Charismatic Faith, John 16: 5-15

John Chapter 16:  5-15 – Connolly (19) Title: Secrets of the Spirit – Lecture Title: Charismatic Faith

Charismatic faith is the faith in and of the Holy Spirit. John has already mentioned the Holy Spirit 3 times thus far in the Farewell Discourses:

The Spirit as Helper – 14: 15-17

He Spirit as Interpreter – 14: 25, 26

The Spirit as Witness – 15: 26, 27

Fourth Paraclete saying:  The Spirit as Prosecutor – 16: 4b – 11. In vv. 8-11 – The Spirit as helper, advocate and will act as counsel for the Defence in the case of Believers and counsel for prosecution in the case of Non-Believers – Greek word elencho meaning refute, expose, convince or convict)

Fifth Paracelete saying – The Spirit as Revealer – 16: 12 – 15. In vv. 12, 13 – declare – anangelei – Paraclete will bring out the fuller implications of the revelation embodied in the Messiah and apply them relevantly to each succeeding generation.  In 14, 15, the fifth and last time in these Paraclete sayings the emphatic demonstrative ekeinos – masculine in agreement with parakletos – is used of the Spirit.  He and no other

Will teach the disciples everything 14: 26

Will bear witness to Christ 15: 26

Will expose the world’s error 16: 8

Will guide the disciples in the way of all truth 16: 13,

And now it is he who has as his supreme mission the glorifying of Jesus 14: 14, 15

As the Son has glorified the Father by his work on earth (7: 18, 17: 4) so the Spirit by his coming will glorify the Son.  In making known the Son, the Spirit makes known the Father who is revealed in the Son.  The Father, Son and Holy Spirit abide in us. This is how we’re able to live joyfully, peacefully, lovingly, right now – we experience eternal life right now and these are the secrets of the Spirit – the more we surrender to Christ and keep our eyes on Him and are obedient to God’s will, the more joy, love, peace we will find experiencing, ourselves giving it away, and the more joyful, loving, peaceful we become in turn.

John Chapter 15: 12 – 16:4

John Chapter 15: 12 – 16:4 – Connolly (18) Title: The Cost of Friendship – Lecture Title: Sacrifice is the Love Passion of the Holy Spirit

Rev. Barbara Buck taught us today and here are my brief notes: Sacrifice, a spiritual discipline, is the cost of friendship –we willingly give up things for our friends – when we don’t there’s no friendship. Similarly, as people who love God and follow Jesus, how are we friends of God and Jesus? The commandment of Jesus to love others as ourselves is a difficult one to follow but he also gave us the Holy Spirit to help us make the sacrifices with “exuberant joy” (not pain) needed to be a friend of God. This requires self-surrender. To be a friend of God is to give our sovereignty to God. Instead of putting ourselves first (what do we want) we desire and seek God’s will (what does God want for me/this situation in my life).

Barbara gave us three questions to reflect on:

1) Am I a friend of God?

2) Who’s in charge – me or God?

3) Is my life free from compromise with the world?

Abiding Faith, John 15: 1-11

John Chapter 15: 1-11 – Connolly (17) Title: The Secrets of the Vine – Lecture Title: Abiding Faith (Obedient Faith)

Jesus is the vine; God, the Father is the vinedresser; disciples (we) are the branches. Abiding faith is faith that is filled with the mutual indwelling, the coinherence of Christ and his people. Christ lives in us – this is grace and will.  “Charis is grace, the given passion that flows from the self offering of Christ and is given that we may learn to love.” We will, choose freely, to follow Christ.

Side note: Grace is beyond our control – its grace of God – but our free-will is indeed under our control. We could get totally philosophical and say that will isn’t either but I think we modern people won’t seriously accept this .

Incarnate Faith – John 14

John Chapter 14 – Connolly (16) Title: Comfort for a Troubled Heart – Lecture Title: Incarnate Faith

This lecture could have been given three titles at the very least  –   Incarnate Faith, Trinitarian Faith, Comforting Faith! Lecture was actually titled Incarnate Faith (I had written this on whiteboard and was picking this up from John ch. 1 – Word came in the flesh to live with humankind. This means “God’s truth and God’s life are incarnate in Jesus.” John’s use of “the way” is christological and “sharpens the claim to christocentric exclusivism. Jesus is the sole adequate revealer of God, for he alone knows God fully (3:13; 6:46).”

Sadly, 14:6 is a hot-button item and apparently, one of the most popular verses used by evangelicals and protestant christians to answer questions such as: are non-believers – non-christians saved? (they answer no; personal salvation is only through Jesus because of 14:6); will non-believers go to heaven? (they answer no; heaven is only for those who believe in Jesus, again using 14:16). Thus,14:6 is said to be “exclusive” because it excludes non-believers – nonchristians. In response, here are two different views
of scholars about 14:6:
1) Some who prefer to reinterpret the exclusivism of 14:6 do so in light of a particular reading of cosmic-Christ texts such as John 1:9.
2) Others note that John’s exclusivity is not a claim that other ways to the Father existed and Jesus closed them off. The claim is more universal than that: given the world’s alienation from God, there was no way to the Father, and Jesus provided one (3:18-19, cf. 1:10; I John 5:19).

