i-believe-in-the-holy-spirit-september-october-1992

modernREFORMAnON © is a production of CURE Publications Ltd.

Editor-in-chief

modernREFORMATION/

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1992

Michael S. Horton

Executive Vice President Kim Riddlebarger Managing Editor Shane Rosenthal

Assistant Managing Ed_tors Paul Gelonnino Doug Hoisington

The Holy Spirit

ARTICLES

Production Supervisor

WANTED: Apathetic Lutherans & Calvinists

Alan Maben

by Michael S. Horton

Staff Writers Michael S. Horton Alan Maben Kim Riddlebarger Rick Ritchie Dr. Rod Rosenbladt

1

4

The Lord & Giver of Life

by Kim Riddlebarger

Artist

Holy Spirit Baptism: Seven Easy Steps?

Paul Swift

by Dr. Donald Macleod

7

Special Assistants Loretta Johnson Alicia Silva Heidi Spitler

The Spirit & the Word

CURE Board of Directors

The Sanctifier of the Faithful

Douglas Abendroth Howard F. Ahmanson Cheryl Biehl Robert den Dulk Dr. W. Robert Godfrey Richard Hennes Michael S. Horton

Executive Leadership Team President, C.E.O.

12

by Rick Ritchie

17

by Dr. Edwin Palmer

The Shy Member of the Trinity

23

by Michael S. Horton

DEPARTMENTS

Michael S. Horton

Executive Vice President Kim Riddlebarger Vice President of Communications Alan Maben

6

We Confess Interview: Dr. James M Boice

14

Book Review

29

Vice President of Development Dan Bach

Vice President of Media & Production Shane Rosenthal

Treasurer Micki Riddlebarger

Secretary Loretta Johnson CURE is a non-profit educational foundation committed to communicating the insights of the 16th century Refonna­ tion to the 20th century Church. For more infonnation, call during business hours at: (714) 956-CURE, or write us at: Christians United for Refonnation 2034 E. Lincoln Ave. #209 Anaheim CA 92806

p ••••••••••••••••••••••••• I SUBSCRIBE TO...

I I A Bi-Monthly Theological Magazine Published by Christians United for Refonnation I I D 1 year (6 issues) $12.00 Name I i\ddress I D 2 years (12 issues) $24~00

I I I I I I I

I

I­

I

Copy & send to: CURE

2034 E. LinCQIn #209 Anaheim, CA 92806

City/St/lip Phone

•

••••••••••••••••••••••••••

r-

J1lode rJZREFORMATION

~WANTED :

Apathetic

Lutherans & Calvinists

(N 0 Experience Required)

By MICHAEL HORTON '

About 15 years ago, my brother, then an assistant football coach at Arizona State, introduced me to Danny White, who was then the star quarterback for the Sun Devils. I was only 12 years old and in awe of White~ Meeting him was one of those moments when you are aware of every movement you make, of every nervous gesture. As we walked toward him on the football field where he was running, Icould feel myfeet become lead.

Fear gripped me and I almost wanted to go back, but there was no turning back now. With a dry throat and clumsy handshake I met White-just when my brother announced that he needed to take care ofsome business with the trainer. So here we were, Danny White and this awkward teen-ager who was unusually short on words. But Danny immediately broke the tension when he said, "Hey, Horts, how about a few passes?" "What's he talkingaboutt I wondered, concerning what would be a fairly straightforward invitation were I not so nervous. "You mean passes to agame?" "N 0," he replied, "1 mean throwing some passes here on the fieldfora while." Forthe next20 minutes or so there we were, Danny White and Mike Horton, throwing the ball around and getting to know each other-not just as a fan gets to know a hero by following his career, but as one person gets to know another.

Since then, 1have had the opportunity to meet some other people who made me feel pretty nervous: other sports stars, actors, writers, and a few foreign dignitaries. But no meeting presents a greater challenge than when we meet

God in the person ofthe Holy Spirit. It is a wonderful opportunity, to be sure, but it is also achallenge. We do just fine in the stands, shaking our heads at the unbelievable skill and energy ofthe Holy Spirit, and we follow his work closely through the years. But to actually meet

Which is the more inexcusable

offense: serving God in spite of poor theology, or ignoring him in spite of better? him? To get to know him, not just as an awe-struck fan meets a celebrity, but as two friends out on the field together? We . often find su~h intimacy beyond what we can (orshouldevenattemptto) reach.

But it is at God's invitation that we leave the stands, walk out to the field, and . befriend him through the person of the Holy Spirit.

God the Father longs to have a relationship with us. He "loved the world so much that he sent his only begotten Son" to save us so long ago. When God

the Son took on flesh, suffered, died, and rose again, he brought us everlastingpeace with God. If it were not for the Holy Spirit, we would still be up in the stands, unrelated to God as anything other than an admiring fan. It is through God the Holy Spirit that the Father's initiative in Christ-adoption and reconciliation­ is finally fulHlled. It is he who brings us. into the benefits planned for us by the Father and purchased for us by the Son. The Reformation tradition, while eschewing the fanaticism of "those who think they've swallowed the Holy Spirit, feathers and all" (Luther's phrase), recovered the legitimate biblical teaching concerning the Spirit by focusing their lens once again on his role as the one who reveals Christ, illumines our souls to understand the Word, and enables us to believe it and to repent ofeverything that stands up to challenge it. In fact, Calvin has been called "the theologian of the Holy Spirit," not, of course, because he instructed the third person ofthe trinity, but because so much ofhis emphasis falls on the work ofthe HolySpirit in bringing us into union with Christ and communicating to us the benefits ofthat union. In the remainder of this article, I want to challenge us all to return to the classical doctrine of the Trinity as we attempt to recover what we who claim to be heirs of the Reformation have lost concerning the person and work of the Holy Spirit in our day.

Back To The Trinity There is only one God. On that Christians and Jews (as well as Moslems) are agreed. But the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. Yet, there are not three Gods, but one. The biblical writers do not explain this apparent contradiction, but affirm it nonetheless. In the second century, the church father Tertullian came up with the phrase, one in essence, three in person Continued on next page SEPTEMBER/OCfOBER

• 1

-

,- - - - - . - -

------

Continued/rom previous page

of the Holy Spirit. But for us as Reformation Christians, emphasizing the and the term trinitas (trinity) was objective character of salvation in the employed for the first time to explain the face ofso-much subjective introspection relationship of those two affirmations: and emotionalism, we risk keeping the three persons (tri); one God (unity). work ofChrist external and "outside us."

And yet, this staggering mystery has What the Reformers meant by proved easier to affirm in public worship emphasizing Christ's saving work than in personal faith. In every age the church seems to carve up the trinity and emphasize one person of the Godhead above the others. Sometimes this is done to redress imbalances/ but it often results in other imbalances.

In our day, many hyper-Calvinists are so fascinated with the sovereignty ofGod that the person and work ofthe Son and the Holy Spirit get short-shrift, while manyhyper-Lutherans and Barthians risk embracing a form of Christomonism, in which the Father and the Spirit are footnotes to the person and work of Christ. Like the sovereignty of God for hyper-Calvinists, justification for hyper­ Lutherans can become notonlythe central doctrine (after all, it must occupy that spot for all evangelicals), but the only doctrine in the system, divesting the biblical message of its fullness, driving the Father and the Spirit into theshadows, and leaving the flock unbalanced and malnourished. "outside" and "external" to us was that In the meantime, the Charismatic our justification does not refer to inner movement has brought much attention renewal by the Spirit or the life ofChrist to the reality of the third person of the within us, but to the once-and-for-all Godhead, while often underplaying the work of Christ for us. Nevertheless, as study of the divine attributes and the Calvin wrote, "It is not enough to have objective character ofChrist's person and Christ working outside of us for our work. It'snot doctrine that concerns most salvation unless this gift becomes ours Charismatics, as it concerns most and is brought into us by the HolySpirit.')

Calvinists and Lutherans, but experience. There must be a spiritual union with So, the Holy Spirit becomes the central Christ if we are to receive the blessings. trinitarian figure. Just as the Holy Spirit's There must be faith if we are to be person and work can be ignored when we justified, sanctified, and glorified and emphasize only the objective side of this faith we have by vinueofour union salvation (the Father and Son's work with Christ, the gift of ~he Holy Spirit. outside of us in history), so also it is true What we desperately need, then, is a that the Father's and Son's saving work return to a practical, real-life, realization can be pushed aside in an obsession with ofthe doctrine ofthe trinity in our daily the real and alleged experiences and gifts thinking: God the Father so loved the

It is not enough to have Christ

working outside of us for our salvation unless

this gift becomes ours and is

brought into us by the Holy Spirit

2 •

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1992

world that he gave Christ to his people and his people to Christ; then the Father and the Son sent the Holy Spirit. Ifthe _'---./ person and work of any member of the trinity is overlooked or underplayed, to that degree we will be unbalanced Christians.

The Shy Member of the Trinity The Holy Spirit, often called the "shy member of the trinity" because he does not draw attention to himself, but chiefly to Christ, is not, therefore, an impersonal "force" or appendage to the Godhead, but the vibrant, life-giving, renewing partner ofthe Father and the Son, whose essence he shares. As the Father has assigned to the Son a name which is above every other name, so Jesus himself declared, "It is good that I go, for iflgo I will send the Comforter." In other words, Jesus measures the importance of the Holy Spirit's coming by the fact that it will -compensate for the loss of his leaving. But our Lord further states, "It is he who testifies concerning me. The ­ Holy Spirit is essential in the redemptive mission, but he does not "blow his own horn." Rather, he trumpets the glories of Christ's person and work. I worry that the Charismatic -movement, generally speaking, misses this chief role of the Holy Spirit by trying to make him the center of attention. The Holy Spirit refuses to be center-stage and any group or movement that seeks to put him there gravely misses the point of his mission.

But if our Reformation tradition has erred, especially of late-and it has-it has been on the side of denying experience, subjectivity, emotion, and the application of redemption.

Sanctification, inner renewal, life in the Spirit, victory over sin: Because these have been so emphasized, twisted, disfigured, misinterp reted and misapplied in our day, we risk becoming cynical about some very holy matters, quenching the same Spirit who brought us everything Christ purchased for us.

II

I1l0de rnREFORMATION

While we find it easy (and too often delightful) to apply to Charismatics the apostle Paul's lament, "They have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge,"can anything besaid in favor ofknowledgewithout zeal? In fact, which is the more inexcusable offense: serving God in spite ofpoor theology, or ignoring him in spite of better?

In every great move of God in his church, reformation (doctrinal purification) and revival (spiritual renewal and awakening) have gone hand-in-hand.

In the Reformation, Luther was hardly afraid of the Holy Spirit. The German Reformer wrote, "Without the Holy Spirit hearts are either hardened in sins or they despair....Now, this is the article which must ever be and remain in operation; for creation is an established fact, and redemption, too, is finished.

But the Holy Spirit carries on His work without ceasing until the Last Day...." In Calvin's crest there is ahand holding out a heart, with the inscription, "Behold, I offer you my heart, promptly and sincerely." The divorce between doctrine and piety, the mind and the heart, characteristic of both orthodox Reformation folk today on one side and pietists and Charismatics on the other, is a course for disaster, not for either reformation or revival.

Reformation without revival can change the way we think, but it will never transform our attitudes, feelings, and actions. It will be ashort-lived mid-flight correction. Revival without reformation cannot happen in any case, for revival is the sovereign work of the Spirit of God and he will not bless with revival achurch that refuses to conform its teaching and preaching to the Word ofGod. The first Great Awakening in the 18th century was great because it called the colonies back to the Reformation truths and encouraged people to make those truths their own in an experiential, personal way. Combining the mind and the heart, Edwards, Whitefield, and others used

the Word of God to bring the whole person into confrontation with the truth and presence of God's Spirit.

Conclusion The Heidelberg Catechism has the right idea. After every major doctrine, it asks, "How does this comfort you?"

Sometimes we get so caught up in defending particular doctrines and frustrated at being told so often, "But doctrine isn't practical," that we stop trying to answer that question, "How does this comfort you?" Our own tradition calls us back to go beyond rehearsing doctrinal formulae and formal terms-not to ignore them, but to go beyond them, to take these great truths on board and use them in daily life. Further, the Westminster Shorter

Catechism answers that the chief end of man is "to glorify God and to enjoy him forever." Glorify, sure. That's a word we orthodox folk can understand. But enjoy?

That's abittoo emotional. To experience God is adelight that only children enjoy.

Like an awe-struck fan, it's more comfortable to glorify God from the stands than to enjoy him on the field.

But let's not settle for anything less than God's very best. 0 The Rev. Michael Horton is president of CURE and the author of Made In America, Putting Amazing Back Into Grace, and editor of The Agony of Deceit, and Power Religion. He was educated at Biola University, Westminster Theological Seminary in California, and is engaged in postgraduate studies at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford.

SEPTEMBERlOcrOBER

• 3

The Lord & Giver ofLife

Apart from the Holy Spirit, the kingdom of God is just a good idea.

it be good for them that Jesus go away and leave them? And while these words did not make much sense when Jesus first uttered them, now they offered an important clue to the meaning of what was soon to happen among them. For Jesus also said,

By KIM RIDDLEBARGER

Jesus of Nazareth had died a horrible and agonizing death at the hands of his Roman executioners. His own band of disciples, who had left everything they had to follow him, were suddenly left with nothing but memories, or so they undoubtedly thought. They could not have had the slightest inkling that the death ofJesus Christ was not only not the end of their three-year ass~~ciation with him, it was merely the beginning of coming glories beyond their wildest expectations. But while they were still in the fog of grief, shock, and confusion because of the death of their beloved master, Jesus Christ conquered death and the grave three days later on that first EasterSunday. Their tempestuous leader, Simon Peter, had denied even knowing

Jesus, and most of the others had either fled the scene or remained in hiding in fear of what the Jewish religious authorities would do to them now that Jesus was no longer around to offer 4 •

SEPTEMBER/OCfOBER 1992

protection. But the disciples were not singled out for retributive punishment, nor were they rejected by the Risen Lord for deserting him. These same deserters andfaithless cowards were insteadgranted the unspeakable privilege of actually beholding several quite spectacular post­ resurrection appearances of their Lord.

