Update 2: Through the help of some blog friends I’ve revised this a bit to reflect what we should explicitly and implicitly take from these Creeds to inform our understanding of the Rule of Faith and minimums necessary for belief. Thanks Greg and Blake!

Update: In my haste I forgot the Holy Spirit! Oops 🙂 I’ve made the revision below to the answer to my first question

Two questions have arisen a few times this week as I’ve waded waist deep in emerging church theological critique: 1) What do I mean by “Rule of Faith”; 2) If I am rejecting the theology that has come out of the Emergent conversation, what do I embrace? Am I simply replacing once camp with another?

1) What do I mean by “Rule of Faith”

First, in regards to The Rule of Faith, and I’m tipping my hand here, for me that is shorthand for historic Christian orthodoxy. I feel that’s become a loaded set of words, which is why I’ve swapped them for RoF. I realize I am opening myself up to the question, “Well WHOSE orthodoxy do we choose? The East, West? Catholicism or Protestantism? Calvinism or Arminianism? Who or what decides as orthodox?” I get the question, but find it to be an easy out for a conversation on basic Christian beliefs.

While I am well aware of the differences between West and East, between Catholic and Protestant, there are still some things at the base upon which the apostolic Church of Jesus Christ (EO, RC, P) is built. The Rule of Faith at its broadest point is the Apostles and Nicene Creeds. You could call it Nicene Christianity.

Everyone at minimum must agree with Nicene Christianity in order to be a Christian. That’s what I’m saying.

Look at the Apostles Creed for reference:

I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended into hell.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.
Amen.

Look at the Nicene Creed for reference:

We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary,
and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Both Creeds explicitly affirm:

1. Trinitarian theology.
2. God as Creator who is distinct from creation.
3. the Lordship of Jesus as exclusive Lord
4. the deity of Christ; Jesus was/is very God
5. physical incarnation of Jesus as a man in virgin birth; Jesus was/is very human
6. the literal suffering, death of Jesus (more on this below)
7. the literal resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
8. ascension and exaltation of Jesus Christ as Lord
9. individual culpability, forgiveness and judgment of sin
10. Jesus Christ will come as Judge, where resurrection of the body and the life to come in the glory of His Kingdom is given for those who believe in Him.
11. The Holy Spirit is an active member of the Trinity, who is co-worshiped with the Father and Son, the giver of life, and author of Textual Revelation.

While not explicitly spelled out, there is also an assumption of are four implicit ideas we could draw from these Creeds to inform the Rule:

1. Holy Scriptures, as given and applied by the Holy Spirit, are the revelational authority for understanding these components of the Christian faith.
2. Original Sin: while this cashes out differently in the West (a strong view) and east (a weak/different view) it is still assumed by both. Both Creeds assume something is wrong with us (Sin), which necessitated Christ’s death and resurrection, and need for forgiveness of those sins in the first place. This later translated into the belief in Original Sin, a belief affirmed by the apostolic Church which submitted to those Creeds. It seems as though this later affirmation can be said to be implicit in these Creeds, though admittedly this is taking theological interpretive license. It is a belief, however, that is necessary for confessing Christians.
3. Substitution (not necessarily penal) has been a vital part of understanding the Event of the Cross. The Creeds explicitly draw attention to Christ’s suffering and death and to their significance for rescue. Implicit in Jesus’ sufferings and death is His “shouldering the penalty which justice required them to pay (for sins) and reconciling them to God by his sacrificial death.” Implicit in the Creeds is a substitution on behalf of humanity. (i.e. How can you be a Christian and not believe that Christ died in your place?).
4. Eternal Life(heaven on new earth) and Eternal Death (hell), the results of judgment. The Creeds affirm Jesus’ descent into Hell and that Jesus will stand as Judge, logical results of which is judgment. While the positive consequences for judgment are explicitly stated as “resurrection of the dead” and “the life of the world to come”/”everlasting life,” it is logical that the implicit negative consequences of judgment are “hell” (explicitly stated in Jesus need to descend there in his salvific death) and death.

