Author: W. Keith Brenton

What Isn’t Hell Like?

/ W. Keith Brenton / 8 Comments

My college roommate Steve (I don’t know if he was pulling my leg) insisted that the original dust-cover of a book popular in our fellowship had its titled printed as “What Is Hell Like? – Sermons By Jimmy Allen.” Later, he said, it was changed to read “- And Other Sermons By Jimmy Allen.”

It seems that Brian McLaren’s latest book The Last Word and the Word After That has stirred the controversy to life from the embers once again. (I haven’t read it. I haven’t read any of the series. It’s not really the book or series that I’m blogging about here; so please don’t expect a review or summation. I’m just pointing out the ripple effect which inspires people to dive back deeply into scripture to re-examine why they believe what they believe.)

The book is reawakening a controversy that goes back to at least the time of Constantine about whether hell’s torture is permanent, or just hell is permanent. Eternal punishment vs. annihilation after punishment that destroys. Is it just the fire and the worm that are eternal, or are those whom they consume eternal as well?

I don’t have a clue. To me, it’s clear that the Bible speaks of hell – at least of a lake of fire – as a permanent fixture in eternity; and that eventually death and Hades (the place of the dead) will be thrown into it; and that the devil, the beast and the false prophet will be tormented there forever. Whether that applies to others I can’t say. However, that last part is in a highly interpretable prophetic passage, the Revelation to John. Here’s my question:

Why do we limit the discussion to basically only two alternatives?

What if the body we are given after death – designed to be eternal – is slowly and painfully consumed in punishment for sin? How long would that “slowly” have to be not to seem like forever? A year? One year for each one we lived in sin? A million years? What’s the difference if it all ends anyway? Will it really be a relief to know that it’s all temporary; or to know how many demons can dance on the head of pinhead when the pinhead is me?

What if that body is destroyed, yet a spirit endures – separated forever from God? Separated from pain, yes … but also separated from delight; from the feast at the table of heaven; from the hearing of eternal songs of praise; from the seeing of God’s children around His throne; from the ability to voice our penitence – all due to a lack of body: eyes, ears, tongue. Is that kind of non-existence any less torturous than fire and worm?

Is this possibility really all that different than knowing the punishment is finite, and at some indeterminable time in the unforeseeable future we’ll cease to exist – knowing all along that we could be at that table, in that choir, at those pierced Feet?

What if God graciously forgave all and ushered us into the heavenly kingdom – but many of us would have eternity to look back on all of the lost opportunities when we could have chosen to live a life that spoke of His Son? Whom would we want to sit by at the table of heaven? Would we huddle down at the far end from God with the rest of the ungrateful and ungracious, creating castes of people forgiven by God – but, in varying degrees, not by themselves?

What if God ushered us all in, rebuilt our self-esteem, wiped all of our tears away, and kindly explained that He had just expected too much of us; that He loved us all and forgiveness should not have been conditional on our gratitude for Jesus’ sacrifice? Wouldn’t there be a part of you that would make you wonder: “Then, You sent Your Son to the cross … for nothing?”

Would that really be heaven? Or a tin-foil and tinsel-decorated imitation? Or hell itself?

Are those possibilities somehow more “humane” or “just” or “merciful” or “Godly” than a place of eternal discipline for the lifelong rejection of God’s eternal Holy One? How can we possibly fully perceive and comprehend what is divine justice or divine mercy – both eternal qualities of God – in a finite and imperfect world?

And as for eternal punishment for the ever-existing sinner … well, Steve used to point out that even people who liked being spanked would tire of an eternal spanking after a few billion years.

Do any of those possibilities about the nature of hell give you any less of a case of the heebie-jeebies than I’ve got right now, writing about them?

To me, it’s the whole concept of eternity that makes ALL of the those possibilities hellacious. Because whether we would last in hell forever or not – God ain’t there! And we could have chosen to be where He is.

No matter how you interpret hell as presented in scripture, it’s not a pretty picture.

Maybe we’re not given all the details in this life because – if we knew them – we would desperately and irrevocably wish that we couldn’t know them. It would force our hand in life’s greatest choice – and choice was one of the first precious gifts God gave us in Eden. If we could see all the cards now, the hand we choose to play wouldn’t be so much a choice as a foregone conclusion.

On the other hand: perhaps the same would be true if we knew and understood every glorious thing to be known about heaven.

I think that’s why we’re given the gift of faith. Like any gift, we choose what we do with it. Some people are more motivated by love and grace; some by fear and punishment. Hardly anyone can resist the persuasive power of both. If we can see God in His handiwork and hear of His love in the Story of Christ and still choose self, we are – as Romans 1 says – without excuse.

Just being there and knowing that would be hell enough for me.

New Wineskins News Feed

/ W. Keith Brenton / Leave a comment

Greg Taylor put up a post yesterday about the news feed I’ve created for New Wineskins online magazine. I had e-mailed a bunch of folks with the text he included there … and looking at it afterward, as well as seeing later how many folks had already incorporated it into their blogs, I was stunned at how full of faith they were:

I’ve come up with a news feed for the New Wineskins magazine that you can place once on your blog or web site, and forget about it . . . and it will be automatically updated as new articles and blog entries are added to the New Wineskins site.

If you’d like to add this feature to your blog or site, just copy and paste the line of code below into your blog template or the HTML of your web page.

