The person of the Godhead most often treated as an afterthought—who the Spirit is, what he does in the new birth and the Christian life, and whether the miraculous gifts still continue.
Much of this came out of a seminary course on the Holy Spirit, and it splits three ways: who the Spirit is, what he does, and the question that tends to swallow the rest—whether the sign gifts continued past the apostles. On the gifts I argue for cessationism, but carefully; and on a favorite grammatical proof for the Spirit’s personality, I argue the proof fails even though the doctrine holds.
Who the Spirit Is 4
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Publication · 2011
Andy Naselli and I argue that the masculine pronouns in John 14–16 do not prove the Spirit’s personality—and that a true doctrine deserves better arguments.
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Prooftexting the Personality of the Holy Spirit (Expanded Version)
Publication · 2011
The same article with every adherent’s quotation restored in full—what print required us to abridge.
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Did John Use Bad Grammar to Teach the Holy Spirit’s Personality?
Post · January 2015
The Spirit is a person—but did John really use a “wrong” masculine pronoun to prove it? Andy Naselli and I argue that popular grammatical proof doesn’t work, and doesn’t need to.
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What Is the Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit?
Paper · 2003
The sin that has haunted tender consciences for centuries—what blasphemy against the Spirit actually is, and who should and shouldn’t fear having committed it.
The Spirit’s Work 2
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A Biblical Theology of Regeneration in the Old and New Testaments
Sermon · 2003
The new birth across both Testaments: what regeneration is, how the Spirit works it, and why a dead person can no more raise himself than an unborn one.
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Walk by the Spirit (Galatians 5:16–26)
Sermon · 2003
Galatians 5:16–26: because the Spirit is the source of your salvation, walk by him—and the works of the flesh give way to his fruit.
The Gifts and Cessationism 3
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Has the Gift of Tongues Ceased? A Defense of Practical Cessationism
Paper · 2003
A defense of “practical” cessationism—why the tongues of the New Testament are not what today’s movement claims, argued without overreaching what Scripture says.
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Pettegrew on the Cessation of (All of) the Spiritual Gifts
Post · February 2009
Larry Pettegrew’s striking claim that all the gifts—not only the miraculous ones—belonged to the apostolic era, with the evidence he marshals for it.
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Carson on 1 Cor 13:8–13—What Am I Missing?
Post · November 2006
Preparing to teach on tongues, a genuine puzzle: Carson takes issue with Gaffin on 1 Corinthians 13:8–13, and I can’t quite see what he’s seeing.