Loading...In my earlier posts I started to show the early Christians believed that because they were living at the very end of time. This was an interim period between the time when the resurrection of the dead began with Jesus being raised and was soon to culminate with the general resurrection, in which all who had ever died would be brought back to life to face judgment. Most important for our purposes here, these Christians thought God had sent the Spirit upon them in fulfillment of the prophecies of Scripture, especially Joel 2.
The Spirit was both the sign of the end of time and a helper for those living in it. Since now God was closer to his people than ever, arguably since the Garden of Eden (as the End was beginning to be more like the Beginning), he communicated with them directly, as he had once upon a time. Now was the time that he gave dreams, visions, and prophesies directly to people, not just isolated prophets, in order to convey to them his will.
That is the point made in the book of Acts with the account of the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2). And it is made even more emphatically in a much earlier Christian writing, Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians.
Almost anyone who reads 1 Corinthians carefully comes away thinking that the church in Corinth was seriously messed up. Many of the members of the church
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Is this the same use of “Spirit” as in Galatians (?) where Paul talks about the Fruits of the Spirit and contrasts it with the Fruits of the Flesh?
In a sense, though there it seems to be more focused on the individual.
The spirit is NOT a person. It is YHWH’S energy or force.
The holy spirit didn’t officially become part of the trinity until later part of 4th century council. People often misinterpreted these things as literal leading to false doctrines.
Sometimes the Bible uses anthropomorphic terms regarding the pneuma or ruach
It is sometimes referred to as a helper, comforter, wind, etc
The state of the church in Corinth could be taken as evidence that the holy spirit doesn’t exist. The chaos that arises in a charismatic community could be taken as more evidence that the holy spirit doesn’t exist. The fact that earthly leaders were necessary in order to keep communities in line could be taken as yet more evidence that the holy spirit doesn’t exist. The factions that arose later in Christianity, the splintering into one sect after another, could be seen as more and more evidence that the holy spirit doesn’t exist. At the very least, it clearly doesn’t exist as Paul understood it.
What do you think of 1st Corinthians 14:34,35? It does not seem to fit in with the point that Paul was making about the uselessness of speaking in a tongue that is not interpreted.
Yes, I think the verses are interpolated.
The Bible often uses anthropomorphic terms such as wisdom in Proverbs chapter 8 verses 22-30 where wisdom is personified. Spirit is personified as well in multiple Bible verses.
Spirit isn’t a literal person it is anthropomorphic referred to as a person in same wisdom is referred to as a “she” in Proverbs chapter 8
Perhaps I’ll provide an ex-Jesuit academic’s irreverent survey of how the “holy spirit” entered into the canon. If you’re going to found a religion, then you have to come up with an idea that’s distinct. Remember Dianetics? L. Ron Hubbard was no dummy, you have to admit. So, the followers of Christ had to find some way to distinguish themselves from the rabble. Calling themselves Christians was a start, but they needed something more original. They had the original Yahweh, who had a son, but what can you make of that? God and son? Sounds like a roofing company or a law firm. They toyed with the idea of adding a woman to the team, but that brought up sexual issues. The early Christians were not huge fans of sex; they probably would have died out if it weren’t for the converts. Besides, they already had the virgin Mary as a token female. (See? A virgin. I told you they weren’t huge fans of sex.) Then somebody suggested a silent partner. Perfect! They settled on the name “Holy Ghost,” because it sounded mysterious. This was changed much later to “Holy Spirit,” probably to avoid negative associations with “Ghostbusters.”
However, a new issue arose. People were accustomed to the idea of monotheism, and having three Gods, while distinctive, was a significant departure from Judaism. You can’t just go around multiplying gods at will. The ingenious solution was to just say it was one God. Hey, it was their religion; they get to define it, right? Three persons, one God? No problem; just call it a mystery of the faith. They needed a catchword to gloss over the obvious logical problem, and “Trinity” came readily to mind. Christianity was born! They now had the makings of a really good religion. They also had a wonderful logo: the cross. It’s more widely recognized today than even the golden arches. They never really found a good job for the Holy Ghost, but nobody seemed to care. If I were them, I’d have put the Holy Ghost in charge of Asia or something. Also, I’d have given him a few lines. It’s hard to get worked up over a god-person who never says a word. I mean, everybody knows Groucho, and most people know Chico, but who remembers Harpo?
