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147
LIFE
THE PURPOSE OF EMPOWERMENT
IN THE CHRISTIAN
by
David A. Dorman*
That
within itself assumption rethought
diversity
theological in the
Holy Spirit,”
successfully
apparent parameters.2 identity
differing
movement nourishes
life is an
the
Pentecostal/charismatic
an
objectively
distinct
aspect
of Christian
that has been
increasingly challenged.
It needs to be
and restated in
ways
that answer to the
growing
of charismatic
experience
and
testimony
From the
side
important
words and
phrases
such as “Baptism
and
“charismata,”
the individual
gifts
in I Corinthians 12:6 –
8,
have been reviewed and
incorporated
into non-charismatic
perspectives,
while
practical concerns for church
identity
and
unity
have
spurred
some ecclesiastical circles to
integrate
the
movement, again
with
success into
existing
church structures and
dogmatic
A real
question, then,
is
being
raised about the
of the renewal movement: Is it
really
a definable movement? Does it have a theologically objective groundwork?
it an emotional
appropriation
of standard Christian
from mainline traditions
only
in
degree
of
involvement? The same line of
thought
is inevitably
to bear on individuals as well: Is some
major
due
concerning
how we think about ourselves as charismatics? Is there an
objective
basis
upon
which we can
others to seek the Pentecostal
enduement,
and
upon which we can
justify
our work for the
integration
of Pentecostalism into the rest of the Church?
Or,
is teachings, subjective brought reassessment
encourage
focuses on its
nuances
underlying
such
questions
a
which
life,
of
charismatic exegetical Spirit”
as God
This article offers as one
way
of
answering
definition of
Pentecostal/charismatic empowerment
on the role of that
empowerment
in the Christian
contribution to what
might
be termed the
quality Christian
living.
A true distinction or identity for the
Pentecostal/
movement is to be found
here,
rather than
finally
in
the
phrase “baptism
in the
Holy
or in
interpretations
of
initiatory experience.
We are asking,
it were, whether there are discernable reasons for
to have
given
and
encouraged
which
variously
has been called
Pentecostal,
enthusiastic.3
The thesis of this
article,
as
that
aspect
of
Christianity
charismatic,
or
develops
of the
purpose
of empowerment
follows: the
baptism
of the
Spirit, Pentecostal
lines,
is most
fundamentally
and the
understanding
that it
in the Christian
life,
is
as understood
along
a personal disclosure
1
148
closeness to thereby
discovered such
light,
so to
speak, and that it finds prayer
that
precisely
His
that God is
such,
strictly necessary existence of the Christian exercised not
by man, reasons of His own activity
of God
particularly
as to His
immediacy;
the situation is revealed to the
believer;
to be the
very present
God. The disclosure is
that it results in a
qualitatively
different life lived in the
of that
striking
sense of the nearness of
God;
both inward and outward
expression,
in vital
and
praise
to
God,
and in ministry to others which will in turn disclose that
immediacy
and
presence
to
others,
for instance
by the
channel of the
gifts
of the
Spirit
of I Corinthians 12:8 – 10
(the
“manifestations” of His
presence,
I Cor.
12:6).
As
this
baptism
or
empowerment
will not be understood to be
for the salvation of the individual or the
community.
but
graciously by
God in His
Church,
for
which have to do with the
eschatological
and direction of the Church in its “times and seasons”
confess
The
development
engender
First,
Rather it is an
option,
certain
intimations,
must
–
exegetical,
historical,
empowerment
connection with an
immediacy issues that confront the renewal
but which
we,
even while
enjoying
to be at
base, mysterious.
and
justification
and
theological
–
of this
thesis,
can
only
be sketched in what follows in the
hope
that broad outlines do not
necessarily
superficiality.
an examination of Acts 1:8 will determine the
way
in which it commends the idea of an
with both inward and outward results in
of
God; then, some of the
major
will be discussed to see what light
can be shed on them
by an understanding
of God as the distinctive behind
Pentecostal/
empowerment.
II
Fr. Peter Hocken has shown existed in Pentecostalism a gap and outward
aspects
personal
testimonies have tended and communion
have focused
power
of
Spirit baptism
with Jesus as
Lord,
value in
observing
of the
immediacy
charismatic
significantly
that there has between the
ways
that inward
have been
verbalized; to stress
personal
encounter
while official definitions in witness.4 But inward and
in the
verse,
and there is
.
this verse itself renewal movement.
on
public
outward elements are both
present
them here in order to avoid the
implication that a
possible
modern tension between the
personal
inward and
public
outward
aspects
of
empowerment
was also a New Testament tension and also to
bring
out the fuller
meaning
of
which is
certainly
a locus classicus for the
2
149
.
First of all, it is
clearly
correct to link the two halves of the verse
closely,
so that
“being
witnesses”to the ends of the earth is the direct result of
“receiving power”
at the
coming
of the Spirit. Specifically
what is
promised
is “the marvelous
power (dunamis)
which works miracles
(dunameis).”6
Luke is
very much aware of the idea of God’s
presence
in connection with the dynamism
of the
early
Church. He draws
liberally
on the Old Testament themes’ of the
power
of God as His
presence (e.g.
Dt. 4:32;
cf.
“right hand,”
Ex.
15:6; “hand,”
Dt.
3:24; “arm,”
Dt. 9:29)
and the
presence
of God as the
Spirit
of God
(Ez. 39:29; Ps. 51:13; Ps. 139:7; cf. Ex. 33:14 and Is.
63:9, 14); especially
in the
Exodus,
it is the
presence
of God that is the
power
of salvation and deliverance. The
eschatological hope
of Israel includes the return of miraculous
activity
and
widespread signs (Is.
35:5 –
6),
fulfilled for Luke in Jesus’ program
(Is.
61:2 – 2 = Lk. 4:18 – as Jesus’ witness 2:28 – 32
=
19) and in the Church’s mission (Joel
Acts 2:17 –
21).
The actual
supernatural
events – healings, deliverances,
resurrections
–
constitute for Luke the piece
de resistance of salvation
history,
the incontrovertible confirmation of the whole fact of
prophecy and, therefore,
of fulfullment, indeed,
of the
supernatural
nature of salvation itself;
and he learned it from Jesus: “In order that
you may know that the Son of Man has
authority
on earth to forgive
sins, … I say to
you, rise,
take
up your
bed and
go home” (Lk. 5:24). It is
against
this
background
of
power/ presence/ Spirit
in the Old
Testament,
and of Luke’s
great joy
in the miraculous as a sure
sign
of the
Gospel –
the
frosting indicating
the existence and
shape
of the cake – that the thunderous
audacity
of the promise
is seen: “You shall receive
power
when the
Holy Spirit comes
upon you.”
