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Tag: spirit

Hebrews – 1
1:1 πολυμερῶς καὶ πολυτρόπως πάλαι ὁ θεὸς λαλήσας τοῖς πατράσιν ἐντοῖς προφήταις

It’s Greek to me…

multifariam et multis modis olim Deus loquens patribus in prophetis

God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
Hebrews 1:1 KJV
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In our עִבְרִי Hebrews Intro I suggested that we will explore some translation back to the Greek and Hebrew. Follow links to secure sources.
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Translations of Hebrews 1 above, from the original Greek, to the Latin Vulgate, to Hebrew do not seem to exist. Greek was the common language of Jews and Romans of the first century empire. Even early English translations include unfamiliar words and terms, like “sundry times.” indicating a portion of time.

So what is the connection of the book of Hebrews to Hebrew descendants, Jews who became the Messianic followers of The Way?

The opening of the book makes the connection. Its purpose is to explain the connection of the Messiah Iēsous to GOD, θεός theos in the Greek,in Hebrew, אֱלֹהִים ‘elohiym.

Hebrews 1:

The Nature of the Son

Jesus often referred to himself as the Son of Man, a specific messianic reference to the Messiah, only Son of God, born as a man.

Long ago God spoke to the fathers by the prophets at different times and in different ways. In these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son.
Hebrews 1:1-2a CSB

An immediate mention of God speaking through recognized prophets of the Jews. These include Abraham, Israel, Moses, David, Isaiah and many others. The voice of ‘his Son’ speaks with a first-person authority of the LORD speaking directly.

God has appointed him heir of all things and made the universe through him.

The Son of Man, Jesus, is heir of all creation, much as a human son receives the inheritance of his father’s work. Yet the author of Hebrews points out even more of the Image of the Son to the Father.

The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of his nature, sustaining all things by his powerful word.
Hebrews 1:3 CSB

After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

Jesus is of the same glory and exactly like God the Father and assumed the Throne of Majesty after making the Perfect Sacrifice for our sins on the Cross. The action of God Himself on the Cross purged our sins!

So he [Jesus] became superior to the angels, just as the name he inherited is more excellent than theirs.

Angels and messengers of God

The writer of Hebrews states that the man Jesus is much more than a prophet, then proceeds by comparing Jesus to the glory of God the Father. After briefly considering the Son of Man, now the writer of Hebrews proceeds to compare Jesus to unseen messengers .

Angels are spirit messengers of God. Jesus emphasized the importance of the unseen spirit of man – soul, if you will – in its role of communication with God.

Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit.
John 3:5-6 CSB

The water of baptism or purification is not enough. Repentance is not enough. Good works of the flesh are not enough. No one is justified by God without receiving the Spirit of God, messenger to your soul. The writer of Hebrews quotes scripture about angels, holding up Jesus as the Highest Messenger.

The Son [Jesus] Superior to Angels

5 For to which of the angels did he ever say,
- Psalm 2:7 אֲסַפְּרָה אֶֽל חֹק יְֽהוָה אָמַר אֵלַי בְּנִי אַתָּה אֲנִי הַיֹּום יְלִדְתִּֽיךָ׃
- or again, “I will be his Father, and he will be my Son?”
- Hebrews 1:6 Again, when he brings his firstborn into the world, he says,
- Deuteronomy 32:43 LXX (Septuagint) εὐφράνθητε, οὐρανοί, ἅμα αὐτῷ, καὶ προσκυνησάτωσαν αὐτῷ πάντες ἄγγελοι Θεοῦ· εὐφράνθητε, ἔθνη μετὰ τοῦ λαοῦ αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐνισχυσάτωσαν αὐτῷ πάντες υἱοὶ Θεοῦ· ὅτι τὸ αἷμα τῶν υἱῶν αὐτοῦ ἐκδικᾶται, καὶ ἐκδικήσει καὶ ἀνταποδώσει δίκην τοῖς ἐχθροῖς καὶ τοῖς μισοῦσιν ἀνταποδώσει, καὶ ἐκκαθαριεῖ Κύριος τὴν γῆν τοῦ λαοῦ αὐτοῦ.
- Psalm 97:7 LXX (Septuagint) σαλευθήτω ἡ θάλασσα καὶ τὸ πλήρωμα αὐτῆς, ἡ οἰκουμένη καὶ πάντες οἱ κατοικοῦντες ἐν αὐτῇ.
- All the gods must worship him. [97:7 LXX, Syr read All his angels]
- Hebrews 1:7 7 And about the angels he says:
- Psalm 104:4 עֹשֶׂה מַלְאָכָיו רוּחֹות מְשָׁרְתָיו אֵשׁ לֹהֵֽט׃
- NKJV Who makes His angels spirits, His ministers a flame of fire.
“Rejoice with him, you heavens,
and let all of God’s angels worship him.
Deu.32:43a NLT As in Dead Sea Scrolls and Greek version; Masoretic Text lacks the first two lines.

