In the Babylonian Captivity of the Church , he defended the sacraments of Baptism, Eucharist, and Penance, but criticized the sacramental system of Rome, and set up the Scriptures as the supreme authority in religion. In The Freedom of the Christian Man , he expounded the doctrine of salvation through justification by faith alone. The Augsburg Confession of , written by Philip Melanchthon and approved by Martin Luther, was the most widely accepted Lutheran confession of faith.
Once Sola Scriptura became the norm, it became a matter of personal interpretation. Huldrich Zwingli of Zurich, Switzerland was next, and he broke with Luther over the Eucharist, but his sect died out. The Anabaptists separated from Zwingli as they denied the validity of infant baptism; they survived as the Mennonites. While he agreed with Luther on the basic Protestant tenets of sola scriptura, salvation by faith alone, and the priesthood of all believers, he went even further on such issues as predestination and the sacraments.
George Fox, the son of Puritan parents, founded the Quakers in England in Thomas More refused to attend the wedding, and was imprisoned in the Tower of London and later beheaded in Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral in Two major sects that split off from the Anglicans were the Baptists , founded by John Smyth in , and later the Methodists , founded by John Wesley and his brother Charles. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, and peals of thunder, an earthquake, and a violent hailstorm.
A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. On December 12, , Juan Diego was obedient to the Blessed Virgin Mary's instruction to gather beautiful roses in his tilma and take them to the Franciscan Bishop Don Fray Juan de Zumarraga on his third visit to appeal for the building of a Church as requested by Our Lady. Juan Diego explained to the Bishop all that had passed. Then he put up both hands and untied the corners of crude cloth behind his neck.
The looped-up fold of the tilma fell; the flowers he thought were the precious sign tumbled out on the floor. The Bishop fell on his knees in adoration before the tilma, as well as everyone else in the room. For on the tilma was the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary, just as described by Juan Diego, and is still preserved today in original condition in Tepeyac on the outskirts of Mexico City.
Spanish conquistadors may have conquered the Aztecs in , but their ruthless behavior antagonized the people and conversions were few. Our Lady of Guadalupe conveyed the beautiful message of Christianity: It is no wonder that over the next seven years, from to , eight million natives of Mexico converted to Catholicism! Indeed, the Blessed Virgin Mary entered the very soul of Central America and became an inextricable part of Mexican life and a central figure to the history of Mexico itself.
A harbinger of things to come, Christianity would thrive in the Americas. Her appearance in the center of the American continents has contributed to the Virgin of Guadalupe being given the title "Mother of America. The Catholic Church reformed itself both through the positive work of renewal and through the impetus of the Protestant Reformation.
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Efforts at reform had already begun with the Oratory of Divine Love in Genoa in The strict order of the Theatines was founded in and made significant efforts at the reform of the parish clergy. The Capuchins were founded in Italy in to restore the Franciscan Order to its original ideals. Ignatius of Loyola began the Jesuit Order in Spiritual enrichment was kindled through the Spanish mystics St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross. The Council of Trent marked an important turning point for the Catholic Church, for it provided clarity on the beliefs of the Church, and ecclesiastical discipline was restored.
The doctrines established at Trent persist to this day. The Council addressed three areas: Seven major areas were included in doctrine: Both Tradition and Scripture were essential to the faith. The Latin Vulgate Bible was promoted as the only canonical Scripture. There was a clear definition of the seven sacraments. The Mass, known as the Tridentine Mass, was given strict form and was celebrated only in Latin. The Latin Tridentine Mass provided unity for the universal Church, for it was the same Mass in every place and time.
Discipline involved strict reform and the establishment of the seminary system for the proper and uniform training of priests. The office of indulgence seller was abolished, and doctrine on indulgences was clarified. A Bishop was allowed only one diocese and residence was required, begun by the reformer St. Charles Borromeo of Milan. Catholic Missionaries accompanied the explorers on their journeys, such as Christopher Columbus in , the Portuguese Vasco da Gama to Goa, India in , and Ferdinand Magellan to the Philippines in Francis Xavier exemplified the missionary movement, and has been recognized as second only to the Apostle Paul in his evangelical efforts.
The patron saint of missionaries, Francis Xavier sailed from Lisbon, Portugal and landed in Goa in His humble way had great impact on the local people, and he trained the young in the Ten Commandments and the Lord's Prayer. He was soon reported to have baptized 10, a month. He then headed to Cape Comorin, the southern tip of India, where he made many conversions of the fishermen there. Andres de Urdaneta and the Augustinian monks sailed to Cebu, Philippines in He was a self-sacrificing man dedicated to protecting the natives, and received the name Motolinia for his life of poverty.
He recorded in his book History of the Indians of New Spain the dramatic conversions following the appearances of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The Dominican Bartholomew de Las Casas first went to the West Indies in as a soldier, but on viewing the horrendous enslavement of the native Indians through the Spanish encomienda system, was ordained as a Dominican priest in , the first ordination in America.
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In his role as human rights advocate for the Indians, he is considered an early pioneer of social justice. Missionary efforts would continue to the New World for years to come. The history of the English Bible is intimately intertwined with the history of the Reformation. He served until his death in , when he was succeeded by his son, Charles I.
It was a time when the English language reached its greatest expression in the works of William Shakespeare and the King James Bible. King James as head of the Church of England commissioned a group of bishops and scholars to establish an authoritative translation of the Bible from the original languages into English in There were several English versions available, either as translations of the Latin Vulgate or from the Greek-Latin parallel New Testament of Erasmus; the ones that follow influenced the King James scholars.
John Wycliffe produced a hand-written English translation of the Latin Vulgate in His colleague, Miles Coverdale, completed Tyndale's work, which formed the basis for the Great Bible , the first authorized Bible in English, which was placed in every church in England. When the Catholic Queen Mary came to the throne in , further work had to be done on the European continent, and the Geneva Bible, the first to have numbered verses, was published in The King James Bible originally included the Apocrypha but in a separate section.