In true Kuyperian form: Creation, Rebellion, Rescue, Re-Creation. This is how I believe God tells His Story of Rescue, as I outline in my first book. (Yes, shameless plug!) From my estimation, this is the Story to which both the Communion of Saints and the Spirit of God testify. Yes, I realize this is parsed-out and nuanced across the East/West and Catholic/Protestant lines of division. As far as historic orthodoxy—aka The Rule of Faith—goes, though, this seems as basic as you get.

So the working definition for The Rule of Faith (as rooted in Tradition and Scripture):

1. The Holy Scriptures are authoritative revelation for understanding Church/Christian life, practice and belief.
2. God is Creator, who is both above/outside/separate from creation and intimately involved with it.
3. Humanity is rebelliously fallen and individually sinful, in need of rescue. Theologically this is translated into Original Sin.
4. Jesus Christ is both very God and very Human.
5. Jesus Christ rescued us through substitution (not necessarily strictly penal) on the Cross; He took our place by suffering and dying.
6. Jesus Christ physically arose from the dead and ascended to the exalted right hand of God.
7. Jesus Christ will return as Judge, where resurrection of the body and the life to come in the glory of His Kingdom is given for those who confess Him as Lord and Messiah; eternal death are given for those who don’t.
8. The Holy Spirit is active in the world, revealing, provoking, nourishing and sustaining a person in everlasting New Life in Christ.

So what do you think? Do you think this is fair? Do you think this is, at minimum, what it means to be a confessing Christian? Am I missing something? If so, what? Do I include too much? If so what?

1) If I am rejecting the theology that has come out of the Emergent conversation, what do I embrace?

As to the second question, I’ll let you read below if you have time. My answer is basically my blog’s “faith” section, which outlines my credo, what I believe. I think you’ll find it will be difficult to pin me to any theological tradition (sorry, no “young, restless, Reformer” here), though I am broadly protestant and perhaps more particularly evangelical.

I realize it is very long, overly detailed, and thoroughly systematic, so I am not expecting or insisting you engage or even read all of it. Perhaps there are pieces (like the Sin section) that would give more context to where I am confessionally, especially for the discussion at hand.

Enjoy!

On Revelation

Prolegomena

I believe the Nature of Revelation should be understood as divine self-disclosure. God, through his own will, decides to purposefully unveil Himself to Humanity. These God-revealed things belong to Humans, allowing them to understand what is real about God and His Works. (Deut. 29:29)

I believe we understand what is real about God and His Works through two sources: General Revelation and Special Revelation.

Creation—General Revelation

I believe General Revelation is God’s self-disclosure to all of Humanity through the Created Order in three purposeful acts of unveiling: Nature; an internal, created awareness of the Divine; and the participation of God in History. (Rom. 1:19)

I believe that God unveils Himself through all He Created in the Natural World, and it is a means by which Man can both know of and about Him. (Rom. 1:20)

I believe all of Humanity has access to the knowledge of and about God through an internal awareness of an “Other” that is beyond and above themselves. (Rom. 1:21)

I believe God’s purposeful participation in History reveals a Creator who is intimately involved in the affairs of His Creation through deliberate acts of disclosure, human involvement, and redemption. (Ps. 140)

Sin—Effect on Understanding of General Revelation

I believe, that despite God’s purposeful act of self-disclosure, Humans struggle with properly understanding God and His Works. Though Humans are crafted after the Image of God and poses a limited understanding of Him, that Created Image is broken because of Sin; because Humans have consciously chosen the Way of Self over against the Way of God, Humans misread God’s self-disclosure through nature, human conscience, and history. (John 12:40)

Redemption—Special Revelation

I believe, while God’s transcendence is disclosed through General Revelation and reveals a Creator who is over and above His Creation, Special Revelation helps us understand God as a Creator who is intimately involved with His Creation, a God of immanence.

