THEOLOGY
The Pentecostal Reality: Chapter 2
By Dr. J. Rodman Williams
Theology
Preface | Chapter
1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter
3| Chapter 4 | Chapter
5
Chapter Two
The Event of the Holy Spirit
There are millions of people today who lay claim to "Pentecostal experience."
They belong not only to churches called Pentecostal, but also are found in many
of the traditional churches of Protestantism and in Roman Catholicism. A movement
that began in the early twentieth century has now become worldwide, and thus
a matter of high ecumenical significance. Herein I shall attempt to describe
the focal point of Pentecostal witness, namely, the event of the Holy Spirit,
and its relationship to the thought and life of the larger church.
Much may be said about the Pentecostal witness in such terms as fullness of
prayer and praise, multiplication of charismatic activity, and bold witness
to the Gospel, but behind all of these is testimony to an event. There was a
time before; then occurred a certain event; afterward the world of the Spirit
opened up. It is this special event, the event of the Holy Spirit, that now
calls for careful consideration.
The expression most frequently used for this event or happening is "baptism
with [or 'in'] the Holy Spirit." This refers to something that has occurred
in one's own life and experience, and is the door into the new fullness of life
in the Spirit.
The word "baptism" is quite expressive because of its connotation
of totality. To be baptized can signify an experience of being inundated by,
submerged in, or pervaded with some reality. This is well illustrated in water
baptism where modes of practice vary from a pouring or sprinkling to immersion,
each in its own way conveying a picture of totality. "Baptism with the
Spirit" points to a whelming of the person- -an event wherein man in his
conscious and subconscious existence is penetrated by the Spirit of God. No
level of human existence is unaffected by this divine activity.
This "baptism with the Holy Spirit," however, is not a happening
in which the person is so possessed by God that he loses his own identity. Nor
is the Spirit's movement an invasion wherein the self becomes subjugated and
coerced into a divine pattern of activity, so that the sole actor thereafter
is God. Much less is it a pantheistic absorption into deity, or a sudden transportation
out of this world into another realm. "Baptism" is not subjugation,
or absorption, or translation, but the actualization of a dynamic whereby the
whole person is energized to fulfill new possibilities. This fulfillment does
have aspects previously unknown and unrealized (for example, the charismata,
or "gifts of the Spirit"), since the divine Spirit is moving powerfully
through the free human spirit. But at no point is there the setting aside of
human activity. Indeed, quite the opposite, for it is only as the Spirit of
God blows upon the human spirit that there is the release of man for fuller
freedom and responsibility.
Again, this "baptism with the Holy Spirit" is not a kind of "instant
sanctification." If the Spirit of God really possesses human existence,
one might wonder if this does not imply that man is thereby made perfectly holy.
If such were the implication, many questions would be in order: Do we see actual
evidences of this holiness among those who claim such an experience?; Is there
any biblical basis to support a view of immediate sanctification?; Does not
the whole idea overlook the empirical fact of all men's continuing sinfulness?
Thus it is important to recognize that "baptism with the Spirit" as
such has nothing to do with holiness of character, but with penetration of life.
The effect is not a certain quality of existence but a way of life in which
one is open to the Spirit's activity. Therefore rather than sudden holiness,
the actual situation is that as the Spirit of God lays complete claim upon a
person, he begins to see not his holiness but the depths of his sinful condition.
The event of the Spirit does give power for more adequate dealing with human
perversity; consequently, there should be progress in sanctification. But the
"baptism with the Spirit" is not in itself the accomplishment of that
end.
Another expression frequently used, in addition to "baptism with the Holy
Spirit," is "filled with the Holy Spirit." This may refer likewise
to the event of entrance into Pentecostal life and experience. The word "filled"-
-or "full"- -has the advantage of expressing totality even more markedly
than the word "baptism." When a person, for example, is said to be
"filled with joy," everyone understands this as referring to the whole
self. Such a one is rejoicing with all of his being- -body, mind, spirit. Even
so, to be "filled with the Spirit" is to express the situation in
which the whole of human existence is activated by the divine reality.
