THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE HISTORY OF REDEMPTION

Charles W. Carter, M.A., Th.M., D.D.
(Head of Phil. Dept. and Prof. Phil. and Rel., Taylor University)

In the history of Christian thought two tendencies have prevailed in relation to the person and work of the Holy Spirit. The one has been either to neglect or ignore entirely the Holy Spirit in the redemptive scheme, and the other to disproportionately magnify the revelation concerning the Spirit. On the first tendency Samuel Chadwick remarks, in his well-known work, The Way to Pentecost:

The Apostles' Creed contains ten articles on the person and work of Christ, and only one on the Holy Spirit though the Spirit is mentioned twice. The proportion of ten to one about represents the interest in the doctrine of the Spirit in the history of Christian thought. No doctrine of the Christian faith has been so neglected. Sermons and hymns are significantly barren on this subject.(1)

However significant the foregoing observation may have been in Chadwick's day, it is noteworthy that recent times have witnessed a renewed emphasis upon the Spirit's person and work. Also a review of the major creeds of Christiandom reveals that the Holy Spirit has not been wholly neglected by the church. He is mentioned twice in the Nicene Creed, four times in the Pthanasian Creed, eleven times in the Augsburg Confession, seven times in the Articles of Religion of the Protestant Episcopal Church, twelve times in the Westminster Shorter Catechism, eighteen times in the Confession of the Friends or Quakers, seven times in the New Hampshire Baptist Confession, eighteen times in the Batak Protestant Church Confession (of Indonesia), and once only in the Statement of Faith of the United Church of Christ, for a total of eighty-two times in the aforementioned creeds . In the eighteenth century Wesleyan-Arminian revival in England and in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries Wesleyan-Arminian revivals in America, a large place was given to the Spirit. In the non-Wesleyan, and especially pro-Calvinist Pentecostal tongues-Speaking thrust of recent decades, a note worthy distortion of the biblical emphasis on the Spirit has been evidenced.

For purposes of identification and clarification the biblical symbols under which the Spirit appears are of importance. He is represented symbolically as a dove (Luke 3:22), anointing oil (Luke 4:18; I John 2:20), tongues of fire (Acts 2:3,4), living water John 7:38,39; 4:14), a seal (Eph. 1:13; 4:30; II Cor. 1:22), a mighty wind (Acts 2:4), and an earnest or pledge (Eph. 1:13,14; II Cor. 1:21,22).

In this study attention will be focused upon the Spirit in relation to creation, preparation for redemption, the incarnation, the divine effusion, and the dissemination of the gospel.

Whether the plural form of the divine name Elohim appearing in Genesis 1:26 (Elohim said, "Let us make man in our image after our likeness. ") can be finally taken to represent the triune God has long been a debatable question. However, we would agree with Girdlestone that "It is certainly marvelously consistent with this doctrine the Trinity.(2) And as Girdlestone further notes, many great names can be sighted in support of the trinitarian significance of Elohim, including Peter Lombard (l150 A.D.).(3) But even if Elohim should be regarded as only a Plural of majesty indicating the greatness, infinity and incomprehensibleness of the Deity, there is, as Girdlestone observes,

certainly nothing unreasonable in the supposition that the name of the Deity was given to man in this form so as to prepare him for the truth that in the unity of the Godhead there are three persons.... as long as. . . (Gen. 1:26) stands on the first page of the Bible the believer, in the Trinity, has a right to turn to it. . .as an indication that the frequent assertions of the Divine unity are not inconsistent with the belief that the Father is God, the Son is God and the Holy Ghost is God."(4)

However the meaning of Elohim may be construed, the first definite appearance of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament represents Him as acting in the creation of a universal cosmos: "and the earth was waste and void; and darkness was upon the fact of the deep: and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters" (Gen. 1:2). Thus, as a participant in the creation of the universal cosmos in totality, and of God's highest creation, man, in particular, the work of the Spirit at the onset of creation was of the broadest possible scope. His concern was not limited to the creation of the natural universe over which He brooded, and out of which He brought meaningful form (Gen. 1:2), but it extended to the creation of the first man in whom the entire human race was represented. God's act of breathing upon the material form, which consequently became the "living soul" which He designated man, was a manifestation of the Holy Spirit (Heb., Ruach) in homo sapiens' creation. Girdlestone observes:

References in the O.T. to the Spirit of God and to the Spirit of the Lord are more numerous than is sometimes imagined. In upward of twenty-five places this Divine Spirit is spoken of as entering man for the purpose of giving him life, power, wisdom, or right-feeling. God, moreover, is called 'the God of the spirits of all flesh' in the O.T., as He is called the 'Father of our spirits' in the N.T.; and it is everywhere taught or implied that the personal agency of God is in contact with the center of life in every child of man.(5)

Girdlestone notes a sharp scriptural distinction between the Spirit (Ruach) and that of soul (nephesh). He states that "with the exception of Job 2:4, and Proverbs 20:27, where neshamah. . . 'a breathing being, ' is used, the word spirit always represents the Hebrew Ruach..."(6)

In like manner the Psalmist assigns the creation of "all the hosts of heaven" to the Spirit (breath) of God (Ps. 33:6). Both Luther and Calvin recognized the creative work of the Holy Spirit. While Luther confined the sanctifying work of the Spirit to Christians, he saw the life giving Spirit as informing all men possessed of wisdom, prudence and insight.(7) John Calvin saw the Spirit diffused over all space, upholding, giving life and energizing and directing everything in heaven and earth.(8)

Underlying all of nature and man himself is the creative, informing and preserving person and power of the living Spirit of God. Thus it is to be expected that the Spirit who was active in all creation, and who is concerned for the preservation of that creation, should also be active in the redemption of that creation following the Fall with all its tragic consequences. And in a certain sense redemption could have no meaning apart from creation- it is the redemption of a fallen creation. When thus viewed, the whole process of the redemption and restoration of the fallen creation looks forward to the person and work of the Holy Spirit in His Pentecostal effusion as the culminating expression of the redemptive provision.

All the works of the Holy Spirit from creation to the culmination of redemption are subservient to and focused upon Christ. When predicting the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost Jesus said: "He shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak...He shall glorify me: for he shall take of mine, and shall declare it unto you" (John 16:13,14).

It is noteworthy that following the universal diffusion and function of the Spirit in creation that broad diffusion is followed by a course of contraction in the divine redemptive plan progressively focusing upon and culminating in the Messiah who is the Christ, the Savior of mankind through the cross. Then, as we shall note presently, at Pentecost as the Spirit was outpoured on and through the church, He became the universal diffuser of the new life, provided in Christ's death and resurrection, to all man- kind. This function of the Spirit is graphically expressed by Boer as follows:

The movement of the Spirit in the discharge of His redemptive function pursued a course consisting of a process of contraction followed by a process of expansion, culminating in His indwelling of the universal church as the manifestation of the new humanity... The central point of the movement is Christ. To Him all the work of the Spirit tends, from Him the Spirit and His work flow to effect the regeneration of men and of the cosmos. The movement is from the many to the One and from the One to the many.(9)

It should be noted that Boer is indebted to Oscar Cullman for this idea as it is set forth in his famous work, Christ and Time. In the light of the foregoing it becomes evident that the Holy Spirit, in His person and preparatory work, was the "earnest" of the inheritance yet to be realized in Christ. Thus the pre-Christian believers became partakers of the messianic blessing of salvation through anticipatory faith in Christ inspired in their hearts by the Holy Spirit. Before Christ men looked forward, by the aid of the types and shadows, to the cross for salvation (Heb. 8:5; 10:1). Since Christ they have looked back to the cross for salvation. The former was anticipatory faith, the latter reflective faith. Both are saving faith.

