This book helped in understanding the difference between being indwelt and filled by the Spirit.
My spiritual formation was in a context were I was trained to be afraid of the Holy Spirit. We would have never actually put it in those terms, because it would sound bad; but our actions and actual words either avoided the Holy Spirit or taught us to avoid potential contact with him. This context was called cessationism, which is a theological theory which states that all miraculous experiences with the Holy Spirit ended either at the death of the last of apostles[1] or at the completion of the cannon of Scripture. So somewhere between about the year 100 AD and the Second Council of Carthage in 419 the miraculous stopped. You’ll have to pick a more specific date yourself in this gap of about 320 years. In my book Viral Jesus I actually had an appendix about cessationism because I don’t believe we can see a viral movement of the Gospel if we are working within the framework of cessationism.
But my real problem wasn’t even that I was taught to avoid the miraculous gifts of the Spirit, with a special fear and loathing for the gift of tongues, but that the Holy Spirit himself seemed to be pretty much off limits for conversation. Let me give you an example. I went to a very fine Bible college.[2] We even had a required course called God, Christ and the Holy Spirit. Here’s what I learned about the Holy Spirit in that course: The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. Next question?
Here’s the problem with the Holy Spirit. He is experiential. And we were trained that we could not get good theology from our experiences; and good theology is all that counts. Therefore any experience one had with the Holy Spirit was suspect and probably either worked up in the mind of the person having the experience or was demonic in nature. I know that’s not even a logical syllogism, but that’s how our thinking went. And yes, I’ve heard many times that what my Pentecostal or charismatic friends would state as experiences with the Holy Spirit were actually demonic. These of course would be things like speaking in tongues, which is obviously bad, but also prophecy and especially anything that would be socially inappropriate like being slain in the Spirit or even trembling.
How do we actually live and work in the power of the Spirit?
The problem with this thinking is the Bible. The Holy Spirit ends up being extremely experiential in the Bible. Jesus didn’t tell us to avoid Him but to look with wondrous anticipation for him. And when he came it would involve actual experiential power which led to Kingdom work being done. Oh, this reminds me of something else I was taught. We can get no theology from the book of Acts because it is an historical book. Who makes up these rules? I could go on and on with verse references but I won’t. Here’s a little exercise I’d suggest for the curious. Look up all the references to the Spirit in the New Testament. Ask yourself how experiential that is.
I became frustrated because what I was actually seeing and experiencing on the mission field had no actual correlation to what I had been taught. I ended up seeing demonic possession. I heard precise, accurate prophecy that lead to significant ministry. I saw people healed. I experienced miracles…real miracles that would have made it into the book of Acts or the gospels. So I took a four credit independent study post graduate course to focus my thinking. Was cessationism real or just an incorrect theological theory? The appendix I have in the back of Viral Jesus is a synopsis of the paper I wrote after studying it from a Biblical, theological, hermeneutical, historical and sociological basis. But my synopsis is amateurish compared to Dr. Stephen Crosby’s Your Empowered Inheritance NOW! A Critique of Cessationism. If you want a thorough scholarly understanding of the issue buy Crosby’s book.
Here are two further books that have helped me actually experience the goodness of the Holy Spirit as he is actually described in the New Testament. The first is Experiencing the Spirit: Developing Relationship with the Holy Spirit by Robert Heidler. Heidler is a pastor and graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary. He helped me finally understand the difference between being indwelt by the Spirit and being “filled” with the Spirit and why both are essential to spiritual life and ministry.
The second book is Miracle Work: A Down-To-Earth Guide for Supernatural People by Jordan Seng. Seng explains the dynamics of spiritual power and how to learn to minister in it. Of particular help to me was his “power equation” on page 51: Authority + Gifting + Faith + Consecration = Power. If you want to know what that actually means you are going to have to read the book. But it clearly lays out how Holy Spirit power works and how we can live and minister in it. I would suggest reading Heidler before Seng. If you read Seng without understanding what Heidler explains, you might end up frustrated and confused.
Pick a question and respond:
- Why do you think those who come from my spiritual background are so shy about the Holy Spirit?
- What part do you think the excesses of some Pentecostals and charismatics have played in other Christians being shy about the Holy Spirit?
