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Tag: holy spirit

ANNOUNCEMENT of the Testimony of GOD
And when I came to you, brethren, came not in excellency of word, or wisdom, announcing to you the testimony of God.
1 Corinthians 2:1 DBY

Further rebuke of CHRISTIAN MINISTERS

The Apostle Paul begins NOT with a reminder of his considerable credentials but with an apologia for God’s evidence in Christ crucified and risen.

1 Corinthians 2:

I did not come with superiority of word or of wisdom [sophia]..
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Superiority, (elevation, pre-eminence, excellence in) Wisdom would have been what many Hellenists in Corinth might have expected in Paul.
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Note that the Apostle’s approach of rebuke of his Corinthian ‘brothers’ in the faith relies ONLY on the Authority of Almighty God. NOT speech (logos), NOT of wisdom [sophia], but an ANNOUNCEMENT and PROCLAIMATION.

proclaiming to you the witness of God.

καταγγέλλω – katangellō –

to announce, declare, promulgate, make known, to proclaim publicly, publish
Strong’s G2605 – katangellō – BlueLetterBible.org

AND shortly Paul will ask these Corinthian believers:

For who among men knows the depths of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him?
1 Corinthians 2:11a LSB

Even so the depths of God no one knows except the Spirit of God.

testimony – μαρτύριον – martyrion

The APOSTLE of the RISEN CHRIST JESUS is providing ‘something evidential, i.e. (genitive case) evidence given or (specially), the Decalogue (in the sacred Tabernacle):—to be testified, testimony, witness.

Paul has already written his thanks to God for the Corinthians, ‘even as the witness^G3142 about Christ was confirmed in you – 1 Cor 1:6

DO YOU FEAR GOD?
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Here is my testimony as Christ's apostle to you, my Corinthian brothers and sisters in the Lord:
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Jesus Christ, and Him crucified

And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my word and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power..

Listen to some of the descriptions Paul uses here for their condition:
- WEAKNESS of the body: its native weakness and frailty, feebleness of health or sickness
- of the soul: want of strength and capacity requisite
  - to understand a thing
  - to do things great and glorious
  - to restrain corrupt desires
  - to bear trials and troubles
- φόβος – phobos – FEAR, dread, terror
- MUCH TREMBLING
  - quaking with fear
  - with fear and trembling, used to describe the anxiety of one who distrusts his ability completely to meet all requirements,
    
    but religiously does his utmost to fulfil his duty
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Does this description of the Apostle Paul (who rebukes these Corinthians) resemble the pastoral approach of the ministers of YOUR church in any way?
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for ministers mature in Christ

Yet when I am among mature believers, I do speak with words of wisdom, but not the kind of wisdom that belongs to this world or to the rulers of this world, who are soon forgotten.
1 Corinthians 2:6 NLT – Paul’s ‘word to the wise,’ mature ministers of God’s word

Jesus taught followers to be mature

“For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?

“And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?

“Therefore you are to be perfect^G5046, as your heavenly Father is perfect^G5046.
Gospel of Matthew 5:38 LSB

Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be complete G5046, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”
Matthew 19:21 LSB

PAUL writes to the Corinthians who are MATURE ministers of the Lord to “be PERFECT,” become COMPLETE in your TESTIMONY of GOD.

the Mystery of God’s Wisdom

No, we speak of the mysterious and hidden wisdom of God, (we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery ) which He destined for our glory before time began.

8 None of the rulers of this age understood it. For if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 Rather, as it is written:

“No eye has seen,

no ear has heard,

no heart has imagined,

what God has prepared for those who love Him.”
Isaiah 64:4

But God has revealed it to us by the Spirit.
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.
1 Corinthians 2:10 Berean Study Bible

How are mature ministers of God different?
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The relationship of God and Man can become a Spirit to spirit love in Christ our Lord.
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14 The natural [psychikos] person does not accept the things of the Spirit [pneuma ] of God, for they are folly [foolishness] to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. – ESV

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.

And 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.
1 Corinthians 2:12-13 BSB

Natural human? OR Spiritual minister?
- a natural man [anthrōpos] does not accept the depths of the Spirit of God
- 15 The spiritual man judges all things, but he himself is not subject to anyone’s judgment.
The Apostle again returns to the Prophet Isaiah:

16“For who has known the mind of the Lord [LORD or kyrios – ],

he to whom a person or thing belongs, about which he has power of deciding; master, lord

so as to instruct Him?”
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The APOSTLE here rebukes ministers of the church to be complete or mature in the Lord Jesus Christ:
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But we have the mind of Christ.
1 Corinthians 2:16b BSB
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Paul will later mention Peter's testimony (1 Cor 15).
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Christ Crucified AND Risen!

Then He opened their minds G3563 to understand the Scriptures…
Gospel of Luke 24:45 LSB

Comfort, comfort My people,” says your God..

11 He tends His flock like a shepherd;

He gathers the lambs in His arms

and carries them close to His heart.

He gently leads the nursing ewes.

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,

or marked off the heavens with the span of his hand?

Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket,

or weighed the mountains on a scale

and the hills with a balance?

Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD *,

or informed Him as His counselor?
Isaiah 40:13 BSB
*Or mind of the LORD in the Septuagint (LXX)

NEXT: Meat for Ministers
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and Milk for New Babes
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and we — we have the mind of Christ. And I, brethren, was not able to speak to you as to spiritual, but as to fleshly — as to babes in Christ..

1 Corinthians 2:16b-3:1 – Young’s Literal Translation

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Comment on Scripture – Share the Gospel
June 27, 2024
What God Hath Wrought
Jerusalem, Jerusalem !

And when we were come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly. – Acts of the Apostles 21:17 ASV

That’s it, really – the end of a THIRD MISSIONARY JOURNEY OF PAUL (and many other apostles and disciples of the risen Jesus Christ).
- THE END of a FIRST MISSION beginning back in A.D. 47 had been about fourteen years after his conversion before Christ.
  - 1400 miles through CYPRESS and skirting GALATIA.
  - Paul and Barnabas return to the church at Antioch, Syria to ‘report all that God had done.‘
- In ACTS 15, Peter, James, Paul and other leading men of the church meet to resolve issues of JEWS and GENTILES eating and worshiping together, after which apostles were SENT out to the churches.
- These apostles of a SECOND MISSION then departed from Jerusalem to SYRIA and GALATIA in A.D. 49,
  - then crossing into Europe (THRACE, MACEDONIA, GREECE & ACHAIA);
  - Paul returns to ASIA MINOR, establishing an important church in Ephesus.
  - Paul returns to Antioch, via Jerusalem, having travelled a distance of 2800 miles
The Connection of Christ’s Missions

A.D. 52 – Apostles’ Missions so far..
- A.D. 57
  - Paul is about to give an account of his recent 5-year, 2700 mile THIRD MISSION to the church in Jerusalem.
Prophesying the unseen future

previously, a prophesy in Caesarea

Acts of the Apostles 21:
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NOTE: Due to the seriousness of ongoing issues of the Church formally considering Paul's report from mostly Gentile Hellenist Roman cities, please consider the gravity of a more formal Scripture of the American Standard Version (revision of 19th c. English update of the A.D. 1611 King James Bible.) - RH
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More People, More Problems

18 And the day following Paul went in with us unto James; and all the elders were present.

And when he had saluted them, he rehearsed one by one the things which God had wrought among the Gentiles through his ministry.
Acts of the Apostles 21:19 ASV
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Let us PAUSE here to consider what witness Paul has 'rehearsed' to this council of Jerusalem Elders. 

It's been some seven or eight years since James and and the leaders of the CHURCH SENT this Apostle to the Gentiles with specific anointing and instruction.
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The things which God hath wrought !
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FIRST: defining a verb made archaic to Common Era ears
Wrought [121x in the ASV]
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- Thus all the work that Solomon wrought for the house of Jehovah was finished. – 2 Chronicles 5:1a
- And thus did Hezekiah throughout all Judah; and he wrought that which was good and right and faithful before Jehovah his God. – 2 Chronicles 31:20
- And it came to pass, when all our enemies heard thereof, that all the nations that were about us feared, and were much cast down in their own eyes; for they perceived that this work was wrought of our God. – Nehemiah 6:16
But he that *doeth the truth cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest, that they have been wrought in God.
Gospel of John 3:21 ASV [context John 3:19-21]
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* ποιέω - is the SAME word Luke uses as 'rehearsed' om ACTS 21:19  - ..he rehearsed one by one the things which God had wrought among the Gentiles..
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What hath God wrought, might Isr'l say
Author: Thomas Gibbons AD 1720-1785
Published in 4 hymnals
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WROUGHT ! archaic to Common Era worship perhaps, but having a GRAVITY of TRUTH required of Paul to make his case for the Gentiles to cultural Jews.

And they, when they heard it, glorified God; and they said unto him,

Thou seest, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of them that have believed;

and they are all zealous for the law: and they have been informed concerning thee, that thou teachest all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs.
ACTS 29:20b-21 ASV

James tells Paul why he must address many new believers providing truth and evidence overturning false accusations against the Way made by zealous Judeans.

What is it therefore?

they will certainly hear that thou art come.

Remember back in Caesarea?

Thus saith the Holy Spirit, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. – Acts of the Apostles 21:11b ASV – prophesy through Agabus for the Apostle Paul

This leader of the Jerusalem church once an unbelieving Galilean Jew (biological half-brother of Jesus) suggests a plan for Paul to convince them.

Do therefore this that we say to thee:
- We have four men that have a vow on them;
- 24 these take, and purify thyself with them,
- and be at charges for them,
- that they may shave their heads:
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These purification rites relate to Levitical Law & ALSO required completion of a VOW to the LORD.
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and all shall know that there is no truth in the things whereof they have been informed concerning thee;

but that thou thyself also walkest orderly, keeping the law.

Clear PUBLIC evidence of TRUTH !

