The Word of God as Key to Christian Worship

1952 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-147
Author(s):  
Peter Katz
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Word Of God ◽  
Field Of Vision ◽  
God's Word ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Christian Worship ◽  
The Will ◽  
In Christ ◽  
The Right ◽  
Human Eyes

In a service of the right kind God speaks to the congregation, and the Holy Spirit opens the hearts and lips of the congregation to reply. The means by which the inscrutable God comes out of the ‘Light unapproachable’ is His ‘Word’. It has been the will of God to limit His self-revelation to mediation through the ‘Word’. This self-revealing ‘Word’ makes itself known in two ways:Firstly, God became man in Christ. He has thus entered our field of vision. From Christ's words and acts and from His character discernible behind them, the Father's nature, heart and will towards us are discerned, so far as such discernment is given to man. Christ is that aspect of God which is turned towards us. He reflects the rays of God, so far as human eyes can bear their light. As making known God's heart and will, Christ is therefore in a special sense ‘God's Word’. To describe Christ as the Word of God is to give a fully adequate picture. It is as the Eternal Word of God that the Risen Lord is in the midst of His faithful.

Lee Roy Martin, The Unheard Voice of God: A Pentecostal Hearing of the Book of Judges: A Theological Review

2009 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-29
Author(s):  
Robert Pope
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Faith Community ◽  
Word Of God ◽  
Reformed Theology ◽  
God's Word ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Book Of Judges

AbstractThis review of Lee Roy Martin's The Unheard Voice of God: A Pentecostal Hearing of the Book of Judges draws on some of the main themes of the book and poses some theological questions with the intention of continuing the book's constructive agenda. The aim is a dialogue in which aspects of Dr Martin's argument are rehearsed, questioned and brought alongside insights from other theological traditions. Hermeneutics are under consideration, specifically a Pentecostal hermeneutic, but so too are the more fundamental questions of how scripture speaks a Word of God into the faith community and how that faith community might hear it. The review emphasises the need to be careful, faithful and expectant hearers and suggests that the reader and the expositor might also have a place to play in a Pentecostal hermeneutic. Some insights from Reformed theology are presented, particularly the importance of proclamation and the role which the Holy Spirit plays in receiving and living in obedience to God's word. In conclusion, a number of questions are posed while Dr Martin's contribution is noted and applauded.

scholarly journals Hermeneutiek, Schriftgezag en Triniteit

1999 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Wentsel
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
The Body ◽  
Body Of Christ ◽  
Word Of God ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Triune God ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Specific Meaning ◽  
The Right

Hermeneutics, the authority of Scripture and the Trinity of God In order to evaluate a scholarly theological publication any student has to be conversant with the philosophical, confessional and social-contextual suppositions (prejudices, apriori’s, the so-called “glasses”) forming the background and frame of interpretation as applied by the author. The presence of suppositions is sometimes predominate and clear, sometimes subordinate and hidden. H. Berkhof for instance, applies at least six sets of apriori’s in his interpretation of the Bible (see Christelijk geloof – 1973). Underlying the use of these interpretative “glasses” a student has to locate the deepest religious source, the point of departure. Apriori’s can, however, be bad and good. The author of this article is convinced of the necessity of applying at least twelve suppositions in the interpretation of the Bible. In this article the following suppositions will thus be stressed: (1) The Bible is considered as the book of Gods revelation. (2) The fact that the Holy Spirit inspired prophets, apostles, evangelists and collectors (= theopneustia) is supported. (3) The term “Word of God” has a specific meaning as Logos of creation, prophecy, commandment, gospel and so on. (4) The supposition that the Bible is the book of God’s covenant implies that the berit is uniting all the different books and all loci of the Christian faith. (5) In order to interpret the Bible in a just way it is necessary to be reborn. (6) The right balance between the value of the Old and the New Testament should be upheld. It should also be confessed that Jahweh (= He is present for us) is the triune God. (7) The normativity of the whole Bible should be acknowledged in relation to the main contours of God’s revelation (and not only in isolated texts) and even in relation to changing cultural background of the Pésachfeast, the sacrifice-torah and the structure of the covenant. (9) In our interpretation of the Bible we should be on the alert for influences of the devil in opposition to the Holy Spirit. (10) For twenty centuries we have already been members of the Church, the body of Christ. Individualism within the body of Christ can thus imply an underestimation of the work of the Holy Spirit. (11) We remain one Ekklèsia and must listen to the interpretation of the Bible by all churches. (12) The Lord is king over all domains and spheres of life. He also reigns over (leaders of) political, educational and societal-structural affairs, as well as over heads of industry.

scholarly journals Church Models for the 21st Century

Kairos ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-91
Author(s):  
Stanko Jambrek
Keyword(s):  
Everyday Life ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Word Of God ◽  
Cattle Breeding ◽  
God's Will ◽  
The Bible ◽  
God's Word ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
The Church

