What to Expect from the Holy Spirit – Book Review

October 27, 2014

As far as the Persons of the Trinity go, it feels like the Holy Spirit takes a third-row, back seat, to the Father and Son, Jesus Christ. While somewhat understandable, this obviously should not be. Perhaps we just don’t understand the Holy Spirit? Perhaps our lack of understanding has contributed to a lack of appreciation?

As I read “What to Expect From the Holy Spirit” by Dr. Earl Radmacher, I sensed his sincere desire to help readers know, understand, and appreciate the Holy Spirit. Not as some “third member” of the Trinity, but as One in Union with Father and Son, and the believer.

Dr. Radmacher has laid out in this work a clear picture of the Person of the Holy Spirit, illuminating what is sometimes a faded perception. You will learn and understand:

The Holy Spirit’s role within the Oneness of the Trinity
What is meant by having the “power” of the Holy Spirit
How the Holy Spirit is integral in the function and beauty of the Church
What the distinction is between the Gift of the Holy Spirit, and the Spiritual Gifts empowered by the Holy Spirit
How the Holy Spirit works in the life of a Christian

Importantly, Dr. Radmacher weaves the over-arching desire of the Holy Spirit through the entire work, that is, “in exalting the name of Jesus, in lifting His name up, and in drawing all people to Him.” (Jeremy Myers – editor, contributor, publisher). Dr. Radmacher says,

The Spirit of God has only the desire to focus on Jesus Christ.”

Amen.

“What to Expect from the Holy Spirit” is a terrific work. You will be blessed by buying and reading it. You can purchase the book on Amazon, or at the publisher, Redeeming Press.

BONUS OFFER

There is a BONUS offer with this book. This book is based off some sermons that Dr. Earl Radmacher gave at Moody Founder’s Week in 1980. Redeeming Press is offering a chance for anybody who purchases the book before October 31, 2014, to get these 5 Sermon Audio files FOR FREE. These files are no longer available from Moody Audio, but if you were to purchase the files, they would cost about $10 each, or $50 for the set.

Anyone who purchases the book during the week of October 27-31, 2014 can send a proof of purchase to holyspirit@redeemingpress.com to get access to download these 5 Sermon Audio files for free. All you have to do is forward a receipt of your book purchase to the email address. After verifying your purchase, Redeeming Press will send you a link where you can download the 5 Sermon Audio Files from Dr. Earl Radmacher.

This offer is only valid during this week! After October 31, these audio files will no longer be available for free to those who purchase the book.

Carol

“Some christian traditions have taught that the role of the Holy Spirit is the Sanctifier. If that is true, than the emphasis would be on Christ in the believer (infused grace) more than the believer in Christ. Although both perspectives are biblical, ClassicalProtestants and hyper-Augustinian Catholics have tended to emphasize the believer in Christ (Justification) over Christ in the believer (Sanctification), often to the point of denying the possibility of transformation (theosis). In most Calvinist traditions *grace* is a created power that enables the believer to keep the law, rather than the Uncreated Divine Presence that transforms/heals our humanity:

The typical moralist sees grace as a means to fulfill a commandment. He puts the commandment in the first place and sees the difference of Old and New Testaments in the observance of the Decalogue.
In the Old Testament they did not have the grace to keep the commandments; now in the New Testament they have sufficient grace if they use all the means, the sacraments, and so on.
This is an anthropocentric, moralistic approach which makes the grace of Christ and finally Christ Himself only the means for the law, for the commandments . But primacy is not the
law, the commandments “thou shalt” and “thou shalt not”; the primacy is our Lord, who in his grace, his tremendous love, comes to encounter us.” –Bernard Haering, C.Ss.R., Redemptorist Moral Theologian

The founding principle of “lex rex”–Law is King–of the Roman Empire has increasingly influenced both Catholic and Protestant theological perspectives as the influence of the Eastern Churches decreased after the Great Schism.

Does Radmacher’s teaching on the Holy Spirit come from a Latin/Western juridical or an Eastern relational theological perspective?