A literary masterpiece of the English language, the King James Bible is still in use today. Christopher Columbus reached America in the Bahamas on October 12, Following the discovery of Florida by Ponce de Leon in , St. Augustine, Florida became the first permanent European settlement in North America in , from which missionaries spread Catholicism to the Native American Indians. Spanish explorations extended as far as Santa Fe, New Mexico, established in A wave of explorations to the New World continued.
Samuel de Champlain explored the St. Christianity continued to thrive in the New World as our young Nation developed.
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Four of the original 13 English colonies were specifically chartered for religious freedom, as a refuge from religious persecution in England at the time. The settlers soon enacted the Toleration Act of Maryland and founded St. Mary's Chapel in St. William Penn and the Quakers settled in in Pennsylvania. The Mennonites also moved to Pennsylvania in at the invitation of William Penn. The universal toleration offered in Pennsylvania continued to attract groups such as the Amish, Moravian Pietists, and Presbyterians.
The period from through the eighteenth century was known as the Age of Enlightenment in Europe. The time had come when men would set aside religious views and look to reason and social experience to guide society. It was the loss of Christian unity that led to the secularization of Western culture.
Whereas Christendom provided one message to European society, the pluralism of religions provided different answers to questions about life and led to skepticism and conflict rather than unanimous thought. Discoveries in science had much to do with the Age of Enlightenment. Copernicus proposed the sun is the center of the solar system and the earth revolved around the sun.
Galileo Galilei , the first to use a telescope, confirmed that Copernicus was right and was condemned by the Catholic Church. Scientists such as Isaac Newton in physics and Robert Boyle in chemistry were pioneers and gave birth to technology, the application of science to practical problems, which led to the Industrial Revolution. Progress based on science and technology became a major goal of Western Society.
Mankind was left without its mooring, and philosophers set out in different directions to provide meaning for humanity. The critical Rationalism of Rene Descartes applied to philosophy the mathematical method so effective in science, that everything was questionable until it could be proved beyond all doubt. Blaise Pascal took a different stance and presented Pascal's Wager: John Locke applied reason to confirm revelation. The political philosopher Baron de Montesquieu of France proposed that the best form of government would incorporate a separation of powers into executive, legislative, and judicial branches and would be based on the natural law.
David Hume proposed a science of man, and is considered a pioneer in the social sciences. But Jean-Jacques Rousseau , considered the father of Romanticism, took an opposite approach and spoke of the noble savage, that man was happy only in his original native state, before government, laws, and politics chained mankind.
It was the German philosopher Immanuel Kant that defined the era: Unfortunately, the Age of Enlightenment ignored love, emotion, spirituality and concern for one's fellow man. It forgot that man is wounded by original and personal sin, and his reason is colored by desire and selfishness. In fact, the Age of Enlightenment brought the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror , Naziism, Communism, and the twentieth century, with its two World Wars, the bloodiest century in history.
Intellectual dryness and doctrinal religions prevalent during the Enlightenment Era led to a spiritual revival throughout Western Christian civilization, as seen with Pietism in Germany, Methodism in England and America, and the Great Awakening in the United States. Philipp Jakob Spener of Germany wrote Pia Desideria in and spoke of a theology of the heart , placing emphasis on inner devotion and Christian living, and inspired the Pietist movement. Pietism especially influenced Nikolaus von Zinzendorf and the Moravian Church.
John Wesley and his brother Charles provided light for Christianity during the Enlightenment. John Wesley, noted for his moving sermons, and his brother Charles, a poetic genius and hymn writer, began the Methodist movement in England, and set forth an evangelical revival throughout the British Isles, North America, and the world. The two brothers were raised in the Anglican Church. Because of their strict method of living, they were soon called the Methodists. John Wesley experienced a heartwarming conversion experience at Aldersgate Street in London in He preached in the English countryside to the poor, and sparked a religious revival throughout England.
He assured the people that all could be saved by experiencing God and opening their hearts to his grace. George Whitefield made seven trips to America beginning in and was one of the most powerful evangelists ever. He, along with others, kindled a spiritual revival throughout the thirteen colonies known as the Great Awakening. The Great Awakening was the first national experience in America and did much to unite the American colonies.
Revival during the Enlightenment Era fulfilled the human need for spiritual experience through Jesus Christ. The independence movement in the American colonies sparked an outcry for freedom of religion, such that Christianity flourished in the newly-formed United States of America. Every taxable resident was required to support the state established Church, no matter what their faith! This caused dissension in the Colonies such as in Maryland and Virginia, where Catholics in Maryland and Presbyterians and Baptists in Virginia objected to the unfair Anglican clergy tax.
Of those states with established Churches, Maryland became the first state to disestablish church and state following the Declaration of Independence. The Bill of Rights allowed the free exercise of religion and proliferation of Christian denominations during rapid westward expansion in America. Constitution and cousin of Charles Carroll, the only Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence, became the first Catholic Bishop of Baltimore, a diocese which served the entire United States.
Two days after Thomas Jefferson wrote his highly quoted but out-of-context expression "wall of separation between Church and State" to the Danbury Baptists, he appeared on January 3, in the House of Representatives to hear the Baptist preacher John Leland lead an evangelical service on public property. Separation of Church and State did not preclude a vibrant public square. Recognizing the need to instill morals and values in our children, Bible reading and prayer continued in our public schools for years! Conversions by Evangelical Protestants and other Christian faiths provided the moral fabric for the new American nation after the Revolutionary War.
