Doctrine of Pneumatology

DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT can be classified into four categories according to the time periods of man’s history.[1] Firstly, starting with Genesis, we see the Holy Spirit’s Sovereignty. “The Father creates all things through the Word, in the Spirit” (Athanasius, LCHS 3.4).[2] The Holy Spirit is “Lord and Giver of Life” (Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, 1 Cor. 15: 45).[3] He is the perfect, uncreated Paraclete, “proceeding from the Father, and receiving from the Son” (Creed of Epiphanius).[4] The 150 Fathers acknowledged his Deity because the attributes and works of God are attributed to the Holy Spirit and he is deemed worthy of worship.[5] According to Tertullian, this has been accepted from the beginning of the Gospel, “even before all former heretics”[6]

Secondly, we see the Holy Spirit’s progressive work during the time of Christ. God’s plan of salvation, which included his God-breathed/Spirit Word, became flesh and offered redemption through Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

“Conner presents the Holy Spirit as “God making himself known in experience”. This implies two aspects of the Spirit: the historical and the experiential. The historical aspect of the Spirit is based upon Jesus Christ since he is central to Christianity, however Christianity would not exist apart from the work of the Spirit who comprises the experiential part.”[7]

This brings us to our third point, that the Holy Spirit came to experientially reside with us permanently at Pentecost. All ancient baptismal confessions and creeds confess belief in the Holy Spirit as one who came to reside with us and who spoke and taught.[8] The residing Holy Spirit is understood by the worshiping community as a gift from the Father and the Son to believers for the leading into all truth,[9] shaping our worldview.”[10] The Holy Spirit is, in this present age, restraining (2 Thessalonians 2:7), convicting (John 16:8), regenerating (John 3:5), indwelling / anointing (1John 2:27), baptizing (1Cor 12:13), sealing (Ephesians  1:13), and filling (Ephesians 5:18).[11]

The Spirit is like a cleansing water or a fire that burns away dross. He is seen as a dove and symbolized by anointing oil. The most familiar symbol to us is that of wind. “In many cases throughout the Scripture, the Greek or Hebrew word for wind really refers to the Holy Spirit of God.”[12] He is near and searches our hearts (1 Corinthians 2: 10– 11), teaching each one who comes to Him (Romans 8: 12– 27).[13] He breathes life into us and, like a person, he can be responsively answered, or he can be resisted, grieved, vexed, avoided, or sinned against:

“One who persists in the so-called Macedonian heresy (irreversibly asserting that the Spirit is not God) will be found “unpardonable because it cuts him off from Him by Whom he could confess: nor will he ever attain to healing pardon who has no Advocate” (Leo I, Sermons 75).[14]

Knowing that the Spirit can be grieved, we should appreciate our union with Christ by the Spirit by recognize the importance of our fellowship and unity with him.[15] We face a spiritual warfare on this earth and the Holy Spirit assists us and enables us to stand! He is our Helper as we are called to “put on the full armor of God” and take our “stand against the devil’s schemes, for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Eph. 6: 10– 12; Jerome, Epis. to Eph. 3.6.11).”[16] Regarding the Holy Spirit’s help, Luther did not see a progression of increased piety for man. On the contrary, regarding our sanctification, Luther’s view of man was that he, “day by day becomes more weak, more sinful, and more helpless, so that he more and more comes to rely on Christ alone as his only righteousness and as the one who takes him and uses him as his instrument in his work for our neighbor.”[17]

Whilst the indwelling of Old Testament saints is acknowledged, classically, baptism is viewed as being only for the New Testament believers. This perspective supports the significance of Pentecost.[18] In light of the modern Pentecostal movement, Thiselton seeks to let experience stand alongside scripture and doctrine as a resource for understanding the Holy Spirit.[19] The traditional Pentecostal doctrine of baptism in the Spirit, with its declaration that Spirit baptism is distinct from and subsequent to salvation, and evidenced by the gift of tongues, is recently coming under increasing pressure. Numerous Pentecostal leaders and scholars have tried to defend and/or reframe the Pentecostal position. Much of the debate obviously surrounds the interpretation of biblical texts but specifically the comparison between Paul and Luke’s writings as well as the use of biblical narrative for the formation of doctrine, and the role of communal experiences of the Spirit in the task of biblical hermeneutics.[20]

The baptism of the Holy Spirit describes the broad event of our death, burial, and resurrection that we receive as Christians when we are baptized into the universal church (1 Corinthians 12:13). The classical consensual view of this baptism is that it is a work of God that transforms us at conversion, when we place our faith in Jesus Christ and die to the power of sin and are raised to new life with Christ (Romans 6:1-14).

