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Alister McGrath Theology Basics (2018) Chapter 6: Spirit — Transcript

by Alister McGrath on Exploring Christianity · 2,352 words · 346 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00well hello Alister McGrath again it's
0:04very good to be with you and to
0:05introduce my textbook theology the
0:07basics now this seventh presentation is
0:10all about the Holy Spirit and this
0:13theological topic is covered in the
0:15sixth chapter of this textbook and as
0:19many you will know one of the most
0:20important theological developments of
0:22the late 20th century is the rise of the
0:25charismatic movement and the origins of
0:28this movement can be traced back right
0:29to the early years of 20th century
0:32especially the very famous Azusa Street
0:34revival in Los Angeles in 1906 and today
0:39of course the charismatic movement is a
0:40major influence in global Christianity
0:43and affects most mainline Christian
0:46churches and its emphasis on the role of
0:49the Holy Spirit in worship and the
0:52Christian life has given a much higher
0:54profile to theological reflections on
0:57the role of the Holy Spirit yet firstly
1:00legends have always been aware of the
1:03importance of the Holy Spirit even if
1:05recent developments have raised
1:07awareness of its significance so in this
1:10presentation we're looking at the area
1:12of the ology known as new mythology
1:15pluie mythology from the Greek word
1:17pneuma means spirit which talks about
1:19the importance of the holy spirit so
1:23let's think about how we translate this
1:26word spirit now the English language has
1:30to use at least three words wind breath
1:33and spirit to translate a single Hebrew
1:38word Rua and this word is used
1:41extensively in the Old Testament and it
1:44has a depth of meaning it's virtually
1:46impossible to reproduce in English and
1:50Rua
1:51is traditionally translated simply as
1:53spirit but actually it has a range of
1:56meanings and each of those meanings cast
1:59some light on the complex associations
2:02of the Christian idea of the Holy Spirit
2:06let's look at three associations of this
2:10important biblical term first of them
2:13the idea of Rua as wind wind the old
2:18testament sees a parallel between the
2:20power of the wind and the power of God
2:24and the image of the Spirit as
2:26redemptive power I think is best seen in
2:28the exodus from Egypt it speaks of a
2:32powerful wind dividing the waters of the
2:35Red Sea so God could lead the people of
2:39Israel through as they left behind
2:42captivity in Egypt and here the idea of
2:46luck conveys both the power and the
2:50redemptive purpose of God to speak of
2:53God as spirit is to remind Israel of the
2:56power and the dynamism of the God who
2:59called Israel out of Egypt let me come
3:03to the second category which is raw as
3:06breath breath and the idea of spirit is
3:10deeply associated with that of life and
3:14in Genesis 2 we read of God breathing
3:18into Adam the breath of life as a result
3:24of which he became a living being so we
3:28have here the idea of God breathing life
3:31into his creation God is the one who
3:35breathes the breath of life into empty
3:38shells and brings them to life and the
3:41famous vision of the valley of the dry
3:43bones we find this in Ezekiel 37 also
3:47illustrates this point can these dry
3:50bones live well the bones only come to
3:53life when breath enters them and so
3:57thinking about God the spirit that
3:59affirms that God is the one who creates
4:02and indeed recreates life so we come to
4:05the third category rock as inspiration
4:10and this refers to the filling of
4:12someone with the Spirit of God for a
4:15specific purpose such as for example
4:18inspiring a prophet to declare God's
4:21will to the people and the point here is
4:24that the prophets credentials
4:26step on an endowment with the spirit
4:30think for example the prophet Micah who
4:33spoke these words in the eighth century
4:35BC but as from me I am filled with par
4:40with the Spirit of the Lord and with
4:43justice and might to declare to Jacob
4:46his transgression and to Israel his sin
4:51so how did Christian theologians develop
4:54these ideas it's interesting to see that
4:57early patristic writers in other words
5:00early writers of the Christian faith
5:02were hesitant to speak openly of the
5:06Holy Spirit as divine or indeed speak
5:09about the Spirit as being God why
5:12because they did not think this was
5:15explicitly stated in Scripture however
5:19as they reflected more on the person and
5:21the work of Holy Spirit it became clear
5:24that the fool divinity of the Holy
5:26Spirit had to be recognized for example
5:29Gregory even as the answer stressed at
5:32the Bible's use of the word holy to
5:35refer to the spirit implied that the
5:38Spirit was something that sanctifies
