DOGMATICS: DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT (Lecture # 2)

Historical Development
August 18, 2023

Preliminary
Premise: The theologian must be aware of the historical development of his doctrine…
(a) We are not the first to have considered the subject…
(b) No period of church history has the monopoly of light and tools of understanding…
(c) Errors that had already been discredited in the past have the habit of re-emerging… especially so of Pneumatology

Patristic Period – fathers of church history: immediate generations after the apostolic period; first 500 years of the church
Key Figures:
1. Apostolic Fathers (Clement of Rome; Ignatius; Polycarp; etc.)
2. Apologists (Aristides; Justin Martyr; etc.)
3. Ante-Nicene Fathers (Ireneaus; Tertullian; Origen; etc.) – prior to the Council of Nicaea (325 AD)
4. Nicene Fathers (Athanasius; etc.) – influential in the Nicene Creed
5. Post-Nicene Fathers (Augustine; etc.)
Discussion Points:
1. Inerrancy of the Scriptures
 The major Scripture-concern of the period was the recognition of the canon…
 There was a note of distinction given to the apostles as spokesmen of Christ through the Spirit…
[ Shepherd of Hermas, parable 9.25 (around early 2nd c.) ] – “apostles and teachers who preached to the whole world
and who reverently and purely taught the word of the Lord, and who misappropriated nothing for evil desire,
but always walked in righteousness and truth, just as they had also received the Holy Spirit.”
 Claims of direct revelation/inspiration by the Montanists (New Prophecy) were regarded as heretical…
[ Firmilian, c. 256, E, 5.392 ] – “Those who are called Cataphrygians (Note: It arose in Phrygia) endeavor to claim
to themselves new prophecies. They can have neither the Father nor the Son. For if we ask them what Christ
they preach, they will reply that they preach Him who sent the Spirit that speaks by Montanus and Priscilla.
However, when we observe that there has not been the spirit of truth in these persons, but a spirit of error, we
know that they who maintain their false prophesying against the faith of Christ cannot have Christ.”

2. Indwelling of the Spirit in the believer

 This was sometimes confused with the Logos philosophy of the Greeks…
 Mystical understanding was prevalent… e.g. Gnosticism
 The Filioque (“of the Son”) issue and controversy attempted to correct extremes… (To be discussed later)

3. Personal Deity of the Spirit

 This was established along with the Trinitarian formula… cf. Council of Nicaea (325 CE); Athanasian Creed
 Subordination was maintained, and sometimes was reduced to a form of inferiority

[ Basil, De Spiritu Sancto, c. 374 ch. 9 ] – “Who on hearing the titles of the Spirit is not lifted up in soul, who does not raise
his conception to the supreme nature? It is called “Spirit of God,” “Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father,”
“right Spirit,” “a leading Spirit.” Its proper and peculiar title is “Holy Spirit;” which is a name especially appropriate to
everything that is incorporeal, purely immaterial, and indivisible. So, our Lord, when teaching the woman who thought
God to be an object of local worship that the incorporeal is incomprehensible, said “God is a spirit.” On our hearing,
then, of a spirit, it is impossible to form the idea of a nature circumscribed, subject to change and variation, or at all like
the creature. We are compelled to advance in our conceptions to the highest, and to think of an intelligent essence, in
power infinite, in magnitude unlimited, unmeasured by times or ages.”
[ Augustine, On The Trinity ] – “The Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit intimate a divine unity of one and the same
substance in an indivisible equality; and therefore that they are not three Gods, but one God: although the Father hath
begotten the Son, and so He who is the Father is not the Son; and the Son is begotten by the Father, and so He who is the
Son is not the Father; and the Holy Spirit is neither the Father nor the Son, but only the Spirit of the Father and of the
Son, Himself also co-equal with the Father and the Son, and pertaining to the unity of the Trinity.”

Reformation Period – 16th century Protestant movement in Europe

Key Figures: Martin Luther; John Calvin; Francis Turretin; Ulrich Zwingli; Theodore Beza
[ B.B. Warfield ] – “As Augustine was the theologian of sin, Martin Luther that of justification by faith, John Calvin was
the theologian of the Holy Spirit.”
Major Themes
1. The Spirit and the Scriptures are joined together
Note 1: Roman Catholic theology ascribed to the Church through its clergy the illuminating power of Scripture
Note 2: Opponents of the Reformers included claimants to direct revelation and inspiration of the Spirit; e.g. Anabaptists
 Point: The Reformers ascribed to the Holy Spirit the work of illumination of, and through, the Scriptures
[ John Calvin, Institutes, I. 9. 3 ] – “The Holy Spirit so adheres to his own truth… that he only displays and exerts his
power where the word is received with due reverence and honor.”

