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Holy Ghost
Holy Spirit, Holy Ghost
In Christian theology, the Holy Spirit, or Holy Ghost, is the third
person of the Trinity, distinct from but coequal with God the Father and
God the Son. The Holy Spirit is sometimes described as the creative,
healing, renewing presence of God. Theologians point to a gradual
development of the doctrine in Scripture. In the Old Testament, the
Spirit was at work in the creation of the world (Gen. 1) and in prophecy
(Isa. 61:1). In the New Testament, the Spirit was present in the life
and works of Jesus Christ (Mark 1:12) and continues to be present as the
Paraclete (advocate) in the Christian community (John 14:26). The early
church saw the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles at Pentecost
as the outpouring of divine gifts of holiness, love, prophecy, healing,
and speaking in Tongues. The doctrine of the Holy Spirit was formulated
at the Council of Constantinople in 381. Langdon Gilkey The third Person of the adorable Trinity. His personality is proved His divinity is established In the NT, the third person of the Trinity; in the OT, God's
power. In the OT the spirit of the Lord (ruah yhwh; LXX, to pneuma kyriou)
is generally an expression for God's power, the extension of himself
whereby he carries out many of his mighty deeds (e.g., 1 Kings 8:12;
Judg. 14:6ff; 1 Sam. 11:6). As such, "spirit" sometimes finds expression
in ways similar to other modes of God's activity, such as "the hand of
God" (Ps. 19:1; 102:25); "the word of God" (Ps. 33:6; 147:15, 18); and
the "wisdom of God" (Exod. 28:3; 1 Kings 3:28; Job 32:8). The origins of
the word "spirit" in both Hebrew (ruah) and Greek (pneuma) are similar,
stemming from associations with "breath" and "wind," which were
connected by ancient cultures to unseen spiritual force, hence "spirit"
(cf. John 3:8, note the association with air in English; e.g.,
"pneumatic," "respiration," etc.). The AV uses the term "Holy Ghost" for
"Holy Spirit" based on an obsolete usage of the word "ghost" (from
Middle English and Anglo-Saxon, originally meaning "breath," "spirit",
cf. the German Geist). Thus it is understandable that God's creative
word (Gen. 1:3ff.) is closely akin to God's creative breath (Gen. 2:7).
Both ideas are identified elsewhere with God's spirit. As an agent in
creation, God's spirit is the life principle of both men and animals
(Job 33:4; Gen. 6:17; 7:15). The primary function of the spirit of God in the OT is as the spirit
of prophecy. God's spirit is the motivating force in the inspiration of
the prophets, that power which moved sometimes to ecstasy but always to
the revelation of God's message, expressed by the prophets with "thus
saith the Lord." Prophets are sometimes referred to as "men of God" (1
Sam. 2:27; 1 Kings 12:22; etc.); in Hos. 9:7 they are "men of the
Spirit." The general implication in the OT is that the prophets were
inspired by the spirit of God (Num. 11:17; 1 Sam. 16:15; Mic. 3:8; Ezek.
2:2; etc.). The phrase "Holy Spirit" appears in two contexts in the OT, but is
qualified both times as God's holy Spirit (Ps. 51:11; Isa. 63:10-11,
14), such that it is clear that God himself is the referent, not the
Holy Spirit which is encountered in the NT. The OT does not contain an
idea of a semi-independent divine entity, the Holy Spirit. Rather, we
find special expressions of God's activity with and through men. God's
spirit is holy in the same way his word and his name are holy; they are
all forms of his revelation and, as such, are set in antithesis to all
things human or material. The OT, especially the prophets, anticipates a
time when God, who is holy (or "other than/separate from" men; cf. Hos.
11:9) will pour out his spirit on men (Joel 2:28ff.; Isa. 11:1ff.; Ezek.
