John Mark Hicks

Living in evil times, we walk wisely as we discern the will of God and seek to be filled with the Spirit. We choose wisdom rather than foolishness and drunkenness. Filled with the Spirit, we gather as people who sing and make melody to the Lord through speaking the Psalms to each other, giving thanks […]

Paul opens the letter with a long blessing or doxology that is a single sentence (from verse 3 to verse 14). While our English translations do not reflect this (because that would be bad English), the rhetorical flare of the single Greek sentence is magnificent, explosive, and comprehensive. Summary Opening the letter by blessing God […]

After the ascension of Jesus to the right hand of the Father, one hundred and twenty disciples, including the mother of Jesus, were gathered together in one place (ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ). They were all devoted (προσκαρτεροῦντες) to praying and waiting for the promised Holy Spirit (Acts 1:14-15). On the day of Pentecost, they were all […]

Texts: 2 Corinthians 3:17-18; 13:13; 1 Corinthians 12:4-7 Days 68-70 in Around the Bible in Eighty Days. For many the Holy Spirit is an impersonal, imperceptible, and indiscernible force.  Cloaked in mystery, many find it difficult to “get a handle” on the Spirit. The Spirit has no “face” like Jesus nor any personal metaphors, such as […]

J. M. R. Tillard, Flesh of the Church, Flesh of Christ: At the Source the Ecclesiology of Communion, trans. Madeleine Beaumount (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 2001). I have now read the fourth of twelve books suggested by FB friends. This one was recommended by Reece LaBlanc. This is my summary; and this one is […]

Paul’s “new covenant” ministry is life-giving, hopeful, and glorious. This contrasts with the glory of Moses’ “old covenant” ministry which was hidden to Israel in the wilderness but is fully revealed in Christ. The movement from “old covenant” to “new covenant” is not so much an abolition of the “old covenant,” or a sense that […]

Paul asks, who is sufficient (competent, qualified, or adequate) for the ministry of reconciliation? This question begins a lengthy digression (if that is an appropriate description; 2 Corinthians 2:14-7:4) where Paul describes the significance, practice, and meaning of the ministry of reconciliation in which he is engaged for the sake of the Corinthians and others. […]

For many the Holy Spirit is an impersonal, imperceptible, and indiscernible force.  Cloaked in mystery, many find it difficult to “get a handle” on the Spirit. The Spirit has no “face” like Jesus nor any personal metaphors, such as parent, mother, or husband, like Israel’s God. Our desire, of course, is not so much to […]

[Note: I am attempting to keep these SBD installments under 2000 words each, but that is–of course–quite inadequate for the topics covered. Consequently, these contributions are more programmatic than they are explanatory or defenses of the positions stated. You may access the whole series at my Serial page.] The Holy Spirit, as the personal presence […]

[Note: I am attempting to keep these SBD installments under 2000 words each, but that is–of course–quite inadequate for the topics covered. Consequently, these contributions are more programmatic than they are explanatory or defenses of the positions stated. You may access the whole series at my Serial page.] The divine ontology is Being-in-Relation—the Christian narrative […]