AND in true leadership form JAMES reminds of their decision already made earlier regarding GENTILE customs:

But as touching the Gentiles that have believed, we wrote, giving judgment that they should keep themselves from things sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what is strangled, and from fornication.

Paul receives their advise humbly (even knowing somewhat of the outcome), as the Apostle has been counseled by the Holy Spirit.

26 Then Paul took the men, and the next day purifying himself with them went into the temple, declaring the fulfilment of the days of purification, until the offering was offered for every one of them.

ACTS of the Apostles – To Be Continued…

What God Hath Wrought 2

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Comment on Scripture – Share the Gospel
April 26, 2024
Sailing Home on the Aegean
And when they had come to him, he said to them,
“You yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials..
Acts of the Apostles 20:18-19a LSB – The Apostle Paul bidding farewell to the Ephesian elders

As you know Paul and apostles of his third missionary journey have set sail for Jerusalem.

Three Years in Ephesus with Tears

“Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock.. – Acts 20:28a – the Apostle Paul’s parting advice to the elders of the church.

Anatolian peninsula

Reflecting back on a Third Missionary Journey

Paul had begun this third mission in about A.D. 52 setting out on land from Antioch to visit churches all along the Anatolian peninsula until reaching the Aegean at Ephesus, a distance of more than 500 miles.

A.D. 57

In addition to starting and nurturing an important church in Asia Minor, namely Ephesus, the Apostle had then crossed the Aegean into Europe and done the same for churches in Thessalonica, and Berea; the important Achaian city of Corinth, returning to Thessalonica once more then traveling to the Roman stronghold at Philippi.

The Aegean Missions by Sea

Although these missionaries have bypassed Ephesus on their return to Jerusalem, note Paul’s APOSTOLOIC LETTERS encouraging CHURCHES during these same years:

Epistles to the Thessalonians
- 2 THESSALONIANS (possibly)
  - (if it had not already been delivered during Paul’s Second Missionary Journey along with 1 Thessalonians and an epistle to the Galatians.)
- TWO LETTERS TO THE CORINTHIANS
- PAUL’S LETTERS TO THE ROMANS,
  - including the major theological epistle preserved in the Bible
  - and no doubt other letters to individuals in Rome as in other cities.
Acts of the Apostles 21:

Now when we had parted from them and had set sail, we came by a straight course to Cos..

and the next day to Rhodes..

and from there to Patara;

.. and having found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, we went aboard and set sail.

And when we came in sight of Cyprus, leaving it on the left, we kept sailing to Syria and landed at Tyre; for there the ship was to unload its cargo.

Land Ho! Almost Home

We sought out the disciples there and stayed with them seven days.

Through the Spirit they urged Paul not to go on to Jerusalem.
Acts of the Apostles 21:4 – New International Version

a word of warning
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Note three things Luke is about to tell us about their arrival:
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- μαθητής (mathētēs) – they sought out OTHER followers of Christ and stayed with them (seven days here in Tyre)
  - disciples in every port AND on various parts of Paul’s missionary journeys various disciples become apostles also sent out to other churches.
  - SEE the list: These disciples are both men and women.
- They spoke to Paul in the Spirit.
  - λέγω – legō
    
    conversation between believers, exhortation in this case they must have thought received through the Spirit
    
    (We’ll come back to this..)
  - πνεῦμα – pneuma
    
    Let Christ-followers reading ‘Spirit‘ 70 times in Acts understand that this is the Holy Spirit who joined in these conversations.
- disciples Prophesied to Paul through the Spirit what would happen if the Apostle ‘set foot’ in Jerusalem (as he had planned).
  - Soon other disciples will provide addition detail of these prophesies though the Spirit.
When it was time to leave, [Luke tells us] we left and continued on our way. All of them, including wives and children, accompanied us out of the city, and there on the beach we knelt to pray.

6 After saying goodbye to each other, we went aboard the ship, and they returned home.
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Does the intimacy of their parting not remind us of the Ephesian elders as these apostles crossed the Aegean and Mediterranean?
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διά – λόγος – [dia – log]
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'dialogue' of 'Christians' -literally, dia logos, dia legō 
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- discourse
- to say, to speak
- through
  - by the means of:
the HOLY SPIRIT or HOLY GHOST!

And fear came upon every soul; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.

“Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.”

“But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are.”
Acts of the Apostles 2:43, 10:43, 15:11,
references to Strong’s G1223 – dia – meaning “through“

DO NOT DISMISS or overlook frequent intimate conversation between 1st century followers of Christ AND their continual dialogue through the Holy Spirit.
Roger@TalkofJesus.com

The Apostle Paul has RECENTLY [A.D. 57] written in a letter to Roman Christ-followers:

.. the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Romans 5:5b excerpt [the context could not be more important]

NEXT: The apostles continue their return from Paul’s Third Missionary Journey and the Holy Spirit reveals more details through prophesy of what will take place in Jerusalem.

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Let's have some dia-log here, dear brother/sister in Christ.
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Comment on Scripture – Share the Gospel
April 9, 2024