Function of Special Revelation

I believe this second instance of Divine Unveiling corrects the distorted and misunderstood views of God broken Humans experience as the result of Sin; because Humans are holistically broken, they need a more complete unveiling to understand God and His Works. Furthermore, this second act of disclosure more fully unveils God in light of his partial disclosure through Creation. God is more fully unveiled through the Holy Scriptures, Jesus Christ, and continued acts of divine self-disclosure. (II Cor. 4:4)

Types of Special Revelation

I believe, while the ultimate standard for understanding God and His Works is found in Jesus and testified to by the Holy Scriptures, God, through the Holy Spirit, continues to aid Human understanding through continued acts of divine self-disclosure. Through lesser forms of unveiling—including visions and dreams, miracles, redemptive acts in History (such as the Exodus), prophecy, and personal encounters with the Redeemer—God continues to reveal what is real about Himself and His Works. This understanding never conflicts with the Person of Jesus Christ nor does it stand over and against the Holy Scriptures.

I believe, through the climax of Special Revelation, God and His Reality is fully unveiled through Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Ultimately, the fullest expression of what is real about God’s nature, character, intentions, desires, and Works are entirely revealed through the Person of Jesus, and only properly understood by observing, understanding, and listening to Him. Though we textually understand God and His Works through the Holy Scriptures, even this piece of revelation must be interpreted through the Teachings, Way and Person of Jesus Christ. (John 14:9; Heb. 1:3)

I believe one of God’s primary acts of immanent unveiling is through the sacred writings of the children of Israel and apostles of Jesus. These collections of writings in their respective testaments are compiled in a Sacred Text we call the Bible. While it is not God’s ultimate act of self-disclosure, the Holy Scriptures are the standard by which we measure our understanding of God and His Works. (II Tim. 3:16)

I believe the textual unveiling found in the Holy Scriptures is well preserved, proves and authenticates itself, and truthfully contains everything God desired to communicate to humans about Himself and His Works. Through this textual self-disclosure God beckons Humans to relationship and worship, calls them live according to a Way of Life, and restores them to the way He intended them to be at the beginning of creation. (II Pet. 1:23-25)

I believe the Sacred Text God gave to Humanity is composed of the 66 books of the Holy Scriptures. This Sacred Text includes the 27 historically recognized New Testament texts and 39 Hebrew texts of the Jewish Testament. God primarily authored these books through the full participation of human authors under the guidance of their Jewish Spiritual Traditions, Culture, and specific contexts.

Marks of the Holy Scriptures

I believe God’s textual self-disclosure, as found in the Holy Scriptures, are marked by six distinctions: Authority, Power, Unity, Sufficiency, Perspicuity, and Contemporaniaty.

I believe the marks of the Holy Scriptures are understood by the following: it is authoritative on how to restore Humanity and Creation to God, and what it means to live restored in these relationships (Matt. 4:1-4, 7, and 10); it unveils the power of God to restore the God-Man relationship and Creation to the way He intended them to be at the beginning of creation (Rom. 1:16; Is. 55:11); it is an ancient document of great unity that reveals God’s one continuous Story from beginning to end, and to properly understand God a reader and listener of this particular divine self-disclosure must sit in this grand, unified Redemptive Narrative, which includes four Acts: Creation, Rebellion, Redemption, and Consummation (Gen. 1:1, John 1:1, Rev. 21:1); it sufficiently testifies to everything we need in order to understand how the God-Man relationship and Creation is restored, and how to properly relate to God and others (II Pet. 1:3); it is perspicuous, meaning the Message of Restoration it carries is clear and can be plainly and simply understood by all Humans (Deut. 29:29, Ps. 119:105); finally it applies to contemporary problems and provides contemporary solutions, because while God was speaking to specific people at particular times, He was still speaking through the prophets and apostles to those people with us in mind, too (I Pet. 1:23-25).

