Dr. Joseph A. Pipa, Jr: Calvin on the Holy Spirit for the 21st Century

Dr. Joseph A. Pipa, Jr. serves as President and Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. He holds a M.Div. from Reformed Theological Seminary (1971) and a Ph.D. from Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia (1985). He pastored the Tchula Presbyterian Church, Tchula, MS (1970-1977), Covenant Presbyterian Church, Houston, TX (1979-1990), and the Trinity Presbyterian Church (PCA), Escondido, CA (1991-1997). He was on staff at Great Commission Publications (1977-1979). He was also a Guest Lecturer at Westminster Theological Seminary (1978-1979) and Associate Professor of Practical Theology and Director of Advanced Studies at Westminster Theological Seminary, Escondido, CA (1990-1997). He has written or edited numerous books and contributed to a number of journals and periodicals.

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We live in a day with respect to the person and work of the Holy Spirt that would be described as confusion and indifference.

Confusion as to the person of the Holy Spirit, and with respect to His role in gifts, and the inspiration of Scripture. What’s this product that is both divine and human? In evangelicalism there is confusion with respect to his application of the work of salvation. Also confusion around his role with respect to the means of grace.

There is also a great deal of indifference amongst us who have the right doctrine which ought to be a great motivation fo rus to live in dependence on the Holy Spirit yet we often neglect practically and experientially the person and work of the Holy Spirit.

Calvin was a theologian of the Holy Spirit par excellence. Warfield says Calvin’s devlopment of the doctrine of the HS was his greatest contribution to the theology of the church. Calvin’s view of the Spirit permeates the Institutes.

The Spirit and the Trinity

Health and Wealth preachers deny the doctrine of the Trinity and create confusion. But even in our broad evangelical churches there is great confusion. Discipleship stops with graduation from high school leading to a whole generation of adults without much training in the work of the Holy Spirit.

Calvin was accused by his enemies of being anti-Trinitarian but in reality he was a high Trinitarian. For Calvin, the knowledge of the triune personhood of God was essential to the knowlege of God. Calvin said if you do not think of God as Triune then you are not thinking about the God who is.

Calvin defended the diety of the Spirit saying that the Spirit has the names and attributes of God, the titles of God.

He defended the use of the word person, though not found specifically in Scripture, as necessary to summarize what the Scripture teaches about the unique personalities of the Trinity.

How do our own confessions communicate the essence of Calvin’s scriptural view of the Holy Spirit? (The Three Forms of Unity and the Westminister Confession)

These confessions come directly from Scripture. Pipa cites statements on the Trinity from various confessions including the Heidelberg Confession.

Two Important Contributions by Calvin to our Understanding of the Trinity

1. Each member of the Godhead is autotheos – God of Himself. Calvin shuddered at the thought of subordination within the Trinity.  Recommends Doug Kelly’s Theological Interpretation of the Institutes.

2. His experiential and practical contribution. Calvin was tethered to Scripture, seeking to develop each doctrine in terms of his life and the life of his hearers.

The Spirit and Scripture

The Spirit worked in the inspiration of the apostles and prophets in the giving of Scripture. So convinced was Calvin of the role of the Spirit that he often talked of the Spirit’s role in Scripture in terms of dictation.”God’s Spirit speaks to us this day by his (Paul’s) mouth.” The Spirit gave the Scriptures and the Spirit speaks through the Scriptures.

Because it is a Spirit given book, the Scriptures have authority and are self-authenticating. The church does not render the Scriptures authentic by its decrees. Institutes 1.7.4

The role of the Holy Spirit was necessary to illuminate the authority of Scripture.

This is emboldening for us. We do not have to argue that the Bible is the word of God before we preach it. All you have to do is use the Scriptures without fear of the intellect of those who argue against it. It is the Spirit who will make it effective in its use, even in the mere reading or quoting of its words.

The Spirit and the Christian Life

Calvin’s doctrine of our union with Christ in the application and reality of redemption is his unique contribution to the doctrine of soteriology. Institutes 3.1.1

“The Holy Spirit is the bond by which Christ effectually unites us to himself.”  He unites us to Christ through conversion, justification, sanctification, adoption, and perservance.

Conversion: The work of the spirit in our union with Christ begins with conversion, namely regeneration. Some argue that Calvin used regeneration in a broader way to indicate sanctification. Sanctfication for Calvin flows from the inital act of regeneration.

When you pray for God to save sinners you are confessing that the sinner can do nothing to save himself.

Justification:

Sanctification: Justification and Sanctification are not two aspects of union but separate entities of God’s work of grace.

Sanctification will not get you into heaven but you will not get into heaven without it. Sanctification must always accompany justification

We must depend upon the Holy Spirit for our sanctification. We must not be afraid of the filling of the Holy Spirit. Do we pray for the Spirit’s annointing in our daily living?

The Spirit and the Means of Grace

Outward means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption, especially the word, sacraments, and prayer. It is the sacraments that God uses with the word and prayer for our sanctification and perseverance.

We must recover the importance of the public use of these means of grace, especially in preaching.

The Word of God
Prayer
Sacraments

The Spirit and the Gifts

The Spirit gives natural gifts and abilities to the world, those outside of Christ. Air conditioning, laptops, blackberries were not all created by Christians but they are gifts of God nonetheless.

The Spirit gives gifts to the church and Calvin distinquished between the extraordinary gifts of the apostlic age that have ceased but still benefit us. We don’t need new miracles we have the Scriptures, but when we read of these great works that God has done, so that we may believe unto righteousness.

We are to seek the ordinary gifts: the preaching of the word, the knowlege of the Bible, caring for the sick, etc.