Many of us, when we gather for worship, affirm that we "believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified." This ancient declaration, first affirmed in 325 A.D., arose in response to the heresies that tended to deny the deity of the Holy Spirit and his distinct personality within the Godhead. At the other end of the spectrum there have always been those, like the Montanists, who placed the spotlight on the Holy Spirit–instead of recognizing that the "shy member of the trinity" is sent to spotlight the person and work of Christ. One thinks of the symbolism in many of the charismatic congregations. Here in Southern California, a visitor will find in one megachurch a rather large outline of a dove in the front of the auditorium, but there is no cross to be found in the sanctuary. Ironically, the logo for the Trinity Broadcasting Network, the largest collection of independently owned Christian stations in the world, is a dove that appears to be "crucified" on the cross. One ancient heresy went by the name of "Patripassionism" because its adherents believed that it was God the Father who endured the cross's suffering. But this may be the first century in which "Pneumapassionism" (the crucifixion of the Spirit) has been accorded such a prominent symbol.
The tendency with all of this fanaticism about the Holy Spirit is to become cynical about his person and work. But if we do that, we will not only turn away from the source of Christ's life in us; we will actually deny something essential to our faith and endanger our very souls. I understand that there is even a T-shirt for anti-charismatics with a bar going through a circle, laid over a dove, much like the "no smoking" logo. In reacting against hyper-spiritualism, many risk blasphemy at the least.
Do you worship the Holy Spirit? How long did it take you to answer? Did you have to think about it for a second before answering? It is time we seriously reconsidered what we mean when we say in the Nicene Creed, "I believe in the Holy Spirit,…who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified." God the Holy Spirit is the Creator and Preserver (Gn. 1:2; Ps. 104:30), the author of the virgin conception of our Lord (Lk. 1:35), the One by whom the prophets and apostles spoke the Word of God (2 Tm. 3:16; Eph. 3:5; 2 Pt. 1:21), the author and sustainer of the new birth (Jn. 1:13; 6:63; Acts 1:5; Rom. 8:4, 9; 1 Cor. 2:14; 12:13; 2 Cor. 3:6; 5:5; 2 Thes. 2:13) and the person of the Godhead who indwells every believer (1 Cor. 6:19; ; 2 Cor. 1:22; 5:5; Eph.1:13). The Holy Spirit is God (Ps. 139:7; 2 Cor. 3:17; Eph. 2:22; 4:30): sharing equality, substance, and eternality with the Father and the Son. Therefore, he is not only worthy of our worship, but demands it by his very essence and attributes. He is not a force or a principle of deity, but a divine person just like the Father and the Son.
A second feature we can pick up from the historic definition of the Holy Spirit is its focus on his activity in 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," if by 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 a historical point of view: orthodox evangelicals have been rather nervous about the Third Person since the excesses of revivalism. Nevertheless, both groups are in the wrong on this point. Wesleyans, Pentecostals, and most Charismatics are Arminian in their theology. That is, they believe that it is the human will 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 authority of the Holy Spirit in this matter of salvation, denying clear texts that suggest otherwise (Jn. 1:13; 6:37, 44, 63; 10:14, 25-30; Acts 13:48; Rom. 8:30; 9:10-26; 1 Cor. 2:14; Eph. 2:1-10; Phil. 2:13, etc.)? And to suggest that the Spirit's work depends on human activity, not only in regeneration, but in day-to-day maintenance of this 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 of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, 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 of man, 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 of human 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 limit God's sovereignty over the human will have difficulty explaining biblical inspiration as well as biblical regeneration.
So here again, the Reformation tradition parts company with its brothers and sisters who would (a) downplay the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit and (b) overlook the fact that the Holy Spirit saves and speaks through means: historical acts (the exodus, the crucifixion, resurrection and ascension, the second coming and judgment); physical signs and seals (water, bread and wine, paper and ink). "Spiritualists" of all ages have sought to go beyond history and the physical realm, to live in a "spiritual" realm where they can communicate with God without ink and paper, bread and wine, water, and the recounting of the great redemptive acts of God in history. It is "me and my personal relationship with God" that counts, and this is nurtured by the Holy Spirit directly, without the means which Christians of previous ages have counted essential.
Our Charismatic brothers and sisters sometimes assume that we downplay the role of the Holy Spirit simply because we do not talk about the gifts of healing, tongues and prophecy. But this would be a mistake. While we may be wrong to say that such gifts have ceased, it is quite erroneous to identify the work of the Holy Spirit exclusively or even chiefly with these spectacular activities. For Reformation Christians, regardless of their view concerning the gifts, the most important activity of the Holy Spirit is not in raising the dead here and now, but in raising to spiritual life those who "were dead in trespasses and sins" (Eph.2:1) and in completing the work of redemption by raising the bodies of the dead at the end of the age; not in healing asthma, but in healing the breach between God and human beings; not in giving us the power to bind the forces of demons, but in giving us the power to be Christ's witnesses.
While we do not discount the miraculous and the spectacular, Reformation Christians see the activity of the Holy Spirit in the common, everyday, and mundane. The new birth is as supernatural as a physical resurrection. An answered prayer is a spiritual gift. If we cannot see the center of the Holy Spirit's activity as being the miracle of regeneration, the gift of faith, union with Christ, sanctification, and the Word and sacraments, then we have missed entirely the person and work of this member of the Godhead. God reveals himself through the Word his Spirit inspired and by whom he illumines us to understand its meaning. Once we see these things, not as our own activities, nor the products of our natural will and effort, we begin indeed to be impressed with the feverish activity of the Holy Spirit in our own experience and in the lives of those around us.
In conclusion, therefore, two things become apparent: First, we as "orthodox Protestants" often do not affirm that 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 often does not affirm the power and authority of the Holy Spirit in such a way 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 a recovery of the biblical doctrine of the Holy Spirit, a revolutionary reacquaintance, to be sure, but a necessary one. He will disturb us all: contradicting Arminians in their view of his power and authority; unsettling the rest of us in our practical rejection of his freedom. After all, what if something out of the ordinary–something that wasn't planned or prepared for, occurred? Would we reject it on the same basis as our secularized 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 of the 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.
