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Sunday, November 4, 2012

Adult Sunday School BF&M 2000 doctines # 2 & 3


The Murder of God

So the question I want you to think about with the Crucifixion of Christ is who was involved in Murdering God? Was it the ordinary Jewish people, the Romans, the Sadducees, the Pharisees, the Scribes, Hared, Pilate, was it Christ - who intentionally came to Jerusalem to be killed (so a form of suicide), was it Judas, the Spirit, Satan or the Father? The answer of course is yes; all of these, as well as my sins and your sins brought Christ to the cross.

I’m not going to go over each of the Gospel descriptions of the Crucifixion, as I’m sure it’s the one thing in Scripture we all know a bit about, but I just wanted to list some of the info for you from them. Something that Sandra and I talked about last week that I find helpful is not expecting a full description of any 1 doctrine or event from any 1 section of Scripture. What the Crucifixion event tells us is that the Bible is often like a Mosaic where bits and pieces come together from different parts of Scripture to reveal the bigger picture.  

So starting in reverse order: John is by far the most Calvinistic book in the New Testament and he wants to drive home the fact that this wasn’t a mistake or an error that got out of hand or that the Jews or Romans had any power over Christ, so he’ll say over and over this was to fulfill Scripture X 3, to say this is what God had planed all along and it happened just like He wanted it to.

So in John 19 we’ll see that Pilate really didn’t want to kill Jesus but he idolized his power and position and feared the mobs and upsetting Caesar, Jesus is declared King of the Jews, the soldiers cast lots for his clothes, Jesus gives his mom over to the Apostle John (the only Apostle we know of that witnessed the Crucifixion), he drank sour wine, his side was pierced by a spear and he had no broken bones – most of that had to do with fulfilling Messianic Prophecy.  

In Luke 23 we see the mercy of Jesus as he asks the Father to forgive the very people that are beating, mocking and murdering him, and we see the conversion of the thief, who came to fear the afterlife more than his current crucifixion, he confesses his sinfulness and Christ’s sinlessness, he confesses that he was receiving his just punishment for his sins, and he cries out to Christ for mercy.

In Mark 15 we meet Simon of Cyrene and his sons: Alexander and Rufus. Simon is made to carry Christ’s cross to Golgotha (and according to church history Simon, Alexander and Rufus all become known leaders or missionaries within the early Christian Church, often the Church Fathers reference Acts 11 & Romans 16 to support this) and we also find in Mark the confession and conversion of the Roman Centurion in charge of the Crucifixion.

In Matthew 27 we find out that Pilate’s own wife knows Jesus is innocent and wants Jesus released, then the Jews choose the terrorist Barabbas over Jesus, the mobs says His blood be on us and our children - accepting the penalty for His death, we see Christ is mocked by everyone: the thieves, soldiers, and even the Chief Priests of the Temple come out to taunt him. And in Matthew we see miracles, signs and wonders - the curtain that separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the Temple is torn in two; darkness covers the land, earthquakes, rocks (like the one that sealed Christ’s tomb) are split, tombs are opened and there is even the resurrection of dead believers.

So to answer Robert’s question about where was the Holy Spirit and what was he doing during the Crucifixion, I would say it looks a lot like the Book of Acts – the Holy Spirit is there pointing sinners to Christ, he’s converting people even right there at the Crucifixion, he’s fulfilling prophecy, and he’s effecting signs, miracles and wonders that are meant to make us realize that this isn’t just the death of a normal individual, we’re meant to Marvel at the Murder of God in human flesh. 

Doctrine of Pneumatology - which means the study of the Spirit

Facts about the HS and Scripture references:

The Holy Spirit is God (important fact) who can and does kill - Acts 5:3-6 Ananias and Sapphira (& probably 2 Samuel 12:15-23 David’s son)

The Holy Spirit is everywhere (omnipresent) – Psalm 139:7-8

The Holy Spirit authored Scripture – 2 Peter 1:19-21

The Holy Spirit convicts men of Sin – John 16:8-11

The Holy Spirit lets us know God loves us – Romans 5:5

The Holy Spirit points people to Christ – John 15:26

The Holy Spirit glories Christ not himself – John 16:14

The Holy Spirit enables men to understand and believe – Acts 16:13-15

The Holy Spirit effects regeneration – Titus 3:4-5

The Holy Spirit enters believers at the moment of Salvation - Romans 8:9

The Holy Spirit immerses Christians into the “invisible Church” or body of Christ at conversion –1 Corinthians 12:12-13

The Holy Spirit guarantees eternal salvation – Ephesians 1:13-14

The Holy Spirit helps us when were weak, praying and interceding for us – Romans 8:26-30

The Holy Spirit gives various spiritual gifts meant to benefit the Church to whomever He wills– 1 Corinthians 12:4-11

The Holy Spirit cultivates Christian character (or sanctification) more gifts the HS gives– Galatians 5:22-25

The Holy Spirit is a comforter, helper and guide to believers – John 14:16-17

Recommended reading The Holy Spirit by Charles Ryrie $7 on Amazon.

