Category: John

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  • Baptism in the Holy Spirit: Daily Devo, John 1:29-34

    Baptism in the Holy Spirit: Daily Devo, John 1:29-34

    When I read this passage at face-value, it seems as though John the Baptizer does not know his cousin is the messiah until the Holy Spirit descends in this moment. This was not a premeditated rouse to capture followers for a new religion or cult. Jesus didn’t tell John. John was prepared to testify to…

  • I’m No Prophet or Messiah: Daily Devo, John 1:19-34

    I’m No Prophet or Messiah: Daily Devo, John 1:19-34

    John the Baptizer begins his public ministry, comprising mostly preaching Old Testament messianic passages and baptizing Jews who come to him. Some leading Jews come out from Jerusalem to question John, but John was not trying to be the next public teaching figure. Unlike others, he was not claiming to be the literal resurrection of…

  • No One Can See God at Any Time: Daily Devo, John 1:14-18

    No One Can See God at Any Time: Daily Devo, John 1:14-18

    The Word, Jesus, became flesh. I don’t understand this to mean that the divine transformed into flesh but rather assumed human flesh, such that the human flesh and nature was added to the divine nature without losing the divine nature in any degree or respect. In this incarnation, we were finally able to behold God—full…

  • Children of God, Born of God and Not The Will of Men: Daily Devo, John 1:6-13

    Children of God, Born of God and Not The Will of Men: Daily Devo, John 1:6-13

    Here, John the Apostle tells us about John the Baptizer. The Baptizer was sent from God to bear witness to the light in fulfillment of Malachi 4:5-6. John the Baptizer told the world that life had finally come into the world as has been promised repetitively since Genesis 3. At this moment, John the Apostle…

  • Life is the Light of Men, and DArkness Will Not Overcome Life: Daily Devo, John 1:1-5

    Life is the Light of Men, and DArkness Will Not Overcome Life: Daily Devo, John 1:1-5

    As I reflect on John’s introduction, I find it interesting to see that the light is not Christ Himself in this instance. Life is the light of men. The Word of God, who is God and is with God in the beginning, is the one in whom life is—from the beginning, not merely from the…

  • What About Human Responsibility?

    What About Human Responsibility?

    Jesus has so far affirmed Pharisee soteriology. God first loves an individual. In response to God’s love, the individual cares to keep God’s Law. If a person keeps God’s Law, that person is righteous. God’s love is what brought the person into righteousness (i.e. saved the person). When the person kept the Law, that was…

  • Seeing the Kingdom of Heaven

    Seeing the Kingdom of Heaven

    Have you ever seen God? Some of you will answer by telling me how you see God working or how you see God in nature or people. Those things are not God Himself. I will venture to guess that you have never seen God. Yet, we believe He is. A vast majority of people on…

  • Jesus as Prophet and The Personal Salvation Debate Among Jews in the First Century

    Jesus as Prophet and The Personal Salvation Debate Among Jews in the First Century

    In these notes, I first show the point of John 3:1-2 by offering a biblical apologetic for Jesus as having the authority of a prophet to reveal new revelation. Then, I explore the theological environment of First Century Judea in order to provide historical context for Jesus’s conversation with Nicodemus. It is no surprise that…

  • On Salvation and Reprobation

    On Salvation and Reprobation

    From the debates between Paul and the Gnostics through the ancient dialogue between Augustine and Pelagius to the exchanges between Luther and Erasmus or Calvin’s disciples and those of Arminius to the more modern upheaval between the New Calvinists and Free Willists, the doctrine of election has dominated Christian discussion. Election is the doctrine that…

  • What and Why is Palm Sunday?

    What and Why is Palm Sunday?

    Palm Sunday is the day on which Christ entered triumphant into Jerusalem as the rightful king ascending to David’s throne forever. In many ways, Palm Sunday is as significant as Resurrection Sunday because, on Palm Sunday, Jesus announced the work that would be accomplished in the resurrection. God created the earth in one week and…