36:14ff.). who will themselves become holy. The Messiah/ Servant of God
will be the one upon whom the spirit rests (Isa. 11:1ff.; 42:1ff.;
63:1ff.), and will inaugurate the time of salvation (Ezek. 36:14ff.; cf.
Jer. 31:31ff.). Within intertestamental Judaism several significant developments
shaped the idea of "Holy Spirit" as it was understood in NT times. After
the OT prophets had proclaimed the coming of the Spirit in the messianic
age of salvation, Judaism had developed the idea that the spirit of
prophecy had ceased within Israel with the last of the biblical prophets
(Syriac Bar. 85:3; 1 Macc. 4:46; 14:41; etc.; cf. Ps. 74:9).
Consequently, there arose from time to time a hope of the dawning of the
new age, especially within the apocalyptic movement, which generally
pointed to a supposed messiah and/or prophetic reawakening of some kind
(cf. Acts 5:34ff.). The Qumran community is illustrative of this, since
it understood itself to be involved in the fulfillment of Israel's
messianic hope as the "preparers of the way of the Lord" (Isa. 40:3; cf.
1QS 8. 14-16). The Qumran literature also shows increased identification
of the spirit of prophecy with "God's Holy Spirit" (1QS 8. 16; Zadokite
Documents II. 12). The phrase, "the Holy Spirit," occasionally occurs in
Judaism (IV Ezra 14:22; Ascension of Isa. 5:14; etc.), but, as in the
rabbis, it generally meant "God's spirit of prophecy." Thus, the
messaianic expectation of Judaism, which included the eschatological
outpouring of God's spirit (e.g., 1 Enoch 49:3, citing Isa. 11:2; cf.
Sybilline Oracle III, 582, based on Joel 2:28ff.), was bound up with the
conviction that the Spirit had ceased in Israel with the last of the
prophets; the Holy Spirit was understood as God's spirit of prophecy,
which would be given again in the new age to a purified Israel in
conjunction with the advent of a messiah. The concept of the Holy Spirit was broadened through the Wisdom
Literature, especially in the personification of wisdom as that idea
came into contact with the idea of Spirit. As early as Prov. 8:22ff. and
Job 28:25ff. wisdom is presented as a more or less independent aspect of
God's power (here as agent in creation), and wisdom is credited with
functions and characteristics that are attributed to the Holy Spirit in
the NT. Wisdom proceeded from the mouth of God and covered the earth as
a mist at creation (Sir. 24:3); she is the breath of the power of God (Wisd.
Solomon 7:25); and by means of his wisdom God formed man (Wisd. Sol.
9:2). The Lord poured out wisdom upon all his works, and she dwells with
all flesh (Sir. 1:9-10). Moreover, wisdom is full of spirit, and indeed
is identified with the Spirit (Wisd. Sol. 7:22; 9:1; cf. 1:5). Thus the
Jews of NT times were familiar with the background of these ideas as
they are variously expressed in the NT, ideas which use these background
concepts but move beyond them to some unexpected conclusions. Indeed,
Jesus taught that his messiahship and the corresponding outpouring of
the Spirit were firmly rooted in OT understanding (Luke 4:18ff., citing
Isa. 61:1-2), and, similar to intertestamental Judaism, understood the
messianic Spirit of the Lord to be the Holy Spirit (Matt. 12:32), the
spirit which had foretold through the prophets that the coming Messiah
would inaugurate the age of salvation with the pouring out of the Spirit
on all flesh. Jesus developed the idea of the Holy Spirit as a
personality (e.g., John 15:26; 16:7ff.), specifically as God working in
the church. The NT teaching of the Holy Spirit is rooted in the idea of both the
spirit of God as the manifestation of God's power and the spirit of
prophecy. Jesus, and the church after him, brought these ideas together
in predicating them of the Holy Spirit, God's eschatological gift to
man. When Mary is "overshadowed" by the power of the Most High, a phrase
standing in parallel construction to "the Holy Spirit" (Luke 1:35; cf.
