Dr Paul Allen

When we focus all of our attention on the flesh of Jesus either by a statue etc, then the real significance of Jesus is missed, and the kinds of objections raised both by ‘the Jews’ and by ostensible disciples quickly surface - namely eat my body and drink my blood when misunderstood becomes a misdirection. But if flesh does not give life, what does? One of the clearest characteristics of the Spirit in the Old Testament is the giving of life (e.g. Gn. 1:2; Ezk. 37:1ff.; cf. Barrett, HSGT, pp. 18–23).  The Spirit gives life.  Jesus says in John 6:63 - the words I have spoken to you are spirit (i.e. they are the product of the life-giving Spirit ) and they are life (i.e. Jesus’ words, rightly understood and absorbed, generate life —5:24). To feed on Christ is to feed on Christ’s words, enabled by the Holy Spirit.  Before I was unregenerate unable to hear or understand jesus words and the Spirit gave me life now I can understand and consume Jesus word giving me life Carson, D. A. (1991)

If the apostle Paul himself had not warned us about quenching the Spirit , who among us would have thought it was possible ( 1 Thessalonians 5:19–22 )? To suggest that the omnipotent Spirit of God could ever be quenched, and thus restricted in what he might do otherwise in our lives, and in the life of the local church , is to tread on thin theological ice. Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5 that God has granted to Christians the ability either to restrict or release what the Spirit does in the life of the local church. The Spirit comes to us as a fire, either to be fanned into full flame and given the freedom to accomplish his will, or to be doused and extinguished by the water of human fear, control, and flawed theology. How many of us pause to consider the ways in which we inadvertently quench the Spirit’s work in our lives individually and in our churches corporately?  Do we so repeatedly pepper our sermons and small group Bible studies, even our personal conversations, w

Holy Spirit dove window (Photo credit: hickory hardscrabble ) A further test which we can apply to ourselves in order to discover whether we are guilty of ‘quenching the Spirit’ suggests itself immediately when we remember that the Spirit is represented by the emblem of fire. It is the one mentioned by John the Baptist . He said, ‘I indeed baptize you with water, but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire’ (Luke 3:16). Fire is characterized not only by heat and light but also by power. It advances, and destroys wherever it goes. Similarly, power is a characteristic of the Holy Spirit . Are we, then, aware of the power of the Spirit within us? If not we are quenching the Spirit. An extraordinary paradox is involved in this matter. The Spirit is the Spirit of God, and is allpowerful; and yet it is possible for us to ‘quench’ the Spirit, to ‘resist’ the Spirit, to ‘grieve’ the Spirit.