Hendrickson
Publishers, Peabody, Mass, 1996 AJM
May 2004
This is an
extremely helpful look at the ministry of the Holy Spirit and its place in the
church. It’s a reduction of his tome God’s
empowering presence. He’s a Pentecostal theologian, and this book is a
thorough look at the role of the HS in scripture. It offers a basis for
re-examining what we mean by renewal and what it means to live in the power of
the Holy Spirit as individuals, but more particularly as churches. It is not
particularly reader-friendly; the chapters are helpfully short but the style
not easy.
Preface – note
that Paul never intended pneumatikos
to refer either to the human spirit or to some vague idea like ‘spiritual’;
always he is referring to the HS.
One reads Paul poorly who does not recognize that for
him the presence of the Spirit, as an experienced and living reality, was the
crucial matter for Christian life, from beginning to end.
Reason for concern
– ‘in an increasingly secular, individualistic, and relativistic world – dubbed
‘post-Christian’ in the 1960s and now called ‘postmodern’ – the church is
regularly viewed as irrelevant at best and Neanderthal at worst. Frankly, much
of the fault lies with the church, especially those of us in the church who
pride ourselves in being orthodox with regard to the historic faith, for all
too often our orthodoxy has been either diluted by an unholy alliance with a
given political agenda, or diminished by legalistic or relativistic ethics
quite unrelated to the character of God, or rendered ineffective by a pervasive
rationalism in an increasingly nonrationalistic world.’
Reason for hope –
contemporary postmodernism looks much like the culture of the Greco-Roman world
into which the gospel first appeared some 2000 years ago. The secret of the
success of the early believers was their ‘good news’ centred in the life, death
and resurrection of Jesus; but also with their experienced life of the Spirit
who made the work of Christ an effective reality in their lives, thus making
them a radical alternative within their culture.
Not so with us –
the Spirit has been largely marginalized both in the halls of learning and in
the life of the church as a community of faith. It isn’t that he’s not present
– he is, or we are not of Christ at all. But our emphasis has been on his
quiescence – the still small voice rather than the wind, earthquake or fire;
the fruits of the spirit rather than the gifts of the Spirit, which we have
suggested were for the apostolic period only.
This common
‘missing out’ on the Spirit as an experienced, empowering reality has
frequently been corrected historically through a variety of Spirit movements –
most recently in the pentecostal and charismatic movements, where emphasis has
been placed more on the wind earthquake and fire, and the main texts are Acts
and 1 Cor 12-14. These movts have tended to emphasize individualistic
spirituality, so that the reality of the Spirit is sometimes merely experienced
in the experience; and have betrayed inadequate theological reflection.
The result has
been a truncated view of the Spirit on both sides. For Paul, life in the Spirit
meant both fruits and gifts – ‘life in the radical middle’. The Spirit as an
empowering, experienced reality was the key to all Christian life. We tend to
miss out 2 other dimensions too : Spirit as person,
the promised personal return of God’s presence with his people; and Spirit as
eschatological fulfilment, who reconstitutes God’s people and enables us to live
the life of the future in our inbetween-times existence.
If the church is going to be effective in our
postmodern world, we need to stop paying mere lip service to the Spirit and to
recapture Paul’s perspective: the Spirit as the experienced, empowering
return of God’s own personal presence in and among us, who enables us to
live as a radically eschatological people in the present world while we
await the consummation. All the rest, including fruit and gifts (that is,
ethical life and charismatic utterances in worship), serve to that end. xv
our
theology and experience of the Spirit must be more interwoven if our
experienced life of the Spirit is to be more effective
Everyone has a
theology – even if unrecognised. A theology is a view of God and the world. Q
is not do you have one, but do you have a good one!
The health of the
contemporary church necessitates that its theology
and its experience of the Spirit
correspond much more closely than they have in much of the past.
Paul’s theology is
not the reflective theology of the scholar or classroom; his is a task
theology, which takes place in the marketplace, where belief and the experience
of God run into the thought systems, religions and everyday life of the people
out there in the world. We are dealing with early Christian experience – Paul’s understanding of the
Spirit is a matter of lived-out faith. It was through the Spirit that the early
believers received the salvation that Christ brought, and how they understood
themselves as living at the beginning of the end times.
