The Lord is the Spirit

The Holy Spirit and the Divine Attributes

Andrew K. Gabriel

• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN:
  9781608998890
  9781498258296
• eBook ISBN:
  9781630876357
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Church

"The Lord is the Spirit" (2 Cor 3:17) . . . and yet one might be excused for thinking otherwise when reading studies on God's attributes--omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, immutability, impassibility, and the like. Although Christians throughout the ages have defended the deity of the Holy Spirit, theologians have not adequately taken the doctrine of the Holy Spirit into account when formulating a theology of the divine attributes. The resulting understandings of God fall short of being fully Trinitarian. Gabriel builds on contemporary Trinitarian theology by advocating for the integration of insights from pneumatology into the doctrine of God's attributes. Three case studies are presented: impassibility, immutability, and omnipotence. Gabriel writes from an evangelical and Pentecostal vantage point as he engages in ecumenical dialogue with a wide spectrum of historical and contemporary theological voices.

1

Introduction

What do we understand by the word “God”? What comes spontaneously to mind when we hear this term? Most likely the answer will be: Father. Or perhaps even more emphatically: the Super Father, who transcends the world and to whom we pray. What is sure, however, is that the word “God” does not lead us in the first place to think of the Holy Spirit. This discloses a quite fundamental deficiency of our conscious faith and of our piety.

—Heribert Mühlen1

Historically, pneumatology has had little influence on the Christian doctrine of God. In particular, although Christians throughout the ages have defended the deity of the Spirit, most have not adequately taken the economic activity of the Spirit into consideration when formulating the doctrine of the divine attributes. Few theologians have realized, as Jürgen Moltmann has, that “an understanding of the unique personhood of the Spirit is . . . decisive for the understanding of God in general.”2 Those who have realized this have begun to develop the implications of this notion. In many cases however, pneumatology has been treated as an appendage to or separate from the doctrine of God and separate from the doctrine of the divine attributes in particular. In an effort to correct the historical lack of influence that pneumatology has had on the doctrine of the divine attributes, this book advocates and explores the potential for considering the doctrine of the divine attributes in light of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, that is, in light of a pneumatological approach to the doctrine of God. In advocating for this approach, I seek to extend and develop the revisions to classical theism that many contemporary theologians are already proposing. The overall argument of this book is that a pneumatological approach to the doctrine of God recovers an emphasis on divine immanence, which has been marginalized by classical theism’s privileging of divine transcendence. This is of great significance because a person’s concept of God shapes not only how they live and worship, but also their whole worldview.

Transcendence and Immanence

Some might question why I frame my argument in terms of transcendence and immanence. Pointing to a possible concern, Stanley Grenz and Roger Olson speak of “the now discredited spatial metaphor of transcendence and immanence.”3 These theologians are rightly concerned that the metaphors should not be taken as referring to space. However, the metaphors do not have to be taken this way; hence, immanence and transcendence can still serve to express the difference between classical theism and the results of pneumatological perspectives on the divine attributes. Even Grenz and Olson continue to use the metaphors of transcendence and immanence (although not spatially) in their descriptions of contemporary theologians throughout their Twentieth-Century Theology. Beyond their book, discussions regarding the transcendence of God and the immanence of God are prevalent in contemporary doctrines of God. Some theologians who write on the doctrine of God even include a specific chapter devoted to this issue.4 So, what is meant by “immanence” and “transcendence”?

Immanence must be defined together with its counterpart, transcendence. As noted above, these ideas can present spatial images, depicting God as being either above and beyond the world, or close to the world. However, in theological terms transcendence does not refer simply to space, but primarily to the Creator/creation distinction. That is, God is “beyond” the world in as much as God is other than it. God’s transcendence is especially seen as one contrasts the attributes of God with those of creation. Many theologians speak of God’s infinity, eternity, immensity, omnipresence, aseity, simplicity, immutability, and impassibility. These are all generally considered expressions of God’s transcendence. Immanence may, to a very limited extent, be considered the opposite of transcendence; however, it is important to realize that God is able to be immanent to creation precisely because God is transcendent from it.5

Immanence also pertains to God’s interaction with the world, often with respect to the providence of God. Those who discuss God’s immanence are sometimes responding to deism, which sees God as the Creator but nothing more. In this manner, Borden Bowne defines immanence with respect to providence: “We mean that God is the omnipresent ground of all finite existence and activity. The world . . . continually depends upon and is ever upheld by the ever-living, ever-present, ever-working God.”6 This again is a reminder that transcendence and immanence are not opposites. Rather, they should be thought of as correlates. If God did not transcend creation, God could not be immanent to creation.