<script language=”javascript” src=”http://www.keithbrenton.com/wineskinsfeed.js”></script&gt;

When someone clicks on a link to an article or blog post from the feed, it will be opened in a new window, with your blog or site underneath. You can format it with font or style tags before and immediately after to give it the appearance you desire.

As some of you know, I’m going to be trying to help Greg Taylor out with some of the webmastering of the New Wineskins site as he takes on new duties at Garnett Road in Tulsa (where Wade Hodges serves). After four years of serving as managing editor of the magazine – and successfully moving it from a printed to an online subscription publication (with free-access areas) – Greg is committed to continuing to broaden its scope and focus to Restoration churches and beyond.

This news feed is one idea that Greg cleared right away, and if you’d like to help by posting this news feed, we’d be grateful for your help.

Thanks very much!

Your brother,
Keith Brenton

Nowhere in the text of the message I sent did I mention looking at the right side navigation bar of this blog or What Would Jesus Do Next? to see what it would look like.

Well, thanks to all of you who have figured out how to imbed that line of code into your templates or place it on HTML pages. And for those of you who didn’t happen to be on that first flight of e-mail recipients, here it is again:

<script language=”javascript” src=”http://www.keithbrenton.com/wineskinsfeed.js”></script&gt;

Greg must have been in such a hurry to skip town that he forgot to convert those carets in the HTML of that code – so on his blog, the news feed appears instead!

Check the first comment under his entry for the corrected code as above.

HouseHusband

/ W. Keith Brenton / 9 Comments

You may not know this about me, but I was a three-time househusband.

Yup. Work-at-home, stay-at-home husband and dad.

It all started in October 1991, when I quit my eight-year career as a copywriter/creative administrator for the largest advertising agency in Little Rock – and in my state, cashed in my retirement investment to buy $3,500 in Macintosh computer equipment (and to tide us over until the business was up and running). And I began doing the same kind of work at home – while my wife of a little over a year continued working as a professor.

You might be thinking that this plan didn’t make any sense, but there are other circumstances you’d need to know. Angi brought home about twice as much as I did, between teaching and conducting research, writing textbooks and other projects. Plus, we couldn’t have children. We wanted children. We were disappointed (and out quite a bit of money) working with an adoption attorney. We signed up with an adoption agency associated with our church fellowship instead. We prayed. We fasted.

And we had a feeling that the time was near.

We were right. Matthew was born in late December, and we were able to go to Kentucky and meet him after all the termination papers were signed in February.

So I operated a copywriting, graphic design and typesetting business from my home. And I changed diapers, rocked, held, fed, cooed, sang, and occasionally napped with our baby at home – well, he got hungry at night. A lot.

I worked. I also did laundry. Did a little interior decorating at the house. Kept it picked up and clean. Dusted and vaccuumed. In fact, I still do. I never learned to cook anything past canned soup or griddle pancakes, but I can set and clear a table and load a dishwasher with the best of ’em.

Good friends brought me good work to do, and never missed a payment on their bills.

I didn’t make nearly as much money as I had at the ad agency, but I wouldn’t trade those years with Matthew for anything.

In May of 1996, we got to go back to Kentucky to meet his baby sister Laura, then take her home with us. My little company was renamed – from Matthew Scott Brenton Creative Services (reminding me that he was my CEO and the primary one I needed to work for) to Brenton3 (cubed) Creative Services. Laura became President; my title was Vice President and Daddy. Our logo was a pink, blue and yellow wooden block with letters on it.

I kept working – sometimes juggling toddler boy, baby girl and briefcase to deliver my work – but it became obvious I needed a steadier income. For a while, I worked an afternoon-evening shift at the agency I had worked for before; sometimes baby Laura went with me and sang to my fellow-workers from her playpen in my cubicle. After several months, we put the children in day-care for a half-day and I took a part-time position at a different agency.

Things really changed when we moved to Springfield, Missouri. My job there started first, at another large ad agency, full-time – and the firm kept me in a corporate condo usually used for visitors that summer. But I had to be away from my family five days a week, driving 3-1/2 hours each way to be with them on the weekend until Angi’s position as a department chair at the university started in the fall.

I didn’t get to witness Laura’s first steps, and that’s still something that causes a pang somewhere down in the bottom of my heart.

(One mid-week after a weekend visit that was too busy for me to help clean up, Angi fired up the vaccuum cleaner – only to cause Matthew to run downstairs, shrilling “Daddy’s home!” He was sadly disappointed.)

The children went into full-time day care and pre-school. We worked. We picked them up. We became the typical two-working-parent American family.

Until, after 11 months, several major changes took place among my clients at the agency and I was suddenly out of a job. For a couple of months, I was a stay-at-home dad, but for the most part without children to care for: just a dry, trying safari for a new position. I tried the new monster.com route. In 1997, I even learned HTML and posted my own resume and portfolio on my own Web site. So that short break doesn’t really count in house-husbandry.

Then Angi accepted a great opportunity as a dean at Abilene Christian University, and we moved again. I worked at the newspaper, afternoons and nights again, posting its articles on the Web. The children seemed to enjoy day care and school, so I wasn’t spending as much time with them at home as I had when they were babies. But I was free in the mornings for chapel and other programs – and I was close enough to home that I could always be there for dinner. But that was the extent of my second stint as a househusband.

That was our routine for about three years – then Angi was offered a deanship back at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. My boss at the Abilene Reporter-News saw no reason that I couldn’t take my job with me, and I did. I worked at home afternoons and evenings, still available for chapel and special programs and summer break for three years. I even began writing a column called Parenting on Purpose that became fairly popular in Abilene.

