- Jun 30, 2006
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He is able to help us to intercede because He intercedes through us and equips us for service.
Amen, when we put our faith, love, and trust in Him, He calls us friend.Who is by my side when I am in trouble?
Who do I turn to when I am lonely?
Lord, your Holy Spirit is with me,
My Helper,
My Comforter,
And Friend,
Thank you Jesus,
I praise you for the gift of your Holy Spirit.
God is our friend.I believe that we should focus more on the spirit, but never make requests to him, nor call him friend. Biblically neither God nor Jesus is our friend, and the spirit is the helper not receiver of request: even the lord should never be asked for anything with one or two exceptions (eg maranatha). But other forms of prayer, eg devotion, praise, gratitude, complain, chat, are all appropriate. I’d love us to get to the stage where we spend as much time praying to & (two-way) with him, as to/with the father & his son. So many songs attributing things to Jesus miss out the spirit: eg “he walks with me and he talks with me” are directly the spirit and only indirectly Jesus. Yet “come Holy Spirit” songs go too far the other way. Lyricology influences our thinking and should be radically revamped, I think, reinstating the spirit to his proper position.
As D A Carson said, "not once is Jesus or God ever described in the Bible as our friend” (The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God, 2000:47). C S Lewis made the same point, using the terms symmetrical/asymmetrical. I am a friend of God; God is not a friend of mine. I am a servant of Jesus; Jesus not a servant of mine. If Jhn.15 was symmetrical, John could have replied to Jesus that on the same basis of Jesus obeying him he would kindly let Jesus into his plans. Divine friendship glorified, rather than excluded, servanthood. Subordinationism remains a biblical given.God is our friend.
James 2:23 John 15:15
While I reject your source quote-that the H/S is our friend-I accept your point that we are his friends (asymmetrical). I think this a valid trinitarian inference from Jhn.15 and predicated on the same basis of our obedience in the new covenant setting.Amen, when we put our faith, love, and trust in Him, He calls us friend.
What do you make of this verse?As D A Carson said, "not once is Jesus or God ever described in the Bible as our friend” (The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God, 2000:47). C S Lewis made the same point, using the terms symmetrical/asymmetrical. I am a friend of God; God is not a friend of mine. I am a servant of Jesus; Jesus not a servant of mine. If Jhn.15 was symmetrical, John could have replied to Jesus that on the same basis of Jesus obeying him he would kindly let Jesus into his plans. Divine friendship glorified, rather than excluded, servanthood. Subordinationism remains a biblical given.
I guess you inquire whether I accept that as being a counterargument to my point about servitude. In short, no. God the son became our servant but not in the sense of calling us lord, whereas we become servants in the sense of calling him lord. The contextual—rather than theological—meaning is simply that his mission was to help (serve) us, not to obey us. Indeed diakonēsai (also Mk.10:45) is in the aorist—the idea of the emphatic one-off event of the cross? It was an asymmetrical servanthood, serving our interests by serving his father. Ironically by us serving Jesus we don’t help him except by helping his mission to help ourselves: deity has no need of us.What do you make of this verse?
Matthew 20:28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
This profile is fake - Since you claimed to be from West Yorkshire, but you have a New England dialect, which is typical of Northeastern America.I guess you inquire whether I accept that as being a counterargument to my point about servitude. In short, no. God the son became our servant but not in the sense of calling us lord, whereas we become servants in the sense of calling him lord. The contextual—rather than theological—meaning is simply that his mission was to help (serve) us, not to obey us. Indeed diakonēsai (also Mk.10:45) is in the aorist—the idea of the emphatic one-off event of the cross? It was an asymmetrical servanthood, serving our interests by serving his father. Ironically by us serving Jesus we don’t help him except by helping his mission to help ourselves: deity has no need of us.
Fascinating, unjustified, and incorrect attack on my honesty. Ad hominem?This profile is fake - Since you claimed to be from West Yorkshire, but you have a New England dialect, which is typical of Northeastern America.
You don't seem to realise that W. Yorkshire is not the most cultured part of England, which is a far cry from the South.
Therefore, it's obvious that you know little to nothing about the U.K. and its various regional dialects. LOL
By definition, "Ad hominem is no ad hominem", in the context of relevant evidence to refute this.Fascinating, unjustified, and incorrect attack on my honesty. Ad hominem?
An ad hominem argument is where one attacks an opponent rather than their argument – the easier target. My question mark invited verification or falsification of the idea that you have wished to employ such rather than wishing to engage in the germane comments of the thread. A complaint about my profile could have been made to a site official (not this thread), leaving any complaints about my argument to be made to the thread (not to an official).By definition, "Ad hominem is no ad hominem", in the context of relevant evidence to refute this.
You sound like a Harvard educated "American", but you don't sound British at all. End of story.