Common errors or questions regarding the Holy Spirit

The Cults view of the Spirit –

Jehovah’s Witnesses (or Watchtower Press) - The “holy spirit” (which is always lower case for JW’s) is the invisible active force God uses to move His servants to do His will. Jehovah’s Witnesses deny the personhood and the deity of the Holy Spirit, proclaiming such beliefs to be inspired by Satan. No joke a JW thinks you are demon possessed if you think the Holy Spirit is a person and not just a power, like divine cosmic electricity.

Mormons - Founder Joseph Smith taught that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit “constitute three distinct personages and three different Gods.” He further said, “The Holy Ghost is yet a spiritual body and waiting to take to himself a physical body as the Saviour did or as the other gods before them also took bodies.” So you can’t be a Mormon if you believe the Trinity.

Muslims – Islam denies the deity of the Holy Spirit, whom the Koran describes as “the angel which brought revelation.” The Koran also calls the Holy Spirit “Gabriel” (I believe that’s sura 2 ayat 97). So the HS is not just a force for Muslims but he’s still not God, he’s just an angel, its just another name for Gabriel.

Christian Science (not really that popular anymore anyone know anyone who’s a Christian Scientist) - said that the Holy Spirit was a scientific system of divine healing. So again the HS isn’t God, it was a process of healing not an actual person.

So is the Holy Spirit a person or a force/power?

Many Christians have an unbiblical perception of the Holy Spirit. Some understand the Holy Spirit as a power or force from God to us. This is not Biblical. Pneumatology teaches us that the Holy Spirit is a Person, with a mind, emotions, and will and that the Holy Spirit is Jesus' "replacement" on earth (John 14:16-26; 15:26; 16:7). The Holy Spirit is received at salvation (Romans 8:9) and is the permanent possession of every believer in Christ (Ephesians 1:13-14). Pneumatology helps us to understand these issues and recognize the Biblical roles of the Holy Spirit in our lives today.

The study of Pneumatology is of immense benefit to the Christian. In the pages of Scripture, we come face to face with the third Person of the trinity, God himself in spirit, and we see His very personal and intimate ministry to us. Through Him, we come to know God’s love for us “because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Romans 5:5). To understand the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to find joy in His role as our Comforter (John 16:7; Acts 9:31) who not only helps and comforts us, but who comes to our rescue when our hearts are so burdened we cannot even pray for relief (Romans 8:26). When we pursue the knowledge of the Holy Spirit we find, to our great delight, that He not only lives within us, but He does so forever, never to leave or forsake us (John 14:16). All these truths are burned into our hearts when we study Pneumatology.

Is God the Holy Spirit a he, she or it?

Linguistically, it is clear that masculine theistic (or God) terminology dominates the Scriptures. Throughout both testaments, references to God use masculine pronouns. Specific names for God (e.g., Yahweh, Elohim, Adonai, Kurios, Theos, etc.) are all in the masculine gender. God is never, never, never given a feminine name, or referred to using feminine pronouns. The Holy Spirit is referred to in the masculine throughout the New Testament, although the word for "spirit" by itself (pneuma) is actually gender-neutral (like a Ken doll). And the Hebrew word for "spirit" (ruach) is actually feminine in Genesis 1:2. But remember that the gender of a word in the original Greek or Hebrew had nothing to do with gender identity the way words are used today. In the end, whatever our theological explanation, the fact is that God used exclusively masculine terms to refer to Himself and almost exclusively masculine terminology even in metaphors (Metaphors that don’t - Job says God gave birth, Jesus describes himself a mother hen, and Jesus also describes the HS as a woman who lost some coins and is searching for them). So, while the Holy Spirit is neither male nor female in His essence, He is properly referred to throughout the Bible as a He and He taught us how to speak of Him, and it was always in masculine relational terms.

The HS is often called the 3rd member of the Trinity so is the 3rd member of the trinity – the 3rd due to ranking; is the HS like coming in 3rd place in a God relay race? And where do we get the idea that he’s the 3rd?

Basically unlike the race example Christians call the HS the 3rd member of the Trinity due to Matthew 28:19 which says, Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.



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