Canaletto, Warwick Castle, the East Front (1752)
PhD Edit
Pneumatology
Pneumatology is the aspect of Christian doctrine dealing with the Holy Spirit. The word comes from the Greek words pneuma (πνεῦμα) and is defined as ‘A current of air, breath, a spirit, vital principle, mental disposition, ghost, life, spirit, mind.’ Strong (1890)(1986: 78). Breath or spirit. Browning (1997: 298). As spirit. Murray (1937-1966)(1977: 185). And logos (λόγος) defined as Word, reason or meaning. Browning (1997: 230). Logos is also noted as ‘something said’ and ‘the divine expression’ in general terms. Strong (1890)(1986: 59). Pneumatology discusses the divine person and work of the Holy Spirit, including its work in human salvation. The Holy Spirit, provides persons with the ability to know Christ, that was previously unknown. The Spirit speaks as the authority concerning Christ, and this is done freely by human beings through a gift of the Spirit. Williams (2007: 120).
The Father, Son and Holy Spirit possess one divine essence and nature. The Holy Spirit played a key part in the transformation of persons into Christian believers. It is in fact an aspect of God’s participating in his creation and human salvation. It proceeds from the Father and the Son, and is the supreme agent of grace. Whale (1958: 124). In the context of salvation. Calvin suggests outward human preaching ‘strikes only the ears’ while the inward instruction of the Holy Spirit is how a person is enlightened in Christ. Calvin (1543)(1996: 233). Human preaching is valuable in that it works at times in conjunction with the Holy Spirit transforming individuals. Calvin (1543)(1996: 233). The Holy Spirit works directly upon a human mind, in a sense remaking a person and creating a person after the image of Christ. Murray (1937-1966)(1977: 171).
Within Reformed thought the Holy Spirit definitively relates to the Biblical, Scriptural witness. Weber (1955)(1981: 228). Lindsell (1976: 30). The presentation of Biblical witnesses is considered to exist by the virtue of the work of the Spirit and this legitimizes the Scripture as God’s word. Weber (1955)(1981: 229). This is a doctrine of Biblical inspiration as the Holy Spirit testifies through the witness of Biblical writers. Weber (1955)(1981: 229). Inspiration is supernatural divine influence from the Holy Spirit upon the writers of Scripture. The Biblical writers were reasoned to somehow be part of a miraculous procedure. Weber (1955)(1981: 230).
Thiessen dismisses the idea of a dictation theory of Scriptural inspiration, as the writers of Scripture were not persons that merely had divine information dictated to them. Thiessen (1956: 106). The writers of Scripture were not ‘mere secretaries’ that wrote words dictated to them by the Holy Spirit. Lindsell (1976: 32). It can therefore be reasoned it is not the Holy Spirit’s grammar being used. Thiessen (1956: 106). The distinctive style of Biblical writers based on the study of original languages makes the dictation theory quite unlikely. Erickson (1994: 207). The concept of Biblical inspiration, with the Holy Spirit serving as guidance for the Biblical writer, seems both orthodox and reasonable. The Biblical authors had full use of their intellect and used their own grammar, but were guided to write God’s word without error and omission. Thiessen (1956: 106). Shedd names this basic theory of Biblical inspiration as ‘plenary inspiration’ meaning writers were moved by the Holy Spirit in respect to thought and language and were kept from error. Shedd (1874-1890)(1980: 72 Volume 1). Modern theology needs to correctly discern what the Spirit is stating through the Bible and this needs to be done through proper research techniques.
John Murray (1937-1966)(1977) explains that the Holy Spirit ‘summons men into union and fellowship with his Son so that, united to him in whom all spiritual blessings are treasured, they come to posses Christ and all that belongs to him in his capacity as Saviour and Redeemer.’ Murray (1937-1966)(1977: 167). Elected people are summoned. Regeneration takes place which is a powerful change in the human being via the Holy Spirit, which transforms one corrupt and in sin in opposition to God, to one pleasing to God and trusting in God. It is a new ‘vital principle, a new habit, the law of God, and a divine nature’ are framed in a human heart. Murray (1937-1966)(1977: 172). Herman Bavinck (1918)(2006) equates the term regeneration with rebirth. Bavinck (1918)(2006: 46). In John 3, Jesus does not literally speak of one being born a second time, but literally insists one be born from above. Bavinck (1918)(2006: 46). Regeneration consists of a person being converted from a life of giving in to temptation to one living in relationship with God. At the instance of regeneration the Holy Spirit begins a new inclination within the fallen human will. Shedd (1874-1890)(1980: 136 Volume 2). The human being is given a divine inclination, not of self, as it is contrary to the his or her fallen inclination, by the Holy Spirit. Shedd (1874-1890)(1980: 136 Volume 2). Within Reformed theology, regeneration is viewed as an initial one time act of the Holy Spirit in a person, and a person is therefore understood to be converted and therefore able to freely believe. Murray (1937-1966)(1977: 172).