Continuity and discontinuity with
the past
Old
covenant (God’s word, communicated by prophet and poet) vs new covenant (God’s
word, communicated by apostles and teachers). Paul’s perspective both continues and modifies the
tradition in which he was reared. He sees himself and his churches as being in
a direct line with the people of God in the OT (1 Cor 10, Gal 4), but he also
sees the people of God as newly formed (Rom 7-8, Gal 5)
There are 4
essential elements of Paul’s theology, all of which form around the stable core
of what he calls ‘the gospel’ (it can’t be reduced to a single theme, eg
justification by faith):
²
Foundation:
a gracious, merciful and loving God
²
Framework:
the fulfilment of God’s promises as already begun but not completed
²
Focus:
Jesus the Son of God who brought salvation
²
Fruit:
the church as an eschatological community
The Spirit is an
essential ingredient to all these.
the outpouring of the Spirit
meant for Paul that God had fulfilled his promise to dwell once again in and
among his people
‘Presence’ is a
delicious word. Nothing can take its place. What do we miss when a loved one dies?
Presence. When we are ill, what do we need? Presence. What makes shared life so pleasurable? Presence. Not gifts, phone calls, words – just presence. God
has made us this way because he is a relational being. The problem with the Fall is that we lost not just our vision of God but our
relationship with God. For Paul the coming of Christ and the Spirit changed
that. The Holy Spirit marked the promised return of
the lost presence of God, the arrival of the new covenant (Deut 30.6
circumcision of the heart, Jer 31 new covenant written on their hearts, Ez 36
write it on their hearts). It included the renewal of the prophetic word (Joel
2.28-30; 1 Th 5.19-22; 1 Cor 11.4-5; 12-14; Rom 12.6, 1 Tim 4.14). Here is
continuity (the promised renewal of God’s presence with his people) and
discontinuity (the radically new way God has revisited them, indwelling them
individually as well as corporately by his Spirit).
The presence of God in the OT
From Gen 2-3 and
God walking in the garden, to Revn 21-22 with God in the city, the people of
²
Tabernacle
– Ex 25-31, so that God could dwell among the people. Crisis in desert; God
threatens absence; Moses pleads for his presence 33.15-16. Tabernacle is built
and the journey undertaken, led by the presence of God in the pillars of cloud
and of fire
²
Temple
– 1 Kings 8, God fulfils promise of a dwelling place given in Deut 12.11, and
temple becomes the focal point of Israel’s existence in the Promised land, the
place of prayer and of knowing God’s presence was with them.
²
Promised
return of God’s presence : Ez 37.27, Mal 3.1. Tied to
the promise of a restored temple, Ez 40-48; Is 2.2-3
(inc inclusion of Gentiles). The rebuilt temple fails to satisfy this promise,
Haggai 2.3.
²
The
presence of God is equated with the Spirit of God. Is 63.9-14.
The Spirit as the renewed
presence in Paul
Paul understands
the Spirit’s coming as fulfilling 3 related expectations:
²
New
covenant – 1 Cor 11.25, the death of Christ institutes God’s new covenant with
his people. The promise has 3 dimensions:
o
A new
heart (Jer 31.31-33) and a new spirit (Ez 36.26); 2 Cor 3.1-6.
o
This
new spirit is God’s spirit, who will enable God’s people to follow his decrees
(Ez 36.27); Rom 8.3-4, Gal 5.16-25
o
God’s
spirit means the presence of God himself (Ez 37.14); 2 Cor 3.5-6. The spirit
gives life – the one essential reality about God. Any rejection of holiness is
rejection of the Holy Spirit and thus of God himself – 1 Thess 4.8.
²
Indwelling
presence – the Spirit is spoken of as being in you/us (1 Th 4.8; 1 Cor 6.19;
14.24-25; Eph 5.18). The location is the heart (2 Cor 1.22; 3.3; Gal 4.6; Rom
2.29; 5.5). This becomes the lang of ‘dwelling in’ (1
Cor 3.16; 2 Cor 6.16; Rom 8.9-11; Eph 2.22). In 1 Cor
14.24-25 and 2 Cor 6.16 Paul cites OT texts which speak of God’s dwelling in
the midst of his people.
