The Spirit of community and of Christ

A distinguishing feature of the Spirit of the new age is that he is experienced by all and works through all, not just the one or two (e.g., Acts 2:17f.; Rom. 8:9; 1 Cor. 12:7, 11; Heb. 6:4; 1 Jn. 2:20). In Paul’s teaching it is only this common participation (koinōnia) in the one Spirit that makes a group of diverse individuals one body (1 Cor. 12:13; 2 Cor. 13:14; Eph. 4:3f.; Phil. 2:1). And it is only as each lets the Spirit come to expression in word and deed as a member of the body that the body grows towards the maturity of Christ (1 Cor. 12:12–26; Eph. 4:3–16). This is why Paul both encourages a full range and free expression of the Spirit’s gifts (Rom. 12:3–8; 1 Cor. 12:4–11, 27–31; Eph. 5:18f.; 1 Thes. 5:19f.; cf. Eph. 4:30) and insists that the community test every word and deed which claims the authority of the Spirit by the measure of Christ and the love he embodied (1 Cor. 2:12–16; 13; 14:29; 1 Thes. 5:19–22; cf. 1 Jn. 4:1–3).

The same twin emphasis on a worship which is determined by immediate dependence on the Spirit (rather than in terms of sacred place or sanctuary) and in accordance with the truth of Christ is present in Jn. 21:24 (cf. Rev. 19:10). Similarly John emphasizes that the believer may expect an immediacy of teaching by the Spirit, the Counsellor (Jn. 14:26; 16:12f.; 1 Jn. 2:27); but also that the new revelation will be in continuity with the old, a reproclaiming, reinterpretation of the truth of Christ (Jn. 14:26; 16:13–15; 1 Jn. 2:24); Gal. 4:6; Phil. 1:19; also 1 Pet. 1:11; cf. Jn. 7:38; 19:30; 20:22; Acts 2:33; Heb. 9:14; Rev. 3:1; 5:6), the other Counsellor who has taken over Jesus’ role on earth (Jn. 14:16; cf. 1 Jn. 2:1). This means that Jesus is now present to the believer only in and through the Spirit (Jn. 14:16–28; 16:7; Rom. 8:9f.; 1 Cor. 6:17; 15:45; Eph. 3:16f.; cf. Rom. 1:4; 1 Tim. 3:16; 1 Pet. 3:18; Rev. 2–3), and that the mark of the Spirit is both the recognition of Jesus’ present status (1 Cor. 12:3; 1 Jn. 5:6–12) and the reproduction of the character of his sonship and resurrection life in the believer (Rom. 8:11, 14–16, 23; 1 Cor. 15:45–49; 2 Cor. 3:18; Gal. 4:6f.; 1 Jn. 3:2).

The roots of subsequent Trinitarian theology are perhaps evident in Paul’s recognition that the believer experiences through the Spirit a twofold relation, to God as father (Rom. 8:15f.; Gal. 4:6) and to Jesus as Lord (1 Cor. 12:3).