While you should bypass that football shirt with Philippians 4:13 on it, don’t miss the bigger lesson from Paul’s letter. No matter what twists and turns you find yourself taking in the Christian life, you can learn to be content with a joyful spirit just as the apostle Paul exemplified. If you find yourself on a mountain peak or valley floor—the blessings or trials should not prevent you from walking by faith with a joyful heart. If you find yourself suffering for the sake of following in the footsteps of Jesus, as you take up your cross, do so with a heart of contentment and joy.

If you pay attention to social media, it’s very common to see athletes posting #Phil413 in relation to their athletic accomplishments. The Bible verse appears on t-shirts for Christian schools, the social media platforms for MMA fighters, and it’s likewise used by Track & Field athletes as they seek to give credit to Christ for their abilities.
The verse became more widely known due to Tim Tebow, the former Heisman winner and quarterback for the Florida Gators during the 2008 season. As Tebow led his team to the national championship game against Oklahoma, he and his teammates would write messages in their black eye paint before every game. As players were in the locker room writing their mother’s name or their zip code under their eyes, Tebow decided to go a different direction. He wrote Philippians 4:13.
During the national championship game, Tim Tebow chose a different Bible verse. He wrote John 3:16 under his eyes knowing that the cameras would be focused on him throughout the entire game. Following the game, he was informed that some 94 million people had searched for “John 3:16” on Google. While that’s certainly a great thing, what about Philippians 4:13? Is it about scoring touchdowns or winning the big game?
One of the pastoral epistles in the New Testament is known as “Philippians” because it was addressed to the church in the city of Philippi. This letter also contains one of the most famous verses in the Bible—Philippians 4:13.
As Paul penned this letter, he was writing from prison.  Paul was not writing from a magnificent library. He was not writing from a comfortable vacation resort. He was writing from prison and he had a specific purpose in mind as he addressed the church in this strategic city east of Rome. This city of Philippi was located on the main highway (Via Egnatia) that stretched from Rome to the east.  Therefore, it received many visitors, prospered economically, and became a wealthy city. It was there that God raised up a church.
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Paul and Barnabas encouraged God’s people by reminding them: “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). Barnabas did not encourage people by affirming them in what they wanted to do and be. Nor did he encourage people by telling them what they wanted to hear. He encouraged them in the truths of the Word of God. True encouragement comes from God and His truth. True encouragement directs us to find hope and comfort in the Gospel.

Acts 11:24 says this of Barnabas: he was “a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.” God describes Barnabas as a man who lived by the strength and grace of the Holy Spirit. God describes Barnabas a man who believed His Word, a man whose live greatly encouraged others. Anyone that God publicly assesses this way is someone that we want to emulate!
Most of what we know about Barnabas we find in the book of Acts. Barnabas (real name Joseph) was a Levite whose family had relocated to Cyprus sometime during Israel’s turbulent history (Acts 4:36). He also had family in Jerusalem that was fairly well-connected: Mary, John Mark’s mother, and maybe others. He himself was a well-off landowner, with land in Cyprus and/or Jerusalem. Apparently, he was in Jerusalem when the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, and he stayed there after receiving Christ.
A Son of Encouragement
We see in Acts how powerfully God used this man. His life and ministry is summed up for us in the name that he was given by the apostles: “Barnabas.” This name means “son of encouragement.” The dominating characteristic of his life was that he encouraged others to know and faithfully follow Christ.
When we read about Barnabas in Scripture, we learn from his example how we too can be used of God to encourage others for Christ. We, like Barnabas, can and should have a ministry of encouragement. The writer of Hebrews exhorts us to be “encouraging one another, and all the more as we see the Day drawing near” (10:25).
How did Barnabas’s life encourage others so profoundly? How did his life exemplify being an encourager to the church?
Barnabas was an example of consecration/dedication.
He sold his land (Acts 4:32-37).
After Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was working mightily. Many new believers were selling their assets and using the money to meet urgent needs. Not only did Barnabas gave a large offering to God to help, but he also apparently sold his land and gave all the proceeds to the apostles. He gave away his financial security. This act of whole-hearted faith and generosity born out of love for Christ encouraged others to be willing to give and sacrifice for the work of the Lord as well. This was the first major way that Barnabas’ example encouraged others. Everything Barnabas had was God’s.
He gave up his rights to better serve Christ (1 Cor 9).
Barnabas was the apostle Paul’s co-laborer to the Gentiles. He agreed with Paul to choose tentmaking instead of receiving regular financial support. He and Paul did this so that those they preached Christ to would not be confused about their motives. This decision meant that Paul and Barnabas would have to expend lots of time and energy on supplying needs and face financial difficulties that they could have otherwise avoided.
He and Paul chose not to marry as they pursued an itinerant and dangerous ministry. They laid aside their rights to lifestyle choices, choosing instead to live in ways that maximized their usefulness to Christ.
Barnabas willingly sacrificed for others and the ministry of the Gospel. He made sacrifices that had long-term effects on his life. Barnabas lived out consecration.
I have known missionaries who gave up lucrative jobs in the USA to serve Christ full-time in cross-cultural ministry. I recently met a young single woman who took a teaching job in one of the most dangerous American inner-city ghettos to be a light for Jesus there. Testimonies like these spur others to consider what they should do for Christ.
Barnabas was an example of faith and trust in others.
He believed in Saul/Paul (Acts 9:26-31).
Everyone was afraid of the ruthless Saul who had hurt so many Christians, especially in Jerusalem. Now this same man returned to Jerusalem preaching Christ and wanting to fellowship with the believers! No one wanted to believe that Saul was real.
Barnabas heard Sauls’ testimony, observed his life, and believed in him, even when no one else would. He was willing to take that risk. Using his own influence, he brought Saul to the other apostles and urged them to accept him—which they did. Barnabas’s faith and courage was a huge encouragement to Saul first, then to all of the church of Christ as they then witnessed God’s saving grace upon Saul’s life (I will refer to Saul only as Paul).
He believed in the Gentile believers (Acts 11:22-23).
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Written by Gary L. Shultz Jr. |
Thursday, May 5, 2022
Jesus Christ came as the Second Elisha, the ultimate Spirit-empowered prophet, and he succeeded in his conquest, making it possible for anyone who believed to experience new life through the Holy Spirit under the new covenant. Elisha’s life anticipated the life of Christ, and in doing so it also anticipates the Spirit-filled life all Christ-followers are able to have. Elisha helps us understand that through the Holy Spirit we can know God, bring life and healing in a culture of death, represent the presence of God, and do even greater works than our Master (John 14:12).