2. The Spirit’s work is attached to the glory of Christ in the preached Word
Note: Roman Catholic sacramentalism gave the sacraments (especially the Eucharist) central place in transmitting grace
Point: The Reformers recognized the Holy Spirit as applying Christ’s redemptive work through the preached Word
[ Second Helvetic Confession of Faith (1566): I ] – “The Preaching of the Word of God Is the Word of God. Wherefore
when this Word of God is now preached in the church by preachers lawfully called, we believe the very Word of
God is proclaimed, and received by the faithful; and that neither any other Word of God is to be invented nor is to be
expected from heaven.”

3. The assurance of the believer factors in the inner testimony of the Spirit
Note: The Roman Catholic Church denied assurance of salvation, and asserted the place of implicit faith
Point: The Reformers taught that assurance of faith is of the essence of saving faith [ More on this later ]

[ M. d’Aubigne, History of the Reformation: XVI. 1209 ] – “The work begun in the age of the apostles, renewed in the times
of the reformers, should be resumed in our days with a holy enthusiasm; and this work is very simple and very beautiful,
for it consists in establishing the throne of Jesus Christ both in the church and on earth. Evangelical faith does not place
on the throne of the church either human reason or religious conscientiousness, as some would have it; but it sets thereon
Jesus Christ, who is both the knowledge taught and the doctor who teaches it; who explains his word by the word, and
by the light of his Holy Spirit; who by it bears witness to the truth, that is to say, to his redemption, and teaches the
essential laws which should regulate the inner life of his disciples. Evangelical faith appeals to the understanding, to the
heart, and to the will of every Christian, only to impose on them the duty to submit to the divine authority of Christ, to
listen, believe, love, comprehend, and act, as God requires.”

Puritan Contribution – 17th century Puritanism in England

1. The work of the Holy Spirit in the process of conviction-regeneration-conversion [ John Flavel, Methods of Grace ]
Note: This is in contrast with emerging Arminianism of the period – emphasis on individual free will
Point: The subjective aspects of salvation are still by Divine initiative through the Holy Spirit

2. The operation of the Holy Spirit through church life and order [ John Owen, The Holy Spirit: His Gifts and Power ]
Note: This is in contrast with perennial Mysticism – emphasis on inner light and direct personal experience
Point: Spiritual operations employ means of grace, particularly the life and order of the church

3. The dynamic dealings of the Holy Spirit in the life of sanctification [ Walter Marshall, Gospel Mystery of Sanctification ]
Note: This is in contrast with ongoing Antinomianism – lack of emphasis, or rejection, of Law as standard of holiness
Point: The real fruit of the Holy Spirit is a life of holiness – as defined by the Word of God, directed by the Law

4. The sovereign work of the Holy Spirit in periods of revivals [ Jonathan Edwards, Religious Affections; etc. ]
Note: This is in contrast with later Revivalism – confidence in human ability to program revivals
Point: Revivals are special seasons of mercy that are sovereignly bestowed
[ Jonathan Edwards ] – “Though there be a more constant influence of the Spirit attending his ordinances, yet the way in
which the greatest things have been done has been by remarkable effusions, at special seasons of mercy.”

Modern Developments – 19th century to the present

1. Liberalism – rejection of the supernatural… The Holy Spirit is reduced to a non-issue…
2. Fundamentalism and Revivalism – heavy emphasis on soul-winning and programmed ‘revivals,’ dominantly held as
humanly arranged and decided… [ Iain Murray, Revival and Revivalism ]
3. Pentecostalism – heavy emphasis on experience and baptism of the Spirit with the initial signs of tongues… Old
Pentecostalism sought to maintain its evangelical confession…
4. Charismatic Movement and its various forms and waves – The Spirit’s power in signs and wonders… Apostolic gifts are
claimed today, including revelation-gifts… No distinctive Evangelical confession…

READING: Iain Murray, Revival and Revivalism: ch. 7: “The Emergence of Revivalism” and ch. 9: “‘New Measures’ and
Old Revivals?”

Importance to the Course: The doctrine of the Holy Spirit has gone through many discussions and formulations:
1. Many of the resurgent issues of today have had their day in church history and had been refuted already…
2. The practical outworking of the doctrine has had its tried models in the characters and events of church history…

Good theology will form its body from the

Scriptures, with the public garments of history