Spirit and Church

by Arthur M. Climenhaga

A Word Concerning the Holy Spirit

In His parting counsels the Lord Jesus Christ spoke freely of the Holy Spirit. This is significant in that one of the remarkable features of His earlier ministry was His comparative silence concerning the Holy Spirit. Earlier occasions were rare when He mentioned the Spirit and then always in circumstances which made the reference necessary — for example, the word to Nicodemus in John 3:15, again speaking of the power of prayer and giving of the Holy Spirit in Luke 11:13, and warning about the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. But now the shadow of the Cross falls over His path and in the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth chapters of John Jesus speaks in the Upper Room. In a few pregnant sentences He gathers up all that can be said of the Spirit’s relation to the Church, the World and God. Herein is to be found a summary statement of the doctrine of the Spirit as the Third Person of the Trinity.

Three outstanding truths concerning the Spirit underline these teachings of the Christ:

1. The Spirit comes to take the place of Jesus Christ, to be to the disciples all that Christ had been and more than He would have become had He stayed with them.
2. The Holy Spirit promised to the disciples is the selfsame Spirit who dwelt in the Christ and was the explanation of His earthly life and ministry.
3. The Spirit comes to dwell in the disciples as He dwelt in Christ in order that Jesus Christ will be reproduced in the disciple thus making him what Christ would have been had He stayed on the earth and lived where that disciple lives.[1]

A Word Concerning the Church

Someone once spoke of history as biography “writ large.” Presumably he meant that to write in detail of a few leaders in any country or group is to write in essence of the history of that particular country or group. This is particularly true of sacred history.

The history of the early church is a composite of sketches in more or less detail of the lives of the early disciples and especially of two outstanding leaders, the Apostles Paul and Peter. These sketches are in the final analysis the recounting of the manifestation and working of the Holy Spirit among men during the several decades following the ascension of our Lord. This working of the Spirit among men redeemed by Jesus Christ and called out from a life of sin to a life of holiness is the recorded history of the formation of the Church. The Church then is the biography of its divinely-raised up, Holy Spirit filled and dominated disciples “writ large.”[2]

However, the Church is more than biography or history alone. It is to be understood only in terms of its genesis as a Christian Church, a body of “called out ones.” Historically the Church is linked with that Hebrew form, called in the Authorized Version of Acts 7:38, the church in the wilderness. The church of the Old Testament was the first representative of the ecclesia — the called out ones. It was indeed a community of the Spirit. Although manifested in natural and social laws, it was nevertheless a supernatural organization. As such it was the first step to the Christian Church in that it cultivated and matured that faith which finally issued in the Kingdom of God. It was the community which gave Christ to the world.

The second step towards the Church was the formation by our Lord of the “little flock.” Here we stand midway between the Mosaic economy and Pentecost. This flock was composed of two groups — the disciples clustering around John the Baptist and the group gathering around Jesus Himself. All of these believed that Jesus was the Messiah and formed the group in that informal organization who by their love for the Master and faith in His words were spiritually qualified to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. These then were the true nucleus of the Church.[3]

Combining these two areas of consideration we come to

A Word Concerning the Church and Spirit

The day of Pentecost is so closely related to the early history of the Church that we are inclined to speak of it as the birthday of the Church. When we consider that the work of the Holy Spirit necessarily demanded an objective economy this is true. The day of Pentecost represented that new order of spiritual life on earth which, initiated by the advent of Christ, was now preserved by the perpetual indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

The Church is thus the creation of the Holy Spirit. It is a community of believers who owe their spiritual life from the first to last to the Spirit. Apart from the Holy Spirit there can be neither Christian nor church. For this reason we declare that the Christian faith is not institutional but experimental. It is not an ordained class, neither is it merely ordinances and sacraments. It is not a fellowship of common interest in service, virtue, or culture. Membership is by spiritual birth alone with the roll of membership kept in heaven. The door to this Church is Jesus Christ. He knows those that are His and they know Him. The church membership list and the Lamb’s Book of Life are not always identical. “No man can say, Jesus is Lord, but in the Holy Spirit,” and confession of the Lordship of Jesus Christ is the primary condition of membership in His Church.

The command to tarry in Jerusalem until the enduement of power from on high proves that the one essential equipment of the Church is the gift of the Holy Spirit. Nothing else will avail for the real work of the Church. In fact, the New Testament ideal of the Church is intensely spiritual. Thus while the Church was instituted by Jesus Christ during His earthly ministry, it was constituted by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. The Church was a Spirit-filled, Spirit-empowered, Spirit-guided, Spirit-used body of Christian believers. It grew as the Holy Spirit was active in His operations upon both individuals and society in that day.