The writer of Hebrews makes clear that Jesus is superior to the angels, using scripture from the Old Testament to do so.

but about the Son

Hebrews 1:8-12 is glorification of the Son of God. Like his opening, the author quotes scriptures known to the Jews.

Quotes from Psalms often glorify God and glorify the king. The inference here is that Jesus, the Messiah, is a King forever.

Psalm 45

יָפְיָפִיתָ מִבְּנֵי אָדָם הוּצַק חֵן בְּשְׂפְתֹותֶיךָ עַל־כֵּן בֵּֽרַכְךָ אֱלֹהִים לְעֹולָֽם׃
Psalm 45:2
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2 You are fairer than the sons of men;
 Grace is poured upon Your lips;
 Therefore God has blessed You forever.
 3 Gird Your sword upon Your thigh, O Mighty One,
 With Your glory and Your majesty.
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The king holds up the royal scepter of righteousness, the symbol of justice in the right hand.

6 Your throne, O God, is forever and ever;
A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom.
7 You love righteousness and hate wickedness;
Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You
With the oil of gladness more than Your companions.

This reference by the writer of Hebrews to the Son being higher than the angels comes directly from this song of love in Psalm 45. The Messiah is an answer to prayer – centuries of prayers by faithful Jews. Hebrews continues by quoting another Psalm.

Psalm 102 – The Lord’s Eternal Love

Hear my prayer, O Lord,
And let my cry come to You.

12 But You, O Lord, shall endure forever,
And the remembrance of Your name to all generations.

18 This will be written for the generation to come,
That a people yet to be created may praise the Lord.

25 Of old You laid the foundation of the earth,
And the heavens are the work of Your hands.
26 They will perish, but You will endure;
Yes, they will all grow old like a garment;
Like a cloak You will change them,
And they will be changed.
27 But You are the same,
And Your years will have no end.

You are the same

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.”
The revelation of Jesus Christ to John 22:13

Hebrews 1 closes reaffirming that the Son IS the creative Word of the Lord.

13 Now to which of the angels has he ever said:

Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies your footstool?

Once again, quoting a Psalm announcement of the Messiah’s reign.

14 [NIV} Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?

Yes. Angels are ministering spirits of the LORD.

Yet the Son of Man, God Incarnate: was, and IS, and will be higher than the angels; the righteous King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
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To be continued...
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January 8, 2019
God’s Love Through John: Of water and the Spirit
“Truly I tell you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
Christ Jesus – Gospel of John 3:5

The Apostle John begins his Good News with creation then proceeds to verify the identity of Christ as prophesied and witnessed in Jesus’ earthly ministry.

Previously I addressed the very question of God, for not everyone believes in Almighty God, creator of the heavens and earth. We will for the moment skip over the powerful testimony of John the Baptist and continue with creation.

Do you believe in God?

If so, it must follow that you want to know more about God. John refers to Jesus as logos or ‘the Word.’ He tells us: “… the Word was God.”

Therefore, Jesus IS at the beginning – He created with God and He IS God.

Note that the Hebrew word for God, אֱלֹהִים ‘elohiym is plural. Jesus speaks of Himself in this same plural sense.

John 3:11, “Truly I tell you, we speak what we know and we testify to what we have seen, but you do not accept our testimony.

Perhaps you believe in God, but do you believe what God says?

Jesus speaks the very words of God!

John acknowledges the Messiah Jesus the Son as part of the One True God; but John witnesses even more. So let’s continue with the nature of God, also considering Spirit and the intangible attributes of that which is unseen.

John introduces the Holy Spirit in a dialogue between Nicodemus and Jesus.

Nicodemus, a faithful Jew

Visit of Nicodemus to Christ painting by John La Farge

Nicodemus was a Pharisee and therefore believed in the resurrection. His learned position as a leader of the Jews brought him to question Jesus, who had performed many miracles.

John 3:

“Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one could perform these signs you do unless God were with him.”

3 Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

4 “How can anyone be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked him. “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born?”

We make the same mistake, thinking of birth as creation. It is not.

Just as the resurrection marks an event uniting a created soul with God, birth is an event marking a new existence of that which was already created. The birth of the flesh marks an event connected to the breath of a baby whose spirit is formed by the Lord.