No, this was not the end, it was indeed the beginning of something far more awesome than they had ever known! And Jesus was now about to make this point clear to them.

As our Lord himself had pointed out to the apostles, even before these things had all transpired, this was to be but a transitional period in redemptive history.

Jesus Christ's own coronation as King of Kings and Lord of Lords was soon at hand. Jesus was going to return to his Father in his Ascension and receive ultimate exaltation, taking his seat upon the very throne of heaven. Once again, he w(}uld see with his own eyes his Father's unspeakable glories which he had once beheld throughout ages past before his own divine gloryhad beenveiled in human flesh. Jesus' words spoken earlier to the disciples and recorded in John's gospel must have somehow flooded back into their memories during these chaotic days. They undoubtedly rememberedJesus saying to them, "But 1tell you the truth: for it is for your good that 1 am going away. Unless 1go away, the Counsellor will not come to you; but if 1 go, 1will send him to you" On. 16:7). How could

When he [the Counsellor] comes, he will convict the world ofguilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer, and in regard to the world, because the prince of this world stands condemned already. an. 16:8-11)

In fact, it was during those very unique days between our Lord's Resurrection and Ascension that Jesus took the opportunity to remind the disciples of all this, declaring, "1 am going to send you what my Father has promised, but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high" (Lk. 24:49). And as this anticipated event was rapidly approaching, Jesus promised them that "in a few days you will be baptizedwith the Holy Spirit.. ooButyou will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:5, 8). The promised Counsellor, the Holy Spirit, was going to come at long last, and his coming was to have the most important of consequences, not only for the 12, but for the entire world. How could these men, with all of their fears, sins, and shortcomings turn the whole world upside-down? What qualified them to be Christ's witnesses to the ends of the earth? Their own track records were less than impressive, since they had already deserted Jesus once before, after just three short days of uncertainty!

Since the debate surrounding the

charismatic movement began in the late

­

HlodenzREH)RMATION

'60s, virtually every discussion of the person and work of the Holy Spirit is forced to take into account the doctrine of ~ the "baptism in the Spirit," and the role of "spiritual gifts" in the life ofthe individual believer. While there is no doubt that these are very important questions, the debate over the validity of such spiritual gifts as speaking in tongues, and the question ofwhether or not the "baptism in the Holy Spirit" is the initiatory experience for everyChristian, or asecond work ofgrace that happens to Christians after they are converted, has forced the church to deal with the question of the ministry ofthe Holy Spirit in the preSent age. Since God does not change in either his being or in his plans for his people, how are we to understand the HolySpirit's work in the present age-an age that dawned with the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and therefore, an age that is at the very least a continuation of that .which was begun that day in Jerusalem? Is the present work ofthe Holy Spirit to be understood as primarilygiving sensational and miraculous gifts? Is the baptism of the Holy Spirit an additional power to enable struggling sinners to live a holy life? Are we as Christians to expect that our spiritual experiences will inevitably reflect the events recorded in the New Testament, especially those recorded in the book ofActs?

The answer to the last question is "yes" and "no." Since Acts is adivinely inspired record ofthe events that gave birth to the Church, and is as Calvin argued, not merely a history of the early Church but also adescription of"the beginning ofthe reign ofChrist, and as it were, the renewal ofthe world that is being pictured here."t Acts, therefore, describes a unique period in redemptive history, and accordingly, most interpreters ofthe book would argue that much of what is recorded is directly related to the dramatic inauguration of Christ's reign in heaven, but is not necessarily normative for all Christian experience and practice throughout the

,~

age that follows. Certainly, Christians can and do disagree about this, and this debate needs to be a part ofthe on-going theological reflection of the Church.

Most Reformed ChristianS argue that the "baptism of the Holy Spirit" spoken of by our Lord is connected with the inauguration and entrance bya Christian into union with Christ through faith.

And in addition, most Reformed Christians would argue that miraculous

The Holy Spirit empowers his people to be witnesses of Jesus Christ, and he enables those dead ••

•

In SIn to trust In the Savior "sign" gifts, such as the gift of tongues, were also unique to that age.2 However, there is onepoint that often gets obscured in the debate over these questions that we must endeavor to keep clearly in view.

It is very important to remember that our Lord·himself connects the future coming of the Holy Spirit with the conviction of sin, righteousness, and judgment ofthe world (In. 16:8-11). In addition, Jesus tells his disciples that the consequence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit will be power, that is, as our Lord eXplains it, his discipl,eswill beempowered to be his witnesses, even to the ends ofthe earth (Acts 1:8). How is it that these 12 formerly faithless and lackluster cowards would succeed in taking the gospel of Jesus Christ to the end of the world?

What was it that transformed them into messengers of the gospel? I think it is interesting to note that by the time Luke concludes his account ofthe infant church inActs, we discover the gospel has already spread as far as Rome itselfl What happened to the disciples? How did these misfits actually succeed in doing this?

The Blessed Holy Spirit had come upon them and they became Christ's witnesses, just as he had promised. And it is here, at this point, where we must see that the present day ministry of the Holy Spirit mirrors exacdywhatwefind in the Book ofActs.

Soori after Jesus had ascended into heaven, the disciples gathered in an upper room in Jerusalem to await the power of the Holy Spirit as the Lord had promised them. In Acts 2 we read of the amazing account ofhow the HolySpiritwas poured out on all of those who had gathered there. In turn, we read about how these formerly fearful, timid followers ofJesus Christ suddenly began to declare "the wonders ofGod" to the large and hostile crowd that had gathered outside due to all of the commotion. Peter, who had since gone from cowardly denying his Lord to being the leader of the church, now boldly declared to the multitude that what had been promised long ago by the prophetJoelwas at last being fulfilled in their very presence! Demonstrating from the Old Testament scriptures that Jesus, whom they had crucified, had risen from the dead and was now exalted, Peter exhorted the crowd to "repent and be baptized!" Three-thousand were converted to Jesus Christ and baptized ~ that very day.

- Thus, we fail miserably to understand the present ministry of the Holy Spirit if we do not see that as the Lord and Giver oflife, the primary aspects ofhis work in this age are to give his people asupematural boldness to be Christ's witnesses by empowering them to declare the gospel Continued on next page SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

11 5

of]esus Christ to all who will listen, and to be responsible for the regeneration and conversion of a lost soul (Ti. 3:5).

Only God the Holy Spirit can give new life to someone who is dead in trespasses and sin On. 3:3-16; Eph. 2:5).

Therefore, no debate about the present work of the Holy Spirit is complete ifit does not focus on the fact that whenever anyone comes to Jesus Christ through faith, they have done so precisdy in the same manner that we see in Acts 2. The Blessed Holy Spiric has not only empowered another witness to preach to them, but he has given to the converted sinner the gift of the new birth. He empowers his people to be witnesses of Jesus Christ and he gives the gift of regeneration, enabling those dead in sin to trust in the Saviour. So, whensomeone asks me, "Do you believe that the Holy Spirit works today just as he did in the Book ofActs?" my answer can only be a resounding, "Yes!" The Holy Spirit is still the Lord and Giver of life! 0 The Rev. Kim Riddlebarger is vice­ president of CURE and dean of The Academy, in Anaheim, California.

Ed ucated at the California State U niversi ty in Fullerton, Simon Greenleaf School of Law, and Westminster Theological Seminary in California, Kim is engaged in postgraduate studies at Fuller Theological Seminary and has contributed chapters to Power Religion and Christ The Lord.

Notes

l.John Calvin, TheActs ofthe Apostles, Vol. 1,

Calvin's New Testament Commentaries, trans.

W.J.G. McDonald (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1979) p. 17.

2. The recent work of Robert Zerhusen has shown that a strong case can be made for seeing the gift of tongues as a supernatural boldness to declare the wonders of God in one's native language and not as the supernatural ability to speak a language that the speaker does not already know. Zerhusen's presentation is listed in the CURE resource catalogue.

6 •

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1992

nlode rIlREFOR~1ATION

Holy Spirit Baptism:

Seven Easy Steps?

By DONALD MACLEOD ,

What are we to make ofthe claim that Holy Spirit baptism is given only to be­ lievers who fulHl certain conditions? The famous American evangelist, RA Torrey, devoted two whole chapters of his book The Holy Spirit: Who He Is and What He Does to expounding these conditions and stated categorically: "There is aplain path, consisting ofseven very easy steps, which anyone here can take today, and it is absolutely certain that anyone who takes those seven steps will enter into the blessing."

penance."

Furthermore, it is curious in the ex­ treme that the renouncing ofall sin could be deemed possible prior to baptism in the Spirit. Whatever hope there might be of such a victory once the Spirit in his fullness had come into our lives there could surely be no hope of it before.

Indeed, it is difficult to see why Spirit baptism should ever be deemed necessary in such acase. Ifwe can dispense with the services ofthe Holy Spirit in the struggle

conferred. This is no mere modification of evangelical theology-an advance consistent with its genius.

It is its destruction.

The effect, from an­ other point of view, is an intolerable disjunction of Christ from the Spirit.

Faith alone receives Christ. But it does not, we are told, receive the Spirit. Yet, according to Paul, to be born in Christ is to be "complete" (Col. 1. "Accept Jesus as Saviour" 2:10). The Lord is the The first step towards receiving the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17) and it Spirit is, we are told, accept Jesus as is precisely because Christ Saviour. We must be right with God. and the Spirit are one that The one objection to this is that it is the Saviour can identify proposed only as a first step. Torrey's the coming of the Com­ definition of it is that "we rest upon the forter with his own com­ finished work of Christ on the cross of ing 0n. 16:16ff.).IfChrist Calvary, upon his atoning death for us, as is present wherever the the sole ground ofour acceptance before Spirit is present surely the corollary is also against sin we can surely dispense with God." This is a fine statement of the true that the Comforter is present wher­ them altogether.

What is emerging here is afull-blown nature of saving faith and it is certainly ever Christ is present? perfectionist theology. "If there is any absolutely essential to our receiving Holy measure ofrebellion against him," writes Spirit baptism. But according to Torrey 2. "Renounce all sin" and his disciples it is not sufficient. Faith The second step towards the baptism Ralph M. Riggs, "that issue will have to alone does not secure the fullness of the the spirit is to renounce all sin. We must, be settled with a perfect surrender to Spirit. This strikes at the very heart ofthe says Torrey, "make a clear-cut choice him." The question is: Is such a state evangelical emphasis of solafide. It means between the Holy Spirit and unholy sin." possible to the Christian? Experience­ that a man may be justified from all sin The exegetical basis for this is slender. and observation-suggests that it is not; and yet Spirit baptism be withheld, that Torrey argues that it is implicIt in the and scripture confirms it. The post-Pen­ he may be righteous with the righteous­ word repent in Acts 2:38 ~d slides gra­ . tecost, Spirit-filled Peter has to be re­ ness of Christ and yet be denied the tuitously from defining repentance as "a buked to his face because he is blamewor­ fullness of the Spirit; and even that he change of mind about sin" to defining it thy (Gal. 2: 11). Paul laments the presents may be a son of God and yet go without as "renouncingallsi_n." The command to of a law of sin in his members (Rom. thesealofthatsonship-anheironwhom repent can no more bear this meaning Continued on next page of the earnest of the inheritance is not than it can the Roman Catholic, "Do SEPTEMBER/OCfOBER

• 7

7:23). And John, already weary with perfectionists, roundlydeclares that ifwe say that we have no sin we are simply deceiving ourselves (1 In. 1:8). How, in the presence of these facts, can we say to struggling believers that if only they will take the simple step ofeliminating every vestige of rebellion from their lives, sur­ rendering fully to God and renouncing all sin they will then receive the blessing ofSpirit baptism? That may comfort the deluded. But it will drive the realist to despair.

3. "Open confession" The next step laid down by Torrey is open confession before the world of our renunciation ofsin and ofouracceptance of Christ. This invites three comments.

First, confession is a perfectly normal and indeed indispensable part of the Christian life. It.is neither the evidence of, nor the gateway into, a higher st4ge of discipleship, but something God ex­ pects ofevery Christian. In its most basic form the evangelistic message lays down that "ifthou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus...thou shalt be saved" (Rom. 10:9). Ifthis isso, Torrey's argu­ ment will not suit his case. If Spirit baptism is given to all who confess Christ then it is given to all Christians because all are confessors.

Second, Torrey's argument is an in­ version of biblical order. Confession of Christ is not the meritorious cause of Spirit baptism but its result. It was so at Pentecost: they were first filled with the Spirit and then began to proclaim the wonderful works of God (Acts 2:4, 11).

It was so also in the household of Cornelius: as Peter preached, the Spirit fell on his hearers and they began to magnify God (Acts 10:44,46). And this was precisely the way Christ said it would be. He did not promise that, if they witnessed, the Holy Spirit would come upon them, but that the Holy Spirit would come upon them and that they would be witnesses (Acts 1:8).

8 •

SEPTEMBERJOCTOBER 1992

Third, in Torrey's statement there is a subtle distortion of the biblical idea of confession. It has become a confession about ourselves: we have renounced sin;

The Holy Spirit's ministry, in all its fullness, is for the Christian, a matter of survival we have accepted Christ. These are claims about our own spiritual state (and at least one of them is false). In the New Testa­ ment, confession is Christ-centered: He is great (Heb. 4:14). The testimony is not that we have renounced sin but that Christ saves from it.

4. "Obedience" The perfectionist strain already re­ ferred to appears even more clearly in the fourth step: obedience. The biblical basis alleged for this is Acts 5:32, "The Holy Spirit whom God has given to them that obey him." One's instinctive attitude to this verse is to relate it to I John 3:23, "This is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another." The gift ofthe Spirit is given to all those who obey God's imperious evangelistic sum­ mons. Riggs and Torrey see it quite differently. To the former, it means per­ fect surrender. Torrey is even more strin­ gent: "Obedience is not merely doing one, two, or three things that God com­ mands, but doing everything that he

commands....This is one of the most fundamental things in receiving the bap­ tism with the Holy Spirit, the uncondi­ tional surrender of the will to God." We must ask again: Whyshould such aperson need the baptism with the Holy Spirit? Has he not already, by his own strength, done everything for which the Spirit's help might be desired?

