All posts by Luella Campbell

LUKE’S GOSPEL…A CASE FOR HOLY SPIRIT – 27a

Bible Study, ,

“One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” … “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

‭‭Luke‬ ‭11‬:‭1‬, ‭9‬-‭13‬ ‭NIV‬‬

A friend of mine, years ago, arbitrarily decided that the Holy Spirit should be known as, “Holy Spirit” without the definite article , “the”, in Greek, “ho”. My question was, “Is this true to Scripture?” 

When we examine the New Testament, we will find that the definite article always precedes His name, that is , “the Holy Spirit”. How significant is this? Can there be another holy spirit that does not refer to the third person of the Trinity? 

There is a variation of between Jesus’ words recorded in Matthew 7…

“If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭7‬:‭11‬ ‭NIV‬‬

…and Luke 11,

“If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give (the – not in the original text) holy spirit to those who ask him!”

‭‭Luke‬ ‭11‬:‭13‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Matthew says, “Good things…”

Luke says, “Holy Spirit…” or “holy spirit…” since there are no uppercase letters in the original Greek text. One word is not in Luke’s text…the definite article “ho” meaning “the”. 

If Jesus’s words do not refer to the Holy Spirit, what did He mean? Was He contradicting Scripture by telling us that we need to ask God for the Holy Spirit before He will come to indwell us? However, nowhere in Scripture are we taught that the Holy Spirit comes to indwell us at our request. The Holy Spirit is God’s gift to us when we believe in Jesus. He is Christ’s representative, His “other self” whom He promised would come when He, Jesus, went away. 

“But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.”

‭‭John‬ ‭16‬:‭7‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.”

‭‭John‬ ‭14‬:‭15‬-‭17‬ ‭NIV‬‬

On the day of Pentecost, when the Spirit came, Peter  declared, in response to the question…

“When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

‭‭Acts‬ ‭2‬:‭37‬-‭39‬ ‭NIV‬‬

It is clear, then, that the indwelling of God’s Spirit is part of the salvation “package”. It’s a done deal. 

“For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.”

‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭12‬:‭13‬ ‭NIV‬‬

To be continued…

LUKE’S GOSPEL…DISTRACTED – 26

Bible Study, ,

“As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

‭‭Luke‬ ‭10‬:‭38‬-‭42‬ ‭NIV‬‬

How often we read into Jesus’ rebuke a comparison between the two sisters, Martha and Mary.  Martha was wrong…Mary was right! Was this fair? After all, someone had to prepare lunch…Middle Eastern culture demanded hospitality…and for an extra thirteen people that day. This was no small task to accomplish in a few hours. 

What was the real issue? Was it about preparing a meal or was it about something else? 

I am a lay person. I look at this situation from my 21st century western perspective. How do I read Jesus’ words? 

Let’s look at it this way. Martha was the practical sister. She was about doing things. Her way of exercising her spiritual gift, if you like, was to prepare a meal for her guests. However, in this situation, her task was overwhelming. She needed help. Her attitude changed from the joy of serving to resentment towards Mary for not helping her. Her spiritual gift lost its purpose, now no longer a ministry but a burden and the cause for a rift between her and Mary. She was, in effect, demanding that Mary participate in the exercise of her gift. 

Even worse, Martha dragged Jesus into her resentment against  Mary’s “selfishness”. Jesus also didn’t care about her distress! Both Jesus and Mary were inconsiderate and indifferent to her suffering!

Can you see the issue? For Martha, this was about “me…me…me!” Herself – her preoccupation had intruded into her supposedly unselfish serving. Her song had morphed into a whine! 

Jesus recognised, in her attitude, a subtle shift from serving others to preserving herself. Her preoccupation with the burden of the task, becoming stressed and anxious, robbed her of the true purpose of serving. 

With a gentle rebuke, Jesus pulled Martha back to the real issue. Mary, the younger sister, was not Martha’s servant. She was a person in her own right, with a personality and gifts unique to herself. She had chosen to sit at Jesus’ feet, considering His words of greater value than preparing a meal. This was her way of serving, her way of using her “spiritual gift”.  Perhaps a time would come when she would use the wisdom she gained at His feet to lift her own sister or someone else out of a difficult situation or a wrong attitude. 

Jesus was not by any means downgrading Martha’s service. Her gift was as valuable as Mary’s. However, her stress and resentment had taken the shine off her ministry. With the right attitude, Maths’s meal would benefit Mary and Mary’s listening and learning would benefit Martha as they lovingly served one another in the same household. 