5:41that made holy not something that itself
5:46needed to be sanctified to be made holy
5:50do you see the point he's making
5:52let's look at another patristic writer
5:55the theologian did he muster blind who
5:58died towards the end of the fourth
6:00century and did him assume many other
6:02early Christian writers were clear that
6:05according to the Bible the Spirit was
6:07responsible for the creating renewing
6:10and sanctifying of God's creatures yet
6:14how could one creature renew or sanctify
6:19another creature if the Holy Spirit
6:22performed functions which were specific
6:25to God it must follow the Holy Spirit
6:28shares in the divine nature so again we
6:32see this pattern what the spirit does
6:36reflects what the Spirit is
6:39there's another point here and that is
6:42the way in which the spirit is referred
6:44to in the baptismal formula of the judge
6:47let me explain to you what there is in
6:50Matthew's Gospel right at the end the
6:53risen Christ commanded his disciples to
6:55go and make disciples of all the nations
6:59baptizing them in the name of the Father
7:02and the Son and the Holy Spirit so that
7:06baptismal formula links together Father
7:09Son and Holy Spirit and Athanasius of
7:13Alexandria argued that this formula
7:15established the closest of connections
7:18between the three members of the Trinity
7:21it made it impossible to suggest the
7:24father and son alone were divine rasz
7:27the Spirit was just the creature so then
7:31what does the Holy Spirit actually do
7:33and many theologians try to provide
7:36brief summaries of the work of the
7:39Spirit and a very good example is found
7:42in basil of Caesarea succinct statement
7:44from the fourth century
7:46listen to this through the Holy Spirit
7:49we are restored to paradise led back to
7:54the kingdom of heaven adopt this
7:57children given confidence to call god
7:59father and to share in Christ's grace
8:03called children of light and given a
8:07share in eternal glory now I'll read
8:10that again so you can appreciate how
8:12richness is through the Holy Spirit we
8:15are restored to Paradise LED back to the
8:19kingdom of heaven adopt this children
8:22given confidence to call god father and
8:25to share in Christ's grace called
8:28children of light and given a share in
8:30eternal glory so let's try unpack all of
8:35this Christian theology has generally
8:38understood the work of the Holy Spirit
8:40to focus on four broad areas affirming
8:45God's active presence in the world
8:47making God known to humanity through
8:50revelation
8:51enabling us to take hold of Christ and
8:53salvation and energizing the Christian
8:57life let's explore the Christian
8:59understanding of the role of the Spirit
9:01by reflecting on each of these four
9:03areas
9:04first of all God's active presence in
9:08the world and a central theme of the
9:11person and work of the Holy Spirit
9:12relates to God's active presence and
9:16action in the world the Spirit is seen
9:19as being active in the world preparing
9:22hearts and minds for an encounter with
9:25God and in his encyclical letter dominum
9:29at Vevey contemn which means the Lord
9:31and giver of life john paul ii
9:35emphasized that the holy spirit is
9:37already present in the world
9:40illuminating and informing minds that's
9:45a very important statement of the
9:47spirits activity in the world but
9:50secondly the spirit is also concerned
9:52with revealing God to humanity and the
9:56second century iron heiress wrote of the
9:59Holy Spirit through whom this prophets
10:02prophesied and our forebears learned of
10:05God and the righteous were led in the
10:08paths of justice and the key point here
10:11is the Holy Spirit leads us into God's
10:14truth without that spirit we can't find
10:18that truth in all its fullness and of
10:21course this idea is also expressed in
10:24the inspiration of Scripture and the
10:26subsequent responsibility of the church
10:29to interpret and apply this text and we
10:33are guided by the Spirit in this process
10:35of interpretation so we come to the
10:39third area in which the Spirit plays an
10:42important theological role and that is
10:44the appropriation of salvation we've
10:48ready note that our patristic writers
10:50justified the divinity of the Spirit
10:52with reference to the functions of the
10:55Spirit and many of those functions
10:58relate specifically to the doctrine of
11:01salvation for example the Holy Spirit in
11:05plays an important role in
11:07sanctification in making holy the Holy
11:11Spirit makes people holy and the Holy
11:16Spirit here plays a critical role in
11:18illuminating healing and enabling
11:21humanity to take hold of Christ and thus
11:24to benefit from his identity and his
11:27work now Protestant theologians of a
11:3116th century placed particular emphasis
11:33on this point for John Calvin the Holy
11:37Spirit plays a major role in relation to
