A biblical definition of headship, submission, and wisely using authority. In this brief encouragement for church leaders, Dr. Harbuck points to Jesus as our example for servant-leadership.

A good leader guards against the human tendency to abuse and control others for selfish gain. The average person would rather be the head and not the tail. However, the Bible teaches us something different. The husband was never meant to “lord” over his wife, nor a pastor to “lord” over the congregation. The church is not an institution, but a living organism. Therefore, it’s important that the shepherd-leader be in tune with the Head of the church, Jesus Christ. In today’s church the image of “headship” too often tends to reflect someone who is in control of the people.

Image: Jessica Delp

F.F. Bruce, the great British scholar has said that “head” probably is meant to reflect the “source” or “origin.” For example, the Father (God) is the source of life in the Son, as the Son is the source of life in the believer. The “headship” that is given to Christ (Colossians 1:18) must be applied and interpreted by seeing Christ as One who is loving, sacrificing, compassionate, delivering, and transforming those whom He loves. Shouldn’t a shepherd-leader have the same attitude (or mind) that is in Christ Jesus? A pastor who sees their leadership role as one commissioned to love, nurture, and build up the saints will not require blind obedience to their every command. A husband who understands accurately biblical directives will consider his wife’s feelings and ideas. Likewise, a loving and understanding pastor will not become an authoritarian, but one who understands power and authority and one who encourages the saints to reach their full potential in Christ.

Originally appeared in the April 2019 issue of Grapevine, the monthly newsletter of the Association of Evangelical Gospel Assemblies. Used with permission.

Cletus Hull provides an exegetical engagement with Paul’s Christology and Pneumatology from the first chapters of 1 Corinthians. His proposal is that, for Paul, these cannot be separated from one another particularly with regard to the life of the church as church. For Hull’s reading of Paul, Christ crucified is the enfleshment of the Spirit poured out in power, and the Spirit in power in the midst of the church is Christ crucified. This approach to “Christ crucified” by no means excludes such things as Christ’s life, resurrection, and ascension, but reimagine these in light of the cruciform Christology of Paul.

This volume is the edited fruit of Hull’s doctoral work at Regent University and thus bears some marks of such a project by way of historical bases, narrow exegesis, and proposals for application. Hull has divided his work into two broad sections: the first concerns background and the primary exegetical work, with the second proposing the theology of Pauline pneumatology in Paul’s Christology and conclusions for practical ministry.

The readership of this volume would best be suited to advanced students of the NT, scholars, and ministers with advanced education in Greek exegesis. This volume is not easy reading (nor intended) for general readership interested in the general topic of the book. The untranslated Greek terms/phrases/verses require the reader to have sufficient acumen in reading Koine NT Greek. Despite this caveat, this volume offers a helpful introduction to the topic of Paul’s Christology and Pneumatology drawing upon the Corinthian correspondences (with particular work on the first chapters of 1 Corinthians).

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).