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Getting Pentecostal

Listen (and subscribe!) to the Evangelists Podcast where I elaborate on all these points...

What is Pentecost?

In the Jewish calendar (see Leviticus 23), Pentecost is the "Feast of Weeks". It's held 50 days after "Firstfruits." At "Firstfruits" you have tasted the goodness of the coming crop. At "Pentecost" the harvest comes in.

In the New Testament, Jesus rose on the day of "Firstfruits". He was the Seed who went into the ground (on Good Friday) and came up again (on Easter Sunday). His new life guarantees a rich harvest of resurrection.

The first ever Pentecost happened in Exodus - 50 days after the Israelites came out of Egypt. On that day Moses came down from the mountain with the law and he judged idolatrous Israel. 3000 people died on that first Pentecost. In Acts 2, the Spirit comes down from on high and brings life - on that day 3000 people are reborn!


What does Acts 2 teach us about the Spirit?

The Spirit comes through the Word - especially preached. (v14ff)

The Spirit is associated with the last days (v17).

The Spirit is the triune life of God poured out (v33).

The Spirit is a gift for the unworthy (v38).


What does the rest of the Bible teach about the Holy Spirit?

The Spirit is the LIFE of God.








What does the Spirit do in the life of God?

1. He joyfully declares the Father's overflowing love:

You are my Son who I love, with you I am well pleased. (Matthew 3:16-17)

2. He joyfully declares the Son's glad dependence:

At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, ‘I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth. (Luke 10:21)


3. He gives life to the Son

Through the Spirit of holiness [Jesus] was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead (Romans 1:4).



What does the Spirit do in our life?

1. He joyfully declares the Father's overflowing love to us:



2. He joyfully declares our love as sons back to the Father:

The Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ (Romans 8:15)


3. He gives life to us 



Everything that the Spirit is in God's life, He becomes in our life! The Spirit sweeps us up into the Son's communion with the Father. By Him we "participate in the divine nature"! (2 Peter 1:4)


How do we get the Spirit wrong?

The three main trinitarian heresies all have implications for how we see the Spirit:

Arianism: The Spirit is a non-Person.

Here we see the Spirit as an It, Force, an abstract Power.

Modalism: The Spirit is the same Person (as the Son / Father)

Here we forget that the Spirit unites us to Jesus and brings us before the Father. Instead modalists (eg Oneness Pentecostals) imagine that we have an unmediated relationship with God (undifferentiated). That's not the gospel!

Tritheism: The Spirit is a detached Person

Here we think of the Spirit as another source of blessing. We imagine that we can have some blessings from Jesus but we need to go to this other power called the Spirit to get certain blessings.

If we keep looking to Jesus we won't go too far wrong!


What does this mean for our Christian walk?

Let's pray for the Spirit Himself (not just His fruit). But let's come to Jesus to know the Spirit - there's no other Way.

Let's be Spirit-filled which means...

centred on Jesus,

obsessed by the word,

overflowing with words of our own,

walking by faith not works,

trusting Christ not our flesh,

looking to the future when the Spirit will raise not only us but the whole world. Then even the deserts will bloom.

The Spirit [will be] poured on us from on high, and the desert becomes a fertile field, and the fertile field seems like a forest. (Isaiah 32:15)



3 thoughts on “Getting Pentecostal

  1. Adrian Clark

    Glen, appreciated very much your exegesis of the text regarding the Trinity on Premier. See our FB page Tolerate This - The Gospel for the City of Bristol.

  2. James Arnold

    Clear and challenging application of our interpretation of the Spirit and how He points us to Jesus.

    "the way of the flesh is climbing up by our own power; the way of the Spirit is pouring ourselves out for others"

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