Pneumatology – The doctrine of the Holy Spirit

3 Key definitions:

1. Spirit baptism is the act of Christ whereby He unites the NT believer with himself and with every other believer through the indwelling Spirit.

2. A Spiritual gift is an extraordinary, recognizable, Spirit-given ability for service in the church

3. A local church is an assembly of baptized professing believers in Christ, organized to accomplish God’s will.
Pneumatology – the area of systematic theology that is concerned with the person and work of the Holy Spirit.

 The Holy Spirit can be placed in theology proper as well as pneumatology because the subjects of main theology and the doctrine of the Spirit are interwoven

 Hebrew term for Spirit is ruah usually translated Spirit. Ruah can also mean wind or breath

 Greek term for Spirit is pneuma. In the gospel of John the Spirit of God is also called the parakletos. In this sense the Spirit is our legal advocate. He is also a comforter

 The Spirit is also called the Spirit of Truth which relates to His teaching ministry (John 14:17; 15:26; 16:13; I John 4:6)

The Spirit is God – We know that the Holy Spirit is God because of:
 His omnipresence – He is everywhere at once
 His omniscience – He knows everything
 His omnipotence – He has all power
 Source of life

We know the Spirit is God because of His activity in:
 Creation (Ps 104:30; Job 33:4)
 Predicting the future (Acts 21:11; 2 Peter 1:21)
 Resurrection (Rom 8:11)
 Regeneration (John 3:5, 8; Titus 3:5)
 Inspiration of the prophets and scripture (Matt 22:43; 2 Pet 1:21)
 Virginal conception (Luke 1:35)

 Intercession (Rom 8:26)
 Sanctification (I Thess 2:13)
The Holy Spirit is a personal being. He possesses:
 Intellect (Rom 8:27)
 Emotion (Eph 4:30; Isa 63:10)
 Volition (Acts 13:2; 1 Cor 12:11)

The Holy Spirit does things that only persons can do. He teaches (Neh 9:20; John 16:13; 1 Cor 2:13).
The Holy Spirit is also a revelator (I Cor 2:10; I Tim 4:1; Heb 3:7). He searches (I Cor 2:10), and He intercedes (Rom 8:26). All these things speak of personhood.

The Spirit can be obeyed (Acts 10:19-21; 13:2). He can be lied to (Acts 5:3). As a matter of fact in this verse Peter tells Ananias and Sapphira that they have lied to God. This proves without any shadow of doubt that the Holy Spirit is God.

The Holy Spirit was involved in creating the heavens and earth (Genesis 1:2).

The Holy Spirit is the person that empowered the writers to communicate God’s message to His people and to the known nations at that time.

The Holy Spirit is the one that revealed divine truth to the OT & NT writers of God’s word. Without the Spirit’s supernatural insight, God’s true word would have never been revealed to mankind. The prophets, psalmists and judges could not declare God’s truth unless the Spirit spoke to them as He (the Spirit) was their sole source of divine revelation.

 Revelation by prophecy was the most common form of revelation
The Holy Spirit is the one that Inspired the Scriptures – What this means is the Spirit breathed God’s words in His servant’s mouth. Plenty of times in the OT we read a passage that says,” the word of the Lord came to me saying…” (Isa 6:8, et al). When this phrase was uttered, the man of God spoke the oracles of the Lord ( 2 Peter 1:21).

The Holy Spirit authenticates – The way the Spirit proves his word is true is by verifiable signs and wonders through his servants the prophets and apostles of the OT & NT. The miracles performed by these individuals gave validity to the words spoken to whom these men spoke to. Jesus himself said to the populace of his day, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe” (John 4:48). People have to see something before they believe a newly revealed message from God never heard before.
The only way divine revelation will have its desired effect on sinful man is if the Spirit decides to penetrate a person’s heart with the truth.
3
The Holy Spirit is the one that convicts – Jesus declared this would be one of the functions or duties of the Spirit when he ascended to His Father (John 16:8-11). What Jesus did on earth in convicting the world of sin, righteousness and judgment, the Spirit will continue to pickup where Jesus left off for remember, Jesus said the Holy Spirit was another comforter (John 14:16).