The word "filled" also expresses with particular force the background
for the operation of spiritual gifts. Because one is "filled with the Spirit,"
charismatic manifestations may occur. They are obvious signs and indications
of Spirit-filled existence. The supernatural becomes, so to speak, natural and
normal in the context of a life open to the Spirit's activity.
Other terms used for the event of the Spirit include such words as "effusion,"
"outpouring," even the "falling" of the Holy Spirit. Or
this event may be referred to as simply the "coming" of the Spirit.
The impression given by this variety of terms, in addition to totality, is forcefulness.
The Spirit comes from without and with mighty impact. The event of the Spirit
is no gradual, passive thing, but a decisive endowment of power and energy.
When the Spirit is "poured out" or "falls," life can never
be quite the same again.
Whatever the expression- -"baptism," "filling," "outpouring"
or otherwise- -reference is thereby made to a dynamic movement of the Holy Spirit
which results in a new sense of God's presence and power, various charismata
becoming manifest, and the emergence of a different style of life. These things
are possible only through the event of the Spirit.1
What now are some of the aspects of the situation in which this event of the
Holy Spirit happens? First, everything centers in Jesus Christ: He is the one
who "baptizes with the Holy Spirit." There is no Spirit baptism without
the direct activity of Jesus Christ. It is Christ the Crucified, Risen, and
Exalted Lord who pours forth the Holy Spirit. However much one may rightly stress
the activity of the Holy Spirit, this is not a "pneumacentric" but
a "Christocentric" event. It is not the Spirit who does the baptizing,
but Christ Himself. Accordingly, this understanding of the event of the Spirit
is quite different from any so-called Spirit movement that tends to disregard
the work of the historic Christ, or that seeks for spiritual reality in a direct,
unmediated relationship with God. God the Father is the ultimate source, but
it is through Jesus Christ the Lord that the Holy Spirit is given.
Second, "Pentecost," while referring to a past event (narrated in
Acts 2), is likewise a present experience. The event was, and is, two-sided:
Christ the Lord on the one hand, and those who are "baptized" on the
other. Hence, Pentecost represents more than a once-for-all incident in the
life of the early church. The Spirit was not poured out upon the community of
faith on that first day to remain therein until the end of time. Such a view
fails to understand Pentecost as both past and present, and leaves little room
or expectation for the reality to occur among people now. If the event is to
take place today, there must be the recognition of its continuing possibility.
Third, this event occurs within the arena of faith. Faith in Jesus Christ as
Savior and Lord is the essential precondition; only those who so believe may
share in the Pentecostal reality. However, the event itself is not always coincidental
with the inception of faith; it may occur then or at a later time. In fact many
would testify to "baptism with the Spirit" as happening somewhere
along the way of faith, not at the beginning. Others would attest that this
experience occurred at the first moment of faith. But the usual witness is the
former, namely, that there had been belief for some time before the Pentecostal
event took place. In either case faith remains the context for the outpouring
of the Holy Spirit.
Fourth, the event of the Spirit cannot be simply patterned or programmed. The
original Pentecost came about suddenly, and there remains an element of surprise
in its occurrence. God the Holy Spirit acts in sovereign unpredictability and
His ways cannot be computerized. On the human side there is also a wide range
of spiritual susceptibility, so that not everyone is ready at the same time
for the operations of God to occur. There may be an unwillingness to surrender
oneself to the Spirit, an unreadiness to let the barriers drop, a holding in
reserve certain areas of the personality. But when something inside finally
gives way, the Pentecostal event may happen. Prayer, earnest and continuing,
is often the background for the occurrence of "baptism with the Spirit."
Commonly the matrix for the event of the Spirit is an attitude of openness and
expectancy, of acknowledged spiritual hunger and thirst. None of this, however,
is a way of achieving or earning the Spirit, for the Holy Spirit comes as an
act of God's grace. The element of spontaneity, unpredictability, surprise remains
throughout; for it is with God's gracious and free Spirit that man has to do.