The word “witness” has its own intrinsic
importance
to us.8 While
martyrdom
is probably not a factor in our
reading
of this passage,
the
legal
context of the courtroom witness
certainly is, as well as
evangelistic
talk. The
legal
context is
present
in the Old Testament, most
notably
in the
great controversy
of Yahweh with Israel 40 – 55: Israel is the witness of Yahweh
(Is. 43:10, 12; 44:8)
in His case
against
Israel and
against
the heathen. A.A. Trites
brings
attention to the active role of the witness of the Old Testament: “it is the task of the witness not only
to attest the facts but also to convince the
opposite
side of the truth of
them,”
to “talk the
opponent
round.”9 In Luke’s writing
Trites finds his use of the term to be a “live
metaphor”
in its fresh use of the wider court of
public opinion
and its dependence
on the
Spirit:
“On the one hand, He teaches
3
150
[the apostles]
what to
say
and
gives
them
courage
to
say
it. On the other hand, the
Spirit
works to confirm their
testimony through
the external
signs
and wonders and
through
the boldness which he
inspires
in their
teachings
In other
words, “witness” carries with it for Luke the element of
powerful demonstration as well as that of verbal
persuasion (cf.
John 5:36: “The witness that I have is
greater
than
John,
for the works which the Father has
given
Me to
accomplish,
the
very works I do, bear witness of
Me,
that the Father has sent
Me.”)
The
supernatural
element of “witness” underscores the continuity
of the Old
Testament, showing
that Jesus is the prophesied
Messiah and that Pentecost ushered in the
expected age
of the
Spirit.
It also demonstrates the
continuity
of the Apostles’ ministry
with that of Jesus
(e.g.
Acts 1 1:16 –
17).
But on the
deepest
level it depicts who the God is who is at work: the God of Jesus, the God of Israel, but
finally
it can
only
be the Creator God who shows such over the
–
authority
created order
the God who is also “behind” the Athenian
gods (Acts 27:23), whose ultimate witness lies in the resurrection of the dead
(Acts 17:31 –
32).
To witness
fully concerning
this God
requires,
in certain circumstances,
supernatural demonstration,
because He is the God above nature who can and does intervene supernaturally,
the God whose witnesses
must, therefore, occasionally
elicit this kind of
response:
“Now who is this, that even the wind and sea
obey
him?”
(Mk. 4:41).
And so both dunamis and martus
point
to the
empowered ministry
that is the result of
Spirit baptism.
But the
promise
of Acts 1:8 has not been
fully expounded
until it is noted that it is a promise
about
being witnesses,
not
doing
witness. The implication
is there about the transformed inner life of the one who witnesses in
power,
that the encounter with the
very present
God has ramifications for the full
spectrum
of the sanctifying
and
edifying process,
both
personal
and in community.
It is
important
to remember at this
point
that the biblical idea of witness means
testimony
to one’s
personal association with the facts or
concepts
at issue
(e.g.
Is.
44:8;
Acts 1:21- 22), is and so the earliest Church’s witness was one which included miraculous demonstration of their own
powerful
sense of the daily immediacy
of
God,
not
surprisingly
characterized
by joy and
praise (e.g.
Acts
2:43; 4:31; 5:4,
19 – 20, 32, cf.
3:6,
“What I have I
give you.
In the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, walk! “).
Later in the Corinthian
correspondence
the
gifts
of the Spirit
are seen more in relation to the inner edification of the community
and of individuals
(I
Cor. 14:3 –
5:12) although
the matter of witness continues to be a
controlling
factor
(I
Cor.
4
151
.
14:20 –
25).
But for
Paul, too,
the
gifts
functioned as a mani- festation of the
very present
Lord
(he phanerõsis
tou pneumatos,
I Cor.
12:7;
cf.
2:4)
which demanded first and foremost an
acknowledgement
of the
dynamic presence
of the almighty
God
(ontos
ho theos en
hymin estin,
I Cor.
14:25).
This sense of God’s
immediacy
to the
community
and to the individual can no doubt be
pointed
to as
giving shape
to the early
church both in its
strengths
and weaknesses – the debacle of Paul’s mission to
Lystra (Acts
14:8 –
20)
and the over enthusiasm of the Corinthians for the
gifts
themselves
(I
Cor. 14:12)
are
examples
of
mishaps
characteristic of that kind of community.
The New Testament
response
to those
problems, however,
is not to
attempt
somehow to abandon that
dynamic aspect
of Christianity, but to work within its very parameters to correct the
problem.12
In fact the
only way
to consider abandoning
the exercise of the miraculous
gifts
is first to
regard the entire
category
as a human
option
rather than a divine enablement,
a
viewpoint
which is
quite foreign
to the New Testament.13 Rather the New Testament
presents quite positively
the
prospect
of a life lived to the full in close and dynamic
relation to the
proximate God,
a life which is the recipient
of the
blessings imparted through
the
gifts
of charismatic
community
as well as
through
their
fruit,
with every opportunity
to
grow
and be transformed into an effective witness of this transcendent and immanent God: “You shall be My
witnesses.”
Lastly however, although
the
promise
is
“you
shall
be,”
the intent of Acts 1:8 is,
“being, you
shall do.”The
gifts
have their best
perspective, finally,
in the
global
mission of the Church. Such a
perspective
is a
powerful
antidote to the
(very natural) tendency
of some charismatic circles to become introverted in their
enjoyment
of the
group.
Thus even the
scholar, drawing
in prayer upon gifts
of discernment or
wisdom,
is
encouraged
to measure the task in a real
way by
the horizon of the uttermost ends of the
earth;
and
eschatology
becomes for the church not an exercise with charts and texts but a response to the eschato- logical Spirit,
an involvement with
people
on the
surging frontiers of the
Kingdom
of God.
Encountering
the
very present God,
the lives of the
Apostles were transformed
by
characteristic
blessings
and
pressures.
