Happy Pentecost reading as, by the Spirit’s power and promise, you prepare to preach Christ Jesus, the One to whom the Comforter bears witness!
As we move toward the Festival of Pentecost and prepare to proclaim the work of the Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life, preachers might benefit by spending time with the writings of those who have delved into the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. A good place to begin would be with Luther’s Explanation of the Third Article in the Large Catechism, and the excellent annotations provided by Mark Mattes.[1] In addition to the annotations, the excursive essay by Leopoldo A. Sanchez, “The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit,” the author shows that, “As a preacher and teacher of Christ, the Holy Spirit reveals Christ’s treasure of redemption from sin, death, and the Devil on our behalf, so we might make it our own through faith in Christ even now.”[2] Mattes chapter, “The Holy Spirit in Luther’s Catechisms,” demonstrates how, “We cannot then abstractly consider the person of the Holy Spirit apart from His sanctifying work by the means of the daily forgiveness of sins through the ministry of the Church.”[3]
Written during World War II, the Danish theologian Regin Prenter, in Spiritus Creator: Luther’s Concept of the Holy Spirit, has remained the standard treatment of Luther’s teaching on the Holy Spirit. Prenter looks at Luther’s doctrine of the Spirit in light of the medieval background and his struggle with the Enthusiasts. For Luther, the Holy Spirit is the “Spiritus Creator,” for He works faith and sustains believers in faith, bringing life out of death. Building on Prenter’s work is the new book by Fred Perry Hall, The Lutheran Theology of the Holy Spirit. In addition to his coverage of Luther, Hall examines the doctrine of the Holy Spirit in Melanchthon, Brenz, Rhegius, Spanngenberg, Chemnitz, Andreae, and Chytraeus.
Victor C. Pfitzner, an Australian Lutheran New Testament scholar, wrote Led by the Spirit: How Charismatic Is New Testament Christianity? in the midst of the rise of the Charismatic Movement in the 1970’s. It was reprinted by Concordia Publishing House with a new Introduction by John T. Pless and an updated Bibliography in 2019. Pfitzner surveys the place of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament and the Gospels before moving into the book of Acts and engaging questions related to speaking in tongues, prophecy, and how we are to evaluate claims of charismatic experience.
Another Australian, Lutheran Jeffrery G. Silcock, has contributed a chapter, entitled “Luther on the Holy Spirit and His Use of God’s Word,” in The Oxford Handbook of Martin Luther’s Theology. Silcock does a masterful job of showing how, for Luther, Word and Spirit are inseparable, indissolubly bound together. Through the outward use of the Word, the Spirit works internally to create and sustain faith. Likewise, Silcock notes that the Bible and preaching are not played off against each other: “The oral Word and written Word belong together because in and through both the Holy Spirit communicates and mediates Jesus Christ the Savior who is the content of the Bible.”[4] Silcock helpfully reminds us, “Strictly speaking, Christians do not ‘possess’ the Spirit, but the Spirit ‘possesses them.’”[5]
Strictly speaking, Christians do not ‘possess’ the Spirit, but the Spirit ‘possesses them.’-Jeffrey G. Silcock
To round out Australian theologians who have contributed to clarifying the person of the Holy Spirit, we must mention Hermann Sasse’s letter, “On the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit.”[6] Although written in 1960, it is still timely as we are confronted with those who claim they are, “Spiritual but not religious.” Sasse notes that contemporary Christians are prone to seek the Spirit where He has not promised to be found. Not every movement attributed to the Holy Spirit is of Christ. Hence, we must “test the spirits” (see 1 John 4:1) to see if they conform to or contradict the words of Jesus. In this regard, the advice of Oswald Bayer is spot on: “Those who search for the Holy Spirit inside themselves, in realms too deep for words to express, will find ghosts, not God.”[7]
Finally, there is Steven D. Paulson’s engaging section, “Holy Spirit, That This Treasure Not Remain Buried,” in The Outlaw God, Volume 3: Sacraments and God’s Attack on the Promise. Paulson observes:
“Sins are not given in the abstract, and even though it is perfectly true that Christ died for the sins of the world, His grace would, in fact, benefit no one (‘and it could not come to us’) unless the Holy Spirit gives Himself also to us. Christ’s death for our trespasses and resurrection for our justification is so hidden that, while true, would remain utterly dark and useless to us for the shame of it all if it were not what the Holy Spirit finally does in order to give Himself. In short, the Holy Spirit preaches to us. Preaching is not an idea, but the giving of a thing, of a person. Whom He preaches is Christ crucified. In doing so, God gives Himself again, not only as the Son’s righteousness (which is not the Law, but resurrection), but also the Father’s gifts of all creation.”[8]
The Holy Spirit does not draw attention to Himself, but to Christ: “The Holy Spirit’s proper work is given a Christological fixation.”[9]
Happy Pentecost reading as, by the Spirit’s power and promise, you prepare to preach Christ Jesus, the One to whom the Comforter bears witness!
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[1] Mark Mattes. “The Third Article” in Luther’s Large Catechism with Annotations and Contemporary Applications. Edited by John T. Pless and Larry Vogel. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2023. 403-422.
[2] Leopoldo A. Sanchez M. “The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit” in Luther’s Large Catechism with Annotations and Contemporary Applications. 427.
[3] Mark Mattes. “The Holy Spirit in Luther’s Catechism” in Promising Faith for a Ruptured Age: An English-Speaking Appreciation of Oswald Bayer. Edited by John T. Pless, Roland Ziegler, and Joshua C. Miller. Eugene, Oregon: Pickwick Publications, 2019. 114.
[4] Jeffrery G. Silcock. “Luther on the Holy Spirit and His Use of God’s Word” in The Oxford Handbook of Martin Luther’s Theology. Edited by Robert Kolb et al. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. 302.
[5] Silcock. 305.
[6] Hermann Sasse. “On the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit” in Letters to Lutheran Pastors, Vol. 3: 1957-1960. Edited by Matthew C. Harrison. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2015. 200-222.
[7] Oswald Bayer. Theology the Lutheran Way. Translated by Jeffrery G. Silcock and Mark C. Mattes. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007. 55. Also, see Bayer’s “God’s Presence: The Holy Spirit” in Martin Luther’s Theology: A Contemporary Interpretation. Translated by Thomas Trapp. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008. 239-254.
[8] Steven D. Paulson. The Outlaw God, Volume 3: Sacraments and God’s Attack on the Promise. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2021. 336.
[9] Steven D. Paulson. Lutheran Theology. London: T & T Clark, 2011. 197.
