Session 1: Epistemology — Pattern and Process

Apostles Anglican Church
Fr. John A. Roop

The Theology of the Holy Spirit
Session 1: Epistemology — Pattern and Process

The Lord be with you.
And with your spirit.
Let us pray.

O God the Father, Creator of heaven and earth,
Have mercy upon us.

O God the Son, Redeemer of the world,
Have mercy upon us.

O God the Holy Spirit, Sanctifier of the faithful,
Have mercy upon us.

O holy, blessed, and glorious Trinity, one God,
Have mercy upon us (The Great Litany, BCP 2019, p. 91).

Motivation
In my former life as a teacher, particularly in my calculus classes, I would often tell students at the beginning of a unit or a lesson that I wanted to begin by motivating the lesson to follow. Motivation didn’t mean exciting the students about the lesson, but rather explaining why it was important — worth our time — and why, perhaps, they should be excited about it whether or not they actually were. So, as we approach this course with the somewhat intimidating name “The Theology of the Holy Spirit,” I would like to take a moment to motivate it.

First, a note about the task and nature of theology. Reformed theologian Sinclair Ferguson said this:

The goal of theology is the worship of God. The posture of theology is on one’s knees. The mode of theology is repentance.

To which I say, yes, absolutely. This is my ultimate goal for the class: to lead us into worship, to bring us to our knees in prayer, and to foster a life of repentance, all in and through the Holy Spirit. That is motivation enough, I think, but there is more. The more comes in answer to two questions:

Why a class on the Holy Spirit?

Why now?

The two questions are very nearly one, and, if I start with the second question — Why now? — that will become clear.

The Christian year features two main cycles of Holy Days: the Incarnation (Christmas) Cycle and the Paschal (Easter) Cycle. Each year begins with Advent, four Sundays of preparation for the Nativity of our Lord. Then comes the twelve days of Christmas followed by Epiphany, the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles. That ends the Incarnation Cycle. The next major cycle begins with Lent, a forty-ish day season of preparation for the Passion and Resurrection of our Lord. Then comes the forty day celebration of Easter which “ends” with the Feast of the Ascension. Ascensiontide is then observed for the next ten days leading to Pentecost, the commemoration of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples and upon the Church. That ends the second of the two main cycles. And that is where we find ourselves today. But, what of the long season from Pentecost until the next Advent? Some call it Ordinary Time because it falls outside the extraordinary cycles of Christmas and Easter. Some mark it by counting the Sundays after Pentecost; some others count the Sundays after Trinity. Whatever we call it, however we count it, it is anything but ordinary. It is the season of the Holy Spirit: indwelling the Church, mediating the presence of Christ in and among us, and empowering the Church for its mission in the world. Its liturgical color is green, the color of the Holy Spirit because it is the color of life and growth.

EXCURSUS
The liturgical color red is often associated with the Holy Spirit. Properly speaking, red symbolizes the outpouring and the gifts of the Holy Spirit; that is why red is associated with Pentecost and often with ordinations. Green symbolizes the ongoing presence and ministry of the Holy Spirit within the Church.

So, why now? Because we have now entered the liturgical season after Pentecost, the season of the Holy Spirit. Why at all? Because the Holy Spirit mediates the ongoing presence of Christ to us and to Church; the Spirit unites us to Christ. The Holy Spirit empowers the Church for Gospel ministry, and, through the ministry of the Church, the Holy Spirit calls the world to repentance and to Christ himself. How all this plays out in the life of the Church will be central to the classes to follow.

That is my motivation for the course: why it is important and why, hopefully, we can be excited about it.

Introduction
It is always good to begin a course with a word from the Lord, this one a parable following Jesus’ presentation of the Lord’s Prayer to his disciples.

5 And [Jesus] said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, 6 for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7 and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? 8 I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. 9 And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 11 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12 or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him (Luke 13:5-13)!”

