God's promise is that he will never wipe out all flesh by the waters of the flood. The rainbow then visually represents the dome-shaped firmament as shut. The rainbow appears when it rains to show that the celestial waters will not be released.

The symbolic value of the rainbow could be either of these, or perhaps both. Either way, the effect of the symbol is clear. The rainbow reminds us that the floods will never come again. The beautiful arch points to God's promise that he will never judge the world by the waters of the flood. The firmament is shut; there is peace after the storm. (pp. 76-77, Sacred Bond: Covenant Theology Explored by Michael G. Brown and Zach Keele)