Are you kidding?? *EVERYONE* remembers Harpo! He was the best!
It would appear the Corinthians surrendered the Holy Spirit’s control and guidance of the church, because they were more attracted to men than to Jesus. In fact, had they ever received the baptism of Pentecost?
In addition, Paul later in Corinthians appears to be questioning whether the gift of speaking in tongues is an actual gift of the Spirit or at least appears to be trying to suppress speaking in tongues in the Corinth church because he sensed the Corinth church was not being led by the Holy Spirit.
Mark.. as an ex-Jesuit you might appreciate that people struggling to discern the Spirit in small communities might be better than disputes over theological arcana that have led to wars and hang, drawing and quartering those with whom you disagree.
IMHO stuffing yourself at a love feast, or having sex with the wrong people, sounds relatively harmless (albeit suboptimal) by comparison.
To the Quakers (and perhaps Early Christians) the Spirit is quite busy indeed!
“As the Spirit of God is in man to inspire and to guide hint this Spirit is the source of every sincere religious act and belief. Nothing in human experience, neither holy book, nor holy church, nor holy state can take precedence over the Spirit of God himself. Therefore, the worship of God requires no human leadership, the Divine Spirit being present as leader.”
https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1783&context=qrt
Fascinating Bart; and largely convincing in terms of the issues facing the community in Corinth.
– but how do you understand ‘kyberneseis’ at chapter 12:28? Should we read this as ‘administrator’; or perhaps as ‘pilot’? And what might he or she have been administering or steering, if the conduct of worship and the acceptable social behaviour of members of community were not within their terms of reference?
Thinking further on the curious absence of ‘leadership’ in Corinth; I presume that the Corinthian community – as with all Christian gatherings at this time – must have been meeting in someone’s house.? Paul is writing this letter from the house of Prisca and Aquila (in Ephesus? 16:19), and they also seem to be ‘leaders’ there. Perhaps the question of ‘leadership’ of the community may intersect with the complex issues of ‘clientage’ in Antiquity. If someone is hosting the community in their house; does that make the community their ‘clients’; and does that then inhibit another person being recognised with ‘leadership’?
It does seem that Paul is prompting the Corinthian community to recognise someone from the ‘family of Stephanas’ as leader – or ‘people like them who labour hard at the common task’ (16:16). But clearly Paul feels inhibited from coming out and directly nominating a suitable candidate. I wonder why?
My sense is that he is firmly committed to the idea that the Spirit is ultimately in charge. It’s usually thought that the house-owners would have originally called whatever shots there were to be called, but that they were not appointed or invested with special authority, other than the fact they may have set the meeting times and had “house rules.”
Yeah, it’s a bit weird. “Pilot” would be kybernetes but this is (the related) kubernesis, which means “steering.” But in the plural it can mean “government” and so “administration” I suppose. Here it’s obviously plural, but it’s referring to *people*. So I guess that’s where the translation “administrators” comes from. It’s not clear how they are governing the churches. Board of elders? Probably not — seems like they’re pretty far down the list….
Steering committee?
That’s it!
Off-topic, but yeah, your “The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings, 7th Edition” arrived today 🙂
Ah, that is *always* on topic!
Wait, there’s a SEVENTH edition of “The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings”? But I’m still in the middle of chapter 24 of the SECOND edition! Maybe I shouldn’t buy your books at used book stores. (So, does the 7/ed have anything new on the role of women in chapter 24?)
Ha! Yes, a new edition comes out every four years. But no, there aren’t new insights on women in ealry CHristianity in the 7th ed.
Your series of posts about the spirit is just great, Bart !!
Thanks for sharing!