The encounter
inaugurated
their
acquaintance
with this
aspect
of God,
this readiness to intervene
miraculously
in daily affairs for the
purposes
of His deliverence and salvation. And their acquaintance
with God as the
supernatural
one was itself their equipping
as His
supernatural
witnesses.
5
152
would
various events one hand empowered
because
difference in their lives. It
to sort out from the
those on the
whether
occurred
As such it
produced
a qualitative
be a work of
futility
to
attempt
recorded in Acts and the
Epistles
that were characteristic of
Christianity
or
not,
and those on the other that
specifically
the communities were charismatic.’4 But a case
may
be made for
understanding
of the Lord which Luke calls
“receiving
as
determining qualitatively
the inner life of an
the encounter with the
the
henceforth,
bringing
with it
blessings
and
special presence
Spirit”
individual’s
Christianity characteristic
temptations.
One encountering
the
spirit (coincidentally!), who, “Remember me”:
Remember thee
strengths
and
weaknesses,
is reminded of Hamlet’s reaction to
of his father
addressing
supernaturally Hamlet
charges
him to
Yea,
from the table of my memory
I’ll
wipe away
all trivial fond
records, All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past That
youth
and observation
copied there; And
thy
commandment all alone shall live Within the book and volume of my brain, Unmix’d with baser matter:
yes, by heaven!
(I.v.97 – 104)
supernatural would be henceforth
God
that had been known
of sins
possible meanings Scripture presence
suddenly (newly?)
at-hand-ness of God
to intervene in
this
very aspect henceforth a matter of something
more about
together
with all
the central fact of
two
In the case of the Christian who becomes
aware of this
aspect
of the
living God,
the
to break
through
into the human
world,
acts of salvation and
deliverence,
unforgettable,
wonder and
hope
for
others,
henceforth
that would be shared
gladly
in witness
already concerning
forgive-ness
in Jesus’ name.
At some
point
a distinction needs to be made between
of the word
“immediacy”;
there is nothing in
that could lead us to
speak
of an “unmediated”
or
knowledge
of God.
Foundationally
all
knowledge of God takes
place
in the context of mediation of
Christ,
which is the
express background
of Christian
empowerment
as well. 15 But even within the context of the work of Christ there can be no thought
of direct human access to the
incomprehensible
of deity.’6 In this
respect Kierkegaard
is correct when he affirms that
“Spirit
is the
negation
of direct
immediacy.””
been referred to above as God’s
immediacy
is to be understood
to the human
situation,
as His
proximity
essence
What has
and the revelation of
6
153
that fact about God is party to the
dynamic
of all of
revelation, “the
self-unveiling, imparted
to
man,
of the God who
by nature cannot be unveiled to men. “‘8 It is not some sudden
opening-up of all the terrible mind of God. 19 Rather it is the
impartation
of
that this
God,
about whom so much
may
be known in the work of Christ and of the
Spirit,
is also
in love and
power.
It is a disclosure that occurs
restricted
parameters
of God’s accommodation to
specific knowledge already
very present within the man.
Colin Brown’s mine of information in the
history how often associated
already skeptics.
rationalist,
recent Miracles and the Critical Mind2° is a
.
about the
way
miracles have been assessed
of Christian
thought.
A glance through it reveals
the idea of God’s
immediacy
or
presence
has been
with
miracles,
whether
by
believers or
Thus Thomas Hobbes
(1588 – 1679),
an
early
writes:
… in all miracles the work is not the effect of any virtue of the
prophet,
because it is the effect of the immediate hand of God.
A miracle is a work of God … done for the
making manifest to His elect the mission of an
extraordinary minister for t-heir slavation.21
Likewise Christian describe
Edward
Gibbon, claims is evident
Deity. “22 language;
B.F.
produced by
Fascinating
whose
skepticism regarding
his
history
could
which
might the immediate
interposition
of the
miracles could use similar
an
gave
this definition: “A
an effect in the external
world,
of God.”24
are Professor Brown’s
throughout
miracles as “occasional
prodigies,
sometimes be effected
by
Later defenders
of (biblical)
Westcott saw miracles as “a
Revelation, Epiphany
of Christ.”23 B.B. Warfield
miracle then is
specifically
the immediate
efficiency
from our
perspective
accounts of recent
philosophical
debate on miracles. Ian T. Ramsey speaks
of a first and second order of God’s
activity,
the first
being open
to scientific and the second
being
a matter of God’s
personal
“we are aware of him in a noninferential
with the
way
in which we are
to this second order:
level
happen according situation `comes alive,’the occasion
“of personal, Robert
Young
contends
outcome fact,
he had
transcendent selfdisclosure.”26
that “when a miracle
occurs,
God active
agent-factor …
His
presence (ceteris paribus)
of what it
(perhaps)
been
if, contrary
not been
present.”27
thought
and
description
activity.
On this second
way, comparable
aware of ourselves. “z5 Miracles
“With a
miracle,
a light dawns,
the
penny drops,” as
an
Similarly
is an
alters the
would have to
7
154
These
examples
are meant to show that there is a background for
associating
the
gifts
of the
Spirit
with the disclosure of God’s immediacy.
Thus also in
contemporary
biblical
theology,
L. Goppelt,
in his
Theology of
the New
Testament, finds that Paul’s
experience
of the
Spirit
occurred
(1)
in the
assembly
most particularly through prophecy
“that God should become manifest for the
people”
and
(2)
for the individual believer through
the
Spirit-prompted prayer expressing “immediacy
of devotion to God.”28 E. Kgsemann can affirm that Jesus’ confidence in prayer for Lazarus’resurrection derives from “the certainty
of his
immediacy
to the Father. “29 And Geza Vermes in Jesus the Jew writes:
The
presentation
of Jesus in the
Gospels
as a man
whose
supernatural
abilities
derived,
not from secret
power,
but from immediate contact with God,
the
proves
him to be a
genuine charismatic,
true heir of an
age-old prophetic religious
line.”10
This
frequent, perhaps
almost
inevitable, linking
of the
gifts of the
Spirit
to a
special presence
of God is
brought
to a new level in the
many
Pentecostal and charismatic
descriptions
and assessments of charismatic
experience,
of which the
following
is a sample:
“The ultimate and full
purpose
of spiritual
gifts
thus
stands revealed.
