Dr Paul Allen

We believe in the Holy Spirit. That reality is more than meets the eye. That God is alive and at work in our world, and in our lives. That an unseen Person prompts, protects, and provides for those who are Christ’s. That an almighty, invisible Spirit powerfully brings the eternal purposes of God and his Son to bear in our realm, one day soon for all to see. We believe not only in Father and Son, but Father, Son, and Spirit. We baptize in the singular name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ( Matthew 28:19 ). One God in three persons. Three persons in one God — the Father who plans our eternal joy, the Son who purchased it, and the Spirit who preserves it. For thousands of years, the people of God awaited the full revelation of his nature and work, and with it the full personhood of the Spirit. He is not part of God; he is God. With the coming and ascending of the Son, we now see how God’s eternal Spirit has been at work in our world from the very beginning, hovering...

It is very important that we have an accurate understanding of the work of the Holy Spirit in spiritual rebirth. One of the best places to gain such an understanding is in the second chapter of the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. We read there: And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. (vv. 1–6) The language and imagery the Apostle uses in this text has to do with l...

The New Testament often describes the Holy Spirit as having attributes that are clearly divine. For instance, the Holy Spirit is eternal (Heb. 9:14) and omniscient (1 Cor. 2:10–11). These are both attributes of God. Moreover, they are incommunicable attributes, attributes of God that cannot be shared by man. We see in Scripture that the Spirit shares in the Trinitarian works of creation and redemption. Genesis 1 shows that the Father commanded the world to come into being. The New Testament tells us that the agent through whom the Father brought the universe into being was the Logos, the second person of the Trinity, our Lord Jesus Christ: “All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:3). However, the Spirit also was involved in creation:  “The Spirit of G od was hovering over the face of the waters” (Gen. 1:2). Out of this energizing work of the Spirit, life was brought forth. Most importantly, redemption is a Trinitarian ...

Three Observations about Kingdoms in Conflict (1) As there is a kingdom of God, so, too, is there is a kingdom of Satan. And the two are in conflict.   “If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand?… But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you” (Mt. 12:26, 28; see also Acts 26:18 [“the dominion of Satan”]; Col. 1:13 [“the domain of darkness”]). (2) Few Christians fully realize the extent of Satan’s influence. Nor do they understand their own authority. Two texts in particular make both points clear.   a. 1 John 5:19—“We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.”   Observe the contrast. Whereas the “whole world” is in the evil one, we who are “of God” (v. 19) are in God and in his son, Jesus Christ (v. 20). The point is that everyone is in someone! “John wastes no words and blurs no issues. The uncompromising alternative is stated ba...