Glad to help! Thanks for the encouragement.

Tim

That must have been an interesting study seeing how many times Paul ‘reasoned’ in the book of Acts. I just read a book called “Tactics” (i wrote a review for it here on the blog) where the author Greg Koukl makes a similar point. Also I am in the midst of William Lane Craig’s “Reasonable Faith”, and I think I recall that he made the same point. It is an important point, that the apostles reasoned with people and tried to persuade them, as they shared the gospel, especially in a time where many people wrongly think that faith and reason do not go together.

Thanks also for your encouragement on emphasizing both Word and Spirit.

God bless!
Tim

It’s interesting to see the responses to point 3 here when all along Jones would be the first to put up a fuss to be infused with power by the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. His point is simple- “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God”– Jesus said, “If I be lifted up I’ll draw all men unto myself”– I know Dr. L-Jones would be the first to say though- It’s one thing to talk about the Lord Jesus– It’s a whole other thing to be infused with boldness and power that only the Holy Spirit can give in preaching who still convicts sinners through the hearing of The Message of The Cross of Christ…….

I’m noticing these days there’s a bit of reactionism to phrases like point three. Me thinx it wells up from a certain strictness that once clung to the letter of THE WORD to the exclusion of being infused with power from on high. Word for Word King James stuff in sharing the gospel that excluded also bringing that “Word” into modern terms/summations for their modern fellow-man. Thus, a swing towards a desperate escape from a Spiritless use of and time in the Bible. Me thinx Jesus hinted at that when he scolded the religious folk who had similar views for not finding Him- the Living Word/Spirit Born.

Tim- you are so right to emphasize– the two are not in opposition to each other– the Message and the Spirit.

A long time ago I went through the book of Acts and underlined the word “reasoned.” Paul reasoned with people while using the scriptures many times and many hours. He did however use other sources while infused with the power of God (remember the Kingdom is not a matter of words but Power I Cor. 4:20)… speaking of the stone dedicated to the unknown God… he used a poem that stated that a certain ethnic group were even known to be stark liars among their own people to get them to the cross of Christ… Yes, during Paul’s ministry he used outside sources and could still say at the end of the day, “I have not gone beyond what which was written.” He became all things to all people by employing their truth since “All Truth is God’s Truth” (which one text-book we used at Prairie Bible College stated) to make his way to the Cross of Christ– and yes, while infused with Power.

As for motive… “to the glory of God’ is used several times in the NT as our primary motive. Good outcomes too– like snatching people from fire and a multitude of sins are there also at the heart of glorifying God (What is being perfect as He is perfect? Giving rain/sunshine to who??? These activities would be glorifying God through obedience- for to obey is better than what? We cannot untie this shoe-lace relationship without tripping! )

Anyway– we need to drop all the things that may come so close to the Blaspheme of the Holy Spirit, get infused with the Power from on High Charismatic in emphasis or not as the locus of control, and to lift the Lord Jesus up in terms that our nihilistic society can come to grips with in the Wisdom of the Cross and the Power of the Cross. We need to pray to this end whether it appeals to our current Christian culture/sensitivities or not (even corporations have a culture that sometimes leads them to the brink of shutting-down).

http://www.geocities.com/EnglishLanguageTeachers/

Glad you can drop by my blog from time to time! Things are good here in Three Hills. Prairie grad is this coming weekend and lots of good things are happening at the Tab.

I pulled the quote from W. Metzger’s book “Tell the Truth”, but I don’t have the book by ML Jones from which he quotes.

But I think his point about the Holy Spirit is meant to relate only to evangelism. The way a person becomes a Christian is through hearing the Word of God and trusting in Jesus (Romans 10:14-17, especially v17). For a person to become a Christian, God has to make alive the person who is dead in their sins (Ephesians 2:1-10, especially v5). This work of making us alive is the work of the Holy Spirit, through whom we are born again (John 3:1-8, esp vv5-8).

Putting it all together, someone preaches the Word of God to another. The Holy Spirit works in their heart and makes them alive in Christ.

In the case of a miraculous healing, a person may be amazed at God’s power, but they would still need to hear the gospel message and be made alive by the Holy Spirit to become a Christian.

In the case of dreams or prophecy (realizing that there are different understandings of how prophecy works today, but not wanting to go into it here!), the person would still need to hear the gospel message and be reborn by the Spirit.

Regarding prayer, the Spirit works in and through our prayers, even making our prayers right when we need help (Romans 8:26-27), but I don’t think that changes the need for a person to hear the Word of God and be reborn of the Spirit.

I hope this explanation helps. I think the key to explaining point 3 is to remember that ML Jones is talking about principles of evangelism.

I hope you and Leah are doing well as you move to a new location up north.

God bless!

It’s nice to come on here and read your blog every once in awhile, it feels like I’m back in Three Hills again.

I’m curious how the author expands on point 3 in his book. It sounds like he is saying that the Holy Spirit will only work through someone hearing or reading the Bible.

Could you expound on what he is really saying? I understand the importance of reasoning from scripture but surely Prayer is a huge medium through which the spirit works as well. And that isn’t even mentioning healing, dreams, prophecy and the like.

It’s great that he is coming from a foundational perspective though…

Thanks

Thanks for visiting my blog and leaving a comment.

I have noticed that sometimes people put “Word” and “Spirit” in opposition to one another – either they follow the Bible or are led by the Spirit, but not both.

But Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the ‘Spirit of truth’, who “will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said” (John 14:16-17,26, 15:26), and the apostle Paul saw Word and Spirit as so complementary that He could use them interchangeably (compare Colossians 3:16 with Ephesians 5:18-19). The Biblical teaching is that we are to have the Word of Christ dwell in us richly AND that we are to be filled with the Spirit.

God bless you and your family and thanks again for visiting my blog.

Tim