9:35), we find echoes of the OT idea of God's spirit in the divine cloud
which "overshadowed" the tabernacle so that the tent was filled with the
glory of the Lord (Exod. 40:35; Isa. 63:11ff. identifies God's presence
in this instance as "God's Holy Spirit"). Luke records Jesus' power to
cast out demons "by the finger of God," an OT phrase for God's power
(Luke 11:20; Exod. 8:19; Ps. 8:3). This power is identified as the
"Spirit of God" (Matt. 12:28), i.e., the Holy Spirit (Matt. 12:32). At
Jesus' baptism the spirit came upon him (Mark 1:10; "the spirit of God,"
Matt. 3:16 "the Holy Spirit," Luke 3:21), and he received God's
confirmation of his divine sonship and messianic mission (Matt. 3:13ff.,
par.). Jesus went up from the Jordan full of the Holy Spirit (Luke 4:1),
and after the temptation began his ministry "in the power of the Spirit"
(Luke 4:14). Taking up the message of John the Baptist, Jesus proclaimed
the coming of the kingdom of God (Matt. 4:17; cf. 3:1), a coming marked
by the presence of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 12:28ff., par.) as the sign of
the messianic age of salvation (Luke 4:18ff.; Acts 10:38; etc.). From the beginning of Jesus' ministry he identified himself with both
the victorious messiah king and the suffering servant figures of OT
prophecy (Isa. 42:1ff.; cf. Mark 10:45), ideas which Judaism had kept
separate. Jesus further defined the role of God's Messiah as proclaiming
God's favor, God's salvation, in the new age, a message stressed far
beyond that of "judgment of the nations," which the Jews had come to
expect. At the synagogue in Nazareth (Luke 4:16ff.) when Jesus
identified himself with the Messiah promised in Isa. 61:1-2a he stopped
short of reading the "words of judgment" of Isa. 61:2b (even though Isa.
61:2c, "comfort to those who mourn," is part of Jesus' teaching at Matt.
5:4). This emphasis is made again when John the Baptist asks whether
Jesus is indeed the one who was to come (Luke 7:18-23). Indeed, even
though John the Baptist proclaimed Jesus to be the one who would
"baptize in the Holy Spirit and in fire" as aspects of the new age
(salvation and judgment, respectively, Luke 3:15ff; note the clear
judgment connections of "baptism with fire" in 3:17), Jesus' own focus
was on the positive, salvific aspect of the new age as represented in
the baptism with the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5; 11:16). Jesus understood the Holy Spirit as a personality. This comes out
especially in John's Gospel, where the Spirit is called the "Paraclete,"
i.e., the Comforter (Counselor, Advocate). Jesus himself was the first
Counselor (Paraclete, John 14:16), and he will send the disciples
another Counselor after he is gone, i.e., the Spirit of truth, the Holy
Spirit (14:26; 15:26; 16:5). The Holy Spirit will dwell in the believers
(John 7:38; cf. 14:17), and will guide the disciples into all truth
(16:13), teaching them "all things" and bringing them "to rememberance
of all that [Jesus] said" to them (14:26). The Holy Spirit will testify
about Jesus, as the disciples must also testify (John 15:26-27). In Acts 2:14ff. Peter interpreted the Pentecost phenomena as the
fulfillment of Joel's prophecy of the outpouring of the spirit upon all
flesh in the messianic age (Joel 2:28ff.). The outpouring of the spirit
upon all flesh was accomplished for the benefit of Jew and Gentile alike
(Acts 10:45; 11:15ff.), and individual converts had access to this gift
of the age of salvation through repentance and baptism into the name of
Jesus Christ (Acts 2:38). This, according to Peter, put the converts in
contact with the promise of Joel's prophecy, the gift of the Holy
