Holy Spirit Questions

At Cambridge I bought a few IVP books, this one is a Apollos book by Graham A Cole Engaging With The Holy Spirit.

Originally delivered as the Oak Hall annual theology lectures 2006, this short book takes six questions about the Holy Spirit, one each chapter.

The best thing about this book is Graham's clear method of study. Each chapter follows the same outline:
the witness of previous generations of scholars is reviewed;
then the biblical testimony is explored;
then a theological reflection is offered, 'the import of the issue for Christian life and ministry today' (page 31).
This is a good book and I would commend it to anyone. I found Graham's chapter on 'Ought we to pray to the Holy Spirit' most helpful in that it opened up a topic that often needs addressing. Graham concludes that Christians may pray to the Holy Spirit but are under no obligation to pray to the Holy Spirit. We are under obligation to pray to the Father, and to the Son, but not to the Holy Spirit - although we may if so led.

The purpose of the Spirit's coming

Last year I read this great book by Gordon Fee 'God's Empowering Presence: The Holy Spirit in the Letters of Paul'.
Fee is one of our most gifted scholars and expositors and most of this book is a very careful and detailed exposition of all the passages where Paul writes of the Holy Spirit.

I love this quote from the opening section, where writing on 1 Cor 2:4-5 Fee writes,
The purpose of the Spirit's coming was not to transport one above the present age, but to empower one to live within it. (page 98)

If your spirituality is about getting out of this world it isn't a biblical spirituality. Give thanks for the gift of God's Spirit enabling us to live together with him under the sun.

Textual Quirks

I'm really enjoying this book. Chapter 2 is on Quirks, those aspects of narrative texts that crop up again and again and you need to watch out for them.

On the author, "We want, when reading narrative, to get into the narrator's own head, to know how he looks upon the matters he describes, or - what is the same for me, how God looks upon those matters." (p. 12)

I am grateful for this reminder of the overlap between the human author and the Divine author, when using the best tools we have to understand literature, we remember to submit to God the author.

Some quirks: reticence (a narrative author doesn't always tell us what the point is), eavesdropping (a narrative author will sometimes tell us information the characters in the events narrated don't know).

Selectivity (a narrative author doesn't always tell us everything we want to know). "You are dying of curiosity and the narrator answers none of your questions. Hence they must not be that important!" (p. 15) It is a sign of great pride to imagine that our concerns are greater in importance than those of the author of Scripture. I've heard too many good sermons go bad when a preacher begins to imagine (read - make up) details that are not given in the text. This is not a complaint about extra-biblical historical background, but about the imposition of psychological and/or emotional motives upon biblical characters where there is no evidence in the text for this. Since God is the author, his concerns should become our concerns, and if God doesn't tell us we don't need to know.

I like what Dale writes about surprise, "Sometimes we may be so familiar with the flow of a biblical story that we fail to be surprised when we should. We need to cultivate a 'first-time-reader' frame of mind." (p. 19)

In biblical narrative emphasis is achieved by repetition. Let me make the point this way:

"For a man solemnly to undertake the interpretation of any portion of Scripture without invocation of God, to be taught and instructed by his Spirit, is a high provocation of him; now shall I expect the discovery of truth from any one who thus proudly engages in a work so much above his ability." (from John Owen on p. 1 - see my earlier post!!)

There are other quirks in chapter 2, but buy the book - it's well worth it.

I can't finish without one final quote.

"But this tension (in Ex 2:1-10) is not some mere literary device; it is a theological primer. It tells us that sometimes Yahweh's providence is a heart-stoping providence. In fact, it tells us something important about God - he is not boring; he is able to keep you interested. He may perplex you; he may even drive you to despair; he may keep you on the edge of your seat far longer than you want - but no one who knows him will ever call the God of the Bible boring." (p. 28-29)

On a Friday morning, may those of us called to preach by this God on Sunday be excited by the great big God of the Bible.

