THE RELATION OF THE PENTECOSTAL EFFUSION TO EARLIER COMINGS
OF THE SPIRIT
The Pentecostal coming of
the Spirit is represented in the N.T. as a mission parallel to the mission of
the Son, and consequent upon it. Cf. Jo. xiv. 24, 26 του πεμχαντος με πατρος . . . το πνευμα το αγιον ο πενχει ο πατηρ
εν τω ονοματι μου; Gal. iv. 4, 6 εξαπεστειλεν ο θεος τον υιον αυτου . . . εξαπεστειλεν
ο θεος το πνευμα του υιου αυτου. As the Son “came into the
world” at the Advent (Jo. xvi. 28), so the Spirit came at the Pentecost there
was “no Spirit” in this sense.
Yet the O.T. prophets claim
that the Spirit was at work in Israel even in the days of the Exodus (Isa. lxiii.
11 ff.), while the broader thought of Alexandrian Judaism held that the Spirit ‘filled
the world’ and was to be found in the lives of all wise and good men. Is this
belief consistent with the Christian doctrine of the Pentecostal Coming?
The same difficulty arises
in connexion with the Incarnation of the Word. If the Son was not sent into the
world until the fulness of the times had been reached, yet He was in the world from
the first (Jo. i. 9 ην . .
ερχομενον, 10 εν τω κοσμω ην; compare with the doctrine of the Divine Wisdom
in Prov. viii. 27-31). Similarly the Spirit of God has ever been in the world
from the moment when it moved on the face of the waters, calling forth vitality
and a cosmic order. As men emerged from the mere animal into a conscious
intellectual life, the Spirit wrought upon him; and the history of Israel in
particular is one long manifestation of His presence and working in the Chosen
People. Yet there was no indwelling of the Spirit in men, no effusion of HIs
life and power upon the face in general, till He received the special mission
which sent Him to carry forward the work of the Incarnate Son. The new order
involved in that mission is characterized as having its sphere in believers
(Jo. xvi. 17 εν υμιν εσται). The entrance of the Spirit into the
Body of the Church, and into the hearts of its members individually,
corresponds with the entrance of the Word into the womb of Mary; though not
like that an incarnation, it is a permanent inhabitation of humanity (Jo. xvi.
16 ινα η μεθ’
υμων εις τον αιωνα).
Thus, the Pentecostal
effusion of the Spirit in no way conflicts with the doctrine of the Spirit’s
world-long activity in nature and in man, while on the other hand, it is seen
to inaugurate a new association of the Spirit with humanity far more intimate
and enduring than any which had previously existed. (Henry Barclay Swete, The
Holy Spirit in the New Testament: A Study of Primitive Christian Teaching [London:
Macmillan and Co., 1910], 375-76)
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