The Holy Spirit (New Studies in Dogmatics)

by Christopher R. J. Holmes

Publisher:

Zondervan

, 2015

Overview

Who is the Holy Spirit and how does the Spirit come to be in relation to the Father and the Son? What is the mission of the Spirit and where does it come from? Chris Holmes takes up the questions surrounding the Spirit’s procession and mission with the help of three of the church’s greatest teachers—Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, and Karl Barth. Drawing on their engagements with the Fourth Gospel, Holmes presents an account of the Spirit’s identity, origin, and acts, to show how the acts of the Spirit derive from the Spirit’s life in relation to Father and Son—and the extent to which the Spirit’s mission testifies to the Spirit’s origin. Holmes presents a way forward for pneumatology. Housed within the doctrine of the Trinity, pneumatology’s joyful task is to describe the Spirit’s acts among us in light of their source in the Spirit’s acts in God. The end of this inquiry is our beatitude—knowledge of the Trinity that yields to love of the Trinity.

Contents

Top Highlights

“Without the knowledge of God that the Spirit effects in us—specifically, knowledge that Jesus is God—we approach Jesus as Nicodemus did, that is, ‘by night’ (John 3:3).” (Page 47)

“Importantly, the Spirit that binds together in love in the life of God gives rise to love among us. The Spirit’s mission reflects actions internal to the Trinity itself. The Spirit effects love of Christ and Christ’s body, the church: ‘Let us believe, brothers and sisters, that to the extent that someone loves the Church of Christ, to that extent he has the Holy Spirit.’⁷¹ The Spirit’s mission of fostering love for the Son is commensurate with the Spirit’s procession as the love of the Father for the Son and the Son for the Father. The creature’s joy is to share in the love that is proper to the Holy Trinity. The Spirit binds us to the Son and thus to his body, his bride, the church.” (Page 75)

“Being-language refers to what is common to the three. Subsistence language indicates a relational way of existing that is not common to the three. So Augustine: ‘He [God] subsists by way of relationship.’” (Page 65)

“When Christians call on the Spirit, we are calling on the Spirit of the risen Jesus. Rather than being directed away from Jesus Christ, the Spirit deepens our fellowship with him and his people, all to the glory of the Father. The Spirit does not replace Christ or take over from him. Rather, the Spirit’s work ‘is to carry forward the divine philanthropy begun in the incarnation.’⁴ The Spirit does not detract from Christ, supersede Christ, or act as his substitute. As we will see, the Spirit is primarily at work in relation to the Word (incarnate, written, and proclaimed), strengthening baptized children of God to remain true to Christ. Indeed, the mission of the Holy Spirit is coextensive with the mission of the Word (the Lord Jesus Christ).” (Page 21)

Product Details

• Title: The Holy Spirit
• Author: Christopher R. J. Holmes
• Series: New Studies in Dogmatics
• Publisher: Zondervan
• Print Publication Date: 2015
• Logos Release Date: 2018
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subject: Holy Spirit › History of doctrines
• ISBNs: 9780310491736, 9780310491705, 9780310491729, 0310491738, 0310491703, 031049172X
• Resource ID: LLS:HOLYSPRT
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2023-08-07T17:52:39Z

About Christopher R. J. Holmes

Christopher R. J. Holmes (ThD, Wycliffe College and University of Toronto) is associate professor in systematic theology at the University of Otago in New Zealand. He is an Anglican priest, and he is the author of The Holy Spirit, Ethics in the Presence of Christ, and Revisiting the Doctrine of the Divine Attributes: In Dialogue with Karl Barth, Eberhard Jüngel, and Wolf Krötke.