Which is it: doctrine or person? I hope it’s both, but fear it’s not. We certainly should have a ‘theology of the Spirit’, however, I fear that is where most of us stop, neglecting the ‘delicious truth’ that the Holy Spirit is a a person. That’s why we end up talking about the Spirit with impersonal pronouns like ‘it’ instead of the more proper personal pronouns like ‘he’. Consider also how you’d respond if you were asked, “do you have the Spirit?” Honestly, most of us would probably respond by stating a theological truth - yes we have the Spirit because we’ve trusted Jesus and been regenerated, baptized and indwelt by the Spirit. Well and true…but the Spirit isn’t just a theological principle to be deduced, but a person to be related to.

Don’t get me wrong, I think the theological argument is valid and necessary, and a good corrective to some errant contemporary theology. However, in our response to current (and historic) errors, we’ve committed our own. We don’t treat marriage as simply a legal transaction (when someone asks if I’m married, I talk about Lynn, not my marriage license that proves I’m married). The result, at least for me, is a sterile theology of the Spirit that has no impact on our lives, because, while we know cerebrally that we have the Spirit, our experience doesn’t match what we say. In other words, we think we have the Spirit, but we don’t feel like we have the Spirit.

Let me encourage you to begin thinking about the person in more personal terms, not like wind, fire, etc., though these images are striking and powerful. Instead, think of the Spirit, at least until we find some kind of equilibrium again, as our Helper, Sustainer, Advocate…the presence of God with his people!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 20th, 2007 at 9:42 pm and is filed under Contributed Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.