Immediately after the Fall the soteric function of the Spirit went out to all mankind without regard to divisions in the human family. However, the contraction from concern with the universal to the One (the Savior) soon comes into view. While there is more than a hint of Christ as the One (the Savior) in Genesis 3:15, the broadening movement becomes quite clear as the line of promised redemption passes from Adam and Eve, in whom the whole human race was represented, through the righteous line of Seth on to Noah, the prototype of the future (yet present) Deliverer, and from thence to Abraham the father of God' s specially chosen people in the redemptive plan. However, in Israel the contraction from the universal to the One continues through God's choice of the prophets who proclaimed the coming (and yet already present) One. The convergence continues to narrow when Israel, as a nation, is supplanted in the redemptive plan by the Remnant, and from the Remnant to the Prophets and thence to John the Baptist as the single representative of the Remnant and the forerunner and the announcer of the One, the Savior, on to the personal appearance of the One and only Savior Jesus Christ in whom the plan of redemption found its completion and fulfillment. The redemptive function of the Spirit is evidenced by God's pronouncement prior to the Flood: "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever" (Gen. 6:3), thus implying that He strove to restrain from wickedness and re- turn mankind to God. The superintending activity of the Holy Spirit in the selection and direction of Abraham from idolatrous Ur to Canaan where he was to become the father and founder of the chosen people, Israel, is consistent with His general activities in the Old Testament and the plan and purpose of God in redemption. However, whereas the activities of the Spirit are implicit in the foregoing divine directives, His function in the selection and inspiration of the prophets becomes explicit. Boer remarks:

It is in the prophetic sphere...that the Spirit most prominently expresses Himself. Through the prophets on whom the Spirit descends, the divine word is made known by which Israel is called from its waywardness to obedience. In the ruin of its sin and international involvements, it is presented with the hope of the Messiah who will effect its deliverance. The Old Testament passages that speak of this hope are of a distinctly eschatological nature. The prophets of Israel foretell the coming of the Suffering Servant and of the new age that the outpouring of the Spirit will inaugurate.(10)

The Spirit's function in relation to the Old Testament prophets comes to clearer focus, perhaps, in the words of Isaiah than at any other point in the Old Testament where he says: "The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is upon me; because Jehovah hath anointed me to preach good tidings..." (Isaiah 61:1a; see also the balance of this chapter). This utterance of Isaiah, later to be appropriated by Christ to Himself (Luke 4:18), may betaken as representative of the Spirit's function in relation to all the prophets who foretold the Messiah's mission.

Again Boer observes with penetrating insight:

While the activity of the Spirit centers pre-eminently in His occasional decent on specific men for specific purposes in the Old Testament record, evidence of a more diffused presence of the Spirit in the congregation as a whole seems, therefore, not to be entirely absent. The intimation of a more pervasive presence of the Spirit in Israel should make us careful not to minimize the place which the Spirit took in the moral and religious life of the Old Testament covenant community. The several passages suggesting a wider presence of the Spirit may not improperly be regarded as evidence of a larger activity than is revealed. It is indeed impossible to read the intensely spiritual utterances of the Psalmists and the Prophets, and the accounts of the lives and actions of man and women on whom no descent of the Spirit is related, without being deeply impressed with the Spirit-derived life and worship that was often obtained before the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.(11)

Indeed the Old Testament record evidences only occasional instances of the indwelling presence of the Spirit in individuals and groups, such as are found at and following His effusion at Pentecost. Such intimations may be found in Haggai 2:5 and Isaiah 63:11. However, His general superintending and occasional special empowering presence can be clearly traced from Creation to the Incarnation. Perhaps Christ's words to His disciples concerning the Spirit have both a general historical and a prophetic significance: "He abideth with you, and He shall be in you" (John 14:17b). As the contraction continues, there emerges from the unfaithful Israelitish nation a representative righteous Remnant, and from the Remnant a righteous family from whom the Righteous One was to spring.

There seems to be, however, a very real sense in which the contraction narrows to a single, and in certain respect unique representative of both the former and the future functions of the Spirit in redemption as the transitional personage of John the Baptist appears on the scene to introduce the One, the Savior in whom all redemption focuses: "Behold, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world!"(John l:29). Luke records of the birth of John that "he shall be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb" (Luke 1:15), and his father was filled with the Spirit as he prophesied (Luke 1:69). Further, John prophesied that Christ would be filled with the Spirit.

