Christ on the brain

Death is not defeated by having you avert it, but undergo it in the flesh, and then the Spirit raises our dead bodies - because when he sees the baptized dead, he sees only Christ and cannot resist raising him...

the Holy Spirit's proper work is given a Christological fixation. It is not your human goal that matters any longer, but the Holy Spirit's goal. Your goal is flesh, and flesh is hostile to God; the Spirit's goal is "life and peace" because the Spirit's goal is Christ alone. If Christ is in you, the Spirit raises your dead bodies to life since the Holy Spirit has Christ on the brain. In opposition to this, spiritualism seeks to unlink the Spirit from Christ in order to bypass the cross in its immediate relation to God, but the Spirit's proper work never goes anywhere without Christ, and does nothing apart from resurrecting Christ. The Holy Spirit does not moonlight in another job than to witness, show, and drive everything in the universe to Christ.

(pp. 196-197, Steven Paulson, Lutheran Theology)

He's not quite PT Forsyth, but Paulson really does have a nice turn of phrase.

The Trinity in Salvation

I think this diagram represents how I think of our salvation.

I want to use it to explain a few things in future posts if I get the time. For example:

• The differnce between how contemporary Evangelicals and the Reformers view the marks of the church/Christian
• How in the 'law' God works in an sub-Trinitarian way (will have to be careful with that one)
• How Stuart Olyott, and not Luther, got it wrong (with all due respect)
• How the cross both is and isn't where Christ is glorified, and why weakness is and isn't where Christians are strong
• Where we should find our assurance
• The dangers of ritualism, and anti-ritualism

But firstly I'll just throw my big-picture out there for you to point out my heresies.

As a bit of clarrification, what I'm trying to communicate in the diagram is a whole range of things, such as:

• How all three persons are at work in our salvation, at every stage
• How Christ and the Holy Spirit are inseperable
• The Father's initiative
• The centrality of the cross and resurrection
• How the humbling of the Son was both going in the opposite way to getting glory, but also the way to glory
• The ultimate end of salvation being the glory of God
• That works come from faith which comes from the external word which comes from Christ's death and resurrection. They are all of an ordered piece.
• and probably a load of other random things I've forgotten

Christ's mediation: pop quiz

Some questions on my mind this evening.

1. Do you think that most people think of Christ as the mediator between us and the Father, and the Holy Spirit as the mediator between us and Christ?
2. What impact would it have on our thinking if we remembered more often that Christ was the mediator of the Spirit?
3. What do we mean by Christ's mediation anyway? Is his cleansing us so we can enter the prescence of God the end of it? If not, what else does it involve?

The Spirit of Christ

A bible study introducing the Holy Spirit. Specifically with the aim of showing up the connections with the historical Jesus and how we can receive him. Please feel free to give some suggestions for improvements.

MARK 1:4-11

⁴And so John came, baptising in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ⁵The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptised by him in the Jordan River. ⁶John wore clothing made of camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. ⁷And this was his message: "After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. ⁸I baptise you with water, but he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit."

⁹At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptised by John in the Jordan. ¹⁰As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. ¹¹And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."

What does John say the difference between his baptism and Jesus' baptism is?
> John baptised with water, Jesus will baptise with the Holy Spirit

What 3 things happen to Jesus at the Jordan river?
1. He is baptised by John
2. Spirit descends on him like a dove
3. God the Father declares that Jesus is his son

[Note: Jesus did not need to be baptised because he needed to repent and be forgiven (compare Matthew 3:13-15). Baptism is linked with repentance and death (Mark 10:35-40; Romans 6:3-4). Jesus was baptised when he didn't need to for the same reason he died when he didn't need to. To identify with sinners and go ahead before them to face God's judgment against sin, and the new life of resurrection.
Similarly, he did not become God's Son at his baptism. He was already his Son before he was sent to this world (John 3:16-17; 1 John 4:9-14).]

ACTS 2:22-41

Peter speaking to a crowd in Jerusalem shortly after Jesus died, was raised from the dead and went to heaven:

²²"Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. ²³This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. ²⁴But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.

[...]

³²God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. ³³Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. ³⁴For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said, " 'The Lord said to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand ³⁵until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet." '

³⁶"Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ."

