05.01 - Chapter 24 - A Holy Spirit
Part V
PNEUMATOLOGY THE PERSON AND WORK of THE HOLY SPIRIT
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Chapter 24 THE HOLY SPIRIT
Definition
Pneumatology (pneuma, spirit) is the study of the Person and work of God the Holy Spirit. Since the beginning of the New Testament Church many Christians are uninformed about the Spirit reflected by the church at Ephesus. When the Apostle Paul asked about this area of their understanding, he was shocked when the response came: “We have on so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost” (Acts 19:2). The Holy Spirit and Salvation Of primary concern is the work of the Holy Spirit in the area of salvation as He convicts of sin and calls souls to the Saviour. Because God is gracious any person may be exposed to the external call of the gospel, “Ho every one that thirsteth.” (Isaiah 55:1) “Come unto me all ye that labor.” (Matthew 11:28) "The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’” (Revelation 22:17) The external call to salvation is universal in that it is addressed to all people indiscriminately. Christ commands that the gospel be preached to every creature with compassion and clarity. "As ministers of the gospel are messengers between God and man, the first duty devolving upon them is to make a free offer of the grace of God, and the second is to strive with all might that it may not be offered in vain." (John Calvin) The gospel proclaims the terms of grace on which God is willing to save sinner.
Though the gospel is freely, fully, and universally proclaimed, it is certain that not all people will come to faith. Nevertheless, a universal call is not inconsistent with a personal election, or nonelection, because it is the means to the end in one case, and a ground of condemnation in the other. “The same sun which melts the butter hardens the clay.”
Why Preach the Gospel? The personal call to salvation through the external preaching of the gospel is addressed to individuals throughout the Scriptures because the way of Divine deliverance is not made known in any other way. Salvation cannot be fully discerned by the works of nature, by acts of providence, by intuition, or by deductive reasoning. The way of salvation can only be known by a Divine illumination from the Holy Spirit of the Scriptures being applied to the heart. That is the normal ministry of the Spirit. There are special cases to this work of the Spirit and that is in relation to those little ones who die. There is hope to believe that those who die in infancy will be in heaven through the graciousness of a merciful God. “Elect infants dying in infancy are regenerated and saved by Christ through the Spirit; who worketh when, and where, and how He pleaseth; so also are all other elect persons, who are incapable of being outwardly called by the ministry of the Word.” (The Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689, Chapter 10, Section 3; study John 3:3, John 3:5-6; John 3:8). An Effectual Calling In contrast to the external call by which many are called to saving faith but few are chosen to receive it (Matthew 20:16), there is an effectual call to salvation. This effectual call by the Holy Spirit which comes through the Word. Again, this is the normal means by which men are brought into a saving relation to God.
♦ Romans 8:30 “Whom He did predestinate, them He also called; and whom He called, them He also justified.”
♦ 1 Corinthians 1:9. “By whom ye were called unto the fellowship of His Son.”
♦ 1 Peter 2:9 “Who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”
♦ 1 Peter 5:10 “Who hath called us into His eternal glory by Christ Jesus.” In 1855, Charles Spurgeon told about an unusual experience he had. "Sometime ago, when I went into the county court to see what they were doing, I heard a man’s name called out, and immediately the man said, ’Make way! Make way! They call me!’ And up he came. Now, I call the chief of sinners tonight, and let him say, ’Make way! Make way doubts! Make way fears!
Make way sins! Christ calls me! And if Christ calls me, that is enough!" “Those whom God hath predestinated unto life; He is pleased in His appointed and accepted time, effectually to call, by His Word and Spirit, out of that state of sin and death in which they are by nature, to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ, enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God; taking away their heart of stone, and giving unto them a heart of flesh: renewing their wills, and by His almighty power determining them to that which is good, and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ; yet so as they come most freely, being made willing by His grace.” (The Baptist Confession of Faith, 1689, Chapter 10, Section 1; study Romans 8:30; Romans 11:7; Ephesians 1:10-11; 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14; Ephesians 2:1-6; Acts 26:18; Ephesians 1:17-18; Deuteronomy 30:6; Ezekiel 36:27; Ephesians 1:19; Psalms 110:3; Song of Solomon 1:4). An effectual call convicts, convinces, persuades, and enables the soul to close with Christ. The effectual call moves to secure the submission of the soul to God. The effectual call of God is particular, personal, efficacious, irresistible and is extended on the basis of grace. “This effectual call is of God’s free and special grace alone, not from anything at all foreseen in man, nor from any power or agency in the creature, being wholly passive therein, being dead in sins and trespasses, until being quickened and renewed by the Holy Spirit; he is thereby enabled to answer this call, and to embrace the grace offered and conveyed in it, and that by no less power than that which raised up Christ from the dead.” (The Baptist Confession of Faith, 1689, Chapter 10, Section 2; study 2 Timothy 1:9; Ephesians 2:8; 1 Corinthians 2:14; Ephesians 2:5; John 5:25; Ephesians 1:19-20).
What about those not Effectually Called?
“Others not elected, although they may be called by the ministry of the Word, and may have some common operations of the Spirit, yet not being effectually drawn by the Father, they neither will nor can truly come to Christ, and therefore cannot be saved: must less can men that receive not the Christian religion be saved, be they never so diligent to frame their lives according to the light of nature and the law of that religion they do profess” (The Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689, Chapter 10, Section 4; study Matthew 22:14; Matthew 13:20-21; Hebrews 6:4-5; John 6:44-45, John 6:65; 1 John 2:24-25; Acts 4:12; John 4:22; John 17:3). Though it seems a harsh thought that some are not to be found among the elect, no person ever need despair who longs to know something of God’s grace and glory. "He that mind’s God’s glory more than his own good, shall quickly find that God will even obscure His own glory to do him good" (Thomas Brooks) The heart that wants to be saved shall be saved for, "when a God of grace is upon a throne of grace, and a poor sinner stands by and begs for grace, and that in the name of a gracious Christ, in and by the help of the Spirit of grace, can it be otherwise but such a sinner must obtain mercy and grace to help in time of need?" (John Bunyan)