On God

Prolegomena

I believe God is properly understood as balanced Transcendence and Immanence, both over and above creation and intimately involved with it.

Creator-God Over And Above Creation

I believe in one God, the Almighty and Creator of all that existed and still exists on Earth and in Heaven, both material and spiritual. As Creator, God stands over and above the creation; the creation has its origin in God and is dependent on and separate from Him.

I believe God is properly understood as existing in three Persons with one Essence; God is the Father, the Son (Word), and the Spirit, and unified through a mutual indwelling, interpenetrating dance that centers on one character. As such, God is a community of self-giving lovers who know, will, and act together and in each other in accordance with this Divine Character.
I believe, as the Creator of creation, God is entirely independent, is from Himself, and depends on no one or thing for His existence. Also, because God is entirely independent He needs nothing, including creatures; because God exits in an eternal interpenetrating dance, God needs no one and nothing.

I believe God’s character is stable and unchanging, but God’s actions are not; while the essence of God does not change, God does change His mind and responds to Humans dynamically.

I believe God is everlasting, meaning while God stands above and beyond time, He still experiences it along with His creation; though God never had a beginning nor will He have an end, He does move through the Sequence of Time with Humans.

I believe God knows all of the possible outcomes of yet-unexperienced Time, while not entirely knowing how the exact Sequence of Time will unfold. Because He created Humans as free creatures who can freely choose from a range of possible actions, God does not know exactly what those Free Creatures will choose. But though Humans can choose different options, thus shaping the Sequence of Time, God still knows how that Sequence could unfold and is endlessly resourceful to accomplish His will in the face of those choices.

I believe, while God is above and beyond Time, while still experiencing the Sequence of Time, the same is true for God’s presence in created space: while God as Creator stands above and beyond created space, He still is intimately involved with that created space. Through Yahweh, we see God both experiencing Time with His people and standing above and beyond It.

I believe God the all powerful and fully capable of carrying through to completion the plans He established before the foundation of the world. While God fully participates in His Story and is affected by the choices of Humans, He also stands above and beyond It and actively accomplished His holy will.

Fall-God’s Relationship To Evil In Creation

I believe, since God created Humans on purpose to be in relationship with Himself for eternity, He created them with the freedom to choose Him or not. This potential for relational rejection left allowed for sin and the presence of absolute evil. So while God did not create evil or sin, He allowed for the possibility, and still does. I do not believe God decrees nor does He desire evil and sin.

Redeemer-God Intimately Involved With Creation

I believe the fullest expression of the nature, character, and desires of God is found in the person of Jesus Christ, the God-with-us God. In Him, we see a hyper-relational, hyper-present God who fully participates in the Sequence of Time; God is intimately involvement with His creation through Jesus Christ as Redeemer.

I believe one of God’s primary postures before Humanity is Love. As the God-with-us God Jesus Christ, He relates to Humanity as a Lover. The Cross

I believe God also relates to Humanity in holiness. While He is hyper-relational and relates to Humanity in love, God’s essential characteristic is Holiness. Because God is holy, He demands that we be holy as He is holy; God designed us to choose Him and His holy Way

I believe God’s Holiness includes wrath and judgement. God both has and will stand as judge over Humanity for their sinful choices. At the Cross God did judge the sins of the world through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and poured out His wrath upon him; at the End of the Age God will judge the sinful choices of each Human and render due punishment.

