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Ask a Theologian: Believing in the Holy Spirit

Pentecost from the workshop of Bernard van Orley 

Dear Theologian,

Every Sunday, when we recite the Creed, I find myself saying, “We believe in the Holy Spirit...” What does it mean to believe in the Holy Spirit? Does it make any difference in the way I am to understand and live my Christian life?

Uninformed

Dear Uninformed,

In asking about the Holy Spirit, you are asking about God, and so any attempt to answer your question will involve the use of religious symbolism. This kind of symbolism, derived from Sacred Scripture, permeates our shared life of faith. When we appreciate its significance, it can draw us deeply into the Mystery that is too great for our conceptual and rational language. This is especially true when we try to think about the Holy Spirit.

In Scripture, fire is often associated with the awesome power and holiness of God. For example, Moses hides his face in reverence before the burning bush (Ex 3:1-6). Later, when he has brought the people of Israel to the sacred mountain in the desert, God’s glory appears as a raging fire upon the mountain top (Ex 24:16-17).

The story of Pentecost in the New Testament takes the image of “the fire of God” to a different level of encounter and intimacy. There, the blazing energy of God is imagined as settling upon, filling and empowering each disciple in a way that is unique and personal. “Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit …” (Acts 2:3-4)

Fire is not the only symbol of the Spirit in Scripture. Equally prominent and suggestive are the symbols wind and breath. In fact, there is a single Hebrew word, ruach, that can be translated as either “spirit” or “wind” or “breath,” depending on the context.

In the account of creation, in the very first book of the Bible, God’s ruach is said to move or hover over the dark and formless waters of chaos. (Gen 1:2) This can be translated variously: “The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters” (KJV), “… a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.” (NRSV).

The image of breath is found already in the second chapter of Genesis: “…the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.” (Gen 2:7)

Both wind and breath occur again in the magnificent vision of the valley of dry bones in Ezekiel 37. The mighty wind/breath/spirit of God brings the dead to life, signifying God’s intention to resurrect his people Israel from the grave and restore them in their own land.

The most vivid and moving use of the breath image occurs in the New Testament, when the risen Christ comes to his disciples, bringing them peace and imparting to them the Holy Spirit. Just as the first human being was created when God breathed his own Spirit into the “earth creature” (Gen 2:7), so now the disciples are created anew when Christ breathes his Spirit into them.

“Jesus said to them, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’” (Jn 20:21-22)

Image and narrative draw us into the great Mystery and invite us to believe in it. In order, however, to unfold the implications of such belief, we also need at times the more prosaic and rational language of theologians. So let me quote now from the Catechism of the Book of Common Prayer.

“The Holy Spirit is the Third Person of the Trinity, God at work in the world and in the Church even now.” [1] This very succinct formulation of the Church’s teaching about the Holy Spirit needs to be developed and unfolded in order to appreciate its profound meaning.

When we say “We believe in the Holy Spirit,” we are first and foremost making an act of faith in God. But “believing in” the Holy Spirit is not merely a matter of acknowledging the “reality” of God (believing “that God is”). It is a matter of entrusting oneself to God in an attitude of surrender, obedience, and utter openness.

Furthermore, God the Holy Spirit, to whom we entrust ourselves, must be understood as being “at work in the world and in the Church even now.” The Spirit is active, dynamic, creative—bringing into being what did not exist and raising the dead to life. (Rom 4:17)

Truly believing in the Holy Spirit, with heart and mind, makes all the difference in how you understand and live your life of Christian commitment.

First of all, it means that you see your very life of faith in Christ as made possible only by the presence and power of God the Holy Spirit within you. It is sheer gift, not your own achievement.

Believing in the mystery of the Holy Spirit involves the attitude of utter and unqualified dependence upon God in all your efforts and labors. This involves a profound humility and detachment with regard to the good works that you carry out. This runs counter to the tendency to glory in one’s own achievements (what St. Paul calls “boasting”). In reality, all is gift.

When we are submissive to the Spirit, we put ego aside and let God act through us. Instead of asking God to help us do something that we intend, we simply ask God to take us, fill us, and use us for God’s purposes. Being yielded to the Spirit also involves being taught, strengthened, encouraged, and filled at times to overflowing with the joy of God.

