The Holy Spirit’s Old Testament Problem

The Holy Spirit’s Old Testament Problem

Among churches of Christ the prevailing view of the work of the Spirit in Christians is that the Holy Spirit is provided to us as God’s gift at our baptism. Our possession of the Spirit is the seal of our faith, the guarantee of our inheritance, and often, considered to be the empowering influence of our faithfulness.

If an indwelling Spirit is essential, what about the salvation of the Old Testament Saints?

If an indwelling Spirit is essential, what about the salvation of the Old Testament Saints?

Central to this understanding is that the gift of the Holy Spirit is the exclusive blessing of Christians.  No one outside of Christ has it.  And critically, no one before the glorification of Jesus ever received this blessing: “Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified” (John 7:39).

This position creates a significant problem once it attempts to describe the specific blessings the Spirit’s presence provides the Christian. The difficulty resides in fact that it is definitionally impossible for any saint of God before Acts 2 to receive the indwelling’s benefit from the Holy Spirit’s presence. If the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is the seal of the Christian, then no Old Testament Jew ever experienced it.  So then when proponents of the current understanding of the Spirit’s blessings describe any benefit gifted by the Spirit, they necessarily exclude that benefit from Old Testament saints. This creates a great conflict with the Old Testament as it describes the faithfulness of the Old Testament saints.

For example, it is common to hear preachers assert that the Holy Spirit’s presence is integral in our avoiding sin.  Increasingly, our ability to avoid temptation is linked to (and sometimes given over to) the Spirit’s power working in us. If that is the case, every Old Testament saint’s struggle against sin becomes questionable.  How was Daniel strengthened in the Lion’s Den without the Holy Spirit?  How did three Hebrew young men with no help from the indwelling Spirit walk so confidently into a flame-filled furnace?  We could compile an unending list of Jewish saints who served God and avoided sin daily all without the Spirit’s indwelling.  By modern teachings, this should not be possible (or at least practical).  If the Spirit’s help is needed for us to avoid sin, then He was needed for them to avoid sin as well.  Yet, no one can hold to the modern view of the Spirit’s work and at the same time hold that the Spirit was present in the lives of the ancient saints.

This is no small problem. If one action, influence, leading, nudging, or direction of the Spirit is essential in our salvation today, then that influence’s absence should condemn every Old Testament saint. If a human’s ability to live a faithful life before God requires the presence of the Spirit, then no human can be saved without that presence.  And since no Old Testament saint had that presence, if modern preachers are correct, no Old Testament saint was ever saved.  Yet, if you have any doubts about salvation before the coming of the Spirit, just check Hebrews 11.

However, if the Spirit’s work in our lives is not essential to our salvation (which would account for the salvation of the ancient saints), then His benefit to us exists only of the margins of our faith (at best).  His presence is supplemental, not essential.  Relegating, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit – the seal and guarantee of our faith – to a peripheral role seems inconsistent with a blessing so central to early gospel as the gift of the Spirit.

There must be an understanding of this great gift which allows it to be integral to the early gospel without calling into question the salvation of Old Testament saints.

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FOR TO US A CHILD IS BORN…

FOR TO US A CHILD IS BORN…

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6

Isaiah spoke of the Christ, hundreds of years before he appeared.

Isaiah spoke of the Christ, hundreds of years before he appeared.

A well known passage that is often thought of in relation to the birth of Christ, Isaiah 9:6 has much more to offer.  Consider…

  • “To us” a child is born.  “To us” a son is given.  God “gave” his only begotten Son (John 3:16).  To whom did the Father give the ultimate gift?  “To us.”  Think about the implications of that when it comes to the love God has for us.
  • “The government shall be upon his shoulder.”  Christ has all authority (Matt. 28:18).  He is Lord, and thus we must do what he says (Luke 6:46).
  • He is also our “Wonderful Counselor” as well as our “Mighty God” and “Everlasting Father.”  I’ve found through (sometimes hard) experience that following the counsel of Christ as shown in the New Testament (and the Old – see Proverbs, for example) in all areas of my life is the way to go.  Every time I’ve gone against what he has told me to do, my life has become harder in some fashion.  Every time I’ve followed his counsel, when all was said and done my life was made better in many ways.  He truly is a “Wonderful Counselor” in that his counsel, if followed, brings peace.  That’s why he is also the “Prince of Peace.”
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The Normalization of Pedophilia

The Normalization of Pedophilia

On May 5, 2018, medical student Mirjam Heine, gave a TEDx talk at the University of Wurtzberg in Germany.  TED is a nonprofit organization that produces short powerful talks that originally focused on technology, entertainment, and design (though TEDx events are organized independently from the main annual TED conference). Today these popular “TED talk” videos cover everything from science, law, history, education, technology, etc. Mirjam Heine’s talk was extremely different than most TED videos.

Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil...

Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil…

Heine’s 13:30 minute speech focused on a person named Jonas, a pedophile who preferred girls aged 6-12. She goes on to proclaim, “anyone could be born a pedophile.” She argued that pedophilia “is an unchangeable sexual orientation, just like, for example heterosexuality.” Her TED talk was all about how the general population should change our view and offer support to those who are pedophiles.  She stated: “Just like pedophiles, we are not responsible for our feelings.” She continued by asserting, “We do not choose them…but it is our responsibility to…overcome our negative feelings about pedophiles and to treat them with the same respect we treat other people with.”

Two months later, on July 28, 2018 a poster was placed on a telephone pole near Willamette primary school in Oregon City that read, “Pedophiles are People Too. Because Love is Love.” The poster had a picture of an adult holding hands with a toddler, both of them featuring a big red heart in the center of their chests. The argument given is that as long as it doesn’t hurt the child then “love is love.” Make no mistake about it, normalization of pedophilia has begun in America.

In what can only be viewed as ironic, the LGBT community has come out against the pedophile posters, and many homosexual activists are upset that people might use these posters to discredit the LGBT community. However, one does not have to look far back in our history to recall the homosexual community declaring that it was their “right” to be able to marry someone of the same sex. “It’s my right…” has become the mantra that individuals now use to defend any type of behavior. 

So now what prevents pedophiles from riding the coattails of homosexuals, declaring that it is their right to have sexual relationships with children? Answer: Nothing. In September 2015, Selwyn Duke wrote an article for The New American titled  “Shocking Times: Movement for Pedophile “Rights” Marches On” in which he pointed out this very movement has already begun.

Again, let me be clear—the normalization process for pedophilia is already underway. For instance, pedophile activists have already begun asking the media to stop using the term pedophilia and instead refer to their community as “Minor attracted persons.” And the normalization will continue. For many people, their gut instinct when they hear about pedophilia is revulsion. They can’t believe that this crime against children would ever be allowed in a civil society.

However, in an op-ed that appeared in the New York Times in 2004, Margo Kaplan declared that pedophilia was “a disorder and not a crime.” Therefore it should be treated and not punished. Also, consider that decades ago homosexuality was viewed with the same type of revulsion in America. Today it has been normalized to the point that our culture feels comfortable promoting homosexual behavior in television shows.

So what is the Christian response? I’ll agree that there is no direct mention of pedophilia in the Bible. However, there is not a direct mention of a lot of things in God’s Word. That does not alter the fact that this behavior is indeed discussed in Scripture. The Greek word porneia (where we get our English word pornography) is used to describe all types of immoral sexual behavior that would include pedophilia. In his letter to the Christians in Galatia, Paul uses this word porneia (fornication) in his description of the lusts of the flesh (Galatians 5:16-21).

Notice Paul does not say it is a person’s “right” to behave in this fashion. No. Instead, he points out that people who commit these acts will not inherit the kingdom of heaven. So one of the things Christians must realize is that if we allow or condone this behavior we are in essence condemning those who participate to hell. These people need the Truth about sin and the blood of Jesus—just like all sinners.

In Ezekiel chapter 16 God uses a metaphor about His love for Jerusalem and His relationship with the children of Israel. In that description He starts out talking about their birth (verse 3).  He then talks about them growing up, struggling in their own blood and God making them thrive (verses 6-7). He says, “I made you thrive like a plant in the field; and you grew, matured, and became very beautiful. Your breasts were formed, your hair grew, but you were naked and bare” (verse 7).

Only after this maturation and having gone through puberty did God acknowledge they were ready for love. We read, “When I passed by you again and looked upon you, indeed your time was the time of love; so I spread My wing over you and covered your nakedness.” (verse 8). In Ruth 1:12-13 we find Naomi distraught after the death of her sons and she tells her daughters-in-law, “Turn back, my daughters, go—for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, if I should have a husband tonight and should also bear sons,  would you wait for them till they were grown?” (emp. added.).