- Do you agree that experience plays no part in our understanding of theology? Do you think the Book of Acts is off limits as a source of theological insight?
- What do you think the difference between being indwelt and filled with the Holy Spirit is? Do you think they are the same thing?
Order Today!
“Do you agree that experience plays no part in our understanding of theology? Do you think the Book of Acts is off limits as a source of theological insight?” Disagree. In fact, having been raised Methodist, it’s a very Wesleyan belief that experience is essential to understanding our theology and our faith. (The Wesleyan Quadrilateral, developed and explained by the late, great Wesley scholar Dr. Albert Outler: Scripture, Tradition, Experience, Reason.) Our wonderful God reveals Himself in the word written. The traditions of the faith (what all believers at all times–arguably–have believed to be the essentials of the Gospel message) are essential to knowing who and what we are in Christ. Experience can take many forms. For John Wesley, it was that experience when he found his heart “strangely warmed”. God gave us minds to think with and to comprehend with reason those things that are “of Christ”. Why would we NOT turn to the Book of Acts to see that the Spirit (the Person Jesus promised would make known the truth) is His very presence at work in us and through us? Wonderful blog, today, Ross! Thank you for sharing this with us!
I think the Cessationist Theology is what lead Pentecostal and Charismatic types to erroneously teach a secondary experience to Salvation, so-called the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Jesus only spoke of one experience, and simply too. He told Nicodemus that he must be born again, once of the bag of waters, natural childbirth, and secondly of the Spirit. This is orthodoxy. There was no cessation, I was taught the same thing. I waffled back and forth on whether there was a secondary experienced. The scriptures held sway with me. Jesus said the Holy Spirit would be given to all who believed on him. This is truth. The Holy Spirit is many things to the believer, comforter, teacher, God inside us, we are one with the Father and the Son through the Spirit. If anyone has not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his it says in Romans. Great article. Long live the Holy Spirit in every believer and may he rise up and do the works of God among us.
One last thought. God said he would not dwell in temples made with hands any longer. He said heaven was his throne and the earth is but his footstool. Yet he made it clear that he would tabernacle in receptive hearts. I will live in them and dwell in them. I will be their God and they will be my people. God isn’t fractional, it’s an all or nothing deal. We have all we can stand at any given moment. His DNA is coursing through the spirit of every believer. He’s the can-do God. Why he can even move, and does, miraculously in the lives of cessationist believers, same DNA, same God, same tabernacle, a heart of flesh. The Holy Spirit can confound the wise. We don’t have to understand it all, but simply walk in the light he has given. It is enough. If we seek Jesus and he reveals something to us, should we believe him? Of course. When we hear from the Holy One it is enough. But amazingly, he shows us the same thing in scripture, if we have ears to hear, and eyes to see. Cheers in Jesus.
Hi Bruce, it has been awhile since we have communicated. I think want some Pentecostals teach about the baptism of the Holy Spirit has so muddied the waters that it makes it much more difficult for folks like you and me to understand how the Holy Spirit works in our lives. I was taught that there was only one experience/ministry/function of the Holy Spirit. I don’t believe that any more. But I also don’t believe what some (and certainly not all) Pentecostals and charismatics teach about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, namely that it is a secondary experience that is always a dramatic event and must be accompanied by speaking in tongues. Once someone has had this “experience” they are a new more spiritual level of Christians. It can happen that way, but I suspect that isn’t even the norm.
Heidler was very helpful in explaining to me what the difference between the indwelling ministry of the Holy Spirit is (what happens at the new birth) and why that continues to be important in our ongoing life. And, what the filling/empowering/baptism/anointing of the Holy Spirit is. As someone who was not raised in a Pentecostal background some of these words still make me uncomfortable. Let’s just use the word filling.
The filling of the Spirit is a different function of the Holy Spirit than is indwelling. Every Christians is indwelt by the Holy Spirit at conversion. It is a one time thing that has ongoing spiritual ministry and ramifications in our life. The filling of the Holy Spirit is a different yet important function/ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives. It is what happens when God wants to minister to us or through us in spiritual power. I’m being simplistic here, there’s much more to it. It comes and goes and one can be more or less filled with the Spirit.