Spirit; "for to you is the promise..., for all whom the Lord our God
will call" (Acts 2:39; Joel 2:32). The apostles and others carried out
their ministries "full of the Holy Spirit" (4:31; 6:5; 7:54; etc.), and
the Holy Spirit, identified in Acts 16:7 as the Spirit of Jesus,
directed the mission of the fledgling church (Acts 9:31; 13:2; 15:28;
16:6-7). The salvific aspects of the new age practiced by Jesus, notably
healing and exorcism, were carried out by the early church through the
power of the Holy Spirit. Visions and prophecies occurred within the
young church (Acts 9:10; 10:3; 10:ff.; 11:27-28; 13:1; 15:32) in keeping
with the Acts 2 citation of Joel 2:28ff. The experience of the early
church confirmed that the messianic age had indeed come. Paul taught that the Holy Spirit, poured out in the new age, is the
creator of new life in the believer and that unifying force by which God
in Christ is "building together" the Christians into the body of Christ
(Rom. 5:5; II Cor. 5:17; Eph. 2:22; cf. I Cor. 6:19). Romans 8 shows
that Paul identified the spirit, the spirit of God, and the spirit of
Christ with the Holy Spirit (cf. the spirit of Christ as the spirit of
prophecy in I Pet. 1:10ff.), and that these terms are generally
interchangeable. If anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, he does
not belong to Christ (Rom. 8:9); but those who are led by the spirit of
God are sons of God (Rom. 8:14). We all have our access to the Father
through one spirit (Eph.2:18), and there is one body and one spirit
(Eph. 4:4). We were all baptized by one spirit into one body, and we
were all given the one spirit to drink (I Cor.12:13). The believer
receives the spirit of adoption or "sonship" (Rom. 8:15), indeed, the
spirit of God's own Son (Gal. 4:6), by whom we cry, "Abba, Father," that
intimate address of filial relationship to God pioneered by Jesus, the
unique Son of God (Mark 14:36). The believers are being built together into a dwelling place of God
in the spirit (Eph. 4:22). To each one was apportioned grace according
to the measure of the gift of Christ (Eph. 4:7; cf. Rom. 12:3), and
Christ has given different ones to be prophets, apostles, evangelists,
pastors, and teachers (Eph. 4:11) for the edification of the body.
Similarly, the Spirit gives different kinds of spiritual gifts for
different kinds of service (I Cor. 12:4-5;7), all for the common good.
The way of love is to be followed in all things; indeed, the fruit of
the spirit is love, joy, peace, etc. (Gal. 5:22ff.). All of this is
because God has initiated the new covenant (Jer. 31:31ff.; Ezek.
36:14ff.;26) in the hearts of men by means of his eschatological spirit
(II Cor. 3:6ff.). In this new age the spirit is the earnest of our
inheritance (II Cor. 1:22; 5:5; Eph. 1:14), a "firstfruits," the seal of
God (II Cor. 1:22; Eph. 1:13; 4:30). These phrases point out the
"already vs. the not yet" tension of the new age: the new age has
dawned, and the eschatological spirit has been poured out, yet all of
creation awaits the final consummation. Even though the spirit bears
witness with our spirit that we are sons of God (Rom. 8:16) and we truly
have the firstfruits of the spirit (Rom. 8:23), we await the adoption as
sons (8:23) at the final consummation. Until that time Christians have
the Comforter, the Spirit who intercedes on behalf of the saints
according to the will of the Father (Rom. 8:27). In the patristic period we encounter little that moves beyond the
biblical ideas of the Holy Spirit. The apostolic fathers reflect the NT
idea that the spirit is operative in the church, inspiring prophecy and
otherwise working within individuals (Barnabas 12:2; Ignatius, Phil .
