“A doctrine has practical value only as far as it isprominent in our thoughts and makes a difference in our lives. By this test the doctrine of the Holy Spirit as held by evangelical Christians today has almost no practical value at all. In most Christian churches the Spirit is quite entirely overlooked. Whether He is present or absent makes no real difference to anyone. Brief reference is made to Him in the Doxology and the Benediction. Further than that He might well as not exist. So completely do we ignore Him that it is only by courtesy that we can be called Trinitarian….

“…The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of life and light and love. In His uncreated nature He is a boundless sea of fire, flowing, moving ever, performing as He moves the eternal purposes of God. Toward nature He performs one sort of work, toward the world another and toward the Church still another. And every act of His accords with the will of the Triune God. Never does He act on impulse nor move after a quick or arbitrary decision. Since He is the Spirit of the Father He feels toward His people exactly as the Father feels, so there need be on our part no sense of strangeness in His presence. He will always act like Jesus, toward sinners in compassion, toward saints in warm affection, toward human suffering in tenderest pity and love.

“It is time for us to repent, for our transgressions against the blessed Third Person have been many and much aggravated. We have bitterly mistreated Him in the house of His friends. We have crucified Him in His own temple as they crucified the Eternal Son on the hill above Jerusalem. And the nails we used were not of iron, but of the finer and more precious stuff of which human life is made. Out of our hearts we took the refined metals of will and feeling and thought, and from them we fashioned the nails of suspicion and rebellion and neglect. By unworthy thoughts about Him and unfriendly attitudes toward Him days without end.”

“The Forgotten One,”
from The Divine Conquest (or, God’s Pursuit of Man), pp. 64-75

“Signs and wonders, miracles and mighty works are certainly part of the story, yes, an essential part of the biblical story and its continuation and outworking in the Christian life; but out of context, apart from God’s revelation of himself in Jesus, severed and then removed from their organic positionings in the intricate and detailed formation of God’s people, they are simply things, miracle-commodities that are bought and sold on the religious stock exchange.”

– Eugene Peterson, Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places

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As part of our discussion about “signs and wonders,” I want to offer some comments by way of critique. This is not meant to be a comprehensive statement of what I think about Christian groups that emphasize the Holy Spirit and supernatural gifts. That’s a book, not a blog post. Instead, I want to focus on a few fundamental reasons these theologies, movements, churches and parachurch groups ought to be critiqued.

My primary problem with the pentecostal/charismatic groups preoccupied with “signs and wonders” that I’ve been exposed to in my life may be summarized in the following two observations:

• They have been too fixated on a limited stock of supernatural experiences and manifestations, with a tendency to define them as normative for Christian living.

• They have not been sufficiently grounded in creation and a robust sacramental appreciation of the material and ordinary stuff of life.

These groups have therefore become vulnerable to a number of serious errors:

• Docetism: Since God cares more about the spiritual than the material, earthly things are ultimately unimportant.
• Escapism: Since the world is doomed, we need not take responsibility for improving it.
• Separatism: Since the world is evil, we must avoid sympathetic contact and practice a confrontational stance.
• Gnosticism: Since the world has no true knowledge to offer, we must seek divine insights through secret insider teachings and practices.
• Elitism: Those who have had extraordinary experiences tend to set themselves apart from others, indicating in subtle or not-so-subtle ways that they have arrived at a higher level of spirituality.
• Anti-institutionalism: Since a person or group’s authority is determined through allegedly experiencing God’s activity, no mere institution or outside authority figure has the right to critique them.
• Authoritarianism: Since some show special aptitude and charisma (in all its senses), these individuals rise to an authority which no one can question because it is based on personal testimony of divine intervention.
• Triumphalism. The theological term we learned for this in seminary was “over-realized eschatology.” In simple terms, it means claiming too much too soon — thinking that God’s future blessings are available for us to experience now. “Victory” or “dominion” becomes stressed in such a way that the N.T. teaching on suffering and service (theology of the cross) gets swallowed up by an emphasis on power and superiority (theology of glory).

Their biggest error is part and parcel of every movement that places an unbalanced emphasis on a particular area of doctrine or practice that is not at the creedal core — Jesus gets left out. The Gospel ceases to be the focal point of attention. God’s simple cruciform gifts of baptism, community, and pastoral ministry, Word and Table, lament and thanksgiving, and vocation and service become overwhelmed by an enthusiasm for spiritual experience and manifestations of divine power. The fruit of the Spirit gets swallowed up by the gifts of the Spirit (as we define them).

Continue reading “More Like Fruit that Grows than Fire that Falls”