Dr Paul Allen

  “And you are to give him the name JESUS; because he will save his people from their sins.” (Matt. 1:21, capitalization added). Thus the angel of the Lord informs Joseph about Jesus, His name and His mission. Jesus is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew name “Joshua” meaning “Jehovah is salvation.” Jesus means “Savior,” aptly describing His work of saving men from their sins (Luke 19:10). The title Christ or Messiah means “anointed one.” It designates Jesus as the fulfilment of the Messianic hopes of the Jews in the Old Testament. The name Jesus Christ means that He is the Messiah who came to earth to save lost mankind. I. Jesus, the Son of God The logical question that follows is, Who is this Jesus, this Messiah? Many answers have been given. Some of the Jews thought Him to be Mary and Joseph’s son (Mark 6:3; Matt. 13:55). Others called Him a “deceiver” (Matt. 27:63). Still others thought Him to be a prophet (John 6:14). Some people today say that He is just a man except that He l...

The gospel of Luke ends with a supremely jarring statement: “Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God” (24:50–53). What is jarring about this passage is, as Luke reports the departure of Jesus from this world, the response of His disciples was to return to Jerusalem with “great joy.” What about Jesus’ departure would instil in His disciples an emotion of sheer elation? This question is made all the more puzzling when we consider the emotions the disciples displayed when Jesus earlier had told them that His departure would come soon. At that time, the idea that their Lord would leave their presence provoked in them a spirit of profound remorse. It would seem that nothing could be more depressing than to anticipate separation from the presence o...

 Jesus' description of himself "I am the Good Shepherd" (from the Gospel of John, chapter 10, verse 11). Wikipedia ) The New Testament—both the Gospels and Paul’s letters—clearly states that Jesus Christ is both divine and human. Soon the early Church would be drawn into a fierce and profound debate about the nature of Christ ’s personhood. Near the end of the first century the Docetists, who (as did the Greeks) identified sin with corporeality, taught that Christ only apparently assumed the human body. They further held that Christ’s earthly life, including his suffering and death, was almost an illusion.  The Ebionites, on the other hand, denied Christ’s divinity, claiming instead that Jesus was merely a human being who was invested with divine power at his baptism (Matt. 3:16–17). Thus, the early Church was faced with two opposing viewpoints which it was responsible to address. The debate intensified when Arius, a presbyter of Alexandria (fourth century A.D.),...

English: Gian Lorenzo Bernini - Dove of the Holy Spirit (ca. 1660, stained glass, Throne of St. Peter, St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican) (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) 1 Corinthians 12:1–3 Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant.  You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “ Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “ Jesus is Lord ,” except by the Holy Spirit . “Now” indicates Paul is taking up another new topic, that of pneumatikōn, “spiritual things,” by which he means spiritual gifts. Yet it is not entirely new. He is still concerned about the fruit of the Spirit , and he has already said that the Corinthian believers did not lack any spiritual gift, so he does not mean they are totally ignorant of them. But there are certain aspects of the gifts and their use the Corinthians need a better understanding of. What he pro...

English: Jesus Christ - detail from Deesis mosaic, Hagia Sophia, Istanbul (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet” ( Psalm 110:1). Psalm 110:1 is quoted more often in the New Testament than any other Old Testament text. In it, we see the name God has called Jesus, Lord. The first time the word LORD appears in this verse it is in all capital letters. This means that in the original Hebrew we have the word YHWH, Yahweh, or Jehovah. This was the personal name God had called Himself when He appeared to Moses.  The second word Lord in this verse is the Hebrew word Adonai, which means “master.” Psalm 110 was something of a puzzle to the Jews , because they understood that it had been authored by King David . It would have been simple if the psalm had been written by one of David’s servants, for then it would mean that Yahweh had been speaking to “my lord David, the king.” Since it was D...