Divine Immanence in the Holy Spirit

Pneumatology naturally serves as a corrective to classical theism’s privileging of divine transcendence over divine immanence. Theologians frequently emphasize the immanence of God through the Holy Spirit. Without consideration of the Spirit, God can seem distant or in the past. In contrast, although the Spirit is often thought of as elusive, the Spirit is “God with us” today. As Clark Pinnock expresses it, “Most wonderfully, the Spirit is God’s face turned toward us and God’s presence abiding with us, the agency by which God reaches out and draws near, the power that creates and heals.”7 In the Spirit, God draws close to the world in mutual relation with it. Following this line of thought Michael Welker writes, “The Holy Spirit brings about intimacy with God. Indeed the Spirit of God is this intimacy.”8

The immanence of God in the Spirit is apparent when one considers the Spirit’s contact function and the image of the Spirit as the touch of God—one of the two hands of God (as Irenaeus would say) reaching out to creation. In the Christ event, the Spirit touches Jesus as the Spirit affects the incarnation, anoints Jesus at his baptism, and empowers him for ministry. Beyond this, Christ sends the Spirit from the Father and the Spirit comes and empowers the church. The Spirit also leads people to the Son and to return praise to the Father. The Spirit is the touch of God upon Christ, and similarly, upon the church. Kilian McDonnell clarifies, “Without the Spirit God remains a private self, an isolated glory, an island apart. In this sense the Spirit is sovereign and all inclusive, the universal horizon, the exclusive point where we touch God and God touches us from within.”9 Molly Marshall extends this notion beyond ecclesial life to the cosmological level as well: “The Spirit is the point of contact between the life of God and the world that is yet coming to be. Described as ‘divine nearness,’ the Spirit makes possible the universal contact between God and history, between God and all creation.”10 The Spirit is clearly immanent to humanity and creation at large. Given this, Hendrikus Berkhof remarks, “So intimate is the Spirit to man’s life that we sometimes feel ourselves on the brink of pantheism.”11 As described in pneumatologies, God looks somewhat different (i.e., more immanent) than the God of classical theism.

By suggesting that a consideration of the Spirit highlights the immanence of God, I do not mean to suggest that the Spirit is not transcendent. As affirmed above, God’s immanence presupposes God’s transcendence. This is true of the Spirit as well, given that the Spirit is a divine person. One must affirm both the immanent transcendence of the Spirit as well as the transcendent immanence of the Spirit.12 Accordingly, balancing his affirmation of the immanence of the Spirit, Pinnock correctly states, “Most essentially Spirit is transcendent and divine, not mere flesh; it is the energy of life itself.”13 Too often though, transcendence is taken to refer to much more than the Creator/creation distinction. Further, God is seen to be unaffected by the material world and that which happens in it. A renewed emphasis on the Spirit in the doctrine of God overcomes this misunderstanding of divine transcendence.

A Pentecostal Contribution to the Doctrine of God

As far as my ecclesial aims and context are concerned, this book aims to be a work in ecumenical theology in the sense that I draw on theologians from across the Christian traditions. At the same time, it is a work in evangelical theology, in as much as I am an ...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Preface
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Classical Theism
• Chapter 3: Contemporary Responses to Classical Theism
• Chapter 4: Making Room for the Holy Spirit
• Chapter 5: The Passion of the Holy Spirit and Divine Impassibility
• Chapter 6: The Presence of the Holy Spirit and Divine Immutability
• Chapter 7: The Power of the Holy Spirit and Divine Omnipotence
• Epilogue
• Bibliography