This thread has been an excellent series of cliffhangers, each one pushing the envelope so that you HAVE to be there to get the next one. This one especially ends like a season finale! Will President Bartlett run again? Will they rescue Zoey? Were Ross and Rachel on a break–and what does that even mean? MISERY IS ALIVE, MISERY IS ALIVE! OH, This whole house is going to be full of romance, OOOH, I AM GOING TO PUT ON MY LIBERACE RECORDS!
Jokes aside, I’m really enjoying it. I’ve never witnessed an academic cliffhanger before and it’s just so incredibly fun. Watch now you’ll put another cockadoodie guest post tomorrow to draw it out even more lol. (That one works on several levels.)
Still, that last paragraph–I sense evangelicals lining up to stone you–the coming explanation has so many potentially devastating implications for (proto-orthodox) theology.
Is there another book idea in here?
It’s hard to find a topic in early Christian studies that doesn’t have books devoted to it! My friend Gordon Fee wrote an enormous book on the role of the Spirit in the NT….
Paul said also that in one day there will be no more gifts of the spirit, like speaking in tongues. 1.Cor 13: 8 : ”Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end.”
Bad news for modern day charismatic movements? Or was he just stressing the importance of love?
He’s referring to “when the perfect comes” — that’s when all the gifts will be taken away. The “perfect” is the return of Christ, as he brings in his kingdom.
“When the perfect comes”…. Augustine said “the perfect” was the bible canon (obviously Jesus didn’t come). So Augustine got rid of the gifts(and leadership) of the spirit long ago… until you had the charismatic Catholics show up…. On Par with what you mentioned Bart about your dorm having a list of emergencies including “In case of speaking in Tongues…break glass??”
Yup, that was the view taught at Moody as well.
Gifts of Spirit ended after finishing Bible being written during around 100 A.D
Gift of tongues referred to translations of other?languages such as Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, Coptic, real spoken organized languages tongues.
It wasn’t the babbling found in Pentecostal churches centuries?later.
Gift of tongues gave people abilities to speak such organized tongues without having to learn Coptic, Hebrew, Latin, Aramaic without having had to learn those languages first
You mentioned how Paul views baptism. There was no mention back then of any cleansing of original sin. I know the whole notion of original sin was a later development and I’d love to see a post on how they tied original sin and a baptism cleaning it away. Just an idea to add to your lists somewhere! 😂
Does this discussion presume that the Holy Spirit was absent from human history until the first Christians invented it? If so, it seems unlikely on many counts.
(1) The Apostles would hardly invent something that Jesus never mentioned — so soon after Jesus’ death.
(2) The oral tradition about Jesus describes him engaging the Spirit at length — starting with his baptism.
(3) The OT often mentions it, e.g., “The Spirit of God hovered over the waters” (Genesis 1:2).
(4) Even before Abraham was born, ancient Egyptian priests sang of the spirit world as holy.
The Void plays a major role in Buddhism although the Void has no speaking lines. Zen promotes an Enlightenment epiphany beyond all words. So do many other ancient religions.
The Idea of Spirit was hardly original with the Apostle Peter.
you said “They have received the Spirit. It makes them “one body.” It empowers them by giving them gifts that allow their community to function as a body of Christ here at the time of the End. It is present in this community more than it has ever been present in any human community since time began. It is God – who is in heaven – giving of himself by his Spirit here to people on earth, to those who follow Jesus.
Wow these words are soooo powerful—I know you are just summarizing Paul I’m just shocked that an atheist summarizing Paul’s words is so stirring! When you were a believer did you understand Paul this way? Did you experience this in your congregations or did you long for it?
Yup, my views haven’t changed at all about Paul’s views. And yes, I was a member of a charismatic community for a while.
Did you speak in tongues? If so, where do you think that came from? I have a relevant reason for asking.
Yes I did. It came from my brain. My view is that human language does not and can not have any other source/origin.
Do you think it was self-hypnosis or something like that? My experience was after praying for two hours or so at the altar to “receive the Holy Spirit”, I must have briefly passed out, and when I came to I was able to speak nonsense syllables easily and I was tingling all over.
Robert Duvall gave a pretty convincing performance of speaking in tongues in the movie “The Apostle”.
It’s some kind of self-induced ecstatic state, I would say.