However, both actors are using the same approach in providing that offer. The verse states that both actors are “saying” the invitation of obey the Gospel. Both are “saying” the gospel to the lost. Both are using words to appeal to the heart of those needing to find the “new Jerusalem.”
The Gospel’s Two-Part Invitation Read More »
Since then we understand that the path to salvation begins with the hearing of faith, if it is true that the order of the phrases in this verse is significant we would arrive at an interesting conclusion. We would come to a position stating that prior to the Thessalonian Gentiles’ believing the gospel, God acted through His Spirit to sanctify (or set apart) them.
The Sanctification of the Holy Spirit Read More »
The exact same phrase, we are told, describes two gifts that have not one point of commonality between them except that they are both from God. I understand why people are confused when they hear teaching about the Holy Spirit. Is there another doctrine where God’s use of language is so unpredictable?
Within their theology, Calvinists have a perfectly consistent mechanism to address the problem of people who cannot receive the things of the Spirit. They simply assert that the Spirit overrides the depravity of the human condition and forces salvation upon them. Centuries ago, John Calvin “solved” this problem the only way possible. In time, our preachers will also come to the same conclusion. From where they stand now, without turning back, Calvin’s conclusion is inescapable.
The Resistible Grace of the Holy Spirit Read More »
What would have happened in A. D. 68 to a Jew who turned from the gifts of God given him through the Holy Spirit? He would have returned to his people. What then? Simply put, he would have died.
When It was Impossible to Repent Read More »
The man of the flesh, the carnal man, and the natural man are all the same person. He is the man who lives after the works-based philosophy embodied by the Pharisaical Judaizer. The man of the spirit is the man who had understood the teaching of the gospel brought by Paul and has rejected that philosophy of works.
Your Spirit or the Holy Spirit? Read More »
From Micah’s proclamation of his superior prophetic abilities over the disgraced prophets of his age; to the announcement of John’s prophetic ministry in announcing the coming of the Christ; to the overflowing examples of prophecy from Elizabeth and Zechariah; and to the apostles’ utterance of unknown tongues, the meaning of these individuals’ being full of the Spirit is undeniable. Each of these people was a prophet of God.
What Does It Mean to be “Full of the Holy Spirit?” Read More »
But what if Paul’s expression of “sanctification by the Spirit” was not a statement of one’s possession of salvation? What if instead of reading those words and seeing the statement that God through His Spirit sanctifies those who are saved, we read that God sanctified through His Spirit those He was going to save?
The Sanctification of the Holy Spirit Read More »