Sanam Doctrinam

Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

2 Corinthians 7:1

What does God’s love do for us?

That’s kind of a self-centered question, I suppose. But when we visit the topic of God’s love, our thoughts seem to often turn in that direction. When we think of God’s love, we think of the ways that His love is expressed in our lives. We think of things like God’s provision for our physical needs, His sustaining presence in our everyday experience, and, above all, giving His Son for our sins. It is right and appropriate that our minds be drawn to such things when we consider God’s love. It’s my contention, however, that there is another dimension to God’s love that often goes unexplored. I’d like to discuss it briefly, in today’s musing.

Perhaps the best question we can ask when considering God’s love is, “What does God’s love expect of us?” We might bristle at that question, due to the fact that we recognize that God’s love is expressed with no strings attached. While this is true, it’s also true that Scripture indicates that based on the magnanimity of God’s love for us, the only proper response is a genuine change in character.

We see a proper response to God’s love for us hinted at in today’s verse, 2 Corinthians 7:1. We find God’s love wrapped up in the little word, “beloved.” That’s a description of believers in Jesus Christ. The unnamed bestower of love in this verse is God Himself. We are beloved in this verse, not because we are loved by our families or loved even by fellow believers, but because we are loved by God Himself.

In considering the word “beloved” in 2 Corinthians 7:1, we’re jumping into the middle of a chain of logic. Let me spell it out. At the end of 2 Corinthians 6, Paul gives some marvelous promises from God about the fellowship He offers as a response to purity. The text reminds us that we cannot delight in sin and God at the same time. To the degree that we clutch sin, we diminish our fellowship with God. After pointing out these promises from God, Paul quickly transitions to the fact that believers are beloved. They are God’s sons and daughters (2 Corinthians 6:18). He doesn’t, however, abandon us with the fact that we are loved by God. Our “belovedness,” as it were, beckons us to “cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” God’s love for us serves as a tremendous motivator toward holiness because it flows out of the fact that we are His children. It only makes sense to desire holiness and avoid sin: We are God’s beloved children.

When someone loves us, really loves us, and we know it, we characteristically don’t want to do anything in opposition to that person. So it is in our relationship to God. Paul tells us that we are His children through faith in Christ and are deeply loved by Him. The only reasonable response to such love is personal purity.

For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

1 Corinthians 12:13

There are two brands of baptism in Scripture, as they apply to the believer in Jesus Christ. We might refer to the first as “water baptism.” In water baptism the believer’s union with Christ is demonstrated by means of him or her submersion in water. As a believer is placed in the water, the fact that they have been placed in Christ is physically demonstrated. As such, water baptism is the God-ordained means by which the believer in Christ publicly identifies with Jesus Christ. There is a second type of baptism, however, and this is the baptism spoken of in today’s verse. We might refer to this type of baptism as “Spirit baptism.” Spirit baptism actually places an individual into the body of Christ, the church. As a result, the believer is said to be “in Christ.”

I think it’s important to reflect on the baptizing ministry of the Holy Spirit in order to correct a common misconception. The baptizing work of the Holy Spirit has been sometimes construed to mean some kind of post-regeneration experience, accompanied by remarkable manifestations of spiritual power. This sort of perspective limits Spirit baptism to a select few believers in Christ who are privileged with the experience. There is an important dynamic to this text, however, that militates against the idea that Spirit baptism is reserved for a select few super-spiritual saints. The important thing to note is that today’s verse says that the Holy Spirit baptized all the Corinthian believers. Every one. Even the crummy ones who were getting drunk at the Lord’s supper (1 Corinthians 11:21-22). Even the ones who were involved in condoning sexual immorality (1 Corinthians 5:1-2). Even the ones who were splitting into Christian political parties, taking up sides against one another (1 Corinthians 3:4). Paul affirms that the Holy Spirit had baptized them all.

What is the significance of the baptizing ministry of the Holy Spirit? The significance might be summarized in the single word, “union.” As a result of being baptized by the Holy Sprit, the believer in Jesus Christ is put into union with Christ Himself. He or she becomes part of His body, the church. We are one with Him in an eternal union.

There’s more to the significance of the Spirit’s baptizing ministry than union with Christ, as great as that is. To understand the full import of being baptized by the Spirit, we have to consider the context in which today’s verse is placed. An inspection of 1 Corinthians 12:12-31 brings an awareness that the baptizing ministry of the Spirit places us in the church with a diversity of gifted saints. The Spirit’s baptizing ministry places us alongside others who have gifts that complement and complete ours (1 Corinthians 12:25). Together we enable the spiritual construction of the church of Jesus Christ.

The baptizing ministry of the Holy Spirit is something of a “drafting ministry” in this regard. Those of my readers who were alive during the Vietnam era know what it means to experience a draft. Similarly, when the Holy Spirit baptizes the believer in Jesus Christ the moment he or she believes, that person is drafted. We’re all inductees. The baptizing ministry of the Spirit calls us not to sit, soak, and sour, but to get busy using the equipment God has given us (that is, spiritual gifts), alongside other believers. Through Spirit baptism, we become part of God’s great mysterious enterprise in the present era: the church.

The next time we see someone being baptized in water, perhaps we would do well to use that as an occasion to remind ourselves that the Holy Spirit of God baptized us the moment we believed. We’re a part of His operation. Let’s get busy building His body!

While hopefully not being dogged by my audience of three for not ever blogging anymore, I would like to update you on the Shepherds’ Conference this year.  I will give a few synopsis of what we’ve heard so far…

Day 1
MacArthur started things off with a message entitled “Why every self respecting Calvinist, Evangelical, Christian should believe in a Six Day Creation.” And he said we can hang it on three words. I will summarize:

1. Fidelity
Basically, if you don’t take the first chapter of the Bible literally, where do you begin? Where does fidelity to the Scripture begin? (Gen 1 and 2)

2. Simplicity
Simply put, God’s Worship is tied to Him as creator. He created man in the beginning to worship Him, he creates the new man now to worship Him. If man was an evolutionary process, at which point did he become “created” as a worshiper of God? (Job 38-41)

3. Priority
God has a designed end. God designs from the end to the beginning. God is doing something and if He knows how it ends He has designed the beginning, with that end in sight and it will be accomplished. It is all about redemption (Eph. 3; 1 Cor 15; 2 Cor 4:6)

Day 2
Rick Holland preached on 2 Corinthians 11:3 and spoke about how there are three implications of Pastoral Theology in this one verse!

1. A Fearful Ecclesiology (But I am afraid…)
This is that pastors would get a healthy fear that people can be led astray…

2. A Functional Bibliology (Eve was deceived…)
Satan uses our language, but his dictionary, so we must be on the look out for deception.

3. A Jealous Christology (Devotion to Christ…)
We must have a singular devotion to Christ…

Very, very good. Especially since Mohler followed up tonight with Matt 7:28-29 admonishing us that as preachers we must preach with authority, because it is the Word of God and for God’s glory!

That’s it for now.  I’ll try to update more later…