In the book of Kings, Elisha is the Spirit-empowered man of God who walks with God, represents God, and shows the way to covenant faithfulness through word and deed. Elisha therefore serves as a preview of knowing God in the new covenant through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. We will see this as we examine the Spirit’s role in Elisha’s life from Kings, particularly in the narrative of Elisha succeeding Elijah (2 Kings 2:1–18), and how Elisha’s Spirit-empowered ministry points forward to the Spirit-empowered ministry of Jesus Christ, the inauguration of the new covenant, and what it means for Jesus’s followers to live in the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.

The primary theological truth the book of Kings communicates is that Israel’s God is the one and only God, the only true God.1 Because Israel’s God is the only true God, the people of Israel, led by their king, must exclusively worship God and keep God’s law as written in the Mosaic Covenant if they expect to experience his blessing. Lisa Wray-Beal states this about the message of Kings: “As king and people walk in the torah, they prove their identity as covenant people. But when they walk outside the deuteronomic norms of the covenant, they face discipline and ultimately exile from the land.”2 Unfortunately, as the book of Kings records, the kings of Israel, beginning with Solomon, do not worship God exclusively or keep his law, and instead of experiencing the blessings of the covenant the nation experiences its curses. Solomon commits idolatry near the end of his life and the kingdom is divided (1 Kgs 11:1–13). The subsequent kings of the divided northern and southern kingdoms follow Solomon’s example and, with few exceptions, continue to lead the people away from the one, true God.3 Both the northern kingdom (2 Kgs 17) and the southern kingdom (2 Kgs 25) ultimately experience exile for their sins. The repetitiveness of each king’s sinful reign, leading the people further and further away from God, establishes that the exile of each kingdom, the present reality of the original audience of the book, is well-deserved.4
In the midst of this history of king after king leading the people away from God we find two prophets who demonstrate God’s grace and covenant faithfulness despite the people’s sin. The narrative space and the narrative placement of these two prophets highlight their importance to the narrative as a whole. The account of these two prophets, Elijah and Elisha, in 1 Kings 17—2 Kings 13, is the center of the book of Kings, comprising roughly 40% of the narrative.5 Elijah arrives on the scene at a decisive juncture in Israel’s history, as Ahab and Jezebel are leading the people away from God and toward the false god Baal (1 Kgs 16:29–17:1), and Elisha’s ministry effectively ends when Ahab’s dynasty does (2 Kgs 9:1–3). The two prophets’ miracles, ministry, and presence serve to call the people back to the one, true God and his covenant. Elijah and Elisha remind the people who God really is, especially when compared to the false gods the people are choosing to worship, and what it means to live before this God.6
One of the primary ways that the two prophets remind the people who God is and what it means to live before him is through the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives. The Holy Spirit’s presence and power is particularly noted in the narrative of Elisha succeeding Elijah (2 Kgs 2:1–18), where Elisha receives a “double portion” of Elijah’s spirit (2 Kgs 2:9–10). While the Spirit’s ministry and presence is implicit throughout Elijah’s ministry (though explicitly mentioned in conjunction with Elijah’s ministry in 1 Kgs 18:12), it is in and through Elisha, as Elijah’s successor, that the Holy Spirit’s presence and power is particularly emphasized. This emphasis on the Holy Spirit in the life and ministry of Elisha helps us to understand his purpose in Kings and the whole of the biblical canon, and gives us more insight into the things concerning Jesus in all the Scriptures (Luke 24:27).7 In the context of Kings, as so many in Israel have rejected God and his covenant, Elisha serves not only as a prophet calling the people to covenant faithfulness, but as the Spirit-empowered man of God who walks with God, represents God, and demonstrates the way to covenant faithfulness. As the Spirit-empowered man of God leading the people to covenant faithfulness, however, Elisha serves as more than an example of living before God under the old covenant; he also serves as a preview of what it will mean to walk with God in the new covenant in Jesus Christ, which is ultimately how God’s people will know him and what it means to live for him.