There may be other lessons in this incident that we, as followers of Jesus need to learn. For example, we must not think that what Mary had chosen to do, to nourish her soul, was of greater value than Martha’s ministry of feeding her body. Yes, both are of equal value. Without food, the body will die just as without truth, the soul will wither. Spiritual gifts are never meant to be about competition. Each one is of value as it blends with others to form a mosaic. 

I find another important truth in this story. Jesus, in a roundabout way, pointed out that everyone has the right to make his/her own choices. He refused to put pressure on Mary, at Martha’s insistence, to leave her place at His feet to help Martha. Although He was Master, He would not use His own position to influence Mary. If Jesus, the Son of God, respects everyone’s right to choose, how much more should we!

An everyday story, told with simplicity, reveals many lessons that guide us towards maturity as we, God’s spiritual family, learn to do life together. 

To be continued…

LUKE’S GOSPEL…THE NEW COVENANT – 25

Bible Study, , ,

“On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” He answered, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.””

‭‭Luke‬ ‭10‬:‭25‬-‭28‬ ‭NIV‬‬

When I was researching the subject of prayer in the Bible several years ago, the Holy Spirit alerted me to the truth that there is a difference in the requirements in relation to prayer between the Old and New Covenants. I had never been taught this as a young believer nor had I myself ever recognised this truth in all the years of my study of Scripture. 

What a liberating and life-changing discovery this was to me! The entire Old Covenant revolves around “Do this …and you will live. “ The New Covenant, by contrast, assures us…”Believe, and you will live because it is done.”

Now, let’s unpack Jesus’ answer to this enquiry in light of the above reality. 

There are several key words and ideas in this encounter, which are confirmed in the context of other Scriptures, that clearly differentiate between the two covenants and between what our focus should be when we pray. 

The first word Jesus used in reply to the question, “What must  I do to inherit eternal life?” was “the Law”. He replied, “What is written in the Law?” Jesus’ answer, in the form of a question, was to refer the enquirer back to the Torah, the foundation of the Old Covenant. The operative principle of the Old Covenant was obedience to the Law.  

In this context, Jesus agreed with his answer.  “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” The first key word, then, is “Do!”followed by the 

second key word,”Live.” 

However, the entire history of Israel is the record of abject failure to obey this one overriding commandment. They could not keep this commandment…because the Law provided the standard but their sinful human nature made it impossible to keep. They were doomed from the start.  

Imagine this enquirer’s frustration at Jesus’ answer! He already knew that he could not obey this commandment. So, if perfect obedience to this one commandment was out of reach for him, what else could he do to be sure of his eternal destiny? 

Jesus left him hanging because the real answer lay in an event, planned in eternity but still to happen. 

This “expert in the law” was out of solutions because he was up against a problem outside of his control. The impenetrable barrier of sin separated him from a holy God. Even if he could perfectly obey the greatest commandment from that moment on, his past would always be there to accuse him. No amount of animal blood could erase his history. Under the Old Covenant, no matter how much he did or how hard he tried, this so-called expert was doomed. 

Did Jesus answer this enquirer in this way to drive home the reality of the Law’s failure to save anyone, even the experts who thought they knew everything?

Jesus’ real answer came in a scene of intimacy with His twelve closest associates. 

“When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.” After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.”

‭‭Luke‬ ‭22‬:‭14‬-‭20‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Picture the scene. This was the final Passover celebration in all of history before its fulfilment in the next few hours! When Jesus breathed His final breath, the Old Covenant became obsolete and the New Covenant took over. 

“For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. But God found fault with the people and said: “The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah…By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.”

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭8‬:‭7, 13‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Now, let’s examine the terms and requirements of the New Covenant. First, loving God is not an obligation according to the Law but a response to God’s love for us.  

“This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins…We love because he first loved us.”

‭‭1 John‬ ‭4‬:‭9‬-‭10‬, ‭19‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Second, we demonstrate our love for Jesus by loving His people. 

“Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”

‭‭John‬ ‭14‬:‭21‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

‭‭John‬ ‭13‬:‭34‬-‭35‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Third, both Paul and John summarised all the terms and requirements of the New Covenant in these two simple statements…

“Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭13‬:‭8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.”

‭‭1 John‬ ‭3‬:‭23‬ ‭NIV‬‬

…and these requirements are made possible because the Holy Spirit lives in us.  

“The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.”

