The Lord Is the Spirit: The Authority of the Holy Spirit in Contemporary Theology and Church Practice (Evangelical Theological Society Monograph Series Book 7) by Studebaker John A. Jr

Author:Studebaker, John A. Jr.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pickwick Publications
Published: 2014-12-03T23:00:00+00:00

First, Welker and other cotemporary theologians decry a need for a pluralistic “pouring out” of the Spirit in present times, so that diverse communities of the Spirit may come forth. Welker’s pneumatology cries for a “restoration of solidarity and of the community’s capacity for action” (as he sees portrayed in OT deliverance through the hands of the Judges) and as a result eschews the oppressive tendencies of “modern, totalizing metanarratives” in view of the “public transformation of powerholders and of political power structures.”170 Referring to Bonhoeffer’s critique of modern individualism, Welker reminds us that the Spirit,

is not bound up with an abstract, uniform individualism that reduces everything to an unrealistic, abstract quality, reducing everything to “the ego,” the subject, the decision-maker, the consumer, or the payee. The individualism of the Spirit is marked by diverse concreteness and by concrete diversity, without crumbling into the indeterminate pluralism of “pure” individuality.171

In our exegesis of Isa 59:21 we also saw that the Spirit’s central eschatological activity involves the fulfillment of the New Covenant, a fulfillment that occurs in accordance with the Spirit of Restoration and the Word of Promise. Such activity produces the initial effect of the Spirit within the entire “remnant community”—“democratization”—which is eventually fulfilled according to Joel’s vision. This specific effect of the Spirit not only allows this community to remain hopeful in a time of eschatological tension but also, in accordance with the Word of Promise, becomes an instrumental element in the Spirit’s restoration activity. While this community may and should seek political/societal liberation as a tangible demonstration of the Spirit’s “democratizing” effects (and as a “downpayment” of eschatological liberation), this community does not exist primarily for the purpose of societal liberation; neither is the Spirit discovered primarily as the power of God that combats differences and creates political solidarity. Rather, the “democratizing” Spirit is for the community the guarantee of future covenantal blessings, a “governing authority” that will not only create an eschatological unity in the presence of Messiah, but is creating that unity now in the presence of the Messianic Spirit. This “covenant of the Spirit” demonstrates the initial effect of the Spirit of redemption—democratization—as Yahweh’s covenant faithfulness to his remnant people.

The “Spirit of Restoration,” as we saw in our biblical theology, brings forth such restorative effects in this community according to an eschatological “blueprint.” Whereas the promise of eschatological fulfillment in Isa 59:21 (the “Covenant of the Spirit”) “extends to God’s people throughout the progression of redemptive history,”172 the fulfillment of New Covenant is a specific action of the Spirit of Restoration does not begin until the Church age. The Spirit is both the guarantee of the fulfillment of God’s New Covenant promises as well as the guarantor, the one who restores the world according to these promises. Like good parents who prepare their children to handle their inheritance well, the Spirit prepares the children of God to receive their divine inheritance.

The “pouring out of the Spirit” in Acts 2 is indeed the initial and immediate fulfillment of the New Covenant demonstrating the Spirit’s “democratization.

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