OZTheology

 Previously, in considering the identity of Jesus the Messiah, I emphasised His dependency on God the Father as part of fulfilling His role as our substitute in place of Adam, our representative head.  This reality is accomplished by the work of the Holy Spirit enabling Jesus to minister as Messiah, empowering Him with regard to miracles and supernatural knowledge beyond human capacity. This blog examines the ministry of the Holy Spirit in and through Jesus the Messiah.  Even before Jesus was born, the Holy Spirit was the agent of His conception, as revealed to Mary (Matthew 1:18, 20; Luke 1:35).  This not only brought the humanity of God's Son into existence, it also ensured that Jesus was sinless in nature.  Of necessity, Jesus must be entirely sinless internally and externally, so that His substitutionary sacrifice would be acceptable and sufficient for humanity. When John introduces Jesus as "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29) a...

 Last time, I promised to address the Holy Spirit's relationship to people in the Old Testament era.  This is perhaps the area of greatest debate among evangelicals.  To what degree does the Holy Spirit work in believers prior to the Church age?  Dispensationalism has tended to teach a greater discontinuity between the Old and New Testament eras, which is applied to the work of the Holy Spirit, as well as other areas.  Discontinuity is certainly apparent between those eras, especially in the shift from Israel to the Church as the functional body that God is working in and through.  Although, this is not the replacement of Israel by the Church, as we will see in a later topic.  So, how much of the Holy Spirit's work in the New Testament era is new and not found in the Old Testament era?  One approach to answering that question is a consideration of the prepositions used in describing the Holy Spirit's relationship to people.  A number of prepo...