Biblical Spirituality
November 2004
No results were found while searching for “[% query %]”
One of the strange aspects of church history is the relatively minor role given to the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, and the limited theological discussions thereof.
Perhaps the most serious falsehood that has haunted Christianity over the centuries is the claim that man has a divided nature.
This, then, is the true knowledge of Christ, if we receive Him as He is offered by the Father: namely, clothed with His gospel. For just as He has been appointed as the goal of our faith, so we cannot take the right road to Him unless the gospel goes before us. And there, surely, the treasures of grace are opened to us; for if they had been closed, Christ would have benefited us little. Thus Paul yokes faith to teaching, as an inseparable companion, with these words, “You did not so learn Christ if indeed you were taught what is the truth in Christ” (Eph. 4:20-21).
Everyone has a mental image of the revivalist. For most, it is probably an annoying man with a polyester suit, slick hair, an auctioneer’s cadence, and an incessant sales pitch. Christians should long for and pray for genuine Biblical revival, but they should also be highly suspicious of modern revivalism.
Without the Word of God and prayer, Christian reconstruction — rebuilding our society as a Christian society — cannot take place; but with them nothing can stop it, for “the fervent prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much” (Jas. 5:16).
Since we are born into this world as antinomians (people “against God’s law”), we are prone to dismiss obedience to God’s law.
Christians recognize the reality of the spirit world. We certainly believe in God “who is a spirit” (Jn. 4:24) and in the Third Person of the Trinity, the “Holy Spirit” (Mt. 28:19). We ourselves are compounds of spirit and body (Gen. 2:7; Jas. 2:26), so that when we die “the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it” (Ec. 12:7; cp. Mt. 10:28).
Pietism is arguably Satan’s most effective weapon as he seeks in vain to delay his defeat.
Bruce Shortt has produced a devastating indictment of our public school system, which he believes is not only destroying the intelligence of our children, but is wreaking havoc with our moral and spiritual future.
The distinction and distance that exists between God, who is eternal and independent, and man, who is temporal and dependent upon God, obligates man to obey God.