But then, anyone who has reached this spiritual level is living on a plane which scripture never contemplates as possible for the Christian. Only aseared conscience or abenighted theologycould persuade any man that he had made an absolute surrender ofhis will to God and was obeying all his commands. Con­ versely, the Pentecostal scheme is as ifthe way to the Holy Spirit baptism were guarded, even from the Christian, by the flaming sword that turns every way (Gn. 3:24). If the condition of receiving the Holy Spirit in his fullness is perfect obe­ dience then God is mocking us: Whoso­ ever shall keep the whole law and yet offendinonepoint, he is guilty ofall (Jas. 2:10).

5. "Thirst" The fifth condition is thirst and for this, too, a text is offered: "If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.

He that believeth on me, out ofhis belly shall flow rivers ofliving water. But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him were to receive" (Jn. 7:37ff.).

In Torrey's use ofthis passage there is clear desire to relate Spirit baptism to something meritorious on the human side. In the text itself, thirst is clearly equivalent to faith and it is stated, quite categorically, that Spirit baptism will be given to those who believe. Like justifi­ cation, the only qualification is faith alone. But this will not suffice for the perfectionist, conditionalist theology of Pentecostalism. It is engaged in a search for something we must do to receive baptism in the Spirit; and ifall it can find

~

!llode rllREFORMATION

is thirst then the thirst itself must be defined in strenuous terms, so that one can look at it with satisfaction. It secures Spirit baptism not as simple thirst but as special thirst; as thirst plus. It must be sustained, sincere, and intense. Whether, even as such, it is meritorious, is another question. But the attempt to make it is valiant enough: "When a man .really thirsts," writes Torrey, "it seems as if every pore in his body had just one cry, 'Water, water, water.' When aman thirsts spiritually, his whole being has just one cry, 'The Holy Spirit, The Holy Spirit, The Holy Spirit, 0 God, give me the Holy Spirit.'" Furthermore, the desire must be apure one: "You must desire the baptism with the Holy Spirit for the glory ofGod and not for your own glory.

You must desire the baptism with the Holy Spirit in order that you may honor God with more effective service and not merely that you may get a new power or a new influence or it may be a larger salary."

The whole effect is to shift the empha­ sis from God's promise and fro mChrist's work as Surety to some meritorious hu­ man quality. We are reminded of the story of Naaman, expecting something spectacular as the condition ofhaving his leprosy cured and given instead the devastatinglysimple instruction, "Go and wash in Jordan seven times" (2 Kgs. 5:10). Naaman "was angry"; and many Christians seem to find it equally offen­ sive that so glorious apromise as baptism in the Spirit requires for its fulfillment only faith in Christ.

;

6. "Just Ask Him" The sixth condition is "just ask him;" or, more specifically, definite prayer for this blessing. The proof-text offered here is Luke 11: 13, "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?"

It is difficult to see how this can lend

any support to the Pentecostal case. It The prayer must be very special, so that does not refer to baptism in the Spirit but once again the focus moves from the to the mere giving ofthe Spirit so that, so divine promises and the divine Surety to far as the language is- concerned, it the quality of our own asking. Looking amounts to no more than the experience back on a typical example ofwhat he has which Torrey describes contemptuously in mind, Torrey writes, "About mid­ as "having the Holy Spirit dwelling in us night God gave us complete victory. And way back in some hidden corner of our oh! what praying there was from that being where we are not distinctly con­ time on up toa little after two in the scious ofhis presence." It is Torrey him­ morning. I think I had never heard such selfwho distinguishes between the giving praying before and have seldom heard and the baptism and on his own terms such praying since." That the Spirit is Luke 11:13 is quite irrelevant to his argu­ promised to prayer is one thing. That he is promised to such prayer as one has ment.

What is happening is that once again never heard before is quite another.

The whole thrust of the passage in the idea of merit-of complying with certain prescribed conditions-is thrown Luke is against Torrey's argument. For into prominence. Baptism in the Spirit is one thing, the child's need for bread for those who are worthy, and Riggs does cannot be met by any once-for-all expe­ not even have the caution to avoid the use rience. It is a recurring thing, and so, by of the term. Referring to James 4:2 ("Ye analogy, is our need of the Holy Spirit, have not because ye ask not") he writes: for whom we have to pray constantly.

"This is God's elimination test to deter- Again, the child's need is not for some luxury or extra, but for bread-for the staff of life. By analogy, again, the Holy Spirit is someone whom every believer needs indispensably and whom God can no more withhold from his children than ahuman father can withhold bread from his family. Yet again, it is inconceivable that an earthly father would give food to his children only if they asked for it in a special way; or subject them to some "elimination test" to make sure they re­ ally wanted it-wanted it urgently, fer­ vently, importunately, and purely.

The Holy Spirit's ministry, in all its fullness, is for the Christian, a matter of survival; and while he is certainly to ask for it he expects to receive it not because of the special quality of his asking but because of the urgency of his need and mine whom he considers wonhy to re­ the certainty of his Father's promise. ceive this priceless gift. It is without mo ney and without price, but he will give it only 7. "Faith" The last step towards receiving Holy to those who ask for it."

Torrey begins with "Just ask," which Spirit baptism is faith. We may read this so far as we can see, is no different from with astonishment. How can faith be faith alone. But his exposition shows that Continued on next page in his view no ordinary askingwill suffice.

God has

promised the

fullness of his Spirit to all

believers; and only to

believers.

SEPTEMBERJOcrOBER

• 9

last? But our astonishment would be misplaced. The definition of faith at this point is peculiar. It no longer means trusting Christ crucified, but expecting God to give you whatever you ask. This, according to Torrey, is where many fail, including "a countless multitude of ear­ nest seekers for the baptism with the Holy Spirit. They meet the other condi­ tions, they pray definitely and earnestly, but they do not confidently expect and therefore they do not get."

But this either means too little or it means too much. If Torrey is saying that every believer) simply because he is a believer, has a right to expect baptism in the Holy Spirit, he is giving away his own case. On the other hand, to say that absolutely anyone who expects Spirit baptism will receive it is saying too much.

For example, there are many people who confidently expect to go to heaven who will be sorely disappointed (Mt. 7:21ff.).

We have to ask: Who has the right to expect a blessing? To say, "On the confi­ dence itself," is no answer. The only reasonable ground for confidence, in any of our prayers, is the fact that God has made acertain, definite promise to some­ one in our circumstances. So far as Holy Spirit baptism is concerned, the ground of confidence is that God has promised the fullness of his Spirit to all believers; and only to believers.

Conclusion .

Recently, some preachers within the Reformed community have begun to suggest that Calvinists and Charismatics should draw closer together and even unite organically, forming local churches incorporating both traditions. Such pro­ posals can come only from men who regard Charismatic churches as nothing more than typical evangelical churches with tongue-speaking tied on. The truth is far different. Long before we get to discussing tongue-speaking, the theology of these churches differs radically from that of the Reformation.

10.

SEPTEMBERJOCfOBER 1992

First, it is perfectionist: consciously and deliberately so. "The Pentecostal child," writes the well-known Anglican Charismatic, Michael Harper, "was brought up in the nursery of the Holi­ ness Movement, from which it acquired so much of its teaching-and also, strangely enough, a great deal of its per­ secution. Methodism, and its various ancestors in the Moravian sects, had always taught both the decisiveness of the conversion experience and also of a further experience, variously called 'en­ tire sanctification,' 'holiness,' 'perfect love' 'the second blessing,' and later 'the baptism in the Spirit.' It was largely from this rock that the Pentecostal stone was hewn." This pedigree explains why Pentecostalism believes in the possibility of renouncing all sin, obeying all God's commands, and surrendering our wills absolutely to his. How can any hope to reconcile such an outlook with the sin­ conscious Augustianism of the Reform­ ers and the Puritans?

Second, Pentecostal theology is conditionalist. Ifwewish to enjoy all the blessings of the covenant, faith alone is not enough. One must, in addition, renounce all sin, obey all God's com­ mands, really thirst for the Spirit, really ask, and really expect. The departure from sola fide is radical and the road to spiritual fullness beset with problems so intimidating that they can be overcome only in the imagination.

One final comment: How skilfully does the Pentecostal/Holiness preacher hedge his bets! The promise is glorious.

The steps to it are easy. But ifthe hearer does not secure it there can be no come­ back on the preacher. He can always say: Ah! But you have not renounced all sin.

You are not fully surrendered. You do not really thirst. You do not ask purely.

You do not confidently expect. The re­ sulting agony to the spiritually desperate is no different in principle from Luther's self-flagellations.

So What is the Baptism of the Spirit?

UntH the 20th century theologians paid little attention to the phrase the baptism of the Holy Spirit: and the rela­ tive neglect could daim some biblical justification. The precise wording the baptism of the Spirit does not occur anywhere else in the New Testament and the idea itself occurs very infrequently.

There are in fact only three references: In Mt. 3: 11 (and parallels) where John the Baptist proclaims that Christ will baptize in the Holy Spirit; in Acts 1:5 where our Lord himself promises that the disciples will be baptized in the Holy Spirit; and in I Cor. 12:13 where Paul affirms that all Christians were baptized in one Spirit.

The importance of a doctrine cannot be measured, however, by the frequency with which a precise wording occurs in scripture. Otherwise the doctrine of the Trinity would have to be dismissed as quite secondary. Holy Spirit baptism is ~'" only one of several designations for that all-important initiatory experience by which the Holy Spirit comes to take up residence in the believer. Its importance has been further enhanced by the exigen­ cies ofcontroversy and particularly by the construction put upon it by Pentecostal and Neo-Pentecostal theology. This has raised questions so radical and so far reaching that none of us can afford to ignore them.

The most fundamental of these ques­ tions is that of the relation of Holy Spirit baptism to regeneration and conversion.

Pentecostal theology insists that the two are quite distinct; that the baptism is frequently, if not indeed normally, subse­ quent to conversion; that it is therefore perfectly possible for a man to have been born again and yet not have received Holy Spirit baptism; and indeed that some'Christians never receive this bless­ mg.

One of the most articulate advocates .

J1lodernREFORMATION

,­

of this point of view was R.A. Torrey, whom F.D. Bruner has described as "af­ ter Wesley and Finney, the most impor­ tant figure in the pre-history of Pentecostalism.» "The baptism with the Spirit," writes Torrey, "is a work of the Holy Spirit distinct from and additional to his regenerating work. In other words, it is one thing to be born,again by the Holy Spirit and quite another thing to be baptized with the HolySpirit.»Ralph M Riggs, a contemporary Pentecostal theo­ logian,isequally emphatic: "Although all believers have the Holy Spirit, yet it still remains that all believers, in addition to having the Holy Spirit may be filled with or baptized with the Holy Spirit.» The disciples before Pentecost "had received the Holy Spirit already, but they yet needed the baptism in the Holy Spirit."

Receiving, being filled, being baptized One major difficulty which immedi­ ately faces this doctrine is that the lan­ guage ofthe New Testament simply will not allow us' to distinguish in this way between being baptized in the Spirit and receiving the Spirit. These-and other terms-are used quite interchangeably.

For example, in Acts 1:5 Luke foretells the day of Pentecost as an experience of being baptized in the Spirit. In Acts 2:4 he describes it as being filled with the Spirit. We cannot, in the face of these statements, go on to say that being filled and being baptized are two different ex­ periences. On the other hand, the same experience is foretold in Acts 1:8 as the Holy Spirit coming upon them; and de­ scribed inActs 2:38 as receiving the Spirit.

Putting all these together we have to conclude that having the Spirit come upon us, receiving the Spirit, being filled with the Spirit and being baptized in the Spirit are one and the same experience.

The way that Luke describes the expe­ rience of cornelius and his household is equally significant. He sees it as an exact parallel to Pentecost (Acts 11:15) and as

aprecise fulfillment ofour Lord's prom­ ise: "Ye shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit" (Acts 11:16). Yet in describing the event he does not use the language of filing or baptism. He says instead that the HolySpiritfell on them (Acts 10:44), that the gift ofthe HolySpiritwas poured out on them (Acts 10:45) and, most significantly of all, that they simply re­ ceived the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:47).

It is surely dear that no one can daim the authority of the New Testament for distinguishing between receiving the

32), of which Pentecost was the fulfill­

ment. In the old dispensation, the Spirit and his gift were distributed only to special individuals within the people of God. This limitation, says Joel, would be done away with in the last days (the Christian dispensation). The Spirit would be poured out on all flesh. their sons and their daughters would proph­ esy, their young men would see visions and their old men would dream dreams.

The Spirit wouldcome not only on the eminent, but on servants ana maid­ servants. Moses' longing (Mum. 11:29) would be fulfilled: All the Lord's people would be prophets, speaking forth the wonderful works of God. Luke's account ofPentecost makes it dear that this is exactly what happened: All the believers were baptized in the Spirit (Acts 2:4). The all is so defined that it does not allow us to believe that any single disciple was excluded. The whole church described in Acts 1: 13-26 were "all with one accord in one place," and when the baptism came it came on all of them. At that moment, there was not a single believer in the world who was not baptized in-the Spirit. Bearing in mind also his use of the Joel's prophecy it is difficult to resist the conclusion that Luke wants to establish at the outset that Spirit, on the one hand, and being bap­ this is to be the distinctive feature ofthe tized or filled with the Spirit on the new dispensation. other. Equally dearly, no one can daim The description of the experience of canonical authorityfor the form ofwords: the 3,000 converted through Peter's "All have received the Spirit, but not all preaching is certainly in accord with have been baptized or filled with the this. He promised that those who re­ sponded to his message would receive Spirit." the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38).

All believers are baptized in the But he does not portray this as some­ thing additional to the basic experience Spirit But the case does not rest on biblical ofsalvation. Instead, the gift is said to be vocabulary alone. There is considerable adirect and immediate effect ofconver­ direct evidence in the New Testament sion: "Repent and be baptized every one that all believers experience Holy Spirit ofyou in the name ofJesus Christ for the remission ofsins and ye shall receive the baptism.