My view is that it is indeed God’s choice alone to regenerate and therefore he alone is active in regeneration, but simultaneously as a person is regenerated they believe in Christ. Therefore although I view God as the initiator of regeneration I reason that logically, in order to avoid any suggestion of force or coercion, as God regenerates the saved person, he or she simultaneously believes. There is ‘no compulsion of the will in regeneration.’ states Shedd. Shedd (1874-1890)(1980: 136-137 Volume 2). Calvin reasons that a person is not forced or coerced to believe in the gospel. Calvin (1543)(1996: 68). I would view conversion as taking place simultaneously with regeneration in a person, although again I state that God alone via the Holy Spirit causes the regeneration process. Murray (1937-1966)(1977: 172). This means as God chooses to regenerate a person he simultaneously persuades one to freely believe. Murray states that regeneration is logically antecedent to any conscious response, and I reason that God’s choice to commit the act of regeneration must be antecedent due to the corrupt and sinful nature of persons. Murray (1937-1966)(1977: 168-169). The work of salvation was confined to God’s part in the calling. Bavinck (1918)(2006: 53). This does not prohibit God from causing a compatibilistic human choice within conversion at the moment that God’s initial eternal choice to regenerate becomes a divine act of regeneration. As persons were regenerated they would hear the call of salvation, repent and believe in Christ. I would view conversion as an aspect of regeneration, which is the beginning of the Christian experience.
BAVINCK, HERMAN (1918)(2006) Reformed Dogmatics Volume 2: God and Creation, John Bolt (gen.ed.), Translated by John Vriend, Baker Academic, Grand Rapids.
BAVINCK, HERMAN (1918)(2006) Reformed Dogmatics Volume 3: Sin and Salvation in Christ, John Bolt (gen.ed.), Translated by John Vriend, Baker Academic, Grand Rapids.
BROWNING, W.R.F. (1997) Dictionary of the Bible, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
CALVIN, JOHN (1543)(1996) The Bondage and Liberation of the Will, Translated by G.I. Davies, Grand Rapids, Baker Book House.
ERICKSON, MILLARD (1994) Christian Theology, Grand Rapids, Baker Book House.
LINDSELL, HAROLD (1976) The Battle for the Bible, Grand Rapids, Zondervan Publishing House.
MURRAY, JOHN (1937-1966)(1977) Collected Writings of John Murray, Vol. 2: Select Lectures in Systematic Theology, Edinburgh, The Banner of Truth Trust.
SHEDD, WILLIAM G.T. (1874-1890)(1980) Dogmatic Theology, Volumes 1 and 2, Nashville, Thomas Nelson Publishers.
STRONG, J. (1986) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Pickering, Ontario, Welch Publishing Company.
THIESSEN, HENRY C. (1956) Introductory Lectures in Systematic Theology, Grand Rapids, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
WEBER, OTTO (1955)(1981) Foundations of Dogmatics, Volumes 1 and 2, Translated and annotated by Darrell L. Guder, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
WHALE, J.S. (1958) Christian Doctrine, Glasgow, Fontana Books.
WILLIAMS, ROWAN (2007) Wrestling with Angels, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids.
Abstract: This is just outside where I live.
Propaganda posters account for quite a bit of my traffic on this blog. Here are some more.
Please note: I am a moderate conservative and I am not a communist or fascist. I am against totalitarian government. I present these posters for educational and artistic purposes.
Soviet Posters 176
February 23 Day of the Soviet Army and Navy GLORY! V.Volikov 1963
Soviet Posters 232
Agitation poster (stencilled) V. Briskin 1958
Red Iceberg
A 1960 comic book cover.
Laughing Squid WWIII
By Brian Moore
Brian Moore
WWII
By Siebel 1942
WWII
Office of War Information 1943
WWI
US Bonds
WWI
US Bonds
Russ, I appreciate your explanations regarding the Holy Spirit (as well as regarding Christ in your last article). The Trinity is one of the areas most attacked, and most denied, by cults. Even some Christians misunderstand the Trinity (i.e., Modalism). Also thank you for your Strong's comment regarding "echad," in the Comments of your previous article. The Muslim that I continue to discuss/debate with on Facebook of course denies the Trinity, and the person who is continuing to leave comments on one of my old blog articles is attacking the Trinity (at first, I thought he might be a Jewish Anti-Missionary, but now I suspect he may be a Jehovah's Witness). So, the Trinity is an extremely important doctrine, and we would do well to understand it as best we can.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jeff.
ReplyDeleteThis is all an education for me as well.