They
are to bring men face to face with
the
reality
of the Invisible God.” – Donald Gee3l
“What then is it to be
baptized
in the
Holy Spirit? Perhaps
the most obvious
description
of what
happens when a person is baptized in the
Holy
to him, in a way that he can
Spirit
is that the Holy Spirit
comes know. As a result of this
coming
of the
Holy Spirit,
he experiences a new contact with God.” –
Stephen
B. Clark32
“This is totality of penetration with the
Holy Spirit whereby,
in a new
way,
all areas of one’s
being – body, soul and
spirit (the
conscious and subconscious –
depths)
become sensitized to the divine
presence
and
activity. Likewise,
a community of people filled with the
Holy Spirit
find that not
only
their
relationship
to God but also to one another becomes suffused with a
.
profound
sense of God
moving
in and through whatever takes
place. Further,
the experience of being filled
may occur afresh
–
by
God’s
sovereign
action and in response
to new situations. However,
any
renewed filling
is
against
the
background
of the
original breakthrough
of God’s
Spirit
when the
Spirit
moved throughout
and all ba rriers were broken down. For the Holy Spirit
is free to move
again
and
again
–
as all of life becomes redolent with the presence and wonder of Almighty
God.” – J. Rodman Williams33
‘
8
155
sense of
God’s immediacy
has not been an
attempt distinctive of the renewal charismatic
empowerment. attempts
to make.
But while there is
ample description
of a
pervasive
in the renewal
movement,
there
apparently
to correlate it with the actual
It is that
an
experience
and
the
precise purpose
of correlation that this article
III
a certain
The
argument
thus far is that the
baptism
in the
Holy Spirit
is
of God that is not
necessary
for salvation but that is exercised, at God’s
option,
to instill
life in the Church at certain times and
seasons,
(Christian)
to
of God
along salvation, Below
It is
resurgence or individuals,34 take these
quality
of God
particularly
of a as
quality having
to do with the
experience
His
immediacy.
How far is it feasible to think about an action
these
lines, possibly subsequent
to a
person’s
when considered
historically,
and
exegetically?
are sketched some
possible approaches.
the historical
perspective
that offers the least
difficulty. Recent historical reviews have
highlighted
the
periodic
in the Church of the
gifts
of the
Spirit among groups
so that the
question
is really whether we would
as psychological manifestations of the
particular age or whether we
accept
them as God’s own action. If
they represent
God’s movement of renewal in the
Church,
then it is evident that for some
persons
it will have involved an individual
of
renewal,
wherein God is
–
suddenly very
much
to the
pressures
of life as evidenced in the
visions,
in
increased
eschatological expectation,
and in the
testimony
and wonders characteristic of
many spiritual
renewal
experience closer the to
signs movements.
an
that it tends and
question
which sees
Pentecostal/
raised
against
the idea of
in Christ is
to
separate
Christ
tritheism.35 This
given above,
as a specific
Theologically,
the
deepest question
actual
empowerment
distinct from
regeneration
to divide the work of the
Trinity,
the
Spirit,
to
encourage
an
unhealthy
should be obviated
by
the definition
charismatic
empowerment
work of the triune God
by
His
option
in relation to
of the
progress
of the Church’s commission. It
and character different from that of regeneration,
root in the kairoi
(Acts
1:7) ol
eschatological pressure
in tne absolute
necessity
ot salvation. immense
are
raised, however, by
the
phrase “baptism
in the
both
theologically
and
exegetically.36 Theologically
the
circumstances has a purpose finding
its rather than difficulties Spirit,”
9
156
presence
of two words each with a
history
as
long
and as torturous as the Church’s
own,
means that in the Spirit”
evokes an
“baptism
array
of treasured
theological
and ecclesiological
connotations for
every
scholar
it, which connotations themselves
may
well
approaching
determine the
ways
in which the
phrase
can and cannot be
interpreted.3?
Most Protestant
groups, however,
would wish to allow the matter to be settled
exegetically:
Does
“baptism
in the mean
been
Spirit” scripturally
what has defined above as
Pentecostal/ charismatic
empowerment?
Understanding “baptism
in the
Holy Spirit”
as an empowering
work of
grace
is not
exegetically
offensive if it be understood that Luke saw this involvement in the
immediacy
of God as the
culminating sign
of the fulfillment of Old Testament promise,
the visible
tip
of the
iceberg giving
reliable indication of the whole.38 The
possibility
of such an
experience subsequent to
regeneration
is found in the
history
of Samaria’s conversion (Acts
8:9 –
24),
in the distinct
experiences
described
by dechomai ton
logon
and lambanõ to
pneuma (Acts
8:14 –
1 S). The first denotes a
conceptual
assent
involving
faith and leading
to salvation39; the second describes an
experience
of receiving
a gift of non-propositional
content, such as grace, the crown of life, etc.4? Luke then is
describing
two sorts of experiences,
which are
separated chronologically by
some five days.41
The two words can be
pursued through
the New Testament and found to have distinct
usage.42
Paul’s employment
of them indicates that he too
recognized
two sorts of
experiences possible
for Christians
(I
Cor.
2:12, 14;
2 Cor. 11:4),
each
being
in some
way
foundational and
yet aspects
of the one event of
becoming
a
(charismatic,
for
Paul)
Christian.
Relating
Acts 8:14 – 15 to the
present thesis,
the first
term, dechomai,
describes the decision of assent and commitment to the
gospel
facts and invitation. The
second, lambanõ,
describes an
experience
of God’s
present power
which overflows in the operation
of
gifts
of the
Spirit (as
it
widely
assumed from Acts 8:18 –
19).
Elsewhere in the
account,
Luke uses various synonyms: “receiving
the
Spirit” (vv 15, 17) and the “falling”
of the
Spirit (v 16),
as well as the
“giving”
of the
Spirit (v 18)
and the
“gift
of God”
(v 20).
These
terms, furthermore,
are found elsewhere in Acts in parallel with the
Spirit’s “filling”, “coming upon”, “pouring forth”,
to the
“baptizing
in the
Spirit”,
and to “the
promise
of the Father”.43 Their interconnections render it impossible
to claim that
they
are technical references to different events rather,
they
demonstrate Luke’s
overwhelming delight (even
as an older
man)
in the
personalized
fulfillment of
10
157
It is along these lines that a defense of
to initial belief
not
Old Testament
prophecy. an
empowering
might reasonably illegitimately
exegetical perspective,
experience possibly subsequent
be
made,
and the
experience might be termed
“baptism
in the
Spirit”
from the
at
any
rate.