For us, who are seeking to grow deeper in our faith, and not just follow Jesus but also to imitate him, ch. 14 is a “testament of Jesus.” This is part of his Farewell Discourses, Jesus is witnessing to the Father, it is Jesus’ last “will” to his followers – last set of instructions. Look at the context (John ch. 13-14) and the question Thomas asked, very closely. The disciples are troubled. Thomas is confused – what is Thomas really asking? Thomas says I don’t know where you’re going, Lord, how can I know the way? Jesus answers, I am the way…. Consider “the way”: Throughout John what do we see as Jesus way? Obedience to God’s will, healing, compassion, forgiveness, love, acceptance, inclusivity. BL: Jesus broke all sorts of barriers, ethnic, economic, etc.), and sacrifice (self-sacrificial love). And, throughout chapter 14 Jesus is giving them advance notice of his departure (so their faith can grow) and keeps turning his disciples towards “trust” – believe in God, believe also in me. It should be a matter of joy that I, Jesus, am now going back to the Father. So we have to be careful not to take John 14:6 out of context. We have to try and understand what the text would have meant to its original audience. Ch. 14 is about God coming to dwell with us in the form of Jesus, the Incarnation, and the continuing presence of Jesus in his followers. This has great implications for our spiritual growth. As the scholar J.J. Packer puts it:
“Faith-knowledge focuses on God incarnate, the man Christ Jesus, the mediator between God and us sinners, through whom we come to know his Father as our Father (John 14:6).”

How do we develop the type of intimacy Jesus had with his Father? In 8:29 and 11:42 we saw that the way to develop that intimacy is to keep his commandments – e.g. the love that Jesus has for the father is “obedient love.” The word “works” in the Gospel of John also means doing the will of God. Faith and love unite us to God. To do the “greater things” (v. 12) will require God’s resources. Last couple of weeks we’ve discussed how very hard it is to follow Jesus’ new commandment: Love others as ourselves. Now, we find that we have a “Helper.” We are not “orphans.” Even though we’ve never “seen” God, we “believe”. We experience the continuing presence of the Father and Jesus the Son through the gift of the Holy Spirit (14:15-17) (trinitarian faith).

The Spirit is experiential, not just theoretical, and has a distinct role. How do we hear and listen to the Spirit? In 14:26 we see the Spirit’s first function: to teach about Jesus. [In the other Paraclete passages in John (ch. 15 and 16) we'll read about the other functions of the Spirit.] Finally, in ch. 14 there are great promises – gifts for believers besides the Holy Spirit. I referenced these very briefly as ‘”comfort” in the beginning (could have called this lecture Comforting or Comfortable Faith – our faith comforts us, as we trust in Jesus our faith-knowledge grows, our experience grows and we gain confidence). E.g. v. 27, the peace of Jesus (calmness and confidence) is a great source of comfort; v. 23-24, the Father and the Son will make their home with those who love Jesus and obey his teachings. Jesus continues to be present in believers, helping them become more like him. Our bodies are the temple of God, the Father, Jesus, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We are not alone and we don’t have just Jesus or one “helper” (Holy Spirit). Instead we have the Triune God. This is powerful, heady stuff. Jesus clearly says he is subordinate to the Father (v. 28) (i.e. Jesus has chosen to make himself subordinate, submitting to the Father). Just how comforting is this? This is why the Apostle Paul was able to say “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” This sort of incarnational faith and deeper understanding of the Trinity can and should give us total confidence in our pursuit of holiness – in other words, our goal to be like Jesus, to imitate Jesus, submit and surrender to God like he did. As we see, we have the most powerful resources  – not just ourselves – to help us be obedient and do what Jesus asks: love self-sacrificially, not be troubled, trust in God and glorify him.

(Winter Session Opening) Review

Now, this Winter, John chapters 10 – 16, among other things, will show us how one definition of glory is attention esp. drawing attention – Jesus continually calls or draws attention to his Father in Heaven; do our actions, words, thoughts draw attention to ourselves, other things or God?

(Recap) Purpose of John:

• Entry points for belief in Jesus  – belief is allegiance to Jesus – allegiance is following Jesus – what does it mean to know, believe, and receive Jesus?
• The Book of John can be thought of as being in two parts; 1) Chapters 1 – 12 Book of Signs – whereby Jesus reveals his Glory to the World and

2) Chapters 13-21 Book of Glory wherein Jesus reveals the Glory of his Death and Resurrection.

