Dr Paul Allen

When we think about rewards, we often think of getting what we deserve. We work in such a way to get a reward that corresponds to our effort. But the reward Jesus is referring to is not meritorious. Fasting does not put God in our debt. It is not a technique that puts us in good standing with God. God offers, as a gift, the satisfaction of our desires—desires that are ultimately for him. David explains this reward further in Psalm 63. He begins the psalm by saying to the Lord,          O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;             my soul thirsts for you;          my flesh faints for you,             as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. (v. 1) David has developed a hunger, an appetite for God. He goes on,          So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,             beholding your power and glory...

  The flesh from which believers have been set free has the nasty habit of resurrecting itself. Believers have the authority to remind it and themselves that it has no right to be alive; rather, they are encouraged to reckon it as dead (Rom. 6:11), and if it refuses to listen, it must be forcibly laid to rest again and again and again.  Throughout the process, the Spirit promises to provide the courage, confidence and inner strength to succeed in this activity (8:13). At the same time, the Spirit reminds believers that however loudly the flesh claims to be their lord and master, and to be in control of their lives, it is trespassing on ground claimed by God and inhabited by the Spirit. The Spirit of life has energy and vitality to vanquish all that is associated with death (Rom. 8:2). He has enabled believers to be what the law could not achieve—that is, justified (8:4). He enables believers to do what they could not achieve—that is, be sanctified ( put to death the misdeeds o...

  The complete relocation of believers is clearly expressed in Romans 8:9, where Paul describes them as being in the Spirit while also referring to the fact that the Spirit of God lives in them. These apparently contradictory phrases are to be appreciated for what they are—descriptions that emphasise the integrated involvement of the Spirit with the believer (1 Cor. 6:17).  The intimate association of the Spirit with the believer is heightened in that the Spirit is described as being of God (this, in 8:9, is the first occasion in Romans where Paul refers thus to the Spirit). It is none other than God who resides within the believer.  Not only that, but he lives in them (8:9), indicating a tangible experience of God, not merely an intellectual acknowledgement of divine truths. Intimacy of relationship, not merely a rational response, is the ideal expected by Paul when he refers to the Spirit dwelling in the believer. The sense of privilege but also of challenge for believe...

In Romans, Paul uses the Greek term sarx (translated variously as ‘flesh’, ‘sinful nature’ or ‘human nature’) on several occasions but in different ways, the difference in use being particularly notable in chapter 8. Sometimes, it refers to the characteristic of being human (Rom. 1:3; 4:1; 8:3; 9:5, 8), and human effort (Gal. 3:3).  However, on other occasions, it is clear that he is using flesh , not to refer to the physical body and mortality, but to describe something much more malevolent and malignant that militates against God in a way that makes it inseparable from sin; indeed, the term ‘sin’ is often synonymous with ‘the flesh’ (8:4–9, 12–13; 13:14).  In this respect, to live a life dominated by sin is equivalent to living a life controlled by the flesh. It is as if flesh and sin gang up on the believer and make it difficult to live as a follower of Jesus—so difficult that one wonders how it can be achieved.  It is in this context that the Spirit, who was mentione...

One of the things that has continuously shocked me throughout my life is the relentless attack against God’s Word – especially from professing Christians. Sometimes, these attacks are subtle, implying the Word of God is insufficient because it is too difficult to understand. Other times, the attacks are blatant, like the promotion of an evolutionary theory as an alternative to biblical creation. In the study of 1 Corinthians, this reality was essentially happening in Corinth, where those believers sought after worldly wisdom. They lived as if the Bible was insufficient for their needs or that Scripture was inferior to the latest philosophies or psychologies. They also judged men’s wisdom to be superior to God’s, which undermined and attacked the truth of His holy Word. Paul addressed this problem in 1 Corinthians 2:6-16, reminding the Corinthians that Christians have the mind of Christ, which is infinitely superior to worldly wisdom.  The mind of Christ is described as eternal, hid...

Give us this day our daily bread. (Matt. 6:11) These words draw our focus to a particular time—this day. It is recurring, a petition to be made again with each sunrise. These words would have reminded Jesus’ hearers of the Exodus, a period in Israel’s history when God provided just enough manna daily for the people to survive (see Ex. 16). They were wandering in a wilderness on their way to a promised land where God would be their king. They would have loved a grand stockpile of food. But God taught them to trust him afresh each morning as they awakened to find new manna on the ground. Trusting God for basic necessities would form the foundation for trust in greater matters. Similarly, Jesus prepares his followers to trust God for what they need as they await the new kingdom that God is establishing through him. What was difficult for a first-century peasant may also be difficult for us, albeit for different reasons. Reliance requires that we see our position in the world clearly. We a...