God does not condemn us to Hell; God wishes all humans to be saved. He will love us to all eternity, but there will exist the possibility that we do not accept the love and do not respond to it.
And the refusal to accept love, the refusal to respond to it, that precisely is the meaning of Hell. Hell is not a place where God puts us; it’s a place where we put ourselves. The doors of Hell, insofar as they have locks, have locks on the inside. –Kallistos Ware

God is not the “judge” of men in the sense of a magistrate who passes sentence and imposes a punishment, testifying to the transgression. He is judge because of what He is: the possibility of life and true existence. When man voluntarily cuts himself off from this possibility of existence, he is automatically “judged”. It is not God’s sentence but His existence that judges him. God is nothing but an ontological fact of love and an outpouring of love: a fullness of good, an ecstasy of loving goodness …Man is judged according to the measure of the life and existence from which he excludes himself. Sin is a self-inflicted condemnation and punishment which man freely chooses when he refuses to be as a
personal hypostasis of communion with God and prefers to “alter” and disorder his existence, fragmenting his nature into individual entities – when he prefers corruption and death …For the Church, sin is not a legal but an existential fact. It is not simply a transgression, but an active refusal on man’s part to be what he truly is: the image and “glory”, or manifestation, of God. ~ Christos Yannaras, The Freedom of Morality

In reading the NT, I noticed that although the Holy Spirit can be “quenched” or “grieved”, the Holy Spirit is never “angered.” Rather the Spirit’s Presence is experienced as Comforter or Counselor or Advocate.

Scripture does name an “Accuser”, however, and that makes me wonder whose work professing Christians claiming to be the “Moral Majority” are really doing:

Our purpose is not to condemn evil, but to correct it. With condemnation people can get lost, with understanding and assistance they will be saved.
Evil begins from bad thoughts.
When you are bitter and indignant, even just with your thoughts, you spoil a spiritual
atmosphere. You prevent the Holy Spirit from acting and allow the devil to increase the evil.
You should always pray, love and forgive, driving out of yourself every evil thought.

~Elder Porphyrios of Kapsokalyva
- Brandon Chase
  
  Carol, you always put so much thought and effort into your comments. Thank you, I appreciate it. Admittedly, some of what you’ve pointed out is above my head right now. But, to attempt to answer your question, I felt a more Western/Protestant influence in this book, than an Eastern/Athanasius influence. I agree with your points about Grace, and inclusion. Dr. Radmacher did make some traditional sounding statements regarding “salvation” and “hell,” which make me think that while his teaching on the Holy Spirit was overall solid – some of us may “see” things a little differently. Thanks again.
kenneth dawson

yea Carole is exactly right-I went to a very heavy calvanistic church at one time and that’s what they taught-you have the holy spirit in you to help you keep the law–but at the same time they had no love.
Carol

One of the best postings on the Trinity, which includes the role of the Holy Spirit, begins with the introduction at:

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/drybones/2012/03/trinitarian-spirituality-an-introduction/

The NT a Christology of “mutual indwelling”–Creation, including humanity, in Christ (the basis for an inclusive-as distinct from a universal-grace and Christ in the believer, or infused grace. The Jesus of history reveals our true humanity as an image-bearer of God. The Christ of faith or the Cosmic Christ reveals a Savior/Sustainer of the world, not just a Savior of the Church. A belief in the historic Jesus only without a faith in the Cosmic Christ leaves us with a God who is too small.

I believe that classical Protestantism (i.e. Calvinism/Lutheranism) ignores, or may even deny, the biblical testimony to the transformational power of infused grace. Luther recognized the centrality of forgiveness in the Gospel; but, apart from the transformational process of sanctification/theosis holiness becomes an eschatological hope,–Bonhoeffer’s “cheap grace” where Christian experience is a cycle of sin, claim your forgiveness, sin, claim your forgiveness with no existential break in the cycle of sin.

Four Walls
Separating Us from the New Testament

Four crises separate Western Christians on the one hand
from the New Testament writers and Eastern Christians on the other. If we understand
these crises and the effects they had, we can attempt to “roll them back” in
our minds and understand the New Testament more clearly.

The New Testament is in Greek, which has a large philosophical
vocabulary that Latin lacks. Ecumenical councils used Greek as the working
language; then they made an official translation into Latin for use in the
West. Many of the most heated debates were about which Latin words best
conveyed the meaning of the Greek resolution they had already agreed on.
Because Greek philosophical concepts had to be translated into Latin legal
concepts, theology in the West took on the character of codified law after the
West lost Greek. To this day, Orthodox theologians reason like rabbis, while
western theologians reason like lawyers.