When I consider my prayers, it seems I often ask our heavenly Father for the equivalent of fish and eggs — health and security and success for myself and for those I love, good things — instead of asking for what Jesus says our Father longs to give us and is sure to give us: the Holy Spirit. I want to amend that, not to cease praying for tangible blessings — we are human beings, after all, and need daily bread — but to properly order those desires under the more important blessing of the Holy Spirit. Perhaps we can do this together — at least throughout this course — so that we can spur one another on to deeper and fuller fellowship in and with the Holy Spirit. So, I want to suggest that, if we haven’t already, we begin to take Jesus seriously in this matter — to pray for the Holy Spirit, not just for specific gifts of the Holy Spirit, but for the Holy Spirit himself. It might be a very simple prayer as was the Lord’s Prayer, itself: Heavenly Father, fill me with your Holy Spirit. For the duration of this course, at least, I encourage you to make this, or a prayer like it, part of your daily prayer rule: “Heavenly Father, fill me with your Holy Spirit.”

During the course, I hope to foster intentional engagement with the Holy Spirit, not as an object of study, but as the personal presence of God with us and in us and through us. The Jewish theologian Martin Buber distinguished between two basic types of relationships: I-It and I-Thou. I-It is how one relates to things; the relationship is functional, instrumental, often detached. I have an I-It relationship with a hammer, a fountain pen, perhaps with a idea or agenda. I-Thou is how one relates to another person; it should be characterized by freedom, mutual respect, and, ideally, love. I have an I-Thou relationship with you, with my wife and family and friends, and ultimately with God. Our relationship with the Holy Spirit is I-Thou, because the Holy Spirit is a Person, not a thing — he, not it. We will explore just what it means to be a person and how that relates to the Holy Spirit later, but it is important from the start to know that the Holy Spirit is Who and not what.

EXCURSUS
And here a note about language is in order. One of the words for Spirit in Hebrew is ruach; grammatically, that word is feminine, just as the Spanish word mesa (table) is feminine. In Greek, the word for Spirit is pneuma; that word is grammatically neuter, neither masculine nor feminine. Now, it should be obvious that grammatical gender has nothing at all to do with biology or physiology; it tells us nothing at all about the reality to which the word refers; there is no physical sense in which a table is feminine. Nonetheless, based in part on fallacious linguistic reasoning, it has become somewhat popular in recent years to refer to the Holy Spirit as “she,” something along the order of the divine feminine counterpart to God the Father. I will not do that; I will, instead use the traditional pronoun “he” for two fundamental reasons. First, and most importantly, when our Lord Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit — which is, as we will see, his Spirit — he does so with the masculine pronoun he. I feel on sure footing when I follow the lead of Jesus. Secondly, since the Holy Spirit was the generative agent in the incarnation — the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary and she conceived — and since Mary was the feminine agent in the incarnation, the use of the feminine pronoun for the Holy Spirit would be inconsistent with the natural order of conception and might even contribute to the current confusion regarding anthropology and gender. So, I will use “he” to identify the Holy Spirit confident of this: whatever “he” means as applied to the Holy Spirit, it has nothing to do with biology.

Four Stories
Today, to set the stage for the remainder of the course, we’ll listen to some stories — four of them, I think, though others might emerge in conversation. The four I have in mind are the journey to Emmaus, the Ascension, the first Christian Pentecost, and the aftermath of Pentecost as narrated by St. Luke in the Acts of the Apostles.

Emmaus

It is the afternoon of the first day of the week. Cleopas and his companion — I like to think it was his wife because that ties the story back to Adam and Eve — Cleopas and his companion are on their way home from Jerusalem to Emmaus, a walk of some eight miles. How would you describe their demeanor and their inner state?

Are you familiar with the term cognitive dissonance? It is the state of dis-ease that arises from trying to hold in mind two conflicting and irreconcilable notions, neither of which you seem capable of relinquishing. Most of us have experienced it even if we couldn’t put words to it. Cleopas and his companion had seen and heard things, had experienced things with Jesus that they simply couldn’t doubt. They had heard him teach with authority and best the Pharisees, Sadducees, and priests in theological challenges. They had seen him cast out demons, give sight to the blind, cure lepers, make the lame walk, and perhaps even raise the dead. They had heard him pronounce forgiveness of sins and claim to be greater than David, Solomon, and the Temple. And through all this, the conviction grew that Jesus might just be the one to redeem Israel, might just be the Messiah.

Until they experienced something else: Jesus’ crucifixion. And there is the cognitive dissonance; crucified and Messiah are mutually exclusive notions as far as Cleopas and his companion are concerned, words that don’t belong together. They had witnessed both Jesus’ Messianic words and deeds and his crucifixion and they cannot either reject one or reconcile both. They are stuck. Now, let’s pick up the story as St. Luke tells it.