When we have wrong thoughts about God, the consequences can be disastrous for every relationship – especially within the church. Many problems arise when believers’ actions are guided by inaccurate or unbiblical thinking about God. The church at Corinth is a case study in what goes wrong when people’s minds are led astray from the truth of God’s Word. The very first issue crippling the Corinthian church was disunity, which stemmed from these believers thinking with a fleshly mind, rather than with the mind of Christ. Rather than submitting to God’s wisdom and applying the mind of Christ to their daily walk, the Corinthians were enamoured with man’s thoughts, philosophies, and opinions, leading to church conflict and division. Paul, therefore, exhorted them in 1 Corinthians 1:10 to agree. When we come to 1 Corinthians 2:6-11, we discover that Paul wanted the Corinthians to adopt the very mind of Christ. As Christians, we have access to the way Christ thinks, and we know God’s wisdom. B...

With God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26), therefore, the answer to this question is yes. However, it is a highly qualified yes! I personally know of two people who received the baptism in the Holy Spirit and spoke in English rather than in unknown tongues. Both were exceptionally sensitive, prophetic men, true spiritual giants of our time. One is Dr Frank Laubach, through whom the Holy Spirit manifested Himself supernaturally in English.  The other was Rufus Moseley, who, some months after his baptism in the Holy Spirit, began to speak in tongues and continued to witness faithfully to their value until his death. In a booklet entitled “How to Enter, Abide, and Increase in Union with Jesus Christ,” he makes this excellent statement: My feeling is that we must not be dogmatic and say that no one can have the baptism of the Holy Spirit unless he speaks in tongues. God, of course, can speak in English and in every tongue of men and angels. But He now seems a little more real ...

The only clear scriptural evidence of the baptism in the Holy Spirit is speaking in tongues. The first Christians to be baptised in the Holy Spirit were the 120 gathered in the upper room at Pentecost. The unique evidence that the 120 received the Holy Spirit was that “they began to speak in other tongues” (Acts 2:4).  All the other spiritual gifts, such as healing and prophecy, appear in the Old Testament and in the gospels. But with the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, which signified God’s presence in the disciples’ lives in a new dimension, God gave a new gift: the gift of tongues. The book of Acts records five separate occasions when the Holy Spirit was received. On three of these occasions, speaking in tongues is specifically mentioned as the visible sign accompanying the experience: at Pentecost (see Acts 2:4), at the house of Cornelius (see Acts 10:44–46), and at Ephesus (see Acts 19:6).  Paul received the Holy Spirit when Ananias laid hands on him and prayed (...

And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. (Rom. 8:23, 26–27) Christians have the best gift as we await the return of Jesus and the resurrection of our bodies: the firstfruits of the Spirit. “Firstfruits” literally refers to the initial portion of a harvest, which points to a greater harvest ahead.  Christians enjoy the firstfruits of the Spirit now (for example, the fruit of the Spirit listed in Gal. 5:22–23), as we await a greater harvest, or greater benefit of the Spirit: our adoption and redemption of our bodies.  While Paul says in verse 15...

The gifts operate by faith in God, not faith in a specific theory. They are not channelled through any doctrine except that of redemption. The Holy Spirit only glorifies the crucified Christ. Testimonies that this or that formula has brought success are always to be found, but they do not prove what they are supposed to prove. God’s mercies are “broader than the measures of our mind.”1  There is only one secret—faith. “This is the victory … our faith” (1 John 5:4). New techniques and highly publicised methods may seem to bring results, but they do not. God separates the techniques from the faith and responds only to faith. In the New Testament, whenever healings and miracles are attributed to anything at all, it is invariably to faith. Otherwise it is the sovereign action of God. “Thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace,” Jesus said to the woman with a hemorrhage (Luke 8:48, KJV).  Her “method” could not have been more simple and childlike. Those seeking healing can be he...

Essentially, the baptism in the Holy Spirit is a doorway leading from a natural realm into a supernatural realm of life and experience. The average Christian, although truly professing Christ, operates largely on his own power, making his own decisions, living by his own strength, and controlling his own life.  But through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, the Christian steps out of this natural realm into a realm where he can begin to experience the supernatural gifts and powers of God’s Holy Spirit. The initial evidence of entering this supernatural realm is the ability to speak in other tongues. (See Part II for a discussion of tongues.) But that is just the beginning. If all that happened to the 120 people at Pentecost had been that they began to speak in tongues, their experience would soon have been forgotten.  The same is true today. If all that happens to one receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit is that he speaks in tongues, then he is not forging ahead in faith into...