On Creation & Humanity

Creation

I believe the Creation event was a purposeful act of God to bring into existence a Reality for His glory, reflection, and interaction, a Reality that was formed from nothing; the universe and all that exists therein was created on purpose with purpose by the Creator. This act of creation was a real time-space event that set the universe and all its processes in motion through the Will and Word of God. (Gen. 1 & 2; Col, 1:15-17)

Humanity

I believe Humans should be understood by the term Eikon, a Greek word that means “image bearer.” Man is the culmination of God’s purposeful act of creation and is crafted after the image of God. This “reflection of the Creator” was originally created to enjoy, worship, and love Him forever in an eternal relationship with Him defined by mutual love. As Eikons made in the image of God, we are set apart from the rest of Creation not simply because we have a soul, but rather because we are fashioned after God Himself. (Gen. 1:27, 2:7, 9:6; Ps. 139:13-16; Jm. 3:9-10)

I believe as Eikons, our reflection of God is understood through our capacities and relationships. As Image Bearers, we have been given higher capacities, like free will, intelligence, and emotion. Additionally, we reflect God through our relationships with Creation, Others, and God; as God is a relational Being who exists in a community of self-giving lovers, so also we are relational and properly express our human nature in community. (Gen. 1:27-28; Ps. 8:3-8)

I believe Humans truly are earthlings, meaning earth is our home: We were created from the earth and created to exist on earth, and our eventual eternal destination will be on a fully restored earth. (Gen. 1:27-30; Rev. 21:1-4)

I believe Humans have two parts, Body and Soul, that were meant to function as an integrated whole. While Death causes those two parts to become separated, we were never supposed to realize that we have a soul separate from our body. Only Sin has opened our eyes to the distinction between Body and Soul. (Gen 2:15-17; 3:7)

I believe, because we are physical beings, the hope of the Believer is the resurrection of the Body and reunification of Body and Soul into a whole, functional unit. (1 Cor. 15)

Rebellion

I believe Sin is human rebellion against God and His Way. This intentional, personal rebellion results in a vandalism of shalom and death for individual humans. (Ps. 14:2-3; Rm. 3:23)

I believe the First Humans, by rebelling against God and His Way, disrupted the shalom of Creation, plunging all of it into disruption. (Gen. 3)

Adam’s Rebellion

I believe through Adam’s initial rebellion, Humans are born polluted by sin, receiving a distorted nature, and continue to rebel against God and His Way, resulting in Death. That pollution influences the free choices of all humans to choose relationship with God and follow in His Way. We are guilty of sin after we choose to disobey God and vandalize shalom. (Rm. 5:12-14; 1 Cor. 15:21-22; 1 Jn. 1:8-10)

I believe Sin ultimately is autonomy; Humans want to be independent agents who are free from the constrains of an Other outside his/herself. This autonomy was expressed by Adam and Eve when they wanted to be like God, knowing both Good and Evil. To this day, Humans continue to sin out of a selfish, autonomous heart. (Gen. 3; Matt. 15:18-20)

The Consequences of Rebellion

I believe the consequences of Human Rebellion are exhaustive and holistic, infecting every crevice of Creation; Human Rebellion caused a rippled effect beyond humans to all of Creation, which groans for ultimate restoration under its weight. (Rm. 8:20-22)

I believe, while still fundamentally Eikons of God, Humans are thoroughly broken, rebellious, and shaped by Sin. Through Adam’s initial rebellion we continue to rebel against God and His Way. As cracked Eikons, we are desperate for holistic restoration, a restoration we are incapable of providing on our own. (Is. 53:6a; Rm. 1:18-32)

I believe Human Culture is fallen and polluted by Sin. While human society is capable of producing much good through common grace, such as art and science, it is still broken and incapable of restoring itself to the way God intended it to be.

I believe the earth itself and the animal kingdom are also affected by the pollution of Sin and Human rebellion. Through this pollution natural evils occur, like tsunamis and hurricanes, and animals are affected so that they eat each other, resulting in death that should not be. (Rm. 8:20-22)

Common Grace Despite Rebellion

I believe, despite a full-scale, worldwide brokenness, God blankets His Creation with common grace, which protects His valued Creation and preserves it for the sake of Redemption.

