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n John
16:14, the Lord Jesus
Christ gives
us
a summary statement
ofthe
workof he Holy Spirit: He shall
glorify
Me.
The major function
of
the
Spirit is, in a sense, self-effacing; He
does
not
seek His own glory, but
Christ's, His work is Christ centered.
(in
as
much
as Christ came to do the
work of
the
Father-or
glorify Him
UIl.
17:4j-al1
glory that is Christ
centered is similarly reflected onto the
Father and
finally
becomes
Theocentric. As the angels sang
at
the
birth
of Christ, Glory to
God
in the
highest " ILk.
2:14j.)In the
same
way
that
this verse
speaks
of
he Spirit's work, it
also speaks of
is
person.
This is true
on
two accounts.
First, although the person
and work of the Spirit must
be distinguished, they must
never be totally separated.
Second, to perfectly glorify
the
Lord Jesus Christ, by
cartying outHis ministry, the
Holy Spirit mUst
be
iIUrinsically Holy
and
divioe.
This He is; He is the Holy '
Spirit, a tide attested to by Christ
Hirnself (Tn. 14:26). He is also fully
divine, possessing all of the attributes
of
deity.
This
monograph intends to
examine the doctrine of the person
and work of the Holy Spirit
(or
pneumatology ) as set forth
in
the
Westminster Standards,
i.e.,
the
Confession of Faith along with 'the
Larger
and
Shorter Catechisms. Thus,
the study will
be
presented from a
~ f o r m e and
covenantal perspective.
All that is found within the Standards
willbesubjectedtotheBereanprinciple
test
of
Acts 17:11: we will search the
Scriptures to see
if
hese. hings are so.
The reformational guideline of sola
Scriptura (Scripture alone as our
authorityrwill be
our
own. Here we
t ll1ist
remember that the Westminster
StandardSc onsist f n o t h i ~ g r n o r than
a scriptufaJ. condensation. Ourmethod,
then, will compare the best
of
historic
Scripture-study with more Scripture
study,
that
Scripture might
be
compared with Scripture. We shall see
that
in
a day and age when much
strange teaching on the third person of
the Godhead abounds, Westminster's
doctrine will blow
upon us
as abreath
of fresh air.
The Westminster Assembly
of
divines (men who studied divinity
or theology) was called by an act of the
British Parliament to unite England,
Scotland,
and
Ireland
in
a single creed.
A
STUDY
OF
THE PERSON
AND WORK
OF THE
HOLY SPIRIT
Civil Magistrate and the Church, and
in
1903 two chapters were added to
the original thirty-three: one
on
the
Holy Spirit and the o.ther on the Love
ofGod and Missions. The Westminster
Standards are still today the adopted
standards of the co.nservative
Presbyterian church and other
Reformed churches throughout the
world.
The Standards are recognized as
one of the finest systematic theological
treatises of
Holy
Scripture
ever
produced in creedal form. It is, to
BASED
ON
THE
WESTMINSTER
SI ND RDS
quote B.B. Warfield,
.
. he
final crystalization of the
elements of evangelical
religion, after the conflicts
of
sixteen hundred
years ... the richest and most
precise
and best
gnarded
statement ever penned of
all that
enters
into
evangelical religion
and
of
all
that must be safegnarded
if evangelical religion is to
persist in the world.
Benjamin B.
Warfield,
Selected
Shorter
Writings
The Puritan Parliament formed the
Assembly in 1643, and its multi-year
consultation produced the
Westminster Confession
Of
Faith
(WCF) (1647) and the Larger (WLC)
(1647) and Shorter (WSC) Catechisms
(1648),
with
Scripture proofs. Together
these documents are referred to as the
Westminster Standards.
The original group of
Puritan
diVines consisted of over 140
theolOgians,
all
of whom were
Calvinistic
in
their biblical persuasion.
Presbyterianism was the dominant
pOSition.
These
men
met over a period
of
five
years and six months in 1163
sessions. Their work was ratified by
, Parliamentin1649,anditwasaccepted
in North America in 1729.
In 1788 several changes were made
with regard to the doctrines of the
Vol. II, p. 660.
Our study will center on Chapter
XXXIV:
Of The Holy Spirtt, one of
the additions of 1903. But wewill also
look at the balance of Westminster's
teaching on
the
subject (rom the
original thirty-three chapters and the
Catechisms.
Although
there was no one
particular chapter dedicated solely to
the doctrine of he Holy Spirtt in the
ortginal edition, the stress upon His
person and work
s
evident throughout
the treatise (confirm1,5 ,6,10;II,3; III,6;
IV,I; VII,3; VIII,2,3,5,8; X,l-4; XI,4;
XII,1; XIII,l-3;
XN,l; XVI,3;
XVII,l-
3; XVIII,2-4; XIX,7;
XX
,I; XXI,2,3;
XXV,3; XXVI,1; XXVII,3;
XXVIII,2,6;
XXXII,3). In
other words, Chapter
XXXN was
not
intended to correct
anything found within the original
4
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edition, but merely to expand and
clarify that doctrine already expressed.
