Who's Afraid of the Holy Spirit? (pt. 5)
The Witness of the Spirit in the Protestant Tradition by M. James Sawyer is the fifth essay from Who's Afraid of the Holy Spirit?. In it, Sawyer deals with the historical Protestant answers to the following questions:
"What is the Spirit's role in giving us personal assurance of salvation?"
and
"What is the Spirit's role in determining the canon of Scripture?"
The essay is not building an exegetical argument, but observing the historical flow of thought around these two related issues. Sawyer looks at the perspectives from the time of the Reformers, the Puritans, the First Great Awakening, and the Late 1800s. He notes a shift from a reliance on the Spirit to a reliance on human reasoning and has some thoughtful observations. Reading this brought another related question to my mind that may have been planted after reading the last essay by Gerald Bray: "Do I know how my theological perspective has been unconsciously affected by the time and place in which I live?"
The roads taken by the gospel to find a hurting soul are many, but every sinner rescued by God's grace begins somewhere: a tract left behind in a restroom, a quiet moment of prayer, a fire-and-brimstone message, or a conversation with a friend. And then, hopefully, this new believer is taken in and discipled by other followers of Christ. He grows and matures and learns about Christian living. He reads the Bible and is taught what it means. Hopefully this instruction is sound, and contains the essence of historic Christianity as relayed by the apostles:
And yet, moving forward from the essentials of the faith, the avenue that this new believer finds Christ through will shape much of his understanding. Scripture brings us knowledge of God, but our vision passes through the lens of time in which we live. This leads to action and reaction, emphasis and de-emphasis, and the ebb and flow of thought. Just as a pure white light passes through a prism and separates into many hues, the gospel comes to us through imperfect people. People whose own unique history, personality, and understandings bring a different perspective from those around them and those who came before them. This is why Augustine, Luther, and Wesley (all sincere men of faith) can come to different conclusions. Yet in spite of this, God uses broken vessels to proves that "this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us." (2 Cor. 4:7).
All of that to say this: it is good to think about the "theological river" that I swim in. I too have been shaped by the time in which I live, and the stream through which the gospel found me. This gives me humility and the realization that I bring my own unconscious tendencies along when I approach God's word. There is much to learn from the men on whose shoulders we stand, and much to appreciate about the river of faith that has brought me news of my Saviour.
"What is the Spirit's role in giving us personal assurance of salvation?"
and
"What is the Spirit's role in determining the canon of Scripture?"
The essay is not building an exegetical argument, but observing the historical flow of thought around these two related issues. Sawyer looks at the perspectives from the time of the Reformers, the Puritans, the First Great Awakening, and the Late 1800s. He notes a shift from a reliance on the Spirit to a reliance on human reasoning and has some thoughtful observations. Reading this brought another related question to my mind that may have been planted after reading the last essay by Gerald Bray: "Do I know how my theological perspective has been unconsciously affected by the time and place in which I live?"
The roads taken by the gospel to find a hurting soul are many, but every sinner rescued by God's grace begins somewhere: a tract left behind in a restroom, a quiet moment of prayer, a fire-and-brimstone message, or a conversation with a friend. And then, hopefully, this new believer is taken in and discipled by other followers of Christ. He grows and matures and learns about Christian living. He reads the Bible and is taught what it means. Hopefully this instruction is sound, and contains the essence of historic Christianity as relayed by the apostles:
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures... (1 Cor. 15:3-4)
And yet, moving forward from the essentials of the faith, the avenue that this new believer finds Christ through will shape much of his understanding. Scripture brings us knowledge of God, but our vision passes through the lens of time in which we live. This leads to action and reaction, emphasis and de-emphasis, and the ebb and flow of thought. Just as a pure white light passes through a prism and separates into many hues, the gospel comes to us through imperfect people. People whose own unique history, personality, and understandings bring a different perspective from those around them and those who came before them. This is why Augustine, Luther, and Wesley (all sincere men of faith) can come to different conclusions. Yet in spite of this, God uses broken vessels to proves that "this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us." (2 Cor. 4:7).
All of that to say this: it is good to think about the "theological river" that I swim in. I too have been shaped by the time in which I live, and the stream through which the gospel found me. This gives me humility and the realization that I bring my own unconscious tendencies along when I approach God's word. There is much to learn from the men on whose shoulders we stand, and much to appreciate about the river of faith that has brought me news of my Saviour.
posted by Alan at 9:20 PM
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