To begin with, the universality ofthe gift of the Holy Spirit." Remission of gift of the Spirit was one of the main Turn to Macleod on page 26 points in the prophecy of Joel (2:28­ SEPTEMBER/ocrOBER

• 11

The Spirit & the Word

What God has joined together, let no man divide

By RICK RITCHIE

"Luther Bible babble bubble," jeered Thomas Muntzer. If Thomas Muntzer were alive today, his church would have adove on its front wall. Or, more likely, no ornament; he would be too busy running "signs and wonders" con­ ferences to worry about a building.

Muntzer was thankful that Luther had unshackled the Church from Papal authority. But he felt that Luther had stopped short of true reformation. Not only the church hierarchy, but the Bible itself stood in the way of man's direct access to God. If Biblical authority could be set aside, the church would be open to the direct working of God in the present day. Solascriptura? Scripture alone? Luther Bible babble bubble.

The charge that the Reformation churches are dead because of their lack ofemphasis on the work ofthe Holy Spirit is as old as the Reformation itself.

And so is one Reformation answer­ Luthees: "Muntzer, I wouldn't believe you if you swallowed the Holy Ghost, feathers and all!"

Most modern day evangelicals do not want to swallow feathers so much as ruffle them. Surveying orthodox con­ gregations that appear to be lifeless, they believe that the Holy Spirit is the missing ingredient in church life. Perhaps they have good reason to believe this.

Any thoughtful Christian, when chal­ lenged, will agree that a church without the Holy Spirit is a dead church. More­ over, he or she wants to be a member of a living church. Who among us would purposely join a church in which the . 12.

- SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1992

HolySpiritwasabsent? The Holy Spirit's presence is surely on every true church's "Must Have" list.

When we recognize our need of the Holy Spirit, the first question that comes

otherwise reject just because it fits with ourpreconceived notions. Theyalso cause us to miss noticing those manifestations of the Spirit that do not conform to our ~ misguided expectations.

If our primary picture of the Holy Spirit is that of a power source, our goal will be to get people "plugged in" to that power source. The best minister will be the best conductor of energy. A deep encounter ofthe Holy Spirit might leave a person "amped out." We will accept as valid any behavior or practice that can be explained in terms of electricity, but we will payless attention to even scripturally based experiences which do not have to do with energy.

The Scriptures are in­ deed replete with references linking the Holy Spirit to power. In both Old and New Testaments, the Spirit comes upon people in power (1 Sm. 10:10; Acts 1:8), and many of the places in the New Testament where power is spoken of, the Holy Spirit is the source ofthat power (e.g., Lk. "-----" 4:14; Acts 10:38; Rom. 15:19; 1 Cor. 2:4; Eph. 3: 16). On account of this, it would be pointless to argue that the Holy Spirit is not a power source. It will still be helpful, how­ ever, to investigate what kind of power the Holy Spirit brings, how it is received, and to what end it is given. Even if we know that the Holy Spirit is a power source, we will still want to know what we are to receive, how to receive it, and what to do with it.

to mind is "How can we get the Holy Spirit to be active in our church?" This question is not peculiar to the Charis­ matic movement. Christians in Refor­ mation churches ask it as well. The great divide is in how the question is answered by the various churches. While some seek experiences of the Holy Spirit beyond Scripture, the Reformationseeks the Holy The ministry of the Holy Spirit Paul's secondletterto the Corinthians Spirit in Scripture. is one of the best places to go to for a The Holy Spirit as a power source description of the ministry of the Holy Before we ask how we can get the Holy Spirit. It is not an unfamiliar passage to Spirit active in our church, we need to most people, but it is often misinter­ know what the ministry of the Holy preted. It is not uncommon to have the Spirit is. Wrong pictures of the work of verse "The letter kills, but the Spirit gives the Holy Spirit lead to wrong methods of life" interpreted to mean that obeying seeking the Holy Spirit. They lead us to the letter ofthe law gets us into a deadly accept as normal much that we would legalism, but 0 beying the spirit ofthe law

_

will bring life. When we look at the broadercontext ofPaul'sstatement about the letter and the Spirit, we find that he is contrasting not two ways ofreading the law, but the ministry of two covenants: He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant-not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Now ifthe tcinistry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israel­ ites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, [which was being abolished] 1, will not the ministry of the Spirit be more glorious? If the minis­ try that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness? (2 Cor. 3:6-10)

The two ministries are the ministry ofthe letter, which Paul said brought condem­ nation, and the ministry of the Spirit, which brings righteousness. The minis­ try that brought death was brought by Moses, the letterswere engraved on stone.

The ministry of the letter, then, is the Law, which the Israelites knew from the Ten Commandments. The ministry of the Spirit that brings righteousness is the Gospel (Rom. 1: 17). The contrast be­ tween letter and spirit, then, is not a contrast between a rigid and a free read­ ing ofthe law, but acontrast between the Law and the Gospel.

In Paul's writings, the connection be­ tween the Spirit and the Gospel is funda­ mental. Not only is the ministry of the Spirit the Gospel, but the glory of the Spirit's ministry is the glory of Christ found in the Gospel (2 Cor. 4:3). This has important implications for worship.

Because the Holy Spirit is God, we can and should worship him. The Nicene Creed teaches this when it says that to­ gether with the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit is "worshiped and glorified."

While it is proper to worship God for who he is, much ofthe worship found in Scripture is based of what he has done

(e.g., Ex. 15:1-18; Rv. 5:9-10). Ourwor­ ship ofthe Spirit ought to include praise for making known to us the work of Christ. We should glorify him for mak­ ing known to us Christ's glory.

Not only is the ministry of the Spirit the ministry ofthe Gospel, but Paul tells his churches that they received the Spirit by the same means that they received the Gospel. Paul tells the Galatians that they received the Spirit by hearing (Gal. 3:2, 5), and he tells the Corinthians that they received faith by hearing as well (Rom. 10:17). In each case, what they heard was the message of the gospel. By believing the message of the gospel, we receive the Holy Spirit.

This connection between the Holy Spirit and the Gospel is often overlooked.

How often have we heard of supposed workings of the Holy Spirit that have no connectionwith the Gospel message? One ofthestories often used to prop up Charles Finney's claims · to evangelizing under

While some seek experiences

of the Holy Spirit beyond Scripture, the Reformation seeks the

Holy Spirit in .

Scripture God's power involves him walking into a factory, and those seeing his face becom­ ing converted by the mere sight ofhim. I would like to know what they were con­ verted to. The Apostle Paul tells us that faith comes from hearing the message

IJu)(lernREFORI\1ATION

(Rom. 5: 18). All the factory workers saw was aface. Even ifwe were to grant forthe sake ofargument that divine glory shone from it, this would convert no one. It is the Gospel that is the power of God to him that believes (Rom. 10: 17). No Gos­ pel-no power to salvation. It is as simple as that.

Who is limiting God? While linking the ministryofthe Holy Spirit to the Gospel is not likely to be controversial, binding the Holy Spirit to the Word is. People from the Reforma­ tion are often accused ofputting Godin a box by denying that the Holy Spirit operates apart from the Word. A com­ parison will show that our view gives more credit to the power ofGod than the opposite view.

The test case most often presented to refute the Reformation viewpoint is that ofthe native in darkest Mrica who never meets a missionary. If we say that only those who actually hear the Gospel can be saved, are we saying that God cannot reach that person? Is God reallyso depen­ dent upon our missionary efforts in sav­ ing the souls ofthe lost? Before answering this case, I want to present another test case to show what the underlying motive is in bringing up the Mrican native.

One class ofpersons whom the Refor­ mation classifies as eminently suited to receive the ministry of the Holy Spirit is infants. Since we do not believe in free will, we as Reformation Christians be­ lieve that it is always supernatural when an individual comes to faith in Christ.

The decisive factor is not the intellect of the individual, but the power of God Age is no barrier to salvation. As demon­ strated by the case of John the Baptist, even infants can be filled with the Holy Spirit (Lk. 1:15). They are also capable of faith. Scripture says that "without faith, it is impossible to please God" (Heb. 11 :6). Are we to believe that John the Baptist was fIlled with the Holy Spirit but did not have faith? Does not his SEPTEMBER/OcrOBER

•

13

leaping for joy at the coming of his . Messiah (and this is Scripture's interpre­ tation of why he leapt, not just mine!) evidence of faith? The Messiah brought joy because he was trusted. So much for the so-called age of accountability-that unbiblical doctrine!

If we are willing to say that God can overcome any impediments that may be brought about by an individual's lack of ability to reason, we are certainly not making God dependent on human ability. In the case ofthe native inAfrica, . I suspect that many who do not consider the possi­ bility of infant faith will believe in the ability of the native to come to faith.

This is not so much be­ cause they believe in the power of God to convey the Gospel apart from Scripture, but because they believe that the Af­ rican native has the spiri­ tual ability to discover the Gospel himself. It is not God's ability to speak, but man's ability to hear that is being extolled.

Is this really fair? Try­

ing to read motives is a

tricky thing. I do it here

only because I have heard

the idea of infant faith

ridiculed by the very

people who would accuse

me of putting God in a

box. These people believe

that God can bring an

ignorant native to spiritual

life where the Gospel is

absent, but that he can­

not enliven an infant

where the Gospel is

present. The power of

God's Gospel is made out

to be unnecessary, while

the reasoning ability of

14.

SEPTEMBER/OCfOBER 1992

the individual is made decisive. Those who claim that the Holy Spirit speaks outside of the Word do not magnify the ministry of God, they belittle it.

To choose a grosser example, I have heard of well-known pastors claim that "the living word" is greater than the "written word." At first it sounds as if what is being claimed is that God is greater than the Bible. Ifthat were all that was claimed, who could disagree? The

problem is that these pastors claim for themselves the ability to discern what the living word is saying. When they claim that their message comes from "the living word," they can now place .themselves in authority over the Bible since they have a more authoritative word. What at first appears to be a defense of the greatness ofGod is really onlyan attempt to place man over Scrip­ ture.

IlzolienzREFORMATION

Captivity to the Word is openness to the Spirit At the Diet of Worms where Luther made his famous stand before Church and Empire, Martin Luther declared himselfcaptive to the Word ofGod. His warnings against seeking the Spirit apart from Scripture were especially stern: Accordingly, we should and must con­ stantly maintain that God will not deal with us except through his external Word and sacrament. Whatev6r is attributed to the Spirit apart from such Word and sacrament is of the devil. For even to Moses God wished to appear first through the burning bush and the spoken word (Ex. 3:2, 4), and no prophet, whether Elijah or Elisha, received the Spirit with­ out the Ten Commandments. John the Baptist was not conceived without the preceding word of Gabriel, nor did he leap in his mother's womb until Maty spoke (Lk. 1:13-42).2

Many Christians are afraid that embrac­ ing the Reformation will bring about a captivity ofanothersort. Do we worship a God who cannot speak personally to us? It is feared that binding the Holy Spirit to the Word will silence God. On a day-to-day basis, if we wish to have God advise us personally about our money-worries, comfort us when we feel arthritic, or affirm the inner-child within, we are likely to be disappointed.

God does speak of many things in his word, many things that may be perti­ nent in the above instances. The Holy Spirit can illuminate Scripture making it understandable when it has not been before. His timing in illumination will often be remarkably providential. Ifthis is not enough for us-ifwewant more­ the Reformation will be a disappoint­ ment.

For the Christian experiencing an­ guish ofconscience, however, real com­ fort can be taken in knowing that the Holy Spirit is to be sought in the Word.

For this individual, being directed to a voice outside of Scripture is exactly the thing that might drive him or her to despair. Melanchthon's words are very insightful here: It is good to extol the ministry of the Word with every possible kind ofpraise in opposition to the fanatics who dream that the Holy Spirit does not come through the Word but because oftheir own prepa­ rations. They sit in a dark corner doing and saying nothing, but only waiting for illumination, as the enthusiasts taught formerly and the Anabaptists teach now.3

I hate long waits. Even worse than a long wait, is waiting for what may never arrive. I have read literature where the inquirer is left knocking at heaven's gate, but warned that the sovereign Spirit 4

Those who claim that the Holy

Spirit speaks outside of the Word do not

magnify the ministry of God, they belittle it might pass one by. In such aposition, the inquirer might feel that knocking will decrease the likelihood of salvation.

Maybe the Spirit will demonstrate his sovereignty by choosing the person who did not knock, passing by the seeker with bleeding stubs of knuckles.

Not only does waiting for illumina­ tion burden Christians by making them

wait for God, it asks them to look for grace in the wrong place. In his book The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gos­ pel C.F.W. Walther explains the folly of looking into ourselves for a sense of "inner forgiveness." He says of a book that directs sinners inward to find grace that it is "awful," and of its author: His advice to cry to God "until you obtain grace" means, as the words that follow show, "until you have a feeling ofgrace."

That sweet sensation which satisfies their hearts is what these people call grace. But grace is not something for which I must look in my heart. It is in the heart of God.5

This is the true difference between the Reformation and everyone else. For other Christians, the Gospel is something that happens inside ofme. Born-again Chris­ tianity focuses on the new birth­ something that happens to the Chris­ tian. While it does not deny the new birth, Reformation Christianity focuses on the Gospel instead.

This outward orientation is not in the least destructive oftrue inner experience.

In Scripture we see the two wedded.

King David speaks of the forgiveness of God in very personal terms: Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the Lord;" and you forgave the guilt of my sin. (Ps. 32:5)

This is true even though forgiveness for his most notorious sin was not found through a sense of "inner forgiveness," but announced through the mouth of another: Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the Lord." Nathan replied, "The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not

Continued on next page SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

• 15

going to die." (2 Sm. 12:13)

Thank heaven Scripture points weary sinners to the Gospel, and not to their own inner strivings. No dark corners for us, and no long waits. The Gospel itself is the power to salvation. Illumination is not something that takes place inside one's head, but from the outside. It is hearing the news that changes us. This might happen when reading Scripture, listening to a sermon, or hearing a small child tell ofhowJesus tookoursins away.