The Methodist movement proved most successful in North America. Methodist circuit-riders were effective missionaries in spreading the Christian faith from the South to settlers in the mid-West. It was left to the unlikely figure of President Abraham Lincoln to recognize the Christian culture of our Nation. He appealed for "malice toward none, with charity for all … to bind the nation's wounds. An conservative Supreme Court that respected the free exercise of religion and our Christian heritage declared in Church of the Holy Trinity v.
United States that "This is a Christian Nation. The American Declaration of Independence of July 4, read all men are created equal, but slavery persisted. How could the Revolutionary War be fought for freedom without granting freedom to all? The American Civil War reflected the Christian heritage of our Nation, for the moral issue of slavery troubled the hearts of Americans from our very beginning. The non-violent religious movement of the s and s emerged as the civil rights movement in the USA, which finally afforded racial equality for African-Americans, one hundred years after the Emancipation Proclamation!
The crusade arose within Negro Churches, the center of their life. African-Americans had begun to receive recognition in the fields of art, music, and sports. The arrest in Montgomery, Alabama of Rosa Parks , who was detained on December 1, for refusing to move to the back of the bus for a white person, sparked the drive for civil rights.
Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. The boycott lasted days until a Supreme Court decision ended segregation on city buses. Reverend King then organized 60 pastors into the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to foster civil rights. Thomas Aquinas distinguished between just and unjust laws.
Non-violent civil disobedience , advocated by John Locke, Henry David Thoreau, and Mahatma Gandhi, was employed by civil rights leaders against oppressive and unjust civil laws. In general, one is obligated to obey civil laws that are just Matthew King Nebuchadnezzar Daniel 3: King Herod Matthew 2: Law itself is not meant for the righteous I Timothy 1: The early Christians refused to obey the Romans and suffered martyrdom rather than worship the Emperor.
Kennedy announced on nationwide television on June 11, that he would submit Civil Rights legislation the following week. Augustine that an unjust law is no law at all. He urged non-violent protest to turn the tide in favor of racial equality. The March on Washington, D. Martin Luther King Jr. Twentieth-century writers during the World Wars such as T.
Eliot , Flannery O'Connor , Thomas Merton, and Dorothy Day catalogued the spiritual bankruptcy of the twentieth century and called for spiritual renewal.
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John XXIII was welcomed with open arms by all of Christianity, for the Pope called not only for an intense spiritual cultivation of the modern world, but also sought Christian unity. The Second Vatican Council literally "reset the course" for the Catholic Church, a Church which had been described by some as a fortress Church embattled during the Enlightenment and the Modernist era. To coin the expression of Hans Urs von Balthazar in , the time had come to raze the bastions of the Church. It was time for the aggiornamento of Pope John XXIII, the "opening of the window" of the Church to the outside world, "a translation of the Christian message into an intellectual language understandable by the modern world.
The spirit of ecumenism and the change of heart towards all Christian brethren was truly a gift of the Holy Spirit. Lumen Gentium declared "the one Church of Jesus Christ subsists in the Catholic Church, although many elements of sanctification and truth exist outside its visible structure, elements which impel toward catholic unity. The role of the laity to order temporal affairs to the plan of God was emphasized. Vatican II led to the creation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church , first published in and updated in A playwright, actor, and poet, he was born May 18, in Wadowice, Poland.
In he enrolled in the school of drama at Jagiellonian University in Krakow, where he played goalie on the college soccer team. He entered an underground seminary in during the Nazi Regime, and was ordained a priest in after Poland fell under Communism. Oppression by the Nazis and Communists forged his dedication to freedom and human rights. He earned a doctorate in theology in and a doctorate in philosopy in His first book was Love and Responsibility , on love and sexual morality, published in His highly successful play on love, The Jeweler's Shop , was published in and subsequently translated into 22 languages, and was made into a movie in Karol Wojtyla became Bishop of Krakow, Poland in He then became Archbishop of Krakow in and Cardinal in Following the day papacy of John Paul I, the Conclave of Cardinals elected the bright, personable, and vigorous Wojtyla the th Pope on October 16, The man lived his philosophy, that man is a relational being.
The world was his parish, as the loving and outgoing Pope made an unprecedented papal trips abroad. During his three pilgrimages to Poland, his repeated call for freedom and spiritual renewal was the turning-point that ultimately led to the non-violent collapse of Communism, symbolized by the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, The world was moved when he forgave and visited the man who seriously wounded him in St. Peter's Square on May 13, Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral on May 29, He became a symbol of hope to the young with his inauguration of International World Youth Day in As expressed in his book Crossing the Threshold of Hope , his belief in Jesus Christ as the hope for man in the Third Millennium was an inspiration for all.
He urged all of us to hear the words Matthew On January 13, , he opposed the imminent pre-emptive strike against Iraq, stating war "is always a defeat for humanity. His first encyclical, The Redeemer of Man , called the Church a "community of disciples" who follow Jesus Christ, "the center of the universe and of history. He commemorated Saints Cyril and Methodius in The Apostles to the Slavs in to encourage his fellow countryman during communist oppression.
The Pope called for social justice in three encyclicals, On Human Work , On Social Concerns , and On the One Hundredth Year of Rerum Novarum , in which he emphasized the dignity of the individual, in the face of man being unjustly treated as a unit of production in a socialistic utilitarian world. He renewed commitment to the missionary role of the Church in Mission of the Redeemer in He appreciated man's thirst for truth, as noted in his encyclical The Splendor of Truth , published in One of his favorite Scriptural quotes was John 8: You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
Perhaps his most important was the widely read encyclical The Gospel of Life , published in , in which he defended the sanctity of life and described the culture of death - the evil of abortion and euthanasia. In addition to pointing out those areas of study necessary for a true consensus of faith, he addressed the common bonds of unity in faith among all Christians: He emphasized the relation of Faith and Reason in an encyclical of the same name in His fourteenth and final encyclical On The Eucharist in its Relationship to the Church was released in His weekly general audiences in St.
