1993 Issue 7 - He Shall Glorify Me: Doctrine of the Holy Spirit in the Westminster Standards Part 5...
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Transcript of 1993 Issue 7 - He Shall Glorify Me: Doctrine of the Holy Spirit in the Westminster Standards Part 5...
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8/12/2019 1993 Issue 7 - He Shall Glorify Me: Doctrine of the Holy Spirit in the Westminster Standards Part 5 - Counsel of Ch
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By the indwelling of the Holy
Spiritallbelievers beingvitallyunited
to Christ, who is the Head, are thus
united one
to
another in the church,
which is His body. He calls and
anoints ministers for their holy office,
qualifies all other officers in the
church for their special work, and
imparts various gifts and graces
to
its
members. He gives efficacy
to
the
Word
and to the ordinances of the
gospel. By Him the church will be
preserved,
increased,
purified,
and
at last made
perfectly holy in, the
presence of God."
(WCF
34:4)
resurrection, and glory. And being
united to one another
in
love, they
have communionin each other's gifts
and graces; and are obliged to the
performance of such duties, publick
and private, as do conduce
to
their
mutual good, both in the inward and
outward man .. Saints
by
profession,
are
bound
to maintain an holy
fellowship and communion in the
worship of God, and
in
perfonning
such other spiritual services as. tend
ASW Y
OF
THE
P RSON
AND WORK
OF THE HOLYSPIRIT
This being the case, there is a
covenantal unity that exists between
the saints. Thus, they
have
an
obligation
to
worship God together,
and to serve one another as they
worship and serve their Head, Jesus
Christ.
John Calvin, and Calvinists in
general, have
always
maintained that
outside of the visible church there
is
"no ordinary possibility ofsalvation."
The Westminster Confession of Faith
XXV,2;
see
also the 1561
Belgic
Confession
of Faith
Article XXVIII.
In
section four,
the
Westminster
Confession
develops the doctrine of the
Holy Spirit
in
the church,.
Some parts
are merely
restatements
of
materjal
found
in e r l i e r c h p t e r ~
(XXV-XXIX), which are., ..
BASED ON THEWESTMINSTER STANDARDS
This is true onlyso long
as salvation is taken in its
full orbed sense:
to
indude
the process of universal
santification.
In
this sense,
the church is the "mother"
of
believers. John Calvin,
Institutes IV:1:4-6;
Augustine, Confessions
1.11.
here more fully relegated
to
the work of the Spirit. Yet', there is
addition l teaching found
in
this
section as well. "On the whole, then,
this section may fairly be accounted
a
contribution towatd the
augmentation
of
he Confession
With
new doctrine. The doctrine of the
work of the Holy Spirit n the church
is stated
in
it coihprehensively .. The
doctrine
of
the
shurch
implicated is
the
comnion Reformed docirine.
"Benjamin
B
Warfield, Selected
Shorter
Writings
Vol.
II, pp. 387,388.
The Communion
o
Saints
In the COJ?fession we read that:
"The catholicor universal church,
which is invisible, consists of the
whole number of the elect. ..under
Christ...All saints that are united to
Jesus Christ their Head
byHis
Spirit,
and
by faith, have fellowship With
Him in His graces, sufferings, death,
to
their mutual edification."
The
WestminsterConfessionojFaith
XXV,l;
XXVI li
We have already seen that each
individual believer
is in
union With
Jesus Christ, due to the work of the
Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:17; i3:12):
Each Christian is a temple of the'
Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19). But it is equally
true that the church, which consists
of individual ChristianS, in union
With 'one another because' of their
union with Christ, is the Spirit's
. temple
(1
Cor.3:16): Inotherwords,'
"the Spirit creates
not
only personal
union but corporate communion
between us and Christ and through
ChristWith the Holy Trinity, so that
it is the Holy Spirit who creates and
sustains the being and lik of the
church, uniting the church
to
Christ
as His one body. Thomas F.
Torrance, The
Trinitarian
Faith
P' 9.
28 THE COUNSELo Chalcedon September, 1993
,
s
.already stated, all
believers are in union With Christ
and one another.
s
a body, the
church is beirig rooted and built up
in their covenant relationship
With
JeSlls
Christ ,(Col. 2:6,7). .
Within the visible church, i.e.,
those who, "profess the true religion,
and
their children," The Westminster
Larger CatechiSm,
Q
62. there are
some who are not
elect.
They are not
members of the invisible church,
i.e
"the whole number of the elect." The
Westminster Larger. Catechism,
Q
64.
Nevertheless, they are part of the
covenant community which has
existed
from the time of
the
establishement of he Covenant of
Grace in GenesiS 3:15 The Holy
Spirit has effectively ministered to
the church in both the Old and New
Testa:ment eras.
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8/12/2019 1993 Issue 7 - He Shall Glorify Me: Doctrine of the Holy Spirit in the Westminster Standards Part 5 - Counsel of Ch
2/3
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8/12/2019 1993 Issue 7 - He Shall Glorify Me: Doctrine of the Holy Spirit in the Westminster Standards Part 5 - Counsel of Ch
3/3
indicative of the fact that every
Christian s to manifest all of the fruit
of
the Spirit, whereas no Christian
possesses all of. the spiritual gifts.
Richard Gaffin points out that
just
because Paul refers
to
one group as
gifts of the Spirit and another
as
fruit of the Spirit, does
not
in any
sense indicate that the latter are not
gifts from God's Spirit. Richard
B.
Gaffin, Jr., Perspectives on
Pentecost
p.48.
The
nine qualities listed in
Galatians 5:22,23, are' not to be
considered all inclusive anymore than
are the numerous gifts mentioned
above. Rather, there is a .three-fold
triad established by Paul. The first
three qualities-love, joy, and
peace-
speak to the believer'S
relationship with God. the secolld
three-patience, kindness, and
goodness-speak to one s
relationship with his fellowman. And
the third , list of
quali t ies-
faithfulness, meekness, and self
control-.
speak to the Christian's
relationship with himself.
To
live in
harmony with God and .others, and
in
firm control of ourselves,
this
is a
supernatural work of God's g r a ~ e It
is 'the fruit of the Spirit.' lndeed,
this
fruit. . .is the
best
available
evidence ..of the indwelling fullness
of the Holy Spirit. John R.W. SWtt,
Baptism
>
Fullness, pp. 76-79. It is
the best evidence that the baptism of
the Spirit has already occurred.
ullness of the Spirit
Being filled with
tlJ.e
Spirit
is
not
one and the same thing with being
baptized in the Spirit. We have seen
in chapter three, that the former is a
onMime affair, i.e., that which occurs
at effectual
calling
andlor
. e g ~ e r a t i o n . Thelatter, on he other
hand, is a continual, on going process.
This is evident in Ephesians 5: 18,
where Paul commands (imperative
mood) the churchtobe continually
(presenttense) filled with the Spirit.
Part
of
the apostle's command
involves the y
eending1;hem a gift;. eul1-
, eoription 1;0 the
Couneel
of Chaloedon In return we wil
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