We are taught that we must become upright people who, in God’s sight, are blameless and fully keep His commandments. “In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly” [(Modern Translation: “When Herod was king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah of the division of Abijah, and his wife Elizabeth also came from the family of Aaron. They were righteous before God and faithfully kept all the Lord’s commandments and regulations without fault”)] (Luke 1:5–6). While meditating on this passage, I would like to draw out the lessons given to us: (1) The author of Luke’s Gospel, Luke, first wrote to Theophilus about John the Baptist’s parents. The father’s name was “Zechariah” (meaning, “The LORD remembers...
Those who are being led by the Holy Spirit (2) [Romans 8:14-17] Second, let us think about t he cry of “Abba! Father!” Look at Romans 8:15 – “ For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, ‘Abba! Father!’” There are several theories about what or who “a spirit of slavery” and “a spirit of adoption” are mentioned here, but they can be summarized into three: (1) The theory that the spirit of slavery or the spirit of adoption refers to our human spirit; (2) The theory that the spirit of slavery is an evil spirit and the spirit of adoption is the Holy Spirit; and (3) The theory that both the spirit of slavery or the spirit of adoption refers to the Holy Spirit. I support the third theory, 'Bo...