Heidler made a good point that helped explain this to me. The Old Testament believers had the “filling of the Holy Spirit” but they didn’t have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. He would fall on the OT believers, or come upon them (there are various metaphors for this) and there were often dramatic results. Think of Saul prophesying or any of the OT prophets prophesying. But he didn’t necessarily stay with them. The indwelling of Holy Spirit is for Christians only. He comes to live in our soul at the new birth and stays there. It is a benefit of the new covenant. While all Christians are indwelt with the Holy Spirit they can have a further experiences of the Holy Spirit (not a one time thing) where the Holy Spirit comes upon them in power for specific purposes. This is a different function/ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives. And, it looks pretty much like it did in the Old Testament; sometimes as dramatic and sometimes not.
What was interesting for me as I read Heidler was as he actually described “filling of the Holy Spirit” I realized I’d experienced it many times before. Not by being struck to the ground or instantly speaking in tongues for the first time, but it was actually a normal part of my Christian experience. I just didn’t have the vocabulary or the theological framework to understand what was really going on. This was happening to me long before I even thought much about the Holy Spirit, way back in my cessationist days. Because Heidler comes from the background I was raised in he knows how to communicate to people like me and explain to us what we are actually already experiencing. However, once one understands the dynamics, they can cooperate with the Holy Spirit much better and therefore can minister in the power of the Spirit much more effectively. I’d highly recommend Heidler for folks like me who often don’t have a clear understanding of the different ministries/functions of the Holy Spirit in the believer’s life…even though they may be having the experiences.
Thanks for this post Ross, It’s funny because I have been thinking a lot about The Holy Spirit lately and how in the IC I attended nothing was ever taught about Him. I even posted a status today all about the Holy Spirit and how He functions in us. Thank you for the confirmation of my feelings and revelation Iv’e had of late.
Hey Ross, great topic. I see my second post is awaiting moderation but preceded your treatise above.
Thanks for this post today Ross. It was helpful and I hope to check out these books.
In the course of our walk with the Lord, my husband and I went from a cessastionist church to a pentecostal church. Ultimately we came to see that when there are extremes in what is believed, the truth is usually somewhere in the middle — which is where we have found ourselves: The working of the Holy Spirit did not end with the death of the first apostles, nor is the validity of our relationship with Christ based wholly on our experience. I believe this is one of many areas that, when we stand before the Lord, the full understanding of it will amaze us.
I think the BIGGEST reason the ministry of the Holy Spirit is overlooked/feared/ignored through much of historical Christianity (and quite possibly the root of cessationist dogma) is not doctrinal or theological at all, it’s CONTROL. People who might actually hear directly from God and be empowered by Him can be dangerous to the political, social, and religious status quo. It’s much easier to get the masses to submit to your authority structures (be they religious or political or some hybrid) if you can get them to believe that those structures are the only valid source of truth (including interpretations of scripture). And the success of organized religion (a human construct claiming falsely to be a representative of Christ) depends on controlling its adherents; unity (of spirit) is replaced by conformity (of behavior), which is enforced by fear and strict control over the dissemination of knowledge.
Agreed Catherine. I think most of us want everything the Holy Spirit wants to give us and we want everything He wants to do through us to happen. But, sometimes people in their flesh over emphasize things to the point that they scare people off. And, I think there has been a bit of “standardization” going on. Someone has a specific experience with the Holy Spirit and they then feel it should be exactly that way for everyone and those who don’t have the wonderful experience they have had are somehow spiritually sub par. That kind of spiritual arrogance can do a lot of harm.
Ross, thanks for the post and the book recommendations. It’s been an on going burden for me that many I meet would have a greater understanding of the great promise of God available for us all to receive.
I have to say I am so sad that you were initially taught such things, but rejoice at how faithful God has been to you.
Also, in response to your question about how the Pentecostal/charasmatic groups may have encouraged people to shun away from Him in the supernatural, what comes to mind is the root of pride- division, control, etc that ends up focusing on the manifestations and not the fruit or love that restores. I can’t think of one thing that God does that isn’t about the purpose of restoration, whether in reconciliation, healing, or prophesy, or miracles. It is simply life in the kingdom that He is always wanting to give more of, which is of him, by him, through him and for him.