Fifth, the event of the Spirit is basically a community happening. It often
comes about when people are gathered for worship and fellowship; especially
at a time of praise there may be the breakthrough of a new dimension of God's
activity and power. Those present may not be seeking this "baptism,"
as such, nor others directly ministering to them; but the atmosphere may become
so filled with the Spirit of God that miraculous things occur. Manifestations
of the gifts of the Spirit (cf. 1 Cor. 12-14) may become the occasion for the
event of the Spirit. At such a gathering there is often the personal ministry
of the community, either through a few persons or an individual, for those who
admit their need. Sometimes this ministry is accompanied by the laying on of
hands for the coming of the Holy Spirit. Whether the moving of the Spirit happens
when one is in the company of others or alone, there remains the sense of the
community participating in the event.
A concluding word: In the event of the Holy Spirit there is both a giving and
a receiving. The expression, "the gift of the Holy Spirit," may be
used to speak of the divine side of the event; the "receiving of the Holy
Spirit," to express the human side of accepting the gift. The event of
the Spirit is altogether God's gracious doing; man earns nothing, adds nothing,
he merely receives. Consequently, there are no conditions or requirements to
be met, no stairs to climb or hoops to jump through, but simply the reception
of a freely offered gift. Still, without receiving, the gift remains afar. "Baptism
with the Holy Spirit" is an occasion of both giving and receiving; and
it has been so since the first Pentecost.
Now it is time to focus on the radicalism of the Pentecostal witness. By "radicalism"
is first meant the root (radix) of a certain reality that has come to
be experienced. The person of Pentecostal experience does not begin with a theology
about the Holy Spirit, not even a biblical teaching as such, but with something
that has happened in his life. He doubtless has heard about the Holy Spirit,
possibly even theologized thereabout, and he may have had some or much biblical
acquaintance- -and all of this will surely feed into his experience- -but the
Pentecostal is essentially talking about something that is deeply existential.2
Hence the expressions used thus far- -"baptism," "filling,"
"gift," "reception," and others- -though biblical, are not
primarily understood by exegeting certain texts. Rather, these terms are helpful
ways of defining what has occurred. Others may wonder why the Pentecostal witness
makes so much use of this kind of language (for example, the psychologist who
may look for more human explanations than "Holy Spirit baptism" or
the biblical scholar who may question if certain scriptural terminology is being
used properly). Nonetheless, the person of Pentecostal experience finds in such
language the biblical way of expressing what has taken place in his life. Until
some better way comes along of saying what has happened, he will doubtless continue
to talk about "baptism with the Holy Spirit," and the like. What else
conveys with such force a reality that has gripped his existence?
But "radicalism" also means something drastic, a position or view
that is not held in the same way by others, and thus considered to be extreme.
In this sense there is something radical about the Pentecostal position, if
for no other reason than that most people talk little about such matters as
"the event of the Spirit" and "baptism with the Spirit."
They will speak, for example, of the Spirit's work in inspiring Scripture, in
convicting of sin, in enabling faith in Jesus Christ, and in sanctification;
but generally they do not recognize this event of the Spirit except as an incident
that happened at Pentecost long ago. Many presume to know at least about baptism,
but usually this is baptism in water with almost no thought about "baptism
with the Spirit." Who talks about "baptism in the Spirit," they
may inquire, except Pentecostals? Thus there seems to be something radical sounding,
possibly sectarian, in the Pentecostal testimony.