Consider also, the first command God gave Adam and Eve was to be fruitful and multiple (Genesis 1:28)—the indication being that they were already able to have children.  Nowhere in Scripture do we read of God condoning sexual relationships between children and adults. Paul on two different occasions wrote about things being “without natural affection” (Romans 1:31; 2 Timothy 3:2). The implication is that there are things that God views as natural affection and things that God views as unnatural.

One of the arguments that is used to justify pedophilia is when Jesus said, “Let the children come unto me” (Matthew 19:14; Luke 18:16). However, this passage has nothing to do with sexual attraction and is being used grossly out of context. People were bringing their children to Jesus for Him to place His hands on them and the disciples were rebuking the parents and holding the children back.

Notice one chapter earlier Jesus, speaking about children, warned: “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matthew 18:6).

Normalization is happening. Our children and grandchildren will be indoctrinated with the idea that they should be tolerant of pedophilia—just like they have been successfully indoctrinated with the idea that sodomy is an alternative lifestyle that should be tolerated. And yet, sin is still sin. Now more than ever parents need to study God’s Word and instill His precepts deeply into the hearts and minds of the next generation.

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LA MUCHA LETRA MATA

“LA MUCHA LETRA MATA”

“El cual también nos hizo suficientes como ministros de un nuevo pacto, no de la letra, sino del Espíritu; porque la letra mata, pero el Espíritu da vida.” (2Cor. 3:6 LBLA). Este texto del N.T se ha prestado para intenciones malévolas por parte de ciertos individuos. Quién escribe ha escuchado la frase del título cientos de veces casi por el mismo patrón de personas; predicadores que no se esfuerzan por aprender, que nunca han tenido una formación teológica seria  y por lideres de sectas religiosas que al verse confrontados se escudan detrás de un texto fuera de contexto para sacar su buen pretexto. La realidad es que cuando alguien que ha sido expuesto a la verdad grita desesperadamente: “La mucha letra mata” eso es absolutamente correcto. La mucha letra mata…pero la ignorancia. Una frase similar es expresada en Hechos 26 para confrontar a Pablo: “Las muchas letras te han vuelto loco”, pero en aquella ocasión sabemos que fue la salida más fácil, la única defensa, la única excusa que Festo pudo dar al tan elocuente discurso del apóstol Pablo. En el pasaje de 2 Corintios 3, nos disponemos a estudiar realmente lo significa la frase, y cual era la intención del escritor. 