The action of the Spirit is, of course, by no means limited to the individual. To believe in God the Holy Spirit is to believe that God is creating and continually renewing a community in history which lives with the life of the risen Jesus, a community that transcends all boundaries of time, place, race, and culture, a community in which sinful people are forgiven, healed, and transformed. 

In this Spirit-created communion, there are many different gifts and functions, but one shared life “in Christ.” “…we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us…” (Rom 12:5-6)

Believing in the Holy Spirit allows us to live with hope in the midst of troubles, confusion, and uncertainty. This is true not only for each individual person, but also for the social reality that is the Church. If we believe that God the Holy Spirit is actively present, “at work,” both in our personal journeys and in the long pilgrimage of the Church through history, we have a reason for hope, even though the present situation may look very dark. It is God the Holy Spirit who creates, guides, re-creates and renews the Church in every generation.

Believing in the Holy Spirit also gives us hope for the larger world beyond the Church—because the Holy Spirit is God “at work” in the entire world, in every individual human person and in every community of persons. Wherever we recognize healing and reconciliation, we can rejoice in the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Believing in the Holy Spirit enables us to live with a confident, positive attitude. We need not be afraid of the future, for it is God’s future. We need not cling to past customs and thought patterns, but can be open to the new. For it is characteristic of God the Creator Spirit to be always doing something new. “Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” (Isa 43:18-19)

It is a momentous confession of faith when we say, in the Creed, “We believe in the Holy Spirit.” But it is perhaps only in personal prayer that each of us reaches the deepest realization of what this means.

In Christ,
The Theologian

[1]BCP, p. 852.

The Rev. Wayne L. Fehr wrote a column for a previous version of the diocesan newsletter called "Ask a Theologian." He answered questions from ordinary Christians trying to make sense of their faith. Now he's back with a monthly column once again. You can find and purchase his book "Tracing the Contours of Faith: Christian Theology for Questioners" here. 

Ask a Theologian: Communion of Saints

'Screen of Saints and Angels' at Coventry Cathedral, by John Hutton (1906 - 1978). Photo by Tara Rutledge - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=86592537

Dear Theologian,

What is meant by “the communion of saints”? Every time I recite the Apostles’ Creed at Morning Prayer, I say that I believe in it, but I am vague about its meaning. Is this an important doctrine? And does it have any bearing on my own life of Christian faith?

Looking for Enlightenment

Dear Looking,

Let’s start with the word “saints.” We don’t ordinarily apply this word to ourselves, since it seems to affirm a higher degree of holiness than we dare to claim. But it is a surprising fact that in the New Testament this word refers to all Christians. (Rom 1:7, 1 Cor 1:2)

This usage reflects the conviction that all those who belong to Christ through faith and baptism are called to be powerfully transformed by the Holy Spirit into the image of Christ. They are not necessarily morally better than other people, but they are involved in a process of being made holy, no matter how far they may be from reaching the goal (Phil 3:12-14).

What is meant, then, by the communion of saints? The word “communion” translates the Greek word koinonía, which means fundamentally “a common sharing in” something. It can also be translated by the word “fellowship.” For Christian faith, what the “saints” share in is Christ. So in the New Testament, koinonía is the word used for the community of believers. What they have in common is the crucified and risen Lord who lives in them by the power of the Holy Spirit. “God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” (1 Cor 1:9; see also Acts 2:41-42 and 1 Jn 1:3.)

This “fellowship” or “communion” involves the participants in a relationship of mutual love and solidarity.

“As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” (Col 3:12-14; see also Rom 12:9-10.)

This unique fellowship unites people of very different backgrounds, across all boundaries of race, class, or gender. It is not a matter of uniformity, but rather of “diversity in communion.”

“…in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” (Gal 3:26-28; See also Col 3:11-12.)

Furthermore, as the Church has come to believe, this communion of people “in Christ” is not broken even by death. There is a spiritual unity of the living with all those who have gone before them in faith. The great fellowship extends beyond all boundaries of time or place, to include all those who have been or ever will be gathered into Christ.

Is the communion of saints an important doctrine of Christian faith? Rightly understood, it is central. St. Paul considered that the “mystery” of God’s eternal purpose for mankind was revealed precisely in the joining together of Jews and Gentiles into one new community.

“In former generations this mystery was not made known to humankind, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit: that is, the Gentiles have become fellow heirs, members of the same body, and sharers in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.” (Eph 3:5-6; see also Eph 2:11-22.)

