DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT – TST 322 – EXAM FOCUS
WEEK 1 - WHAT IS PNEUMATOLOGY?
Pneumatology is the systematic study of the person and work of the Holy Spirit.
Pneuma - Greek word equivalent for Spirit
Ruach - Hebrew word equivalent for Spirit.
Spiritus Sanctus - Latin Equivalent for Holy Spirit is.
The terms Ruach & Pneuma has to do with the idea of breath, wind.
The Image of the Spirit:
Difficult to conceptualize but can be seen in Physical manifestation.
Associated with colour white which symbolizes purity, perfection, holiness, goodness, etc.
Sources of Pneumatology:
1. Biblical Sources –scripture attest to the person and work of the Holy Spirit.
2. Our own Experiences – There is something that we can all attest from our own experiences
about the person and work of the Holy Spirit.
3. Theological sources – How other critical thinkers have engaged with the doctrine of the Holy
Spirit. We look at the creeds, the theological arguments.
4. Historical Sources – the understanding and interpretation of the Holy Spirit through history.
Methodology: phenomenological approach
The Spirit is beyond our comprehension.
A happening reality. (Dynamic)
The Spirit is beyond what is written in scripture.
Why Should we study Pneumatology?
1. Sound and better comprehension of the doctrine
2. Understanding of the historical and theological foundations of the doctrine.
3. To dissect its relevance to the contemporary society.
4. To move towards adequate ministry in the church and society (notion of Charismata).
5. The need to seek the healing and renewal of all creation.
6. To relate Biblical pneumatology to the African worldview.
The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit – Biblical Perspective
Old Testament Teaching
The spirit gives breath or life(It is with the breath of the Spirit that we have life).
The person of the Holy Spirit is identified with God.
An agency of God.
The representation of the activities of God, ever around with humankind and the cosmos.
Seen in futuristic terms (pneumatological eschatological dimension).
According to the Old Testament view, the Spirit works in and through people and the Cosmos in
spite of their moral standing because the Spirit goes beyond what is ordinary and natural.
New Testament Teaching
The Spirit is prominent in the pre-Christ events, at conception, at birth and through his ministry
(Missio Christi - Latin).
The Spirit in the NT is referred to as a counselor (Paraclete – Greek).
The outpouring of the Spirit is connected to the triumph of Jesus.
The outpouring of the Spirit is connected with the birth of the Church and its consequent
empowerment for the Christological mission (Missio Christi).
All in all, the Spirit is present at creation and reasons with God’s plans. Since the Spirit is
involved and participates in God’s plans, He is involved in the gathering of God’s people. God’s
people are given right places, which involves Justification, Sanctification, and Glorification. The
process of gathering and renewal of God’s people is recreation.
The aspect of “In Between Moment” This is the moment between the inauguration of the Kingdom of
God and its final fulfilment / consummation. We are in the “In Between Moment”.
Bruce Milne (1982) argues that the Spirit of God is both personal and divine in NT witness.
A personal - not an object nor a mere personal power but divine.
A Divine - the Spirit of God is a member of the God-head (object of our worship, love and adoration).
And participates in God’s creative and redemptive actions in human history.
The purpose of the spirit in the NT
The purpose of the spirit in the NT is to glorify Jesus and reveal the truth about Jesus.
According to McGrath (1997:207), “Through that knowledge of and fellowship with Jesus comes
knowledge and fellowship with the father.” The Pneumatological – Christological link extends to God the
Father. It now becomes a Pneumatological-Christological-Theological union.
This union is demonstrated through the process of how the Spirit is sent. According to the New
Testament, both the Son and the Father sent the Spirit, not as a mark of superiority or inferiority but as
a mark of unity / cooperation in the essential being. This cooperation has to do with the continuation of
God’s involvement in the affair of humankind.
The Spirit was at work in Jesus, the Spirit points people to God in Jesus Christ, The Spirit gives birth to
the ecclesia, the Spirit bestows the gifts of the Spirit including ministries, (Charismata).
the Spirit gives the fruit of the Spirit.
The Spirit gives freedom.
The Spirit gives new life and assurance of salvation.
The Spirit Inspires worship, prayer and mission.
The Spirit is involved in the sacraments
WEEK 2 - THE PROMISE OF THE SPIRIT AND CHRIST – BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE.
According to the Priestly text in the OT, the Spirit was there before creation. This is connected to the
doctrine of Creatio Ex-Nihilo. It is also connected to the doctrine to regeneration / new beginning.
The Spirit is the giver of life to human kind, both in the material and Spiritual sense (life in totality).
The same applies to the New Testament. In the NT, the Spirit will reveal the truth and work of God. The
teaching about the Spirit is eschatological.
Focus on the Promise:
There is an inextricable link between the Spirit and the Messianic age.
1. The Messiah to come was going to be anointed by the Spirit of God and the one who was to do
the anointing was the father. (Three persons involved)
2. God’s Spirit was going to be poured out in a special way. Not only for the Messiah but for the
entire cosmos. (Salvation is a communal experience)
3. For the JEWS, the age of the Spirit is yet to come.
4. For Christians, the major influence relating to the promise of the Spirit is Christian Triumphalism,
and Early Classical period doctrine while among other things argues that;
a. outside the Church, there is no salvation. – Latin – Extra ecclesiam, nulla salus.
b. The Church has inherited all the promises of God to the Jews because the Jews have
rejected Christ.