The Holy Spirit is a persuader – Without the Spirit we can never understand divine truth. Without comprehension no one will ever be granted repentance and faith to believe the gospel and receive salvation. I would also align this with the illumination of the Spirit of God. The primary text used is (I Cor 2:14).

The Holy Spirit is the one that provides assurance for the believer – I believe the only way we can know for sure if the Spirit is in us is how we behave outwardly. The activities we are engaged in consistently reveal the spirit that is controlling us. Do we love God’s law and desire to obey and do it faithfully? This proves we love God (John 14:15). Do we love the people of God as John consistently commands us in his first epistle? We have to or else we are murderers and no murderer has eternal life abiding in him if we say we hate our brother (I John 3:15).

By review the four ways the Spirit provides revelation:
a. Reception
b. Conviction
c. Persuasion
d. Assurance

The Holy Spirit was very active in the OT lives of His people enabling them for service. Here are a few:
a. Moses and his elders (Num 11:7)
b. Joshua (Deut 34:9)
c. Othniel (Judg 3:10)
d. Gideon (Judg 6:34)
e. Jephthah (Judg 11:29)
f. Samson (Judg 13:25)
g. David (I Chron 28:11-12)

8.4.1.3 The Holy Spirit will be the one that will enable the children of Israel to keep God’s New or everlasting covenant . Ezekiel says this, “I will put my Spirit (italics mine) within you and cause you to walk in my statues and be careful to obey my rules (Ezekiel 36:27, ESV). Jeremiah 31:31-34 says God will make a new covenant with Israel.
4
How the Spirit operated in the life of Jesus:
a. His virgin birth
b. Announced him as the Messiah predicted by the OT prophets
c. The Spirit was Jesus guide in the earth
d. Empowered Him to perform miracles (Matt 12:28)
e. Jesus gave this same Holy Spirit to believers on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2)

The Interadvent era – This is the current era we are living in right now – between the two advents of Christ. The time the church is now has been called several things: kingdom of God, kingdom of heaven, eternal life.
Life in the Spirit – allows us to enjoy eternal life now although our complete salvation will not be realized until Christ second advent ( I John 3:2).

5 characteristics of life In the Spirit:
a. This life comes through Christ
b. The Spirit places the believer in the body of Christ
c. The Spirit inside of us is the down payment that what He began in us He will finish
d. Gives us the ability or power to obey God
e. Spirit has made us a new man in Christ

8.4.4 The Spirit will be active in the future – in the future the Spirit will be at work during the seven year tribulation period in saving souls. Israel will be grafted back into their own olive tree meaning those elected will in God’s time will believe the gospel message and be saved (Romans 11:25-27). Also the Spirit will be present after the tribulation into the millennial reign of Christ.

8.5 The Holy Spirit and baptism – The only baptism that saves is baptism of the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit baptism is the new birth. This is independent of water baptism. Water baptism is important in that we demonstrate outwardly what has already taken place on the inside. Some churches belittle water baptism because it does not save but it should be performed by every believer. Some over emphasize it’s importance to the degree that they believe the ritual is salvific.

Spirit and water immersion are the invisible and visible sides of the same act.
Christ is the baptismal agent – Christ is the one who sent the Spirit to baptize believers in the body of Christ. In other words Christ is the baptizer using the Holy Spirit as the baptizing element as John the Baptist said (John 1:33b).

The baptismal recipients are all believers in Christ ( I Cor 12:13)
Many Christians in the early church believed that Spirit baptism had to include the water ritual in order for someone to be saved. This practice came to be known as sacredotalism; meaning baptism was
5
strictly based on the one administering the rite rather one being baptized according to God’s word. Once again, water baptism is the outward sign of the rebirth, not the rebirth itself.

In response to a “second baptismal work” of the Holy Spirit – both Pentecostals and Charismatics insist there is a subsequent spirit baptism with the evidence of speaking in tongues according to Acts 2. For them, this is a normative in that they believe all believers are supposed to experience this “second endowment” of the Holy Spirit’s power.