²
By fulfilling both
the new covenant and the renewed temple motifs, the Spirit becomes the way God
himself is now present on planet earth.
The individual believer as God’s
temple
In 1 Cor 6.19-20
Paul transfers this imagery from the church to the individual believer. God not
only dwells in the midst of his people by the Spirit, but has taken up
residence in the lives of his people individually by the same life-giving Spirit.
So: for Paul the
Spirit is not merely an impersonal force or power. The Spirit is the fulfilment
of the promise that God himself would once again be present with his people.
The Spirit is God’s personal presence in our lives and in our midst; he leads
us into paths of righteousness, is grieved when his people do not reflect his
character and thus reveal his glory, and is present in our worship. It is for
us to grasp these realities by experiencing
them. Perhaps we should downplay the impersonal images of wind, fire, etc,
and retool our thinking in Paul’s terms, where we understand and experience the
Spirit as the personal presence of the eternal God.
as fulfillment of the renewed
presence of God with his people, the Spirit was understood by Paul in personal
terms
We tend to think
of the Spirit in impersonal images – dove, wind, fire, water, oil – and thus
find him hard to relate to. ‘We believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of
heaven and earth; and we believe in Jesus Christ his Son; but we are not so
sure about the Holy Spirit’. We need to recognise the Spirit as the personal
presence of God, not just theoretically but really and experientially.
The Holy Spirit as person
Spirit is an
agent, and mostly personhood is presupposed – eg conversion is by the Spirit,
revelation comes through the Spirit, preaching is accompanied by the power of
the Spirit; prophecy, tongues result from speaking by the Spirit; by the Spirit
we are to put to death sinful practices; we are strengthened, we serve, we
love, we are saved, we walk and live and are saved by the Spirit (refs p26).
The impersonal refs (pouring out, washing) are imagery.
The Spirit, as a
person, is the subject of lots of verbs – he searches, knows, teaches, dwells,
accomplishes, gives life, cries out, bears witness, leads, helps, intercedes,
strengthens etc. The fruits of his indwelling are the personal attributes of
God (Gal 5).
The Spirit and the Godhead
Paul uses pneuma – Spirit – 140+ times
Holy Spirit 17 times
Spirit of God/ his
Spirit 16 times
Spirit of Christ/
equiv 3 times
²
Holy
Spirit – occurs twice in OT (Ps 51.11, Is 63.10); came to be understood as the
Spirit’s full name.
²
Spirit
of God – God is always the subject when Paul speaks of a person receiving the
Spirit
²
Spirit
of Christ – Gal 4.6, Rom 8.9, Phil 1.9
JWs succeed
because people have been let down by the Church, which treats the Spirit as a
matter of creed and doctrine, but not as a vital experienced reality in
people’s lives. Spirit is often understood not as person but as divine
influence and power – but then we cease to be trinitarian. And Paul did have a
trinitarian faith. Explicitly trinitarian passages:
²
2 Cor
13.14 – the grace
²
1 Cor
12.4-6 – diversity reflects the nature of God and is thus evidence of God in
their midst
²
Eph
4.4-6 – credal formulation
Other texts which
presuppose a trinitarian faith:
²
Rom
5.1-8
²
1
Thess 1.4-5
²
2
Thess 2.13
²
1 Cor
1.4-7
²
1 Cor
2.4-5
²
1 Cor
2.12
²
1 Cor
6.11
²
1 Cor
6.19-20
²
2 Cor
1.21-22
²
Gal
3.1-5
²
Rom
8.3-4
²
Rom
8.15-17
²
²
Eph
1.17
²
Eph
2.18
²
Eph
2.20-22
²
Phil
3.3
We must take the
Spirit seriously as the way the eternal God is ever present with his people; he
has never been excluded from our creeds/liturgies, but has been from the
experienced life of the church.