But times got tough for the newspaper, and two of my bosses were pressed into more demanding roles there – leaving me with more work to do than I had hours to do them in. The children were in school. I felt isolated. I had wonderful friends among the moms in the neighborhood … but I just didn’t really fit in somehow. I enjoy being among people, and I just didn’t have the time to establish or connect with the kind of social network I needed. Imagine trying to start a network of househusbands … in Little Rock, Arkansas.

So ended my third role as househusband; I began the career safari again, and ended up working for my wife’s Chancellor on the same vibrant campus about a hundred yards from Angi’s office. It’s a fine job. I love being among the college students and experiencing their very different culture.

There are times, though … when I’d still like to be available when my nine-year-old daughter leads the pledge of Allegiance or my twelve-year-old son reads scripture in chapel at their school. There are too many times now when I just can’t, and that little spot at the bottom of my heart starts to ache again.

Would I be willing to go back for a fourth run as a househusband and dad, given the right circumstances?

In a heartbeat!

Edward Fudge and the Affirmation

/ W. Keith Brenton / 2 Comments

The folks who have signed and posted A Christian Affirmation 2005 have been posting some comments, and a well-reasoned one has appeared there from Edward Fudge of Austin Houston,Texas – presumably the Christian preacher and author of books like The Grace of God (which you can read free online) and The Sound of His Voice.

And, yes, the comment which appears immediately below (and therefore preceding) his is from me – as the page is now structured.

I Don’t Know

/ W. Keith Brenton / 9 Comments

Why is it so hard to say those three little words?

Why can’t I be honest with myself and others, and just say:

  • I don’t know whether God created the earth in six literal days or over several millennia, but I know He created it.

  • I don’t know how Jesus was born of a virgin, died on a cross and took up His life again, but I know it makes all the difference in the world.

  • I don’t know if the Bible is the complete and inerrant and perfect revelation of the word of God, but I trust God to give us the truth we need.

  • I don’t know how often Christians should share in the table of communion, but I want to remember Christ and discern His body there.

  • I don’t know whether God accepts worship accompanied by instruments of music, but I want my whole life to be praise to Him.

  • I don’t know if attending a church is essential to my salvation, but I do know that I glimpse a little vision of heaven every time I’m there.

  • I don’t know exactly how the Spirit moves among and within people, but I want my heart to be open to Him.

  • I don’t know if some kinds of miracles still happen today, but I know that every time someone rejects sin and self, and accepts Jesus as Christ and Lord some kind of miracle has taken place.

  • I don’t know whom God has saved, but I do know the purpose for which He has saved them.

  • I don’t know how the combination of grace, faith and works are related to how one is saved, but I want to present myself as a living sacrifice to God.

  • I don’t know the when or how of Jesus’ return, but I want to be ready to meet Him.

  • I don’t know what hell is like, but I know nothing could be worse than separation from God – and I don’t want to go there.

I’m not giving up on the things I don’t know. I’ll pursue them until I no longer can. I’ll study, pray, meditate, write, question, converse with others. I’m committed to drawing closer and closer to God’s heart as I mature.

And I want to be honest with myself and others about what I do and don’t know.

Even if it means saying those three little words.

HeartWorship: The Way He Spoke

/ W. Keith Brenton / 1 Comment

I heard Him speak upon the hill
Though He was meek, He spoke God’s will
My heart awoke; I wanted more
For no one spoke like this before. (Matthew 7:28-29)
 
I saw Him throw some demons out
Told them to go; put them to rout
We common folk saw our Savior
For no one spoke like this before. (Mark 1:27)
 
I knelt to share a fragrance sweet
And with my hair I wiped His feet
My guilt lay broken on the floor
For no one spoke like this before. (Luke 7:36-50)
 
They sent us out to take Him in
He said no doubt we would lose Him
We took His joke; we took no more
For no one spoke like this before. (John 7:30-49)
 
Though I am weak; and my words poor
His words I’d speak; His praise outpour
His Name invoke; His strength implore
For no one spoke like this before.

– WKB, © 2005
 

If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen. (I Peter 4:11)

Correcting the Correctors

/ W. Keith Brenton / 11 Comments

Moved to action by an excellent post at Light and Salt by David U. – Intolerant of Intolerance – I think I went too far. My frustration and exasperation came out as anger against someone kind enough to converse with me online over some points on which we disagree. (That, on the heels of posting a response one blogger called subversive – I looked it up; he’s right – to a document with which I disagree. It was subversive; I wanted the signers of the document to know what it felt like to encounter one with which I felt they should not disagree – posted on the Internet for the whole world and God to see.)

I started to make the rounds of the usual suspects … the sites that I knew would be roundly condemning to hell anything they saw as contrary to God’s will within the fellowship that I count myself a part of. Finding little or nothing, I wandered to other sites, nerves raw and ready to argue any points on any site. (No URL requests, please.) I began to wonder if I was becoming one of the folks I perceived as People Who Are Always Right About Absolutely Everything.

I guess what convicted me most was something I perceived as a compliment; when one blog linked to my Affirmation and said I was “inspired” to write it.

Just so you’ll know – in the spirit of I Peter 4:11 – I frequently pray that God will speak through me when I blog. It is frightening to me that blogging reaches so many people.

But I had to ask myself: if I was inspired to write the things I’d been writing, was my inspiration coming from the right source?

I decided it was time to back off and see if my spiritual zipper was open.