Hey Kyle,
Yep, I think that is certainly going on. It may not be the whole story but it is certainly a major component of the story.
I think another component is that because of the spiritual context and theology people were raised in they do not have either a complete understanding of the Holy Spirit or a full experience of Him. Someone else comes along and talks about what they are experiencing and it makes them feel awkward. They also feel that it could possibly be true because they themselves, their friends and the spiritual leaders they respect aren’t having these experiences. Therefore it must be false. They then go back and develop a theology to match their lack of experience.
And, I think there is at least one more component. Modern cessationist theology started with John Calvin in the Renaissance. John Calvin took his cue from Augustine. Augustine was the first theologian to purposefully develop his theology through the grid of neoplatonic philosophy; something Paul told us not to do (see Col. 2:8). Augustine was being worldly when he did this. Augustine’s cessationism is also something that he later repented of. John Calvin was having Catholic apologist going around saying “here are our miracles where are the miracles of the followers of John Calvin?” Calvin went to Augustine and borrowed his arguments to develop modern cessationism (the same arguments that Augustine repented of). He would have done better to see how Augustine figured out that his own doctrines were false. Augustine actually went around to see if any miracles were indeed happening among the Christians around him. What he found was that it was happening quite commonly. If John Calvin would have done the same thing he probably would have had the same results and could have drawn the same conclusions. He also could have had a better response to the Catholic apologists.
This other component of modern cessationism is modernist thinking. In our situation it is specifically Enlightenment thinking which automatically rules out the supernatural. What many cessationists are doing, without realizing it is reading the Bible and Christian history through the lens of the Enlightenment. Since they start with an Enlightenment paradigm they end up with Enlightenment conclusions, and that rules out the supernatural. The end result is theological propositions about the Holy Spirit with no real powerful experience of him; or at least in my personal case no understanding of the experiences I was having.
So what does Enlightenment thinking have to do with John Calvin and Augustine? I’ll go backwards in time. The Enlightenment gains it paradigm from Greek philosophy, specifically Plato and Aristotle’s philosophy. That idea first came about in the Modern world during the Renaissance (John Calvin was a Renaissance thinker) who took his cue from Augustine who was the first ancient theologian to intentionally develop his theology through neoplatonic thought. Neoplatonism is basically the combination of Plato’s and Aristotle’s philosophy mixed with some mysticism. Augustine was a neoplatonic philosopher highly influenced by another neoplotonic philosopher named Plotinus before he became a Christian. So cessationism actually goes back to Plato and Aristotle and doing what Paul told us not to do in Col. 2:8: See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. The philosophy that was troubling the Colossians was probably neoplatonic philosophy which was standard Greek thinking at the time.
Thank you Dorihutcheson, for your kind and thoughtful reply.
thanks ross for this good post and i did like the comments–i have allready ordered the book by heiminder or whatever his name was and look forward to a good read
Great Keith,
I hope Heidler is helpful. After you digest Heidler you may very well find Jordan Seng helpful. He’s also kinda funny and has lots of good stories.
Ross
Kyle Knapp said: ” ……it’s CONTROL. People who might actually hear directly from God and be empowered by Him can be dangerous to the political, social, and religious status quo.”
Kyle Knailed it! Danger to the controller. Totally experienced this ending a 20 jaunt of service in an institutional church. There is some wisdom on this page of thejesusvirus.org
Thanks Kyle and Ross, bd
Cessationism is a touchy subject.
The theories behind the miraculous experiences might be justified but everyone has a different perspective and outlook towards Cessationism.
Reading books like Experiencing the Spirit: Developing Relationship with the Holy Spirit by Robert Heidler, helps one experience the goodness of the holy spirit.
Yes, cessationism is a touchy subject. I’ve spent most of my life as a cessationist. That changed when I found that reality didn’t match the theological theory so I went back and actually studied the theory of cessationionism from a biblical, theological, historical and worldview perspective. That’s when I finally gave up on it. It had no sound biblical basis but instead was basing itself on the Enlightenment worldview; not that its proponents realize they are doing this, but that’s what’s happening nonetheless. You can read a synopsis of my study as Appendix A of my book Viral Jesus.