God as Trinity, inc HS, is the ground of both our unity and diversity within
the believing community. The agent of our unity is the HS – Eph 2-3. But 1 Cor
12 shows he is also the ground for affirming our diversity within our unity.
The triune nature
of God makes it clear that God is a relational being.
the visitation of God through the
Spirit establishes believers as a thoroughly eschatological people, who live
the life of the future in the present as they await the consummation.
Every local body
of believers must recapture the NT church’s understanding of itself as an
eschatological community. OT characterised by the expectation that God would,
through his Messiah, bring an end to the present age; and that it would be
followed by the coming age, signalled by resurrection of the dead and the gift
of the promised HS. The earliest Christians modified this: they believed that they
were now living in between; the present age had indeed ended, and they were at
the beginning of the coming age, begun but not yet fully realised. This would
occur with the Second Coming. So the future had begun, but not yet been
fulfilled.
This perspective
determines Paul’s whole outlook. It means he sees the church as an end-time
community, whose members live in the present as those stamped with eternity.
Empowered by the Spirit, we now live the life of the future in the present age.
For Paul, the resurrection of Christ and the gift of the Spirit meant that the
messianic age had already arrived. The Spirit is both evidence and guarantee of
the future:
²
Spirit
as down-payment : 2 Cor 1.21-22; 5.5; Eph 1.14 (Gk word for 1st
instalment of a total amount due)
²
Spirit
as first-fruits : Rom 8.23
²
Spirit
as seal : 2 Cor 1.21-22; Eph 1.13; 4.30 (a stamped impression in wax/clay,
signalling ownership & authenticity)
1
Cor interesting. For
the Corinthians, life in the Spirit meant present ecstasy, life above and beyond
bodily weakness, evidence of being released from the body altogether. For Paul
it meant empowering for life in the midst of present bodily weaknesses, in a
body obviously in the process of decay. Paul was not tinged by Gk body/spirit
dualism. Our decaying bodies are stampled with eternity, destined for
resurrection and hence transformation into the likeness of Christ’s glorified
body. But the Corinthian view insinuates itself into Christian theology, eg
when we want to save souls but care little for material needs (and when we
expect instant and universal healing?).
It is the Spirit
who includes the Gentiles in the end-time people of God. Romans 15; Gal 3.14,
Eph 1.13-14.
By the Spirit’s
presence believers have tasted of the life to come and are now oriented towards
its consummation.
based on the work of Christ, the
Spirit calls forth a newly constituted people and makes them ‘a people for his
name’
Can someone become
a Christian in front of the TV? Salvation apart from membership of the church
is outside the NT frame of reference. Our culture emphasizes individualism;
subservience of individual rights to the common good is rejected at all costs.
The individual is good. N American church in particular has bought into this.
Cyprian said there is no salvation outside the church, because God is saving a people for his name, not a
miscellaneous, unconnected set of individuals. The primary goal of salvation
for us is to be an eschatological people, who together live the life of the
future in the present age as they await the final consummation. For Paul the NT
church is the successor of the OT people of God. In 1 Cor 5 and 6 Paul deals
with individual sinners by addressing the church on its failure to deal with
them – what is at stake is the church, and its role as God’s redeemed and
redemptive alternative to Corinth.
Created by the Spirit, the early communities
became a fellowship of the Spirit. The
most remarkable thing about this for Paul is the inclusion of Gentiles (Eph
1.13-14). He offers 3 major images for the church:
²
Family
– Eph 2.19, 1 Tim 3.15 – with the Spirit responsible for, and evidence of,
believers becoming members
²
²
Body –
unity and diversity – Eph 4, 1 Cor 12. The church is a radically new
eschatological fellowship that transcends both race and socioeconomic status.
For Paul, to be
saved means to become part of the people of God, who by the Spirit are born
into God’s family and therefore joined to one another as one body, whose
gatherings in the Spirit form them into God’s temple.
although
the goal of salvation in Christ is a people for God’s name, people enter this
community one at a time. Almost every aspect of getting in is the work of the
Spirit, beginning with the proclamation and revelation of the gospel.
