THE PNEUMATOLOGY OF PAUL
Paul speaks at length about the Spirit. Why? Because it is critical to our eternal perspective. Paul’s pneumatology can be summed up by the following:
You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. (Romans 8.9)
In other words, the person who is ‘hell bent’ lives a life characteristic of the sinful nature, but the man who is ‘heaven bent’ has been “sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 1.3) and will therefore live a life characteristic of Christ.
PNEUMATOLOGY IN HEBREWS
The Author of Hebrews sees sharing in the Holy Spirit as tasting the heavenly gifts and as tasting the word of God and the powers of the coming age (Hebrews 6.4,5). Basically, he sees the Spirit as the foreshadowing of the righteousness which Christians will be accredited in heaven. He says that “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth [through the Spirit]”, we have “insulted the Spirit of grace” (Hebrews 10.26,29). If we continue to exhibit signs of unrighteousness, we insult the same Spirit which has allowed us to taste righteousness. Because of the Spirit at work within us, we ought to deliberately live as righteous, so much as it has not yet been attained.
THE PNEUMATOLOGY OF PETER
Peter uses words to express the incredible control that the Holy Spirit has—or should have—over man. Sanctification, he says, is the “work of the Spirit” not of man (1 Peter 1.2). It is only by the Holy Spirit that the gospel is preached, not by man (1 Peter 1.12). Man is “made alive [saved by grace] through the Spirit” (1 Peter 3.18). In other words all things are of the Holy Spirit, so man should, “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation” (1 Peter 2.2).
THE PNEUMATOLOGY OF JAMES
James has the least to say about the Holy Spirit than any other New Testament author. Only once does he address the Spirit directly, but what he does address is spirituality. He says that what “is earthly, unspiritual, [is] of the devil” (James 3.15). Specifically James is addressing worldly wisdom, which is really all things if we understand wisdom to be the way that life is discerned. He goes on to call the friend of the world the enemy of God and that is why the “spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely” (James 4.4,5). So, James sees the Spirit, rightly, as the manifestation of God within man; in direct and complete opposition to evil.
THE PNEUMATOLOGY OF JUDE
Like James, Jude says little about the Spirit. What is evident is that Jude saw the Spirit as the means for sanctification. He said that “…men who…follow mere natural instincts…do not have the Spirit” (Jude 1.19). In other words, to follow the Spirit is to abandon natural instincts or “ungodly desires” (Jude 1.18). Instead of following natural instincts, “build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit” (Jude 1.20).
THE PNEUMATOLOGY OF JOHN
John acknowledges that the Holy Spirit is in fact the “Spirit of truth” (John 14.17, John 15.26, John 16.14, 1 John 4.6). So much so, that he challenges us to “test the spirits to see whether they are from God” (1 John 4.1). Here is how he says you know if you have the Holy Spirit of truth; it is in “Those who obey his commands” (1 John 3.24), it is the “spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh” (1 John 4.2) and “and whoever knows God listens to us” (1 John 4.6). John was likely challenging a very liberal spiritual understanding which exists in many cultures, that there is a part of God’s Spirit in all things. Not so! He is only in “the true worshipers [who] will worship the Father in spirit and truth” (John 4.23).
The Pneumatology of the New Testament Authors–Understanding of the Holy Spirit
