In order rightly to appreciate the Apostle Paul’s references to the Spirit in the eighth chapter of his letter to the Romans, it is necessary to take into consideration all the information concerning the Spirit in the Christian ecclesias, which is recorded not only in that letter, but also in the other letters of that Apostle, and in the writings of the Apostle John.
Expositors of two divergent types have approached the study of the letter to the Romans, each assuming that the statements to be found therein are quite as applicable to believers of the twentieth century as they were to those of the Apostolic age. On the one hand, some of these expositors assume that the Holy Spirit is given to present day believers in the same sense as it was given to first century believers; whether by the laying on of the hands of the Bishop in “Confirmation” and “Holy Orders,” according to theologians of the Anglican and of the Roman Catholic Churches; or, as a direct accompaniment and consequence of so called “Conversion,” according to Protestant Evangelical theologians. They find no difficulty in taking the various allusions to the Spirit in the letter to the Romans at their face value, as one and all having reference to the Holy Spirit, and to its part in the religious experience of all true Christians.
On the other hand, there are expositors who claim that in the absence of any supernatural or abnormal phenomena in our midst, such as are referred to in the Epistles as “gifts of the Spirit,” they are shut up to the conclusion that the Spirit has been altogether withdrawn; and that we must therefore understand certain statements, which they assume to be applicable to the present day, and which, notwithstanding, appear to imply the activity of the. Spirit in the Church—we must understand them in a sense which will not carry that implication. It cannot be other than very helpful, then, carefully to examine all references to the Spirit in the various writings of the New Testament, in order to ascertain as far as possible, the place of the Spirit in the Church of Apostolic times.
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Author: P. Wale
Keywords: spirit, holy spirit, holy ghost, spirit of God, spirit of the Lord, gifts of the spirit, spiritual gifts, comforter, helper, paraclete, paraklete, spirit of prophecy, send the comforter, sending the comforter, spirit within, god's spirit, god's spirit within
Bible reference(s): John 14:26, John 15:26, John 16:7, Romans 1:4, Romans 1:11, Romans 2:29, Romans 5:5, Romans 8:1, Romans 8:2, Romans 8:4, Romans 8:5, Romans 8:9, Romans 8:10, Romans 8:11, Romans 8:13, Romans 8:14, Romans 8:15, Romans 8:16, Romans 8:23, Romans 8:26, Romans 8:27, Romans 9:1, Romans 14:17, Romans 15:13, Romans 15:16, Romans 15:19, Romans 15:30
Source: “The Spirit in the Primitive Church,” The Testimony, Vol. 14, Nos. 162-4, June-August 1944, pp. 116-20, 137-40, 154-8.
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