‭‭1 John‬ ‭3‬:‭24‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The New Covenant sets us free from all obligations of the Ikd Covenant. because of our inability to “do”. The New Covenant declares that Jesus fulfilled all the obligations of the Old Covenant for us and cancelled our the guilt of our disobedience by paying our debt for us. It calls us to believe and receive what He has done for us and to respond by loving His people. 

Can we do this? Yes we can because His Spirit is in us to give us power to overcome our old nature and to renew our minds with the truth of what God has done. Moment by moment, day by day, little by little, He is at work in us, restoring the image of Jesus in us until we begin to resemble Him. 

“Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”

‭‭1 John‬ ‭3‬:‭2‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Now, for those who are under the New Covenant, prayer changes from “please” to “thank you”. We are no longer required to do in order to approach God because, through Jesus, it is done. 

To b continued…

LUKE’S GOSPEL…A DONE DEAL – 24

Bible Study, ,

“After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go…. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road….The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.” He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.””

‭‭Luke‬ ‭10‬:‭1‬, ‭3‬-‭4‬, ‭17‬-‭20‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Why did Jesus send a second contingent of disciples to prepare for His mission to Israel? Was He simply duplicating His previous preparation? 

I am indebted to Dr Michael Heiser for an interesting explanation. 

Since Jesus never did anything without a significant purpose, there was some specific meaning to this instruction. He sent another group of followers, this time seventy, or alternatively seventy-two…the number is of no consequence…ahead of Him to prepare the way for His coming, with the same instructions He had given to the twelve. 

According to Dr Heiser, in Genesis 10, the table of nations, records the seventy nations (or seventy-two depending on the breakdown of clans), descending from Noah after the flood. 

Is it not possible, then, that Jesus sent seventy-two of His representatives to prepare for His mission to the Gentile nations as well as to the Jews? His outburst against the Jewish towns that rejected Him, and His reference to Gentile places that had welcomed Him, seem to confirm this notion. 

Now let’s look at Jesus’ response to the report these seventy-two disciples brought of the success of their mission. 

“He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven…At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.”

‭‭Luke‬ ‭10‬:‭18‬, ‭21‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Jesus was excited…yes…excited because the disciples brought back a report that confirmed something that had already happened in the heavenly realm.

“I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven,” from Luke 10:18, means Jesus affirmed his ultimate authority over evil, seeing Satan’s fall as swift and final, referencing his initial rebellion and cast-out status, and showing that even as disciples cast out demons, it was a sign of Satan’s ongoing, but doomed, defeat and the greater joy of salvation, not just temporary power over devils.“…

…”In essence, it’s a declaration that Satan is a defeated foe, and the work of Jesus and His followers is the ongoing manifestation of that ultimate, swift, and irreversible downfall, leading to greater spiritual realities than just earthly power.”

(Source: Google AI)

What does Jesus’ response to His followers mean to us today? 

Just as these seventy-two followers met with no resistance because Satan was already defeated and under judgment, so should  we, who fall into the same category as these men, expect the same result. As Jesus’ followers, we have been given the mandate to announce the presence of God’s kingdom with the same authority and power as they had, and should expect the same effect. 

Why, then, does it seem that we are powerless to do the same work as these people did? Is it not possible that many of God’s children have shifted the purpose of their mission from announcing and demonstrating the presence of the kingdom of God to doing miracles for miracles’s sake. 

However, Jesus added a sobering warning. “Don’t let this success go to your heads!”

“However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.””

‭‭Luke‬ ‭10‬:‭20‬ ‭NIV

How easy it is to become inflated with self-importance when God’s kingdom breaks into our realm in response to His power at work through us. We need to keep a realistic attitude at all times. This is not about us. This is about His grace at work in us first. 

Jesus was adamant and clear that His works demonstrated, first, that the reign of God had come and was among and in His people…

“But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭12‬:‭28‬ ‭NIV‬‬

…and, second, that He had authority to do the works of the Father because He is the Son of God. 

“Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Messiah.”

‭‭Luke‬ ‭4‬:‭41‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.”

‭‭John‬ ‭5‬:‭19‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!””

‭‭Mark‬ ‭2‬:‭10‬-‭12‬ ‭NIV‬‬

How important that we, the representatives of Jesus on earth, have the focus and perspective of Jesus. He was always about God’s kingdom and so should we be, both in our lives and in our mission. 

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6‬:‭33‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Perhaps, with this in mind, we might see much more of the evidence of His reign here on earth than we do when we are obsessed with doing miracles rather than with the presence and rule of Jesus among us. 

