1993 issue 7 - he shall glorify me: doctrine of the holy spirit in the westminster standards part 5...

8/12/2019 1993 Issue 7 - He Shall Glorify Me: Doctrine of the Holy Spirit in the Westminster Standards Part 5 - Counsel of Ch

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By the indwelling of the Holy

Spiritallbelievers beingvitallyunited

to Christ, who is the Head, are thus

united one

to

another in the church,

which is His body. He calls and

anoints ministers for their holy office,

qualifies all other officers in the

church for their special work, and

imparts various gifts and graces

to

its

members. He gives efficacy

to

the

Word

and to the ordinances of the

gospel. By Him the church will be

preserved,

increased,

purified,

and

at last made

perfectly holy in, the

presence of God."

(WCF

34:4)

resurrection, and glory. And being

united to one another

in

love, they

have communionin each other's gifts

and graces; and are obliged to the

performance of such duties, publick

and private, as do conduce

to

their

mutual good, both in the inward and

outward man .. Saints

by

profession,

are

bound

to maintain an holy

fellowship and communion in the

worship of God, and

in

perfonning

such other spiritual services as. tend

ASW Y

OF

THE

P RSON

AND WORK

OF THE HOLYSPIRIT

This being the case, there is a

covenantal unity that exists between

the saints. Thus, they

have

an

obligation

to

worship God together,

and to serve one another as they

worship and serve their Head, Jesus

Christ.

John Calvin, and Calvinists in

general, have

always

maintained that

outside of the visible church there

is

"no ordinary possibility ofsalvation."

The Westminster Confession of Faith

XXV,2;

see

also the 1561

Belgic

Confession

of Faith

Article XXVIII.

In

section four,

the

Westminster

Confession

develops the doctrine of the

Holy Spirit

in

the church,.

Some parts

are merely

restatements

of

materjal

found

in e r l i e r c h p t e r ~

(XXV-XXIX), which are., ..

BASED ON THEWESTMINSTER STANDARDS

This is true onlyso long

as salvation is taken in its

full orbed sense:

to

indude

the process of universal

santification.

In

this sense,

the church is the "mother"

of

believers. John Calvin,

Institutes IV:1:4-6;

Augustine, Confessions

1.11.

here more fully relegated

to

the work of the Spirit. Yet', there is

addition l teaching found

in

this

section as well. "On the whole, then,

this section may fairly be accounted

a

contribution towatd the

augmentation

of

he Confession

With

new doctrine. The doctrine of the

work of the Holy Spirit n the church

is stated

in

it coihprehensively .. The

doctrine

of

the

shurch

implicated is

the

comnion Reformed docirine.

"Benjamin

B

Warfield, Selected

Shorter

Writings

Vol.

II, pp. 387,388.

The Communion

o

Saints

In the COJ?fession we read that:

"The catholicor universal church,

which is invisible, consists of the

whole number of the elect. ..under

Christ...All saints that are united to

Jesus Christ their Head

byHis

Spirit,

and

by faith, have fellowship With

Him in His graces, sufferings, death,

to

their mutual edification."

The

WestminsterConfessionojFaith

XXV,l;

XXVI li

We have already seen that each

individual believer

is in

union With

Jesus Christ, due to the work of the

Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:17; i3:12):

Each Christian is a temple of the'

Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19). But it is equally

true that the church, which consists

of individual ChristianS, in union

With 'one another because' of their

union with Christ, is the Spirit's

. temple

(1

Cor.3:16): Inotherwords,'

"the Spirit creates

not

only personal

union but corporate communion

between us and Christ and through

ChristWith the Holy Trinity, so that

it is the Holy Spirit who creates and

sustains the being and lik of the

church, uniting the church

to

Christ

as His one body. Thomas F.

Torrance, The

Trinitarian

Faith

P' 9.

28 THE COUNSELo Chalcedon September, 1993

,

s

.already stated, all

believers are in union With Christ

and one another.

s

a body, the

church is beirig rooted and built up

in their covenant relationship

With

JeSlls

Christ ,(Col. 2:6,7). .

Within the visible church, i.e.,

those who, "profess the true religion,

and

their children," The Westminster

Larger CatechiSm,

Q

62. there are

some who are not

elect.

They are not

members of the invisible church,

i.e

"the whole number of the elect." The

Westminster Larger. Catechism,

Q

64.

Nevertheless, they are part of the

covenant community which has

existed

from the time of

the

establishement of he Covenant of

Grace in GenesiS 3:15 The Holy

Spirit has effectively ministered to

the church in both the Old and New

Testa:ment eras.


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indicative of the fact that every

Christian s to manifest all of the fruit

of

the Spirit, whereas no Christian

possesses all of. the spiritual gifts.

Richard Gaffin points out that

just

because Paul refers

to

one group as

gifts of the Spirit and another

as

fruit of the Spirit, does

not

in any

sense indicate that the latter are not

gifts from God's Spirit. Richard

B.

Gaffin, Jr., Perspectives on

Pentecost

p.48.

The

nine qualities listed in

Galatians 5:22,23, are' not to be

considered all inclusive anymore than

are the numerous gifts mentioned

above. Rather, there is a .three-fold

triad established by Paul. The first

three qualities-love, joy, and

peace-

speak to the believer'S

relationship with God. the secolld

three-patience, kindness, and

goodness-speak to one s

relationship with his fellowman. And

the third , list of

quali t ies-

faithfulness, meekness, and self

control-.

speak to the Christian's

relationship with himself.

To

live in

harmony with God and .others, and

in

firm control of ourselves,

this

is a

supernatural work of God's g r a ~ e It

is 'the fruit of the Spirit.' lndeed,

this

fruit. . .is the

best

available

evidence ..of the indwelling fullness

of the Holy Spirit. John R.W. SWtt,

Baptism

>

Fullness, pp. 76-79. It is

the best evidence that the baptism of

the Spirit has already occurred.

ullness of the Spirit

Being filled with

tlJ.e

Spirit

is

not

one and the same thing with being

baptized in the Spirit. We have seen

in chapter three, that the former is a

onMime affair, i.e., that which occurs

at effectual

calling

andlor

. e g ~ e r a t i o n . Thelatter, on he other

hand, is a continual, on going process.

This is evident in Ephesians 5: 18,

where Paul commands (imperative

mood) the churchtobe continually

(presenttense) filled with the Spirit.

Part

of

the apostle's command

involves the y

eending1;hem a gift;. eul1-

, eoription 1;0 the

Couneel

of Chaloedon In return we wil

aleo

eendyou or the

neweUl7ecril1er

Gary Crampton'e 1100k. What CalvlnSaye or en Gentry e

l1ook

The Greatneee o th r ~ a t Commi6elon Cheok whioh 11001< you woul

1993 issue 7 - he shall glorify me: doctrine of the holy spirit in the westminster standards part 5...

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