Doug Wilson on Worshipping the Spirit

[py3ak]

From his 2006 Pentecost sermon:

Introduction:
It is characteristic of the Holy Spirit that He draws attention away from Himself. Sometimes, the Spirit of God is neglected because of a deficiency in theology. But other times this happens precisely because He is active and doing His work.

The Text:
"Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you" (John 16:13-14).

Overview:
Jesus is teaching His disciples here, and He says that when the Spirit of truth comes into the world (which He did at Pentecost), He will guide the disciples into "all truth" (v. 13). But the reason given for this is interesting. He will guide them into all truth "for he shall not speak of himself." He is the Spirit of revelation, which means that He will communicate what He has received� "whatsoever he shall hear" (v. 13). He is a prophetic Spirit because He will reveal things to come (v. 13). We then return to the orientation of the Spirit. We have already learned that He will not speak about Himself, and now we learn that He shall glorify Christ (v. 14). What the Spirit passes on, He has received from Christ, and then reveals it to Christ�s disciples (v. 14).

The Spirit of Prophecy:
When our thoughts are centered on Christ, this is not evidence that we are neglecting the Holy Spirit. Rather, it is clear evidence that the Spirit is present and is doing His glorious work, the work of lifting up Jesus. "And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy" (Rev. 19:10). This is the work of the Spirit, the testimony of the Spirit to draw us all to see the supremacy of Jesus. The work of the triune God in our midst is dynamic, not static. Trinitarian faith does not place the three persons of the Trinity in a row on a shelf, and worship them all equally. To do so is to attempt to deny their work in us. "For through him {Jesus} we both {Jew and Gentile} have access by one Spirit unto the Father" (Eph. 2:18). "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14:6). While guarding against all irreverence, we can illustrate it this way: the Father is destination, the Son is the road, and the Spirit is the car.

(reformatted)

What are people's reactions to the statements about worshipping and the Spirit?

 

[ADKing]

If Wilson is using Revelation 19.10 as a proof text for his position he is very wrong. Even the context of the passage indicates that John has been talking to an angel and is forbidden to worship him.

LC answer 11 says "The scriptures manifest that the Son and the Holy Ghost are God equal with the Father, ascribing unto them such names, attributes, works and WORSHIP (emphasis mine) as are proper to God only."

In fact, the historic Christian faith contradicts Wilson when he says, "Trinitarian faith does not place the three persons of the Trinity in a row on a shelf, and worship them all equally."

Rather there are three persons in Godhead equal in power and glory.

This gets to another problem I have with Wilson. He quite often builds straw men arguments while completely ignoring the nuances that have been carefully discerned in church history in the midst of controversy. Whoever says that Trinitarian theology "places all three persons of the Trinity on a row on a shelf" as if it does not distinguish personal properties or different economical functions? Perhaps Wilson needs to read the Cappadocian fathers for a better more biblical theology of the Holy Ghost.

 

[ADKing]

I am particularly concerned about the lack of understanding in modern churches these days with regard to historic Trinitarian theology per Nicaea etc. The church would benefit greatly from (re)reading Athanasius, Basil the Great, Gregory of Nyssa and the rest of the great Trinitarian theologians--epsecially before modern theologians/preachers start trying to revise historically received Trinitarian thought.

 

[MW]

Originally posted by ADKing
Whoever says that Trinitarian theology "places all three persons of the Trinity on a row on a shelf" as if it does not distinguish personal properties or different economical functions?

Has anyone read Reymond's Sytematic Theology on this? He comes very close to denying personal properties. His emphasis on the distinct knowledge perspective of each of the persons, unbridled as it is because of his denial of traditional "properties," looks very much like what is described above by Mr. Wilson.

 

[ADKing]

Rev. Winzer,

Thank you for your post. I have indeed read Reymond and have in the past expressed great concern over his conculsions. It amounts to a denial of ontological distinctions and only focusing on economic distinctions. Do you think that Wilson is attacking the same mischaracterization of orthodox trinitarianism that some of Reymond's students do?

For some time now I have been concerned over the inroads that Reymond's thought is making into supposedly conservative reformed churches.

 

[MW]

Rev. King,

I am glad at last to find somebody else who does not think this is a non-issue. I have become increasingly uncomfortable with what I perceive to be a worshipping of three Autotheoi, which by definition is three Gods. It is all well and good to make intellectual distinctions, but those distinctions are soon lost in practice. I say this with caution, because I know how easy it is to find a man unorthodox on the Trinity by simply ignoring qualifications. But the fact is, Reymond overtly denies important qualifications that have been made in the past, and these qualifications were for the express purpose of guarding orthodoxy against Tritheism.

I do find it difficult to know what Wilson is attacking at times. He's left of me, and it seems the people he's shooting at are right of me; so even if he is not aiming at me his arrows come in my direction. But on a subject like the Trinity I would expect Wilson to be traditional. And certainly his formulation is in keeping with the spirit of the Westminster Standards, which speaks of praying to the Father in the name of the Son and with the assistance of the Spirit.

 

[py3ak]

Mr. King, you express some of the same concerns that I had. I like Boethius on the Trinity, I must admit.

I was reminded of John Owen (who in this is followed by Mary Winslow) and thought that he would not like what Wilson is saying here. Can we not worship God in Three Persons without forgetting personal and economic distinctions?