Further, the New Testament doctrine of the Church is centered in its spirituality. The Apostle Paul conceived of the Church as a social organism in which the Holy Spirit prevails.

He writes of the Church as the body of Christ (Romans 12:5; 1 Corinthians 12:27; Ephesians 1:23; 4:12; Colossians 1:24; 2:19). He also calls the Church the bride of Christ (Ephesians 5:23, 25; 2 Corinthians 11:2). And then concerning admission into the Church, he declares, “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bound or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 12:13). In a grand final word the Apostle John reports the risen Lord as saying, “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” (Revelation 22:17).

Again the objective of the Church’s activity is spiritual in its emphasis. Of this spiritual objective Paul writes to the Christians in Ephesus and neighboring churches: “There is one body, and one Spirit … And he gave some, apostles and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:4, 11–13).[4]

What we are really saying here is that a clear and decisive line can be drawn between what we might call “the church of authority” and the “church of the Spirit.” As Dr. Frank Bateman Stanger puts it:

“The church of authority” is adhered to by those who are primarily concerned with a dogmatic expression of Christianity in an institution. “The church of authority” is a visible Church, characterized by stability, continuity, and legality. “The church of authority” proposes the way of conformity as the test of Christian loyalty, and insists upon the acceptance of the Christian religion as a governmental scheme. 

* * * * 

“The church of the Spirit” has been described as an inflowing, refreshing, penetrating tide. “The church of the Spirit,” in subordinating opinions to obedience and dogmatics to loyalty, makes the audacious assertion that often “the church of authority,” in its institutional procedure, has been tempted to take the wrong road; making central what was incidental, setting logic before life, speculation before inspiration, the letter before the Spirit.”[5]

Thus in our consideration of the Church and the Spirit we declare that for much that is undertaken by the Church the Holy Spirit is not needed. Religious services and organized institutions do not necessarily constitute a Christian Church and such may flourish without the activity of the Holy Spirit in their midst. Therefore, we are constrained to reverse the order of Church and Spirit and turn to

A Word Concerning Spirit and Church

In the course of this presentation, we should now see where we are moving. First we stated in brief our definition of the Holy Spirit. Then we did the same for the Church. In the wording of the third consideration, we deliberately stated it “Church and Spirit.” And just as deliberately now we state it “Spirit and Church.” For we have come to the point of asking ourselves what happens in the life of that Church when the Spirit is in it and works in it.

First of all, the Church will be a Spirit-controlled Church. The work of the Spirit in the Church is set forth in the promises of Jesus on the threshold of His ascension, demonstrated in the Acts of the Apostles, and amplified in selected sections of the New Testament letters. The Gospels record “All that Jesus began to do and to teach, until the day in which He was received up,” and the Acts of the Apostles tell of all that He continued to do and to teach after the day in which He was received up. This He did through the Holy Spirit who is the active, administrative Agent of the glorified Son. The Holy Spirit is the Paraclete, the Deputy, the Representative, the Vicar of the Ascended Christ. His mission on which He was sent by the Father and Son is to glorify Christ by perpetuating His character, establishing His Kingdom and accomplishing His redeeming purpose in the world. Since the Church is the Body of Christ, and the Spirit is the Spirit of Christ, He — the Holy Spirit — fills the Body, directs its movements, controls its members, inspires its wisdom, supplies its strength. The Spirit guides it into the truth, sanctifies its agents and empowers, calls, distributes, controls, guides, inspires, strengthens them for witness. Thus the work of the Church is to “minister in the Spirit,” to speak His message, and transmit His power.

The Spirit has never abdicated His authority nor will he relegate His power. The church that is man-managed instead of Spirit-governed is doomed to spiritual failure. A ministry that is theologically trained but not Spirit-filled works no miracles. It is possible to excel in mechanics and fail in dynamic. The root-trouble of the present distress is that the Church has more faith in the world and her own personal efforts than in the power of the Spirit. Things will become no better till we get back to the Spirit’s realized presence and power.[6]

In a very practical way, then, this brings us to consideration of a Spirit-Staffed Church. Summarizing the teachings of I Corinthians 12 relative to the various offices of the Church, we note that the Lord set in the Church: “First Apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, divers kinds of tongues.” (1 Cor. 12:28). In this same chapter in verse 11 the Holy Spirit is credited with dispensing gifts severally as He will. The gifts are enumerated as “the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, faith, healing, working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, divers tongues, interpretation of tongues.”[7]

Now here are two lists, the one pertaining to offices and the other to the gifts. Even though the lists are separate and distinct there is some evidence of overlapping. And it is evident that while the staffing of the Church is the vital concern of the Trinity, yet the staffing is accomplished through the immediate ministry of the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. Thus the words of the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 4:11 and 12 assume importance: “And he gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ.”