When the believers spoke in tongues in Acts 2, 10 & 19, this was NOT a second baptism. Rather the accompaniment of the utterance of speaking in these different dialects.

8.6 The Holy Spirit in sanctification – the Spirit is the agent that causes the believer to live holy and continue to progress in holiness. It is essential that we conform into the image of Jesus Christ.
The Hebrew word of sanctify is from the root qdsh. Another word for sanctify is hieros.
8.6.2 Sanctification in the New Testament – the believer’s sanctification comes to us in 3 parts:
a. Definite Sanctification – that process where God removes one from the world and brings him in the body of Christ. This is equivalent to salvation. This is a one time act.

b. Progressive Sanctification – the process where God by the Spirit is conforming the convert more and more into Christ likeness. Sin should be diminishing in the believer’s life as he is continually washed by the water of God’s word. John the Baptist said regarding himself, “He (Christ) must increase I must decrease (John 3:30).

c. Final Sanctification – this is when our salvation is complete. The presence of sin is forever removed from our lives. We have reached glorification. We are perfect, like our Savior Jesus.
It was not until the Reformers did the concept of sanctification make sense to the Church. The early church did not understand that sanctification was distinct from justification.

8.6.3.1 The ancient and medieval church eras – the ancient church did not do a good job of distinguishing justification and sanctification. The differences are this, justification is the point of belief where God imputes his righteousness to the believer. In other words, the sinner has received a “not guilty” legal verdict because of his sins being fully paid for by Jesus Christ on the cross. Sanctification is once again that ongoing process whereby the Holy Spirit is making the believer holy. Sanctification happened post confession. The error of the medieval church is that justification and sanctifying grace was administered through the sacraments, mainly baptism and communion. These practices were so
6
important in the church at that time that it was believed that one could earn more grace and become free from sin.

When the Reformation era arrived, they put justification and sanctification back into their proper places. Contrasting the Catholics, the Reformers said we can not live in a sinless life. Sanctification flows from justification but they are not one and the same. Point blank, the Catholics view of salvation is by works which clearly violates scripture. The Protestants teach what the Bible has always taught salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, by Christ alone. We cannot be saved by works of sacredotalism (i.e. keeping the sacraments-baptism, communion).

8.6.3.3 Arminianism – opposed Calvinsim of the 17th century. A group called the Remonstrants are those that followed Jacob Arminius’ doctrine which produced a document called the Remonstrance. Arminians believe that basically one could degenerate in the faith and fall from grace.

John Wesley who also was an Arminian believed that a second work of grace was bestowed whereby a believer could live a sinless life. He added a form of perfectionism in his Arminian theology.

Even beyond Wesley the Methodists in the 19th century US taught a second work of grace they called “entire sanctification” which they believed could be attained in this life. What this meant was that complete freedom from sin could be obtained in this life.
The Keswicks did believe in a second work of grace, but did not believe in complete freedom from sin. They did believe that known sin could be defeated. For the Keswicks this was normal and expected.

Means of sanctification:
a. The word of God (John 17:17)
b. Perseverance through trials (Rom 5:3-5; James 1:2-4)
c. Ministry of other believers (Heb 10:24-25)
d. The exercise of spiritual gifts (I Cor 14:12; Eph 4:11-16)
e. Hope of our Lord’s return (Heb 10:25; I John 3:3; 2 Pet 3:11-14)
f. Divine discipline (Heb 12: 10-11)
Sanctification is an imperative for the believer. We cannot get to heaven without holiness (Heb 12:14).

8.7 Spiritual Gifts – all of these enablements are for the edifying of the Body of Christ. The one gifted was never supposed to use his/her gift for themselves but for the benefit of all believers. The Holy Spirit is the one that distributes all the gifts as He sees fit. We are not to pray for these gifts. In a sense, the gift chooses you, you do not choose the gift.
1 The professor doesn’t mention it in his notes but Arminians believe one can fall from grace
To the extent that salvation can be lost
7
The OT prophecy of Joel 2:28-29 was partially fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost recorded in Acts 2. This prophecy was strictly speaking about the Spirit coming upon all flesh but Pentecost was pre-cursor to what will be fulfilled before the Millennium reign of Jesus; the second/return of Jesus Christ.