³⁷When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?"

³⁸Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call."

⁴⁰With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation." ⁴¹Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

Once Jesus was exalted to the right hand of God what does he do?

> Pour out the promised Holy Spirit, which he received (again), on the disciples.

To receive the Spirit what did the hearers of Peter need to do?

> Repent and be baptised for the forgiveness of sins?
> Through that the promise must be believed. What is the appropriate response to a promise? Faith!

ROMANS 8:5-16

⁵Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. ⁶The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; ⁷the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. ⁸Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.

⁹You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. ¹⁰But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. ¹¹And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.

¹²Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. ¹³For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, ¹⁴because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. ¹⁵For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." ¹⁶The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.

What difference does living in accordance with the Spirit make?

> Desiring what the Spirit desires (v.5).
> Life and peace, not death and hostility toward God (vv.6-7; 13).
> Adoption as God's children (vv.14-16)

What is the connection between the Spirit, Jesus Christ and us?
> Both are 'in' Christians (v.9)
> The Spirit gave life to Jesus and to Christians (v.11)
> The Spirit goes together with being children of God (vv.14-16). Christians are children of God, and Jesus was declared to be at his baptism (Mark 1:11).

How do you feel about the idea of the Spirit of Christ 'in you'?
> Invasive?
> Controlling? [so is sin, but this control gives you freedom (Romans 8:2; 2 Corinthians 3:17).]
> Impossible to grasp? [Spirit in the background always pointing us to Christ. The Spirit himself is not visible just his effects, like wind (John 3:8).]


[OPTIONAL EXTRA:]

PHILIPPIANS 2:1-11

¹If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, ²then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. ³Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. ⁴Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

⁵Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

⁶Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, ⁷but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. ⁸And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! ⁹Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

What does a life in fellowship with the Spirit look like?
> Christ-like
> Humble to the extent of counting yourself nothing
> Selflessly serving others to the extent of dying

Tom Smail on The Holy Spirit

I have a whole host of posts in my head at the moment and I want to get them down before I forget them all. Unfortunately I'm also quite busy and so I'm going to be short on analysis and comment and long on quotes and notes.

I'm really enjoying Tom Smail's book Like Father Like Son, even when I don't fully agree with it. I use the word a lot but it really is thought-provoking.

A difficulty with talking about the Holy Spirit is in keeping two things in balance. We can so understand his personal-nature that we seperate him from the other members of the Trinity and describing him as working outside of or apart from the finished work of Jesus and the finished written word. On the other hand we can understand him as an impersonal force which just a tool of the Father and the Son and not in anyway distinguishable from him. I know I have often not kept things in balance, but I think Tom Smail does quite well:

"He will glorify me because he will take what is mine and declare it to you" (John 16:15). Pannenberg has fastened on this verse as a basis for understanding the Holy Spirit as a source of personal action distinct from the Son. The Spirit brings to the Son, from outside his own person, a new glory that he does not have within himself. Nevertheless, in the work of the Spirit it is the Son who is glorified. The focus of the work of the Spirit is the work of Jesus, not some work of his own that he accomplishes apart from or beyond Jesus. The Spirit is the one who unfolds all that is implicit in the work of the Son, applies it creatively and transformingly in the mission of the Church across the continents and down the centuries in an endlessly enthralling kaleidoscope of new creation in the men and women who, in the Spirit, are brought into the power of the love of the Father as it is savingly incarnate in the love of the Son.

(p.184, Like Father, Like Son: The Trinity Imaged in our Humanity)

Article on the Holy Spirit in the OT

• "Were Old Covenant Believers Indwelt by the Holy Spirit?" Themelios 30 (2004), 12-22; by James Hamilton

"The Gospel of John states, 'Unless one is born of water and spirit, he is not able to enter the Kingdom of God' (John 3:5). Later in John we read that the Spirit will not be received until after Jesus is glorified (7:39). If the Spirit is not received until after the cross, could Nicodemus have experienced the new birth from above prior to the cross? Did the old covenant remnant experience the new birth by the Spirit? Were individual members of the old covenant remnant indwelt by the Spirit? This essay seeks to provide an answer to these questions...."