Just as you don’t know the path of the wind,
or how bones develop in the womb of a pregnant woman,
so also you don’t know the work of God who makes everything.
Ecclesiastes 11:5 CSB

Does the work of God in the spirit of man end with the end of our flesh? The Pharisees and Jesus believed the spirit to exist beyond the life of man. (We will not here discuss the nature and timing of the resurrected body here.)

Note that the Hebrew word for wind, רוּחַ ruwach, is equivalent to ‘spirit,’ which we note in the creation narrative of Genesis.

Genesis 1:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness covered the surface of the watery depths, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.

A description of a chaotic void of darkness, an emptiness, watery depths describes a formless space without purpose or life itself. Yet God, specifically the Spirit of God (רוּחַ ruwach אֱלֹהִים ‘elohiym) was moving over this formless void.

God IS the only Life in the instant of creation.

Jesus tells Nicodemus, ‘you should know that God is Spirit.’

5 Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Born of water

Genesis 1:6-7 Then God said,

“Let there be an expanse between the waters, separating water from water.”

So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above the expanse. And it was so.

Consider for a moment that if Jesus is the logos, the very spoken Word of God, then these Mosaic quotes may be attributed to the Messiah.

Jesus implies, ‘I AM He who separated the waters and I tell you that you must be born of water and the Spirit.’

Be born again from your chaotic sinful life into the resurrection, reborn pure and forgiven that you might have eternal life.

John also witnesses a connective symbolism between the pure water and the blood at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry in Galilee.

John 2:

6 Now six stone water jars had been set there for Jewish purification…

7 “Fill the jars with water,” Jesus told them. So they filled them to the brim… the headwaiter tasted the water (after it had become wine)…

11 Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee. He revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.

John then tells us how after this Jesus goes to Jerusalem and cleanses the Temple marketplace. As a result of these events Nicodemus will come to Jesus privately one night.

23 While he was in Jerusalem during the Passover Festival, many believed in his name when they saw the signs he was doing.

John points out additional connections between the purification water and the purification of the wine of the Passover sacrifice. In his first letter John speaks again of this rebirth as he writes to the church:

1 John 5:

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God.

6 Jesus Christ—he is the one who came by water and blood, not by water only, but by water and by blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.

7 For there are three that testify: 8 the Spirit, the water, and the blood—and these three are in agreement.

Born of flesh

Imagine a personal conversation with God! The Lord, a flesh and blood ‘Son of Man’ as Jesus referred to himself, answers a learned teacher of scripture. He essentially suggests to Nicodemus that what is created of water and Spirit is different from our flesh created from dust.

Water becomes essential to bones and flesh, as blood flowing with life. Spirit separates the chaos of created man from the lifeless nature of a formless and godless earth.

Perhaps Jesus referred to the scripture from Ecclesiastes in His dialogue with Nicodemus asking about being born of water and the Spirit.

10 “Are you a teacher of Israel and don’t know these things?” Jesus replied.

Jesus, the Messiah in the flesh, tells Nicodemus that we must be born again – born again in the Spirit.

John the Baptist and many other Prophets urged true believers in the Lord to repent. Jesus also preached repentance and emphasizes a return to a new and pure relationship between the Spirit of God and the spirit of a man.

To be ‘born again’ is much more than mere repentance, which may be temporal and lacking in guilt, contrition and an earnest desire for the cleansing of sin.

Our born again spirit is rebirth of a relationship between the new spirit of changed flesh and the Spirit of the Living God.

John also witnesses much more of the difference between spirit and flesh, mostly in the spoken words of Christ Jesus.

“The Spirit is the one who gives life. The flesh doesn’t help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.
John 6:63

Born of Spirit

The concepts of spirit, as in the Holy Spirit and the spirit of man, is more complex than what we can address in discussion of John’s Gospel, letters and the Revelation of Jesus Christ to John. Jesus’ simple reply to Nicodemus that we must be born again does point to the Holy Spirit.

For a more detailed study worthy of academic study of Scripture as Nicodemus would have been familiar see the entry below:

“Holy Spirit.” Examples where the Person is meant when the article is absent… Sometimes the absence is to be accounted for by the fact that Pneuma (like Theos) is substantially a proper name, e.g., in Jhn 7:39. As a general rule the article is present where the subject of the teaching is the Personality of the Holy Spirit, e.g., Jhn 14:26, where He is spoken of in distinction from the Father and the Son. See also Jhn 15:26 and cp. Luk 3:22…
The subject of the “Holy Spirit” in the NT may be considered as to His Divine attributes; His distinct Personality in the Godhead; His operation in connection with the Lord Jesus in His birth, His life, His baptism, His death; His operations in the world; in the church; His having been sent at Pentecost by the Father and by Christ; His operations in the individual believer; in local churches; His operations in the production of Holy Scripture; His work in the world, etc.
Vine’s Expository Dictionary:

What does it mean to be ‘born again?’