The Holy Spirit is Biblically fully God (Matthew 28, Acts 5).
He is therefore a distinction within the Godhead/Trinity.
It should be noted that God being infinite cannot be comprehended completely by the finite, but can be apprehended.
Future of Gaming
ReplyDeleteHere is an interesting video from the DICE games conference on the psychological tricks used by Facebook profiteers.
Anon,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing the video. I personally found it interesting. I am not interested in having every aspect, or many aspects of my life monitored for gaming purposes. I reason you are the same with your life.
re: Crazy Car Chase
ReplyDeleteWhy doesn't the driver just make his way to the closest Pay 'n Spray? (GTA in-joke)
Thanks, Saint Chuckles.
ReplyDeleteItalian Newsroom fight
Russ,
ReplyDelete"The concept of Biblical inspiration, with the Holy Spirit serving as guidance for the Biblical writer, seems both orthodox and reasonable. The Biblical authors had full use of their intellect and used their own grammar, but were guided to write God’s word without error and omission."
This seems the reasonable view. I also believe the writers, except when given a special vision (i. e. John being shown the Revelation) wrote what they witnessed or were told be other witnesses. That is, why in some instances there appears to be a discrepancy in the account of one Gospel writer from another. Say, Matthew describes a scene and mentions two persons, but John describes the same scene mentioning only one. It is not an error, but what each man saw from where he witnessed the event.
In other words, I believe the Holy Spirit prevents any theological error or error in basic fact, but does not cause the writer to lie about what they saw with their own eyes.
It is interesting we see far less books about the Holy Spirit than we see on the shelves concerning God or Jesus.
Questions for you:
Is there a ranking order of persons or is each person within God equal?
Do you see the Holy Spirit as working in the summoning over a persons lifetime until at a certain moment and for a certain purpose that person comes to the point of their regeneration?
Reasonable views my friend.
ReplyDelete'Is there a ranking order of persons or is each person within God equal?'
Each distinction within the Godhead is of the same substance and nature and therefore equality exists.
'Do you see the Holy Spirit as working in the summoning over a persons lifetime until at a certain moment and for a certain purpose that person comes to the point of their regeneration?'
I reason that there is both a process and a particular point where a person is regenerated/born again.
Cheers, Larry.
Thanks for the commentary on the Holy Spirit. You included a lot of scholarly wisdom on the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Well done!
ReplyDelete-Living & Learning-
Wow, what a chase! Pretty good driving on the part of the fugitive, but he was destined to be caught by the boys in blue.
ReplyDelete-Car Wars-
Yes, he was.
ReplyDeleteatheism
Now thekingpin68 blog made it on an atheism site list.:)
Well I have studied the problem of evil for 10+ years and aspects of atheism.
Thanks, Living & Learning, as in Christ I continue to live and learn, and I hope in obedience more and more.
ReplyDeleteI just saw this comment by someone on MondayMorningInsight.com:
ReplyDelete"Blogs are a growing but still relatively underutilized influence on today's religious discourse."
Now thekingpin68 blog made it on an atheism site list.:)
ReplyDeleteListed on the site:
"thekingpin68© philosophical theology: Non-Christian..."
Wow, Russ, I never knew you were a non-Christian! LOL
Search terms found on the site for thekingpin68:
"hinduism, atheism"
Now that is some combination. Not only are you an Atheist, but a Hindu as well! How'd you manage to pull that one off, Russ? ;)
Maybe you'll have some Atheist and/or Hindu visitors now. Hey, that's a good way to open up your blog for evangelistic possibilities!
"Blogs are a growing but still relatively underutilized influence on today's religious discourse."
ReplyDeleteThis may change.
'Maybe you'll have some Atheist and/or Hindu visitors now. Hey, that's a good way to open up your blog for evangelistic possibilities!'
Whatever it takes, within reason, to gain more traffic.
Further clarification...
ReplyDeletethekingpin68 was listed on this atheism page:
atheism
satire and theology here:
atheism
Well, I suppose my attempts at academic objectivity have been reasonably successful.
Propaganda posters on your blog are interesting pieces of history...fascinating to see how countries fought wars with posters and slogans.
ReplyDelete-Curious Corner-
Yes, the philosophy behind propaganda is often very interesting.
ReplyDeleteI coined the term promoganda a few years ago which I have come across a few times on the web. I am not stating for certain that I invented the term. Probably not I suppose.
Interesting posters Russ.
ReplyDeleteFunny how each side used
propaganda and depicted the other
as barbaric or something less than human.
David Beckham (Mr. Posh Spice)
'Interesting posters Russ.
ReplyDeleteFunny how each side used
propaganda and depicted the other
as barbaric or something less than human.'
Agreed. Although I still would favour the West as it allows for more personal and religious freedoms and for other reasons.
