THEOLOGY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT 101
There is a lot of bad theology that is running rampant in American Christianity. I've come to call it "The American Dream Theology". I'm not sure if that term is original with me or not. Probably not. Regardless, it aptly sums up the decay of professing Christians and the local social clubs they call churches. The sad part is that no church - even the most biblical - is immune to American Dream Theology. I will try to develop that thought further in an upcoming post, but for now, I'll just let it simmer in your mind.
...Theology is still important - what you believe absolutely determines how you act. So while good theology at its best can lead us to live godly lives, bad theology will always point us in the wrong direction. - p. 64
Remember what I said about American Dream Theology? ADT is a prime example of bad theology. It doesn't matter if you call yourself Calvinist, Arminian, or neither. It doesn't matter if you're Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal, Lutheran, Presbyterian or anything else. If you have adopted even a light version of ADT, you're consuming bad theology. ADT has affected our understanding and view of the Holy Spirit. And that's seriously bad.
On pages 70-74, Francis Chan lists some basic truths about the Holy Spirit. I will not get into those here, but I do want to pull a few highlights brought up in that discussion.
Because the Spirit is holy and dwells in us, our bodies are holy sanctuaries
from God's vantage point. Too often we disdain our bodies as the source
of sin and our fallenness; yet they are precisely where God the Spirit
chooses to dwell! - p. 71
This bothers me a lot. Every time I read the epistles to the Corinthians this bothers me. Why? Because it reminds me of how flippantly I regard God's Holy Temple. The Spirit of the Living God indwells believers on a scale that is far above anything the Israelites experienced at the Tabernacle in the Wilderness or at Solomon's Temple. Same God. Same Spirit. Yet, I allow it to be polluted and disregarded. We need a renewed understanding of the importance of believers being the living temples of the Living God.
OK. So, we're temples? What does that mean? Do we just sit around on mountaintops and meditate? What does the Holy Spirit do with His temples?
It is the Spirit who draws people to the gospel, the Spirit who equips us
with the strength we need to accomplish God's purposes. The Holy Spirit
not only initially draws people to God, He also draws believers closer to
Jesus. - p. 75
He empowers. He energizes. He equips. He gifts. He does everything so that He can work, move, and minister through us. It's sad that in our American Dream Theological Culture that that's a novel idea.
By the power of the Spirit we put to death the misdeeds of the body. - p. 75
We can't just do better. We can't try harder. We can't work more. Only through the Spirit do we have any hope of becoming more Christlike and being conformed into the image of the Son of God.
When we correct our thinking. Toss out American Dream Theology and replace it to true, biblical theology, then it should "...lead you to right action, genuine love, and true worship." (p.77)
Where is your theology leading you?
Thanks for reading.
Darth Baptist
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