I believe the common grace which God gives Creation provides natural blessings (e.g. rain and sun), restrains Sin (e.g. enables people to do moral good), and contributes to civic good (e.g. environmental clean-up projects or volunteers feeding the homeless), and cultural good (e.g. education, art, and science). So even while all of Creation groans in its brokenness, goodness still exists and flows from the gracious hand of God through the Holy Spirit. (Gen. 20:6; 1 Sam. 25:26; Matt. 5:45; Rm. 13:1-5; Heb. 1:2-3)

I believe the existence of common grace reflects a God who did not abandon His Creation and whose posture toward it is love and restoration. It is out of His love for all of Creation that He continues to preserve it and desires to restore it entirely, a restoration that is rooted in and accomplished through Jesus Christ. (Rm. 5:6-8)

On The Son

Prolegomena

I believe God’s intention toward His good Creation is Rescue and Restoration, despite Human Rebellion; even when Humans were Rebels, God sent His Son Jesus Christ to die in order to rescue and restore. (Jn. 3:16; Rom. 5:8)

God and Redemption

I believe God enacted His Redemptive Plan by invading the world as a human, by becoming like us; the Father willingly gave His one and only unique Son Jesus Christ to live the sinless life we could not, pay the penalty for sin, and defeat Death. (Jn. 1:10-14; 3:16-21)

Person of Jesus

I believe Jesus is one Person with two full Natures; Jesus is a single Person who is fully Divine and fully Human. As a Divine Being, Jesus possess all the attributes of God; as a Human Being, Jesus possesses all the attributes of Humanity, including Body and Soul. (Jn. 1:1, 14)

I believe you cannot give a positive statement regarding Jesus’ one person and two natures without underemphasizing either His oneness or two natures. Therefore, it is best to say that Jesus’ two natures are without confusion, without change, without division, and without separation; the natures of Jesus cannot be confused or changed, neither can they be divided or separated. (Council of Chalcedon)

I believe Jesus could sin, but would not because He had a strong moral will. Jesus chose to consciously operate as a full Human, which allowed for the possibility of sin, without using His Deity to cheat. Therefore, since He was really a Human and resisted the temptation to Sin all the way to the end, He could trace the steps of Human Rebellion and set things to rights for Humans and the World. (Heb. 2:14-18)

I believe, in His humanity, Jesus was finite, but not fallen; while Jesus was physically susceptible to the things in a fallen world that could hurt any human (e.g. sickness and disease, bruising from a fall, mistakes from the learning process, and death), Jesus could not suffer internally from guilt, corruption, or sin, nor from confusion or mental illness. (Jn. 1:14; Heb. 2:14-18)
Work of Jesus

I believe Jesus is the Victorious Obedient Substitute, and His Redemptive Act rescues and restores Creation in this way: Through His Life, Jesus obeyed God perfectly after the First Adam did not, while demonstrating how we are to live as Humans; through His Death, Jesus paid the final penalty to God for Rebellion on behalf of all Humans through a final sacrifice, thus restoring Humans to relationship with God; through His Resurrection, Jesus defeated the Dark Powers to liberate all Humanity from Satan’s control and free us from the bondage of Evil and Sin. (Heb. 4:14-15; 10:1-18; Rom. 6)

I believe through Jesus’ Life: His baptism commissioned Him for ministry and empowered Him by the Holy Spirit to retrace Adam’s steps, defeat the Dark Powers, and restore the God-Man relationship through His sacrifice; He perfectly obeyed God’s moral law throughout His life, resisting the temptation to sin when Adam gave in and disobeyed God’s Way; and His words and deeds taught Humanity how to obey the will of God, while actually defeating Evil. (Rom. 5:12-21)

I believe through Jesus’ Death, He bore the punishment and guilt for all Human Rebellion, making peace between God and Humans and leading to the adoption of people by God the Father as Sons and Daughters. (Rom. 5:1-2; Gal. 4:4-8)

I believe through Jesus’ Resurrection, He triumphed over the Dark Powers, making a mockery of them, and revealed that the Father accepted His sacrifice on behalf of Humans. Furthermore, we are raised to New Life through His defeat of Death, and we are declared and made righteous before God. (Rom. 4:25; Col. 2:13-15; 1 Cor. 15)