The redemptive function of the Holy Spirit comes to focus in the Incarnation of the One who is the Messiah-the world's Savior. But the Incarnation must be understood as representing the totality of Christ's redemptive function-His birth, His life and work, His death and His resurrection and ascension. It is here that we see the specific function of the Spirit made explicit in the divine conception of the world's Savior in the person of Jesus Christ-the God-man. The divinely chosen virgin, Mary, was miraculously moved on in such a manner that the conception of the One who was to become the Savior of the world occurred. Matthew twice states this explicitly thus: "She Mary was found with child of the Holy Spirit" (Matt. 1:18b); and again, "an angel of the Lord appeared unto him Joseph in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit, and she shall bring forth a son; and thou shalt call his name Jesus" (Matt. 1: 20,21). Thus it was the Holy Spirit who effected all Creation, and then when the Fall had occurred it was He who through the long process of history directed lost man back to God through a continuously converging process of selection until the whole plan of redemption focused upon and culminated in the One and only Savior Jesus Christ through the Spirit-wrought miracle of the In-carnation.

But the work of the Spirit did not end with the Incarnation. The Spirit wrought recognition of Christ's divine sonship in the direction of the priest Simeon's dedicatory blessing upon Him in the temple on the eighth day (Luke 2:25-26). His divine sonship was validated by the Spirit at His baptism (Matt. 3:16,17). He was directed of the Spirit into the wilderness to His first gigantic struggle with the Tempter who sought to thwart His divine ministry and purpose (Matt. 4:1), after which He was vindicated by the Spirit's presence and power (Luke 4:14). Christ recognized Himself as endowed with the Spirit for the fulfillment of His ministry, as predicted by the prophet Isaiah, when He opened His public ministry in the Nazareth synagogue and applied the prophets' words to Himself (Luke 4:14-19). John prophesied that Jesus would baptize believers with the Holy Spirit (Matt. 3:11); Matthew interprets Jesus as fulfilling the prophecy of the Spirit (Matt. 12:18); Jesus casts out demons by the Spirit (Matt. 12:28); He commands baptism in the name of the Spirit (Matt. 28:19); He promises the Holy Spirit to His followers (John 14-16); and He delivers His final instructions to His disciples through the Holy Spirit (Acts l:2,8).

Finally, of His sacrificial offering on the cross for man's redemption, the author of the Letter to the Hebrews says: "Christ through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish unto God"(Heb. 9:14). Likewise He was raised from the dead through the power of the Spirit (Rom. 8:11). The Spirit was active in the redemptive scheme from the Fall of man clear through to the completion of Christ's redemptive provision on the cross and His resurrection.

Should it concern us that Jesus breathed on His disciples and bade them receive the Holy Spirit (John 20:22) before the Spirit's effusion at Pentecost, it must be remembered that He told Nicodemus that without the new birth of the Spirit it was impossible to enter the Kingdom of God (John 3:5). Thus the reception of the Spirit before Pentecost may well be regarded as the kairos (l2) of the Spirit's era, of which Pentecost was the chronos.(13) Elsewhere Paul refers to the Spirit as "the holy Spirit of promise" which is an "earnest" of the believers ' heavenly inheritance which is yet future (Eph. 1:13, 14; see also II Cor. 1:22; 5:5; Rom. 8:23).

Boer remarks on this problem:

The urging of Jesus to ask for the Holy Spirit, Luke 11:13, and His speaking of the Spirit as present before He had been poured out, John 3:5-8, may be regarded as divine pedagogy that prepared Jesus ' hearers for the coming of the Spirit. When Jesus spoke these words the Spirit "was not yet," John 7:39. The not-yetness of the Spirit in the Church, His concentration in Jesus, and Jesus' speaking of Him as present reality, all emphasize the imminence of His being poured forth. When Jesus departs the Spirit will come.(14)

In the Holy Spirit God's divine life was given to the believer. Paul declared that "the Spirit giveth life" (I Cor. 3:6b). This Spirit-imparted life was a present reality for the believers. They were partakers of the earnest or pledge of the Holy Spirit who was to usher the church into the new era at Pentecost.

The divine effusion of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost is several- fold in its significance.