Charlemagne became
a Christian and had the whole Frankish nation baptised en masse. Were they all
Christians – not as NT understands it, because it is not baptism that
identifies a believer in Christ but the presence of the HS in one’s life. The gaol of salvation is a people for God’s name –
continuity with old covenant. But there is discontinuity too – about how the people is constituted (through the death/resurrection of
Christ and the work of the HS; and by entering individually, from every tribe
and nation).
Salvation includes
both getting in and staying in – trusting in Christ, who by the HS continually
transforms us into the likeness of Christ. It is made up of several components:
²
Hearing
the gospel
²
Faith
²
Images
of conversion
²
Gift
of the Spirit
²
Baptism
in water (which is a human response to the divine activity)
‘getting in’ begins with
hearing the gospel, is appropriated by faith and includes an experience of
‘receiving’ the HS
We teach people to
rely on the facts of what Christ has done for them, not on feelings – but Paul
would never have said that. Gal 3.1-5 he appeals not to the truth of the gospel
but to their experience of the Spirit. For Paul, conversion has both an
objective and a subjective dimension. Objectively, Christ’s death and
resurrection have secured eternal salvation for all who believe (images:
redemption, reconciliation, washing, propitiation, justification, adoption,
birth). Subjectively, there is a personally experienced dimension that results
in some radical changes for the believer, and the Spirit is the indispensable
element for this dimension.
²
Gal
3.2-3
²
1 Cor
12.13
²
Eph
1.13-14
²
Titus
3.5-7
Paul often
describes people’s turning to Christ in terms of what as happened to them: gave
his Spirit (Rom 5.5); anointed them with his Spirit (2 Cor 1.21), poured out
his Spirit (Titus 3.6), sealed them with the Spirit
(Eph 1.13, 4.30). They have received the Spirit (1 Cor 2.21, 2 Cor 11.4), been
saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit (2 Thess 2.13, Rom 15.16),
been circumcised in their hearts by the Spirit (Rom 2.29), been joined to
Christ so as to become one Spirit with him (1 Cor 6.17). Titus 3.4-7 describes
conversion in a way that sounds like a creed, and gives the Spirit a central
role. So for Paul the role of the Spirit is crucial at conversion; and it is
the Spirit alone who identifies God’s people in the present eschatological age.
Paul also
describes believers from nonbelievers in terms of believers having the Spirit
(1 Cor 2.6-16, 12.3, Rom 8.9). No one can say Jesus is Lord except by the
Spirit (1 Cor 12.3). If they do not have the Spirit they do not belong to
Christ (Rom 8.9).
Images for
salvation: some are not connected with the Spirit (redemption, propitiation,
reconciliation) – these emphasize the objective aspect. Others are – the ones
which mention the believer’s subjective experience of salvation:
²
Adoption
– Gal 4.5-6
²
Washing,
rebirth, giving life – 1 Cor 6.11, Titus 3.5, 2 Cor 3.6. New life is pictured
as a renewal (Rom 12.2, Col 3.10). By the Spirit God cleanses us from past sins
and transforms us into his people, reborn and renewed to reflect his likeness
in our lives.
²
Sanctification
– usually a fig of speech for conversion, not sth which happens afterwards – 2
Thess 2.13; Rom 15.16.
The wide variety
of images used for the work of the Spirit shows that no single one will do.
Lastly – we may
not get an ‘experience’ – doesn’t mean we fall short of biblical faith; more
likely that we don’t expect one, or that we are second generation Christians.
the Spirit, in constituting a new
people for God’s name, fulfils the purpose of the law and stands over against
the ‘flesh’ by enabling righteous living.
Salvation is about
getting and and staying in – to be joined to the people of God by the Spirit,
and to live the life of the saved person. We are brought to life by the Spirit
to as to live the life of heaven on earth, also by the Spirit.
For many,
Christian behaviour means reading Paul’s commands as a new form of law and
trying their best to live by them, giving each the same value. This is too
individualistic; and too hard – we are meant to do it together. Christian
ethics is not primarily an individualistic one-on-one-with-God brand of
personal holiness; it is to do with living the life of the Spirit in the
Christian community and in the world. It’s not a disguised continuation of life
under the law.