West

Pelagianism

Augustine
accused Pelagius of teaching salvation by works

•
Western Christians are obsessed with not being
saved by works

•
Western Christians deemphasize ascetic
disciplines and exercises

•
Spirituality becomes a set of mental acts

•
Salvation is rescue from hell, rather than
transformation into glory

•
Determinism enters some parts of western
theology from Manichaeism through Augustine

Scholasticism

Theology moved from the monastery to the university

•
Western theology is an intellectual discipline
rather than a mystical pursuit

•
Western theology is over-systematized

•
Western Theology is systematized, based on a
legal model rather than a philosophical model

•
Western theologians debate like lawyers, not
like rabbis

Reformation

Catholic reformers were excommunicated and formed Protestant
churches

·
Western churches become guarantors of
theological schools of thought

·
Western church membership is often contingent on
fine points of doctrine

·
Some western Christians believe that definite
beliefs are incompatible with tolerance

·
The atmosphere arose in which anyone could start
a church

·
The legal model for western theology intensifies
despite the rediscovery of the East

Enlightenment

Philosophers founded empirical sciences

·
Western theologians attempt to apply empiricism
to theology

·
Western theologians agonize over the existence
of God

·
Western theologians lose, deemphasize, neglect,
marginalize, or explain away the supernatural

·
Western theologians no longer have coherent
answers for many practical religious questions

·
Western churches outsource the treatment of
religious problems to secular therapists

East and West

West

·
Western Christians are obsessed with not being
saved by works

·
Western Christians deemphasize ascetic
disciplines and exercises

·
Spirituality becomes a set of mental acts

·
Salvation is rescue from hell

·
The emphasis is on the cross

·
Determinism enters some parts of western
Christian theology

East

·
Works express faith, faith gives birth to works

·
Eastern Christians engage in fasting and other spiritual
disciplines

·
Spirituality involves both mind and body

·
Salvation is transformation into glory

·
The emphasis is on resurrection and
transformation

·
Determinism never entered Christian theology

West

·
Western theology is primarily an intellectual
discipline by professors

·
Western theology is over-systematized

·
Western theology is based on a legal model

Western theologians debate like
lawyers

East

·
Eastern theology is primarily a mystical pursuit
by monastics

·
Eastern theology is not as strictly systematized;
for example, the number of sacraments is not set and is not controversial

·
Eastern theology is based on a philosophical
model

·
Eastern theologians debate like rabbis

West

·
Western churches became guarantors of
theological schools of thought

·
Western church membership is often contingent on
fine points of doctrine

·
Some western Christians believe that definite
beliefs are incompatible with tolerance

·
The atmosphere arose in which anyone could start
a church

East

·
Eastern theology, while holding more strictly
than western theology on basic dogmas, is tolerant of differences of opinions
on finer points

·
Eastern church membership is contingent on
commitment and behavior

·
Eastern Christians have no difficulty
maintaining definite beliefs while remaining tolerant.

·
There was nothing corresponding to the
Protestant Reformation and there is no proliferation of sects within the
mainstream

West

·
Western Christians see a dichotomy of spirit and
matter

·
Western theologians attempt to apply empiricism
to theology

·
Western theologians agonize over the existence
of God

·
Western theologians have lost, deemphasized,
neglected, marginalized, or explained away the supernatural and miraculous

·
Western theologians no longer have coherent
answers for many practical religious questions (such as during bereavement)

·
Western churches outsource the treatment of
religious problems, such as bereavement, to secular therapists

East

·
Eastern Christians see a dichotomy of God and
creation

·
Eastern theologians are largely unaffected by
modernism

·
Eastern theologians do not agonize over the
existence of God

·
Eastern theologians systematize the
transcendent, the miraculous, and the mystical into their theology, without a
concept of ‘supernatural’

·
Eastern theologians have coherent and helpful
answers for most practical spiritual problems (such as during bereavement)

·
Eastern clergy, monastics, and lay for spiritual
direction, moral direction, and bereavement counseling; thus they do not
outsource religious problems to secular experts.

BONUS OFFER

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