Peter's Square led to his book on the Theology of the Body in He established Divine Mercy Sunday, which recognized the devotion of St. Pope John Paul II was truly the moral and spiritual leader of the entire world, as one can appreciate by the worldwide outpouring of love on his death April 2, John Paul II will be remembered for his emphasis on Christ and man, that the Gospel provides direction and supports the dignity of the human person.
For "the truth is that only in the mystery of Christ the Incarnate Word does the mystery of man take on light. Four Courts Press, Dublin, Ireland, Concise History of the Catholic Church. Image Books, Doubleday, New York, Western Civilization , Sixth Combined Edition. Thomson Wadsworth, Belmont, California, This last instance is interesting, since Paul, when he perceived that the disciples in Ephesus did not have the Spirit, raised the question of their baptism, which he would not have done had there been no connection in his mind between the two.
Having asked if they had received the Spirit, and they having professed utter ignorance of the matter, he then inquired: The naturalness with which Paul associated baptism and the receiving of the Spirit is also evident from 1 Corinthians It is likely that the whole verse refers to baptism. The figure is that of being immersed in the Spirit or drinking of the Spirit as the potion of new life, which is the experience of the baptized Christian.
Another passage that possibly indicates that Paul associated the reception of the Spirit and baptism, is found in his second letter to Corinth. He wrote to the Corinthians: As early as the 2nd cent. But, in the larger context of his teaching on the efficacy of baptism, it is best to understand this passage in a manner that takes away neither from the meaning of the outward sign, nor from the power of the Holy Spirit.
Confirmation is a rite closely related to baptism and is practiced in one form or another by many Christian churches. Because of the association between the reception of the Spirit and baptism, reflected in the Scriptures that have been discussed, in ancient times the Church symbolized the receiving of the Spirit by a special rite immediately following baptism.
This rite has been practiced down to the present time in the Eastern church. Since baptism is now commonly administered in infancy, the newborn child is anointed in token of his reception of the Spirit. The Reformers minced no words in depriving this rite of its sacramental status. When the question is asked what precisely the rite of confirmation signalizes, classically the answer has been given esp. Speaking of the child about to be confirmed, he sings:.
Whereas it is true that in two instances in the Book of Acts baptism is followed by the laying on of hands and the reception of the Spirit Acts 8: Furthermore, in both these instances, those who were baptized were adults confessing their faith, and the coming of the Spirit involved the use of charismatic gifts. This is not expressly said of the Samaritans, but the response of Simon Magus , as he observed the effect of the laying on of hands, implies as much.
By contrast, the present-day rite of confirmation is given to those who have been baptized as infants and it is not concerned with the exercise of the gifts of the Spirit. It is doubtful, therefore, if the view that one receives the Spirit at confirmation can be established from the NT. The words that He spoke were Spirit-filled and they are life. He, in turn, promised that when He left His disciples He would send another, who would bring to their remembrance what He had said and lead them into the truth John The Church has universally understood this leading by the Spirit into the truth to mean that the apostles were uniquely inspired by the Spirit as witnesses to Christ and as teachers of the Church.
The documents, therefore, that they and their associates wrote, are of final authority for the Church, along with the OT Scriptures. The role of the Holy Spirit in revelation is summarized as follows: From the day of Pentecost onward, the Spirit assured the validity of the apostolic testimony to Jesus Christ Acts 1: This truth was the object of their witness Acts 2: The inward testimony of the Spirit is called by D. When it comes to authority in matters of faith, Rome appeals to the magisterium, or teaching office, of the church; the sectarians appeal to the direct inspiration of the Spirit, which tends to merge with enlightened reason or conscience, or religious ecstasy.
The Protestant church appeals to Scripture alone sola scriptura. This inward testimony adds nothing to the written Revelation, for outside of Scripture there is no Revelation. This is said in a larger context of admonition and warning aganst false teachers, whom John called antichrists, teachers who deny the Christ. As an inspired apostle, he wrote to his converts urging them to abide in the truth that they had heard from the beginning v.
Significantly, he did not rely solely upon his own authority as an apostle, important as it was that he should exercise this authority by writing a letter to them. He appealed for the authentication of the truth of his teaching over against the false teaching of those whom he opposed, to the anointing that his readers had received as Christians. It is natural to understand this anointing by the Holy One, as the Holy Spirit. They had the anointing that enabled them to discern all things. This may be the meaning of the difficult verse in 1 Timothy 3: He seals to the hearts of believers what the Scriptures say about Jesus as the Christ.
However one may interpret 1 Timothy 3: Otherwise it remains a mere human book, to be read as one of the Great Books of the world, a masterpiece of lit. When the Spirit speaks through Scripture, one discovers that the holy history, which unfolds from the first to the second Adam, engages him in his own destiny. He stands fallen in Adam and condemned; and, by the grace of God, he stands righteous in Christ. John not only associated the Spirit with the proclamation of the apostles that Jesus is the Christ, as that Word is preserved in Scripture, but also with the sacraments:.
This is he who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the witness, because the Spirit is the truth. There are three witnesses, the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree 1 John 5: This passage is notably difficult and the detailed interpretation offers several options.
The perennial objection to the doctrine of the inward testimony of the Spirit is that it is mere subjectivism. The question is pressed, how can one verify an inward experience? How does one know that he has to do with the Spirit of God, and not mere psychology? After all, people can be inwardly certain and convinced about some very uncertain and unconvincing things.
The movement of the argument, then, is from the inward conviction to the outward, external, historical event of the Incarnation. This is, indeed, an adequate criterion only for those who stand within the circle of faith. Everyone, says the apostle, who is begotten of God, loves God, for God is love.