'David Beckham (Mr. Posh Spice)'
Yes we saw him play in Vancouver, and as well I saw him play in Manchester.
God bless.
I was saving myself during that exhibition match in Vancouver.
ReplyDeleteDidn't want to break a sweat and mess my hair up. :)
Spicy Becks
Yes, Beckham ran much harder the times I saw him play at home for Manchester United.
ReplyDeleteCheers.
I just have to share this telemarketer prank
ReplyDeleteLMAO...
Funny.
ReplyDeleteI would have hung up on the guy.
Great Khil-Trololo parody
ReplyDeleteHe approaches the parody from the robot angle, well done.
ReplyDeleteRuss, in your opinion, what is the best Concordance to use for study?
ReplyDeleteHi Jeff.
ReplyDeleteIn your case with the apologetics angle, I would use as academic sources as possible.
In fact, I would suggest that any serious Biblical, theological Christian blogger stock up on academic Biblical tools over time.
I use these. I am not an expert on the topic.
STRONG, J. (1986) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Pickering, Ontario, Welch Publishing Company.
BAUER, W. (1979) A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, Translated by Eric H. Wahlstrom, Chicago, The University of Chicago Press.
I also use a Greek New Testament and lexicon when needed. I of course use the internet, but one must be careful to use reasonable sources.
I suppose those posters used to stir up a frenzy. Like early advertising did. Would such a thing still be useful in these days of apathy, I wonder?
ReplyDeleteInteresting discussions as always and an interesting read. You are well read.
'I suppose those posters used to stir up a frenzy. Like early advertising did. Would such a thing still be useful in these days of apathy, I wonder?'
ReplyDeleteSerious financial, moral, physical and environmental problems in society, in my mind, could provide a State opportunity to strongly use effective propaganda.
The blame game can be used. As well, the need for the masses to trust in the authorities that 'know better' could be expressed.
'Interesting discussions as always and an interesting read. You are well read.'
Thanks very much. I continue to learn with God's guidance.
Good thoughts.
Thanks for your advice and answer to my question, Russ. Do you have any additional advice regarding Hebrew words in the Old Testament, or would Strong's pretty well cover that?
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jeff.
ReplyDeleteI would slowly build up a collection of good Hebrew Bible commentaries from respectable, reasonable scholars that deal with the Hebrew text.
Happy Birthday.
Strikes me as extreme fundamentalism: Agree with me or you are of the devil
ReplyDeleteJust had one look, I am not an expert on this man.
Regarding You tube Video Preacher??
ReplyDeleteFrightening to see someone like this in a position of authority and teaching other people!! In my opinion, very much a form of communication involving manipulation using simplistic words and emotion.
Be on your guard!
-Walter T. Franklin-
Strikes me as extreme fundamentalism: Agree with me or you are of the devil
ReplyDeleteThe guy sitting down in the back, crying, looks like his movements are unnatural, or like he is sick or possessed. He looks like he is convulsing, and he looks like he is having the dry heaves.
The preacher sounds like a broken record. He words are not teaching or preaching, and neither do they seem edifying to me. He reminds me of the psychological warfare technique that was used in Vietnam, as well as on POWs, and also Christians who had been imprisoned under Communist rule, where a message would be broadcast over and over, at all hours, in order to break down morale.
What I see in the video, at least in part, is emotionalism, seemingly brought about by the power of suggestion.
At 8:05, 8:06 and 8:13 in the video, the woman sounds like someone who just found out that her baby was brutally and horribly murdered or something.
And why are those in the audience acting in such an extreme manner? Is that supposed to be repentance? Are they supposedly guilty of the things the preacher is saying, and are in repentance over it? If so, then why do they continue in such a manner? Why aren't they crying out to Jesus for forgiveness, if they are indeed repenting of wrongdoing? The whole thing doesn't make any sense.
And the doctrine of 'eternal security' is damnable heresy? Um, I don't think so!
I don't think the preacher had to prepare much for his message. He basically only had to remember one sentence.
When Jesus talked to the devils in those who were possessed, He merely had to say, one time, "Come out of them." But this guy says "Loose 'em!" over and over and over, for over 9 minutes.
Happy Birthday.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Russ!
'The preacher sounds like a broken record. He words are not teaching or preaching, and neither do they seem edifying to me. He reminds me of the psychological warfare technique...'
ReplyDeleteI thought similar while watching.
'And the doctrine of 'eternal security' is damnable heresy? Um, I don't think so!'
Agreed.
I was saying to Bobby and Cardinal Chucklins, that this group may be a pseudo-Christian cult with cultic primary and secondary doctrines, or it may have basicically orthodox primary views and cultic secondary views and practices.
Either way, it looks quite disturbing and dangerous, but that is with a quick view.
Thanks, Jeff.