The Holy Spirit
Just as the work of Christ is predicated on human incapacity to earn our redemption, the work of the Spirit is predicated on human incapacity for holy living and spiritual formation. The nature of Christian ethics is that the demands it makes on the Christian are more than what one can fulfill in one’s own […]
All good gifts—from creation and providence to redemption and the consummation of Christ’s kingdom—come from the Father, in the Son, by the Spirit. The Father is the architect, the Son is the mediator, and the Spirit turns a house into a home. Tracing the Spirit’s work through the Bible, we’re amazed at the breadth of […]
The doctrine of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is a Pauline emphasis in the New Testament—the major passages being 1 Corinthians 12 and 13, Ephesians 4, and Romans 12—but key passages are also found in Peter’s and Luke’s writings (1 Pet. 4:10; Acts 2). Much concern over this topic has been aroused in this […]
“Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.” (John 16:7) It is to your advantage that I go away.” What a strange thing to […]
While linking the ministry of the Holy Spirit to the gospel is not really controversial, binding the Holy Spirit to the word is. When considering how the Holy Spirit operates in the lives of Christians, there seems to be a tendency to gravitate to either end of the spectrum—some will insist that the Spirit operates […]
The year 2016 will almost certainly go down in the annals of church history as the year of the “Great Evangelical Trinitarian Controversy.” A debate, which had brewed for well over a decade through the publication of various books and articles, came to a head through a series of blog posts published in the summer […]
In recent decades, the ministry of preaching has thankfully been regaining its proper place in churches. After a long period of marginalization (and, in some cases, forfeiture) by the combined forces of liberal theology and secular communication theory, there is a resurgence in the primacy and power of the preached word during the divine service.1 […]
a WHI roundtable with Michael Horton, Rod Rosenbladt, Kim Riddlebarger, and Justin Holcomb The first time our associate editor heard someone talk about the Holy Ghost, she immediately thought of the Spirit of Christmas Past—a looming, spectral figure. As it turns out, she wasn’t alone. Maybe not everyone associates the Third Person of the Trinity […]
One of the tragedies of modern debates about the Spirit’s work in the church and in our lives today is that we have narrowed his repertoire. The Third Person of the Trinity is frequently associated almost exclusively with: (1) the application of salvation (regeneration and sanctification); (2) direct, immediate, and surprising activities within us that […]
And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues […]
One way to summarize the ‘Farewell Discourse’ in John’s Gospel (chapters 14’17) is with the phrase ‘trading places.’ In this discourse, the judicial and transformative aspects of the Spirit’s ministry converge, and Jesus impresses upon the hearts of his confused and fearful disciples that his departure is a net gain. We need Jesus Christ […]
Southern Baptists speaking in tongues. Presbyterians attending healing crusades. The old divides between charismatics and cessationists seem to be breaking down. C. Peter Wagner, former professor at Fuller Theological Seminary and known among charismatics as a modern-day “apostle,” argues that this is the fruit of a New Apostolic Reformation that God has unleashed around the […]
In this interview, Michael Horton talks with Stan Way, pastor of Cornerstone Christian Church in Medford, Oregon, about his journey from classic Pentecostalism to an understanding of reformational Christianity. Tell us your background and how you came to understand the gospel in a clearer way. I was raised in a Pentecostal home’classic Pentecostalism, third generation. […]
As we read in Acts 2 about Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was given to the apostles, it's important to ask what God intended that event to be’a paradigm for church revival, or a unique, unrepeatable redemptive-historical event. Before considering the answer, it's important to recognize that Pentecost belongs to the history of salvation (the […]
According to the Nicene Creed, the “one holy catholic” church is also “apostolic.” What does that mean? What constitutes the apostolicity of the church? Answering that question biblically is the important first step in the case for the cessation of certain gifts of the Spirit. Here the focus will be on those gifts most contested […]