And if a believer loves God, he will love his neighbor also, for how can he hate a brother whom he has seen, and love God whom he has not seen? If he loves God, God abides in him 1 John 4: Therefore, of all the fruits of the Spirit, love is the greatest, and is the most excellent way 1 Cor God entered history in Jesus Christ, He also continued to participate in history in and through the work of the Spirit.
The Acts of the Apostles are the acts of the Holy Spirit in the world. Were it not for the Holy Spirit, there would be no Church in the world. It is the Spirit who speaks to the Church Rev 2: Murray, The Spirit of Christ ; H. Thielicke, Between Heaven and Earth, ch. The third person of the triune Godhead Matt. At Pentecost a new phase of the revelation of God to people began Acts. With the rushing of a mighty wind and what appeared to be tongues of fire, the disciples were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke in foreign languages listed in Acts.
The excitement drew a crowd of visitors to the feast, to whom Peter explained that the prophecy of Joel. Another 3, souls were added by baptism to the disciples, and thus began the fellowship of apostolic teaching, of breaking of bread and of prayer, the fellowship that is the church. When the first Gentiles were converted, the Holy Spirit was poured out on them and they spoke in tongues Acts. The Holy Spirit as well as the Son was active in creation; he was active on certain occasions in his own person in OT times and more intensively in the Gospels; and in Acts and the Epistles he becomes the resident divine agent in the church and in its members.
Teaching concerning the Holy Spirit has been both neglected and distorted, but the subject deserves careful attention as one reads the NT. Green, I Believe in the Holy Spirit , God is, of course, to be discerned in quietness 1 Kings Then it is rather the irresistible God who is in mind e.
The Spirit is active in the Creation Gen. The Spirit gives life Ezek. The Spirit is at work in men in a variety of ways. He may give strength to Samson Judg. The Spirit gave Ezekiel his message Isaiah and Micah report similar experiences Isa. And the Spirit may be expected to help others than the prophets as they seek to serve the Lord Psa. In all this there is nothing which compels us to see the Spirit as a hypostasis in the NT manner. The full flowering of Christian teaching on the Spirit is future in the prophetic writings Joel 2: There are hints that the Spirit may be understood as in some sense different from the Father e.
But in the NT there is a very great advance. In the early chapters of the gospels, it is true, the Spirit appears to be used in much the OT manner e. Throughout the lifetime of Jesus there is not much more. The coming of the Spirit in all His fulness was something that would follow, not precede, the passion and resurrection. But after this had occurred, the Spirit came on the infant church in a striking manifestation of enlightenment and power Acts 2. From that time on, the presence of the Spirit is the characteristic thing about the Christian Church. It is a Spirit-filled body. Two things are especially noteworthy about NT teaching on the Spirit: His universality among Christians, and His bringing of power for ethical achievement.
First-century religions often held that a divine spirit would from time to time come upon men. But it was thought he would come only upon a few outstanding people. To be possessed by the spirit was a mark of outstanding distinction. But among the Christians the possession of the Spirit was the distinguishing characteristic. It was apparently unthinkable that anyone should be a Christian and not have the Spirit.
This seems implied also throughout the epistles of the NT. The church is plainly regarded as a community indwelt by the Spirit of God. He is expected to be at work in believers constantly. In the religions of antiquity generally, the divine spirit made his presence known by causing those in whom he came to engage in unusual behavior of an ecstatic kind. It was something new and important when his presence was revealed rather by the manifestation of ethical qualities.
Apart from these two points it is most important to see the Spirit in the NT as personal, not a force or an influence. He gives gifts as He wills 1 Cor. He has knowledge 1 Cor. The first Christians lived exultantly in the joy of the Spirit. But in succeeding generations the enthusiasm tended to wane, and the doctrine of the Holy Spirit was accepted formally as taught in Scripture rather than seen as a basis for living.
Not surprisingly, in time there came a reaction. Montanus, a native of Phrygia in Asia Minor, who lived in the second part of the second century, put great emphasis on the Holy Spirit. He thought that revelation did not cease with the end of the NT period, and held that he himself was the source of important new revelations.
He was supported by others, notably by two prophetesses, Priscilla and Maximilla. They thought the new Jerusalem would come down from heaven to a spot in Phrygia, and they prepared for this happy event with a strenuous asceticism. Their protest against the clericalism of the church of their day and against the lax morality of many professing Christians was important, and won them many adherents. The only other important heresy in the doctrine of the Spirit is that associated with Macedonius, bishop of Constantinople at the end of the Arian period.
He accepted the full deity of the Son, but held that the Spirit was a created being, not unlike the angels. In a day when men were coming to see that the full Arian position was impossible, it seemed to many that it was a useful compromise to accept the deity of the Son with the orthodox but to deny that of the Spirit with the Arians.
But sound doctrine is not built up on political compromises of this sort, and Macedonianism was soon rejected. The precise relationship of the Spirit to the Father and the Son is nowhere stated in Scripture, and it has caused discussion and even division in the church.
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This passage does not deal with the eternal interrelationships between the persons of the Trinity, but it has given us the terminology. In the earliest statements it was customary simply to take up the passage in John's gospel and speak of the Spirit as proceeding from the Father. But it became common to recite the creed in the West in this form. Not unnaturally, the Easterners demand that the creed be recited in its original form and that the double procession i. The West's refusal was the formal cause of the break between the Eastern and Western churches. The West has resisted the demand that it surrender the doctrine of the double procession because, however the disputed words originally got into the creed, they point to something true.
Jesus baptized with the Holy Spirit Matt. More important than the citing of any individual texts is the general thrust of NT teaching that the Spirit comes upon men as a result of what Christ has done. We know and receive the Spirit only because we have been saved by Christ's atoning death and brought into newness of life. It is in this new life that Christ brings that we know the Spirit. The doctrine of the double procession safeguards this as the single procession does not.