From the perspective of much traditional Christianity there is a strangeness
about the whole area of the Holy Spirit. Talk about the Holy Spirit is not common,
especially in Western Christendom. Neither Protestants nor Roman Catholics generally
feel comfortable when they encounter the frequent use of Holy Spirit language
in Pentecostal witness; the first reaction is often one of defensiveness and
perhaps a repetition of traditional views. The strangeness, however, may not
be the fault of the Pentecostal, but of a deficiency and neglect on the part
of the church at large.3
Christendom has actually never dealt adequately with the doctrine of the Holy
Spirit. Trinitarian and Christological issues were at the forefront in the days
of the early ecumenical councils, but the pneumatological question was always
incidental. The Reformation, with its focus on the issue of salvation, particularly
justification, by no means satisfactorily treated pneumatology. On the left
of Roman Catholicism and classical Protestantism, spiritualist and enthusiastic
movements have at times arisen as an attempted corrective, but these have tended
to slip away from a Christological center. As a result Christendom has suffered
from lack of an adequate pneumatology that does not sacrifice the great gains
in Trinitarian, Christological, and soteriological understanding. There has
been a tendency to subsume the person and work of the Holy Spirit under that
of Christ with the result that the church has been able to find little place
for the special operation of the Holy Spirit.4
The Holy Spirit has been recognized as fully God, third person in the Trinity,
but His particular field of activity has not stood out with sufficient clarity.
Most of Western Christendom, furthermore, speaks seldom of the Holy Spirit's
coming to the life of man. There is a mystical tradition, more in Catholicism
than in Protestantism, but it tends to stress the elevation of man to God rather
than the descent of God in the Spirit to man. Also there is generally strong
resistance to any idea of ordinary human beings participating in the activity
of God. Here the Eastern Church, with its sense of divine immanence and view
of the Incarnation as making man partaker of the divine nature, may be more
congenial than the Western tradition with the Pentecostal stress on the coming
and activity of the Spirit.
The usual Protestant objection to the Pentecostal witness is that it does not
represent an improvement or corrective in the area of the Holy Spirit but a
distortion- -a shifting away from a soteriological ("salvation history")
to a pneumatic orientation. This stress on the Holy Spirit and His activity
is viewed as detracting from the centrality of Christ and His saving work. Such
emphasis seems to provide a different focus- -not salvation but "baptism
with the Holy Spirit"- -thereby subverting both Bible and Christian faith.
Thus Protestant reading of the New Testament rarely makes room for a special
event of the Holy Spirit. Moreover there is largely silence in the confessions
of the churches, and among the theologians this subject is seldom treated. If
an interpretation of such an expression as "baptism with the Holy Spirit"
is attempted, it is usually identified with God's work of regeneration. It is
often viewed as the inner side of baptism with water, namely, that even as water
symbolizes outer cleansing, "baptism with the Spirit" refers to inward
purification. Thus the event of the Spirit becomes the cleansing of the old,
the birth of the new, the marvel of regeneration. Hence this activity of the
Spirit is understood as making efficacious the redemptive work of Christ by
applying it to the individual; it is the subjective side of salvation. Accordingly,
"baptism with the Spirit" is viewed as the beginning of Christian
initiation. It is assumed that the event of the Spirit is nothing other than
the coming to birth of the new man in Christ. There is little recognition of
"baptism with the Spirit" as referring to a further action of God
which is the particular work of the Holy Spirit.
To reply: One may express agreement about the role of the Holy Spirit in the
origination of Christian life and about the activity of the Holy Spirit in sanctification,
but this is not the whole picture. First, as earlier noted, something has happened
in the lives of many people for which the Protestant explanation is not satisfactory.
They have known an experience of the Spirit's power and presence that cannot
be identified with initiation of new life in Christ but only with a movement
of the Holy Spirit whereby a further dimension opens up. Neither can this experience
be compared with sanctification, the life of growth in holiness, since it rather
has the character of empowering event. Second, this Pentecostal understanding
of a special event of the Spirit is actually more in line with the essential
biblical witness than is traditional Protestant interpretation. The general
Protestant viewpoint does justice neither to personal experience nor to all
the data in Scripture.
Since this latter point is crucial for Protestants with a long emphasis on
sola Scriptura, it is important to set forth some biblical justification.