I started posting a series on the Holy Spirit that I had taught as an adult elective class last summer at my church. It was probably too long for most folks who read my blog to get into; and I apologize for that. Sometimes you post things on your blog mainly to benefit yourself, and this was one of them.

Because – like my pal Fajita – I’ve been feeling compelled to tackle some things that are on my heart, and I didn’t want to get taken to the woodshed by someone whom the Spirit had truly inspired.

Chief among the things I’ve wanted to address: the correctors. The usual suspects I mentioned above. The “anti-everything-but-up’s”, as folks called ’em when I was a kid. I used to read their sites for entertainment; for a good chuckle and a snort and a shrug.

Having dipped way too far in their mindset – and, thankfully, having held most of my silence – I’ve had to realize that these folks probably originally started with a zeal and fervor for the Word, for serving the Lord and helping maintain the purity of His church and its doctrine (as they perceived it). Just like me, they’ve gone too far. Way, way, way too far.

Someone needs to call them back. The brother who was willing to converse with me about the Affirmation showed me how it can be done.

So I just want to ask some of the questions that I think need answering before any of us dip into the venom and start shooting the darts:

A Brother Who Sins Against You: Matthew 18:15-20 – Jesus tells us, if anyone sins against us (or has something against us), “go and show him his fault, just between the two of you.” Does it say start by writing him (or her) up in a bulletin or post it on the Internet? Or even by sending a private letter? Does it not say “go”? Is it legitimate to say this doesn’t apply to us if a brother has sinned against God instead of us? Jesus continues, “If he listens you have won him over.” Does He say, “if he reads”? Or does it guarantee that you’ve won him over just by going to him? Obviously not; the next verse says “if he does not listen, take one or two others along” and he quotes Deuteronomy 9:15 about the need for two or more agreeing witnesses. Then if he refuses to listen (not “repent!” – it just says “listen!”) tell it to the church, and if not then, treat him like he doesn’t belong. (Literally “as a pagan or tax collector.” And wouldn’t we, as Christians, still owe it to a pagan or tax collector to continue praying for their souls?

This seems to be a four-step process when carried to the extreme. Have we been guilty of skipping a step or two or three?

Has anyone ever followed this advice from Jesus? Except for Priscilla and Aquila? In Acts 18:24-31 (while Paul is out of town), Apollos comes to Ephesus and speaks accurately about Jesus. He isn’t an evil man with bad intentions. He’s just not up-to-date doctrinally; he only knows about John’s baptism. Aquila and Priscilla don’t seem to embarrass him in the synagogue where he’s teaching – or reduce his powerful influence; they invite him to their home to explain to him the way of God more adequately. Isn’t that the essence of …

Speaking the Truth in Love: Ephesians 4:11-16 – This passage speaks of building each other up; of preparing God’s people for works of service; of maturing together. Admittedly, it is not talking specifically about correcting others, but it is speaking generally of dialogue and communication in love. Is it loving to condemn or rail against someone we don’t even know because we disagree with them, doctrinally or otherwise? Is that “tough love” – correcting them from a safe distance – because of our concern for their soul? Is it loving to call to witness every infraction that person has ever committed? Is that what’s meant by …

Maintaining the Spirit of Unity in the Bond of Peace: Ephesians 4:3 – Does it cause peace to air the laundry of others in public -dirty laundry or clean? In publications which get passed around? On the Internet, where anyone can read it? Is that, as in the previous verses, being completely humble and gentle; patient, bearing with one another in love? Is that the spirit of …

The Golden Rule: Luke 6:31 – If others determined that we were in the wrong, would we want them to treat us the way we’ve been treating them? Do we even have the right to judge them?

Judging Each Other: Matthew 7:1-3 – Are actions being judged? Or people? In Luke 12:57, Jesus suggests, “Why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right?” If people are being judged, are we willing to be judged by the same standards? If actions are being judged, is it necessary to involve names called out publicly? Since some might justify the practice by scripture, let’s examine a few of those who are called out by name there:

Is anyone in the fellowship of believers today guilty of anything approaching the level of sin these people were committing in the church of century one? The book of Galatians, addressed to all of the churches in that region and very corrective in nature, only “calls out” as a bad example Peter’s hypocrisy; as an example of the racism affecting Galatian churches. No one else is corrected by name. As far as I can tell, there is no evidence that letters in which a local troublemaker might have been named and delivered to a church in that city were ever read in another city. They would not have known those people named!

  • Euodia and Syntyche: Philippians 4:2 They disagreed with each other, not the one who called them by name in his letter. Paul urged them to agree with each other. He didn’t dictate terms on what they should agree upon. He praised them as fellow workers and begged others in Philippi to help them whose names are in the book of life

Do we season our corrective missives with such pleas and compliments? Or are we condemnatory toward those with whom we disagree?

  • Archippus: Colossians 4:17: “Tell him to complete the work that the Lord gave him.” Possibly not even a rebuke; just an encouragement.

Are we as supportive in our corrections; are we encouraging rather than discouraging?

On the other hand, the New Testament is full of unnamed people who made bad choices. They might be described (a “rich young ruler,” for instance) but are not named. There was no point in embarrassing them. They might have turned to Christ later, but their stories were germinal to the point at hand. In the case of others, their actions and teachings were identified (“false teachers” and “false prophets”), but the reader of century one was left to identify them by their fruits. That was enough.

And that’s probably more than enough for one post. If I feel compelled to ask some more questions about the Old Testament scriptures that we correctors sometimes dredge up in defense of our ways, I might post some of them another time.

