The often forgotten role of the Holy Spirit, by Calvin L. Smith

The work of the Holy Spirit is a contentious issue in today’s Church. On the one hand we see the excesses which many Charismatics claim are nothing less than the manifestation of the Holy Spirit, while on the other side of the theological spectrum, many anti-Charismatics reacting (quite rightly) against these excesses often do so in such a manner as to appear to reject any present-day work of the Spirit at all. In fact, both these groups are lacking perspective on the issue, to the extent that neither can claim to hold a fully-fledged pneumatology (that is, a theology of the person and work of the Holy Spirit, from the Greek `pneuma’, meaning spirit, or air). For example, extreme Charismatic pneumatology does not emphasise the whole work of the Holy Spirit, but rather just a part of it, namely, spiritual gifts (`otherwise known as `charismata’ in the Greek, from where we get the name Charismatic). As such, we might say that rather than a pneumatology, these people have a `charismatology’, that is, a theology of the gifts of the Spirit only. On the other hand, neither do extreme anti-Charismatics have a full theology of the work of the Holy Spirit. Instead, they, too, are concerned with just a single issue, namely, spiritual gifts and refuting their validity for today. Hence, these people’s pneumatology is little more than a simple, reactive `anti-charismatology’.

What is certain is that the Holy Spirit is a precious gift Jesus promised His followers, which, together with the fact that He is mentioned several hundred times in the New Testament, makes it imperative that all Christians have a clear understanding of the work of the Spirit. The purpose of this short article, then, is to offer a brief overview of several key biblical passages in a bid to establish some perspective on the issue. In doing so, I aim to concentrate mainly on Galatians. `Why Galatians, rather than Acts or 1 Corinthians?’ some might ask. I concede that the Holy Spirit is portrayed as the central character in the book of Acts (some suggest it ought to be renamed `the Acts of the Holy Spirit’.) However, Acts is an inspired history of the early Church, and as such it is not necessarily didactic (that is, instructional) in nature. We cannot immediately assume that Luke’s narration of the first thirty years or so of the Church’s existence is necessarily normative for our own lives. If the Bible’s history were the pattern for absolutely everyone, then we would expect donkeys to speak (Numbers 22:28), Christians to have the power to forgive sins (John 20:23), and in the case of those claiming to have spoken in tongues, it ought to have been accompanied by a rushing wind and a tongue of fire on their head (acts 2:1-4). No, for us the relevance of Acts must be understood in light of the doctrinal instruction contained in the epistles. Neither do I intend to examine 1 Corinthians 12-14, a text so dissected by both opposing factions in support of their own view that it is difficult to envisage genuine discussion by people so entrenched in their respective theological positions.  For this reason, I have chosen the book of Galatians, which sheds a great deal of light on the work of the Holy Spirit. However, before we examine the pneumatology of Galatians, we first need some historical background to the epistle.

There is strong evidence to suggest that Galatians might have been Paul’s first epistle, written to the inhabitants of the cities of southern Asia Minor who were evangelised by Paul and Barnabas during the first missionary journey (see Acts 13-14). Some time shortly after returning from the first missionary journey, Paul learned that his Galatian converts had been led astray by certain men. These were known as the Judaisers – Jewish Christians who taught new Gentile converts that keeping the Mosaic Law, including the rite of circumcision, was an essential aspect of salvation. In other words, they were teaching a gospel of salvation by good works. In doing so, the Judaisers levelled personal attacks against Paul himself, suggesting to the Galatians that his was not a real gospel. They said he was teaching little more than an easy gospel – justification by faith only – making him a man-pleaser offering a cheap and easy means of salvation in order to win converts. Their `evidence’ was that Paul had little or no connection with the other apostles, so his gospel did not tally with theirs. As such, his gospel was spurious. This is the background to Paul’s epistle to the Galatians; let’s now consider Paul’s response and how he deals with this situation.

Paul begins by refuting the Judaisers’ charges against him. Firstly, he explains how his gospel is not his own but a direct revelation from God (1:11-24), and how his gospel did tally with the Church leaders in Jerusalem. This was despite the fact that he had never spent enough time in their presence to learn his gospel from them (2:1-10). Next, Paul moves on to demonstrate how he is not a man-pleaser. He makes this clear in 1:10, but really drives this point home with his discussion of how he dealt with Peter’s hypocrisy (2:11-14). Peter had no qualms about eating with the Gentiles in Antioch, that is, until fellow Jews also visited the city. For Jews, eating with Gentiles was a major `taboo’ (this is the technical term used by theologians when discussing this issue), and Peter quickly distanced himself from them when associates of James came down from Jerusalem. His actions caused severe problems within the Church, even to the extent that Barnabas was misled into acting wrongly (2:13). Paul responded by withstanding Peter, one of the key leaders of the Church, to his very face, even doing so publicly (2:14). No, Paul is saying, these are not the actions of a man-pleaser.