LA MUCHA LETRA MATA

LA MUCHA LETRA MATA

En este capítulo tres, Pablo inicia mencionando a los hermanos y recordándoles que ellos son carta de Cristo, expedida por los apóstoles quienes obraron en su conversión. No es ninguna sorpresa que los corintios estuvieran intentando abogar por la ley de Moisés como de alguna manera muchas congregaciones estaban intentando hacer lo mismo tales en aquel tiempo como en Galacia donde Pablo dedica casi toda la carta para abordar este tema. De eso precisamente está tratando en este capítulo y cuando llega al versículo 6 “la mucha letra mata” está haciendo una clara referencia a la ley de Moisés. De hecho pasa a explicar en versículo siguiente “…ministerio de Muerte grabado con letras en piedras…” este ministerio fue con gloria (Antiguo Pacto)  v.8 “¿Como no será aun con más gloria el ministerio del Espíritu?”. No cabe dudas que de lo que aquí se está hablando es de la ley de Moisés. Esa ley hoy mata porque por ella ninguno puede ser salvo o ninguno puede ser justificado (Ga.3:11), cualquiera que desea aplicar esta ley que ya expiró encontrará al final solamente muerte. Entonces lo que sucede en realidad es que se ha mal interpretado este versículo para defender o mas bien fomentar la ignorancia espiritual que reina por estos días en un gran numero del pueblo de Dios quien como Israel perece muchas veces por falta de conocimiento. Estas personas intentan ocultar la falta de compromiso de ellas mismas con la lectura y estudio de las Sagradas Escrituras.Cuando se escudriña correctamente la palabra de Dios no falta algún “espiritual”que minimiza la importancia del estudio Bíblico citando la última parte de este versículo: “LA LETRA MATA,PERO EL ESPIRITU VIVIFICA”.Con esta cita se quiere decir que letra hace referencia al estudio, o a la lectura y en consecuencia mata (aniquila) la espiritualidad. ¿Será que el mismo Pablo que en reiteradas veces incentivó el estudio y la lectura de las escrituras se este contradiciendo? Observe y juzgue usted por lógica:
  •  1Ti 4:13  Entre tanto que voy,  ocúpate en la lectura,  la exhortación y la enseñanza.
  • Col 3:16  La palabra de Cristo more en abundancia en vosotros,  enseñándoos y exhortándoos unos a otros en toda sabiduría…
  • 2Ti 2:15  Procura con diligencia presentarte a Dios aprobado,  como obrero que no tiene de qué avergonzarse,  que usa bien la palabra de verdad.
  • 2Ti 3:16-17  Toda la Escritura es inspirada por Dios,  y útil para enseñar,  para redargüir,  para corregir,  para instruir en justicia, a fin de que el hombre de Dios sea perfecto,  enteramente preparado para toda buena obra.
¿Se contradice Pablo? No sin duda alguna no lo hace, pero quienes tuercen este pasaje si se contradicen. Si la mucha letra mata ¿Porque usted tiene que estudiar antes de su sermón? ¡Heyyyyyy la  mucha letra mata!, ¿Porqué usted tiene que ir a las reuniones de la Iglesia, el Martes, el Jueves, el Domingo, el sábado para la reunión de Jóvenes? no sé  que otro día más… pero ¡Heyyyyyyy la mucha letra mata!, es más para que no se contradiga usted mismo que creé de esta manera la próxima reunión como Iglesia no use la Biblia, porque la Biblia está compuesta adivine de que …de muchas letras…enseñe  mejor un catecismo, un libro motivacionál o lo que sea menos la Biblia porque la mucha letra mata a la Iglesia ( y aún cuando use un libro secular para enseñar, también está lleno de muchas letras). ENTONCES EL PROBLEMA NO ESTA EN PABLO, sino en el hecho de “aislar” el contexto y solo utilizar parte de este versículo llevándolo a que diga lo que yo quiero que diga cuando yo así lo decida.  ¿Será que la gente no puede ver el tremendo peligro que hay en torcer la palabra de Dios a mi conveniencia? ¿Será que muchos “hermanitos” en algunas congregaciones no tienen lógica para pensar por si mismos y entender que esa frase no quiere decir lo que el “pastor” está afirmando? ¿Será acaso que la ceguera espiritual está tan aferrada a ellos para no darse cuenta que este hombre “pastor” está enseñando mal y torciendo las escrituras a su conveniencia? …El orgullo y la ignorancia  respetado lector, ha llevado incluso a Iglesias de Cristo a convertirse en sectas religiosas por esos dos factores combinado en: Iglesia y predicador.  La Palabra de Cristo Jamás podrá ser algo negativo en nuestras vidas, el estudio diligente y la preparación en el santo libro Jamás será algo que disguste a nuestro salvador. Es más, Santiago dice que Palabra y solo la palabra es donde radica el poder de Dios para salvar nuestras almas (Sant.1:21). El Señor nos ayude a nunca escondernos cobardemente detrás de una excusa semejante sino que nos siga fortaleciendo para indagar y continuar estudiando más a fondo la palabra de Dios a ser  honestos, sencillos, sumisos al SEÑOR y su PALABRA a ser diligentes todos los días de nuestras vidas en el Sagrado libro. La mucha letra mata…si, pero la ignorancia. Dios le bendiga. 
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The Resistible Grace of the Holy Spirit

The Resistible Grace of the Holy Spirit

Traditional Calvinism relies upon what it labels “Irresistible Grace” to cause the salvation of the lost. In its view, God’s election of a person to salvation is manifested when the Holy Spirit moves on the corrupted heart to give them the power to be saved.  This movement cannot not be resisted. In Calvinism, if God has chosen you to be saved, you will be saved no matter what.

Resistable grace?

Resistable grace?

In what is becoming the accepted position in many churches of Christ regarding the Spirit’s work, the direct application of the Spirit’s grace upon the heart of the lost is an essential element. In that way, this position mirrors the Calvinistic view of the Holy Spirit.  However, proponents of this view make one clear distinction between their view and Calvinism.  In their view, the individual upon whom the grace of the Spirit is working still has the ability to reject and the obligation to accept this movement of grace.

