Image: Kwon Junho

On Pentecost Sunday the Person of the Holy Spirit, the advocate, the one called alongside to help you, was the presence of God to come upon them. What does this mean for you? With the Holy Spirit, you wake up with a fire in your heart and the passion to serve Jesus. The Spirit reveals the way to move forward by faith every day.

Pray with me…“Come, Holy Spirit”…stir up your faith and relationship with the Spirit. Then with the message of the Bible in your hand and the Spirit in your heart, you will hear God’s voice lead you through your daily life!

PR

You’ve seen it before … an old house that goes through an extreme makeover—It’s like a brand new home!

The attraction is the compelling contrast between life before and life after.

Image: Milivoj Kuhar

Consider, then, the contrast between the Christian life before and the Christian life after the Holy Spirit comes upon you!

After for Christians:

• receive power, be witnesses (Acts 1:8)
• magnify God (Acts 10:46)
• live according to the Spirit (Rom. 8:5)
• put to death the deeds of the body (Rom. 8:13)
• receive gifts of the Spirit (I Cor. 12:4)
• walk in the Spirit (Gal. 5:16)
• be led by the Spirit (Gal. 5:18)

This is the Promise. The Gift is the Holy Spirit. Embrace the Spirit on this Pentecost weekend!

We cannot be thankful for something until we have thought about it. You cannot thank the Lord without thinking about what Christ did for you in His death, burial, and resurrection. God redeemed and reconciled you for the purpose that we too would reconcile and forgive, as well. That’s something to be thankful for!

Image: Kevin Turcios

When we are thankful, this action keeps our priorities straight. This thinking helps us trust in the Lord and allow Him to be God in our lives. The Bible says in Psalm 22:3 that God “inhabits the praises of the people.” Our thanksgiving to God cultivates an atmosphere which moves us forward in life.

Next Thursday is Thanksgiving Day in America. Let us spend time thinking about who God is and how good God has been to us. Then let us thank God for what He has accomplished in 2024 and will do in 2025!

Pastor Cletus

“It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade” (Mark 4:30-32).

I thought about that idea with our Christian lives. No matter how hard our past has been, no matter who has betrayed you, gossiped about you, lied or stolen from you, the seeds of God’s word you plant will bear fruit. We cannot allow the past to haunt or shape our future. Yes, our ultimate destination is Heaven, but we have a life to live today and enjoy with people and the Lord.

Image: Francesco Gallarotti

Friends, when you continue to sow the seed of God’s word, your spiritual growth is unlimited! Life is about where you’re going, not only where you’ve been. Are you planting God’s seed in the fertile ground of your life? You have the privilege to commit yourself to the Lord’s word, devote yourself, water, and care for it. God’s guarantees His seeds will produce God’s kingdom. I want to encourage you now to plant the seeds of God in the lives of the people you meet every day. God promises to grow the seed. Our part is to participate and plant the seed. We have the easy part; God does the miraculous part!

In this summer of the Holy Spirit, may God awaken your heart as you read this message. Believe and trust in His growth for your life!

When we receive the Spirit of the Lord, we’re free from having to prove ourselves to others. You are then free to be the person God created you to be.

Image: Ivana Cajina

Friends, we have received the Spirit of grace through Christ who was crucified and resurrected. When we carry the hope of Heaven in our heart and let go of our tight grip, we have on ourselves—we receive true freedom in Christ!

Pastor Cletus

Used with permission.

More from Cletus L. Hull III: http://pneumareview.com/author/cletuslhull/

Abstract: The cross of Christ crucified symbolized the central theme of Paul’s ministry. In his letter to the Corinthians, the apostle commenced his correspondence with “the message about the cross” and “power of God” (1 Cor. 1:18, NRSV). The proposal for this book utilizes the method analogia scripturae. Set within the wisdom motif of the Greco-Roman world, this study is dedicated to the examination of the apostle’s Christology in the context of 1 Cor. 1:18-25 and the Pneumatology in 1 Cor. 2:9-16 as both pericopes are juxtaposed in his epistle. Essentially, the thesis concerns the grounding of the Pneumatology of Paul with his Christology in 1 Corinthians. The Corinthian church required clarification and pastoral wisdom with their pneumatic experiences; thus, Paul recognized that a strong theology of the cross complemented their encounters with the Spirit. The question for biblical studies involves a lively tension of the Pneumatology of the Spirit with a robust Christology. Because the power of God throughout this passage has the cross as its paradigm, the structure of the paper leds to the significance of the apostle’s pneumatological contribution of the cross and Christ crucified (1 Cor. 1:18; 2:2). For this reason, a strong Christology must ground the Pneumatology of the Pauline corpus. This study in biblical literature commences a new discussion in ecumenical dialogue between pneumatic experiences in the church and christological issues in scripture.

There is power in the cross of Christ. In this excerpt, pastor, theologian, and historian Cletus Hull introduces us to his new book, The Wisdom of the Cross and the Power of the Spirit in the Corinthian Church.