First of all, there was an event of the Spirit, according to Acts 2:1-4, which
was neither related to the beginning of Christian faith nor to some aspect of
sanctification. Those "baptized with the Holy Spirit," or "filled
with the Holy Spirit," on the Day of Pentecost were already believers,
and what happened to them was not a "making holy." Rather here was
a new dimension of the Spirit's activity in relation to persons within the community
of faith. The important thing was the new dimension- -not some result such as
regeneration or sanctification- -the dimension of spiritual fullness. Out of
this fullness came an overflow of praise in tongues (2:4-13), of witness to
the gospel (2:14-36), the salvation of thousands (2:37-41), and the life of
the first Christian community (2:42-47). The Pentecostal reality was therefore
none of these latter things, wonderful as they were, but the "baptizing,"
the "filling," the empowering of those who believed in order that
these results might abundantly follow. If that is what the event of Spirit baptism
meant for Jesus' disciples on the Day of Pentecost, why should we view it otherwise
in our day?
Second, despite linguistic and situational differences, several further accounts
in Acts provide evidence of an event of the Spirit not identified with the initiation
of faith and salvation. The narrative in Acts 8 tells of a group of people,
Samaritans, who came to faith in Jesus Christ and were baptized in His name
(8:4-13); however, it was not until some days later, following the laying on
of hands by Peter and John, that the Holy Spirit fell upon these new believers
(8:14-17). Acts 9, the first account of Paul's conversion, depicts an original
crisis moment when there was recognition of Jesus as Lord (9:1-8), but it was
three days before Ananias laid hands on Saul of Tarsus, and he was "filled
with the Holy Spirit" (9:9-19). According to Acts 19, Paul asked the question
of some dozen Ephesians, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?"
(19:2), implying that faith or belief is not necessarily accompanied by the
reception of the Holy Spirit. Shortly thereafter, upon their profession of faith
in Christ and baptism in His name, and as a separate act, Paul laid hands upon
the Ephesians for them to receive the Holy Spirit (19:3-6). Though none of these
are "Pentecostal" occurrences in the sense of happening on the Day
of Pentecost, the pattern is essentially the same: the gift of the Holy Spirit
subsequent to the initiation of faith, thus something happening to believers.
The purpose would seem identical to that of the original Pentecostal event:
that the Samaritans, Paul, and the Ephesians might be empowered for the sake
of the gospel. So in the record of Acts there is a continuation of the first
Pentecost and, it might be added, further basis for what has happened in the
lives of many today.5
Finally, to the Protestant objection of another focus beyond Christ, and thus
a subverting of Scripture and faith, the Pentecostal answer has become clear.
There is no leaving Christ behind for a different centering in the Holy Spirit,
for it is precisely through Christ that the event of the Spirit occurs. The
real problem is not one of additional focus but that the typical Protestant
has difficulty recognizing the "baptizing" work of Christ with the
Holy Spirit, and thereby comes close to eliminating from Bible and experience
a vital dimension of God's activity.6
The traditional Roman Catholic orientation on the activity of the Holy Spirit
makes for a different set of problems than those of the Protestant. One difficulty
is that Catholic thought has tended to identify the original Pentecostal event
with a permanent gift of the Holy Spirit to the church wherein the Holy Spirit
becomes "the soul" of the church. Thus there is no need or possibility
of such an event as Pentecost occurring among people thereafter. A second difficulty
is that the Catholic tradition on the whole minimizes the importance of decisive
moments in faith, for example, the experience of conversion. Catholicism is
development- -rather than crisis-oriented; hence, the sense of a before and
after, as in the "baptism with the Spirit," is largely lacking. A
third difficulty is the strong emphasis on sacramental grace, namely, that the
Holy Spirit is objectively mediated through such sacraments as baptism and confirmation.
This would seem to bind any unique gift of the Holy Spirit to the sacramental
actions of the Church. Thus here there is a limitation which does not allow
for the free and unpredictable move of the Holy Spirit.