IV
The idea of
empowerment
can be filled out somewhat
.
widely praise groups
is of only aspect The source worshippers’
as
experience
of God’s immediate
by drawing
lines to other
it is
presence
factors and issues of the renewal movement. For
example,
noted even
by
those outside the movement that the
that is expressed corporately by Pentecostal/ charismatic
remarkable
intensity
and
quality,
and that it is (the
of the
movement?)
to be encouraged, even shared.4a
of this
praise, then,
is to be discovered in the
instinctive sense of the
personal presence
of
God, rather than in the
type
of music or instruments
played,
and the
of it with the wider Church
properly
entails the
sharing
the
undergirding experience
of opening up to that
presence
of
sharing of God.
Similarly
the
gifts
of the
Spirit
can be seen to rise
“naturally” out of an awareness of God’s and can be
explained imparted
more
satisfactorily power,
if the idea a Christian
tragedy
°
knowledge gained expectation, prayer
is,
saving presence
than in terms of some
mystically of God’s
immediacy
is
employed.
a need of some
sort,
some
thoughts word the tongues
and alter the
Spirit
foremost
invisible Godhead.
Supposing perceives
such as the fatal illness of a child and the
grief
of its parents.
If that Christian knows the God of salvation as one who is also
ready
to break in
upon
the situation in
power,
that
from the
experience
and now
present
in
constitutes the actual basis of faith
upon
which a
for
healing might
be
said,
or a word of
encouragement delivered to the
family
with
prophetic urgency
and effect. That
the existential
knowledge
of God as present in power is itself the
empowerment.45
God is the one who knows now the
and intentions of the
heart,
and
might
reveal them in a
of wisdom, in discernment. He is the One who
speaks
now
words of life into the human
situation,
in
prophecy
or in
their
interpretation.
He is the God who acts now to
circumstances in gifts of healing and miracles. The
gifts
of
are the effective
demonstration, then,
of His immediacy,
as well as of His love
–
they
minister first and
the
reality
of His
presence,
of the
(Incidentially,
as the manifestation this occasional
quality,
11
158
which
belongs
to each of the nine
gifts
of the
Spirit
listed in I Corinthians 12:8 – 10, also sets this list
apart
in kind from the lists
given
in Romans 12:6 – 8, I Cor. 12:28, and
Eph. 4:11,
as being imparted
to meet situational
needs,
rather than needs relating
to
ongoing
functions of
body life.)46
It
may
be instructive to
compare
this view of the
gifts
with what has been said about the
presence
of the Lord in the sacraments. Luther sees miracles as masks of
God,
and finds their closest
parallel
in the
mystery
of the sacraments.4? Such a passage
as this one on the sacraments from Karl Barth can demonstrate the close connection of miracles and sacrament: “Promise in the form of an
adjunct
to
preaching,
action in distinction from mere word,
conformity
to
Scripture, representative symbolical
connexion with the ‘once-for-all’ of revelation
–
these are the decisive definitions of the
concept
of sacrament.”48 The
language
with
only slight
modifications
may describe miracles. There are differences, of course; the Church’s involvement in the
gifts,
while commanded
by Scripture (e.g.
I Cor. 14:1; James 5:13 –
15),
is not conceived as a self-initiated exercise.49 This
may
be rooted in the
deeper
fact that miracles are not
really
in the nature of
promise,
but of
fulfillment,
even as
they point
to
greater promises.
Nor do
they “symbolically represent”; they
manifest
(I
Cor.
12:7). However,
a yearning for the charismatic
immediacy
of God
may
be seen to be behind some of the
developments
of sacramentalism – for
instance, the evolution of
anointing
for
healing
into the sacrament of extreme unction – so that the
great
medieval sacramental systems may
be in some sense an outward
sign (!)
of the fact of the self-revealed
immediacy
of God in His Church on certain occasions and in certain times and
places.so
One
response
to the renewal movement that has been unfortunately widespread
is the
questioning
of its
validity
in view of the
immaturity
evidenced
by
some of its members. What light
is shed on this
question by
the idea of empowerment as an involvement in God’s sensed
immediacy? First,
the criterion of maturity
is an
important
one.
Scripture
stresses the fruit of the Spirit
as an
important sign
of
Christianity (John
13:34 –
35; 14:15, 23;
Gal. 5 :19 – 24) and an
important
test of valid
ministry (Mt.
7:15 –
23). Using perceived maturity
as a test within the Church
properly,
of course, must be
tempered
with the
very strong
words about
judging
a brother that are found in Paul (e.g.
Rom. 2:1; 14:4 –
12),
as well as with a realization that the very
broad
spectrum
of relative
maturity
found
among
those who have
accepted
Christ demands that we observe
processes rather than isolated situations. Christian
growth
is
truly
to be discerned.51
12
159
have been our better
might
judgment,
not seem to
require
a developed
for its basis. The
story
of the
Spirit’s falling
at the
leaves no time for a process of
growth
between
regeneration
and
empowerment,
nor does Corinth with its weaknesses of character show
any
lack of
Second,
and
against
what
empowerment
does maturity
house of Cornelius
(Acts 10:11) character
the evidences gifts history Church, problem which
the
Third,
(I
Cor.
1:7).
The
problem
of the
immature is as old as the
of the
of God that is the distinctive
should
of
empowerment
exercised
by
the
spiritually
of the
Church,
but it is a
part
of the
history
and not
only
that of the heresies. The answer to the
in the New Testament comes in an exercise of authority
allows the
gifts
their full and
pure operation,52
nor does the New Testament
suggest abandoning
them as if that
aspect
of
self-revelation of God could be
ignored
as
being ultimately dangerous
to the Church.53
if it is the
immediacy
factor in
empowerment,
then that
perceived immediacy contribute
significantly
to the
spiritual growth
and
integration
in his or her talk with the Lord. An over- whelming
of the transcendent Lord could well
an excuse on the human side for
spiritual
if this Lord is also the imminent
Lord,
the God of the now who is
than we are
ourselves,
means His
willingness
for the Christian’s
of one Christian
experience present
closer to the situation disclosure
human
challenges
victory, progress,
and
growth.
the Christian’s
escapism;
but
then His self- and desire to confront
present
welfare, leading
to real Now this result will in
part
rest
of the commands of God
immediacy
and
upon understanding
that come in the context of God’s
perceived
upon
his or her
willingness
to need
them;
but weakness in this last matter is not contained within the renewal movement;
Christian
problem.
it is a
congenital
The
upshot
is that while there is a link between the exercise of the
gifts
of the
Spirit
and the fruit of the
Spirit,
the connection is not a direct one
(as exemplified
most
clearly by
the
prophecies of
Balaam,
Num. 22 –
25,
and
Caiaphas,
John 11:49 –
52).
