This 22-page booklet by Bro. A. D. Norris is published by The Christadelphian Office, no doubt in response to the rising interest in this subject. The preface describes it as an “essay”; it is short, easily read in an hour. It is not an intricate study that requires great concentration — the sort that often comes from the pen of U.K. writers of his ilk — yet, for all its easy-to-follow style, it is still a scholarly work. It comes “weighed sentence by sentence, and though the responsibility for it is still my own, in many places the hands of others have left their mark”. (Preface).
It begins by defining four groups of Christian believers.
“At the one extreme are those broadly labelled ‘Pentecostal’, who believe that the gifts which descended on the apostles a few days after the ascension of the Lord Jesus, continued to be available throughout the centuries, and are to be expected and desired today.”
Those who “are confident that the Holy Spirit speaks to the heart and mind of the believer today . . . and independent of any need to appeal to the witness of the Bible, the Word of God”.
“Those who, while recognising that the Bible is the only court of appeal at which doctrine, instruction, and moral precepts are to be established, hold that the Bible itself promises help from God’s Holy Spirit to the believer in his life.”
Those “who mistrust all claims to possess the Spirit’s gifts or to be subject to the Spirit’s guidance or help and have come to the conclusion that the only safe course is to claim the sole sufficiency of the Bible … The believer has his Bible and needs nothing else”. A note appended by the author to this 4th category, says, “it is extremely doubtful whether, in practice, any Bible believer goes as far as this. If answers to faithful prayer are conceded, this position breaks down”.
It appears to this reviewer that the first two categories are indefensible; the second ignores the primacy of the Bible as the repository of God’s Word. Since the fourth is also fatally commented upon, the author clearly points to the third category as the reasonable one. We feel that some Christadelphians may find difficulty in fitting into this category in the terms expressed; but intermediate positions are not ruled out. However, we would expect that the author would define carefully the most reasonable category, which is number three.
When they were available, provided an opportunity to witness to the reality of the Gospel message; but in New Testament times as much as now, men who sought salvation did not expect to find it (salvation) because they were able to work miracles, or lose it because they could not”, p.16.
Pentecost
The longest section in the booklet is only of six pages, dealing with Salvation and The Spirit of God, and starting with Pentecost. The distinction between the gift of the Holy Spirit and miraculous gifts is examined at some length, leading to a key statement, thus, “what we need to know is if the teaching here envisaged (ramifications of Peter’s words at Pentecost) is borne out elsewhere in Scripture, by the Holy Spirit being spoken of -as the means whereby this peace of heart, this fellowship with God, and this help towards salvation ON WHICH THE POWER TO WORK MIRACLES HAS NO BEARING AT ALL (emphasis ours) may come about. When we examine the matter, the answer is plain. The Holy Spirit is frequently so spoken of, and- in this sense is not restricted to some brief interval in apostolic days”, p.18.
After listing 10 verses of Scripture, Brother Norris comments,
“This is the merest selection from numerous passages which allow no possibility of escape … from the relationship of the Holy Spirit of God to the sanctified life, throughout this dispensation”. Then follows another key statement. “But this relationship claims no private revelation for the believer. For his knowledge of the ways of God he remains entirely dependent on the Bible, the Word of God. It claims no control over the Spirit, or power to use it in working miracles, nor any gift to make him independent of the Scriptures, believed and obeyed: it is needful to work out our own salvation while ‘God worketh in you to will and to do of His good pleasure’.”
In the closing sections of the booklet, the Birth of the Spirit, Baptism of the Holy Spirit, and the subject of Grace, are briefly dealt with. It is here, perhaps, that the brevity of the booklet provokes some disappointment. Conclusions are stated, but this reviewer would have liked to have been able to trace more clearly the author’s path through relevant passages of Scripture. This is a lingering impression left after closing the booklet — a desire to know more about how certain passages fit into the outline traced by Bro. Norris. And for those brethren and sisters who look for practical ways of tapping Spirit sources, who look for positive signs of spiritual help in troubled lives and/or seek for ways and places where the deliberate direction of God in their lives may be recognised, this booklet gives but the briefest hint. The practical aspects of this subject still need to be opened up for those who know there is help, but find difficulty in grasping hold of it.
But here is an eminently readable, easily digested, short introduction to the subject of the work of the Holy Spirit. From here one may plunge into deeper stuff, if desired, such as Bro. Nicholls’ series on the Spirit of God in The Christadelphian, with which this booklet agrees; as also does the intent of our own article in the series, Drawing Nigh.
Review of “The Early Earth” by John Whitcomb (1972)