7:1). Itinerant Christian prophets are dealt with as a present reality
in the Didache, but as time passes, such charismata are treated as
theoretical. The view that the spirit of OT prophecy is one and the same
Holy Spirit that inspired the apostles is periodically encountered
(Justin, Dialogues 1-7; 51; 82; 87; etc.; Irenaeus, Against Heresies II,
6.4; III, 21.3-4), and the apostles emerge as the "Spirit-bearers" (pneumatophoroi),
a designation given to the OT prophets (Hos. 9:7, LXX). The Holy Spirit
is credited with empowering the church, even with inspiring certain
noncanonical writings, as late as the fourth century. Even though the "trinitarian" formula of Matt. 28:19 is found in the
apostolic fathers, the word "trinity" is first applied to the Godhead by
Theophilus of Antioch (To Autolycus 2:15). Tertullian clearly taught the
divinity of the Holy Spirit, an idea that was later to occupy the church
in discussion for a thousand years. Tertullian wrestled with the problem
of the tension between the authority of the Spirit in the church versus
apostolic tradition and Scripture as received revelation. He espoused
montanism for a time, a system which placed primary importance on the
current inspiration of the Spirit in the body. The church, however,
rejected montanism in favor of the objective authority of apostolic
tradition as reflected in Scripture, and montanism eventually died out.
The church's stand against the montanist heresy was largely responsible
for the demise of Christian prophecy and other charismata. The
Muratorian Canon (lines 75ff.) states that the number of prophets is
settled, and even the Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus, which elevates
charismatic leadership above ecclesiastical structure, restricts the
term "prophet" entirely to the canonical prophets. In the late fourth
century John Chrysostom could speak of the spiritual gifts as belonging
to an age in the past. In the period immediately prior to Nicaea the church was preoccupied
with the famous "Christological controversies" and paid scant attention
to a doctrine of the Holy Spirit. The Nicene Creed confesses faith in
the Holy Spirit, but without any development of the idea of the Spirit's
divinity or essential relationship to the Father and the Son. This
question became a major issue within the church in the late fourth
century and following, and the Council of Constantinople added to the
words of the Nicene Creed, describing the Holy Spirit as "the Lord and
Giver of Life, proceeding from the Father, to be worshiped and glorified
together with the Father and the Son." A controversy developed around
the source of the Spirit, specifically concerning whether he ought not
also be confessed as "proceeding from the Son." Following Augustine's
teaching, the phrase filioque ("and the Son") was added by the Western
church to the above creed at the Council of Toledo in 589. The Eastern
church rejected the filioque doctrine, and the creed constituted
confessional grounds for the split between East and West which had
already taken place in practice. Although other aspects of the Spirit were occasionally discussed, the
procession of the Spirit continued to occupy theologians in the West.
Anselm of Canterbury brought the debate into the era of scholasticism
and, although reason as proof of doctrine was unevenly received,
filioque remained the standard of the church. Peter Lombard argued from
Scripture for filioque, and the fourth Lateran Council again espoused
Trinitarianism and filioque. Although Aquinas rejected reason as a means
to know the distinctions of the Divine Persons, he affirmed that the
spirit proceeds from the special relationship that exists between the
Father and the Son. Such discussions as this continued into the
fifteenth century, when the Council of Florence again attempted to unite
the Western and Eastern churches. The filioque idea was reaffirmed and,
although a cosmetic change of wording was made in an attempt to satisfy
the Eastern church, the Greek Orthodox Church rejected the substance of
the creed. The position of the Roman Catholic Church has remained
essentially unchanged, and the rift between East and West over this
issue remains to the present. Although other aspects of the Spirit's work were of importance in
medieval theology, including sanctification and illumination, it was not
until the Reformation that the work of the Spirit in the church was
truly rediscovered. This was due at least in part to the rejection of
Rome's dogma of church tradition as the gurantor of correct Scripture
interpretation and formation of true doctrine. This reaction led to a
Reformation stress on the idea of sola Scriptura and the work of the
Spirit in salvation independent of the Catholic Church's "unbroken
succession back to Christ." While Luther rejected "enthusiasm" (the
subjective claim of direct guidance by the Spirit independent of
Scripture or church structure, he stressed Spirit over structure, and
understood the Spirit to be at work through the Word (the gospel),
primarily in preaching, and in the sacraments, and therefore in
salvation. The Spirit works in salvation by influencing the soul to
reliance, by faith, on Christ. Faith is itself a mystical gift of God
whereby the believers mit Gott ein Kuche werden (become kneaded into one