God is righteous, but he is also loving. My dad used to speak of God’s dual nature as His “arms” – His arm of justice and His arm of mercy; His arm of law and His arm of grace. If we concentrate on only one aspect of His divine nature, we preach a one-armed God.

Now I incite you. Are there people you know to whom you could go in person and confront them about overly-zealous corrective ways? Can you do so firmly, gently, lovingly, face-to-face, reasonably, tactfully, prayerfully? Can you do it with concern for their souls? Can you do it without judging or condeming?

It’s a tough calling. No wonder there are so many of us who get sucked into going too far with our corrective fervor.

And so few to call us back in line.

His Holy Spirit, Part VIII

/ W. Keith Brenton / 7 Comments

One Who Testifies: Letters to the Hebrews – the Revelation
Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V | Part VI | Part VII

Hebrews 1:14 | Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?

“Spirits” is not capitalized here in the NIV and it is plural. Why do I include it? I wonder if it points out that it’s not natural for a spirit to be separate from a body in this world. In heaven, angels are spirits. When on the earth, they seem to have bodies; forms. They can be wrestled with, and knock a hip out of joint by touching it. Maybe it’s not “natural” for the supernatural Holy Spirit to be in our world without a host – us – someone to dwell within and walk side-by-side with. I’m speculating. What do you think?

3:7 | So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice, …” (Psalms 95:7-11)

The Holy Spirit says this through prophecy in the book of Psalms, and the writer of the epistle to the Hebrews quotes it – warning them not to “harden their hearts” or test/try God. Because it led Him to say “They shall never enter my rest.” What the Spirit spoke long before can carry the same truth – the same warning – now.

6:4-6 | It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who whave tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.

This warning, also gravely serious, lets us know that the Spirit is shared; or at least shared in. Though one, He is in many. Sort of the reverse of “e pluribus, unum.”

Is it really impossible for a Christian who has renounced God to repent again? Can the Spirit return to such a person? Or has that house been permanently tainted, laid waste, defiled, desecrated beyond further habitation? One of the phrases that recurs in Hebrews as well as other epistles is that “Christ died once for all.” This writer says that apostasy followed by penitence is the same as re-crucifying and disgracing Christ.

It’s the mark of someone who is fatally wishy-washy; who can’t decide and stick to what he/she believes; who cannot serve as a faithful witness, having called their own credibility into question.

9:8 | The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still standing.

The Holy Spirit was involved in the design of the tabernacle and temple (He filled Bezalel, the temple designer/contractor) … which may explain why He had Matthew, Mark and Luke include the detail that, at Jesus’ death, the temple veil was torn down the middle, exposing the Most Holy Place.

9:14 | How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit, offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!

Jesus offered Himself unspotted by sin to God through the Spirit. Is the implication that He renders us unblemished through His blood, dedicating us to a life of serving God through the Spirit as well?

10:15 | The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this … (Jeremiah 31:31-34 quoted here)

Again, the Spirit speaks from the past – and the message is that God will put His laws in our hearts; write them in our minds. Is the Spirit an agent of that putting and writing?

10:29 | How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?

Some are squeamish about God sending disobedient souls to hell for eternity, and are re-examining and deconstructing the scriptures that speak of it. That’s good! It’s good to try to get closer to understanding God’s nature, and even to want to see Him as love in person. But there are just folks who desperately deserve to be punished. They’ve had exposure to His goodness and have trampled it underfoot and have insulted Him as their response. Would they repent in hell? Sure! Who wouldn’t?

Here the writer uses the term “Spirit of grace.” As we’ve seen above, though – grace only goes so far. It’s not limited by God. It’s limited by the one who refuses it.

I Peter 1:10-11 | Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.

Peter has in common with Paul that spiritual curiosity and longing to peek into heavenly matters. The prophets shared it, too; yearning to know more than had been revealed to them by the “Spirit of Christ.” Who got to peek into heaven? We do; Christians do through that prophecy and its fulfillment, the gospel – also preached by the Holy Spirit.

3:18-20 | For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built.

If you’ve ever wanted to know how Jesus came back to life, now you know.

4:14 | If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

Hmm … Peter must have been paying attention during the Sermon on the Mount! But he shares more, the full span of the blessing: the “Spirit of glory and of God” rests on us.

II Peter 1:21 | For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

If you’ve ever wondered how inspiration works, now you know. What’s it like to be “carried along” by the Holy Spirit? Maybe it’s when words fail us; when feelings go too deep for them; when He intercedes with groans that the Father can understand. Maybe that’s just the tiniest fraction of it.

I John 3:24 | Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us. Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

How does He live in them? Are there still “other spirits” to be tested? What’s the test question? (answers above).

4:6 | We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.

(See also 4:13) Does that mean the Spirit is involved in the listening? That those who will not listen reject not only the speaker, but the One speaking through him/her?

5:6 | This is the one who came by water and blood – Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.

Anybody have a clue what this means? I’m clear about the Spirit testifying truth, and it’s important for two or three witnesses to agree. Is it possible that John is speaking of Jesus’ own baptism, foreshadowing the spilling of His blood and His resurrection to life by means of the Spirit (see I Peter 3:18-20 above)? All three conspire to tell the truth – the gospel – in God’s grand scheme of redemption?

Jude 19-20 | These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit. But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit.

God’s Spirit is in close proximity to the theme of unity again, just as He is in John 17 and so many other scriptures. Jude encourages those who are pestered by dividers to pray in the Holy Spirit. Again … can we actually pray without Him?