13 That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, 14 and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. 15 While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. 16 But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. 17 And he said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad. 18 Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” 19 And he said to them, “What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20 and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. 21 But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. 22 Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, 23 and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. 24 Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.” 25 And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself (Luke 24:13-27).

This story gives us a pattern that becomes very important in our engagement with the Holy Spirit: new experience, cognitive/spiritual dissonance, Scripture. The new experience is the precipitating event. The cognitive/spiritual dissonance is the result of that experience. The Scripture is the means by which the dissonance is resolved, specifically the Scripture read through the lens of Jesus.

Let’s continue the story.

28 So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, 29 but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them. 30 When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. 31 And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. 32 They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” 33 And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, 34 saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” 35 Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread (Luke 24:28-35).

We’ve seen the importance of Scripture. Cleopas and his companion note how their hearts burned within them as the stranger explained the Scriptures. Remember here Jesus’ own words about the heart: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Their hearts were burning, were being purified. Then what happens? Their eyes are opened to see God — to see the resurrected Christ — in the breaking of bread, in the Eucharist. So, the pattern expands: experience, dissonance, Scripture, the Sacraments and worship of the Church. This is the way we make sense of our experience: through the Scriptures and the Sacraments, through the faith, practice, and worship of the Church. This pattern is especially important when it comes to the Holy Spirit, because experience unmediated by Scripture and the historical faith and practice of the Church has led to great disorder and excess amongst some in the Church. We cannot deny our experience, but we must interpret it rightly through Scripture, the Sacraments, and the faith and worship of the Church.

Ascension

Forty days after the encounter on the road to Emmaus, Jesus gathers his disciples for final instructions and for a farewell of sorts. Notice again the emphasis on experience, dissonance, Scripture read through the lens of Jesus, and worship.

44 Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

50 And he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. 51 While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. 52 And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53 and were continually in the temple blessing God (Luke 24:44-53).

This is much like the story of Emmaus, with an added element: the announcement of a new, upcoming experience — the sending of the Father’s promise, the clothing with power from on high. Have the disciples been prepared for this? Do they have any idea what Jesus is talking about? In broad terms, they do, though I think they could not predict exactly what they are in for ten days later. In the Upper Room discourse recorded by St. John, Jesus promises his disciples that the Father will send another helper when Jesus is no longer physically present with them: the Holy Spirit. You will find this in John 14:15-31 and 16:1-15. This leads to a class assignment, a bit of homework. I ask you to read John 14-16 slowly, thoughtfully, and prayerfully several times this week and perhaps in the weeks to come. Remember that these were among Jesus’ parting words to his closest disciples; they carry a special weight, and the Holy Spirit features prominently in the discourse.

Pentecost

The disciples do not have to wait long — though the wait probably seemed to them interminable — for the Father’s promise.

2 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance (Acts 2:1-4).

Here’s the new experience: a sound like a rushing wind, tongues of fire alighting on each of them, a filling with the Holy Spirit, speaking in other known tongues which the disciples had not previously learned. A crowd gathered and the disciples began to speak to them. Notice the response.

5 Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. 7 And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language (Acts 2:5-8)?

Do you see the pattern beginning again: experience, cognitive/spiritual dissonance? What do you expect to see next? If the pattern holds, we expect to see the disciples make recourse to the Scriptures read through the lens of Jesus to make sense of the experience. And that is exactly what we do, in fact, see. In his answer to the crowds, Peter turns to the prophet Joel to show that what they are experiencing is precisely what the prophet spoke of (Acts 2:14-22). Then Peter speaks of Jesus and interprets Psalms 16 and 110 through the lens of Jesus. It is the Scripture that must rightly interpret, must make sense of, their experience.

But the pattern has another step: experience, dissonance, Scripture, the Sacraments and worship of the Church. Let’s finish Acts 2; listen for the conclusion of the pattern.

37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” 40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved (Acts 2:37-47).

Those who believed Peter were baptized and began to take part in the sacramental life of the Church: the apostles’ teaching, the fellowship, the breaking of bread and the prayers. That is the way to make sense of a religious experience, not least one involving the Holy Spirit.

Now, contained in that story, there is a promise that we dare not miss, particularly given our present purpose. It is found in Acts 2:38-39.