In order to have a fruitful understanding of the nature of the Church, the Bible uses a variety of pictures, which when taken together form Church models by which believers live and act by. We have reviewed Church models in three categories: the first category is taken by Church models which are formed today by our everyday life; the second one are Church models which have been created by man throughout history; and third, the Church models which have a foundation in the Word of God. Church models formed by everyday life and man-made Church models can be used as negative examples of models to be changed and avoided, especially models of the Church as an institution and as a denomination. The Bible shows a particular reality and nature of the Church by using numerous different pictures from everyday life. These include pictures from the ownership system; the picture of the way the human body works; pictures from premarital, marital, and family life; pictures from architecture, agriculture, cattle breeding, fishery, and citizenship and patriotism. Each of the used pictures communicates one or more God’s truths in a way that is experientially very close and familiar to the listeners and readers. These pictures reflect life and point towards life. The 21st century Christianity needs to adopt and apply Biblical pictures of Church which, when taken together, form the Biblical Church model. As we establish this model, we need to focus on God and His purposes and plans for a specific time, place, and culture. Our communication with God needs to be completely open, and the Church needs to be prepared to follow God’s plans and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The Biblical Church model contains God’s (immutable) and human (mutable) elements. God is immutable, which is why anything that is permanent and immutable in Church comes from God, and what can and needs to be changed is anything that came from people. The human elements need to be aligned with God’s Word and the Holy Spirit’s guidance, so that the Church would be able to obey God’s will fruitfully.

Pembaharuan Pikiran Pengikut Kristus Menurut Roma 12:2

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Asih Rachmani Endang Sumiwi
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Meaning Of Life ◽  
Standard Of Living ◽  
Word Of God ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
The World ◽  
True Meaning ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
The Will ◽  
The Mind

The existence of Christians in this world cannot be separated from the community in which they are located. When someone is in the midst of a community with a different way of life, it is very possible for him to be similar to his surroundings. Whereas what God wants from the existence of Christians in the world is that they can become bright, not follow the flow around them. Paul once gave a special message to the Romans so that they would not be like this world but changed by renewal of mind. This study focuses on the study of the phrases ἀνακαινώσει τοῦ νοὸς (anakainosei tou noos) from Romans 12: 2, which literally means renewal of the mind. This study aims to find out what is meant by the renewal of the mind, why it is necessary to renew the mind, how the renewal of the mind occurs, and how it applies to the life of Christianity in the present. With the exegesis method, researchers try to find out the meaning of the phrase either through lexical studies or by paying attention to the background of letter writing. Having found the meaning and relation to the context of the phrase, its application is made for Christian life today. The conclusions of this research are as follows: First, the renewal of the mind in Romans 12: 2 is a renewal of one's awareness of the truth which builds understanding of the true meaning of life. Second, followers of Christ need to experience a renewal of the mind because the mind will play a role in determining its life, namely in creating or setting its standard of living. Third, renewal of the mind is a process that occurs continuously every day through the Word of God which is done by the Holy Spirit, so that by this process Christians will understand the will of God, that is what is good, that is pleasing to God and perfectAbstrakKeberadaan umat Kristen di dunia ini tidak dapat dipisahkan dari lingungan masyarakat di mana mereka berada.  Ketika seseorang berada di tengah masyarakat dengan cara hidup yang berbeda, sangat mungkin baginya untuk menjadi serupa dengan sekitarnya.  Padahal yang dikehendaki Tuhan dari keberadaan umat Kristen di dunia adalah agar mereka bisa menjadi terang, bukan mengikuti arus sekitarnya. Paulus pernah berpesan secara khusus kepada jemaat Roma agar mereka tidak menjadi serupa dengan dunia ini tetapi berubah oleh pembaharuan pikiran.  Penelitian ini memusatkan kajian kada frasa ἀνακαινώσει τοῦ νοὸς  (anakainosei tou noos) dari surat Roma 12:2, yang secara literal berarti pembaharuan pikiran. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui apa yang dimaksud dengan pembaharuan pikiran, mengapa perlu pembaharuan pikiran, bagaimana terjadinya pem­baharuan pikiran, serta bagaimana penerapannya bagi kehidupan kekristenan pada masa sekarang. Dengan metode eksegesis, peneliti mencoba menemukan makna dari frasa tersebut baik melalui studi leksikal maupun dengan memperhatikan latar belakang penulisan surat. Setelah ditemukan makna dan kaitannya dengan konteks dari frasa tersebut, dibuat penerapannya bagi kehidupan kekristen­an sekarang ini. Sebagai kesimpulan dari penelitian ini adalah sebagai berikut: Pertama, pembaharuan pikiran dalam Roma 12:2 adalah pembaharuan kesadaran sese­orang terhadap kebenaran sehingga terbangun pemahaman akan makna hidup yang benar. Kedua, pengikut Kristus perlu mengalami pembaharuan pikiran karena pikiran akan sangat berperan dalam menentukan kehidupan­nya, yaitu dalam mencipta­kan atau menetapkan standar hidupnya. Ketiga, pembaharuan pikiran adalah proses yang terjadi terus menerus setiap hari melalui Firman Tuhan yang dikerjakan oleh Roh Kudus, sehingga dengan proses ini orang Kristen akan mengerti kehendak Allah yaitu apa yang baik, yang berkenan kepada Allah dan sempurna. 