The failure of the
old covenant was that it was not accompanied by the empowering Spirit. It was
written on stone tablets, and had become a covenant of letter, leading to death
(Rom 2.29; 7.6; 2 Cor 3.5-6). The new covenant, on the other hand, is
life-giving, because it is administered by the Spirit, through whom we are
being transformed into the glory of the Lord (2 Cor 3.4-18). It is the
fulfilment of the promises of Jer 31.31-34 and Ez 36.26-37.14: a righteousness
written not on stone but on the heart.
The gift of the
Spirit brings an end to Torah observance; it can do what Torah couldn’t –
enable us to live in such a way as to express the original intent of Torah, to
make us a people of God, who bear his likeness and demonstrate it in our
behaviour. Spirit people not only want to please God but are empowered to do
so. Spirit ethics begins with a renewed mind (Rom 12.1-2), because that’s the
only way to determine what God’s will is and thus please him. The mind renewed
by the Spirit leads us to understand that love must rule over all; and the
Spirit teaches us how to love. Paul tells Colossians and Ephesians to live by
the Spirit, not by rules.
Galatians
5.13-6.10. The Spirit is the key to ethical life and Paul expects Spirit people
to exhibit changed behaviour. His basic command is that we walk by the Spirit.
Life in the Spirit is ethical realism – live lived in the already/not yet by
the power of the Spirit. It is experienced in the life of both believers and
the community.
the goal of individual conversion
is for us to bear the fruit of the Spirit, that is, to be transformed into
God’s own likeness, the likeness of Christ
When we receive
the Spirit, at conversion, divine perfection does not set in – but divine
infection does! Paul calls it the fruit of the Spirit. The list he gives is a
mirror image of Christ himself.
We are not passive
as far as the fruits are concerned – we have to walk in the Spirit, and he
produces the fruit.
The essential
nature of the fruit is the reporduction of the life of Christ in the believer.
The list is not
exhaustive but representative.
The fruits cover a
broad range. They are not rules but pointers – this is what a person being
conformed into Christ’s image will look like.
Most are to do
with the corporate life of the community, not the life of the individual.
They represent
Torah being etched on the heart.
Phil 1.27 –
citizens of heaven. If people are to see what heaven is to be like, they should
see it now in the way the heavenly citizens live their life together.
the Spirit-flesh conflict in Paul
has to do not with an internal conflict in one’s soul, but with the people of
God living the life of the future in a world where the flesh is still very
active.
Romans
7 describes not the
life of a Christian, but the life of a person living under law without the
Spirit’s help. The conflict between flesh and Spirit is one which affects those
living in the inbetween times. ‘Flesh’ for Paul means fallen humanity, not just
humanity. It describes believers only before they came to be in Christ, before
they put off the old self and put on the new (Eph 4.22-24). 2
Cor 5.14-17, new creation. He is describing 2 kinds of existence, and
their incompatibility.
Life in the Spirit
is not passive, nor obedience automatic. We continue to live in the real world;
but we live in it as different people.
Gal 5.17 – they
are living as they used to, by the flesh.
Realism means we
will still fail; but restoration is gentle (Gal. 6.1). We can regularly
experience forgiveness.
present
eschatological existence is lived in the radical middle, in the midst of all
kinds of present weaknesses knowing the power of the Spirit, who especially
comes to our aid in prayer.
Life in the flesh is not the same as life according to the flesh. Paul doesn’t include an inner Spirit-flesh conflict
in his concept of being empowered in weakness (eg Rom 8.26), because he speaks
positively of living in weakness. The Corinthians, and their many present day
followers, can’t cope with this.
Rom 8.17-27 and 2
Cor 12.9 indicate that the Spirit is seen as the source of empowering in the
midst of affliction or weakness. Knowing Christ means both knowing the power of
his resurrection and participating in his sufferings (Phil 3.9-10). All this
reflects Paul’s eschatological understanding of Christian existence as
already/not yet. It’s a tension we need to keep together. The Spirit is with us
as we live in the radical middle. This is most so in prayer. All pietistic
movements (ones concerned with individual spirituality) come into being as a
reacion to a tendency for the individual’s relationship with God to get lost in
some form of churchiness.