The
of the
gifts
does not
require
an attainment of some
of
maturity, although
it does
presuppose
an
of obedience to the
Lord,
which is the
And a life lived in a sense of
operation
high
standard ongoing response foundation of Christian God’s
immediacy obedient
motivation
There can, within
Christianity. of God in forgiveness
maturity.
should show in the
long
run the effects of the Christian
life, spurred perhaps by
a revitalized and sense of
urgency.
of
course,
be no
question
of classes or
degrees
To become a Christian, to receive the
grace
of sins, does not
impart
a feeling of pride.
13
160
One is not
inherently for it.
Similarly
satisfying,
as a gift, and somehow logical pressure, (as
movement as such,
more
worthy
of
praise
than an unbeliever
in
empowerment,
one is the
recipient
of a certain dimension of Christianity, at God’s
option;
whether it is
or even useful to
God, depends
upon
one’s own response
in
humility,
one’s
willingness
to be directed toward others. If it is being granted in a world-wide
in connection with a
surge
of eschato-
then it commends itself as a gift to be
sought
all of God’s
gifts
are to be
sought:
Mt.
6:33, 7:7;
I Cor.
14:1; Gal.
2:17;
Col.
3:1)
in terms not of
personal
satisfaction and without
thought
of justifying one’s own
spirituality
but rather in
response
to the task at hand and to the command and claim of God.54
In
conclusion, immediacy connection used to define contribution, understanding
this article
development
empowerment,
moral to the non-charismatic,
V
that a
concept
of the
described in
renewal,
can be
characteristic and
It would allow full
of empowerment
for
full
space
for the and moral
implications
of
the
mystical
and the
benefit in
suggests
or
presence
of
God, frequently
with the
Pentecostal; charismatic
the renewal’s
distinguishing
and can in turn serve as a basis for its self-
as well as for
apologetic.
space
for an
exploration
of the
importance
the inward
personal
life of a
Christian,
of the
mystical
while neither
denying
nor
placing personal
center
stage.
It would
put
the
gifts ultimately
in the context of the Church’s
mission,
thus
linking empowerment indissolubly with
eschatology
and
evangelism. Finally
it sets the Pentecostal/ charismatic experience
of
empowerment
in
in a way that
clearly distinguishes
the
of each in the
economy
of
God,
and
suggests
an
basis for
expecting
and
encouraging
the
of the renewal.
relation to
regeneration purpose
eschatological
expansion
*David A. Dorman is a Ph.D.
Systematic Theology brings
his
Presbyterian issues.
at Fuller
background
candidate in the field of Theological Seminary.
He
to the
study
of charismatic
article “Charismatic
(Grand Rapids:
(For a recent
survey,
see J.R. Williams’
Movement” in W.A. Elwell, The
Evangelical Dictionary of Theology
Baker Book House,
1984) pp.
205 – 209
14
161
2For ecclesiastical concern raised about the use of the term
“baptism in the Holy Spirit,” see below, n. 37. The voice of biblical
scholarship
is heard most
prominently
in the works of F. Dale Bruner A
Theology of the
Holy Spirit (Grand Rapids:
William B. Eerdmans
Publishing Company, 1970)
and James D.G. Dunn
especially Baptism
in the
Holy Spirit (London: SCM, 1970);
for
instance,
the noted New Testament scholar C.F.D. Moule in his discussion of the question refers to these two studies as
simply
having
resolved the
question (The Holy Spirit [Grand Rapids:
Eerdmans, 1978], p. 85). The two properly should not be mentioned in the same breath,
pace Moule;
each is somewhat individualistic in approach, Bruner
giving
to theology over history (e.g.
the
precedence
Samaritan
history
of a
testimony
to its own theo- logical impossibility, pp. 173-181)
in a way that most conservatives would be shy of, and Dunn
giving good
direction on Pauline studies but then
forcing
Lukan terms into the Procrustian bed of Pauline concepts (note
his reference to Rom. 8:9 on
p. 55).
For a review of perspectives,
cf. Anne
Mather, “Talking
Points: The Charismatic Movement,” Themelios,
Vol. 9, No. 3 (April
1984), pp. 17 -21, and also Alasdair I.C. Heron’s discussion in The
Holy Spirit (Philadelphia: Westminster
Press, 1983), pp.
130 – 146.
Full-scale
replies
to Bruner and Dunn from the Pentecostal side can be found in two recent
monographs:
Harold D. Hunter,
Spirit Baptism:
A Pentecostal Alternative
(Lanham,
MD:
University
Press of America,
1983), and Howard
M.
Ervin, Conversion-Initiation
and the
Baptism
in the
Holy Spirit (Peabody,
MA: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 1984);
see my review of Ervin’s book in the upcoming issue of Pneuma 8:1 (Spring, 1986).
3A long-overdue effort to rehabilitate the term “enthusiasm” is made by
J.D.G. Dunn in an historically sensitive article
by that name
to be published
soon in Abingdon’s Dictionary
of Bible and Religion.
4In “Jesus Christ and the Gifts of the
Spirit”,
Pneuma 5:1 (Spring 1983),
1 – 16. The
purpose
he gives there for the
baptism
in the
Spirit, the revelation of God to the believer, is
from
helpful
as far as it goes but does not mark it off
sufficiently regeneration
or other works of the Spirit.
The same criticism
might
be his article “The
Meaning
and of the
expressed concerning
Purpose Baptism
in the
Holy Spirit” appearing
in this issue of Pneuma.
5E.g.,
J. Rodman Williams, The
Gift of
the
Holy Spirit Today (Plainfield: Logos International, 1980):
the
chapter
entitled “Purpose,” pp.
43 – 72.
6E. Haenchen, The Acts
of
the
Apostles:
A
Commentary (ET, Philadelphia:
Westminster
Press, 1971), p.
143 n. 7.
7Luke’s use of OT themes is widely recognized; see e.g. R. Maddox, The
Purpose of
Luke-Acts Vandenhoek and
1982), pp.