This is evident from the Preamble
which introduces the new chapters of
1903: Whereas, It is desirable to
express more fully the doctrine of the
church concerning the Holy Spirit,
Missions, and the
Love
of God
for
all
men, the following Chapters are added
to the Confession of Faith. Cited in
Warfield, p. 382.2
According to Warfield, Chapter
XXXIV
is
nothing other than
a
compact summary of the ordinalY
Calvinistic doctrine of the Holy Spirit
and His work. ) Warfield, p. 384.)
Chapter XXXIV: Of The Holy
Spirit;
is divided into four sections, as
follows:
1) The Holy Spirit, the third person
in
the Trinity, proceeding from the
Father and
the
Son, of the same
substance and equal in power and
glory, is, together with the Father and
the Son, to
be
believed in, loved,
obeyed, and worshipped throughout
all ages.
2. He is the Lord and Giver oflife,
everywhere present, and is the source
ofall good thoughts, pure desires, and
holy counsels
in
men.
By
Him the
prophets were moved to speak the
Word ofGod, andall the writers of the
Holy Scriptures inspired to record
infallibly the
mind
and will of God.
The dispensation of the gospel is
especially committed to Him. He
prepares the way for it, accompaniesit
with His persuasive power, and urges
its message upon the reason and
conscience of men,
so
that they who
reject its merciful offer are not only
without excuse,
but
are
also
guilty
of
resisting the Holy Spirit.
3. The HolySpirit, whom the Father
is ever willing to
give
to all who ask
Him, is the only efficient agent
in
the
application of redemption. He
regenerates
men
by His grace, convicts
them ofsin, moves them to repentance,
and persuades and enables them to
embraceJesus Christ byfuith. Heunites
all believers
to
Christ, dwells in them
as their Comforter and Sanctifier, gives
to them the Spirit of adoption and
prayer, and perfonns all these gracious
offices by which they are sanctified
and sealed unto the day of edemption.
4.
By
the indwelling of the Holy
Spirit all believers being vitally united
to Christ, who is the Head, are thus
united one to another in the church,
which is His body. He calls and anoints
ministers fortheir holy office qualifies
all other officers in the church for their
special work, and impans various gifts
and graces to its members. He gives
efficacy
t
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.
s
Chapter XXXIV is subdivided
into four sections, we will study the
doctrine of the Spirit in four chapters.
It is common among theologians to
study the doctrine of God under two
headings: the being of God (who God
is) and the works of God (what God
does). Thus
it
should also
be
with
Pneumatology. The reason for this
should be obvious: the significance
and efficaciousness of he Spirit's work
is dependent upon His being fully
divine. And yet, as stated in the
Introduction, the person and work are
inextricably related. They are to be
distinguished, but not separated.
So
we, with the Confession, will proceed
in our study of God the Spirit in this
order. The first chapter will be devoted
to the study of His being, the final
three chapters to His work. Cenain
overlaps will necessarily occur.
1
The Holy Spirit His Being
The study of the doctrine of the
Holy Spirit is called pneumatology
(from the Greek pneuma, spirit). We
will begin with a brief overview of the
history of pneumatology. See The
Evangelical ictionary of Theology,
edited
by
Walter
A.
Elwell, pp. 521-
527;
A.A.
Hodge,
Outlines ofTheology,
pp. 173-176; George Smeaton, The
Doctrine
of
he
Holy
Spirit,
pp. 291-414;
and Millard
J.
Erickson,
Christian
Theology, pp. 848-856. The' first
century (post-canonical)
church
concentrated very little
on
the person
and work of the Spirit, although it did
not
vary
fur
from the orthodox view.
The orthodox view is considered
to
be
that
of
the Westminster
Confession, which view this series
seeks to set forth. In the second
century, the heretical Montanist
movement arose. Montanus claimed
that he was the incarnation of the
Spirit; his disciples recognized him as
such
and
followed him. This, said
Montanus was the age of
the
Paraclete
(parakletos, which literallyrneans, one
called
alongside ), when
new
revelations, miracles, andso fonh, were
given. The church officially rejected
the movement. See F. Nigel Lee,
Pentecostalism:
A New
Outpouring or
Ancient
Heresy?
The third century wimessed the
heresy of Sabellianism, which claimed
that the Son
and
the Spirit were merely
modes (as in Modalism) of he one true
God. The Spirit was merely a means of
referring
to
God's power or force. In
the fourth century, Arianism taught
that the Son and the Spirit were lesser
beings (creatures) than
the
Father.
Athanasius (c. 296-373) vigorously
opposed Arius, and the Council of
Nicea (325) at least strongly inferred
the deity of the Spirit by stating, I
believe in the Holy Spirit. In the year
381, the Council of Constantinople,
whichissometimescalled the Council
of
the
Holy Spirit,
further
strengthened the orthodox doctrine of
the Spirit by calling Him the Lord.
This Council declared that
the
Spirit
was zoapoion (life-giver); He was the
source of life. Augustine (354-430)
wrote his
On The Trinity in
the fifth
April, 1993 TIlE COUNSEL of Chalcedon
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century, affinrung the
th.ree
persons
and
one essence
of
the the Godhead.