It is the power of God that uses all that the Cross of Christ represents to separate those that are being rescued from those that are lost. This excerpt Cletus Hull’s book, The Wisdom of the Cross and the Power of the Spirit in the Corinthian Church, is an exegetical study of First Corinthians 1:18-21.

What are some of the practical implications of a theology of the cross and the Spirit in the realm of healing and ministry? This excerpt comes from the final chapter of Cletus Hull’s book, The Wisdom of the Cross and the Power of the Spirit in the Corinthian Church.

The Wisdom of the Cross and the Power of the Spirit in the Corinthian Church: Grounding Pneumatic Experiences and Renewal Studies in the Cross of Christ by Cletus L. Hull, III (Pickwick, 2018).

What are some of the practical implications of a theology of the cross and the Spirit in the realm of healing and ministry? This excerpt comes from the final chapter of Cletus Hull’s book, The Wisdom of the Cross and the Power of the Spirit in the Corinthian Church.

This excerpt comes from pages 144-148 of The Wisdom of the Cross and the Power of the Spirit in the Corinthian Church: Grounding Pneumatic Experiences and Renewal Studies in the Cross of Christ by Cletus L. Hull, III (Pickwick, 2018).

As a pastor for thirty years, I preach and teach about the power of God to heal. Because salvation and healing are in the cross (Matt. 8:17), I believe prayer for healing is appropriate for pastoral ministry. Charismatic episcopal priest Dennis Bennett wrote that healing “is the most widely accepted of the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit in Christendom today.”[1] However, the results of healing prayer must be tempered by a reasonable theology of the cross and suffering. Charles Farah expressed concern between the balance of Christian healing and modern-day emphases on faith. Because of disregard within some Pentecostal/Charismatic circles with their teaching on healing, he believed a correction with classic theology was necessary. In his perceptive book, From the Pinnacle of the Temple, he presented a common scenario in renewal healing:

Major premise: Healing is on the Atonement.
Minor premise: Faith is the key to healing.
Conclusion: Therefore, those who are prayed for in faith will be healed.

Right? Not always. It just is not that simple. There is always an X factor in healing, an unknown quantity that God does not chose to reveal. Healing is a divine mystery and humility is our best approach to unraveling the answers.[2]

Yet, most of the healings of Christ appeared instantly, thus, we have believed that healing should occur sooner than later. The issue in renewal healing has lacked acknowledgment that suffering was a component of the faith journey. An acceptance of the suffering of Christ on the cross can relieve the proposition that “everything will always be fine.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer called this type of faith “cheap grace.” “Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church. The sacraments, the forgiveness of sin, and the consolations of religion are thrown away at cut prices.”[3] Thus, as Farah aptly writes:

theology always lives within the realm of mystery. No theologian can escape the mysterious ways of God, the capricious ways of the Spirit. Theology is a peculiar science because, when it is most true to itself, it prostrates itself in humility, prayer and adoration. True theology is a theology of prayer, and in the presence of a living God one adores; he never wholly understands.[4]

Thus, sound theology is necessary for practical faith and healing.

At times, comments such as “not having enough faith” or “pray harder” causes damage in a situation of healing prayer. We read that Paul left Trophimus sick (2 Tim. 4:20) and Epaphroditus almost died (Philippians 2:26-27). Did the apostle lack faith with his thorn in the flesh? (2 Cor. 12:7-9). D.R. McConnell, in his controversial book, A Different Gospel: A Historical and Biblical Analysis of the Modern Faith Movement, asks this piercing question: “One cannot help but wonder how Paul’s bodily illness would have been received today among charismatics. Would charismatics ‘despise’ and ‘loathe’ his illness as an indication of his immature faith?”[5]  A balanced theology of the cross with divine healing would revive trust in solving many problems in these specific situations.

It is the power of God that uses all that the Cross of Christ represents to separate those that are being rescued from those that are lost. This excerpt from Cletus Hull’s book, The Wisdom of the Cross and the Power of the Spirit in the Corinthian Church, is an exegetical study of First Corinthians 1:18-21.

Christology and the Cross
 

Employing numerous antithetical parallel statements, [Paul] begins writing about how the crucified Lord, in the wisdom of God, divides humankind into two groups. Mihaila observes, “for Paul, the cross is the great divider, acting ‘as an eschatological discernment,’ separating τοῖς ἀπολλυμένοις from τοῖς σῳζομένοις (1 Cor. 1:18).”[1] The present tense participles, ἀπολλυμένοις (those who are perishing) and σῳζομένοις (those who are being saved), provide the meaning of life’s continuum to accept or reject Christ. Additionally, the present participle denotes the process of salvation in the believer. Salvation is both instantaneous and continues forward in life. Literally, perishing means “to be ruined or destroyed.”[2] Therefore, a choice not for the cross is interminable destruction. Anthony Thiselton remarks that “two ‘worlds’ confront each other at the foot of the cross”[3], as the kingdom’s salvific entrance into humankind reveals the dividing line between the perishing and those who are saved. Paul utilizes similar language in his second letter to the Corinthians when he writes, “for we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing” (2 Cor. 2:15). The metaphor of aroma becomes symbolic of the meaning of the cross to the Corinthian church. The message of the cross brings judgment, as it divides humanity into two specific groups. Thus, the fullness of their salvation will not be completed until the eschaton.