We do not conclude from this that a complete formula for church organization is supplied in the New Testament. The offices mentioned both in the Acts and in the writings of the Apostle Paul appear to have been arranged for as various situations arose demanding administrative solutions. We will not suggest that the Spirit’s imprimatur or particular blessing can be found on a congregational or presbyterial or episcopal form of church government. Rather, from the New Testament perspective we can lay down a principle for the guidance of the church at all times: Now as then, whatever the office to be filled, it is the Holy Spirit who is immediately and directly concerned.

Note with interest, therefore, that in the early organization of the Church, when the need arose for the selection of “members of the staff” — not to preach or to conduct what was considered to be the apostolic spiritual ministry — but to provide help for timid foreign windows, seven laymen were chosen to be deacons. One of the three prerequisites for the filling of the office of deacon was the statement that those chosen should be “full of the Spirit” (Acts 6:3). This is eloquent testimony to the importance of a Spirit-staffed church.

What is of major import then in the development of contemporary church life? Whatever the administrative policy of the church or whatever the technique employed in the selection of the spiritual leader of the local church, the all-important consideration is that church leaders and pastors should be appointed by the Holy Spirit. Spirit-filled pulpits is a continuing urgent need of the hour. The winning of men and women to Jesus as well as the building up of the body of Christ is dependent on Spirit-filled pulpits. We urge that if there are any other offices belonging to more modern churchly endeavor, even though not specifically mentioned in the New Testament, such offices must come within the category of the Spirit’s staffing.

The Holy Spirit is at work, ever and always at work. He is at work more markedly today through people, ordinary and extra-ordinary people. Without the Spirit working through the people of the Church, there is no life.

In elaboration of this Dr. Oswald J. Hoffman in the Reformation Sunday sermon at the Berlin World Congress on Evangelism so appropriately said of the Spirit in the Book of Acts,

In this story Luke tells how the Spirit works by witness, reaching out to the people beyond the church through Spirit-filled people in the church. It is not a story about church organization, or about church-state relations, or even about methods of evangelism. It is the story of how people filled with the Holy Spirit used every conceivable method to bring the Gospel to people who did not know the Lord Jesus Christ, that they might believe, be baptized and be saved. 

It is a story of proclamation and instruction, of how the Spirit of God uses the people of God to proclaim the Word of God to bring to birth new children of God by the Gospe.[8]

A Word Concerning the Unity of the Spirit

One of the major issues of the hour in the life of the Church is the matter of ecumenics. We are hearing so much these days about the ecumenical movement. It is not all good and it is not all bad. Let us not fool ourselves — everyone of us in some measure or form is interested or involved in some way in an ecumenical spirit. The lowliest independent nondenominational church that wants to support some sort of mission program will have to be incipiently ecumenical about it by supporting some faith or interdenominational mission program.

Some mean by ecumenicalism that we must get every Christian to unite with every other Christian, or every church to unite with every other church in one great organization. Some of us do not share that view. What is profoundly needed, however, is for the Church to have what Paul wrote about to the Ephesian church (Eph. 4): “The unity of the Spirit.” Union is one thing; unity another.

We do not plead for carnal divisions that too often may exist among us; yes, among us who name the name of Christ and claim the life of the Spirit. We do not plead for pettiness and bigotry. Rather, we plead for that life of the Spirit where all of us in the Church are ready to go to the cross and die to ourselves — die not only to our fleshly selves, but even to our ecclesiastical selves.

Here it is that the Spirit in the Church will work. The New Testament is replete with case-examples on which we can touch ever so briefly. We note three.[9]

Case number one. In Acts 15:1–35 you have an issue before the Jerusalem Council. At stake was not a question of administrative procedure but rather the essence of the Gospel : Is the Gospel for Gentiles or only for Jews; if for the Gentiles too, must they conform to Jewish rites and customs?

Four significant facts stand out in the solution to this threatened rupture of the Church which reveal the working of the Spirit in keeping the unity of the body.

First, we note that a group representative of the whole church settled the matter. Paul and Barnabas did not start a Pauline church at Antioch on lines of freedom for Gentiles, thus abandoning a Petrine church at Jerusalem to Judaizing tendencies. Second, all parties recognized the sovereignty of the Holy Spirit. To the question, “In what way is the Holy Spirit actually at work today in the world?” Paul and Barnabas brought in field evidence. Thus it was obvious to the Jerusalem Council that the Holy Spirit was really at work among the Gentiles. They had the same spiritual blessings without the Jewish rites. So in substance the decision was rendered: It is our task to cooperate with the Holy Spirit where and as He is at work. Third, the Council listened to the Scriptures. The Apostle James in his summation quoted the Scriptures. Thus the Scriptures are our rule of faith in that they reveal the mind of the Spirit. Fourth, as a result of settling the main issue as being determined by the Holy Spirit through His Word and obvious work, everyone was willing to be generous to the feelings and even the prejudices of others in matters less important or secondary. What then do we learn in all this? We learn the graciousness of allowing liberty to others in non-essentials, with the assurance that if the Church cooperates with the Holy Spirit such non-essentials will fall off like so many dead leaves in due course.