To be continued…

LUKE’S GOSPEL…A PERVERSE GENERATION – 23

Bible Study, ,

“The next day, when they came down from the mountain, a large crowd met him. A man in the crowd called out, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. A spirit seizes him and he suddenly screams; it throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth. It scarcely ever leaves him and is destroying him. I begged your disciples to drive it out, but they could not.” “You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.” Even while the boy was coming, the demon threw him to the ground in a convulsion. But Jesus rebuked the impure spirit, healed the boy and gave him back to his father. And they were all amazed at the greatness of God…”

‭‭Luke‬ ‭9‬:‭37‬-‭43‬a NIV‬‬

A perverse generation! What did He mean?

“In the Bible, “perverse” means a deliberate, twisted turning away from God’s moral standards, involving crooked speech, corrupt actions, and a hardened heart that rejects what is right, often linked to distorting justice or truth, and seen as contrary to divine wisdom, with Hebrew terms like iqqesh (crooked/twisted) and Greek diastrepho (distort) highlighting this deviation from God’s upright path.”

A perverse generation, in this context, seems to refer, not to that particular generation in general but to that particular group of people who had turned around…that is, away from faith to unbelief…In this circumstance, why was Jesus’ rebuke so meaningful? 

First, to whom did Jesus address this harsh rebuke? To the crowd? No. They were merely onlookers. To the father of the boy? Not likely, since he had brought his son to the disciples in good faith that they could help him. Obviously, He was addressing His disciples because they were the ones who were supposed to be doing the healing. 

Did Jesus really mean that His disciples had turned away from the revelation He had given them of Himself as the Messiah? Were they really perverse in their attitude to His Word and His kingdom? 

Let’s examine the context of Jesus’ rebuke. 

Luke records, in the previous chapters, a plethora of situations in which the disciples had either taken part in Jesus’ miracles or witnessed Jesus’ power. For example, He had sent them out to announce the kingdom with power and authority to demonstrate the nature of the kingdom. They returned with stories of miracles that had accompanied their preaching. 

Jesus had fed five thousand plus people with the lunch of a small child. At Caesarea Philippi, He  had assured them of the power of His yoke that would transform people from idolaters to members of His church…and much more. 

Now, faced with a demon that was particularly stubborn and vicious, as reported in Mark 9:17-27, the disciples were intimidated and powerless. Why had they retreated? 

Jesus chided them for turning around, from faith to unbelief. They had been influenced by the circumstances. They had been facing the wrong way. They had forgotten the witness of the power of Jesus and the power of the kingdom within them. They were deceived and overwhelmed by the demonstration of the demon’s antics and had turned around. 

After the upheaval had quietened down, the squatter demon evicted, and the disciples alone with Jesus, the guilty ones inevitably asked why? Where had they gone wrong?

Jesus’ response might seem surprising to us. Luke didn’t bring closure to this incident, so, we must turn to Mark’s record for completion. 

“After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer.”

‭‭Mark‬ ‭9‬:‭28‬-‭29‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Although Jesus’ reply may seem broad and incomplete, what He said was loaded. What did He mean by “prayer”? Were the disciples meant to pray before they dealt with the demon? I think His reply went much deeper than that. 

Prayer is, in essence, the communion with the Father, through Jesus, by the power of the Spirit, that allows us access into the very circle and heart of the Trinity. Prayer is much more than getting God to do things. This idea is distortion of the Father/child relationship Jesus has made possible through His atoning death. 

It is in the intimacy of this relationship that we have fellowship with the triune God. The more we gaze at God’s glory in Jesus, through prayer and contemplation, the more we grow in confidence in the authority and power of the Son. 

“And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭3‬:‭18‬ ‭NIV‬‬

This is the pinnacle of prayer. Armed, then, with this conviction, no demonic resistance or any other adverse circumstances can defy the power of that name. Focusing on circumstances diminished faith. Focusing on Jesus despite circumstances releases invincible power. 

Without the prayer that seeks greater intimacy and greater fellowship that bonds us to Jesus, prayer and faith remain flabby and ineffective. By communion with God in prayer, and contemplation of the glory of Jesus, we grow in the conviction of who He is and commitment to the power of His word to do what He has promised. 

How often Jesus’ accusation can apply to us when we are so intimidated by what is happening that we turn around and look the wrong way. Jesus called this “perverse”. Faith in the authority of the one who has spoken defies all odds and releases heaven’s resources to do what His word  has said. 

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭11‬:‭6‬ ‭NIV‬‬

To be continued…