11:40the establishment of a living
11:41relationship between Christ and the
11:43believer and the similar point is made
11:46in Catholic theology for example the
11:48second Second Vatican councils dogmatic
11:51Constitution revelation affirms the
11:54critical role of the Spirit in preparing
11:57the human mind and the human heart for
12:00both revelation and salvation and so we
12:04come to the fourth and final aspect the
12:07energization of the Christian life the
12:11Holy Spirit plays an especially
12:13important role in sustaining and
12:16upholding the Christian life both
12:18individually and commonly and the fifth
12:22century writer Cyril of Alexandria is
12:24one of many to stress the role of the
12:27Spirit in bringing unity within the
12:30church the Spirit enables the making
12:33real of God in personal and corporate
12:36worship and devotion the holy spirit
12:39also leads believers into a Christian
12:43life particularly enabling them to be
12:46moral and to be spiritual there's a lot
12:50more than that needs to be said by I
12:52think it's good in this chapter to look
12:54at Christian imagery and the Holy Spirit
12:57we haven't done that very much in
12:59earlier presentations but especially
13:00appropriate in dealing with the holy
13:03spirit now early Christianity developed
13:06a rich range of symbols as a way of
13:10expressing and representing as
13:12fundamental beliefs and values both of
13:14those of course is the cross for example
13:17Christians were regularly back
13:19with the symbol of the cross as a sign
13:22of all that the gospel meant and against
13:25men if you will know churches and other
13:27Christian places of meeting did not
13:29merely include across they're often
13:32built in this shape of a cross and you
13:35may remember that we noted earlier the
13:37symbol of a fish emerged as an important
13:40ways of representing core Christian
13:42beliefs about the identity and
13:45significance of Jesus Christ the Holy
13:50Spirit began to be linked with images
13:53around this time particular this symbol
13:57of a dove now the gospel descriptions of
14:00the baptism of Jesus often make
14:03reference to a doubt for example
14:05referring to the spirit descending like
14:08a dove on him as you can see in this
14:11rather nice icon depicting the baptism
14:14of Christ from the 5th century onwards
14:17the image of a dove came to be used to
14:20represent the Holy Spirit especially in
14:23the context of Christian baptism but
14:27it's also used in other contexts for
14:29example the 17:55 depiction of the
14:33Trinity shows each of the person of the
14:37Trinity individually as interesting to
14:41note how the Holy Spirit is represented
14:44here so that is a brief overview of some
14:50themes relating to the Holy Spirit again
14:52there's so much more could be said but
14:55let's just work through the structure of
14:57this chapter so you can get more out of
14:59it as you read it through on your own as
15:02you might expect we begin by looking at
15:04biblical models of the Holy Spirit to
15:08enable you to gain a sense of the range
15:10of this idea in Scripture and hence in
15:13Christian theology we then look at IRA
15:16næss who spent a lot of time thinking
15:18about the theological role of the Holy
15:21Spirit and you'll find that quite
15:23interesting we then look at the debate
15:27about the divinity of Holy Spirit in the
15:29patristic period and really this look at
15:32the way which the early church moved to
15:35the firm conclusion that it had to speak
15:38about the Holy Spirit
15:39as being divine the reasons that are
15:42really interesting we then come to
15:45debate sometimes referred to is the
15:47Filioque debate that refers to the
15:50Nicene Creed talking about the spirit
15:53refer in effect proceeding from the
15:56father and the son and that proved
16:00controversial then the next section
16:03deals with a function of the spirit and
16:05then we look at the symbol of the spirit
16:08and of which that's not already briefly
16:10but also to others far and oil then we
16:14end as always with a text in this case
16:17with the Cambridge theologian Sarah cook
16:19these reflections on the role of the
16:22Holy Spirit in thinking about prayer and
16:25as always there is so much more that
16:28could be said about this topic but I
16:30hope this short presentation gives you a
16:33useful framework to begin thinking about
16:35this area of Christian theology on your
16:38own I look forward to speaking to you
16:40again soon and we move on to look at the
16:43Christian doctrine of the Trinity
16:46discussed in the seventh chapter of
16:49theology the basics we've talked about
16:51God Jesus and the Holy Spirit so we're
16:54now ready to move on and explore that's
16:57rich Stockton the Trinity in more detail
17:00thank you so much for listening
17:11you

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