Encountering the Holy Spirit: Paths of Christian Growth and Service

Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, Jun 2004 by Elbert, Paul

Encountering the Holy Spirit: Paths of Christian Growth and Service Encountering the Holy Spirit: Paths of Christian Growth and Service. By French L. Arlington. Cleveland, TN: Pathway, 2003, 546 pp., $19.95 paper.

Pastors, students in Bible colleges, and educated laypeople who want a practical and reliable account of how the Holy Spirit is currently operating in fulfillment of New Testament prophecy might consider professor Arrington's new guide a "must read." Scholars also will find the work profitable, seeing that the domain of the Holy Spirit, especially the gift of the Holy Spirit to disciple-believer-witnesses who pray earnestly for this empowering gift, is in need of further clarification. Given several centuries of confusion following the Lukan cessationism of the Reformers, further embellished in the evangelical traditions, fresh approaches are in order. Building on the past century of scholarship and experience in the Pentecostal tradition, together with that in the various charismatic renewal movements among the Orthodox, Roman Catholics, and increasing blocks of Protestantism, Arrington sweeps away a good bit of the ecclesiastical fog surrounding a vital and timely topic. Here we have a realistic guide for practicing Christians who want to use their Bible in an understandable and accurate manner, becoming cognizant of a budding scholarly tradition within the Pentecostal reformation, now the fastest growing sector of world Christendom.

Beginning with "The Witness of the Old Testament to the Holy Spirit," Arrington reviews with thoughtful precision the activities of the Spirit, focusing especially upon the prophecy of Joel. We live in a time of prophetic fulfillment, according to Arrington, when God is fulfilling this prophecy in its entirety, as cited at Acts 2:16-21. In addition we are offered a rich review of all the OT references to the Holy Spirit along with a guide for discussion. Judiciously placed throughout Encountering the Holy Spirit, these discussion guides make this book especially suitable for use by small groups of Spirit-filled believers on the mission field and in local churches.

In "Encountering the Holy Spirit in Conversion," we see how the Spirit helps convict us of sin, bringing repentance, faith, forgiveness, salvation (as in the soteriological nexus of Luke's portrayal), and incorporation into the body of Christ (as in Paul's description). One might also infer a personal relationship of repentant sinners to the Father, given the parable of the prodigal son. From the examples and precedents recorded in the Gospels, this particular ministry of the Spirit began during the ministry of the earthly Jesus (so, too, William P. Atkinson, "The Prior Work of the Spirit in Luke's Portrayal," Australasian Pentecostal Studies 5-6 12001] 107-14; and Youngmo Cho, "Spirit and Kingdom in Luke-Acts: Proclamation as the Primary Role of the Spirit in Relation to the Kingdom of God in Luke-Acts," Asian Journal of Pentecostal Studies 6/2 [2003] 173-97) and continues today. Arrington develops the early Christian concept of walking in the Spirit, a metaphor for experiential (including non-rational) personal fellowship with God, as leading to spiritual fruit and righteousness. All Pentecostals, neo-Pentecostals or charismatics, and evangelicals will benefit from the deeper grasp of our relationship with the Spirit that this section provides.

The central section of the book is focused on Spirit baptism. Given the Pentecostal/ charismatic reformation's phenomenal growth over the past century, it behooves global Pentecostalism to once again articulate the tenets of the fourfold or fivefold gospel with substance and clarity. One of these prophecy-fulfilling tenets, proclaimed over the past century as an integral part of the gospel, is the role of the heavenly Jesus as Baptizer in the Holy Spirit. Arrington offers a substantial and stimulating pastoral grounding in this matter. Evangelicals who may be looking for a more accurate understanding of the Scriptures from a Pentecostal perspective than they have traditionally been offered may find this presentation especially helpful.

Rightly dismissing the old Protestant Reformation-based popularization that the gift of the Holy Spirit in Jesus' teaching on prayer (Luke 11:2-4, with the presumptuous erasure of 11:5-13) was only intended for the twelve apostles and that its initial benefit then somehow theoretically trickles down to all future generations, Arrington implies that such dispensational theories only shape an epochal Jesus, not the earthly and heavenly Jesus portrayed in Luke-Acts. Given that the heavenly Jesus remembers and supports the ministry of the earthly Jesus, such dispensational popularizations are far removed from the intentions of the NT writers, according to Arrington. He sketches out a set of instructive interpretive principles and shows that 1 Cor 13:12 refers to "baptism by the Holy Spirit into Christ at conversion" (p. 103). This figurative description is not to be confused with Paul's language of Spirit-reception (see Paul at 1 Cor. 2:12 and Luke at Acts 2:38; 19:2). Then, the various delicate descriptions Luke employs for Christians being baptized in or with the Holy Spirit by the heavenly Jesus are helpfully tabulated (p. 109). These correlate nicely with Paul's language. Arrington's approach affords readers the opportunity to perceive how the early Christians developed and commonly employed experientially descriptive language, language that allowed them to communicate effectively among themselves. Pentecostals might share more of this important message of NT connectedness. Another value of Arrington's work may be to help evangelicals come out from under the confusing camouflage of the ecclesiastically selfserving dictums of "apostolic age" interpretation and into the clarity of communication that the early Christian communities apparently enjoyed due to a commonly shared experientially-based language.