Approaching Preaching

I found this book at Keswick, and already am glad that I did. Dale Ralph Davis was speaking on the first week, check out the programmes on clayton.tv

This is a book on preaching, or perphas a book on Old Testament narratives in preparation for preaching. In chapter 1 Dale writes on an approach to preaching.

Quoting John Owen, "For a man solemnly to undertake the interpretation of any portion of Scripture without invocation of God, to be taught and instructed by his Spirit, is a high provocation of him; now shall I expect the discovery of truth from any one who thus proudly engages in a work so much above his ability." (p. 1)

I found this a humbling reminder of my human weakness, a great challenge to any professional pride in handling Scripture. A call to prayer and dependance upon God is surely the only way to approach preaching.

Later on, "In facing Scripture one must take account of two realities: Spirit and text. This fact forces me to one of my operating presuppositions: God has given his word in the form of literature, part of which is narrative; I should therefore use all available tools for understanding literature. So I seek the Spirit's aid and use an approach suited to the form of his word." (p. 3)

What a great operating presupposition! Let's try to understand God's word starting from the form in which he has given us his word - literature, narrative. This leads to some obvious questions.

Why? What is the authors intention?

"Now all this concern with a writer's intention is terribly out of step. I call it 'dinosaur hermeneutics'. Reader-response criticism is more the current rage; it only wants to answer, 'How does this text affect me?' There is no precise or correct meaning but only meanings which arise from within the reader. I admit my preoccupatin with a writer's intention is dated. And I really don't care. It's hard to get away from the suspicion that someone meant to mean something with a text. Sooner or later folks will recognize that - again." (p. 4-5)

Yes, yes, yes! Words consciously and deliberately placed in sentences, in paragraphs, in narratives mean something. I do not construct a meaning by imposing my meaning upon a text - that is textual abuse. Submission to Scripture begins with a sustained seeking of the purpose of the text, the intention of the author.

Dale then comments on: (ii) How? What is the Structure of the text? (iii) What? What is the actual content of the text? Before coming to So what?

"We need to hear some loving mockery behind us, crying, 'So what? What difference does all this study make for anyone? Why should I want to pay any attention to this?' If we are constantly 'berated' that way, it will make us far better interpreters." (p. 7)

We have not preached, we have not studied a portion of Scripture until and unless we have answered this 'So what?' question. The authors intention must connect with my life. The structure and content of the passage must bear down upon me and land on Monday morning.

What a simple and straighforward approach to understanding Scripture in preparation for preaching. Pray as though everything depended upon the Spirit (which it does) and work hard at a few simple questions as though the whole thing is depending upon your study (which it does).

May God raise up such preachers and ministers of his word in our land.

Pentecost is coming

We move so quickly from Easter into Pentecost. I came across this quote in von Balthasar,

It makes a great difference to the act of contemplation whether I see myself as an isolated subject, who, albeit assisted by God's grace, endeavours to understand something of the mysteries of revelation; or whether, in faith, I have the conviction that my inadequate attempt to understand is supported by the wisdom of the Holy Spirit dwelling within me, that my acts of worship, petition and thanksgiving are borne along and remodeled by the Spirit's infinite and eternal acts, in that ineffable union by which all human doing and being has been lifted up and plunged into the river of eternal life and love. (page 76)

Two things here. First of all it is good to be reminded of the inner working of the Holy Spirit in the life of all Christians as we try to pray and live as Christian disciples of the Lord Jesus.
However, I also note here that von Balthasar views prayer as an exercise in 'understanding something of the mysteries of revelation'. Such a view of prayer saves us from thinking of our best prayers persuading God to change his mind and do what we want. It also, however, surely changes how we think about trying to understand what God has revealed of himself. Do we give ourselves to prayer - contemplative prayer - when reflecting upon God's revelation in creation, in Scripture, in Jesus Christ? Or do we have very wise and very clever methods of study which take priority over such prayer?