It is not the power ofthe messenger that' accomplishes this, but the power of the message.

It is only when we recognize that the Word is the Spirit's chosen instrument that we will see that captivity to the Word is openness to the Spirit. Ifas we proved earlier, the ministry of the Spirit is the ministry of the Gospel, then to be en­ gaged in the ministry of the Spirit, we must promote the Gospel. It is this mes:.. sage that the Spirit uses to accomplish his work. As Paul says, "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom" (2 Cor. 3: 17). As Paul says this right after de­ scribing the difference between the min­ istry of the Spirit and the ministry of condemnation, he is certainly talking about freedom from the effects of sin.

Being chained to the Word is not bond­ age, but liberty. Being chained to the Word is like being chained to akey which itselflosses those bound by other chains.

Along with the whole Church, the Reformation confesses that the Holy Spirit is a source of power. To have a living church, the Holy Spirit is neces­ sary. We understand this in biblical terms, however, and not primarily by means of nineteenth-century analogies to electric­ ity. The most direct way to get the expe­ rience that some TV preachers promote would be to stick one's finger into alight socket. Their description is not only of power per se, but of tingling, being zapped, and feeling something like elec­ tricity. Well, if it looks like, smells like, 16 .

SEPTEMBER/OCfOBER 1992

and feels like electricity, maybe they are having an experience with elec­ tricity!

We know of a differ­ ent kind of power. The Bible tells us that the ministry of the Spirit is the ministry ofthe Gos­ pel, which is the power to salvation. Dead churches are churches in which the Gospel is not proclaimed. If the Gos­ pel is being proclaimed, the church is living. It may be stodgy. It may be tacky. It may be awk­ ward. Ifthe gospel is not being preached, how­ ever, it matters not if everyone is running around with sparks fly­ ing from their hair, the church is dead. Let us have aliving church. Let us be connected piece ofadvice was an Arminian. with the power of the Church. Holy 4. Walther, c.P.W., The Proper Distinction Between Lawand Gospel, (St. Louis: Concordia Spirit come-and bring the Gospel. 0 Publishing House, 1986), 145.

Rick Ritchie, staff writer for CURE, is a contributing author to Christ The Lord.

Rick was educated at Christ College Irvine and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, in South Hamilton, Mass.

For Further Reading

• Martin Luther, "The Keys," in Luther's Works, vol. 40. This is one of Luther's most important works on the forgiveness of sins, where he tells that we are to seek it in the word, and not apart from it.

• Martin Luther, The Large Catechism, Third Notes 1. The New International Version translates the Article (found in the Book of Concord, pp. bracketed material as "fading though it was," but 415-420). Luther describes in simple language this is an inaccurate translation. No lexicon the ministry of the Holy Spirit. translates theverb as fading. All translate this verb • Regin Prenter, Spiritus Creator. An in-depth as "being abolished." In this particular case, the look at Luther's theology of the Holy Spirit.

King James Version gives us a more accurate The author is neo-orthodox, so he might be weak on Scripture, but the book is othelWise translation.

2. Smalkald Articles, Part III, Article VIII,11. highly recommended.

Biblical references inserted by me. In the original, • c.P.W. Walther, The Proper Distinction Between Law & Gospel. See especially pp. 127­ they were in the footnotes.

3. Apology ofthe Augsburg Confession, Article 207 where Walther describes the danger of XIII,13 If I remember correctly, in spite of his seeking the Holy Spirit apart from Scripture. reference to sovereignty, the authorofthis ghastly

nlodernREFORMATlON

The Sanctifier of the Faithful Why is it that ~hen we speak of the Holy Spirit, we think first of the gifts, and not sanctification?

By EDWIN PALMER

By regeneration the Holy Spirit .resurrects dead men-men who are as dead spiritually as the body of a soldier which has been lying on a battlefield for a week. The Holy Spirit gives to dead men spiritual life so that they can perform good deeds, deeds which were impossible when they were dead. This is a great miracle.

There is all the difference in the world between this spiritual life and the death which preceded. However, it is only too evident that this life is often asickly one.

For it is afact that the Christian still sins.

Sometimes he sins so much that it almost looks as if the new life had left him entirely, and he were dead again. But we know that he is not dead. His infirmities will graduallydisappear. In the meantime, however, there is no doubt that he is really sick.

That the born-again person sins is obvious from his own experience as well as from Scripture. Each Christian is aware only too bitterly of the sinful failures in his life. He may even feel despondent at times because of the seeming victory of sin in his life, and he may exclaim with converted Paul,·"What awretched man I am!" (Rom. 7:24). Humbly he feels the need ofthe prayer that Christ taught the saved: "Forgive us oursins."John confirms this by remarking that ifanyone, including the regenerated, says that he has no sin, he deceives himself, the truth is not in him, and he makes God a liar (lJn. 1:8, 10).

In fact, the remarkable truth is that the

holier and more sanctified a Christian becomes, the greater is his awareness of his own sin. The closer a person is to the holy God, the more sensitive are his feelings for sin. Not only do his gross sins grieve him more, but also, those that before did not trouble him because of their seeming unimportance now loom large in his mind. It was just because Paul had attained such a great degree of

The more sanctified a Christian becomes, the

greater is his awareness of his • own SIn sanctification and was thus so sensitive to sin that he complained, "What awretched man Iam!" It was just exactlywhen Isaiah had a vision of the holy Lord, and when the seraphim·cried: "Holy,.holy, holy, is the Lord ofhosts," that Isaiah said, "Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man ofunclean lips'j(Is. 6:5). Thus, none is completely holy in this life, not even the greatest saint of God. Regenerated

man still sins. Although he still has life, it is a sickly one.

This now poses the problem for us: How may we overcome this sin? How may we conquer the anger, temper, hate, envy, sexual lusts, and other evils that well up inside us? Every real Christian is concerned with this. He seeks victory over the sin in his life. How is he to gain it?

The answer the Bible gives to this pressing problem is found in the title..."The Sanctifier of the Faithful."

The eternal Spirit ofGod is the source of sanctification. So that this will be absolutely clear, however, it is necessary, first of all, to observe two solutions that have often been given to this problem of sin, both of which are unbiblical and therefore erroneous. One is essentially: Fight sin all you can. And the other is diametrically opposite: Do not fight sin.

By seeing the error ofthese two proposed solutions we shall understand more accurately what the only and victorious solution is: the biblical answer.

"Fight Sin All You Can!" The first proposed answer commands us to rely on our own strength. It leaves sanctification entirely up to us. We are told to control oursinful desires byreason.

The advantages of virtue and the sweet promises of the gospel are pointed out.

The reasonableness ofour duty to God is shown. The consequences of sin to our bodies andsouls, both here and in eternity, are cited. Knowing what is good and holy, we are then told: Now, master your life. Conquer all evil tendencies. Exercise all the discipline, determination, resolution, and control that are within you. Follow the example of a man such as .Benjamin Franklin, who records in his autobiography how he improved himself by making adaily check list ofall his bad habits. Ifwe know what is right, and use our reason and resolution, we can conquer Continued on next page SEPTEMBERJOCfOBER

• 17

sin by our own strength and power.

"Do Not Fight Sin!" A second answer that has been set forth is diametrically the opposite of the first one, and it is equally wrong. If the error of the first-mentioned solution was its assertion that we must fight sin in our own strength, the error ofthis solution is its beliefthat we must not fight sin at all, but let Christ do it for us. It is the difference between the mottoes: "Do alr and "Do nothing at all." 1 Keswick ("Victorious Christian Life") leaders assert, for example., that "deliverance [from sin] is not attained by struggle and painful effort, by earnest resolution and self-denial." If man does anything to defeat sin, sin will defeat him.

Man must"simply give God a chance to take hold ofthe personality....The Holy Spirit wants to free and liberate the personality," but cannot until man lets him.

In this countryHannahWhitall Smith, in The Christian sSecret ofa Happy Lifo, stressed that the Christian must surrender completely to the Lord. He must put his life in the Maker's hands like clay in the potter's, and then be passive. "The potter must do all the work." "When we have put our case in the Lord's hands our part is simply to 'sit still.'" "And we must remember this-that ifwe carry aburden ourselves, the Lord does not carry it."

Trumbell, in his "Victorious Life" movement, urged the motto, "Let go and let God." He said also, "If it isn't easy, it isn't good." "Anyvictory that you have to get by trying for it is counterfeit. If you have to work for the victory, it is not the real thing." "We must not try not to sin."

Such efforts "can and do effectually prevent such victory." When victory is gained it will be "victory by freedom rather than victory by fight," "effortless freedom" from all "sinful impulses."

"Therefore, stop trying. Let him do it

all."

Often in these movements the stress is on the second blessing. It is taught that, 18.

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1992

justas aman receives Christ in justification by faith apart fro mworks, so man receives Christ a second time in sanctification by an act offaith that is distinct and separate from the one by which a Christian is justified. They believe that, as in justification the Christian receives Christ instantaneously and completely, so also in sanctification he receives Christ suddenly, in the twinkling ofan eye, and not gradually. The difference is that the first time he receivesChrist as his personal Saviour, and the second time as his Lord who gives him complete victory over all known sin. This is what they call instantaneous, sinless perfection by the second blessing.

Both of these proposed solutions .to . victory over sin are unbiblical. Man will never find holiness only by striving with might and main in his own strength.

Something else is needed-supernatural help. Neither will man gain the victory by simply relying on supernatural help without striving with all that is in him.

But victory over sin may and can be had by what might superficially seem to be a

Satan has been given a mortal blow--he is doomed. But in the meantime he

goes down fighting combination of these two. The secret of holiness according to the Bible, is to be found in atwofold activity: God's working in us and our working, too. This is the way ofvictory for the Christian.

The first thing necessary for

conquering the power ofsin in our lives is the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. We become mystically attached to Christ. This is not aunion by memory, nor by some feeling, nor by love as might exist between two friends. But Christ comes and dwells within our lives and is united with us. The union is just as real 3S.,although not identical to, the union of branches to their vine (In. 15:5), or ofthe Son to the Father in the Trinity 0n. 17:21), or ofthe head to the body (Eph. 4: 16, 17). It is ofsuch reality that Paul can say: "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me" (Gal. 2:20).

When the Spirit thus regenerates, and a union is established with Christ, then victory over sin follows-a victory which is instantaneous and not gradual.

To be sure, there is not a complete eradication of sin in the Christian on earth, yet there is avictory that is secured in a moment, so that John can write, "This is the victory that has overcome the world" (1 In. 5:4). And Paul can declare emphatically, "For sin shall not be your master" (Rom. 6: 14). Sin is conquered. The sinner is victorious. It may seem at times that he has no hope and is more the victim of sin than the victor over it. Yet, he who is born ofthe Spirit and united to Christ cannot abandon himselfto sin. For he is dead to sin, and sin shall not have dominion over him. Sin may conquer temporarily and in different ways, but it cannot rule.

Satan has been given amortal blow-he is doomed. But in the meantime he goes down fighting.

The victory may be compared to the Allied victory over theJapanese in 1945.

Victory was won. The Japanese surrendered. The fighting was over. But even after the peace treaty had been signed and the bulk of the Japanese army had capitulated, there were some who kept on fighting when Americans attempted to occupy the islands.

Similarly in the life of everyone who is

¡

mystically united with Jesus Christ, the victory has been won. Satan and sin are defeated. It has already happened. There is still guerrilla warfare carried on 'sporadically, and at times it takeson great proportions, but the victory is sealed, and it is only a matter of time before the last vestige of opposition (sin) will be done away with. In this biblical sense, it is possible to speak of the victorious life (1 In. 5:4).

It is not easy to characterize the actual sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. It is a mystery, just like regeneration, and yet a few things can be said about it.

In the first place, sanctification is primarilythe work ofthe Spirit. Although it is true, as we mentioned, that spiritual life comes from being mystically united to Jesus Christ; and although Jesus said in John 14:23 that not only the Holy Spirit dwells in the believer, but also the Father and the Son; and although we know we may not divide the work of the Trinity; yet the scriptures do indicate that sanctification is chiefly the work of the third person of the Trinity. He is the one who regenerates On. 3), renews (Ti. 3:5), sanctifies (2 Thes. 2:13; 1 Pt. 1:2), leads (Rom. 8:14), dwells within man On. 14: 17; Rom. 8:9; 1Cor. 3:16), andwrites on his heart (2 Cor. 3:3). And Paul says clearly that "if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ" (Rom. 8:9). These passages indicate that the Spirit is absolutely essential for this victorious life in Christ.

He who lacks the Spirit does not belong to Christ-does not partake of his life.

Hence, if Christ is to sanctify man by dwelling in him, he must do it through the Spirit. Christ and the Father do not indwell and therebysanctify man directly or immediately, but through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. In short, sanctification is principally the work of the third person of the Trinity.

The second characteristic of this sanctifying work is that the Spirit, just as in regeneration, affects the very heart or

soul of man. He does not merely use moral, rational persuasion, leaving it to man to sanctify himself or not; but he continually affects his basic nature, touching man in his subconscious life, in the inmost recesses ofhis soul, where man can neither cooperate nor resist. The result is that good works follow, for the fruit of the tree is governed by its nature, and out ofthe heart are all the issues oflife (Prv. 4:23).

David saw that the Holy Spirit must touch his heart or soul. After his twofold crime ofmurder and adultery, he pleads for forgiveness. But he wants more than forgiveness: he wants the root of all his sin changed. IfGod should forgive, and ifhis heart should remain the same, then the same sins would appear again. So, in addition to asking for forgiveness, he pleads to God, "Create in me .a clean heart, 0 God; and renew a right spirit within me" (Ps. 51:10). Only with a clean heart touched by God will he be able to make progress in avoiding future sins, for, as Christ said, out of the heart of man proceed murder and adulteries.

Thanks be to God that in sanctification the Spirit does operate in that subconscious area ofour souls where we cannot resist. Otherwise, we would never be sanctified, for apart from the Spirit we would always resist.