138 – 142.
(G3ttingen: Ruprecht,
8The most recent full-scale
study
is that of Allison A. Trites, The New Testament
Concept of
Witness
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977).
9Trites, pp. 44,
26.
15
162
IOTrites, p.
133.
IITrites, p.
21.
mFor instance, Dunn
highlights
the gift of discernment of spirits as the safeguard to the abuse of prophecy in his article to the Spirit
of Jesus”
(Theological
Renewal5
“According
5 (1977] p. 17); cf. Moule,
The Holy Spirit, p.
89.
‘3As is the questioning of the
viability
of Paul’s
weaknesses
program
on the basis of its characteristic
(e.g. Dunn,
Jesus and the [Philadelphia:
Westminster
Spirit
Press, 1975] pp.
345 –
50).
141t is the
greater task, however,
to the strands of a non-charismatic
piety
from the
disentangle successfully
many
and well-braided strands of the
piety
of the charismatic
apostle
Paul.
‘5J. R. Williams,
Gift, pp.
1 – 11.
16E.g. Calvin,
Institutes
of the
Christian
Religion
1.5.1.
17Training
in
Christianity (ET
Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 1972), p.
135.
18K. Barth, Church
Dogmatics
Vol.
I, Part I (ET Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1975) p. 315;
cf. discussion
pp.
315 – 33.
19″What is experienced is not the
Holy Spirit
himself but some effect which one takes to be founded on the presence of the
Spirit”-
Francis A. Sullivan in “What Is a Pentecostal
Experience?
A
Reply
to a Question
Raised
by Simon Tugwell” (Theological
6
21 – 25) p. 24; in this instance he is in
Renewal)
with
[ 977] pp. agreement Tugwell.
2°Grand
Rapids:
William B. Eerdmans
Publishing Company,
1983.
2’Brown, p. 35
22Brown, p. 73
23Brown, p. 155.
24Brown, pp.
199 – 200.
25Brown, p.
185.
26Brown, p.
186.
27Brown, p.
191.
28L. Goppelt,
Theology of
the New Testament Vol. II
(ET
Grand Rapids:
William B. Eerdmans
Company, 1982), p.
121.
29 The Testament
of Jesus (ET Philadelphia:
Fortress
Press, 1968), p. 5.
3″Jesus the Jew (London: Collins,
1973), p. 69. Cf. on the same
Jesus and the Spirit
point J. D.G. Dunn,
(Philadelphia: Westminster, 1975), pp.
53 – 62.
31 Concerning Spiritual Gifts (Springfield: Gospel Publishing Company, 1980),
30 – 31.
in
pp.
32Baptized
the Holy Spirit
(Pecos,
NM: Dove
Publications, 1970), p.
17.
33 Gift, p.
26.
34E.g.
Morton
Kelsey, Tongue Speaking (London:
Hodder and Stoughton, 1968) pp. 32 – 68; Bruner, Theology, pp.
35 – 55. The classic,
if somewhat
derogatory,
account is Ronald A. Knox’s Enthusiasm: A
Chapter
in the
History of Religion ( 1950;
Christian
Reprint, Westminster, Maryland: Classics, 1983).
Cf. most
recently Harold D. Hunter,
Spirit Baptism, pp.
117 – 210.
16
163
350r unitarianism
(!): Clark H. Pinnock,
“The New Pentecostalism: Reflections of an
Evangelical Observer,”
in Russell P.
Spittler, ed., Perspectives
on the New Pentecostalism
(Grand Rapids:
Baker Book House, 1976), pp. 190 -191, cf. Thomas
Rapids: Eerdmans, 1975), pp.
11 – 23.
Smail, Reflected Glory(Grand
36But Smail’s observation is correct and to the “the charismatic renewal does not stand or fall
by
the
point:
correctness of its exegesis
and use of this
single
New Testament
metaphor” (Glory, p. 138).
37E.g.
L.J. Cardinal
Suenens,
A New Pentecost?
(New
York: Seabury, 1975), p. 83; Richard
P.C.
Hanson, “Anglican Experience
of the Charismatic
Movement”(Theological
Renewal 19 [1981] pp. 2 – 5); T. Smail notes that
“many objections
to it
spring
from
theological conceptions
of water-baptism or conversion which themselves need to be subjected to very careful New Testament
scrutiny” (Glory, p. 140).
38″For Luke, the
Holy Spirit
is primarily the
prophetic spirit”
– G.T.
Montague,
The Holy
Spirit:
Growth
of a Biblical Tradition (New York: Paulist Press,
1976) p.
368. For a
general
statement on this aspect
of Lukan
theology,
see D.
“Holy
in G.W. Bromiley, ed.,
ISBE Vol. II
Tappeiner, Spirit,”
(Revised ed.,
Grand
Rapids:
William B. Eerdmans
Publishing Company, 1982), pp.
732 -36.
39Grundmann, “dechomai, ”
Gerhard
Kittel,
ed.
Theological Dictionary of
the New Testament,
Geoffrey
W.
Bromiley,
trans. and ed.
(Grand Rapids:
William B. Eerdmans
Publishing Company, 1964) Vol.
2, p. 54.
aopelling, “lambano,
“Gerhard Kittel, ed.
Theological Dictionary of the New Testament,
Geoffrey
W.
Bromiley,
trans. and ed.
(Grand Rapids:
William B. Eerdmans
Publishing Company, 1967) Vol. 4, pp. 6 – 7.
.4’John
Rea, ed.,
The
Layman’s Commentary
on the
Holy Spirit (Plainfield: Logos International, 1974), p.
82.
42The only
possible exception
is that
whereas,
in the
parable
of the sower,
Luke 8:13 shows those described as
“rocky
soil” as receiving dechontai the word with
joy,
Mk. 4:16 and Mt. 13:20 use the verb lamban5-. But the
theological
tension
concerning
these who soon fall way
is an
adequate explanation
for the writers’ hesitation over the choice of verb.
43For discussion of these words in
Luke/Acts,
see J.R.
Williams, Gift, pp.
11 – 26; M.M.B.
Turner, “Spirit
Endowment in Luke/ Acts: Some
Linguistic Considerations,”
Vox Evangelica 12 (1981), pp. 45 – 63.
44E.g. John R. W. Stott, Baptism
and Fullness: The Work of the Holy Spirit Today (Downers
Grove:
Inter-Varsity Press, 1979), p. 74.