Spiritual gifts must be distinguished from the Fruit of the Spirit which makes reference to a believer’s pursuit of godly character and behavior.

Gifts that were definitely temporary were tongues, prophecy and knowledge (I Cor 13:8-12) along with the apostle and the prophet. The apostle and prophet were foundational gifts in God’s house and a second foundation can no man lay down.


A man named Michael Harper a Pentecostal wrote that “ the gifts did cease from the pages of church history.”


The original twelve apostles would be the eleven including Paul (eliminating Judas Iscariot). These are the ones the Jesus Christ himself commissioned to carry on His work on earth. They were supernaturally endowed by the Holy Spirit to perform miraculous signs, wonders, healing and mighty deeds just as Christ did. This let the populace know that their message contained the same authority Christ did (2 Cor 12:12; Heb 2:3-4). Two other determinants that made an apostle was that they were commissioned by the Lord Jesus Himself (Matt 10:1-10; Rom 1:1-5), and they were eye witnesses to His resurrection.

8.7.6 The Gift of Tongues and Interpretation of Tongues - these gifts were a supernatural manifestation of the Holy Spirit power where some could speak in a known human language they never learned. The supernatural gift of interpretation was the ability to translate that language either by the speaker themselves or someone in the assembly with the gift of interpretation. These were temporary sign gifts given to the early church to prove that God was truly in their midst (I Cor 14:25). The combination of Tongues and Interpretation was equal to Prophecy which was superior to these gifts. Prophecy edified, exhorted, and comforted the whole church (I Cor 14:3, 5, 26). We are all supposed to build up the body for that is the reason why the Spirit bestowed the gifts in the first place.

Contrary to popular belief, not all believers spoke in tongues in the early church (I Cor 12:30) and what we are hearing as tongues today IS NOT the actual gift. What we are hearing today is ecstatic utterances, unintelligible speech, and gibberish. It is not from the Holy Spirit.

Another point to make regarding the genuine gift of tongues was that it was a judicial sign to unbelieving Israel which goes all the way back to Isaiah 28:12. It was also a sign to unbelievers ( I Cor 14:22). In what way? If someone is speaking in a tongue and the unbeliever is in your assembly they will not understand what is being said, will say those people are out of their minds and walk away. They will not hear the gospel in a language they understand and leave the church condemned because there was no interpreter.

The Gift of Healing – was only exhibited by Jesus, the Apostles, and their close associates in the NT (Stephen, Phillip Acts 6:8; 8:6). There may have been others in the early church, but the accounts are not recorded in scripture. This gift was never designed for every believer to posses. When Jesus and the apostles healed someone, it was either by a touch or a word (Matt 8:5-13; Acts 28: 7-9). When they performed a miraculous healing it was complete, evident, instantaneous and verifiable. Sometimes the benefactor did not have to exercise any faith to be healed like in the case with the paralytic at the pool of Bethesda (John 5:8).

Today faith healers are claiming to have the same gift of those in the early church did but they do not. When a healing does not occur in one of their crusades, they conclude that the initiate did not have enough faith or that they had sin in their life that prevented the power of God to heal them. This is an excuse to masquerade their impotency as a genuine healer. The blame is tragically placed at the feet of the infirmed not the charlatan. Every last person that Jesus and the apostles healed had sin in their lives, but it did not prevent them from receiving a blessing from God.

I also know that these modern day “fake healers” do not have the gift of healing for if they did, they could go into the hospitals, infirmaries, even the grave sites and heal everyone instantly. This supernatural power does not reside in the church today. The reason for its existence was to authenticate the messenger and the revelation they espoused as truly being from God.

While I believe the gift of healing is no longer operating, we are to pray for the sick by calling the elders of the church to pray the prayer of faith if we need it according to James 5:14.