Thirdly, the Holy Spirit causes the whole of man to be affected in sanctification. He does not sanctify only the will, for example, so that the Christian determines to do the good, but does not understand the good, or love the good.

Rather, he sanctifies all of man: his will, his emotions, and his understanding. He does not give acomplete sanctification at the new birth, but it is a sanctification that affects all of man and starts him on

nlodernREFORMATlON

the way ofholiness in his entire being. It is similar to .the birth and growth of a baby that is perfectly created. The baby has all of the faculties of the mind and body, even though small. His fingernails may be tiny, yet they are perfectly made.

He has the right number offingers, toes, ears, eyebrows, and internal organs, even if they are not fully developed. In a similar fashion, the Holy Spirit regenerates and sanctifies the entirety of man. It may be just a beginning, but every portion of man is affected. His spiritual understandingdoes not develop to the neglect of his will, nor his will to the detriment of his emotions. But he grows in all parts. He is perfect in parts, but imperfect in degree.

This comprehensiveness ofthe Spirit's work is derived from such passages as Proverbs 4:23, which tell us that the heart governs all the activities of man, and Mark 7:20-23, where Jesus enumerates the wickedness that proceed fro mthe heart. Ifthe innermost being of man , his heart and soul, is changed, then all ofits products and effusions will be altered, too. This is also seen from the various places in the Bible which specifica1lymention thewill, the intellect, and the emotions as being sanctified.

Afourth characteristic of the Spirit's Continued on next page SEPTEMBERJOCfOBER

• 19

work in sanctification is the gradualness of the process. Man never attains instantaneous, sinless perfection on earth.

Only ifman lowers the standards ofGod to meet his sinfulness can he erroneously think that he is perfect. For the Bible testifies that man is not suddenly emancipated from the power of sin, but rather that deliverance comes after along struggle. Sometimes the process is slow, and at other times it is accelerated, but in any case it is over one's entire life. As we have seen, John says that ~if we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us" (1 In. 1:8). Paul continually speaks about the sin that is still in the Christian, and the incessant warfare with Satan. And Peter does not say, "J ump into grace and knowledge," but rather, "Grow in the grace and knowledge ofour Lord and SaviourJesus Christ" (2 Pt. 3: 18). This indicates definitely that sanctification is a gradual process.

But fifth, that gradual process will be completed in the twinkling of an eye at the moment of death. In heaven, in the presence ofthe holy God, there will be no sin, for sin will have been completely done away (Rom. 21:27). Therefore, when the Christian goes to heaven immediately at death, as the Bible

20.

SEPTEMBER/ocrOBER 1992

indicates, the process ofsanctification is suddenly brought to completion, and in asplitsecondhe becomessinlesslyperfect.

This continual operation ofthe Holy Spirit whereby we are united to Christ is, then, the indispensable condition for victory over our sins, even though that victory is not easy. The indwelling presence of the Spirit and Christ is essential and basic. There is no other way. Without them no victory will be attained-not even a partial one. Firm resolution, determination, and painful striving without the Spirit and Christ are of no avail. For anyone so to attempt such a victory would be like a person trying to produce beautiful, red, juicy apples by gluing seeds or small apples on a tree, and then hoping that they will grow. Such externality will not succeed.

Rather, he must select a tree that has a correct nature, the nature of an apple tree. When that is done and proper cultivation is given, that tree will naturally and easilyproduce good apples. As Christ said: "I am the vine; you are the branches.

If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing" an. 15:5). As branches are united with avine, and receive from it the life andvitalityto grow and produce grapes, so also the Christian dwells in Christ, and from him and the Holy Spirit receives the inward power and life and strength to do good works.

And as it is absolutely impossible to produce grapes from an old, dry, dead stick, so also it is impossible to become holy if Christ and the Holy Spirit are not within us giving us life. We receive from Christ the power to overcome sin­ powerwhich we do not have in ourselves.

Or to attempt to conquer sin by external means, such as asceticism or

discipline or moral persuasion of Benjamin Franklin's check list, in our own strength and without the Spirit, is like trying to make a seedling into a mightyoak bystretchingthe bark, pulling the limbs, and lifting the trunk. It cannot be forced in that outward fashion.

The biblical way is illustrated by that same oak in springtime. Dead, dry, brittle, brown leaves are still on some of its branches. As life manifests itselffrom within, those old leaves naturally falloff, and new, green leaves appear, small at the start, but perfectly formed and gradually developing into full maturity.

In asimilar fashion, when the Spirit and Christ dwell within us, they give us such power and life that the old sins drop off one by one, and in their place come new virtues-small, to be sure-but growing gradually and certainly.

Thus, sanctification is not accomplished by externalities-by agreat expenditure of determination and will power, apart from an inward source of power. But through the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ reigning within us, we will find power that the non-Christian does not have, divine power itselÂŁ As Jesus said, "Streams of living water will flow from within him" an. 7:38). Herein lies the secret ofpower and victory.

We must now guard ourselves against a possible error. Perhaps someone will say that since the victory is attained only by the Holy Spirit, we must leave it all to him. We should not work as hard as we can to overcome sin. As some have said, we should "let him do it all." We should -let Christ take over our personality, and we ourselves should just "sit still." "We must not try not to sin," for that will lead to defeat. We must gain an effortless victory, in which we are absolutely passive.

This teaching is not biblical, and it is dangerous. It is true that without Christ and the Spirit no victory is possible.

They must dwell within our bodies. But at the same time, the whole ofscripture

nlocie rJZREFOR1\'lATION

clamors for action on our part. The work of the Holy Spirit does not make our activity unnecessary.

In regeneration the Christian is only passive. He can do nothing about it. He simply is born: he does not cooperate in his birth. Just like a baby, he contributes nothing to it. But in sanctification there is an additional aspect. ,Man is both passive and active. To be sure, it is the Holy Spirit who sovereignly works with­ in his life in his subconscious area, in his heart, so that man is absolutely passive in this operation. Man does not control the Spirit orChrist, but their life flows to him apart from his activity. He is utterlypassive in this side ofsanctification.

Yet at the same time, man is very active, not in the reception of spiritual life, but in the working out of that life which the Holy Spirit gives to him. He is not treated like a clock that we wind up tightly and then set on atable to tick and run by itself. For man has awill, emotions, and an intellect, which a clock does not have. When the Holy Spirit sanctifies a man, he has respect for these faculties, using them, and causing then to move into action. It is both a grace and a duty: a grace in which the Spirit is sovereignly bestowedupon thosewho passively receive him, and aduty whereby, once the Spirit is received, the recipients are called to action.

To be sure, we do not act in our own power, but only in so far as the Spirit graciously gives us power and ability to act. It is not as though the Spirit works partially in us, setting us in motion, whereupon we do the rest. Rather, God works 100 percent in all we do, and we work 100 percent in all we do. It is because the Spirit works in us that we are able to work. Every single ethical act we do-whether it is resisting temptation, doing a positive good, or believing on Jesus Christ-we do only because the Spirit enables us to do it. Yet, true as this may be, it is our solemn obligation to try as hard as we can. We may not "sit still,"

"let him do it all, " and seek an "effortless victory." The Bible teaches: If it isn't hard, it isn't good.

Although victory is found only through the Spirit and Christ, nevertheless the scriptures constantly encourage us to join the fight against sin and the devil. They say: "Fight the good fight ofthe faith" (1 Tm. 6: 12); "Put on

Work with all that is in you!

But remember, it is God who is working in you to will and to act the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood... " (Eph. 6:11, 12); "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer yourselves as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God... be transformed... " (Rom. 12:1, 2); "Let us purify ourselves" (2 Cor. 7:1); "Therefore.. .let us throw offeverything that hinders ... and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us" (Heb. 12: 1); and, "Run in such away to get the prize" (1 Cor. 9:24). It would be possible to go on in endless repetition, citing scripture after scripture which exhorts the Christian to strive to beperfect even as his Father in heaven is perfect. All these scripture passages point to the fact that the Christian must act, he must do something. In other words, there is avery active side to sanctification.

Perhaps no passage shows the relationship ofthe active and passive side

in a finer way than Philippians 2:12, 13.

Here Paul does notsay: Sitstill; be passive as clay in the potter's hand; do nothing; do not try;just let the Spirit do it all. On the contrary, he emphatically and unambiguouslysays: "World" "Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling." This refers to the active side of sanctification, to man's duty .and responsibility. Paul exhorts the Philippians to put forth every effort they can to become holy. They may not say: Leave it to God; he will do it all; we will not work. Rather, Paul commands that they make work of it.

But the passive side immediately follows, when Paul adds, "For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose." Yes, world Work with all you have; work with all that is in you. It is your responsibility.

But, remember! It is God who is working ­ in you to will and to act.

There is the biblical combination, and that is the magic to success. If one part is attempted without the other, failure will result. Ifwe work without the Spirit, we will be frustrated. On the other hand, if we leave it all to the Spirit and we do not work, we will also end in failure. But combine the Spirit with work; then increasing victorywill be ours. The secret ofholyliving is found in this combination.

With it the Christian can have success.

Without attempting to be complete, we would like to suggest three concrete and practical steps which the Christian can take (entirely by the Spirit's grace, of course) andwhich will help him to hasten the final victory. .The first work is to pray for a fuller presence ofthe Holy Spirit and Christ in his life. Although it is true that the Spirit causes us to pray in faith for himself and Christ, it is abiblical axiom that the more we seek byfaith their indwellingpresence, the more they will come into our lives.

For faith is the means of appropriating Continued on next page SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

• 21

the Spirit and Christ, just as the hand is the means by which we appropriate physical bread for our bodies. Jesus said: "Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, streams ofliving water will flow from within him. By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive" (In. 7:38, 39). Paul prayed for the Ephesians, ,that "Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith" (Eph. 3: 17). To the Galatians he declared that Christ dwelled within himself, and that he lived that Christ-:indwelt life by faith (Gal. 2:20). Thus, faith is the key to the fuller indwelling of the Holy Spirit and Christ, and, consequently, to the receiving of power over sin. We may pray in faith for an increased indwelling of the Spirit in our lives, and we shall receive it.

We must remember that prayer is not simply a pious expression of devotion and thanks to God, but it is also a means ofpower. It is always requisite, however, to pray right. It is necessary to persevere, for example-to go to God again and again with the same request. It is also essential to go believing and expecting that he will answer our prayers, and not simply desiring an answer, thinking at the same time that God will not grant it.

That is not faith. Faith is composed of trust as well as knowledge. We must not only know that God is able to give us a greater indwelling of the Spirit and Christ; we must also trust that he will do so. When we go in this expectation and trust, we will find that God, who loves to bestow his good and holy gifts, will give us afuller indwelling. This will mean, in turn, that we will have greater victory over sin. The first and the prime wodi, therefore, that we can do to overcome sin is to pray in faith for the indwelling presence of Christ and the Holy Spirit.

Asecond important means which we must lay hold ofifwe are to have victory is private meditation on the Word of God. Except in the case of infants, the Holy Spirit does not work apart from 22.

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1992

the Word of God. He works through that Word. How can we expect to be holy and to do God's will if we neglect the God-given means ofgrace and rarely read the only Book which shows us what holiness is? In the Bible we see our holy example, Jesus Christ. We find written instructions, either explicit or implicit, for our own lives. If we are to be conformed to the image ofthe Son, then we must be intimately acquainted with him in the Bible. Ifwe are to keep all of God's precepts, as they are given on every page of the Bible, then we must read them. We cannot lazily hope that the Spirit will miraculously reveal them to us by another revelation. No, we must be saturated with that Word, for the Spirit works through it. As we feed on that Word, the Spirit will work within us, causing us to be increasingly sanctified. Jesus clearly taught that we are sanctified by the truth (In. 17:17, 19). Peter confirmed this when he said: "Crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation" (1 Pt. 2:2). Asecond concrete work, then, which will enable us to conquer the sin remainingwithin us is thorough, personal meditation on the Word.

Finally, the Christian seeking aholier life will be faithful in public worship.

Through the faithful, official preaching ofthe Word, the Holy Spirit will speak, convict him of sin, and lead him to holiness. In the sacraments, he will also find his faith being strengthened.

Suppose, for example, that as apastor preached on sanctification, some of his parishioners who were struggling with certain sins had not come to church, but had stayed home. Theywould then have missed this official proclamation of the Word ofGod on theirvery problem, and they would not have grown as much as they could have. The Holy Spirit works through the official exposition of the Word. Thus the Christian who desires to be holy will be diligent in attending all worship services.

Along these paths the Bible directs us toward victory over sin--over any sin that may be in our lives, whether it be anger, impatience, hate, envy, sexual lust, drunkenness, lack of love toward God, or any other sin. Sanctification is a twofold work. First of all it is 100 percent the work of God. We must experience, through his sovereign grace, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

Without him we can do absolutely nothing: we are doomed to defeat. With him we can do all things. We have a source ofdivine power that can conquer sin.

Second, sanctification is accomplished by the persistent and determined work of man. He must, by the grace ofGod, strive to the utmost for perfection.

Couple these two elements-God's work and man's work-and the outcome is victory over sin. To be sure, on this side of death sin will not be eradicated.

But there will be a marked and definite progress toward completesanctification, and on the other side ofdeath it will be . perfected. 0 Reprinted from The Person andMinistry of

the Holy Spirit: the Traditional Calvinistic Perspective with the kind permission of Mrs. Elsie Palmer.

The late Dr. Edwin Palmer was for many years a distinguished pastor and professor of theology. The organizing force behind the New International Version ofthe Bible.

Dr. Palmer was the HonoratyChairman of the NN Committee.

Notes 1. Although this view in the estimation ofthe author is not scriptural, it must be remembered that its proponents have nothing in common with the Modernists of the previous error. On the contrary, they love the infallible Word of GOd and supernatural Christianity, and their zeal for holiness should be deeply appreciated.