38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”

Acts of the Apostles

The Holy Spirit — and I dare say the experience of the Holy Spirit — is not just for the Twelve but is a promise for all baptized believers. And that is precisely what the rest of Acts shows us. The title of the book in many Bibles is “The Acts of the Apostles,” but it would more rightly be called “The Acts of the Holy Spirit,” because the Holy Spirit is the protagonist of the story, the most prominent actor. The Apostles are struggling, trying to keep up the the Spirit, trying to make sense of it all in real time through Scripture, sacramental worship, and by taking council together. And the pattern we’ve noticed presents itself — sometime in full, sometimes in part — over and over again.

In Acts 3, Peter and John heal a lame beggar in the Temple precincts and are arrested by the Temple officials and held overnight. The next day, Peter — filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 4:8) — makes his defense before the authorities who are astonished at his boldness and eloquence. The officials have experience a healing, a powerful defense from an uneducated man and they are astonished: experience and dissonance. They break the pattern by failing to search the Scriptures, but not so with the Church. The Church turns to the Psalms, read through the lens of Jesus, to understand what is going on, and they pray. And what is the result?

31 And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness (Acts 4:31).

The outcome of the pattern was yet another experience of the Holy Spirit. And so the pattern starts again.

Read Acts 10-11 for the account of Peter and Cornelius; the Holy Spirit’s “fingerprints” are all over this story from Peter’s threefold vision, to Cornelius’ vision, to Peter’s preaching to a house full of Gentiles, to the falling of the Holy Spirit on those Gentiles culminating in their baptism. This is all brand new, and it is all quite confusing. How is Peter, how are the Apostles and Elders, how is the Church to make sense of all this? Peter makes an attempt to explain it all in Jerusalem, but the confusion and disagreement does not go away. It is still simmering — and threatening to boil over — years later when Paul and Barnabas are preaching to the Gentiles. Finally, a council is held in Jerusalem to make sense of it all. And where do the leaders turn to make sense of the experience of Peter, Paul, and Barnabas, and of the the Antioch Church for that matter? They turn to Scripture and learn that this was God’s plan all along (see Acts 15). And when they finally reached a biblical understanding, St. James the Righteous said that it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to them.

I encourage you to continue perusing the book of Acts to see this pattern: experience, dissonance, Scripture, sacramental worship. A classic example is the “conversion” of Saul recounted first in Acts 9:1-22. I encourage you to read that sometimes the week. This pattern propelled the Church from 120 disillusion people in hiding in Jerusalem to many small communities of the faithful — both Jews and Gentiles — spread throughout the Roman Empire, from Jerusalem to Rome itself. The Church was empowered and driven forward by an experience of the Holy Spirit, by the presence of the Holy Spirit in individuals and in the fellowship. And it was an experience interpreted by Scripture read through the lens of Jesus and lived out in the sacramental worship of the Church.

These observations raise questions. Should this pattern be normative for the Church in every generation? Should we — here and now — be experiencing the Holy Spirit acting in ways that baffle us and drive us to the Scriptures, to the Sacraments, to the faith and practice of the Church, to council with fellow believers? If so, what might that look like and how can we prepare ourselves for it? If not, why not? These are questions we’ll keep in the background — and sometimes in the foreground — over the next few weeks as we explore the theology of the Holy Spirit.

EXCURSUS
I want to close with a final story, this one from my own experience. A Christian colleague at Maryville High School where I taught for twenty-six years once asked me an intriguing and an off-the-wall question: “If the Holy Spirit were a character on the Andy Griffith Show, who would he be?” I was stumped and told my friend so. “Earnest T. Bass,” he said.

Do you remember the show and the character? If not, you can find clips on YouTube, though you’d need whole episodes to fully appreciate the character. So, why the Holy Spirit in the guise of Earnest T. Bass? Well, no one knew exactly where Earnest T. came from or exactly where he went when he left. He breezed into town as he wished, caused an uproar, left everyone wondering what in the world had happened and what, if anything it meant, and then he disappeared until next time, whenever that might be. And yet somehow his presence worked; things were messier because of him but things would have been poorer without him. With proper respect and reverence, I have to admit that’s not a bad description of the Holy Spirit.]

Let us pray.

Heavenly Father, fill us with your Holy Spirit. Amen.