cake with God). Without the grace and work of the Spirit man is
incapable of making himself acceptable to God or of having saving faith
(cf. The Bondage of the Will, 1525). This is accomplished by the Holy
Spirit through the Word of God. Salvation is thus a gift bestowed by the
grace of God, and Luther implies that the Word (the Gospel) as preached
is primarily the efficacious Word of God after the Spirit works upon the
heart of the hearer. For Luther, the Word is the main sacrament, for
faith and the Holy Spirit are conveyed through the preaching and the
teaching of the gospel (Rom. 10:17); baptism and the Lord's Supper are
signs of the "sacrament of the Word," in that they proclaim the Word of
God. Luther favored the preached Word over the written Word, but did not
hold the two to be mutually exclusive. To be Christian the preaching of
the church had to be faithful to the Scripture; but to be faithful to
Scripture, the church had to preach. The Word, primarily the incarnate Logos, is God's channel for the
Spirit. Man brings the Word of the Scripture to the ear, but God infuses
his Spirit into the heart; the word of Scripture thus becomes the Word
of God (Lectures on Psalms; Epistle to the Romans). No one can rightly
understand the Word of Scripture without the working of the Spirit;
where the Word is, the Spirit inevitably follows. The Spirit does not
operate independent of the Word. Luther resisted the enthusiasts' sharp
distinction between inward and outward Word. On the other hand, he
rejected the Roman Catholic idea that the Spirit is identified with
church office and that the sacraments are effective in and of themselves
(ex opere operato). Thus the Spirit makes Christ present in the
sacraments and in Scripture; only when the Spirit makes Christ present
in the word is it Gods own living Word. Otherwise the Scripture is
letter, a law, it merely describes, it is only history. But as
preaching, the Word is gospel (as opposed to law); the Spirit makes it
so. The Spirit is not bound to the Word; he exists in God's eternal
glory, away from the Word and our world. But as revealing Spirit he does
not come without the Word. Melanchthon followed Luther with few exceptions. Although allowing
more room for man's response to the gospel than did Luther, he still
stressed the primary work of the Spirit in salvation. Melanchthon showed
more flexibility than Luther in the issue of the real presence in the
Lord's Supper (cf. the Wittenberg Concord), but was in basic agreement
with Luther as seen in the Augsburg Confession and its Apology. Zwingli
departed from Luther and Melanchthon over the work of the Spirit in the
sacraments, denying the necessity of baptism and asserting the largely
commemorative significance of the Lord's Supper. The radical Reformers,
too, were at odds with Luther and Melanchthon, and taught the priority
of immediate revalation over Scripture. Lutherans and Catholics alike
were condemned by the Schwarmer (fanatics) for their dependence upon the
letter of Scripture instead of making the Bible subject to tests of
religious experience. Calvin taught that the Spirit works in regeneration to illumine the
mind to receive the benefits of Christ and seals them in the heart. By
the Spirit the heart of a man is opened to the penetrating power of the
Word and sacraments. Calvin went beyond Luther in asserting that not
only is the preached Word the agent of the Spirit, but the Bible is in
its essence the Word of God (Genevan Catechism). The Spirit works in the
reading of Scripture as well as in the preaching of the Word, and the
Word, preached or read, is efficacious through the work of the Holy
Spirit. The divine origin of Scripture is certified by the witness of
the Spirit; the Scripture is the Word of God given by the Spirit's
guidance through limited human speech. Thus the exegete must inquire
after God's intention in giving Scripture for us (e.g., in the modern
application of the OT; Institutes 2.8.8). The highest proof of Scripture
derives from the fact that God in person speaks in it, i.e., in the
secret testimony of the Spirit (Inst. 1.7.4). We feel the testimony of
the Spirit engraved like a seal on our hearts with the result that it
seals the cleansing and sacrifice of Christ. The Holy Spirit is the bond
by which Christ unites us to himself (Inst. 3.1.1). Although Calvin
rejected rational proofs as a basis for authenticating Scripture,
interconfessional battles later caused the rigidifying of Reformed
thought, and a tradition of scholastic proofs was developed to overcome
the subjectivism of Calvin's authentication theory (cf. the Canons of
Dort). A seventeenth century reaction to strict Calvinism arose in Holland
among the followers of James Arminius. Arminius rejected strict
predestination, allowing for man's freedom to reject God's offer of
grace. The Arminian position was denounced by the Synod of Dort, but had
great influence in England. John Wesley grew up in early eighteenth
century England within this climate of Arminianism, and through him
Methodism was given its distinctive Arminian character. For Wesley, God
acts in cooperation with, but not in violation of, free human response
in the matter of saving faith. God does not merely dispense upon man
justifying grace, nor does man simply acquire such grace by believing.