Case number two is the clear-cut personality clash between Paul and Barnabas in Acts 15:36–41. Here we have a giant character, Paul, capable of tremendous self-discipline. This made him often seem severe in his dealings with others. But there is also something towering and magnificent about him as a result which makes his effect on history one of the greatest, if not the greatest, outside of Jesus Christ. Here we have also Barnabas, a “son of consolation.” What loving nuances there are in his character. And the two disagree over a weak, homesick boy, who, despite it all, has great potential. In the final sense probably both were wrong and both were right. The thing that counts is that they both agreed in the Spirit to disagree and to carry on in diverse courses the work of the Spirit.

Case number three. We turn to the rebuke by Paul to Peter as reported in Galatians 2:11–16. Peter had failed to be true to his vision and Paul administered the rebuke. When one remembers Peter’s later commendation of Paul’s letter one has a feeling that the work of the Spirit in Peter was to be seen.

Let us suppose in any of the above cases that the decisions effected or the course of action taken would have been the opposite of the one that pertained. What should Paul and Barnabas have done at Jerusalem? What should Paul have done if Peter would not have listened to him? Should they have gone along with positions which violated their consciences in order to preserve unity, or should they have separated? This is one of the most important questions of the hour.

First, of course, the answer must be Scriptural. An answer must never be born either of expediency or compromise. We must see the Scriptures in their wholeness and interpret them with a sound exegesis. Undoubtedly we will have times when separation is called for and becomes a virtue. Again, there are also times when to suffer through a bad situation is redemptive. This is where we must be shut up to the guidance of the Spirit to make application of a general truth which is held in tension between the two poles of any given particular case.

In conclusion, we summarize by declaring that the resources of the Church are in “the supply of the Spirit.” The Holy Spirit is more than a Minister of Consolation. He is in reality the Christ to the Church without the limitations of the flesh and the material world. The Spirit can reveal what Christ could not speak. The Spirit has resources of power greater than those Jesus Christ in His incarnation could use, and thus the Spirit makes possible greater works than Christ’s. To the Church He is the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Truth, the Spirit of Witness, the Spirit of Conviction, the Spirit of Power, the Spirit of Holiness, the Spirit of Life, the Spirit of Adoption, the Spirit of Help, the Spirit of Liberty, the Spirit of Wisdom, the Spirit of Revelation, the Spirit of Promise, the Spirit of Love, the Spirit of Meekness, the Spirit of Glory, and the Spirit of Prophecy.[10]

The Church is called to explore the resources of the Spirit, for the resources of the world of itself alone are futile. And the resources of the Church — these are inadequate! A man-managed, world-annexing church can never save the world or fulfill the mission of Christ. Let the Church seek the fulness of the Spirit — in the Spirit is abundance of wisdom, resources, and power!

Notes

1. Samuel Chadwick, Humanity and God (New York: Revell, d.), p. 142 f.
2. J. A. Huffman, The Holy Spirit (Marion, Indiana: The Standard Press), Chapter X, see p. 195 f.
3. H. Orton Wiley, Christian Theology (Kansas City, Missouri: Beacon Hill Press), Vol. III, pp. 103-111. Also, cf. Ibid., Vol. II, pp. 303307.
4. Frank Bateman Stanger, “The Church of the Spirit,” in Further Insights Into Holiness, Kenneth Geiger, compiler, chapter 13. Note particularly pp. 214-216. Also, cf. H. Orton Wiley and Paul T. Culbertson, Introduction to Christian Theology (Kansas City, Missouri: Beacon Hill Press), chapter XX.
5. Ibid., p. 213 f.
6. Samuel Chadwick, The Way to Pentecost (Ft. Washington, Pennsylvania: Christian Literature Crusade, 1960), p. 12 f.
7. Huffman, op. cit. pp. 200-211.
8. Oswald J. Hoffman, “The Work of the Holy Spirit in Acts,” summarized for Decision from mimeographed article as presented to the World Congress on Evangelism, West Berlin, Germany, October 31, 1966.
9. Cf. Everett Lewis Cattell, The Spirit of Holiness (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1963), chapter 6.
10. Chadwick, op. cit., p. 16 f.