The
Council of Ephesus 431)
supported the Augustinian doctrine.
The Council of Chalcedon (451)
confirmed
th.e
decisions of Nicea and
Constantinople
and
firmly established
the full deity
of
the Holy Spirit.. The
sixth. century Council of Toledo (589)
added
th.e
filioque ( and the Son )
clause to
th.e
Constantinople creed,
asserting that
the
Spirit eternally
proceeded from
th.e
Father and the
Son. Whereas
th.e
deity of Christ was
~ t t l e at
Nicea
and th.e
deity of the
Spirit
at
Constantinople, th.eprocession
andprecise relationship of b e Spirit to
th.e
oth.er members of
th.e
Trinitywas
settled
at
Toledo.
The
orthodox doctrine
of
Pneumatology, basically, held its
ground during the
middle ages.
Aquinas (1225-1274), for example,
the greatest scholar
of th.e
era, was
orthodox. At least one dissentingvoice
was that
of
Abelard (1079-1142), who
was more Sabellian in his views.
. Durtng the sixteenth and
seventeenth. centuries, th.e Reformers
and later Puritans began to direct more
attention to the work of th.e Spirit,
whereas, tb e earlier th.eologians were
more
concerned with His person.
Calvin,
was rightly
dubbed the
theologian
of
the Spirit, Benjamin
B.
Warfield, CalvinandAugusttne p. 484.
and
Luther,
focused
on the
regenerating ,sanctifying, and teaching
ministries of the Holy Spirit. The
various creeds
and
confessions that
emerged as a result of h.eReformation
(e.g., the Helvetic Confession, th.e
WestniinsterConfession, the Anglican
Articles) were fully orthodox.
The heretical movements in this
era (e.g., Socinianism, which denied
th.e
basic Trinitarian doctrine,
and
Arminianism, which held
to a
t:runcated view of he Spiritin salvation)
were overturned
in th.e
Synod ofDort
1618,1619)
. In
the
seventeenth
century, John Owen (1616-1683)
wrote hismassive treatise Diswurse
ConCerning the
Holy Splrit.]ohn Owen,
Works,
Vols
. 3,4 . n the eighteenth
and nineteenth centuries, the heretical
views of Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-
1772), who denied the Trinity, and
liberal scholars, such as Friedrich
Schleiermacher
1768-1834) and
Albrecht
Ritschl
1822-1889)
emerged. The latter two theologians
are considered
to be
somewhat
modaltstic and subordinationistic,
respectively. But the Plymouth
Brethren (19th. century) held to a
basically
orthodox
position,
and
Abraham Kuyper wrote his orthodox
tome
The
Work of the Holy Spirit.
The twentieth century
gave
rise to
NeD-orthodoxy, under Karl Barth
(1886-1968),
and
Neo-liberalism,
under men
such as Rudolf Bulnnann
(1884-1976). Theformerwas basically
modalistic in his views of the Trinity,
although Barth did teach that
th.e
Spirit
was divine. The latter group denied
any orthodox view of the Trinity,
following
along the lines
of
Schleiermacher and Ritschl. Twentieth
century, there have been a number of
sound theolOgians, such as B.B.
Warfield, Louis Berkhof, A.A . Hodge,
J.
Gresham Machen, John Murray,
Loraine Boetmer, Gordon Clark, F.
Nigel
Lee,
John Gerstuer, Robert
L
Reymond, Gregg Singer, et.
aI.,
who
have upheld classic orth.odoxy.
To be
continued.O
WH.K1NS CONT.
FROM PG.
They believed what God said was right
and
th.e
contrary wrong. They believed
that unbelief brought destruction
and
death and that faith in th.e Son of God
brought
life and
peace. They believed
that
the gospel would bring
unspeakablebenefits to
th.e
mysterious
world of the ast which lay
in
the
darkness of a cruel infidelity. They
believed that Christianity and
th.e
culture it produced was inherently
better than
paganism
and
the
destruction
it
leaves
in
its wake.
This is why they have been (and
will
continue to be)defamed,
denounced,
and
despised
by the
modern B
aa
lists. The one unforgivable
sin
in
this modern, tolerant age is
saying
th.ere
is such a thing as sin. The
only judgment that will not be allowed
is the righteous one.
All
opinions are
legitimate except
th.ose
based
upon
God's Word.
Thus, it is their faith which, in the
final analysis, is the great
evil
of
h.ese
men in the eyes of our modern
Pharisees. Makertomistake, the recent
vilification of Columbus is nothing
more than the latest fracas
in
th.e long
war against Biblical religion. Thenewl
old gods of pluralism and multicul
turalism demand no absolutes and have
century
Pentecostalism, and
the no
tolerance
for
a God who declares
Charismatic movement
in
general, such. Forthisreason,Christianleaders
alth.ough basically ortb.odox in their of
the
past will
continue
to be
doctrine of he Spirit,have overstressed slandered, snubbed, and insulted by
the experiential aspect of the third unbelieving historians. Whether
it
be
person of
the Godhead
and
the
Jesus or Columbus, the world hates
charismaticgifts.Ofcourse, during this those who testify against it.O
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