45The philosophical discussion of miracles makes use of the term “analogy”
to
question, quite legitimately,
whether miracle could ever be
recognized
as
any
such.
By analogy
to what
which is “impossible”?
experience
of ours could we ever
positively
assess
something
But an initial encounter with the
supernatural
God in which He is experienced
as supernatural would
provide
that initial model
by which
17
164
happens
later
experience
of the
Spirit
would be accepted. “Analogy with what
before our eyes and comes to pass in us is the key to criticism” –
Ernst Troeltsch, in Brown, Miracles,
pp.
128 – 29. Analogy – that
is, the correlation of our assessment of the possibilities inherent in a given situation
–
is then also the
key to ministry.
“The
question
of analogy lies at the heart of all discussion
concerning
miracles and God’s action in history.” Brown, Miracles,
p.
129.
46This situational
aspect
of the nine
gifts
of I Cor. 12 is evident in H.H. Farmer’s
description
of a miracle as “an ad hoc
response
of God to a situation”
(in Brown, Miracles, p. 223).
This distinction is blurred by
authors who
emphasize
the
importance
of all the various
point
of ignoring the
gifts
of God to the
particular
value of the
“ad hoc”gifts; e.g. Stott, Baptism, p. 88,
K.C.
Kinghorn, Gifts
E.
of the Spirit (Nash- ville :
Abingdon Press, 1976), p. 22; Kasemann, “Ministry
and Community
in the New Testament,” in
Essays
on New Testament Themes
(Philadelphia:
Fortress
Press, 1982) pp. 63 – 94.
47Brown, Miracles, p.
14.
48Barth,
CD I.1,
p. 61.
49 A weekly
healing service,
or even a single one
designated
as such, can be presumptuous if it places a human demand God. But given the
prevalence
of human
upon
suffering, healing
services are not at all foreign
to a
compassionate
faith that would wish to create an opportunity
for the miraculous with
specific preaching
and expectation (I
Cor.
14:26).
50For another
perspective,
see Donald L.
Gelpi,
“Pentecostal Theology:
A Roman Catholic
Viewpoint,”
in
Spittler, ed., Perspectives, pp. 96ff,
on Rahner’s idea of Ursakrament and Pentecostalism. Wm. J. Samarin’s comment is of interest here: “Glossolalia
says ‘God
is here,’ just as a gothic cathedral
God is
majestic”‘ (Tongues of
Men and
says, ‘Behold,
Angels:
The
Religious Language of
Pentecostalism
[New
York:
Collect-Macmillan, 1972], pp.
231 – 32.
5 ‘The broad view is the safest here; Dunn’s
requirement
of involve- ment in social action
per se
as an evidence of maturity
(“According
to the
Spirit
of Jesus,” note 10 above,
p. 22) is too narrow
an expression of Christian values.
Corinthians 14:26 – 33; I Thessalonians 5:19 – 21.
53The view that sees Paul’s
program
as too weak for the realities of ecclesiastical
pressure,
“unworkable in practice” (Dunn, Jesus and the Spirit, p. 360),
focuses too
narrowly
on the
gifts
as the cause of community developments.
But that
place
should to the earliest doctrinal controversies; see David F.
go
Wright’s
assessment of orthodoxy’s rejection
of Montanism for that reason: “The Montanists’ renewal of prophecy suffered at the hands of a church
preoccupied with
closing
the
[theological] ranks, drawing
clear lines of demarcation and
safeguarding
its
heritage”
Were the Montanists Condemned?” Themelios 2:1
(“Why
[September 1976], p.22).
54The view “that there is no biblical warrant for thinking
that,
even if such a revival
[of
the manifestations of I Cor. 12:6 –
8] took place,
it
.
18
… that
Rapids:
165
the distinctive
new covenant
would be
very important;
ministries of the
Spirit
are neither furthered
by
the
giving
of such manifestations nor
impeded by
the
withdrawing
or
them” Stibbs and J.I. The Within withholding
of
(A.M. Packer, Spirit
You
Baker Book
[Grand
House, 1967], pp.
32 –
33)
is best answered Paul’s
by
unequivocal
statements in I Cor.
14:4, 12 and the trenchant declaration of Jesus in Mt. 11:2 – 6.
The
Holy Spirit
in the and Recent
Theology.
Alasdair I.C. Heron. Bible,
the
History of Philadelphia: Westminster, 0-664-24439-4.
The
Holy Spirit:
Christian
Thought,
1983)
212
pp., pbk.
$9.95 ISBN
Reviewed
by
Harold Hunter*
referred to as
itself
Bruner, George Mallone, Patout
Lindburg,
with the
Holy Spirit.
It
of Christendom has
1983 -1984
by
at the
University
Now that an
.
If the
patristic
era was noted for its
neglect
of
theologizing about the
Holy Spirit,
then the twentieth
century
will be
a time of
preoccupation
would seem that now the whole
spectrum
found time to articulate various
pneumatologies.
has seen the release of substantive books
by
David
Ewert, Harold
Lindsell,
Yves
Congar, Ralph
P.
Martin,
J.I.
Packer, Kenneth
Gangel,
Thomas
Edgar,
Donald L.
Gelpi,
F. Dale
Theodore
Jungkuntz,
David
Aune,
J.
Burns & Gerald M.
Fagin,
Edwin
Jones,
Carter
Richard Board &
Joseph Faulkner,
Paul
Valliere, Newton
Malony
and Adams
Lovekin,
and Robert A. Wild.
of the
bright
recent additions to the discussion is the
the editor of the Scottish Journal
of Theology
Theology
of Erlangen.
this book when it was first released
not allow me to understand its
significance.
has been
provided
to
digest
the work in
it is evident that
part
of the
pheumatological
discussion
been moved to a new level of excellence. Pentecostals will be
has
paid
considerable
to them. This has been confirmed
by my correspondence
with him and is evident in a thorough
of the work. This
flattering interest,
is not
always
a
thorough going knowledge
and
theology.
Some Pentecostals will find the book to
limited in that the biblical and historical data are not
One
contribution
by
who holds the Chair of Reformed
A quick perusal of did
ample opportunity
whole,
has
pleased
to find that Professor attention
matched
by
history
be future
moved on to a systematic
theology.
Heron
reading however,
of
Spirit
Movement
19
