Posts tagged Baptism in the Spirit
Paul and the Charismatics

In Chapters 12-14 of his First Letter to the Corinthians (recently featured on The Blessed Hope Podcast), Paul addresses a number of matters often associated with contemporary charismatics and Pentecostals. What follows are the issues covered in the five episodes of the Blessed Hope listed below.

Some of the Ground Covered In the Blessed Hope Episodes

  • Paul’s approach to properly understand spiritual things begins with an acknowledgment of Christ’s Lordship (1 Corinthians 12:3).

  • He addresses spiritual things (especially the Corinthian misunderstanding of them) before discussing spiritual gifts. It is clear that Paul’s concern is to correct the Corinthian’s erroneous views of spiritual matters (which, in Corinth, was often tied to pagan practices—like ecstatic religious experience, and conduct in the churches sadly reflecting what goes on in the pagan temples in and around the city).

  • Paul is not a strict cessationist, since chapters 12-14 of First Corinthians give practical instructions to the church about the use, function, and purpose of spiritual gifts. Paul exhorts the Corinthians to desire these gifts (especially the higher ones), since they build up the body of Christ, equip church officers for service, and enable us to better love our brothers and sisters in Christ.

  • But Paul does imply that the apostolic office is not a perpetual one (1 Corinthians 12:28-32—especially in light of of 1 Timothy 3:1-12), and those gifts typically associated with that office (miracles and healing) have ordinarily ceased. Extraordinary manifestations of these gifts certainly remains possible—but rare.

  • After enumerating a list of the various gifts given by the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:4-11), Paul is clear that love for our fellow believers is the glue which holds the church (unity) with its diversity of spiritual gifts together (1 Corinthians 13:1-13).

To read the rest, follow the link below

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"Baptism in the Spirit" (1 Corinthians 12:12-31) A New Episode of the Blessed Hope Podcast!

Episode Synopsis:

Almost all peoples and cultures seem to have some sort of utopian dream–a world of universal peace, prosperity, and harmony. John Lennon’s Imagine anyone? The problem with all utopian visions is that ours is a fallen race. Because we are a fallen race we all too often find ourselves divided along racial, socioeconomic, political, and theological lines. Much like the citizens of first century Corinth, we too struggle to find true unity in a world rife with division of all sorts. Because of human sin, the only way unity can be obtained is through force or coercion (“agree or else”), deception (like that of a false religion), or through a “kumbaya” unity (a superficial sentimentalism). The bad news is there will be no earthly utopia this side of Christ’s second advent. The good news is that God does provide us with a true unity based upon our common faith in Jesus Christ realized in the church through the person and work of the Holy Spirit. And while this unity is imperfectly realized in this life, nevertheless, in Christ’s church, God takes a whole host of diverse and different people and baptizes them in the Holy Spirit into one body, the church of Jesus Christ.

The root problem in the Corinthian church is that although many have come to confess that “Jesus is Lord,” they struggle to stop thinking and acting like the pagans they once were. Because factions have formed in the church, Paul must address the question of unity (that the body of Christ is one) while pointing out that the Holy Spirit gives a variety of gifts of the Spirit to the church’s members according to the will of God. God creates both unity and diversity by baptizing his people in the Holy Spirit when they confess that Jesus is Lord. He then signs and seals that baptism to believers and their children in Christian baptism. Where the sign is present (water), so too we believe the reality is present (union with Christ through the work of the Holy Spirit).

Paul also must deal with the fact that many of the Corinthians thought possessing certain gifts of the Spirit was a sign of their own importance and status. Paul corrects this misguided notion by connecting the “higher gifts” to God’s call of certain men to the offices of minister, elder, and deacon. He must also remind them that all of the members of the church are given at least one gift, making the least of them (in the eyes of others) an essential member of the congregation with gifts which are important to the whole. Every member and every gift they’ve been given is vital to Christ’s church.

There may be no utopia this side of the Lord’s return, but Jesus does establish a new society in his church–one in which there is both unity (their confession that Jesus is Lord) and diversity (each possesses gifts of the Spirit).

To read the show notes and listen to the episode, follow the link below

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