The Holy Spirit: the giver of wisdom, power and

love

Some (theologians) would appear to dispense with the Spirit

altogether. In this category belong Dr. John Robinson and the

members of the ‘Honest To God’ movement, since they apparently

feel no need for ‘ the dimension of the supernatural’ – the beyond in

our midst – which is what the Holy Spirit stands for.

‘Flat-earthers’ they have been nicknamed, that is, men who, by

reducing the vertical to the horizontal, tend to turn theology into

anthropology. Karl Barth was once asked his opinion of them.

When I am in a conciliatory mood, he is said to have replied, I call

them ‘flat-tyre’ theologians. The pneuma, which is the Greek word

for both ‘air’ and ‘spirit’, has gone out of their theology; and when

the pneuma has gone out of a tyre, there is likely to be an accident.

A.M.Hunter, Jesus-Lord and Saviour,

London:SCM Press Ltd., 1976, p.121

~~~

(In Scripture)There is…an abundance of evidence that the Spirit is

thought of as divine…And this is of tremendous importance when

we know that the power that comes into our hearts and lives as we

become Christians is not the power of any creature, but that of none

less than God himself, then that makes all the difference. To be

closely allied to an angelic being is one thing. To have first-hand

experience of a cosmic force might be a little more. But to know the

power and the continuing presence of God himself is another and a

very different matter indeed.

Leon Morris, Spirit of the Living God,

London:Inter-Varsity Fellowship, 1961, p.51