Revelation 1:10 | On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, ….

What does John mean, that he was “in the Spirit”? Was he in a transcendental state? Was he praying, possibly fasting? Meditating on God’s word? Is there a heightened sense of the Spirit’s presence indicated? Can we be “in the Spirit” also (whether we are shown revelations of John’s magnitude or not)?

2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 3:13, 22 | He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Here, as in many other scriptures, the Spirit speaks directly. Not John. Not some scribe, teacher, emanuensis. The Spirit speaks. Time to listen up.

4:2 | I was in the Spirit …

It’s happening again! John is “in the Spirit.” Something extraordinary is about to happen.

1:5; 3:1; 4:5; 5:6 | the seven spirits of God (or the seven-fold Spirit of God)

Some have gone so far as to name all of the spirits separately, drawing names from scripture like “Spirit of Christ,” “Spirit of Grace,” etc. Go back through the scriptures in this study; you don’t have to trust me on this one. There’s a LOT more than just seven names or descriptors in the Bible’s phrasings. Maybe “seven-fold” Spirit of God is the better translation; using that mystic, numeric symbolism of the numeral “seven” to represent completeness or fullness.

17:3; 21:10 | … carried me away in the Spirit ….

Carried away like Ezekiel? Like Jesus? Like Stephen? (Or like I get carried away with question marks?)

19:10 | At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

(Not capitalized in the NIV) Okay, I think the NIV editors missed this one, too. Who else would be the Spirit of prophecy except the Holy Spirit who inspires it? Here’s the important point: reinforcing the fact that you can’t say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit. It’s as simple as that.

Prophecy isn’t all about foretelling the future. It’s also about forthtelling the truth.

22:17 | The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.

Just as the Spirit is part of the unfolding of scripture in the opening verses of Genesis, He is crucial to the unfolding of it in the closing verses of Revelation. He begs, along with the bride – the church; the kingdom – of Christ for those outside to come in. And – sure enough – He’s right there in close proximity right at the close to water and life and order out of chaos; at the renewal of earth, at the renewal of all things, at the fulfillment of every one of God’s hopes and dreams and intentions for us, His children.

You can’t add much to that and enhance it. You can’t take away anything from it and leave it intact.

That’s probably why both are forbidden.

By no means is this an exhaustive study. I intended to raise more questions than I could possibly answer. Call me modern; call me Socratic; call me for lunch. It’s the dialog, the questioning and reading and meditation and prayer that help us grow closer to God and to each other in Christ. I can’t do that for you. I can’t even do that for me.

But I know Someone who can.

His Holy Spirit, Part VII

/ W. Keith Brenton / 9 Comments

More Gifts: Letters to the Galatians – Timothy

Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V | Part VI | Part VIII

This will have to a whirlwind tour of the middle group of epistles – not for any lack of great content there, but for the sake of not overflowing my archive page in May later on! I’ll keep it as brief as I can.

Galatians 3:14 | He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.

What was the blessing given to Abraham, if it wasn’t that his descendants should be as numerous as the stars of the heavens? That makes us who are Gentiles into sons of Abraham. (Hey, no big deal to God; Jesus said He could raise up stones into sons of Abraham.) But here’s the other part of the blessing, and it’s for believers: by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.

4:6 | Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”

Obviously written by the same Paul who wrote Romans! For whom does the Spirit call out “Da-da!”? For Himself, who is – in some sense – God? No; of course not. For us! Because we are His children. Where is the Spirit of His Son that He sent into us? In our hearts … so that He would never be far away.

5:5 | But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope.

We have the Spirit now; the full measure of righteousness is yet to come. Aren’t we forgiven? Sure. There must, then, be more to righteousness than mere forgiveness. There must be more for which we hope.

6:8 | The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

Sinful nature/man opposes the Spirit. You can’t “sow” to please both. You can only reap one harvest: fruit or weeds; grain or tares. From whom do we reap endless life?

Ephesians 1:13 | And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession – to the praise of his glory.

There’s that language of promise again; that term describing the Spirit as a “deposit” or down payment on redemption.

1:17 | I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.

Can you pray for others to receive the Spirit? Paul did … consistently! And He is described as a “Spirit of wisdom and revelation.” Should we pray for those gifts today? Will they be given? Are there still passages of scripture that are a mystery to us? Still challenges of life that perplex us? Didn’t Jesus recommend asking, as a child asks for fish and bread from a father?

3:4-6 | In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.

I love mysteries! I love the denouement! – And here it is, a stunning summary of all 66 books of the Old and New covenants and the very purpose God intends for mankind: One body of Jews and Gentiles sharing in the promise of Jesus.

All revealed by the Spirit.

(In case you were still wondering.)

3:16 | I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

Paul doesn’t just pray for the Spirit to come to others; he prays for the power that comes with it – because through that power and through faith Christ may dwell in our hearts.

Say, it would be getting crowded in our hearts if Christ and the Spirit weren’t somehow one and the same.

But I’m sure they leave no room for our demons when they move in.

4:3-6 | Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit – just as you were called to one hope when you were called – one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

It’s really hard to describe God and His intentions for us in mathematical terms. Except for the word “one.” That covers it.

4:30 | And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

Not only is the Spirit our down payment on redemption, He is our seal in God’s eyes of our relationship. Unless, of course, we make Him so unwelcome; keep such a filthy house that He would want to leave. He left King Saul.

5:18 | Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.