See also Procession of the Spirit. Palmer, The Holy Spirit ; G. Morris, Spirit of the Living God ; J. Dunn, Baptism in the Holy Spirit The Spirit in the Wisdom of Solomon. The Holy Spirit in the Kingdom of God. The word always used in the New Testament for the Spirit is the Greek neuter noun pneuma, with or without the article, and for Holy Spirit, pneuma hagion, or to pneuma to hagion.
At the outset we note the significance of the term itself. From the primary meaning of the word which is "wind," as referring to Nature, arises the idea of breath in man and thence the breath, wind or Spirit of God. We have no way of tracing exactly how the minds of the Biblical writers connected the earlier literal meaning of the word with the Divine Spirit.
Nearly all shades of meaning from the lowest to the highest appear in the Old Testament, and it is not difficult to conceive how the original narrower meaning was gradually expanded into the larger and wider. The following are some of the shades of Old Testament usage. From the notion of wind or breath, ruach came to signify:.
No doubt the Biblical writers thought of man as made in the image of God Ge 1: It is remarkable that their anthropomorphism did not go farther. They preserve, however, a highly spiritual conception of God as compared with that of surrounding nations. But as the human breath was an invisible part of man, and as it represented his vitality, his life and energy, it was easy to transfer the conception to God in the effort to represent His energetic and transitive action upon man and Nature.
The Spirit of God, therefore, as based upon the idea of the ruach or breath of man, originally stood for the energy or power of God Isa Davidson, Theology of the Old Testament, , as contrasted with the weakness of the flesh. Do the Old Testament teachings indicate that in the view of the writers the Spirit of Yahweh was a distinct person in the Divine nature? The passage in Ge 1: The idea and importance of personality were but slowly developed in Israelite thought.
Not until some of the later prophets did it receive great emphasis, and even then scarcely in the fully developed form. The statement in Ge 1: Indeed, there are no Old Testament passages which compel us to understand the complete New Testament doctrine of the Trinity and the distinct personality of the Spirit in the New Testament sense. There are, however, numerous Old Testament passages which are in harmony with the Trinitarian conception and prepare the way for it, such as Ps The Spirit is grieved, vexed, etc.
The question has been raised as to how the Biblical writers were able to hold the conception of the Spirit of God without violence to their monotheism. A suggested reply is that the idea of the Spirit came gradually and indirectly from the conception of subordinate gods which prevailed among some of the surrounding nations I. But the best Israelite thought developed in opposition to, rather than in analogy with, polytheism.
We consider next the Spirit of God in external Nature. The figure is that of a brooding or hovering bird compare De Here the Spirit brings order and beauty out of the primeval chaos and conducts the cosmic forces toward the goal of an ordered universe. Again in Ps The Biblical writers scarcely took into their thinking the idea of second causes, certainly not in the modern scientific sense.
At every point their conception of the Spirit saved them from pantheism on the one hand and polytheism on the other. The greater part of the Old Testament passages which refer to the Spirit of God deal with the subject from the point of view of the covenant relations between Yahweh and Israel. And the greater portion of these, in turn, have to do with gifts and powers conferred by the Spirit for service in the ongoing of the kingdom of God.
We fail to grasp the full meaning of very many statements of the Old Testament unless we keep constantly in mind the fundamental assumption of all the Old Testament, namely, the covenant relations between God and Israel. Extraordinary powers exhibited by Israelites of whatever kind were usually attributed to the Spirit. These are so numerous that our limits of space forbid an exhaustive presentation. The chief points we may notice. The children of Israel cried unto Yahweh and He raised up a savior for them, Othniel, the son of Kenaz: So also Gideon Jud 6: The end in view is not personal, merely to the agent, but concerns theocratic kingdom and implies the covenant between God and Israel.
In some cases the Spirit exerts physical energy in a more direct way 2Ki 2: There are quite perceptible stages in the development of the Old Testament prophecy. In the earlier period the prophet was sometimes moved, not so much to intelligible speech, as by a sort of enthusiasm or prophetic ecstasy. In 1Sa 10 we have an example of this earlier form of prophecy, where a company with musical instruments prophesied together. To what extent this form of prophetic enthusiasm was attended by warnings and exhortations, if so attended at all, we do not know.
There was more in it than in the excitement of the diviners and devotees of the surrounding nations. For the Spirit of Yahweh was its source.
In the later period we have prophecy in its highest forms in the Old Testament. The differences between earlier and later prophecy are probably due in part to the conditions. The early period required action, the later required teaching. The judges on whom the Spirit came were deliverers in a turbulent age. There was not need for, nor could the people have borne, the higher ethical and spiritual truths which came in later revelations through the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah and others.
A difficulty arises from statements such as the following: A lying spirit was sometimes present in the prophet 1Ki The following considerations may be of value in explaining these passages. Yahweh was the source of things generally in Old Testament thought. Its pronounced monotheism appears in this as in so many other ways. Besides this, Old Testament writers usually spoke phenomenally. Prophecy was a particular form of manifestation with certain outward marks and signs. Whatever presented these outward marks was called prophecy, whether the message conveyed was true or false.
The standard of discrimination here was not the outward signs of the prophet, but the truth or right of the message as shown by the event. As to the evil spirit from Yahweh, it may be explained in either of two ways. In both the first and the second sections of Isaiah, there are distinct references to the Spirit in connection with the Messiah, although the Messiah is conceived as the ideal King who springs from the root of David in some instances, and in others as the Suffering Servant of Yahweh.
This is not the place to discuss the Messianic import of the latter group of passages which has given rise to much difference of opinion. The prophet rises in the employment of both conceptions to the thought of the Messiah who is the "anointed" of Yahweh as endued especially with the power and wisdom of the Spirit. In the later history of Israel, when the sufferings of the exile pressed heavily, there arose a tendency to idealize a past age as the era of the special blessing of the Spirit, coupled with a very marked optimism as to a future outpouring of the Spirit.