First, it was the culmination and completion of the redemptive process that had the beginning of its outworking immediately following the Fall. It was the life-giving spirit at Pentecost that validated and implemented every phase of the completed redemptive work of Christ. Without the Spirit's effusion at Pentecost, man would have been provided a system of legal justification without the possibility of vital implementation. At Calvary Christ provided new life for man, but at Pentecost the Holy Spirit imparted that provision to and through the Church. The author of the Letter to the Hebrews designates this divine redemptive provision as "a new and living way" (Heb. 10:20).

Second, the Spirit's effusion at Pentecost was the culmination and fulfillment of the progressive promises of the preceding ages. It was at the same time the commencement of the new era of divine activity. Boer says: " Pentecost marked the introduction of the church into the new aeon...and cast retroactive glory throughout the Old Testament dispensation of promise."(15)

Third while the confusion of tongues occasioned the dispersion of the human race at the ancient tower of Babel, the effusion of the Spirit at Pentecost symbolized the spiritual reuniting of the nations, of which fifteen are mentioned in Acts 2, through the clarification of their communication when, as the Spirit gave miraculous utterance to the disciples, every man heard them speaking distinctly in his own native language (Acts 2:6). Babel divided the human race, but Pentecost reunited it spiritually.

Fourth, the effusion of the Spirit at Pentecost prepared the disciples for their universal world mission. The Spirit with whom they were all filled (Acts 2:4) became within them an abiding, sanctifying and empowering presence (Acts 1:8 and Acts 15:8-9; Romans 15:16). By His holy personal presence they were purified, and by His divine omnipotence the y were energized for their world mission. By His wisdom they were directed in their mission (Acts 16: 6).

Fifth, the gathered nations at Pentecost (some scholars estimate as many as three million individuals) from the lands of their dispersion heard the gospel in their respective languages and dialects, as the Spirit gave utterance to the disciples. Thus they became the advance agents of the universal spread of the gospel which was to be carried everywhere by the Spirit-filled apostles and disciples of Christ. Consequently, both the gathered nations and the divinely given diverse languages may be regarded as symbolizing the universal import of the gospel of Christ. (See Rom. 1:8 and Gal. 1:6) Ps there were present at the Jerusalem Pentecost representatives "from every nation under heaven, " so this gospel of Jesus Christ was to be carried to "every nation under heaven" by Spirit-baptized, purified, empowered, energized and directed disciples and apostles of Christ. The gathered nations symbolized the essential unity of homo sapiens; the languages ("other tongues") symbolized the universal proclamation of that gospel to all men.

The function of the Holy Spirit in the universal diffusion of the gospel is most succinctly epitomized in Christ's last words to His disciples as recorded by Luke in Acts 1:8. "Ye shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judaea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth." The fulfillment of Christ's promise herein stated was realized on the day of Pentecost when the disciples "were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak...as the Spirit gave them utterance" (Acts 2:4).

In the Great Commission issued to His disciple s, according to Matthew's account, Jesus provided for the universal diffusion of the gospel by His infinite divine authority - "all authority"; the scope of the diffusion - "all the world"; the purpose of the diffusion - " make disciples of all nations "; and the temporal ex- tent of the diffusion - "always to the end of the age" (Matt.28:18-20). In Acts 1:8 He sets forth His plan for the universal diffusion of the gospel under the Spirit's enabling and direction. Christ's plan may be viewed as follows: (1) the promise of the Spirit - "ye shall receive;" (2) the power of the spirit - "ye shall receive power;" (3) the person of the Spirit - "the Holy Spirit;" (4) the purpose of the Spirit - "ye shall be my witnesses;" and (5) the plan of the Spirit - "in Jerusalem and in all Judaea and Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth." Otherwise viewed this last word of Christ to His disciples, as recorded by Luke, outlines the plan of the Book of Acts, as also the evangelization of all men in all ages. Acts follows the plan of (1) the witness in Jerusalem (Acts 1:1-8:4); (2) the witness in transition (Acts 8:5-12:25); (3) the witness in all the world (Acts 13: 1 -28:31).