The intimate connection between Christ and Christians in Athanasius

2005 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn Schneider
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Word Of God ◽  
Intimate Connection ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
In Christ ◽  
The Relationship

The Middle Platonic concept of ‘participation’ in the Forms is important for understanding the connection that Athanasius finds between Christians and Christ. Yet, Athanasius adapts this concept to his Johannine view of the Word of God incarnate in Christ. He turns to the language of bodily creation and kinship rather than contemplation to express the relationship between Christ and Christians. For Athanasius, evil makes it impossible for humans to contemplate the divine Word by which they were created. Therefore, the Word embodied a new humanity in Christ. The Holy Spirit enables Christians to participate in Christ, becoming thereby part of a new humanity and children of God.

scholarly journals Konstruksi Pernikahan Kristen Alkitabiah

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-202
Author(s):  
Jean Paath ◽  
Yuniria Zega ◽  
Ferdinan Pasaribu
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Qualitative Approach ◽  
Word Of God ◽  
The Bible ◽  
God's Word ◽  
The Holy Spirit

ABSTRAK Pernikahan adalah suatu kemitraan yang permanen yang dibuat dengan komitmen di antara seorang wanita dan pria. Ada dalam Alkitab, ”Dan sesudah itu Ia berkata, Itu sebabnya laki-laki meninggalkan ibu bapaknya dan bersatu dengan istrinya, maka keduanya menjadi satu. Jadi mereka bukan lagi dua orang, tetapi satu. Itu sebabnya apa yang sudah disatukan oleh Allah tidak boleh diceraikan oleh manusia”. Tujuan dalam tulisan ini tentang supremasi pernikahan Kristen pada Abad XXI agar semua yang percaya tidak menganggap remeh tentang pernikahan. Agar orang percaya tidak menyepelekan pernikahan kudus yang sudah di persatukan oleh adalah dan tidak merusak rencana Allah dalam hidup mereka. Asumsi dalam penelitian ini adalah Alkitab adalah firman Allah yang tidak bersalah karena diinspirasikan oleh Roh Kudus kepada para penulis. Firman Allah menjadi dasar dalam memperbaiki pernikahan pada Abad XXI. Untuk menyelesaikan persoalan tersebut, peneliti menggunakan metode deskriptif bibliologis dengan pendekatan kualitatif. Metode inilah yang dianggap paling sesuai oleh peneliti karena metode deskriptif memberikan gambaran lengkap dan natural akan suatu peristiwa dan fenomena yang terjadi. ABSTRACT Marriage is a permanent partnership made with a commitment between a woman and a man. It's in the Bible, "And after that He said, That's why a man leaves his father's mother and unites with his wife, then the two become one. So they are no longer two people, but one. That is why what has been united by God must not be divorced by humans ". The purpose in this paper is the supremacy of Christian marriage in the XXI Century so that all believers do not underestimate marriage. So that believers do not underestimate the holy marriage that has been united by is and does not damage God's plan in their lives. The assumption in this study is that the Bible is the innocent word of God because it was inspired by the Holy Spirit to the writers. God's Word became the basis for fixing marriages in the XXI Century. To solve this problem, researchers used a descriptive bibliological method with a qualitative approach. This method is considered the most appropriate by researchers because descriptive methods provide a complete and natural picture of events and phenomena that occur.

Martin Luther on the Church and Its Ministry

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheryl M. Peterson
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Word Of God ◽  
The Public ◽  
Spiritual Community ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
God's People ◽  
God's Word ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Royal Priesthood ◽  
The Church

Any study of Luther’s ecclesiology faces apparent consistencies or contradictions in Luther’s view of the church, which have been variously explained by scholars in terms of a development in Luther’s thought or as reflecting different genres in which he wrote. An understanding that begins with the Word of God, and the church as the creature of the Word, offers a helpful starting point. Luther’s view of the church and its ministry are both grounded in the Word of God, the promise of the gospel. The church exists wherever the Word of God is proclaimed, and the church is a spiritual community oriented to and shaped by this Word in its life by the power of the Holy Spirit. The distinctions in Luther’s ecclesiology, such as visible versus invisible, are hermeneutical rather than ontological. Luther’s later ecclesiological writings also reflect his Spirit and letter hermeneutic, even as he engages new battle fronts, so that the gospel remains at the center of the church’s proclamation and life. For God’s Word to continue to be preached, God has instituted the office of ministry to which specific persons are called, who are entrusted with this great treasure. Luther’s view of the office of ministry should be interpreted in light of, but not as opposed to, his view of the royal priesthood, which he develops as an ecclesiological concept. Bishops are a specific instance of the public office of ministry, at the heart of which is the preaching of the gospel and overseeing its right preaching for the sake of God’s people.

