Thinking Aloud

      JOHN 1 IS NOT AN “EPISTLE’’ in the conventional sense of the word. It is not addressed to anyone particularly. It doesn’t contain the customary salutations. It doesn’t discuss personal issues. (Compare it to St. Paul ’s letters and his own two other letters in the New Testament observe how keenly “personal” letters they are.) John 1 doesn’t contain the writer’s signature. In the strictest sense, it can be called a treatise. Probably it was sent as a pastoral letter to several gentile congregations. The elder statesman in the church, John wrote this letter to his “dear children”. In it, he presented God as light, as love, and as life . He explains in simple terms what it means to have a fellowship with God.         One of the new Christians dilemmas is, how can you be sure you are saved?   1 John is the epistle on how you can have the assurance of your salvation. Throughout the epistle, John has been giving y...

ONCE WE WERE of the world and in the world and it’s because of the Holy Spirit we were warned and turned towards God to receive His forgiveness through Christ. The New Testament contains elaborate teachings about how the Lord Holy Spirit goes about helping the believers whom He indwells. Let us look into some of His activities: 1. The Holy Spirit indwells us and helps us The Lord Jesus Christ told His disciples “I will ask the Father to give you another Helper, to be with you always. He is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor recognizes him. But you recognize him because He lives with you and will be in you. I am not going to forsake you like orphans. I will come back to you” (John 14:16-18) Jesus Christ asked the Father and that’s how the Father gave us the Holy Spirit to be with us continually. He dwells in us, over us and around us. And this makes us unique and different from the people of the world who do not know Chr...

THE WORD "RESURRECTION" is not found anywhere in the Old Testament. A superficial study of the Bible will bring you to the conclusion that practitioners of early Judaism, before the exile, had no idea of life after death. Nothing about the resurrection is mentioned in the Pentateuch, the first five books supposed to be written by Moses. (The Sadducees during Jesus’ time didn’t believe in resurrection for this reason.) Even among post-exilic remnants, the idea of bodily resurrection had not taken any firm root, but we find various sketchy references to the subject, but not as a firm theological truth. The Gospels, Acts, Epistles, and Revelation all proclaim the blessed hope of our Lord’s return to bring the dead back to life and, in doing so, defeat the last enemy—Death ( 1 Cor. 15:26 ). It would seem like resurrection is an exclusively New Testament hope. But you grab this hope and pull, you’ll find it has roots leading you deep into the Old Testament. God has provi...

The first mention of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament is seen as early as in Genesis 1:2 . We are so used to hearing Christian ministers say that the Holy Spirit is the third in the order of Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). Ironically, the Lord Holy Spirit is even described as the “youngest” among the Trinity. Here we see Him mentioned as the Second Person. In his benediction in 2 Cor. 13:14 St. Paul revises this order again. (Son—Father---Holy Spirit). Seriously, there is no ‘’pecking order’’ in Trinity. They are co-equal and co-existent. We see the Lord in Genesis 1:2 where He hovers over the void and chaotic earth bringing order to the world. We see the Holy Spirit playing an active role in the recreation of the earth, sun, moon, stars, vegetation, birds, fish, and animals. Man doesn’t become a living being until God says, “let US make man in our own image and likeness ( Genesis 1:26) and seeks the assistance of the Holy Spirit. In giving life to man m...

“But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it” (Matthew 7:14). Jesus here describes an unfortunate situation that prevails in the world. Christians are now and have always been in the minority. Most of the people presently living have not trusted Jesus Christ as their Savior. This has been the case throughout history. It is in this connection Jesus made the above statement. The gate that leads to eternal life is narrow. This does not mean it is difficult to become Christian, but it means there is only one way to eternal life with God, and that only a few decide to walk that way. Believing in Jesus is the only way to heaven because He alone died for our sins and made us right before God.   Living His way may not be popular, but it is true and right. I. There are several reasons why a large part of humanity has rejected Jesus as their Savior.             (1) Chr...

For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone. — Psalm 91:11-12 NKJV Father  Thomas Rosica , an eminent Roman Catholic scholar says, "Angels are very important because they provide people with evidence that God is intimately involved in human life”. Among the many promises that God makes with reference to those that trust in Him, the above verse is one. He gives His angels charge over us. That is, He commands His angels to take care of us. In Hebrews 1:14 it says, "All the angels are spirits who serve God and are sent to help those who will receive salvation." Angels are created spiritual beings that God assigns to continuously watch over those who trust in Him. Indeed, the continuous presence of the angels watching over us necessitates their setting up camp around us (Psalm 34:7).  The angels watch over us in order to keep us in all our ways. This p...