Ah, the refreshing liquid metaphor again! Hmm … if being drunk on wine leads to debauchery, what does being filled with the Spirit lead to?

6:17-18 | Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

Warfare? Being filled with the Spirit leads to warfare? Suiting up with spiritual armor? Arming with scripture and prayer? I keep forgetting about these downsides!

What does it mean to “pray in the Spirit”? Jesus told the Samaritan woman we must worship “in spirit and in truth” – the same thing? Can we pray apart from the Spirit? Will God hear us if we try?

Philippians 1:18b-19 | Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance.

Paul was really grateful for the church at Philippi; they were supportive – and so was the Spirit.

3:2-3 | Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh. For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh.

Plain as day, Paul says “we … worship by the Spirit of God.” Could it be that the worship that we leave feeling as if no worship has taken place is one where the Spirit has been absent … at least from our hearts? I’m not fully advocating the “trust-your-feelings-Luke” approach to worship, but isn’t there something telling about the lack of feeling in worship? Aren’t we supposed to feel reverence, awe, respect, gratitude, remorse, love, fellowship, joy – all or at least some of those each and every time we gather in His name? After all, we are the “circumcision”; the ones from whom the unnecessary fleshly excess has been removed in a covenant with God!

Could that be the problem with our worship sometimes? Still having confidence in the flesh, rather than the Spirit?

Colossians 1:7 | You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

So many of the things Paul says could have just as easily been said – in fewer words – if he had left off the phrase “in the Spirit.” Is he trying to communicate some fundamental truth in tacking it on? Is it possible this truth is that everything we as believers think, say, touch, do, attempt, enjoy, achieve, feel, and ponder should be “in the Spirit”?

I Thessalonians 1:6 | You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.

More than another confirmation that joy is given by the Spirit – even when suffering – this simple sentence implies that it’s all right to see Christian mentors as worthy of imitation, as well as the Lord Himself.

4:7-8 | For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.

This – and the previous verse above – are fine examples of scripture where the Spirit is mentioned in close proximity to “message” or “instruction” or “word.” Many will quote these as proving that the Spirit does not operate in the lives of Christians apart from the word. But you can go through just this study and see as many or more verses where no reference is made to the word. Wouldn’t it be wiser to conclude that the Spirit operates in concert with the word when God chooses – but in no way contradicting the word?

Because rejecting even one instruction is rejecting God who has given us the Spirit to help us discern what is good.

5:19-20 | Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt.

I think of this when I remember times when I said or thought “The Spirit doesn’t do this any more” or “The Spirit’s work is done in this regard.” It’s frightening to think I could be so arrogant as to define what God could or couldn’t or can’t or won’t do; to think that I believed that I had such “perfect” understanding of scripture and the world around me. I’ve had to repent of that. I treated prophecies with contempt. I failed to see inspiration in messages preached and taught to me. I failed to see God’s hand in events that took place around me. I tried to turn a fire hose on the Spirit’s fire.

Is that fire inextinguishable? In the large sense, I don’t think it’s possible. But I think it happens all the time individual hearts. I think there are still folks who try to limit the Spirit to the confines of a very good book; to exclude Him from their lives apart from it; to refuse the gift and even deny the power.

It is dangerous business to do so. Do I need to repeat what Jesus said about blasphemy of the Holy Spirit? Or the fate of Ananias and Sapphira?

I Timothy 3:16 | Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory.

This is one of my favorite hymns, and may have been one of the first century church’s favorites, too. It is full of mystery and praise and testimony and witness. How was Jesus vindicated by the Spirit? Was it that every prophecy He made was proven true? Was it that every gift He promised was given? Was it even more – perhaps even things I can’t perceive?

4:1 | The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.

How or where the Spirit clearly predicts this isn’t revealed here. But abandon the faith many did – even while Jesus was alive – and it didn’t stop there. False teachers and false prophets and preachers-for-rent seemed to multiply in century one.

Do we believe that Satan’s minions still whisper lies and teach new “revelations” to mislead even, if possible, the elect? Or do we just credit man’s innate creativity for all of them?

II Timothy 1:7 | For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

“Spirit” is not capitalized here in the NIV. Is Paul speaking of our own spirits? Or a metaphorical spirit (like the “Spirit of St. Louis” or “school spirit”)? Personally, I think the NIV publishers missed this one. As many times as the Holy Spirit was connected with boldness, I have to think Paul was pointing right to Him here.

1:14 | Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you – guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

I’m counting three times now – at least – that the Spirit is mentioned in connection with a deposit. But here He is not equated with it. He is to help Timothy guard it. Could that deposit be righteousness, joy, peace – any or all of those things the Spirit has in His luggage when He moves into our hearts?

Titus 3:4-7 | But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

Another one of those verses that puts the Spirit in close proximity to what is termed here “the washing of rebirth.” Here, the Spirit has agency in our renewal – poured out on us generously.

I don’t want to try to make baptism sound more important than it is in God’s scheme and hopes for us. At the same time, I sure don’t want to make it sound any LESS important than it is. It is so much. It is spoken of in the New Testament so often, and with such depth, that it cannot be ignored. It occurs so very frequently in close proximity to God’s giving of the Holy Spirit that its significance is clear.

And yet …

Baptism in water has been preached and taught almost to the exclusion of any mention of God’s own Spirit (except as a perfunctory-sounding phrase to be recited at a baptism). Yes, its focus is demonstrating the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. But there is more to it; more that does not diminish the sacrifice and renewal of Christ; more that actually enhances it.