Martin Luther’s Sermons and Postils

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
John M. Frymire
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
Spoken Word ◽  
Word Of God ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Theology Of Preaching ◽  
15Th Century ◽  
God's Word ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Written Form

For Martin Luther the sermon was not simply an exercise in which a preacher expounded on the biblical text, taught moral lessons, and reprimanded listeners for their shortcomings. The sermon meant far more than that. Preaching was God’s voice speaking through the minister. Hearing God’s promise of salvation was far more effective than reading it. In terms that echoed medieval theories of demonology, which posited that reading biblical passages aloud exorcized the air, Luther insisted that Satan fled the spoken word of God even if the written form bothered him not a whit. The sermon was the site where Christ confronted Satan in eschatological combat. Minsters made Christ really present from their pulpits and, through their preaching of God’s word, provided the means through which the Holy Spirit “worked,” literally, upon the auditor. Luther’s sense of the sermon was spiritual and physical to the extent that he considered preaching quasi-sacramental in the medieval sense of the opus operatum. Luther’s theology of preaching was among the most original of his discoveries, but he did not invent the sermon. For 1,500 years Christianity had spread among overwhelmingly illiterate populations, and the oral exposition of scripture was part of Christian services early on. Patristic theologians such as Augustine had preached extensively and left a corpus of manuscript sermons that influenced later exegetes. The advent of printing in the mid-15th century spread the homilies of medieval preachers and their patristic forerunners as never before. Especially popular were postils, model sermons for Sundays and festival days that were available in Latin and vernacular versions. Printing, the spread of the Mendicant preaching orders, improved clerical education, and increasing lay literacy all combined to produce a late medieval preaching renaissance. Martin Luther was born into this renaissance just as he became a trained professional in its tradition. When he died in 1546 he was no longer a late medieval Augustinian, but he had been a preacher by trade for nearly forty years. Luther preached constantly. None of his other duties took as much of his time. About 2,300 of his sermons survive, which, based on his preaching schedule, represent about half of the sermons he preached. Sermons take up some thirty volumes—that is, one-third—of the Weimar edition (WA) of his works. No other genre in his corpus comes close. The same can be said of the printing and impact of his sermons: none of Luther’s contemporaries came close either. Unlike many of those contemporaries, however, the most significant preacher in early modern Europe never wrote a treatise on how to preach. Luther never produced a comprehensive work of dogmatics either, and for the same reason: the incredibly gifted theologian was not a gifted systematician. Several of Luther’s greatest admirers noted as much, warning future preachers that unlike Luther, whose sermons tended to drift hither and yonder, they should stick to the main roads. Determining what sermons Luther actually delivered is nettlesome because it hinges on the types and numbers of texts that have come down to us. The issue is always the state of the sources. Thus, the rudiments of Luther’s sermons and postils as genres are presented, and select issues of manuscript and print production that shape our understanding of what Luther preached and how his ideas were received are examined.

The Holy Spirit And The Word Of God

1961 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-59
Author(s):  
William G. Young
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Word Of God ◽  
The Bible ◽  
God's Word ◽  
The Holy Spirit

One of the greatest needs of our day and generation is for an approach to the question of the inspiration and authority of the Bible which will be sufficiently clear and embracing in its statement of the truth to be a means, both of assurance to all who seek to find God's Word for their daily spiritual food in the Bible, and of reconciliation to those who have approached the problem from varying angles in their search for a satisfying solution, and who, instead of welcoming one another's insights, treat one another with hostility and contempt. Fifty years ago Fundamentalists and Liberals looked at one another across a vast chasm of bitterness and difference: that chasm has persisted to the present day, but in many ways it is not so wide or so deep as it was—and neo-Calvinism has interposed a third approach. Is it too much to hope that the time should now have come when each of these groups will be ready to confess the defectiveness of its own understanding, and the extremes to which it has at times gone in overemphasising one side of the truth; and that each will seek that fuller understanding which an appreciation of the contributions of the others can bring? The barriers between the theologians of these three schools are in some ways more difficult to overcome than those between Christian denominations.

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