IJloÂŁie nZREFORMATION

Getting to Know the Shy

Member ofthe Trinity

By MICHAEL HORTON

Many of us, when we gather for turn away from the source ofChrist's life worship, affirm that we "believe in the in us; we will actually deny something Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver ofLife, essential to our faith and endanger our who proceeds from th,e Father and the very souls. I even understand that there Son, who with the Father and the Son is is a T-shirt for anti-charismatics with a worshiped and glorified." This ancient bar going through a circle, laid over a declaration, first affirmed in 325 A.D., dove, much like the "no smoking" logo. arose in response to the heresies that In reacting against hyper-spiritualism, tended to deny the deity of the Holy manyrisk blasphemyat the least.

Spirit and his distinct personalitywithin Do you worship the Holy the Godhead. At the other end of the Spirit? How long did it take spectrum there have always been those, you to answer? Did you have to like the Montanists, who placed the think about itforasecondbefore spotlight on the Holy Spirit-instead answering? It is timewe seriously of recognizing that the "shy member of reconsidered what we mean the trinity" is sent to spotlight the person when we say in the Nicene and work of Christ. One thinks of the Creed, "I believe in the Holy symbolism in many of the charismatic Spirit,...whowith the Fatherand congregations. Here in Southern the Son is worshiped and California, a visitor will find in one glorified." God the Holy Spirit megachurch a rather large outline of a is the Creatorand Presetver(Gn. dove in the front ofthe auditorium, but 1:2; Ps. 104:30), the author of there is no cross to be found in the the virgin conception of our sanctuary. Ironically, the logo for the Lord (Lk. 1:35), the One by Trinity Broadcasting Network, the whom the prophets and apostles largest collection of independently spoke the Word of God (2 Tm. 3:16; owned Christian stations in the world, Eph. 3:5; 2 Pt. 1:21), the author and is a dove that appears to be "crucified" sustainer of the new birth On. 1:13; on the cross. One ancient heresy went 6:63; Acts 1:5; Rom. 8:4,9; 1 Cor. 2: 14; by the name of "Patripassionism" 12:13; 2Cor.3:6; 5:5; 2Thes. 2: 13) and because its adherents believed that it the person ofthe Godhead who indwells was God the Father who endured every believer (1 Cor. 6: 19; ; 2 Cor. 1:22; the cross's suffering. But this may 5:5; Eph.l:13). The Holy Spirit is God be the first century in which (Ps. 139:7; 2Cor. 3: 17; Eph. 2:22; 4:30): "Pneumapassionism" (the crucifixion sharingequality, substance, and eternality of the Spirit) has been accorded such a with the Father and the Son. Therefore, prominent symbol. he is not onlyworthy ofourworship, but The tendency with all of this demands it by his very essence and fanaticism about the Holy Spirit is to attributes. He is not aforce ora principle become cynical about his person and ofdeity, but adivine person just like the work. But ifwe do that, we will not only Father and the Son.

A second feature we can pick up from the historic definition ofthe Holy Spirit is its focus on his activityin saving and revealing. In salvation, he is "the Lord and Giver of Life." Apart from him, the great riches of the Son's work would remain securely held within heaven's vaults. It is he who takes the Son's active and passive obedience and makes sure this is imputed to our charge through the faith he gives us. No one believes on his or her own. There is no such thing as "free will," ifby that one means that we have the power to regenerate ourselves by believing. Those who argue that we are born again because we made a decision for Christ

deny, by implication, this line of the church's historic, biblical confession: "I believe in the Holy Spirit,...the Lord and Giver of Life."

It is intriguing that Wesleyans, Pentecostals, and Charismatics are considered the defenders of the Holy Spirit. Of course, it is understandable from ahistorical point ofview: orthodox Protestants have been rather netvous about the Third Person since the excesses of revivalism. Nevertheless, both groups are in the wrong on this point. Wesleyans, Pentecostals, and Continued on next page SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

• 23

most Charismatics are Arminian in their theology. That is, they believe that it is the humanwill that gives life; God merely offers it. God cannot unilaterally create new life apart from the activity of the creature. But doesn't this limit the power and authorityofthe HolySpirit in this matter of salvation, denying clear texts that suggest otherwise On. 1: 13; 6:37,44, 63; 10: 14, 25-30; Acts 13:48; Rom. 8:30; 9: 10-26; 1 Cor. 2: 14; Eph. 2: 1-1 0; Phil. 2: 13, etc.)?

And to suggest that the Spiries work depends on human activity, not only in regeneration, but in day-to-day maintenance ofthis new life, seems to place more emphasis on the power of man than on the power of the Spirit.

I cannot see how Arminians can have a high doctrine of the Holy Spirit, even if they speak often of his role in their life.

Finally, the Creed affirms the ' biblical teaching that the Holy Spirit "spoke through the.prophets." Again, there is no difficulty affirming the feverish activity of the Holy Spirit in orthodox Christianity, but it has a different focus. As others point out in their contributions to this issue, the Holy Spirit works through means. He spoke "through the prophets." As Peter wrote, "Above all, you must understand that no prophecy ofScripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will ofman, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit" (2 Pt. 1:20-21). As the new birth does not have its origin in the will ofman, neither does divine revelation. God did not merely inspire the prophets and apostles by influencing ,their emotions and by placing ideas in their heads; he sovereignly breathed his words into existence through the ministry ofhuman beings who may well have thought at the time that they were simply recording their own thoughts and words. As Kim Riddlebarger has pointed out, those who 24.

SEPTEMBERJOCfOBER 1992

limit God's sovereignty over the human will have difficulty explaining biblical inspiration as well as biblical regeneration.

So here again, the Reformation tradition pans companywith its brothers

do not talk about the gifts of healing, tongues and prophecy. But this would be a mistake. While one may be wrong to say that such gifts have ceased (and there are many at CURE who would say it is wrong to draw that conclusion), it is quite erroneous to identify the work ofthe Holy Spirit exclusively or even chiefly with these spectacular The most important actIvIttes.

For Reformation activity of the Holy Christians, regardless of their view concerning the gifts, the most Spirit is not healing important activity ofthe Holy Spirit is not raising the dead here and now, asthma, but in healing but raising to spiritual life those who the breach between "were dead in trespasses and sins" (Eph.2: 1) and completing the work God and human of redemption by raising the bodies beings; not giving us ofthe dead at the end ofthe age; not healing asthma, but healing the the power to bind breach between God and human demons, but giving us beings; not giving us the power to bind the forces ofdemons, but giving the power to be us the power to be Christ's witnesses.

While we do not discount the Christ's witnesses miraculous and the spectacular, Reformation Christians see the and sisters who would (a) downplay the activity of the Holy Spirit in the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit and (b) common, everyday, and mundane. The overlook the fact that the Holy Spirit new birth is as supernatural as aphysical saves and speaks through means: resurrection. An answered prayer is a historical acts (the exodus, the crucifixion, spiritual gift. Ifwe cannot see the center resurrection and ascension, the second ofthe Holy Spirit's activity as being the coming and judgment); physical signs miracle ofregeneration, the gift offaith, and seals (water, bread and wine, paper union with Christ, sanctification, and and ink). "Spiritualists" ofall ages have the Word and sacraments, then we have sought to go beyond history and the missed entirely the person and work of physical realm, to live in a "spiritual" this member of the Godhead. God realm where they can communicatewith reveals himself through the Word his God without ink and paper, bread and Spirit inspiredand bywhom he illumines wine, water, and the recounting of the us to understand its meaning. Once we great redemptive acts ofGod in history. see these things, not as our-own activities, It is "me and my personal relationship nor the products ofour natural will and with God" that counts, and this is effort, we begin indeed to be impressed nurtured by the Holy Spirit directly, with the feverish activity of the Holy without the means which Christians of Spirit in our own experience and in the lives of those around us. previous ages have counted essential.

In conclusion, therefore, two things Our Charismatic brothers and sisters become apparent: First, we as "onhodox sometimes assume that we downplay the role ofthe Holy Spirit simply because we Protestants" often do not affirm that

I

IlloaernREFORfVIATION

the Holy Spirit is "worshiped and glorified" with the Father and the Son, in practice, even if we do in theory.

Nevertheless, the Pentecostal and Charismatic believer oftendoes not affirm the power and authority of the Holy Spirit in such away as to render the Third Person a suitable object of worship and admiration. In both cases, ,the greatness and glory of the Holy Spirit, which Scripture eagerly ascribes to him, is underplayed and the church is the poorer for it.

One of the things we need in our day is arecovery ofthe biblical doctrine ofthe Holy Spirit, a revolutionary reaquaintance, to be sure, but a necessary one. He will disturb us all: contradicting Arminians in their view ofhis power and authority; unsettling the rest of us in our practical rejection of his freedom. After all, what if something out of the ordinary-somethingthatwasn'tplanned or prepared for, occurred? Would we " reject ito n the same basis as 0 ursecularized neighbors-simply because it was supernatural? Of all people, we who claim to be heirs of the rich evangelical heritage ought to share with our brothers and sisters a devotion to this mysterious person ofthe Godhead. The Holy Spirit is active in the 20th century. Without him, there would be no conversions, no repentance, no justification or adoption of new children into the household of faith; there would be no sanctification.

These are the central activities of the Holy Spirit and it is probably at least in part a lack of enthusiasm on the part of traditional evangelicals regarding these important truths that has created such a yawning gap to be filled by those who yearn to see an active God. It is the Holy Spirit who will lead us into all truth, preserve us from error, lead us to victory over sin and death, and preserve us in ~ faith. After all, it is he who testifies of Christ, the Author and Finisher of our faith. 0

" - - - /

'

Continued from Boice on Page 14

Boice: My greatest concern is that it is put forward as a way to do evangelism, that is by miracles, and I think that is a very great danger. And this is not a question of whether God can do miraculous things or not, or in fact does; we all believe that God heals often in response to the prayers ofhis people. But the issue is whether that's the way you verify yourself as an evangelist, and of course this is exactly whatJohn Wimber is claiming. He says that an evangelism of the preached Word is programmatic evangelism which lacks power because the Holy Spirit does not prove it to be authentic by the miraculous. I usually respond by saying that the miraculous is not the "healing of emotions" or the "lengtheningoflegs" which are the things that Wimber often refers to in his book Power Evangelism, but whether people are converted, that is whether they are brought out of darkness into light, and from death to life. And that is what happens when the Word is preached, looking to the Holy Spirit to bless the Word in the regeneration ofsinful people.

MR: Do you think there is a down­ playing ofthe actual content ofthe gospel in those circles?

Boice: I think it is inevitable because the attention shifts from the Word of God itselfto the subjective experience of the teacher. So the messages tend to be filled with statements such as "The Holy Spirit told me this...," "The Holy Spirit is doing that...," "This is what the Holy Spirit says we ought to do..." etc., and that is not gospel preaching.

MR: What do we say to people who say at least the Vineyard is providing spiritual power and all they see in our ReformationJ churches is spiritual lethargy?

Boice: I think that sort of criticism of our churches is a criticism we need to take seriously, and to that extent we should be thankful for the challenge that is presented byWimber and his associates.

I think we need to investigate very seriously whether we are simply going through the motions of orthodoxy without prayer, and without a real love or desire for evangelism. But, having said that, Iwould say to the otherside, do not confuse the the blessing of the Holy Spirit with numbers. You see, we are such anumbers orientedsociety; we think if a church is'growing in size, that is self evidence ofthe blessing of God upon it.

But that just simply is not so. Numbers don't prove anything. I often tell young seminary students that if you use the world's methodology, you'll get the world's results. Your church could grow because of programs, money, size, impressive displays, etc., but it could also perish just as quickly on those same grounds. We must always remember that the spiritual victories we're looking for are not visible to the world.

MR: Dr. Boice, early in your chapter you mentioned the importance of Romans chapter 10. Why is that important for our present discussion?

Boice: I was very impressed with that chapteras part ofmyownstudies through Romans. I hadn't planned on doing an extensive treatment of those verses, but when I began to get into them, they spoke to all of the various aberrations of gospel presentations in our day. For example, that particular section in verse 6 and 7 that says, "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?' " (that is, to bring Christ down)" or 'Who will descend into the deep?' " (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead)." Now if somebody could do that, saying to Jesus, now we've got a sickness here, you Continued on next page SEPTEMBERJOCfOBER

• 25

know...come down here and heal it, or co me up here and deal with this problem, well then the person is a miracle worker and they kind ofhave Jesus on call. And the clear teaching of these verses is that that is not the way we are to proceed. It is very negative: "Do not say this...!" is what it says, but rather, what you are to do is proclaim the word which is near us in ourheart and in our mind, namely that ifyou believe on Christ, and ifyou confess him with your mouth you will be saved.

Now,that's the gospel, and because that's the gospel, that's what Jesus honors.

We're not in a position where we can command him, he's the one who commands us. And ifhe commands us to teach, and to make disciples of all men, teaching them the Word as he himsdf did, that of course is our pattern.

expressing the ideas of abundance and power, would be perfectly appropriate sins and the gift ofthe Spirit go together. here: "Like plants, we are drenched in Afew verses later, the total experience of the Spirit. The one shower waters all the these converts is said to be simply that fidds and soaks through to the rootlets they "gladly received his word" (verse of every particular blade of grass. n 41). It is fair to conclude from this that Michael Green combines what he sees as the only condition of being baptized in the meaning of the two metaphors of I the Spirit is aglad reception ofthe gospel. Cor. 12:13 in the statement: "All alike Everypenitent-everyforgivensinner­ have been immersed in the sea of the has undergone Holy Spirit baptism.

Spirit; all alike have had his living water It is the very same doctrine we appear irrigating their parched lives." to have in I Cor. 12:13, "For in one Spirit The purpose of this baptism Paul were we all baptized into one body." defines in the phrase "into one body. n Some have expressed reservations as to He uses the preposition idiomatically, the relevance of this passage to the ques­ in the sense of "with a view to": "We tion of baptism in the Spirit and sug­ were all baptized (immersed, drenched, gested that it refers to baptism by the irrigated) in the one Spirit with aview to Spirit rather than to baptism in the Spirit. our forming or becoming one body."

This surdy rules out an elitist inter­ It is difficult to see any reason for this.