Under this view of indwelling, the process of conversion occurs something like this:

  • The lost person’s heart has been corrupted through a lifetime of bad choices – sins (Romans 1:21).
  • Those “darkened heart”s need help in understanding and obeying the word.
  • When confronted with the preached word, the Holy Spirit works “in conjunction with,” “along-side,” “in addition to,” or “beyond” (the specific language I have heard varies) the word to assist the darkened heart (Acts 16:14 is a favorite verse to which an appeal is made to establish an example of this in Scripture. Interestingly, the Spirit is not mentioned in Acts 16:14, nor at any point in the context of Paul’s visit to Philippi).
  • The lost person chooses to accept or reject the Spirit’s influence and the offer of the word.
  • If the lost person chooses to accept it, he is baptized for the remission of sins.
  • In that baptism, he receives the Holy Spirit.
  • The Holy Spirit’s work continues by circumcising the new convert’s heart and healing the corruption that had been upon it (Colossians 2:11-12 – Interestingly, again any mention of the Spirit seems to be missing from these verses as well).
  • At this point, the new convert is a new creation able to serve God in newness of life; however, the Holy Spirit is still present with him and needed to provide additional power to serve God completely.

Admittedly, the preceding description is an amalgamation of several of my own exposures to this teaching.  It may not fully represent any one person’s view by point and/or degree.  However, all the above statements are currently being taught. I have heard each one. It is my conviction that several of those points need to be examined more fully.

However, the most critical element that purportedly separates this view from Calvinism is the idea of the resistible grace of the Spirit. It is my conviction that Scripture does not allow this view’s version of the Spirit’s grace to be resistible.  I believe that point is established in 1 Corinthians 2.  In that text, Paul describes both the person that would and the reason for their resisting the Spirit’s influence. When those reasons are placed beside the conversion process listed above – there is no room left for a doctrine of resistible grace beyond the preached gospel.

The critical verse in the context is 1 Corinthians 2:14: “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”

It affirms the following:

  • The natural man does accept the things of the Spirit.
  • The natural man does not understand the things of the Spirit.
  • The natural man lacks the spiritual discernment (“he is not able”) to understand the things of the Spirit.

Identification of the natural man is essential in this passage.

For the Calvinist, the natural man is the unregenerate, depraved man.  He cannot accept the things of the Spirit, so he needs the Holy Spirit to use His “irresistible grace” to cause him to be able to accept the gospel.  For them, the Holy Spirit “force feeds” faith into the depraved heart. While the doctrine is wrong, it is at least consistent with itself.

For the current view of indwelling permeating the churches of Christ, identification of this man is more problematic.  They refuse (rightly so) to go so far as to suggest that the corruption of the heart is so thorough that one cannot hear and understand the gospel in total.  Nonetheless, the doctrine requires that the preached gospel alone is insufficient to save the lost.  There must exist some middle ground beyond “the word alone” and short of Calvinism for the Spirit’s direct influence to aid in saving the lost.

Herein is the problem – one I believe to be fatal to this view. The natural man is not the depraved man; nor, can he be a man that is saved simply by the influence of preaching. The man of this view requires two influences: He needs the Spirit and the word.  Those influences work in conjunction but they are not the same. The Spirit does not save apart from the word.  The word does not save apart from the Spirit. However, 1 Corinthians 2:14 does not allow for that process to exist.

Who again is the “natural man?”  The most common answer I have heard from advocates of the view under consideration mirrors the NIV’s translation of this verse: “The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.”  The natural man is “the person without the Spirit.”

So then, who is the “person without the Spirit?”  This view is unwaveringly consistent in identifying that man.  He is the lost man.  In this view, all Christians have the Holy Spirit; only Christians have the Holy Spirit; and no person in the world has the Holy Spirit.  If that line is ever crossed, this view simply cannot be sustained.  This man must also, then, be identified with the man in the flesh of Romans 8:8-9.

Paul’s testimony about this man without the Spirit is that he “is not able” (ESV) or “cannot” (NIV) understand the “things of the Spirit.” In Romans 8 this man in the flesh without the Spirit of God in him “does not” and “cannot” submit to God’s law.  Stop and consider this language carefully.  Paul leaves no possibility for this man to accept, by his own will and choice, the things of the Spirit.  “Cannot” and “is not able” describe a man devoid of his own will and power to accept the things of the Spirit.

We are being told in churches of Christ there are two influences at work in the conversion process: The grace of the Holy Spirit and the word of God. Definitionally, grace applied directly to the human heart by the Holy Spirit is a “thing of the Spirit.” The word given by inspiration of the Spirit must also be a “thing of the Spirit.” Every influence ostensibly applied to the human heart in conversion is applied directly or mediately from the Holy Spirit. Yet, that is the very influence Paul has just affirmed that the “person without the Spirit” is not able to receive.  But he cannot be converted without (as we are now told) receiving both of these separate influences from the Holy Spirit.