We could, as many do, become entangled in more theological argument of what Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3:3 and consequently neglect John’s witness of what Jesus reveals about the Person of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus states that we must be born again in Spirit. Where else does John mention this?

Because the Holy Spirit commonly the Person of God most misrepresented and least mentioned, let’s look first to the examples cited in Vine’s Dictionary (above) to the scriptures from John.

“The one who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him.” He [Jesus] said this about the Spirit. Those who believed in Jesus were going to receive the Spirit, for the Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified.
John 7:38-39 CSB

In our next post we will take a look at the witness of John the Baptist, who also bears witness to Jesus receiving the Holy Spirit, to which the Apostle John refers here.

Jesus, prior to His crucifixion and resurrection in the flesh and in the spirit, instructs the Apostles further about the Holy Spirit.

John 14:

25 “I have spoken these things to you while I remain with you. 26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you.

Jesus’s Gift of Peace
27 “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Don’t let your heart be troubled or fearful.

Who would not love a personal counselor like this? Jesus promises a Person with His same love in the Person of the Holy Spirit. Later John affirms this testimony of Jesus:

“When the Counselor comes, the one I will send to you from the Father — the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father — he will testify about me.
“You also will testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.
John 15:26-27

John is witness and testifies to this for many years, more years than all other Apostles. Jesus also refers to the Holy Spirit as ‘the Spirit of truth.’

Does one desiring God seek truth?

John provides both witness and explanation of the Truth. Therefore, even in this present day we would not want to miss what he shares with the church in the Revelation of Jesus Christ to John.

“Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will never be harmed by the second death.
Revelation 2:11
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God’s Love Through John: To be continued...
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September 13, 2018
Crushed

Let’s get something straight:

You are not good enough for Heaven. I am not even good enough for my church, my wife or my child.

If we cannot do enough good works to earn our place with a Holy God, how will we ever pay what we owe for our many sins?

Answer:

We can not.

No work we can do is good enough to pay the high price of our sins.

Five hundred years ago Martin Luther and many others sought to reform church leadership. Those protesting rejected sacramental penance of man for the true repentance of a man’s heart won back to God.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.

Ephesians 2:8

Why did the LORD send Jesus to the Cross for my sins?

A most unattainable thing about goodness: We cannot attain it. We will always trespass. We will always sin.

Romans 7:

15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.

18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.

19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.

The Scriptures foretold of the coming of the Christ, who IS in the Person of Jesus.

Around 700 B.C., the Prophet Isaiah [in chapter 53] described the Savior of Israel, the Redeemer of the world:

He was despised and rejected by men;
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him;
he has put him to grief;

when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

Isaiah 53:10

What good work will your soul offer for your guilt?

Mark 10:

17 And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone…

“… come, follow me.” 22 Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

“Then who can be saved?”

27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”

Are we good enough for Heaven?

NOT without the grace of God by faith in Christ Jesus, alone.

The generous philanthropy of the greatest foundation for charity to all the causes of good can not buy Heaven and eternal life for even one unrepentant sinner without the grace of faith in Jesus Christ.

GOD gave breath to your spirit, formed you in your mother’s womb and calls you to a life by faith in the Spirit.

Fellow sinner, when will you repent of your many sins?

Are you not crushed by your sins when your mind is convicted in guilt and no good work will lift the burden from you? Do you still consider that another good work will pay the price of the Lord’s piercing and death for you?

Confess your sin before Almighty God! Bow down your selfish will before Christ Jesus. Repent once more, dear fellow sinner. Turn back to the righteousness of our loving Father.

For God intends for your brief journey here beneath the immeasurable heavens and timeless creation to glorify your Lord. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

Let us confess that we among many cannot do good without the grace of God.

We are saved by faith alone: in Christ Jesus, the only Son, One with the Father.

Humble your failing flesh to guidance of the Holy Spirit through faith in Christ Jesus, eternal Judge of all mortal souls.

REPENT! Self-righteous sinner.

Turn back to the LORD by faith in Christ Jesus,

While it is yet today;

Before you are crushed

By sin and death,

Before your good legacy becomes

Another forgotten rotting vanity.

October 31, 2015