There is rather a unified process of God's giving and man's receiving.
The Holy Spirit convicts of sin and also bears witness of justification.
Thereafter the Holy Spirit continues to work in man in sanctification,
such that the believer feels in his heart the mighty workings of the
Spirit of God. God continually "breathes" upon man's soul, and the soul
"breathes unto God", a fellowship of spiritual respiration by which the
life of God in the soul is sustained. Sanctification, the renewal of man
in the image of God, in righteousness and true holiness, is effected by
the Spirit through faith. It includes being saved from sin and being
perfected in love. Works are necessary to a continuance of faith, and
"entire santification," perfection, is the goal of every believer. While seventeenth century radical Puritanism produced the Quakers
with their emphasis on subjective experience of the Holy Spirit (the
Inner Light of George Fox), such that Scripture is only a secondary
source of knowledge for faith and practice (Robert Barclay Apology),
eighteenth century Methodism expressed a more balanced approach to the
work of the Spirit. The focus of later Methodism on the work of the
Spirit after conversion as an experience of divine grace has found
development in the modern Holiness Movement, represented by churches in
the Christian Holiness Association. Another development that can be traced to Methodism's stress on
sanctification is the twentieth century reawakening of Pentecostalism.
Stemming from earlier emphases upon "second experience," Pentecostalism
has placed great importance upon the "baptism of the Holy Spirit," which
is seen as the completion of a twostage process of salvation. Since the
inception of this modern movement at the turn of the century, speaking
in tongues has been proclaimed as the main sign of Spirit baptism,
although other "gifts of the Spirit", notably healing, are also
emphasized. From its fundamentalist/biblicist beginning the Pentecostal
movement has grown into what is loosely called the charismatic movement,
which now touches all of Protestantism and has made inroads into Roman
Catholicism. This movement generally proclaims a distinct experience of
"Spirit baptism" and, as a rule, focuses on speaking in tongues as the
manifestation of that experience. One of the most significant twentieth century developments in
understanding the Holy Spirit was made in the teaching of Karl Barth.