As a gradual but progressive contraction characterized the spirit's function from His universal work in creation to the One in Christ, so from that focus upon the One (Christ Jesus) in His completed redemptive work the Spirit's functional expansion proceeds gradually but progressively from the One to the universal in the proclaiming of the gospel of Christ. This began with the Jewish-Christian apostles at Pentecost when Peter recognized the universal implications of the Old Testament prophecies and promises concerning the Spirit and declared to his hearers: "to you is the promise, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call unto Him"(Acts 2:39). But from the Jewish-Christian apostles the Spirit's witness expanded to and through the Hellenist disciples, best represented by Stephen and Philip. From the Hellenists the expansion continued through the church, especially as represented by the concerns and decisions of the church at its firs t General Council at Jerusalem, about the middle of the first Christian century (Acts 15). How far that witness expanded is suggested by Paul's statements in his letters to the Romans and Colossians. To the Romans in about 57 A.D. he write: "...your faith is proclaimed throughout the whole world" (Rom. 1:8); and to the Colossians in about 60 or 61 A.D. he wrote: "The gospel...is come unto you; even as it is also in all the world bearing fruit and increasing, as it doth in you also. . . " (Col. 1:5b, 6). Justin Martyr (100?-165?) supports Paul's claim when he says:

There is not a single race of human beings, barbarians, Greeks, or whatever name you please to call them, nomads or vagrants or herdsmen living in tents, where prayers in the name of Jesus the crucified are not offered up . . . Through all the members of the body is the soul spread; so are Christians throughout the cities of the world.(16)

Soon thereafter Tertullian (160-230 A.D.) could write:

We (the Christians) are but of yesterday. Yet we have filled all the places you frequent - cities, lodging houses, villages, townships, markets, the camp itself, the tribes, town councils, the palace, the senate, and the forum. All we have left you is your temples... Behold, every corner of the universe has experienced the gospel, and the whole ends and bounds of the world are occupied with the gospel.(17)

A contemporary of Paul, Lactantius wrote: "Nero noticed that not only at Rome but everywhere a large multitude were daily falling away from idolatry and coming over to the new religion (Christianity)".(18) Adolph Harnack supports this universal spread of the gospel in the first century thus:

This belief, that the original apostles had already preached the gospel to the whole world, is there- fore extremely old... The belief would never have arisen unless some definite knowledge of the apostles' labours and whereabouts (ie., in the majority of cases) had been current. Both Clemons Romanus and Ignatius assume that the gospel had already been diffused all over the world.... Finally, as the conception emerges in Hermas, it is exception- ally clear and definite; and this evidence of Hermas is all the more weighty, as he may invariably be assumed to voice opinions which were widely spread and commonly received. On earth, as he puts it, there are twelve great peoples, and the gospel has already been preached to them all by the apostles.(19)

The increasing expansion of the Christian gospel through- out subsequent centuries, accentuated as it was in the nineteenth century - the Great Century, as designated by Kenneth Scott Latourette - bears eloquent testimony to the Spirit's work in making known Chris t ' s redeeming work from the One to universal mankind.

The eschatological significance of the Spirit's function in and through the church comes to light in the New Testament records. That some misguided Christians, such as the Thessalonians, misunderstood Paul and thought the end of the age had fully come is evident, but that such was not Paul's misunderstanding is equally evident by his correction of that error (I Thes. 2).

The witnessing activity of the church through the Holy Spirit and its anticipation of the visible return of Christ at the end of the age are two closely related eschatological New Testament characteristics. The church does not know the chronological time (the chronos) of the end of the age. She does know that while the visible appearance of Christ's return is yet future, His invisible spiritual presence is a present animating reality, and thus the future is brought into the present energizing and directing the church to the fulfillment of her witness to the world of mankind. This is the church's experience under the Spirit's influence of conceptualized time and events (kairos) in which the historically past provision of salvation in Christ's cross and resurrection is brought together with the hope of His chronologically yet-future return in- to a present unified experience of animating reality. Thus the past provision and future promise of Christ are conceptualized and unified in the present spiritual experience of the believer and the church. This fact gives new meaning to Paul's words concerning the sacred communion: "As often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye proclaim the Lord's death past till he come future" (Cor. 11:26). Thus Cullman can say that "from the chronological point of view something has happened: the present "age" has taken a great leap forward. We are reminded that God is Lord of time. We have entered the final phase of this "age, " which will end with the return of Christ."(20)