WEEK 6 - THE HISTORY OF THE DOCTRINE IN CLASICAL WITNESS
By Classical Witness, we mean doctrines of proven value which have been handed down to us because
they interalia have passed the test of time. Classical witness, looks at two pneumatologies.
1. Apostolic Pneumatology – Apostalic Creed
2. Nicene-Constantinopolitan Pneumatology
WEEK 7 - REFORMATION PNEUMATOLOGY
Reformation Pneumatology comes out of reformed orthodox which is characterized by the doctrine of
salvation through the grace of God.
Major contributor; Martin Luther and John Calvin (Pneumatology base for Protestant denominations)
Lutheran Pneumatology
Not a fully developed Pneumatological doctrine just aspects in writing on scripture and justification.
Luther uses the word ‘Spiritus Santus’ to define the person and work of the Holy Spirit in the history of
salvation.
He identifies the Spiritus Santus as the simplest writer, simplest advisor in heaven and on earth because
the Spirit communicates basic principles of truth also found in scripture.
God’s speaks the word through the scripture; the position that reformed orthodox has followed. For
him, the word of God in scripture is made fresh by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Justification has nothing to do with human involvement. It has to do with the grace of God (Sola Gracia).
The role of the Spirit here is that the Spiritus Sanctus is involved in the sense that He shares in the
essence of God.
He asserts Sanctification comes from grace. He talks about two types of righteousness; the
righteousness based on grace and the righteousness based on the law.
The connection between sanctification and justification is that a believer who is justified, upon whom
righteousness is imputed, has to grow in faith in order to bare good fruit.
Calvinist Pneumatology
John Calvin, unlike Martin Luther developed his teaching on the Holy Spirit in relation to Christian life.
He says that the Holy Spirit is linked to Christian life because of his position on predestination. He
authors a functional pneumatology, ie, The Spiritus Sanctus functions in a believers life. His focus in this
regard is the new life which is brought about by the Spiritus Sanctus. This new life must be ordered in
fellowship of believers under the umbrella of salvation. The problem of Calvin is that he articulates and
exclusivist Pneumatology based on predestination. That is to say the Spirit is involved in the affairs of
humankind but effectively so for the elect.
Karl Barth (Barthian Pneumatology)
The Barthian Pneumatology highlights the following:
Spiritus Santus is involved in the whole business of belonging to Jesus through faith (new birth).
He affirms apostolic Pneumatology emphasizing that the Holy Spirit is Holy and is involved in
making the Church holy and making fellowship.
Spiritus Sanctus is the means of God’s disclosure to humankind (creator and reconciler).
Theologians should acknowledge that only the Spirit can revive Theology to be good and sound.
The Spirit is a living wind who moves us and leads us to a fuller understanding and fellowship
with God (not restricted to structure and personalities).
WEEK 8 - EUGENE MOLTMANN (MOLTMANNIST PNEUMATOLOGY)
An ardent exponent of eschatology ( seen as father of the theology of hope)
Faith in Christ and hope for the kingdom are attributed to the presence of God in the Spirit.
The fellowship in the kingdom is founded on the power of the Spirit because the Spirit leads the
church into truth and freedom.
To understand its presence and path in the Holy Spirit the church must have self-understanding
out of faith in Christ and in hope of the future and sees itself as a messianic fellowship.
History and eschatology are part of Pneumatology. History in the sense of participating in faith,
and eschatology - hope for the kingdom.
The Holy Spirit is the eschatological gift of God to humankind, where He reveals Christ and
creates faith.
Proclamation, fellowship and messianic acts take place in the power of the Holy Spirit
The Spirit is involved in the affairs of humankind until all things are restored.
WEEK 12 - AFRICAN SPIRITUALISM
According to Mbiti, the universe is composed of visible and invisible beings. It is also populated by spirits
that are on some level towards God. God is the creator of the universe and the spirits are subordinate to
The spirits are thought to be able to think and act
God is the giver of life and everything.
God is also near and far through his creative activities.
God shapes things in creation.
God is thought of having subordinates who are responsible for sections of the universe.
The spirits are nature spirits and human spirits. The nature spirits were created in the beginning while
human spirits came out of human beings (ancestors and the living dead).
African created order is part of the created order. Creation was done by the power of the Holy
Spirit. That the world and humankind, including African humankind and the African created
order came into being.
The Holy Spirit is supreme to the created order, that includes human and nature spirits.
The Holy Spirit remains in the Godhead and as such has a place in the African cosmology.
In the African cosmology, the Holy Spirit has been very instrumental and has led African people
in every sphere through many aspects of life. Whatever achievements and discoveries that the
African people achieved was led by the Holy Spirit.
THE SPIRIT AND AFRICAN INITIATED CHURCHES
AICs consider themselves as a peculiar people who worship God with much energy because He has
brought them out of darkness into His marvelous light.
The belief is that nothing in worship is done without the energizing power of the Holy Spirit.
They say that where worship is cold or formal, then the Spirit is absent.
They also say that worship has to do with the release of the Spirit filled life.
Liturgical order has no part or meaning to their service. (Instead excitement and emotional).