Grammatically, the expression is exactly pretation along the lines that Spirit bap­ MR: So then we need to get back to the same as in Acts 1:5. Had Paul wished tism is an experience of the few. All to express the idea of baptism by the believers are members of the one body the sufficiency of the Scriptures!

Spirit he could have done so unambigu­ and as such all are baptized and all are Boice: Yes, I suppose that's the big ously by using the preposition hupo (by) drenched in the one Spirit. Equally, all issue today. You know, for ten years I rather than the preposition en (in). But have spiritual gifts which are essential to worked with the International Council had he done so, he would have been the proper functioning of the body so on Biblical Innerancy, and our concern saying something the NewTestament that no one should feel superior, no one then was of course the inerancy issue does not say anywhere else. Its uniform should fed inferior, and above all, no because that was the problem ofthe day. teaching is that it is Christ who baptizes. one should fed redundant. It is difficult But I don't think that's the problem so in Mt. 3: II, for example, John the Bap­ to see how Paul's argument for recogni­ much anymore. I think we need to re­ tist says, "He will baptize you in the Holy tion oftheir inter-rdatedness and inter­ emphasize the sufficiency ofScripture, as Spirit." Peter speaks to the same effectin dependence could survive if the body you mentioned, because many Acts 2:33. The exalted Christ has shed were divided by such a radical distinc­ evangelicals today, John Wimber forth the Holy Spirit. The only alterna­ tion as that some had Holy Spirit bap­ included, would certainlyaffirm inerancy, tive to this is thatsometimes (e.g., Acts 1:4) tism and some did not. Such a distinc­ but do not necessarily believe the the Spirit is represented as the gift of the tion would do exactly what Paul wants Scriptures are enough. They are Father. The Spirit himsdf does not bap­ to avoid-create a schism in the body (I constantly adding to the Word other tize. He is what we are baptized in or Cor. 12:25). things such as their own private baptized with. Otherwise it would not be revdations or subjective feelings. We possible to contrast Spirit baptism with Theological arguments The argument that it is possible to be must get back to solascriptura, that biblical baptism in (not by) water or to relate it to regenerate andyet not possess HolySpirit idea the reformers fought so dearly for, baptism in (not by) fire.

This interpretation is confirmed by baptism is as difficult to sustain on the which teaches that the Holy Spirit speaks to us through his Word, and through his the second part of the verse: "We were theological level as it is on the exegetical.

Word alone. 0 made to drink into one Spirit." The Greek All Christians are united to Christ. To verb underlying our English is suggest that this can be so without a Dr. James Montgomery Boice is the pastor of epotisthemen. It was frequently used with corresponding union with the Holy historic Tenth Presbyterian Church, in the meaning of watering (plants) and as Spirit is to separate these two persons in Philadelphia and the author of numerous books. T.C. Edwards points out, this metaphor, a way that is quite inconsistent with 26.

SEPTEMBER/OCfOBER 1992

Continued from Macleod on Page 11

nlode rllREFORMATION historic trinitarian theology. The Son and the Spirit are, with the Father, one God. So close is the union that each is in the other On. 14:10), so that the mission of the Comforter is equally the mission ofthe Son On. 14:18) and Paul can even say, "The Lord esus Christ) is the Spirit" (2 Cor. 3: 17). It was upon such passages that the post-Nkene Fathers built the doctrine ofthe coinherence ofthe divine persons. We have afine statement ofthe doctrine in Basil: "If anyone truly re­ ceive the Son he will find that he [the Son] brings with him on the one hand his Father and on the other the Holy Spirit. for neither can he from the Father be severed, who is of and ever in the Father; nor again from his own Spirit disunited. For we must not conceive separation or division in anyway; as if either the Son could be supposed with­ out the Father, or the Spirit disunited with the Son." If this doctrine of the coinherence is true, as it surely is, there can be no relation with the one Person that is not equallyand symmetricallyarelation with the others. to be fullrin the Son is to be fully in the Spirit. To have Christ dwell in our hearts by faith is simultaneously to have his Spirit in our inner man and to be filled with all the fulness ofGod (Eph. 3:16-19).

To change the perspective slightly: to be in Christ means to have communion with him and this in turn means that we share fully in all that he has. The most precious ofall his endowments, surely, is the full and overflowing indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The Pentecostal argu­ ment wishes us to believe that we can be in Christ and yet not share in this; or at least, not share in it fully. But this, surely, is impossible. How can he be said to share if he withholds his Spirit, or bestows him only "by measure" On. 3:34)? To be a member of his body means, if the metaphor has any signifi­ cance, that we share fully in his vitality.

It is his spiritual life that courses through

a

us, enabling us to say, "Christ lives in me" (Gal. 2:20). We are rooted in him (Col. 2:7), our roots going deep into the resources ·of Christ so that we effectu­ ally tap the fulness ofthe Spirit that is in him.

The New Testament view of faith The Pentecostal position is equally inconsistent with the New Testament view of faith. Faith saves; and it is impossible to confine this to regenera­ tion and conversion, excluding the gift ofthe Spirit. The Spirit is the unspeak­ able gift (2 Cor. 9:15). He is the para­ mount promise ofthe Father (Acts 1:4) and the invariableseal upon oursonship (Eph. 1:13). Sharing Christ's experi­ ence of him is the climax of the apos­ tolic benediction (2 Cor. 13:14). Even to the Old Testament, salvation could not be defined apart from receiving the Spirit: "I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statues" (Ez.36:27).

But not only does the New Testa­ ment insist that baptism in the Spirit is part ofthe very meaning ofsalvation. It also asserts explicitly that faith and the gift of the Spirit are inseparably con­ nected. This appears clearly in Paul's

rhetorical question in Gal. 3:2: "Receive ye the Spiritby the works ofthe law or by the hearing of faith?" He lays down the same doctrine in Eph. 1:13: "In whom also, afterye believed, yewere sealed with the Holy Spirit ofpromise." All they did was believe: having done so, they were sealed. Gal. 3: 14 is clearer still. We re­ ceive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Part ofthe interest ofthis passage is that it equates the promise of the Spirit with the blessing of Abraham. In other words, the gift of the Spirit was the core of the blessing promised in the Abraha­ mic covenant. We cannot be beneficia­ ries under that covenant and lack it. Nor can we conceivably be children ofAbra­ ham and lack it. Indeed, we can go fur­ ther still and argue that the conferring of the Spirit was the great purpose of the atonement and that we can have no share in the blessings gf that atonement with­ out having the fulness of the Spirit. The movement of Paul's thought is quite clear: "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law...that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith."

We cannot let ourselves be put in the position where, before qualifying for the gift of the Spirit, we must have some­ thing additional to faith-some plus.

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

• 27

Faith puts us in Christ and by doing so makes us nothingshonofcomplete (Col. 2:10).

Christian service It is just as impossible to reconcile the notion that some Christians do not pos­ sess the fulness ofthe Spirit with the New Testament teaching on ChriStian service.

R.A. Torrey tries to make a distinction between being saved and being ready for service and permits himselfthe following astonishing statement: "Now if a man is regenerate he is saved. Ifhe should die he would go to heaven. But though he is saved he is not yet fitted for God's ser­ vice" (the italics are his). This distinction does such violence to NewTestament theology that one can only gasp. Far from arguing that because not all have the Holy Spirit not all are ready for service we should have to argue that because all are deemed to be ready for service all must be endowed with the Spirit. The Sermon on the Mount, for example, makes clear that Christ expects from every believer the highest standards of service. Every "blessed" man will live in such away as to be the salt ofthe earth and the light of the world (Mt. 5:13f.).

Paul's expectations are similar. He would find the idea of a Christian who is not fitted for service absurd! To be redeemed from sin is to become at once aservant of righteousness (Rom. 6:18), bearing the fruit ofthe Spirit in alife characterized by love, joy, peace and all other excellences (Gal. 5:22f.). Peter is equally explicit: How could the idea ofpeople being saved and yet not ready for service possibly fit into I Pt. 2:9: "Ye are a chosen genera­ tion, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people: that ye should show forth the virtues of him who called you out ofdarkness into his marvellous light"?

The duty of proclaiming the virtues of God is laid firmly on every Christian: but only because of what they are. The im­ perative rests on the indicative. We are neither exempt from service not unpre­ 28.

SEPTEMBER/OCfOBER 1992

pared for it.

The passage from 1Peter reminds us that among all the various forms of ser­ vice expected of the Christian, witness­ ing has a special place. We have to hold fast our profession (Heb. 4: 14), hold forth the word of life (Phil. 2: 16), and give a reason for the hope that is in us (I Pt. 3: 15). This takes us right back to the commission given to the church in Acts 1:8, "Yeshall be witnesses to me both in Jerusalem, and in allJudea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part ofthe eanh."

The Pentecostal wishes us to believe that we can be in Christ

apart from the indwelling of the Holy Spirit It was precisely to prepare them for this that the promise was given, "Ye shall receive power;" and this was the promise fulfilled at Pentecostwhen the HolySpirit fell on each of them, enabling them to speak forth the wonderful works ofGod. Witness-and indeed doxology-is the business of every Christian. To suggest that some believers have been left with­ out the resources for it is to stane the New Testament ethic on its head: as if God expected us to make bricks without straw.

Never an apostolic prescription Finally, it is surely significant that none of the New Testament writers,

facing the perplexing problems of the early church, ever suggested that what they needed was baptism in the Holy Spirit. Consider the churches they were writing to: Galatia, Corinth, Colossae, Ephesus, Laodicea. Their problemswere surely serious enough-disunity, her­ esy, immorality, worldliness, lack of evangelistic concern. There was an all to evident absence of power. The classic Pentecostal analysis of the luke-warm church at Laodicea, for example, would have been that they lacked "the fire," "the second wind," "the baptism ofthe Holy Spirit." But this is never the New Testament approach. Their problems are seen not as due to the lack of Spirit baptism but to a failure to reckon with the implications ofthe deepest spiritual truth about themselves (Rom. 6:2, 1 Cor. 6:2, Gal. 3:3). It was the very fact that they had all received the Spirit that made their heresy, factiousness, and worldliness so appalling.

What then are we to conclude? That baptism in the Spirit is an absolutely fundamental element in the Christian doctrine of salvation; that the experi­ ence of it is what initiates us into the Christian life, so that without it we are not Christians at all; and that to have had it is to have received the Spirit in his fulness, enabling us to say, "I can do all things in he One who strengthens me" (Phil 4: 13). 0 We are indebted to Christian Focus Publi­ cations for their generous permission to reprint these two chapters from the book The Spirit ofPromise, by Donald Macleod.

Dr. Donald Macleod is professor of theology in thefaculty of the Free Church ofScotland, ofwhich denomination he was the Moderator. Dr. Macleod writes extensively for Evangelicals Now, a British newspaper.

Bool~

c

RevieW"

can guess the state of the heart, our own or another's, by noting what comes out of it, but we cannot inspect it directly to see what is happening in it." Therefore, believers ought not to see holiness in terms ofempirical calculations. "All such J.I. Packer (Ann Arbor, MI: Vine/Servant, judgments are hazardous, and may easily 1992), 276 pp. be falsified by the next round ofevents, so that it would really be better and wiser Today, even Christians have bought not to pass them at all" (p.182). Second into "the euphoric, sin-spawned mistake: Growth in Grace Is Uniform. confidence that human endeavor in God sanctifies each believer differently. science, education, the harnessing of Third error: Growth in Grace is nature, and the increase ofwealth would Automatic. Further mistakes include the generate human happiness to the point of notion that growth in grace is protection achieving something like heaven on from life's struggles or a retreat from the earth," writes Dr. Packer. "It ends, world and difficult relationships. however, with none of these hopes Packer also contrasts biblical holiness realized, but with sickening memories of with legalism and emotionalism, using many great evils committed, and with diagrams of a body with a hearts everywhere full of restless and disproportionatelyhuge head (whose faith gloomy unease regarding humanity's is almost exclusively rational); atiny head future prospects and life's present worth." with a huge abdomen, In this remarkable survey ofholiness, picturing "the natural one ofthe leading Anglican evangelicals development of the ofour time retraces steps that have all but Christian who knows very vanished from our sight. In an age of little doctrine and cares very "how-to"- religion, each new formula little about doctrine (hence promising instant gratification and the pinhead), but who consumer-centered appeals to self­ thinks of Christianity as a indulgence, Dr. Packer calls us to matter of constantly reconsider God's glory and the gratitude churched-up feelings and .. ." we are bound to display for our salvation eXCItIng expenences. in Christ. Unlike most books on the "Zealous for experience," subject, this one is based squarely on the Packer adds, "Christians of theology ofthe Reformation. In fact, Dr. this sort are constantly Packer labors to explain the historic running around to meetings Protestant doctrine of sanctification as at which they hope to be the fruit of justification, while pointing warmed up to the point out the dangers of the "second blessing" where the glorious feeling notions ofholiness found in the Keswick of being in God's presence ("Victorious Christian Life"I "Higher and overwhelmed byhis love Life") movement and widespread in the is renewed." Finally, he evangelical world today. pictures adiagram ofa body One section I found particularly with huge legs: "the restless helpful was "Growing into Christ­ do-gooder whose interest is Likeness," where Dr. Packer describes not in doctrinal truth nor in some common misconceptions about the devotional disciplines of holiness. First mistake, according to the spiritual life, but in Packer: Growth in Grace Is Visible. "We programs, organizations,

Rediscovering Holiness

JJlodernREFORMATION

and world-changing tasks of one son or another" (pp.167-168). What we need, the author insists, is a balanced commitment to thinking, feeling, and acting in response to God's grace.

Exploring the Puritans, Packer also points out the realism ofthe Reformation (read, biblical) view. Reformation folk are not to be caught waxing rhapsodic about how much· holiness they have attained, nor entertaining utopian ideas of what they are going to look like this sideofglory. Sin, even sin in the believer's life, must be taken seriously. It is not an easy thing to wage war against, but wage it we must, often making small gains and imperceptible advances. At a time when calls to repentance are drowned out by calls to self-fulfillment and the quest for holiness is obscured by the quest for happiness, this is amost timely book. Put this one at the top ofyour reading list!