Tag: father

One God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

September 6, 2018 by ChristianHolinessDaily

I have received, in the past few weeks, several emails and phone messages asking exactly what we believe at Christian Holiness Daily. So we have decided to spend the next two weeks examining exactly what we believe. Yesterday I gave an overview of eight significant doctrines that, put together, constitute our holiness doctrine. Today we take a closer look at the first of those – we believe in one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

In Old Testament Judaism there is no commandment more important than these: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one” and “Thou shall have no other gods before me.” There is but one true God, Yahweh. He is one. Which begs the question, if He is one, what do Christians mean when they speak of the Trinity.

Person of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament

First, the word Trinity is not found anywhere in the Bible, but the concept of the Trinity is found throughout Scripture. In Genesis 1, we see the Spirit of God move upon the waters. Later, David pleas with God not to take His Holy Spirit from him (Psalms 51:11-13). Isaiah writes in 63:10 that the Nation of Israel grieved the Holy Spirit and made God their enemy. In 48:16, Isaiah announces that he is endowed with the Holy Spirit.

The Person of Jesus in the Old Testament

We see God appear as a man to Abraham. This, according to many theologians, is a a theophany, pre-incarnation visit of Jesus on earth. Psalms 33:4-7 (ESV) personifies the Word of God:

For the word of the Lord is upright,

and all his work is done in faithfulness.

He loves righteousness and justice;

the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.

By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,

and by the breath of his mouth all their host.

He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap;

he puts the deeps in storehouses.

The Apostle John makes it clear that the Word is Jesus.

Indeed, when three men who appear to Abraham, one of them is Jesus. The visit is considered by many as a foreshadowing of the entire Trinity.

Some believe that passages where the name of the Lord is repeated three times, like Numbers 6:24-26, is an indication of the Trinity.

The Trinity in Second Temple Judaism?

With so much evidence of the Trinity to be found in the Old Testament, why was there no theology of a Trinity to be found in Judaism? In fact, according to Dr. Michael Heiser, by the Second Temple Period, many Jews believed that Yahweh was actually Two in One, Yahweh Above and Yahweh Below, or God in Heaven and God who appears in the form of man. There was, apparently, no thought given to the Spirit of God as a distinct person.

The Trinity in the New Testament

In the New Testament, we see the Trinity manifested at the baptism of Jesus. Jesus, fully God and fully man, is in the Jordan River. The Holy Spirit descends on Him like a dove. The Father’s voice is heard to say, “You are my beloved son; with you I am well pleased.”

At the end of Matthew’s Gospel, we read the Great Commission: “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, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Not only does Jesus name all three members of the Trinity here, but He implies the coming of the Holy Spirit. In Revelation 1:18, Christ calls Himself the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and End.

Again, John, who earlier named Jesus as the Word of God, teaches (in 1 John 5:6-10) about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Here are His words:

This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree. If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son. Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony.

John, however, was not the only apostle to develop the idea of the Trinity. Paul takes it for granted as he closes 2 Corinthians (13:14).

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

How May Three be One?

It is difficult to understand how three may be one. A pastor I met recently believes that there are not 3 persons in one, rather he believes that the one God shows Himself in three distinct ways. This pastor – and the denomination to which he belongs – is in the minority of Christians. Most Christians believe that God is both three distinct people in one, all at the same time.

Yet, if that be true, how are we, mere humans, supposed to understand it? I don’t know that we are. Maybe the Trinity is a faith thing. As a child, I fully accepted the various illustrations of the Trinity, as three sides of a triangle, if the lobes of a leaf of clover, as – to paraphrase C.S. Lewis – faces on a cube, yet none of them are adequate to explain the profound beauty and complexity of our God and the way in which He had chosen to reveal Himself to His creation.

As an adult and a prolific reader, I can better relate to the Trinity as I can to the imaginative alien creations of science fiction novelists, but that too leaves me with inadequate understanding. That, though, may be a little sacrilegious.

So it is by faith that we – or I – accept that God is three in one, knowing that it is through faith in Jesus Christ, Who proclaimed that He and the Father are One, that we find salvation. Through the mercy of God we are saved and one day, when we see Him gave to face, we may understand who God is.

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Holiness is, perhaps, the most misunderstood concept in Christianity. Anyone who has striven to follow the life of Christ can likely tell you that it is impossible to do. No one can match His love, His grace, or His compassion. For no one but Jesus is perfect. Once the believer is filled with and empowered by the Holy Spirit, though, he or she is filled to the brim with the love of Christ, and desires nothing more than to please God and follow in Christ’s steps. The love of sin is gone. In its place is a love and passion for others. That is Christian Holiness. This is Christian Holiness Daily.