Barth was a Reformed theologian who was largely responsible for the
introduction of neoorthodoxy, the so-called dialectical or crisis
theology. Barth and others broke with classical liberalism in the first
decades of the twentieth century, denying liberalism's theology of pious
religious selfconsciousness, its man-centeredness (Schleiermacher;
Ritschl; Feuerbach). Barth emphasized the "infinite qualitative
distinction" between man and God, and prophetically proclaimed God's
nein to all of man's attempt at self-righteousness. Barth's Letter to
the Romans sounded this note of man's "crisis", the acknowledgement that
what man knows of God, God has himself revelaed. Barth developed his
idea of God's self-revelation in terms of the doctrine of the Word of
God (Church Dogmatics I/1 and I/2). First and most importantly, Jesus is
the incarnate Logos, the Word of God. The Word of God is subsequently
found in the preaching of the gospel, and "among the words of Scripture"
(cf. Luther's doctrine of Spirit and Word). The Word of God is God
himself in Holy Scripture. Scripture is holy and the Word of God,
because by the Holy Spirit it became and will become to the church a
witness to divine revelation. This witness is not identical to the
revelation; it is not itself revelation, but the witness to it. Faith in
Jesus as the Christ, specifically in Jesus' resurrection, is effected
through the work of the Holy Spirit. The subjective "in Spirit" is the
counterpart to the objective "in Christ". God's grace is manifested both
in the objective revelation of God in Christ and man's subjective
appropriation of this revelation through the Spirit. According to
Scripture, God's revelation occurs in our enlightenment by the Holy
Spirit to a knowledge of God's Word. The outpouring of the Spirit is
God's revelation. In this reality we are free to be God's children and
to know, love, and praise him in his revelation. The Spirit as
subjective reality of God's revelation makes possible and real the
existence of Christianity in the world. For, Barth observes, "where the
Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom" (II Cor. 3:17); God in his
freedom discloses himself to man and so makes man free for him
(Evangelical Theology, pp. 53ff.). This sketch shows some of the diversity in the development of
Christian thinking about the Holy Spirit. It is ironic that God's
eschatological gift to man has so often been a point of contention and
division among Christians. Since the road ahead appears no less
difficult than the way we have come, we would do well to be humbly
mindful of God's sovereignty and of our weakness. Because God in Christ has initiated the messianic age with its
outpouring of the Spirit, man's relationship to God has been forever
changed. No longer can the law be used as a means of exclusion and
oppression of the disenfranchised: Jesus has preached the messianic
gospel of release to the captive, sight to the blind, and good news to
the poor; the new law of life has been written on the hearts of men.
Thus we must abhor any new legalism which uses the Scripture to exclude
and oppress, this is to turn the good news of Christ into "the letter
that kills." We must, rather, recognize the "God-breathed" character of
Scripture, and the "Spirit that makes alive." Only so will the Scripture
be profitable. Conversely, the Spirit cannot be claimed as the mark of
an elite, as that which distinguishes and divides. The gospel of Jesus
Christ includes the message that the Holy Spirit has been poured out on
all flesh. All abuses of Scripture and the Spirit must hear God's
message: "The promise is to those who are near, and to those who are
afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call." T S Caulley Bibliography. C. K. Barrett, The Holy Spirit and the Gospel
Tradition; F. D. Bruner, A Theology of the Holy Spirit; J.D.G. Dunn,
Baptism in the Holy Spirit and Jesus and the Spirit; M. Green, I Believe
in the Holy Spirit; H. Gunkel, The Influence of the Holy Spirit; G. S.
Hendry, The Holy Spirit: Growth of a Biblical Tradition; C. F. D. Moule,
The Holy Spirit; P.D. M. Ramsey, Holy Spirit; E. Schweizer, The Holy
Spirit; H. B. Swete, The Holy Spirit in the Ancient Church and The Holy
Spirit in the New Testament; H. Watkins-Jones, The Holy Spirit from
Arminius to Wesley. Augustine's Prayer to the Holy Spirit
General Information
Holy Ghost
Advanced Information - I
Holy Spirit
Advanced Information - II
The OT
Intertestamental Judaism
The NT
Patristic and Medieval Theology
The Reformation
The Modern Period
Concluding Observations
Breathe in me, O Holy Spirit, that my thoughts may be holy.
Act in me , O Holy Spirit, that my work may be holy.
Draw me on and open wide my heart to your love.
Strengthen me, O Holy Spirit, to defend all that is holy.
Guard me, then, O Holy Spirit, that I may be holy.
Guide me now, O Holy Spirit, that I may be wholly thine.