If we can take what Peter said literally on Pentecost (and we Christians are often really good at taking things literally!), if we believe and are baptized we will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit – He’s promised to “all who are afar off”. Peter doesn’t say when; or if it’s immediately; or if it’s before (to help the listener understand and be convicted by the truth).

Peter, full of the Spirit himself, does say it will happen.

We can’t keep ignoring it as if it won’t.

His Holy Spirit, Part VI

/ W. Keith Brenton / 9 Comments

One Spirit and One Body: The Letters to Corinth

Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V | Part VII | Part VIII

The church at Corinth started with problems; with being thrown out of the synagogue and taking up residence at the synagogue ruler’s house next door. Then came more problems: teachers teaching for profit, squabbles about worship, rudeness at the Lord’s table and fellowship meals, jealousy over gifts given by God. What a mess!

Maybe only Paul would have had the courage to deal with all that … because maybe only he knew them so well and loved them so much.

The two letters we have (there was almost certainly a third one and possibly more) speak lovingly yet authoritatively about the One through whom God gives many of the gifts they were slighting. I’ve stopped thinking of some of them as miraculous and others not. Rather, I think some were miraculous in a temporal way, and some in an eternal way. Because I see teaching and prophecy as miracles by which God actually speaks through us to the hearts of others about His Son by the agency of His Spirit.

That’s the kind of miracle I earnestly desire to work for Him!

I Corinthians 2:10b-16 | The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment. “For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

Who among us doesn’t want to know deep things of God? Answers to quesions that have long haunted us? Why He loves us while we are rebellious and unloveable? The Spirit searches these out for us … just as He searchest out our hearts for God (see the letter to the Romans). Jesus told His followers they didn’t have to worry about telling His Story before kings and governors; the Spirit would supply what they needed. And Paul adds that the Spirit even helps the listener understand. Who has known the mind of the Lord? We do – not enough to instruct Him! – but enough to know what He wants us to know through His Spirit. We have the mind of Christ, a man who was God. That’s all we need, isn’t it?

3:16 | Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? | 6:19-20 | Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

In this context of dishonoring our own bodies through physical sin, Paul reminds that these God-given bodies are temples – dwellings – for His Spirit. We need to keep them clean for our Guest. Which prompts the question: When God gives us His Spirit, does it stay with us from then on out? Or can we grieve Him so profoundly that He leaves us – the very thing King David feared most (Psalm 51)?

7:40 | In my judgment, she is happier if she stays as she is – and I think that I too have the Spirit of God.

Let’s see, Paul. You spoke of Jesus boldly in every situation you were in. You survived shipwrecks, snake bites, floggings and who knows what else. You spoke in tongues. The question is whether you have the Spirit of God. D’ya think?

12:3-11 | Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.

Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.

The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body – whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free – and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

Maybe the Spirit isn’t the mysterious, frightening spectre we’ve perceived Him to be. If we confess that Jesus is Lord, we’ve done it by the Holy Spirit. The gifts He gives us – arts and crafts like Bezalel; prophecy and song like David; faith, knowledge, messages of wisdom – are given for the common good; for each other. Not for ourselves. He determines who needs which. Do we dare question the judgment of the One who knows us better than we know ourselves?

What if I told you that you probably couldn’t give me the right answer if I asked you who baptized you? Would you think I was crazy? Guess what: not only is the Spirit mentioned in close proximity to baptism here – He is the one who baptized us. Into one body, no matter what our background – then we were given Him to drink. There’s that fluid metaphor again, as in “poured out,” yet this one conveys that sense of taking Him internally like “filled with.”

On to the second letter:

II Cor. 3:4-6 | Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant – not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

The letter of the law kills because it’s the law of sin and death, right? Left to our own devices, we’d just focus on getting every “i” dotted and every “t” crossed about keeping the law, wouldn’t we? … but God gives a competence in serving the new agreement that gives life – of course – through His Spirit. How could we know the spirit of the law without the Spirit of the One who gave it?

3:17-18 | Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with every-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

We may volunteer as slaves to Christ, but He gives us freedom through His Spirit. He tears off the veils which – like Moses’ – keep us from reflecting God’s glory. He says this twice: the Lord is Spirit. Does that conflict with His return in an eternal, incorruptible body? Can He be both Spirit and body? (Hint: Aren’t we? Won’t we always be?)

5:5 | Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

Whoa! Backup a few verses! I want to know what my purpose in life is! Oh. It’s living with God in an incorruptible, eternal body. That’s the purpose He made us for. That’s good news! I gotta spread that around! – Oh, and look: there’s a guarantee on that promise. He’s given us His Spirit as a down payment now on what is to come. That must include joy, peace, hope, love, righteousness, boldness in speaking for Him, interknowledge of God … This is getting to be ONE RICH PACKAGE DEAL!

6:4-10 | Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in ever way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses, in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and possessing everything.

Oh. Oh. There’s a downside. I forgot about the downside. We could suffer. We will suffer. We’ll have to fight with weapons in both hands. We’ll be honored as well as dishonored … I’m not sure I’m up to this list right now. I was really just wanting the good stuff … but there’s all the bad staff, side by side with it. Good thing the Spirit is side-by-side with me, or I’d never be able to handle both fame and disrepute … wealth and poverty … dying and living on.

13:14 | May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Thanks, Paul (you Southern preacher with your “you all”) … I could use a blessing right now. That list above is intimidating. And the fellowship of God’s very own Holy Spirit is just the blessing I needed.

I guess He knew that all along, didn’t He?