The Holy Spirit According to the Evangelicals Theologians: Essay Sample

Introduction

Theology means the study of God. By Christian standards, theology is an endeavor to comprehend God as revealed by the Bible. Nobody can be able to understand God fully, as He is infinitely higher and eternal than human beings. An attempt to describe God will undoubtedly fall short (Rom 11:33-36). Theology assists us in understanding the Trinity, however different theologians explain the Holy Spirit in differently.

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The relationship between the Holy Spirit and other members of the Godhead forms a critical element of our faith and experience of Jesus Christ. Believers are treated with the deepest of divine mysteries which is the trinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. According to the Latinas Evangelicals,' the Holy Spirit is perceived to have different roles which include saving, healing, affirming, calling, empowering as well as transforming persons and communities. The Holy Spirit is seen to impact issues of power and justice whereby it creates midwives to hope (16). The Latina Evangelicals consider the Holy Spirit as the wild child of the Trinity. She is all over moving things, calling things, and stirring things up. The reference to the Holy Spirit as she by the evangelicals is influenced by the belief that God has no gender. God is not a man (Num 23:19), rather God is a spirit (John 4:24; 2 Cor 3:17; Phil 3:3). The Latino experience several dehumanizing treatments from the society, the church, socio-economic as well as political forces that shape life realities. The Latinos are therefore suspicious of theologies who attempt to depersonalize the spirit, to this wild child is never a force or a disincarnate without a fixed identity. The spirit to them is a person who speaks, comfort, encourage, strengthen, heal and usher into a new life. The Holy Spirit gives gifts as symbols of God in us, somewhat a spiritual innate birthright as God's progenies. The Spirit is not discriminative and pours itself to everybody, not considering age, gender ethnicity or sexual orientation (Luke 11:13). According to the evangelicals, the Charisms or the gifts of the Holy Spirit are resources necessary to carry out the ministries required in solving and transforming the suffering communities. The gifts include speaking in tongues, healing, discernment, and prophecy. The fundamental element advanced by the Latina Evangelica is the acknowledgment of the Holy Spirit as an equally important component of the Trinity. They portray the Holy Spirit as a non-discriminative helper who interacts with people on a day to day basis. Coming from Latino descent and being women, they are subjected to dehumanizing acts, whereby the Holy Spirit is the source of comfort, empowerment, and care amidst many tribulations. The Holy Spirit is, therefore, an equalizer and this is seen through the way it pours itself to people of all walks. People gifted by the Holy Spirit are instrumental in solving and transforming people's problems.

According to the God loved, He gave perspective, the world was created by God correctly and entirely. The world turned against God, but out of His mercies, he restored it through a gift. God gave the world his only son who poured the gift of the Spirit into people's hearts creating a praise hope as well as new creation. Based on this perception the Gospel is shaped by giving. It was out of God's generosity that he brought man from bondage, gave him the grace and welcomed them to the movement of His divine justice and kindness. In contrast to the Latina Evangelica, the God Love, He gave perceives the Holy Spirit as being poured to humanity by the son. The place of the Holy Spirit in the Trinity is not as autonomous regarding free movement as explained by the evangelicals. The Holy Spirit seeks to redeem the fallen human personality whereby human beings have the liberty to positively or negatively respond to Him. It is through the Holy Spirit that God reveals His emotions of love. The Holy Spirit is aggrieved by lack of faith, disobedience, the hardness of heart, rebellion and rejection arising from heart and mind. (Jer 17:19). Vexing the Holy Spirit makes Him fight against those responsible. (Isa 63:10). The Evangelical portray the Holy Spirit as a person of unconditional love; He serves to help people when everybody has turned up against them. The GL.HL perception sees the Holy Spirit's love as conditional, whereby He supervises human beings to ensure they adhere to the terms of redemption. After turning against God, the world was given the Son out of God's love for it; the Son came to the world whereby He taught it on ways of God. When the time came to leave He left the world with the Holy Spirit as a helper in living the teachings. Analogically the Holy Spirit according to the Evangelicals is like a trainer who takes you through the training as a close participant braving the sun or the cold outside. The trainer encourages you in every step, even as your adversaries mocks you. Analogically the Holy Spirit according to the God Love, He Gave is like a trainer giving you tips of winning a race and sitting back to see you follow the tips. The trainer is compassionate to correct you when you go wrong and even punish you for violating the rules of winning the race.

Practicing Christian Doctrine by Beth Felker Jones

Theologians in this school of thought believe in thinking and living theologically. This perspective is inspired by King Josiah's reforms in the book of 2 Chronicles 34, whereby he rediscovered the law and repentance after which he oversaw the performance of the words in the covenant. Doctrine is something to be practiced rather than beliefs, observed without any physical activity. According to Jones, the practical theology prepares believers towards spiritual maturity as well as practical ministry. The theology of doctrine and practice differs with the evangelicals by practice. The evangelicals believe in the abstract form of relationship with God, and that involves spiritual communication and conduct. The evangelicals believe that the Holy Spirit is everywhere all the time to assist them in their sorrows as well as those of others. For the evangelicals, the gospel is all about thinking and hoping that God would meet their aspirations. The abstract form of doctrine is further advanced by the said Charisms or gifts of the holy spirit, for example speaking with tongues, discernment, prophecy or healing do not have any physical effort. The doctrine and practice perspective emphasizes on making the beliefs practical. The law and repentance are carried out physically whereby Christians exercise discipleship. According to Jones, there can be no Christian spirituality without discipleship and doctrine. Therefore, the practical Christian life must be observed through the following principles. The tradition of revelation and scripture, reflecting on the image of God, the church in a diverse world, the hope of resurrection, the work of Jesus Christ, the delightful world as well as the life of Jesus Christ.

Bibliography

Bible, King James. King James Bible. Proquest LLC, 19.

Cartledge, Mark J. Practical theology: Charismatic and empirical perspectives. Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2012.

Jones, B.F., 2014. Practicing Christian Doctrine: An Introduction to Thinking and Living Theologically. Baker Academic.

Kapic, Kelly M. God So Loved, He Gave: Entering the Movement of Divine Generosity. Zondervan, 2010.

Martell-Otero, Loida I., Zaida Maldonado Perez, and Elizabeth Conde-Frazier. Latina Evangelicas: A Theological Survey from the Margins. Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2013.