This article demonstrates this truth by establishing the evidence and importance of the Holy Spirit’s ministry in Elisha’s life and then explaining how Elisha’s Spirit-empowered ministry points forward to the Spirit-empowered ministry of Jesus Christ and the inauguration of the new covenant. I compare and contrast Elisha’s experience of the Holy Spirit with Elijah’s experience of the Holy Spirit, and then compare and contrast Elisha’s experience with Jesus’s experience, demonstrating how the Gospels explicitly draw an analogy between Elisha’s ministry and Jesus’s ministry. Elisha’s life and ministry in the Holy Spirit ultimately preview what life with God could one day look like under the new covenant. Jesus then makes the preview a reality for all who come to him. To all facing exile from God and the kingdom for their sins, Elisha is an example of how, when we trust the one, true God, all of us can know and walk with him through the Holy Spirit because of who Jesus Christ is and what he has done.
1. The Spirit in the Life and Ministry of Elisha
The center of the Elijah and Elisha narrative is 2 Kings 2, and the center of that chapter is verses 9–13, which narrate Elijah’s ascension into heaven and Elisha’s succession into the prophetic office vacated by Elijah.8 Once Elijah and Elisha have crossed over the dry ground of the Jordan, Elijah asks Elisha what he can do for him before he is taken from him (2:9a). Elisha requests a “double portion” of Elijah’s Spirit (2:9b). Jewish tradition interpreted this request as Elisha asking for a “doubling” of Elijah’s Spirit, or twice as much of the Spirit as Elijah possessed.9 Elisha’s request for a double portion, however, most likely refers to the customs of inheritance for the firstborn son (Deut 21:17). As Paul Watson notes, “Elisha is simply asking to be designated by Elijah as his true and legitimate successor. The bene hannebi’im present at the scene might be construed as other ‘sons’ of Elijah. Elisha wishes to be recognized as the firstborn of these ‘sons,’ with all the rights and privileges of the firstborn duly accorded to him.”10 Elijah responds to Elisha by telling him that his request is difficult (2 Kgs 2:10a), most likely because it is impossible for him to fulfill; only God can grant that request.11 Elijah then tells Elisha that he would know if he was Elijah’s Spirit-empowered successor if he saw him ascend into heaven (2:10b). As the two prophets walk and talk, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separate them, and Elijah is taken to heaven in a whirlwind (2:11). Elisha witnesses the entire event, indicating that God granted his request for the double portion of Elijah’s Spirit (that this is indeed the case is confirmed by the sons of the prophets in 2:15), tears his clothes into two pieces as an act of mourning, and picks up Elijah’s cloak (2:12–13). The transfer of Elijah’s cloak to Elisha, the same cloak that Elijah threw upon Elisha when he first commissioned him (1 Kgs 19:19) and with which Elijah divided the waters of the Jordan (2 Kgs 2:8), also symbolizes that God has transferred Elijah’s prophetic power to Elijah.12
As the bearer of the firstborn’s portion of the prophetic Spirit of the Lord, Elisha succeeds Elijah and does similar, Spirit-empowered acts in his ministry, just as God promised Elijah he would (1 Kgs 19:16). For example, both prophets speak the word of the Lord (e.g., 1 Kgs 17:1; 2 Kgs 3:16–20), and both prophets call the people back to proper worship and conduct before the Lord (e.g., 1 Kgs 18:17–40; 2 Kgs 6:20–23).13 The most prominent parallel Kings makes between the two prophets and their ministries, however, is in their miracles of healing, giving life, provision, controlling nature, and judgment. While Kings does not always explicitly mention the Holy Spirit’s work in Elijah’s and Elisha’s’ miracles, the central importance of 2 Kings 2 in the narrative gives us ample reason to understand their miracles as works of the Spirit, and the New Testament’s description of the Holy Spirit’s work reinforces this understanding.14
Through the Holy Spirit, Elijah does the following:

causes a drought and famine to come to Israel while ravens feed him (1 Kgs 17:1–7);
feeds a widow and her son for many days on one jar of flour and one flask of oil (1 Kgs 17:8–16);
raises the widow’s son from the dead (1 Kgs 17:17–24);
calls down fire from heaven to burn his sacrifice to the Lord (1 Kgs 18:36–38);
brings rain to end the drought and famine (1 Kgs 18:41–45);
runs ahead of King Ahab to Jezreel (1 Kgs 18:46);
calls down fire from heaven to destroy two groups of men sent by King Ahaziah (2 Kgs 1:9–12); and
divides the waters of the Jordan with his cloak (2 Kgs 2:8).

Through the Holy Spirit, Elisha performs these mighty works:

divides the waters of the Jordan with Elijah’s cloak (2 Kgs 2:13–14);
heals the waters of Jericho by throwing salt into the spring (2 Kgs 2:19–22);
curses his harassers in Bethel, which results in two female bears mauling forty-two of them (2 Kgs 2:23–25);
provides water for the soldiers and animals of Jehoram and Jehoshaphat (2 Kgs 3:9–20);
multiplies the widow’s oil (2 Kgs 4:1–7);
promises a son to a barren woman, whom she bears the next year (2 Kgs 4:13–17);
raises the woman’s son from the dead (2 Kgs 4:18–37);
heals the deadly stew (2 Kgs 4:38–41);
feeds many from twenty loaves of bread and some grain (2 Kgs 4:42–44);
heals Naaman from his leprosy (2 Kgs 5:1–14);
curses Gehazi for his greed, resulting in leprosy for him (2 Kgs 5:26–27);
causes an iron ax-head to float (2 Kgs 6:1–7);
causes the servant to see horses and chariots of fire, causes the Syrians to be blind and then causes them to see (2 Kgs 6:18–20); and
ends a famine in Israel (2 Kgs 7:1–20).

Elijah and Elisha both end famines, resurrect a widow’s son from the dead, feed people, bring judgment upon the Lord’s enemies, and divide the waters of the Jordan. Gros Louis elaborates on this similarity:
Although some of the miracles differ in nature, they are basically the same in their execution and in the means employed…. We are aware that it is not Elijah who is the powerful one, since Elisha can do the same things—either Elijah and Elisha are equal in power and magic, or their skill comes from another source. And, of course, everything in Kings points to that other source being the Lord God of Israel.15
The same God who was at work in Elijah is now at work in his successor, Elisha. As later biblical revelation explains, the presence and power of the Lord God of Israel in human beings is the Holy Spirit of God.
But Elisha not only succeeds Elijah as the Spirit-empowered prophet, he exceeds him. In Kings, this sets apart Elisha in particular, even when compared to Elijah, as the example of the Spirit-empowered man. Kings indicates at least five ways that Elisha surpasses Elijah as the Spirit-empowered prophet.
First, Elisha performs almost twice as many miracles as Elijah, and several of these miracles are intensifications of Elijah’s miracles. For example, Elijah feeds a widow and her son for many days on one jar of flour and one flask of oil (1 Kgs 17:8–16), whereas Elisha provides water for the soldiers and animals of Jehoram and Jehoshaphat (2 Kgs 3:9–20), multiplies the widow’s oil (2 Kgs 4:1–7), heals deadly stew (2 Kgs 4:38–41), and feeds many from twenty loaves of bread and some grain (2 Kgs 4:42–44). Elijah raises the widow’s son from the dead (1 Kgs 17:17–24), whereas Elisha promises a son to a barren woman, who then bears the son the next year (2 Kgs 4:13–17), and then later raises the widow’s son from the dead (2 Kgs 4:18–37).16
Second, the presence of the “sons of the prophets” (2 Kgs 2:3, 5, 7, 15; 4:1, 38; 5:22; 6:1; 9:1) in Elisha’s ministry stands in contrast to Elijah’s solitary ministry. While the sons of the prophets existed during Elijah’s ministry, and Elisha would eventually accompany Elijah as his replacement, their presence is particularly emphasized in the Elisha narrative. The sons of the prophets accompanied Elisha from the beginning, self-identifying as Elisha’s servants (2 Kgs 2:15; 4:1), living with him in community (2 Kgs 6:1–6), and sharing and supporting his ministry (2 Kgs 9:6–10).17 Drawing together disciples, creating community, and fostering unity are all works of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2; 1 Cor 12–14).
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