This excerpt comes from pages 17-21 of The Wisdom of the Cross and the Power of the Spirit in the Corinthian Church: Grounding Pneumatic Experiences and Renewal Studies in the Cross of Christ by Cletus L. Hull, III (Pickwick, 2018).

The cross led to the ensuing topic of δύναμις power (1 Cor. 1:18). He writes a similar comment in a non-polemical context in 1 Thess. 1:5 which states “because our message (λόγος) of the gospel came to you not in word only, but also in power (δύναμις) and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.” Gräbe suggested, “the concept of power belongs to the heart of Paul’s message. It is the apostle’s deepest conviction that the gospel has a decisive effect on people’s lives.”[4] The word δύναμις revealed the basic meaning of “being able” and “capacity.”[5] Walter Grundman in TDNT notes that “the δύναμις θεοῦ is the power of God, and therefore the power of salvation, which is at work in history, and specifically in the Christ event.”[6] Δύναμις “describes the effect of Paul’s divine message on this world,”[7] and as a result, an understanding of the power of God in the cross conveyed the joie de vivre in the theology of the cross.

Paul use of γέγραπται in the present tense locates an event that occurred in the past but has present and continuous consequences. In 1 Corinthians 1:19, Paul quoted Isaiah 29:14 from the LXX, as the OT context unveiled that judgment by Assyria foresaw a fall of the hypocrites in Israel. He wrote “I will set aside” rather than “I will hide” which the LXX contained.[8] This change of meaning fit his purpose for citing the OT prophet.
Fee notes that “Paul sees this Isaiah passage as now having eschatological fulfillment.”[9] Paul handled this OT content illustrating that just as the wise people of Israel were destroyed, so also the Greek wisdom came to naught when contrasted with the power of the cross. Ciampa and Rosner writes, “Paul uses Isaiah 29:14 to announce that God’s eschatological judgment and salvation are taking place among the Corinthians.”[10] The parallelism in the Isaiah text strengthens the themes of God’s judgment on sin and human depravity (cf. Isa. 6:9-10; 29:9-10; 42:18-20; 63:17). Certainly, Paul’s quote is an appropriate choice in connection to the Corinthian concept of wisdom.

There is power in the cross of Christ. In this excerpt, pastor, theologian, and historian Cletus Hull introduces us to his new book, The Wisdom of the Cross and the Power of the Spirit in the Corinthian Church: Grounding Pneumatic Experiences and Renewal Studies in the Cross of Christ.

The cross of Jesus and Christology are inseparably intertwined. Jürgen Moltmann succinctly writes that “Christianity has rightly been described as ‘the religion of the cross.’”[1] Across the spectrum of church history, numerous theologians have written about Paul’s Christology. St. Basil, of the Cappadocian Fathers accentuated, as Paul wrote in Colossians 1:15 that Christ was “the Image of the Invisible God.”[2] Martin Luther’s theologia crucis expounded the Pauline theology of the message of the cross. John Calvin shared a high view of the cross in his writings. These theologians, among others, noted and observed from Paul’s epistolography, the apostle’s emphasis on the cross.

This excerpt comes from pages 9-10 of The Wisdom of the Cross and the Power of the Spirit in the Corinthian Church: Grounding Pneumatic Experiences and Renewal Studies in the Cross of Christ by Cletus L. Hull, III (Pickwick, 2018).

On the other hand, modern theologians have invented a schizophrenic relationship with the cross. The so-called New Perspective on Paul offers a drastically different view of the salvific message of Christ. E.P. Sanders advocates in NPP [Editor’s note: Follow this link for PneumaReview.com coverage of the “new perspective on Paul.”] that the Jews did not live by a system of works-righteousness. He counters Luther’s reformation views of sola fide claiming that Luther misrepresents Paul as well as Judaism. However, his unorthodox writings eliminate the strong vitality that the apostle declares in the Pauline corpus (Eph. 2:8-10).

Historical-critical theologians such as Rudolph Bultmann and John Macquerrie spiritualize the cross to the extent that the historicity of the life of Christ is diminished. Their demythologizing of the Bible creates suspicion and lack of belief in the supernatural. Michael Welker in God the Spirit writes that “it is no secret that biblical criticism has totally destroyed all attempts to divinize Scripture or to attribute any form of ‘supernaturalness’ to it.”[3] These rationalist modern biblical interpreters reveal their bias toward a suspicious Enlightenment approach to scripture. Ultimately, because of the emphasis placed on their notions, the vitality and power of the cross has generated a diminutive effect in the life of the church and the academy.

Yet, not all present-day theologians consent to liberal theology. Udo Schnelle, Frank Matera, and Gerhard Forde creatively write about a classical teaching of the cross. In the past thirty years, an abundance of evangelical scholars have written and superlatively supported an original Pauline theology. My survey of this most important topic includes their works.