AUTHORITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: THE "MISSING LINK" IN OUR CONTEMPORARY UNDERSTANDING OF DIVINE AUTHORITY?, THE

Trinity Journal, Fall 2004 by Studebaker, John A Jr

Second, the Spirit εκπορευται ("proceeds") from the Father, which simply indicates that he "goes out." Since this Spirit is sent by Jesus, the sense is that Jesus Christ in his full authority and mission is continually "with us" in the Holy Spirit. John also uses εκπορευται in Rev 22:1 for the river of the water of life that comes forth from the throne of God and from the lamb. This is quite significant in that, for John, water is often a term used for the Spirit. Finally, the Spirit μαρτυρησει ("will witness") of the Son, and in this activity is sent περi ("on behalf of") the Son. The Spirit is thereby sent under Christ's authority in an economic or ministerial sense (not in a sense of ontology or nature), υαρτυρησει actually refers us back to παρακλητος ("advocate" or "counselor") and must be thought of in legal terms, as an authorized representative or advocate.43 This advocacy, however, is primarily on behalf of Christ rather than us. "The Spirit, so to speak, conducts Christ's case for him before the world."44 The Spirit "comes" (16:8) with the full legal authority of Jesus, and with the same ultimate goal as Jesus -the redemption of the world.

Other portrayals of the relationship between Messiah and Spirit are seen in Isa 11:2; Isa 61:1; and Luke 3:22. In these passages the Spirit is given to the Messiah as an anointing for ministry. In Luke, the Spirit is "dominant" with respect to Christ's conception (Luke 1:35), temptation (Luke 4:1-13), and return from temptation to Galilee (Luke 4:14). However, when the Spirit is poured out by Christ (Acts 1:5; 2:4), Christ becomes "dominant." Paul refers to the Spirit as "the Spirit of Christ" or "the Spirit of the Son" (Rom 8:2, 9; 2 Cor 3:17; Gal 4:6; Phil 1:19). As a result, after Pentecost the Spirit's authority becomes specifically "executorial" - his mission is focused on executing Christ's will after Christ has been glorified. While the Son uses his authority to glorify the Father (John 17:1), the Spirit now uses his authority to glorify the Son (John 16:13-14). Whereas the Son is the agent of God's redemption (2 Cor 5:18), meriting access to the Father and working for us, the Spirit is now the authoritative agent of God in the administration of redemption (2 Cor 3:6-11), enabling access to the Father by working in us (Eph 2:8).

C. Conclusions

Medieval theology challenges the universal church to consider whether or not the Holy Spirit's authority to execute God's will in the world is in any way related to the authority of Jesus Christ, the one who proclaims, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me" (Matt 28:18). Is the Spirit's authority executed under the authority of Christ or, as the Eastern tradition implies, is the Spirit somewhat "independent" of Christ's authority in his execution of God's will? The Eastern formulation implies that the Spirit has an "authority" derived from or delegated by the Father alone. A supreme "executive authority" of the Spirit (one that parallels the "executive authority" of Christ) is thereby implied by Eastern Orthodox theology.45 This authority is not subject to christological limitations, and there is no directly implied subordination of authority of the Spirit to the Son.46 The Western view, however, implies that the Spirit has an authority derived from and delegated by the Father but also by the Son for the primary purpose of glorifying the Son (John 16:13-14). The Spirit does this by executing the Son's will after his departure. Therefore, we may infer that an analogy to an executor of a will may best describe the Western understanding of the Spirit, as one given the authority to carry out Jesus' will on earth after Jesus has departed. It would thus seem to be more accurate to speak of the Western understanding of the Spirit's authority as that of an "executorial authority" rather than as an "executive authority."