Few studies deal
with Paul’s life of prayer. But it’s key (1 Thess 5.16-18). In his churches,
spontaneous prayer by the Spirit is the norm. Rom 8.28 (sighs to deep for
words) probably means tongues.
A prayerless life is one of practical atheism.
the Spirit gathers the newly
constituted people of God in worship for corporate praise of God and sharing of
gifts to build up the community of faith
Paul knows nothing
of the either/or pattern developed in the later church between fruit and gifts,
ethics and Spirit-inspired worship.
Early church was
characterised by its singing; in every generation where there is renewal by the
Spirit a new hymnody breaks forth. Gk word ‘hymn’ was used of songs sung to
deities/heroes. ‘Psalms’ probably indicates songs of praise. ‘Songs’ could be
of any kind, which is why he qualifies it as ‘spiritual songs’. (
because
the Spirit was present with his people, for Paul his giftings were as normal as
breathing and were intended for the building of the people in the present as
they await the consummation.
There is a fad for
finding your spiritual gift – but the gifts are to be exercised in community
worship. The texts which discuss them are not instructional but corrective;
aimed at particular problems in particular churches. None of the lists is
intended to be complete. The point in 1 Cor 12 is the community’s need for
diversity. Attempts to categorise, especially if Romans 12 and Ephesians 4 are
included, are tentative. The best grouping is that hinted at in 1 Cor 12.4-6:
sercies, miracles, inspired utterance.
Whether one
believes in the miracles depends on one’s worldview. Moderns decided Paul and
his churches believed them because of their primitive world view, contrasting
with ours as scientific and mature. Many evangelicals adopted their own brand
of rationalism to explain the absence of such phenomena in their own circles by
limiting this kind of Spirit activity to the apostolic age.
But Paul’s
statements are matter of fact discussions of phenomena anyone could have investigated
had they wanted to. He is not trying to prove anything.
Prophecy is the
most often mentioned gift in Paul’s letters:
²
1
Thess 5.20
²
1 Cor
11.4-5; 12.10-14.40
²
Rom
12.6
²
Eph
2.20; 3.5; 4.11
²
1 Tim
1.18; 4.14
²
Gal
2.2
Implies
wide currency.
Prophecy was
widespread in the Greek world, but Paul’s understanding is shaped by Judaism –
the prophet spoke to God’s people under the inspiration of the Spirit. Such
utterances were spontaneous, subject to discernment by the community.
if we are going to count for
much in the post-modern world in which we now live, the Spirit must remain the
key to the church’s existence
Why is it not for
us as it was in Paul’s churches? Suggestion: Historically,
the most important ingredient of true reformation and renewal is for the church
to become more intentionally biblical in its thought and actions.
Paul’s
understanding of
the Spirit – a summary
The church has
generally lived below this picture of life in the Spirit. Perhaps it is hard
for second generation Christians to experience in the same fresh way. But
history of the church has largely been of the institution, not of the life of
the Spirit in the community of faith.
A
way forward:
²
We need the Spirit to bring life into our present institutions,
theologies and liturgies (rather than tearing them down and building different
ones). We will not be miraculously unified in terms of visible structures,
liturgies, and theologies; but the Spirit can and has given people a sense of
being one across confessional lines
²
We must not isolate the Spirit in such a way that spiritual
gifts and phenomena take pride of place in the church, resulting in churches
that are, or are not, charismatic. We must focus on Christ crucified and risen.
²
A genuine recapturing of the dynamic life of the Spirit will
result in more effective evangelism in a lost, isolated, individualistic world.
How?
1. Teach this
stuff, biblically – the crucial role the Spirit plays in Paul’s view of things.
2. Lead them into
a more biblical understanding of what it means for us to be God’s
eschatological people in a world gone mad.
3. Provide a
setting and atmosphere in which people can practice worship, be built up in
ministry within and to the world;let them function as
a whole priesthood.
The Spirit does
not come, for Paul, through water baptism. Paul understood the Spirit as being
received at conversion, not later at baptism. Water baptism is the believer’s
response to the Spirit’s prior presence and activity.