The passage, however, which especially indicates the transition from Old Testament to New Testament times is that in Joe 2: In this prophecy the bestowal of the Spirit is extended to all classes, is attended by marvelous signs and is accompanied by the gift of salvation. Looking back from the later to the earlier period of Old Testament history, we observe a twofold tendency of teaching in relation to the Spirit.
The first is from the outward gift of the Spirit for various uses toward a deepening sense of inner need of the Spirit for moral purity, and consequent emphasis upon the ethical energy of the Spirit. The second tendency is toward a sense of the futility of the merely human or theocratic national organization in and of itself to achieve the ends of Yahweh, along with a sense of the need for the Spirit of God upon the people generally, and a prediction of the universal diffusion of the Spirit.
In the Palestinian and Alexandrian literature of the Jews there are comparatively few references to the Spirit of God. The two books in which the teachings as to the Spirit are most explicit and most fully developed are of Alexandrian origin, namely, The Wisdom of Solomon and the writings of Philo. In the Old Testament Apocrypha and in Josephus the references to the Spirit are nearly always merely echoes of a long-past age when the Spirit was active among men. In no particular is the contrast between the canonical and noncanonical literature more striking than in the teaching as to the Spirit of God.
The Spirit of Josephus:. Josephus has a number of references to the Holy Spirit, but nearly always they have to do with the long-past history of Israel. He refers to 22 books of the Old Testament which are of the utmost reliability. There are other books, but none "of like authority," because there has "not been an exact succession of prophets" Josephus, Against Apion I, 8.
Samuel is described as having a large place in the affairs of the kingdom because he is a prophet Ant. God appears to Solomon in sleep and teaches him wisdom ibid. In Josephus we have then simply a testimony to the inspiration and power of the prophets and the books written by them, in so far as we have in him teachings regarding the Spirit of God. Even here the action of the Spirit is usually implied rather than expressed. In the pseudepigraphic writings the Spirit of God is usually referred to as acting in the long-past history of Israel or in the future Messianic age.
In the apocalyptic books, the past age of power, when the Spirit wrought mightily, becomes the ground of the hopes of the future. The past is glorified, and out of it arises the hope of a future kingdom of glory and power. Enoch says to Methuselah: Enoch is represented as describing his own translation. In Simeon 4 it is declared that Joseph was a good man and that the Spirit of God rested on him. There appears at times a lament for the departed age of prophecy 1 Macc 9: The future is depicted in glowing colors. The Spirit is to come in a future judgment XII the Priestly Code P , Levi 18 ; and the spirit of holiness shall rest upon the redeemed in Paradise Levi 18 ; and in Levi 2 the spirit of insight is given, and the vision of the sinful world and its salvation follows.
Generally speaking, this literature is far below that of the Old Testament, both in moral tone and religious insight. Much of it seems childish, although at times we encounter noble passages. The Old Testament literature thus possesses a vitality and power which accounts for the strength of its appeal to our religious consciousness.
We note in the next place a few teachings as to the Spirit of God in Wisd. For the holy spirit of discipline will flee deceit, and will not abide when unrighteousness cometh in" The Wisdom of Solomon 1: In The Wisdom of Solomon 7: The writer of The Wisdom of Solomon was deeply possessed of the sense of the omnipresence of the Spirit of God, as seen in 1: The ancient story, of course, is about her funeral and 3rd day ascension. Moreover, the older art such as in Basilica di Maria Maggiore in Rome also represents her death. How does this reconcile?
If she had been freed from the power of death, should she have ever died? If she had been free of original or committed sin, could she have even said no? It seems to me that she would instead have been among the angels. It also seems to me therefore, that the dogma downplays her virtue.
I have taken the liberty to remove some responses centering on the Virgin Mary and current doctrines specifically differences between RC and Orthodox approach and understanding. These distinctions involve some relatively subtle matters and should be handled with respect and care. Orthodox and Catholic theologians speak carefully in these matters, I suggest. There are Orthodox objections to the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception — this is well known. Some Orthodox support for it in some of the fathers is, I think, a failure to distinguish between the Orthodox acceptance that Mary is free from sin maintains the integrity of her person, etc.
But I would prefer that we not engage in debates on this matter here on this site. The Mother of God and her place within the Church, it seems to me, should be handled with greater care. Whether the dogma itself should be criticized harshly, I think it should, as did many Cathoilcs who vehemently opposed it. The answer was that you can believe either way. I actually brought up this point to a friend of mine in the Catholic seminary, and his answer horrified me. If, however, the Catholic church teaches that she was preserved from an ontological state of fallenness, then she was not fallen and does not need redemption.
She is waiting for a deliverer to come into her heart. The Immaculate Conception, he writes, essentially denies this. For the Orthodox, it is quite possible for Mary to have said yes to God as an adult, as a teenager, as a child, as an infant, and even in the womb please correct me if I am wrong on this point.
Therefore it is possible for her to have been preserved from sin from the moment of her conception, and yet it is not necessary for the Lord to have redeemed her before she ever existed. Thanks so much for continuing to highlight this participatory notion and its fulfillment and example in the life of Mary,.
My original contemplation came about because of this new prayer book I am using, which surprised me with how much emphasis on the Theotokos there was. This seems to be more in line with what you write, e. Is that about right? A common phrase in Orthodox prayers is: I would suggest anyone who finds St. He was caring and loving to all, be they Orthodox, Catholic, Jewish, agnostic or atheist. Not having been one to mince words when it came to doctrine does not mean he was hostile to any person or people. He loved and prayed for all. It is a thought provoking question indeed.
