Printer Friendly VersionPsychologist William James wrote a very popular study of religion
titled Varieties of Religious Experience. The implication is clear; religious
experience is a variegated phenomenon. This same diversity is present within
the Christian faith with much of this variety claiming to be an authentic
expression of the “Spirit-filled life.” Is it possible this kaleidoscope
is authentic, or is there a normative understanding of how the Holy Spirit
works in human life?
To address this question we need to be aware of several facts.
First, religious experience is subjective in nature. Unlike the objective
point of reference to which we may point in the Incarnation, the Spirit seems
to be quite nebulous. Theologian Thomas Oden is right on target when he says:
Scripture must guide vulnerable, subjective experience at every
step along this way, since each individual’s personal experience is
prone to self-deception and interest-laden distortions. No subject of Christian
teaching is more prone to fanaticism and novelty and subjectivism than the
Holy Spirit.
The second fact important to note is all experience is informed
by our understanding of the shape our experience will take. Early in my ministry,
while pastor of a small church, we were in a revival service when a couple
I did not recognize came to the service. I knew they were not from our church
since they marched down to the front seat and positioned themselves directly
in front of the pulpit. Since I was seated on the platform, they were hidden
from my vision. When the evangelist had the congregation stand for the invitation
song, and I could see where they had been sitting, they were gone. Peering
around the pulpit I saw they were at the altar. In a few minutes, she began
shouting then testified she had been sanctified. God had promised her when
He sanctified her, she would shout. This couple eventually became my close
friends and spent the last half of their lives in Christian ministry. I have
often commented that she would have shouted no matter what, since her understanding
of what would happen gave shape to her response.
With this background, we can turn to the Day of Pentecost when
the 120 were baptized with the Spirit and ask the question, “What was
the understanding that informed their experience?” Only a little thought
will bring our attention to the fact these people had been under the tutelage
of Jesus for some time. Those who were closest to Him had been present at
some important events that were instructive of their understanding. Many of
these took place as the climax of His ministry approached. A number of biblical
scholars have noted Jesus’ teaching about the promised Paraclete in
what we call the Upper Room Discourses informed their understanding about
the Spirit. Hence, if we can identify Jesus’ teaching about the Holy
Spirit, we can discover the authentic Christian nature of the Spirit-filled
life.
Biblical scholar F. F. Bruce comments with regard to the physical
phenomena that accompanied the first Pentecost, a phenomena that has attracted
so much attention, that
the mere fact of glossolalia (gift of languages) or any other ecstatic utterance
is no evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit. In apostolic times it was
necessary to provide criteria for deciding whether such utterances were of
God or not, just as it had been necessary in Old Testament times.
When Jesus announced to His followers He was to leave them,
they were dismayed. His response was He would not leave them “orphans”
but would send “another Helper” (John 14:18). The King James translation
has made familiar the name for this coming One as “Comforter.”
While this name carries one connotation to our 21st century ears, in 1611
it signified a more literal meaning: “A strong one called along side
to help.” In contemporary language, probably the simple word, “Helper,”
is closer to what Jesus intended.
In preparing them for His departure and their post-ascension
life, Jesus did two things: he spoke extensively about the nature of their
communal life and He described in a variety of ways the nature of the “Helper”
who was to come to them.
Perhaps we have not fully grasped the significance of the fact
the central word Jesus used in talking about their lives after He was gone
was “love.” Their relationship to each other was to be marked
by love (John 13:34-5) and the same quality was to characterize their ongoing
relation to himself (14:15). Both of these were to be the means by which they
were to continue His mission in the world.
The Master tells them they will be better off by His leaving
them. They have no way of grasping the truth of this statement because of
their near total dependence upon Him. But Jesus was not with them at all times.
In His incarnate life, He was limited in geography. But now, through the Spirit,
He would be their closest companion. Not only that, but the support that He
had given them in their stumbling efforts to understand Him and follow Him
would be continued by the Helper. Thus the work He had begun with them would
be continued by the Spirit within them.
But there are even more significant aspects of Jesus’
teachings about the Paraclete that influence the disciples understanding about
the nature of His indwelling. The Master tells them the world cannot receive
Him because the world does not “know Him.” This means the world
cannot recognize Him, but the disciples will recognize Him because “he
dwells with you, and will be in you” (14:17, NKJV). How will they recognize
Him? Because they have already become acquainted with Him by way of the Master,
who had modeled the Spirit-filled life among them for 3 years. They will recognize
the Spirit because they have known Jesus.
Furthermore, Jesus identifies the Spirit’s coming with
His own personal, abiding presence. On the surface it appears that when the
Master leaves, some other person will take His place. But a careful look at
the pronouns Jesus uses in His teachings makes it clear this is not it at
all. Note how there is an interplay between “I,” “Him,”
and “We.” They seem to be used interchangeably. A. M. Hunter recognizes
the implication of this by noting, “The Spirit comes not so much to
supply Jesus’ absence as to accomplish presence.” We are not seeing
here a contrast between and absence Lord and a present Spirit. Rather the
Spirit comes to guarantee Jesus’ presence.
Finally, it is abundantly clear the work of the Paraclete is
through and through Christ-centered. In 14:26, Jesus says the Helper is to
be sent by the Father in His name, and His work will be to “bring to
your remembrance all that I said to you” (NASB). In 15:26, Jesus says
that the Spirit “will bear witness to me” (ASV). And in 16:13-14
He says the Spirit’s teaching ministry is not of His own authority,
but it will come from the person of Jesus, “He will glorify me, for
he will take what is mine and declare it to you” (NAB)
One can scarcely miss the central emphasis of these teachings
about the nature of the Spirit-filled life. As E. Stanley Jones said once,
the Spirit does not come to make out of us “7-day wonders.” His
coming is to produce a Christ-like life of those whom He indwells. Someone
has said the Holy Spirit is the most self-effacing member of the Trinity.
He is like a spotlight. Its purpose is not to call attention to itself, but
to illuminate the person or thing that is to be the center of attention.
In one of his most illuminating statements of the nature of
sanctification, apostle Paul highlights this point. He declares in 2 Corinthians
3:18
But we all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror [in
the face of Jesus Christ] the glory [image] of God are being transformed into
the same image from one degree of likeness to another, even as by the Spirit
of the Lord. (paraphrased, emphasis added).
Perhaps one of the greatest weaknesses of many emphases on the Spirit-filled
life is we tend to make the presence of the Spirit an end in itself rather
than a means to the end of producing Christlikeness in both our personal and
corporate lives.
That this was the understanding that informed those early Christians who experienced the first Pentecost seems clear because that was the nature of the life it produced.