“No great symbol of Christianity has seen as much controversy as baptism. Somehow, this ancient and biblical act of celebration symbolizing new spiritual life became a source of confusion and division in the modern church.”[21] In line with the classical consensus on the matter, Cole underscores that baptism of the Holy Spirit takes place at salvation. He also does not view it as being specifically for the power of service as the Pentecostal movement sees it. He holds the mainstream view that baptism of the Holy Spirit occurs at salvation and ought to be viewed in the context of redemptive history, as opposed to a subsequent event for believers.[22]

Grace feels that Conner’s view of the church as the redeemed body at any time in history, which is the mainstream view, places a limit on the “discussion of the role of the Spirit in the local church since it limits questions on the relationship of the Spirit in the local church to worship practices rather than spiritual fellowship.”[23] Conner’s view is in line with the historical consensus, whilst Grace’s view is the tendency of the Pentecostal movement. This is an example of how the truth can place boundaries on a matter and thereby assist us toward an orthodox view of the Holy Spirit. By orthodox I mean a right doctrine.

Fourthly, we have the Holy Spirit in the kingdom age as a widespread witness (Acts 2:16-21; cf Joel 2:28-32) [24]

“The Pentecost of this age is actually an anticipation of the end time when all human speech will finally be redeemed and brought back to unblemished truth in the celestial community. In the midst of the babbling of the nations of the world, divided and conquered by sin, the Holy Spirit at Pentecost comes to unite all humanity by making all human languages congruent with God’s address” (Ephrem, Hymns of Paradise 11.14; Calvin, Comm. 18: 77; Kuyper, WHS: 136– 38).[25]

Throughout the ages, from beginning to end, the Holy Spirit brings “unity” [26] which is witness through all the ages by one baptism, one faith, one Lord. (Eph. 4: 3– 5).

[1] Lewis Sperry Chafer, Systematic Theology, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Kregal Publications, 1993), Vol 7, pp 291-292

[2] Thomas C. Oden, Systematic Theology: Classic Christianity, (Toronto: HarperCollins e-books, n.d.),523

[3] Ibid, 503

[4] Ibid, 521

[5] Ibid, 504

[6] Ibid, 503

[7] W. Grace Madison II, The work of the Holy Spirit: a treatment of the Biblical doctrine of the divine spirit, (Southwestern Journal of Theology 51, no. 1: 103-105, 2008), 103  

[8] Thomas C. Oden, Systematic Theology: Classic Christianity, (Toronto: HarperCollins e-books, n.d.), 503

[9] Thomas C. Oden, Systematic Theology: Classic Christianity, (Toronto: HarperCollins e-books, n.d.),501

[10] Gary L Shultz Jr, He who gives life: the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. (Journal of The Evangelical Theological Society 53, no. 4: 856-859, 2010)

[11] Chafer, ibid, Vol 7, pp 291-292

[12] Walter Lewis Wilson, Wilson’s Dictionary of Bible Types, (Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1979), 511

[13] Thomas C. Oden, Systematic Theology: Classic Christianity, (Toronto: HarperCollins e-books, n.d.),516

[14] Oden, ibid, 520

[15] Gary L Shultz Jr, He who gives life: the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. (Journal of The Evangelical Theological Society 53, no. 4: 856-859, 2010), 859

[16] Thomas C. Oden, Systematic Theology: Classic Christianity, (Toronto: HarperCollins e-books, n.d.), 540

[17] Jonothan W. Rusnak, Shaped by the Spirit, (Logia 24, no. 3: 15-20, 2015), 18 

[18] Trevor Craigen, A systematic theology of Biblical Christianity, Volume 2 The Doctrine of Man, Sin, Christ, and the Holy Spirit, (The Master’s Seminary Journal 21, no. 2, Fall 2010), 252 

[19] Johanna Leidenhag, 2017. A Shorter Guide to the Holy Spirit: Bible, Doctrine, Experience, (Anglican Theological Review 99, no. 4: 854-856), 

[20]Shane Clifton, The Spirit and Doctrinal Development: A Fractional Analysis of the Traditional Pentecostal Doctrine of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, (Pneuma 29, no. 1: 5-23, 2007)

[21] Everett Ferguson, Baptism in the Early Church: History, Theology, and Liturgy in the First Five Centuries, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, xxii + 953, 2009)

[22] Gary L Shultz Jr, He who gives life: the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. (Journal of The Evangelical Theological Society 53, no. 4: 856-859, 2010)

[23] W. Grace Madison II, The work of the Holy Spirit: a treatment of the Biblical doctrine of the divine spirit, (Southwestern Journal of Theology 51, no. 1: 103-105, 2008), 105

[24] Lewis Sperry Chafer, Systematic Theology, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Kregal Publications, 1993), Vol 7, pp 291-292

[25] Thomas C. Oden, Systematic Theology: Classic Christianity, (Toronto: HarperCollins e-books, n.d.), 550

[26] Ibid, 846