Dr Paul Allen

April 16, 1521, Martin Luther arrived in the city of Worms to appear before the imperial court of the Holy Roman Empire. The previous year, Pope Leo X issued a papal bull against the German monk for his writings.  Now Luther was summoned before Emperor Charles V and the electors, princes, and nobility of the empire to renounce his views. The following day, in the presence of the whole court, he was asked two simple questions:  “Do you, Martin Luther, recognize the books published under your name as your own? Are you prepared to recant what you have written in these books?”1  To the first question, Luther answered yes.   To the second, though, he wavered. Offering an answer to this question was more than he could handle at that moment. He realized that if he did not recant, there was a very good possibility that he would be condemned as a heretic, taken to Rome, and burned at the stake. Feeling in over his head, he asked for some time to think about how he should answ...

“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” ( 2 Timothy 1:7 ) The gift spoken of in the previous verse is based on a transfer of authority from God, and we are exhorted to “stir up” that gift ( 2 Timothy 1:6 ) because God did not give us a “spirit of fear.” The word fear (deilia) stresses timidity or cowardice, not terror. The gift does not function well if we are too timid to use it. The gift referred to is not power. That spiritual gift comes with dunamis—the innate ability to do the gift. Whatever the Holy Spirit has gifted us with upon our entrance into the Kingdom ( 1 Corinthians 12:11 ), that gift comes with the power necessary to implement and use that gift. The gift also comes with love. Again, love is not the gift. It is only part of the fruit of the Holy Spirit that comes with the gift. Were it not for the reflection in us of the unilateral and sacrificial love of our Redeemer, these supernatural gifts could well be misus...