In
defence of the Holy Spirit’s ‘Power’
Paul
Thompson
In his article ‘Renewing Renewal’ (Issue
33), Chris Webb offered a “couple of guesses” as to what
charismatic renewal might look like if it was itself to be renewed.
He used as his starting point a conversation between Joseph of Panephysis,
one of the early church’s ‘desert fathers’, and his disciple Lot,
who on wondering how he could improve his spiritual life received the reply, “Lot,
if you want to, you can become all fire”.
From the powerful symbolism and implications of this picture he
acknowledges the contribution to the life of the church that charismatic renewal
has made and goes on to wonder what the future might hold, making the point in
passing that charismatic renewal can not stand still without becoming a “dead
husk” rather than a “living tradition”.
He continues by making the point, that “the church community is
designed for insiders, and is both hard to relate to and hard to break into”
and to counter this problem he suggests that it might be possible to “address
with more urgency how people can experience the life of Christ in the Spirit
without coming to ‘church’ at all; how,
by discovering Jesus in new contexts, they can find new expressions of Christian
community, ‘church for beginners’.”
Like Abraham, we are to risk everything “to follow the promise
of the God who goes before us”.
The problem he outlines for the church is a very real one
and impossible to deny as we see, especially in Wales, the results of near
unstoppable decline in church attendance accompanied with the closure of
hundreds of churches and the general marginalisation of the church in an
increasingly secular society. The
church community does increasingly look as if it is only intended “for
insiders” and much of the jargon and language we use does sound as if we
are “speaking in tongues even when we’re speaking English” or Welsh
for that matter. It is also
true that the need to find ways of “discovering Jesus in new contexts”
is now urgent, although there is much disagreement about what that might mean in
practice and whether or not it is entirely necessary to discover ways of
experiencing “the life of Christ in the Spirit without coming to
‘church’ at all”. Having
said all of this, the difficulty I have with Chris’s argument is the way he
continues by suggesting that part of the problem is the use of the word
‘power’ in charismatic language and that maybe we should place “a
little less of the spotlight on the glitzy and glamorous gifts of the Spirit,
and a little more on the rather more plain but nutritious fruit of the
Spirit.”
The problem is that to dismiss the
word ‘power’ in this way is in my view both dangerous and unbiblical.
It is dangerous because it signals a return to the days when the Holy
Spirit was seen as a largely inspirational but not very important – or
powerful - person of the Trinity; and it is unbiblical because, at least in the
Authorised Version of the Bible (the only version I have available on my
computer), the word ‘power’ is a biblical word.
It appears 260 times, of which 142 are in the New Testament, 37 in the
Gospels and 56 in the Letters of Paul.
In
the Gospels we read of the Son of Man who comes ‘with power and great
glory’ (Mat.24.30), of the Kingdom of God which will ‘come with
power’ (Mk.9.1) and of the ‘power of the Spirit’ (Lk.4.14) that
enables Jesus to return to Galilee. We
also read that Jesus gives both power and authority to the twelve who are sent
out two by two (Lk.9.1) and instructs them to wait to be ‘clothed with
power from on high’ (Lk.24.49) as they wait for the Day of Pentecost.
In his letters Paul describes how people are won for the gospel
not just by what is said but also by ‘the power of signs and miracles,
through the power of the Spirit’ (Romans 15.19, cf .also 1Thes.1.5), or by
‘a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that … faith might not rest
on men’s wisdom but on God’s power’ (1 Cor 2.4b-5). But
this is not power that has to do with having power over others, rather it is
power to ‘stand against the devil’s schemes.
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers,
against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the
spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.’ (Eph.6.11b-12).
This is power that enables Paul in his weakness to recognise God saying ‘My
grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness’ (2
Cor.12.9) and that is ‘held in jars of clay to show that this all
surpassing power is from God and not from us’ (2 Cor.4.7) It is the power of God’s Holy Spirit prompting
Paul to encourage us to ‘be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power!’ (Eph.6.10)
We are called to follow the example of Jesus especially in
regard to his character. He
desired to serve others and showed this most powerfully in the washing of the
disciple’s feet on the night before he was betrayed (John 13.1-17).
Yet even Jesus’ crucifixion is a demonstration of power.
Jesus lays down his life, not as an act of weakness, but as a powerful
act of self- sacrifice. Choosing
to live sacrificially for the benefit of others is not an act of weakness;
anymore than giving your life in battle is an act of weakness, generally we see
these actions as acts of self-sacrifice.
Jesus chooses to lay down his life (John 10.18) and so sets a powerful
example of self-sacrifice empowered by the Holy Spirit.
We
are also called to follow the example of Jesus in regard to his ministry.
When Jesus sent out the twelve [Lk.9.1-6) and the seventy-two (Lk
10.1-12), he gave them power and authority to do the work he was doing himself. In
Acts 2 when Peter preaches to the crowd he demonstrates from Joel that the Holy
Spirit is to be given in every generation so that by these wonders ‘everyone
who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved’ (Acts 2.16-21)
Spiritual gifts are given so that we too might be able to
continue the work of Jesus entrusted with power to the first Christians at
Pentecost and down through the ages to us in our generation.
Thus
the spiritual gifts of 1 Cor.12.4-11 are not less important than
the spiritual fruit of Gal.5.22-26.
The overall aim of the Spirit is to empower us to be like Jesus, in
both His character and ministry, as
we live out our calling to
continue this ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Joseph of Panephysis’ advice to Lot is exactly right, we really can ‘become
all fire’ as we take Chris Webb’s advice and ‘long for God’,
for God will fill us with the power of His Pentecostal fire, so that empowered
by the Holy Spirit we are able do all that Christ has commissioned us to do.