When My Child Cries

June 25, 2018 by ChristianHolinessDaily

You put my tears into your bottle... — You put my tears into your bottle…

Those of you who have children will likely know what I mean when I say that raising boys is completely different than raising girls. It is true in many different ways. For example, when my boys misbehaved, they world rarely confess to doing anything wrong, even when caught red-handed. My girl, though, when corrected would always tearfully repent of her wrongdoing – whatever it was – and promise to change. As Christians, we should be more like my girl, ready to repent when we’ve sinned.

Repentance is perhaps the most important aspect of our relationship with God. Without true repentance, there is no salvation. Matthew tells us in chapter 4 that, from the beginning of His ministry, Jesus began to “preach and to say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand'” (v. 17 NKJV).

On the Day of Pentecost, at the birth of the Church, Peter – filled with the Holy Spirit – preached a moving sermon. Everyone within earshot was cut to the quick. “What do we do?” They asked.

“Repent and be baptized in the name of Christ Jesus for the remission of sins,” Peter answered, “and you will receive the Holy Spirit.”

If repentance was message of Christ, and if repentance was the message of the Apostles, then what role should it play in our lives – me and you, 21st century believers?

Repentance should be central to our relationship with Christ. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:31 that he died daily. As for myself, before I get out of bed in the morning, I lay down my life before the Lord, telling Him that I am a weak and lowly sinner who, without the presence of His Holy Spirit, can never change. And I beg Him to fill me anew and provide the power to make it through another day.

And, if I do sin, I immediately confess it repent of it, and pray for more strength so that I don’t do it again. John, in his first epistle (2:1-2 NKJV) tells us that we should not sin, but indicates that he knows we will.

My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.

And, that’s just it. We are liable to sin; we are only human. But if we fully surrender to God, He will live through us. If He lives through us, then we will find that those same old sins – those ones that always trap us in a snare – we’ll find they no longer tempt us.

Once God deals with the major sins in our life, then He will begin showing us sins that we thought we had kept hidden from Him, or that He didn’t care about. This is how we know that God loves us. He loves us too much to let us continue living in an manner that will rob us of His joy.

God is not a ruthless tyrant who restricts us from all worldly pleasure. On the contrary, He is a loving Father who desires only the best things for His children.

He loves us so much that He carefully watches over us. When we wander, he knows our every step, never letting us out of His sight. He collects all our tears like precious oils (Psalm 56:8).

God is like the dad who takes his child to the playground. He turns loose of the child so she may run and jump and climb and swing (how would she learn to grow, if he didn’t) but he never takes eyes off her, and he’s there to dry her tears if she falls.

I beg of you: confess and repent of your sins, and ask God to fill you with His Spirit, giving you the strength and the love to change, for we are unable to change on our own. He is not an abusive Father; He won’t be angry when you repent. He will try your tears, hold you in His arms, and fill you with the joy of His perfect love. What good father can resist hugging a crying child?

Fear Not 365 – We are His Children

January 21, 2017 by ChristianHolinessDaily Leave a Comment

The Bible does not indicate that the Apostle Paul was ever present when Jesus spoke during the three years or so He ministered before His crucifixion; it only says that Jesus appeared to Paul after His resurrection. I wonder, though. I would not be surprised to learn that Paul was one of the Pharisees who continually tried to entrap or accuse Jesus, like those who were present when Jesus told the parable of the Prodigal Son.

Why do I think that is a possibility? One reason is this passage from Romans 8:15-16

The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”

When the Prodigal Son repented, he had made up his mind that he would be content to be a slave on his father’s estate. His father, though, would have none of that. This was his son, and he would remain his son. This concept of slave versus child is presented both by Paul and by Christ.

So what distinguishes a slave from a child? Why is it important enough that both Paul and Christ use the theme?. A slave in the Roman Empire had limited rights. He or she was property and could be bought or sold. A slave was at the mercy of the master, for better or worse.

A child, however, not only had far greater rights under the law, but was also loved. To the child, the head of the house was not named Master, but Father.

We’re you ever scared as a child? I remember being scared and crawling in bed with my parents and clinging to their side. I remember calling out, “Mommy” or “Daddy!” That’s what Abba means… Daddy (literally, papa). The loving protection of the Father is what distinguishes the child from the slave.

Isn’t it great to know that because we are children of our Heavenly Father that He loves us and will protect us? We don’t need to fear, but if we do, He wants us to call to Him, take His hand, and cling to His side.