I tend to start with the name — Theotokos. The idea of theosis as the goal of life is certainly an encouraging, if not mysterious, element to our daily life. I also consider the central gift of God to be our free will — he gave many things life, but free will is the exclusive property of mankind. Co-redemptrix could be applicable, but to the extent that others participate in our salvation, they are also co-redeemers.
I know people who knew him and have read much about him. I have never heard of any unkindness. After reading some responses to Catholic teaching here, as a Roman who loves the East, I want to say something…Feel free to delete or keep. But if you, as a priest, will read it on your own I would be most blessed. While I love your blog, Father Stephen, and I have been blessed greatly as a Roman Catholic by my experiences within the Orthodox Church, I must say that there is a strong strain of anti-Catholicism that runs through Orthodoxy every day. Converts who were already raised to be anti-Catholic and never challenged to give up some of that prejudice on becoming Orthodox.
The arguments made in defense of Orthodoxy can often be found in defense of Roman Catholicism as well. Most of these converts know so little about the RC Church that they have no idea they are claiming Catholics believe things they never have. But yet, they speak with the same false authority against Rome as a silly Jack Chick tract at Halloween. When I speak of authority I am speaking just as I said and not authority through the Sacraments.
Orthodoxy has far more in common with Roman Catholicism and especially with the Eastern Catholic Churches than it does with any other Protestant denomination on earth. However, as a RC I have had the door slammed in my face more times than I can count by Orthodox pals, because I mentioned, casually, prayer through the Rosary or the Immaculate Conception or Latin, because these are part of my life as a Catholic, and as a Catholic, I can find much more in common with my Orthodox neighbors than I can with the Baptists.
However, I have learned that the Orthodox often side with curious Baptists long before they would with curious Romans. Disagreements between Orthodoxy and RC doctrine or dogma are fine. Dogma will never change, but doctrine is fluid. Even our grandparents did not face this. The Doctrine of Original sin is still haulted on the Orthodox end, because they say they have not had enough years to discuss it.
Though Catholic sources have been trying to discuss if for years with the East. We are an unforgiven people in Rome. This is the message I get from the Orthodox, and when former Protesting Christians are added to that mix — it gets even uglier for the Catholic trying to make peace with or simply experience Orthodoxy. It seems that every other Christian is bound to forgive and not keep a record of wrongs, but the Orthodox can freely — especially against their Roman Catholic brothers — hold whatever sin against them they choose. I am sure the Orthodox would see it differently, but I have met very few Orthodox who actually care what Roman Catholics feel in the presence of Orthodoxy.
To be Catholic in the non-Catholic East to promise to disappear as a Catholic completely. I urge you to just skim through a few highly acclaimed Orthodox blogs and see how often Rome is attacked. Try and see it through Roman eyes and not former Anglican ones. The one thing that makes Orthodoxy exactly like every other church on Earth is their strong dicontent for the Church of Rome. It is one of the main reasons I cannot bring my family into the Orthodox Church. So they can hear their beloved — though shrinking in our part of the country — Roman Catholic faith be maligned and corrected at every turn?
Rome has no friends in Orthodoxy, and yet, Rome is both East and West. Often, I see this on your blog as well. Mostly through comments, but sometimes, even you, Father Stephen, speak out against Rome in a manner that does not rightly reflect what Rome teaches at all. Please forgive me if I have offended. I will say no more, nor will I respond to other comments on this subject. I just wanted to speak in defense of Rome for a moment. Very good, as usual Father. Just one correction — Professor Serge Verhovskoy was not a clergyman. I appreciate your candor — and I sure your observations are accurate.
I cross the line, I am sure. There is an Orthodox witness of Rome — that is fair and honest — and would carry appropriate from an Orthodox understanding critiques.
Holy Spirit | Free Online Biblical Library
But this is sort of one of the sticking points between Rome and Orthodoxy. There is an Orthodox fear of Rome — a fear that she simply means to swallow us all. Something that would be perhaps less frightening though still frightening were not the state of Roman Catholicism itself in such shambles not that Orthodoxy is without its rickety points as well. I appreciate the feedback and will do my best to pay attention to myself wherever charity and kindness could be more greatly extended. May God bless you and keep you!
Greetings in the name of the Lord! The roots are deep: The fear that the Orthodox have, as very well Fr. Stephen has noted, is that of a massive absorbtion in the great vacuum cleaner of the global papal ruling of the world. This is not just a paranoid dream.
I am originally from Romania and I know what the RC can do when it decides to convince people to join in. The Uniate Church in Transilvania is a living example of that. Orthodox priests, bishops and laity were lured by Jesuits into a great scheme, promissed this and that, just to be incorporated in the RC. Monasteries were blassted with canons, priests and people killed for it. The same happened in Ukraine, Poland and so forth. I agree that sometime the Orthodox tone may be a bit rough, and may not plese the RC ears.
We can probably do better there. But none of this changes the Truth, and the truth hurts sometimes…. Anonymous, as a former Protestant with all of those anti-RC prejudices, my heart goes out to you! Do please forgive us! I did learn over the course of my Christian life as I matured that all the vices I was initially overeager to attribute mainly to Roman Catholics in my ignorance were also present in any and all other Christian communions and religious or non-religious faiths!
I hope it will encourage you to know that becoming Orthodox made me repent of much if not all of my anti-RC prejudice. As a Protestant, there were already Roman Catholics I really appreciated: Mother Teresa an obvious choice! When I was little before such prejudice had a chance to take hold, I lived in Northern Ireland, and our next door neighbor was a quiet RC widow.
Oh, to have the eyes of a child in all things! It has been strange indeed to realize as an Orthodox that in many areas such as ecclesiology and sacramental understandings, and many aspects of the life of prayer I now really feel that greater commonality with my Roman Catholic brethren than with my evangelical ones.
I know you would find a warm welcome in my OCA parish.