The Holy Spirit and change

Waverley Model, the above principle can potentially be applied when working in any of the five areas of functioning, thereby providing a flexibly creative ethos through which the goals of phase three (resolution) may be attained.

In the introductory chapter to this book, it was stated that a Christian model of counselling must address the issue of the process of change in relation to the activity of the Holy Spirit. Is the Spirit inevitably involved in transformation toward health? If this is so, is the role explicit or implicit? If explicit, what form might this take regarding processes and/or techniques and interventions? In answering these questions, general conceptions regarding the Holy Spirit (top level) will be followed by an attempt to seek their application to the counselling process (bottom level). The focus will centre upon the ‘work’, not the ‘person’ of the Holy Spirit.

Williams states the issue of the identification of the Spirit’s work as one of revelation: ‘how is God heard or seen to be present to the human world?’180 In its broadest biblical conception, the Holy Spirit sustains all life: ‘the breath of life’ (Gen. 6:17). In the Old Testament context of creation, the Spirit connotes all life as a gift from God, and thus can be given or removed according to God’s will. From this perspective, the Spirit is implicit in the existence of all life, ie the Spirit is essential to life everywhere, including a therapeutic encounter in all its nuances. This principle of life being a gift from God and therefore everything which is alive being God-dependent not only relates to the creation narratives, but is echoed throughout the whole of Scripture with non-life (death) beyond the ‘edge’ of the Spirit. The psalmist therefore fears God taking the Spirit away from him (Psa. 51:11); Job grasps the fact that: ‘In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind’ (Job 12:10).

In relation to human beings in particular, Yong makes the helpful connection between a ‘foundational pneumatology’ (the Spirit’s presence and activity everywhere in the world – including natural, cultural, social, institutional and interpersonal dimensions) and imago Dei in so far as

human beings were created uniquely by the divine breath of God. Yong cites both structural and relational aspects of humanity when outworking this distinctiveness – such as rational, volitional, moral and interpersonal. The connection between creation and imago Dei helps move us from a perspective of ‘being alive’ in general, towards specific qualities which constitute aspects of this human ‘life’, ie ‘to choose freely, to act morally, to relate to others intentionally, to experience interpersonal subjectivity – these are the pneumatological features of human living in the world’.181 Bearing in mind these features, connections to therapy can be made, such that potentially it becomes a Spirit-infused endeavour, depending upon which goals are being pursued with what methods.

Williams further helps discernment with regard to identifying the Spirit’s activity via the delineation of two spheres of operation – the ‘charisms’ (extraordinary and intermittent) and the characteristic ‘fruits’ (‘ordinary’ and more permanent). The distinction can also be stated as the difference between ‘gifts’ of the Spirit, as opposed to ‘life’ in the Spirit. The latter is evidenced by moral and relational qualities (for example, Gal. 5:22–23). These qualities will be distinctively Christlike in character, as from a Trinitarian perspective, the Spirit works in conjunction with the Son and proceeds from Him (filioque). This provides grounds from which we may demarcate what endeavours or phenomena belong to the Spirit, as opposed to ‘other spirits’. Williams cites the fostering of freedom and maturity (now given Christological shape) as two examples of the Spirit’s work. Olthuis gives more detail as to what maturity from a Christian perspective would look like – increased intimacy amidst the relationship of self, others, the earth and God. He states:

A healthy person (mature) is neither a separated self in grand isolation nor a fused self without boundaries; rather, he or she is a cohesive, bounded self in wholesome connections, interdependent with other selves, the earth and God.182

Whether we adopt the models of Williams, Olthuis, Crabb, Hughes or others, the significant issue at stake is grasping how each model attempts to unpack

a concept of ‘full life’ as identifiable with the Spirit. Each model may have its own specific focus (although there is significant overlap between them) but each attempts to make phenomenal (ie concrete) that which coheres with ‘the life of the Spirit’, and hence clarify the type of goals which are worth pursuing and towards which priority may be given.

From a counselling context, successes in liberating a client from the slavish grip of addictions, or in general terms, bringing peace and reconciliation in a marriage relationship, can be identified with the work of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, God’s truths can permeate the sphere of counselling by degrees at any given time as goals and methods are utilised which are in consort with the Spirit, albeit not necessarily pursued consciously by the counsellor or client with this aim in mind. Whilst such values and practices as freedom (mastery) and maturity (as exemplified by fruits of the Spirit) are not salvific and hence will not of themselves yield eternal benefits, they will (albeit only temporally) contribute to personal transformations that display Christlikeness. They will then also in principle conform to a model of health that is ethically consistent with a Christian world-view. Similarly, a therapeutic process which implicitly or explicitly assumes human responsibility, holism and transcendence (if believed to be aspects of a Christian anthropology) may be considered to be conforming to Spirit-enlightened truth. Whilst such philosophical or ethical values are often connected with theism, Slife, Stevenson and Wendt correctly point out that an active God is not necessary when explaining or understanding them. Likewise, specific activities such as praying, meditating, forgiving or being ‘mindful’ may be understood from either an atheistic or theistic point of view. Whilst there is a conceptual and historical correlation with theism, Taylor points out that they are not uniquely theistic. Similarly, prayer to God can be regarded from a naturalistic perspective as an activity arising out of the projection of human wishes and aspirations. Quite clearly ‘spiritual’ activities may arise from a human desire to promote self-transcendence and yet unless indwelt by the Holy Spirit as opposed to ‘other spirits’, will always lead to the diminution of self-hood of which Christ is the criterion of fullness. Williams well captures the balance between a broad life-giving Spirit which manifests freely in