• Types of faith in Jesus include:
  • sign-faith – signs-faith – superficial faith – e.g. Bethesda pool man healed by Jesus, the many who follow Jesus when they see his miracles (water into wine; bread and fish)
  • bold, audacious faith or holy chutzpah – e.g. Mary, Jesus mother
  • salvific (saving) faith – e.g. Nicodemus wants to understand but is unable; John the Baptist points to Jesus as God (definitely greater than him)
  • unorthodox faith – e.g. Samaritan woman and her village accept Jesus; God is worshipped as Spirit – He is everywhere
  • glorious faith – e.g. Jesus does everything for the glory for God (not for human glory – Jesus does not seek human glory

Trinity Prayer of Protection

May the Light of God surround us;

May the Blood of Christ protect us;

May the Holy Spirit guide us.

This prayer is generally attributed to the contemporary contemplative Richard Foster.

God, the Father and the Son of God: Glorious Faith, John 5

Here, in John 5, a man disabled for 38 years and daily frustrated by not being able to jump into the pool and receive healing is healed by Jesus on the Sabbath. This man is a negative paradigm of initial discipleship. We shall study an example of a positive one in the blind man healed in chapter 9. The rest and most of the fifth chapter of John is about different understandings of Sabbath, charges against Jesus, and how Jesus witnesses and glorifies God. In 5:30 Jesus claims his deity and emphasizes his obedience to the Father’s will as his perfect agent (shaliach). The Pharisees misunderstand Jesus as blaspheming and claiming equality with God while Jesus explains that he is merely doing what he’s seen his Father do; he has been given all authority by his Father (life-giver and judge). The Father’s works are also his witness, just as Scripture itself (Old Testament) and John the Baptist. The Pharisees see only the breaking of a law; Jesus shows compassion to the man but the man falls away after initial obedience. Jesus is a model of discipleship for us – he seeks glory only from the Father, spurns human glory, and is completely obedient and submissive. This is another chapter full of Johannine theology (the Jesus sayings) and high Christology where we see the close relationship between the Father and the Son, a perfect unity of love between God the Father and the “only begotten” Son of God. Incidentally, Qumran’s Copper Scroll provides corroboration of Judean awareness of the Bethesda pool, prior to 70 CE – the Bethesda pool is where the healing in this chapter took place.

Saviour of the World: Unorthodox Faith, John 4

In this extended dialogue with the Samarian woman, an outcast, Jesus breaks many barriers: socio-ethnic, gender and moral. He does this because it is the Father’s will. The harvest is always ready – people are ready to hear about Christ. There’s a question here for us: How do we witness? The Father is seeking true worshippers who will worship him in spirit – unorthodox faith in God goes beyond the faith of rituals or mere outward practices. This chapter has the familiar misunderstandings and preoccupations of people with materials things (water to drink, food to eat) while Jesus is focused on spiritual realities. The heart of the Samaritan story is in 4: 23 – 24. Outward markers such as gender, ethnicity, status, are immaterial to God – he seeks those who worship him truly, from their inmost heart. The remote healing of the Galilean aristocrat’s son is another sign: Power of Jesus to snatch a life from the jaws of death. Again, God is looking at the heart of faith offered to him not the outward markers of the person and faith in Jesus rejuvenates – gives us life, right now.

Born of the Spirit: Salvific (saving) Faith, John 3

Nicodemus, elite, open-minded, comes to Jesus because he has questions. Jesus’ answers puzzle him: “you must be born again … born of water and Spirit … born of the Spirit … to see the kingdom of God.” Most famous verse in John 3: 16 reminds us Jesus, who has the authority from the Father to give spiritual life, did not come to condemn us but to show us God’s love. We self-judge ourselves when we do not believe in Jesus. Saving faith comprises of believing and obeying; such a faith gives us eternal life, which we enjoy in advance, now, because of our union with Christ. John the Baptist exalts Christ and is a model witness for us. Finally, 3: 31-36 is Johannine theology and consummate (high) Christology.

Bold Faith or Holy Chutzpah vs. Superficial Faith, John 2

Two signs – both pointing to a change of the old and the coming of the new. The first sign (miracle) of Jesus at Cana, is transformation of (ritual/purification) water into wine at a wedding celebration. Mary’s faith is the catalyst for Jesus first sign. We also start to see the tradition of Jesus challenging faith. Jesus is reluctant at first to do the miracle his mother seems to want because it starts him on the road to the cross. There are many levels of faith. Mary’s faith, bold, audacious – she doesn’t take no for an answer is an example for us.

The second sign Jesus cleanses the temple, reveals, zeal for his father’s house (he cannot bear God to be dishonored), and in the short section, 2: 23-25, Jesus knows what is in man, we see the foreshadowing of the old order of worship (rituals and legalism) being replaced with the new (faith in Jesus, honor for God) and a note about superficial faith. Superficial faith is sign (or signs) faith – it wants signs, miracles and even then is not satisfied, tends to fall off, have doubts, etc.