However, the eschatological event of the Holy Spirit's effusion has already been realized and thus the true church is living now in and from the end through the Spirit's presence, even though the chronological future is yet to come. Paul indicates that the Holy Spirit belongs to the future when he writes to the Ephesians that they "were sealed with The Holy Spirit of promise" (Eph. 1:13b), and to the Corinthians, "God...also sealed us, and gave us the earnest or guarantee of the Spirit in our hearts" (II Cor. 1:22; cf. Rom. 8:23). Peter likewise interprets Joel's prophecy which he quoted in his Pentecostal-day sermon in those words: "it shall be in the last days, saith God, I will pour forth of my Spirit upon all flesh" (Acts 2:17ff.). Thus the Spirit's effusion on the day of Pentecost was both a foretaste of the future and also a part of the fulfillment of the future. Peter declares of the Spirit' s effusion: "this is that which hath been spoken through the Prophet Joel" (Acts 2:16). Likewise Christ affirmed the same truth concerning the Spirit when He replied to the disciple s ' question concerning the time of the restoration of the kingdom: "ye shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be my witnesses" (Acts 1:8a). He did not deny the future reality of the kingdom, the time of which they were not to know, and which the Father had set within his own authority" (Acts 1:7), but He did affirm the Spirit's presence in their lives to be the be- ginning of the fulfillment of the end. Thus through the Spirit's presence the "eternal day" of God' s grace has already dawned upon the "present day" of the Church age. The apostle John declares that our day of grace through the Spirit is also "the last hour" (John 2:18).

The presence of the Holy Spirit makes the function of the church to be eschatological. As Cullmann says: "The church it- self is an eschatological phenomenon."(21) The church was so constituted by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Thus the future is presently realized in the present, in part, by the indwelling person of the Holy Spirit in the church. The resurrection of Christ by the power of the Spirit (Rom. 8:11) is the decisive event that leads to the "end" that is already present. The gift of the Holy Spirit is the kairos of which Christ' s second coming is to be the chronos.

The following diagram is designed to point up the thesis of this study that the movement of the Holy Spirit in the history of redemption was from universal creation of Christ, and from Christ to universal diffusion of the gospel of Christ.

An Explanatory Diagram

1. Samuel Chadwick, The Way to Pentecost (Berne, Indiana: Light and Hope Publications, 1957), p. 5.

2. Robert Baker Girdlestone, Synonyms of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdman's Publishing Company, 2nd edition, 1897, rep.), p. 22.

3. Ibid.

4. Ibid.

5. Ibid.

6. Ibid.

7. The Works of Martin Luther, V, 367.

8. John Calvin, commentary on Genesis, Chapters 1,2.

9. Harry R. Boer, Pentecost and Missions (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdman's Publishing Company, 1961), p. 67.

10. Ibid., p. 69

11. Ibid., p. 71.

12. Kairos is a Greek word for time which may signify "opportune or seasonable time," or "the time when things are brought to a crisis, the decisive epoch waited for" -Thayer. However the word may be best understood as "conceptual time," or time as conceived by the mind rather than as measured by the clock, day and night or the seasons.

13. Chronos is the Greek word for time in the more fixed or determined sense, such as time determined by specific events, dates or other chronological data. Thus chronos may be regarded as "chronological time.

14. Boer, op. cit., p. 73.

15. Ibid., p. 98.

16. Carter, Charles W. and Earle, Ralph, Evangelical Bible Commentary on Acts (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1959), p. 11.

17 Ibid.

18. Ibid., p. 16.

19. Ibid., p. 11,12.

20. Oscar Cullmann, "Eschatology and Missions in the New Testament:" The Theology of the Christian Mission, Gerald H. Anderson, ed. (New York: McGraw Hill Book Company, Inc., 1961), p. 45.

21. Ibid., 46.

Edited by Nick Nettles