 

[ADKing]

With regard to Reymond, I have found the following critiques of his work helpful.

Calvin and Catholic trinitarianism: an examination of Robert Reymond's understanding of the Trinity and his appeal to John Calvin By: Owen, Paul Source: Calvin Theological Journal, 35 no 2 N 2000, p 262-281.

and

Robert Letham's book review which appears in the Westminster Theological Journal 62/2 (Fall 2000), pp. 314-319

I think it is important to alert users of Reymond's systematic theology to this glaring defect. In contrast the section on the Trinity in Francis Turretin's Elenctic Theology is an outstanding reformation treatment of the subject. I have seen few better (though there are of course many great ones!).

 

[ADKing]

Originally posted by py3ak
Can we not worship God in Three Persons without forgetting personal and economic distinctions?

Not only can we; we must! If Wilson only meant to stress the idea that we pray to the Father through the Son by the aid of the Spirit, it seems to me as if he chose to use language that was stronger than necessary to make that point.

 

[py3ak]

It seems very odd to say that we do not worship them equally, when they are co-equal.
Some time ago Fred Greco criticized Reymond's statements about the Trinity here on the board. No doubt a search would pull them up, but smart people drop a hint and wait for Andrew to magically place the links at our fingertips.

 

[MW]

Ruben,

Does Owen speak of worshipping the Spirit in the sense of singling Him out and addressing Him personally? It has been a number of years since I read Communion with God, so I cannot be sure, but it sounds un-Owenian. I know he would say we are to distinctly worship the Holy Spirit, but I am not sure if he would go so far as to say we should separately worship Him. Also, I wonder if Wilson hasn't distinctly worshipped the Spirit, in a manner which Owen speaks of, when he highly exalts the distinct person and work of the Spirit.

[Edited on 10-14-2006 by armourbearer]

 

[py3ak]

Mr. Winzer,

I wasn't advocating worshipping the Holy Spirit separately --or attempting to put those words into Owen's mouth. I was simply wondering (hoping to get feedback from people who know more) if Owen might not take Wilson to task at this point. And certainly no worship should ever be carried on apart from the Mediator.


Here is one thread where a criticism of Reymond was expressed:
http://www.puritanboard.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=14076#pid198673

 

[py3ak]

And a little something from Leo the Great's 1st Pentecost sermon:

III. The three Persons in the Trinity are perfectly equal in all things.
But although, dearly-beloved, the actual form of the thing done was exceeding wonderful, and undoubtedly in that exultant chorus of all human languages the Majesty of the Holy Spirit was present, yet no one must think that His Divine substance appeared in what was seen with bodily eyes. For His Nature, which is invisible and shared in common with the Father and the Son, showed the character of His gift and work by the outward sign that pleased Him, but kept His essential property within His own Godhead: because human sight can no more perceive the Holy Ghost than it can the Father or the Son. For in the Divine Trinity nothing is unlike or unequal, and all that can be thought concerning Its substance admits of no diversity either in power or glory or eternity. And while in the property of each Person the Father is one, the Son is another, and the Holy Ghost is another, yet the Godhead is not distinct and different; for whilst the Son is the Only begotten of the Father, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Father and the Son, not in the way that every creature is the creature of the Father and the Son, but as living and having power with Both, and eternally subsisting of That Which is the Father and the Son. And hence when the Lord before the day of His Passion promised the coming of the Holy Spirit to His disciples, He said, “I have yet many things to say to you, but ye cannot bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of Truth shall have come, He shall guide you into all the Truth. For He shall not speak from Himself, but whatsoever He shall have heard, He shall speak and shall announce things to come unto you. All things that the Father hath are Mine: therefore said I that He shall take of Mine, and shall announce it to you.” Accordingly, there are not some things that are the Father’s, and other the Son’s, and other the Holy Spirit’s: but all things whatsoever the Father has, the Son also has, and the Holy Spirit also has: nor was there ever a time when this communion did not exist, because with Them to have all things is to always exist. In them let no times, no grades, no differences be imagined, and, if no one can explain that which is true concerning God, let no one dare to assert what is not true. For it is more excusable not to make a full statement concerning His ineffable Nature than to frame an actually wrong definition. And so whatever loyal hearts can conceive of the Father’s eternal and unchangeable Glory, let them at the same time understand it of the Son and of the Holy Ghost without any separation or difference. For we confess this blessed Trinity to be One God for this reason, because in these three Persons there is no diversity either of substance, or of power, or of will, or of operation.

And a relevant quote from Cyril's 16th Catechetical Lecture:

Our hope is in Father, and Son, and Holy Ghost. We preach not three Gods; let the Marcionites be silenced; but with the Holy Ghost through One Son, we preach One God. The Faith is indivisible; the worship inseparable. We neither separate the Holy Trinity, like some; nor do we as Sabellius work confusion. But we know according to godliness One Father, who sent His Son to be our Savior we know One Son, who promised that He would send the Comforter from the Father; we know the Holy Ghost, who spake in the Prophets, and who on the day of Pentecost descended on the Apostles in the form of fiery tongues, here, in Jerusalem, in the Upper Church of the Apostles

[Edited on 10-13-2006 by py3ak]

 

[MW]

Pertinent quotations. Very good.

 

[py3ak]

Where are the Augustine, Ambrose, Leo, Gregories and Basil smilies?