At this point Calvinism provides an answer that is not available to preachers in churches of Christ (yet). Calvinists turn to the “irresistible grace” of the Holy Spirit. Within their theology, Calvinists have a perfectly consistent mechanism to address the problem of people who cannot receive the things of the Spirit. They simply assert that the Spirit overrides the depravity of the human condition and forces salvation upon them. Centuries ago, John Calvin “solved” this problem the only way possible. In time, our preachers will also come to the same conclusion. From where they stand now, without turning back, Calvin’s conclusion is inescapable.

Among us, we have no such clear and simply answer.  The prevailing view of the Spirit’s work in conversion lacks an operative mechanism for the Spirit’s work on the heart of a lost person, who by his own power, “does not have the ability” to accept the things of the Spirit.

To illustrate this point, consider Acts 16:14: “One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.” In this verse we are told both influences were active.  The preached word came from “what was said by Paul.”  The Spirit’s direct influence is expressed in the statement that “The Lord opened her heart to pay attention. . .”  Several questions must be answered with that understanding:

  • Prior to hearing the words of Paul was Lydia a “person with the Spirit” or a “person without the Spirit?”
    • If Lydia were a “person without the Spirit” how did she acquire the ability to spiritually discern the things of the Spirit without the Spirit?
    • If Lydia were a “person with the Spirit” prior to her baptism, how did she receive the Spirit while still outside of Christ?
  • Did Lydia receive the Holy Spirit as her gift in baptism? If so, per Romans 8:8-9, was she “in the flesh” or “in the Spirit” prior to her conversion?
    • If she were “in the flesh” prior to her baptism, how did she submit herself to the law of God when Paul states that those in the flesh “cannot” please God (Romans 8:8-9)?
    • If she were “in the Spirit” prior to her baptism, how did she “belong to Him” prior to baptism (Romans 8:9)?
  • Is it possible for a person without the Spirit to cease being a “natural man” or a man “in the flesh” without the direct influence of the Spirit expressed in Acts 16:14?
  • If the grace of the Spirit is resistible, and the person without the Spirit does not have the ability to accept and/or understand the things of the Spirit, how did the Lord open Lydia’s heart by the grace of the Spirit without overriding her volition?
  • If God did interfere with Lydia’s volition, does that not make the Spirit’s grace irresistible?

I do not believe those questions can be answered consistently without weakening the “cannot” words of Paul in 1 Corinthians and Romans or by making an appeal to ambiguity or mysticism. Neither approach is satisfactory.

The current view of the Spirit’s influence in conversion needs a space between the influence of the preached word and the idea of the Calvinistic influence of the Spirit.  Yet, given how this view defines itself, that needed room simply does not exists.  If the natural man is defined as a “person without the Spirit,” only some direct action by God can overcome the corruption of that man’s heart. According to Paul, that man simply lacks the ability to accept the influence of the Spirit of his own volition. However, it is my contention that no other definition for the natural man (short of fully accepting Calvinism) can be argued under this view.

In effect, this view’s understanding of man needs three kinds of people:  1) Natural people who reject the things of the Spirit; 2) Natural people who receive the things of the Spirit; 3) Spiritual people who have received the things of the Spirit.  The simple problem is that Person #2 in the list above does not exist in 1 Corinthians 2 or Romans 8. Paul only describes two kinds of people. Unless that third kind of person can be found, the “resistible grace” being taught among must eventually yield to the “irresistible grace” of Calvinism. It does not take a prophet to know that is where we are heading.

The simple answer to this dilemma is to understand the spiritual influence of the Holy Spirit in conversion is exercised through the Spirit-inspired word alone.  What determines the effect of that message on the heart is whether that heart is good soil (spiritual) or bad soil (natural).  It is the person that determines the quality of his soil.  Remember, the good soil is good before the seed ever falls upon it (Matthew 13:8). This understanding is a simple one.  It works in describing both those in and out of God’s covenant.  Good, spiritual soil exists both within and without the church.  Bad, fleshly soil is found both in and out as well. This is a view of humanity that has been preached among us for generations.  However, it is also one that stands in contrast to the directly Spirit-aided gospel now being preached among us.  We have not moved our position for the better.

 

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