The Spirit in Christ and in us
Submitted by Jules on January 20 2000 at 11:54:49
In reply to Theosis Submitted by F.O.D. on January 19 2000 at 23:07:30
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Hey Fod, Praise God for prompting you to write on this! It matches so well with what I've been studying this week! The Holy Spirit is given to us by the Father through the Son, and enables us to know the Father and the Son. And that's what salvation is: And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. (John 17:3) As for the Spirit being the driving force for theosis, how true! It's not enough to think of us being saved by virtue of Christ's life and death without the Spirit being involved. It is the Spirit who shares the virtue of Christ with us. And he does so by doing in us the same things as he did in the incarnate Son of God, who is our representative. So the Spirit unites us to Christ and brings us into relationship with the Father through him. Specifically, the Spirit worked in three ways in the incarnate Son of God: 1. Regeneration and indwelling. In the incarnation, the Spirit took the essence of human life in Mary and re-created it into a humanity capable of relating to God the Father as his Son. The Spirit was then always present in the life of Jesus keeping him in contact with his Father and providing the power for him to live in perfect obedience, even all the way to death. This is the same work of re-birth and indwelling the Spirit does in us. 2. Anointing. At Jesus' baptism, he received a specific anointing of the Spirit for his ministry as the Messiah, bringer of the kingdom of God, worker of miracles of liberation, and self-giving Saviour. In the same way, the Spirit may anoint us for specific tasks at various times. 3. Transformation. At Jesus' resurrection, the Spirit re-formed him into a fully spiritual humanity, perfected. This will be our transformation as well. (By the way, I think it's important to remember that this includes our bodies, and not just our souls or spirits. We are whole beings, "body-selves" as James Nelson puts it. We can't be split up. It is the whole "body-self" that is regenerated, anointed and transformed, just as for Jesus.) How are we saved, then? By the Spirit doing the same in us as he did in Jesus, with our co-operation. That's what it means to be united to Christ and brought to know the Father through him. To read more on all this, and lots more about the Spirit and the Trinity, I'd recommend an excellent book by Tom Smail called 'The Giving Gift'. With love, Jules |