Does the doctrine of the communion of saints have any bearing on your own life of Christian faith? Here are some considerations to ponder.

The life of faith that you live is really a participation in the communion of saints. To belong to Christ is to belong to his Body, the Church. If you let your living be illuminated by this truth, you will value highly your participation in the “fellowship” of the Church in various ways (liturgical worship, education, service, social interaction). You will not think of your personal spirituality as utterly private, but rather as a sharing in a great communal process of “formation” and indeed of “transformation” in Christ.

You will find strength and encouragement in the many witnesses who have lived the faith before your time. (Heb 12:1) You will also be strengthened by the good example of so many other people now living, in whom the mystery of Christ is “bodied forth.”

And when you experience the death of people whom you have loved, your faith in the communion of saints will sustain you. The sharing in Christ which we have known together is not ended by death.

One final point: When we experience the joy and blessedness of sharing in the communion of saints, we desire to include others in that fellowship. We are motivated to be missionaries and apostles. This is well expressed in the First Letter of John:

“We declare to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.” (1 Jn 1:3-4)

Faithfully,
The Theologian

The Rev. Dr. Wayne L. Fehr wrote a column for a previous version of the diocesan newsletter called Ask a Theologian. He answered questions from ordinary Christians trying to make sense of their faith. Now he's back with a monthly column once again. You can find and purchase his book on Tracing the Contours of Faith: Christian Theology for Questioners here. 

Ask a Theologian: Through Christ

Dear Theologian,

Why do the liturgical prayers of the Church typically end with the words “through Jesus Christ our Lord”? What does this mean, anyway?

Faithful Church-goer


Dear Church-goer,

Your question points to the fundamental dynamic of Christian faith life. It is only Christians who address God in this peculiar way. To ask why they do this is to be drawn more deeply into the mystery of Jesus the Christ. This is a matter of every-day spirituality for all believers, not merely a question of liturgical correctness.

From the very beginnings of Christianity, believers have had to consider how Jesus the Crucified and Risen One was involved in their relationship with God.

The Church’s liturgical way of praying “through Jesus Christ our Lord” expresses clearly the mediating function of Christ. We find the same pattern in nearly every Collect prayer. It is expressed most powerfully in the climactic words of the Great Thanksgiving in the celebration of the Eucharist: “By him, and with him, and in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all honor and glory is yours, Almighty Father, now and for ever. Amen.”

This way of praying establishes the pattern not only for our “asking” but for our very existence in relationship to God.

Our faith in Jesus as “the Christ” or “the Lord” does not terminate in him; rather it leads us through and with him into his eternal relationship to the Father in the unity of the Spirit.

Jesus recognized as the Christ brings people to the Father, so that they become intimate sons and daughters of the living God. In this relationship of utter intimacy there is no place for fear or shame, as we cry out to God with the same word that Jesus used, “Abba! Father!” (Gal 4:6, Rom 8:15-16)

Notice the consequences of this truth for everyday faith-living. We have confident “access” (Eph 3:12) to the unspeakable mystery of God because we are baptized into a permanent union with Jesus our brother, a fellow human being who is like us in all things except sin, but whose humanity is united inseparably with the eternal Word.

It is by God’s sheer graciousness that we have been brought into this “family relationship.” When the celebrant of the Eucharist introduces the Lord’s Prayer, we are reminded that it is an act of staggering audacity to address the eternal Mystery with the intimate family word, “Father.” It is only because we have been made one with Jesus the Son that we dare to do this. “And now, as our Savior Christ has taught us, we are bold to say ... Our Father.” [1]

All this is implied in the simple liturgical formula, “through Jesus Christ our Lord.” To become aware of it is to enter more deeply into our day-to-day living of the great mystery of our baptism.

To let this influence our thinking may help to resolve some of the nagging uncertainties that sometimes trouble our minds. Instead of asking, “where is Jesus in my relationship with God,” we may wind up asking, “where am I in that identification with Jesus which makes my relationship with God intimate and saving?”

Faithfully,

The Theologian

The Rev. Dr. Wayne L. Fehr wrote a column for a previous version of the diocesan newsletter called Ask a Theologian. He answered questions from ordinary Christians trying to make sense of their faith. Now he's back with a monthly column once again. You can find and purchase his book on Tracing the Contours of Faith: Christian Theology for Questioners here. 

[1] BCP, p. 363.