Lecture 3 - Pneumatology Flashcards
Pneumatology
The study of the Holy Spirit.
Ontological Pneumatology
Discusses the person of the Spirit: his divinity, personhood, and procession
Seven Arguments for the Divinity of the Holy Spirit
Explicit passages, baptism of Jesus, baptismal formula, apostolic benedictions, attributes of the Spirit, possibility of blaspheming the Spirit, and the works of the Spirit
Personhood of the Spirit
The Spirit is not a force or power. He is a person of the Godhead, capable of relationship.
Pneumatomachians
Say the Spirit is a force, not a person. The Spirit is a tool and doesn’t have the power to do anything.
Socinianism
Deny the Trinity by denying the Spirit. Said he was an instrument of the first two persons.
Jehovah’s Witness
The Spirit is a force emanating from God rather than a person.
Eternal Procession
The Spirit’s eternal relation of origin, eternally proceeding from the Father and Son.
Biblical Case for the Spirit’s Personhood
Scripture discusses the Spirit in a personal way: grief, will, insulted, testifies, teaches, leads, prays.
Filioque Controversy
“And the Son.” The discussion of whether the Spirit proceeds from only the Father or the Father and the Son. A leading cause in the great schism (aligning with the question of inspiration).
Modern Social Trinitarianism
The economy constitutes the immanent
Eternal Functional Subordination
The economy is projected onto the immanent.
Orthodox View of Trinity
The economy reflects and reveals the immanent. The work of each person is fitting to their relation of origin.
Functional Pneumatology
The work of the Spirit
Inseparable Operations
There is one essence and one will in the Trinity, so there is not separation of the work or operations of the Trinity.
Appropriation
Certain acts in the operation are appropriated to one person.
The Spirit in Creation
We don’t understand, but work of ordering, and breathing out creation (Ruach word for breath and spirit)
The Spirit in Scripture
The Spirit is responsible for inspiring and illuminating Scripture. The Spirit received the Word from the Father and Son, passed it onto the human authors, and teaches readers what it means.
Inspiration
Father to Son to Spirit to Prophets and Apostles who wrote it for readers.
Illumination
The Spirit reveals the meaning of the Scripture in the reading of Scripture.
The Spirit in Salvation
All members of the Trinity are involved in salvation.
Accomplishment
Historical events that Jesus went through that made salvation possible.
Application
Salvation being applied to a person’s account; the implications of the accomplishment
The Spirit’s Economic Role in Salvation
The Spirit is primarily involved in the application of salvation. In the accomplishment, he is the one who makes sense of how there is no communicatio idiomatum, empowering Christ’s ministry.
The Spirit and the Church
We do not have the church without the Spirit. The Spirit shows up and so does the church. The Spirit converts and then keeps believers.
