Category: Spiritual Theology

The theology of spiritual growth & sanctification

Butterflies, Eagles and the Spirit of God

Posted on by

At one point in the movie The Hobbit Gandalf, Bilbo and the dwarves are all trapped in a tree slowly tipping over a cliff while hordes of orcs are attacking. The situation looks hopeless but then, amid all the chaos, Gandalf spots a butterfly that has landed on the tree. He calls the buttefly to himself and whispers to it and it flies off. A few minutes later the situation has worsened and dwarves are about to start falling off the tree to their death. Just as the first dwarf falls off the tree a giant eagle swoops down and rescues the falling dwarf. The butterfly has summoned a convocation of eagles which comes and ravages the orcs and rescues Gandalf, Bilbo and all the dwarves. This is a good illustration of how the Holy Spirit often comes to us. In the midst of a situation that seems void of Continue Reading →

Are You Looking Forward To Being Glorified?

Posted on by

How much do we reflect on the idea that the people of God will have the glory of God? Revelation 21:11 promises that in the coming New Heaven and New Earth believers will have “the glory of God”. But this promise is not confined to Revelation ‒ it is a major New Testament theme. In a previous post we looked at the future luminosity of the body of Christ which is one dimension of God’s glorification of his people. Now we will consider what the New Testament says about this glorification in general. Warning: this is a very encouraging subject! It is surprising how often scripture speaks of the glorification of believers. Apparently this is an important truth for believers to keep in mind. Some of the mentions of this theme in the New Testament include: • In John 17:22 Jesus states in prayer that “The glory that you have Continue Reading →

Are You Looking Forward To Being Luminous?

Posted on by

In Revelation 19:8 we learn that the Bride of the Lamb (i.e., believers) will be “bright”. This is a significant theme for believers in the New Testament and I refer to this theme as “luminosity”. The glorification of believers is a major New Testament theme and this is one aspect of that theme. I suspect that when scripture mentions the glorification of believers, which it does often, luminosity is implied. God wants his saints to literally shine, and to shine in a way that is almost blinding. I have found this mentioned two other times in the New Testament. Jesus states it plainly in Matthew 13:43: “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” (This is an allusion to Daniel 12:3: “And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above.”) The third mention is in Revelation 21:11 where John Continue Reading →

Focusing on Our Final Destiny in the New Creation

Posted on by

In the book of Genesis we hear of the tragic beginning of humans. How they lost their union with their Creator and lost harmonious community with fellow humans. But in the New Testament we hear a happy ending. All our prayers, and suffering, and trusting, and sacrifice finally bring us to our eternal destiny. God wins over sin and evil. After death He will give us new bodies and new souls that can receive all He has for us. And his followers will enjoy living with Him forever. This is a key foundation of spiritual theology and spiritual formation. In Revelation we learn that God restores all that was lost in the fall. The Bible begins with a Garden of Paradise that humans must leave because of their sin. But in the end, God cleanses our sin completely and permanently, and restores us to a paradise in a Garden that Continue Reading →

Why Spiritual Theology Has Been Weak in the Area of Koinonia

Posted on by

“Koinonia” is the Greek word for fellowship. The basic meaning of koinonia is participation. Believers are to be participating with one another. Paul makes this clear every time he talks about believers gathering together. See Romans 12:1-16, I Corinthians 14:23-40, Ephesians 5:15-21, Colossians 3:9-17, Hebrews 10:24-25. Every believer has gifts and is supposed to exercise them to edify others. And every believer is supposed to be open to being edified. I believe Paul emphasizes this practice more than any other essential practice, including preaching, worship, prayer and studying scripture. This mutuality is supposed to be essential to spiritual growth. We can refer to this conception as “biblical koinonia”. The heart of biblical koinonia is mutual openness and edification for which I use the acronym “MOE”. We were never supposed to spend the majority of weekly gathering times just listening to a sermon and singing songs while neglecting mutual edification. We Continue Reading →