I believe through Jesus’ Ascension, we have an enthroned Lord who is now ruling over the entire world and working on our behalf by empowering us to live the Way of God that Adam did not. (Heb. 2:1-18; 7:23-25)

I believe God intends to rescue and restore all of Humanity. Thus, in coming to Earth, Jesus intended to redeem all of Humanity through His Life, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension. His Redemptive Act is sufficient for all Humans and effective for everyone who will eventually embrace Jesus as Lord. (1 Tim. 2:4-6, 4:9-10)

On The Holy Spirit

Person of the Holy Spirit

I believe the Holy Spirit should be thought of as a personal entity, because he refers to himself in personal language (i.e. I and me). (Acts 13:2)
I believe the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Godhead, coequal with the Father and Son. (Matt. 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14; 1 Cor. 12:4-6; 1 Pet. 1:2)

I believe the Holy Spirit possesses personal characteristics, such as intelligence, will and emotions. As an intelligent Being, He teaches humans all things; as a willful Being He gives gifts (spiritual and personal) as He wills; as an emotional Being, He can be grieved, lied to and blasphemed, and ministers to and convicts humans. (Jn. 14:26; 1 Cor. 12:11; Eph 4:30; Acts 5:3-4; Matt. 12:31; Mark 3:29; Rom. 8:26; Jn. 16:8)

I believe the Holy Spirit is identified as God, possesses the perfections of God, and does the works of God. The Holy Spirit is omniscient, omnipotent, and eternal. (1 Cor. 2:10-11; Jn. 16:13; Luke 1:35; Rom. 15:19; Heb. 9:14)

Work of the Holy Spirit

I believe the Holy Spirit’s role is as Agent; by the Holy Spirit, the Godhead accomplishes their works in cooperation with the Father and the Son (e.g. Salvation is from the Father, through the Son, and by the Holy Spirit).

I believe the Holy Spirit’s presence is found in the Old Testament through several movements: He acted with the Father and Son in the Creation Event; He has acted on behalf of God’s people through acts of divine care; He empowered Old Testament civil leaders (e.g. the Kings and Judges), directed craftsmanship (e.g. The building of the Tabernacle), and anointed prophets (e.g. Isaiah and Ezekiel); and He helped accomplish certain salvific events (such as The Exodus). (Gen. 1:2; Ps, 104:29-30; 1 Sam. 16:13; Ex. 31:3-5; Ez. 2:2, 8:3, 11:1, 24)

I believe the Holy Spirit participated in the Redemptive Event of Jesus Christ. By the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus was conceived, empowered at baptism, directed into the wilderness to be tempted, taught, performed miracles, offered Himself as a sacrifice, and resurrected. (Lk. 2:52; Matt. 3:16; 4:1; Lk. 4:14, 18-21; Matt. 12:25-32; Heb. 9:14; 1 Pet. 3:18)

I believe at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit created a new people of God under a new covenant–specifically the Church–and imbues that community with new life, while commissioning them with a new mission. (1 Cor. 12:13; Rom. 8:1-4; Jn. 14:16-18, 26; Matt. 28:19-20)

I believe the Holy Spirit indwells individuals after salvation to bring spiritual rebirth, empower them to live the Church’s mission, illuminate the Holy Scriptures, intercede for them, sanctify their life, seal them in relationship with God, and impart particular spiritual and sign gifts.
(Titus 3:5; Eph. 5:18; 1 Cor. 6:12-20; 2:10-16; Eph. 6:18; Gal. 5:16-26; Eph. 1:13-14; Eph. 4:11, Rom. 12:6-8, 1 Pet. 4:11, 1 Cor. 12:4-11, 28)

I believe the Holy Spirit is working to bring ultimate, cosmic restoration to the entire world as an agent applying Jesus Christ’s work.

Doxology

Thanks be to God forever, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.