The Spirit of prophecy and renewal

Westbourne Grove Church, which I help to lead, is part of the Forge Sphere of churches in the south of England, which used to be part of Salt & Light, which is a network of “neocharismatic Evangelical” churches associated with the British New Church Movement.

So no surprise that the Forge summer camp at beautiful Ashburnham Place in East Sussex had some serious charismatic energy to it, boosted by rumours of a “quiet revival.”

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None is righteous, no, not one? Not so!
One obvious retort to the argument that Paul allows for the existence of unbelieving righteous Gentiles who will be justified on the basis of their good deeds on the day of God’s wrath is that he goes on to state emphatically, quoting the scriptures, that “None is righteous, no, not one” (… ( | 1 comment)
John Barclay, Paul and the Gift, and those bothersome righteous Gentiles
I have finally got round to reading John Barclay’s highly esteemed Paul and the Gift, and he almost persuaded me to change my mind about the identity of the Gentiles who do not have the Law but do what the law requires (Rom. 2:14).I have been going backwards and forwards over the last few… ()
Paul’s letter to the Romans (3:1-4:25)
Romans 3:1-4:25 As an apostle of the gospel of God concerning his Son, Paul has argued so far that the Greek-Roman world, as he has encountered it in the course of his missionary journeys from Antioch to Athens, faces a day of God’s wrath or judgment. This constitutes the historical horizon of the… ()
Paul’s letter to the Romans (1:19-2:29)
Romans 1:19-2:29Why does good news need to be heard regarding the “power of God for salvation”? Why does God have to justify himself by ensuring that the righteous person lives because of faith or faithfulness?The reason is that “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all impiety and… ( | 6 comments)
The historical meaning of Jesus’ parable of the dragnet
Jesus tells a rather disturbing story about the judgment of his people at the end of the age of second temple Judaism. This is my very functional translation: ()
Paul’s letter to the Romans (1:1-18)
Romans 1:1-18 Paul, apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ (1:1-7) Paul introduces himself to those in Rome who are “called to be saints” as a slave of Christ and an apostle, “set apart for the gospel of God.” The “gospel” is the proclamation of good news, anticipated in the Jewish scriptures,… ( | 7 comments)
What was the name which is above every name?
I take several chapters in my book In the Form of a God: The Pre-existence of the Exalted Christ in Paul to argue that in the first part of the Christ encomium in Philippians 2:6-11 the direction of travel is ontologically flat: not from heaven to earth but from celebrity to… ( | 3 comments)