Having dealt with the Judaisers, Paul quickly moves on to deal with the Galatians themselves. He declares in 3:1 that they are fools for having fallen for another gospel. In fact, Paul’s righteous anger and directness is obvious throughout this epistle (eg. see 1:6ff). He even vents his anger through a play on words, voicing his wish that those insisting on circumcision as a means of salvation might let the knife slip and do themselves a serious injury (5:12)! In this, there is a lesson for all church leaders, namely, that we should deal with any divisive or erroneous teaching that might be causing problems in the ministries to which God has entrusted us. Too often today, there is tendency to ignore false teaching and an unwillingness to confront issues head-on, instead regarding such behaviour as negative and non-Christian. Let such people take a lesson from Paul. Certainly, one must not get carried away, constantly seeking out heresy where there is none. The end product of such behaviour is bigotry, that is, denouncing anyone who does not agree totally with us in all respects, even on minor and unimportant issues. This is to be avoided at all costs. But the other extreme is an unwillingness even to `test the spirits to see whether or not they are from God’ (1 John 4:1). I am convinced that this is one of the reasons why the Church has some of the difficulties it faces today; too many leaders have not rectified problems and countered heresy, even knowing that what they are facing is wrong.

Now that we have this background, we can move on to the centrality the Holy Spirit plays in this epistle. The crux of Paul’s argument is simply this: whenever he refers to the Holy Spirit in chapters 3 and 4 it is always in the context of salvation (eg. Gal. 3:2, 3, 5, 14). How did you receive the Spirit, he asks, by works or by faith? How did you receive salvation, he asks, by works or by faith? The two are synonymous. Paul is denouncing the notion of salvation through the Law, stating that the Galatians received salvation and the Spirit through faith. According to Paul, salvation and the receiving of the Spirit are one and the same thing. The gift of the Spirit is the proof of being sons and daughters of God (4:6), and those who do not possess the Spirit do not belong to God (Romans 8:9, 14, John 3:5). Paul then goes on to liken Hagar’s child to Mount Sinai in Arabia, where the Old Testament Law was given. Thus, this son Ishmael (representative of the Jewish Old Testament law) persecuted the son of promise through Sarah, that is, Isaac, just as in the same way the Judaisers were persecuting the Galatians, the sons of promise (4:21-31). Paul likens the Judaisers to Ishmael’s descendants, that is, they are enslaved to the Law, just as Ishmael was born the son of a slave woman. But on the other hand, Isaac is likened to those born of the Spirit (4:29). Isaac was born supernaturally (he is not of the flesh, as such), and he was the son of a free woman, unlike Hagar. Christ was promised to us, and He gave us His Spirit, so that we too are from the Law and the flesh. Because we have the Spirit, we are not enslaved to the flesh. That’s what Paul means when he instructs the Galatians to `live by the Spirit’ and to `walk by the Spirit’ (Gal. 5). How can we do so, unless He has already been given to us? In chapter 5, continuing his discussion of the flesh/law versus the Spirit/faith, Paul makes it abundantly clear that God sent us the Holy Spirit to enable us to live a pleasing, holy and sanctified life before God. As Christians, through the Spirit this is possible. The world has no choice – it cannot but sin. But we as Christians do – we are instructed to walk by the Spirit, to put away the desires of the flesh. We are no longer enslaved to the old nature, because the Spirit of God living within us enables us to live correctly. Every time we ask God to help us with a particular sin or downfall, He already has by giving us His Spirit.

Am I suggesting there is no such thing as the Baptism of the Holy Spirit? What I am saying is simply this: God may well send His Spirit upon someone in a mighty and powerful way subsequent to salvation, whether a person wants to call this the Baptism, or Infilling, or even Empowering, of the Holy Spirit (the New Testament uses several terms). God is sovereign and He can do as He pleases, and I believe He can and does give people special outpourings, usually in preparation for service. But Paul makes it abundantly clear that all genuine Christians already have the Holy Spirit living within them from the day they accept Christ as Saviour. We should seek to live by Him, allowing Him to help, guide, control and teach us. By continually being filled, we are demonstrating our willingness for Him to control us.

In closing, let me draw your attention to the following. In the Trinity, we can see an important three-fold process carried out by God (they all begin with `M’). God the Father expresses the Motivation (the desire, will) to have fellowship with us (eg. John 3:16, 2 Pet. 3:9 etc.). But to do so, a price must be paid for our sins – God, who is just and holy, cannot simply ignore them. Therefore, God the Son provides the Means through which that fellowship might take place, by dying on the cross so that our sins might be forgiven and God and Man might once again have full fellowship together. Finally, God the Holy Spirit represents the Mechanics by which that fellowship takes place. The Holy Spirit living within us represents that actual point of contact between God and Man. These three functions are neatly summed up in 2 Corinthians 13:13. No wonder He is such a precious gift that Jesus promised. And when we see this purpose of the Holy Spirit, it helps to put all spiritual gifts into perspective. The Holy Spirit was sent to help us as individuals, as well as to the church as a whole for effective service, of which spiritual gifts is just one part. There is much, much more to the work of the Holy Spirit than spiritual gifts, however vital these are to the work of the Church.

© Calkvin L. Smith 2000.