Despite these difficulties the Roman Catholic tradition is compatible with
the Pentecostal viewpoint in at least three ways. First, the Catholic Church
has always held in high regard the supernatural, and therefore is by no means
averse to the idea of a miraculous intervention by God in human life. Second,
there has been a continued emphasis in the Catholic tradition on the life of
spirituality and the possibility of higher or deeper levels of faith and experience.
Third, throughout Catholic history there has been sensitivity to a special implementing
work of the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands, a rite that in the fifth
century came to be known as confirmation. However differently understood through
the centuries, this rite has continued to bear witness to a special gift of
the Holy Spirit within the life of faith.
This latter point is important for the Catholic orientation to the Pentecostal
witness. For the Pentecostal there are two distinct moments: conversion and
baptism with the Spirit. They may be separated from each other by years, although
both belong to the full life of the Christian. The Catholic picture traditionally
has been much the same, in that beyond regeneration is the further step of confirmation
wherein the Holy Spirit is given for strengthening the believer in his dedication
to Christ. Thus similar are the Catholic and Pentecostal perspectives, and quite
different from the Protestant position that minimizes an event of the Spirit
beyond the effecting of faith in Christ.
However, there are differences within this common area. One may refer first
to the matter of personal experience. What the Catholic Church affirms to be
given in these sacraments, the Pentecostal claims to have experienced. In baptism,
according to Catholicism, regeneration is mediated, ex opere operato,
by the Church: all receive new birth in water by virtue of the ritual act. The
same is true of confirmation: through the laying on of hands by the bishop an
"indelible character" is made regardless of personal response. The
essential thing is the sacramental action. In contrast, for the Pentecostal,
what is decisive is not the action of the church but the experience.7
Another difference concerns the matter of ministry. The Pentecostal does not
view as essential either the ministry of an ordained clergyman or the laying
on of hands. In personal ministry, laymen, equally with clergymen, may serve-
-and sometimes this is done not by one person but by a group. Nevertheless,
either type of ministry is dispensable, since God through Jesus Christ may pour
out His Spirit without human mediation. Thus the laying on of hands, while often
used by the Spirit, is by no means necessary. God moves as He wills in His freedom.
In conclusion: The Pentecostal witness represents a fresh way of thought and
practice within the prevailing patterns of Western Christendom. It clearly poses
the question of how to relate this witness to traditional Protestantism and
Roman Catholicism. However, the prior question for the whole church, I would
urge, is this: Is it possible that the Pentecostal is witnessing to something
that is needed by all? It could be that the fresh experience of the Pentecostal
reality by the church at large would signalize a new era of the presence and
power of the Holy Spirit.
Footnotes
1. Fr. Kilian McDonnell writes that "the
issue in Pentecostalism is not tongues, but fullness of life in the Holy Spirit,
openness to the power of the Spirit, and the exercise of all the gifts of the
Spirit." Catholic Pentecostalism: Problems in Evaluation, "
p. 9.
2. Larry Christenson writes in his Speaking
in Tongues, "There is a sound theology for the baptism with the Holy
Spirit. But the baptism with the Holy Spirit is not a theology to be discussed
and analyzed. It is an experience one enters into" (p. 40).
3. The Faith and Order Commission of the
World Council of Churches at its meeting in August, 1971 (see Faith and Order:
Louvain 1971), approved a document on "Spirit, Order and Organization"
that includes the following pertinent statements: "The emergence and growth
of Independent Churches in Africa, of Pentecostal Churches and of Pentecostalism
within the established Churches could point to some deficiency of traditional
Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. Theology and practice of these Churches
has to a large extent neglected the Holy Spirit, except for some standard affirmations
about his continuing presence.... The doctrine of the Holy Spirit and even more
the sensitivity to his active presence in the Church and the world were and
still are underdeveloped in the western tradition of Christianity" (pp.
117, 131-132). Also an excerpt from the document adopted on "Baptism, Confirmation
and Eucharist" may be noted: "The development of Pentecostal movements
reminds the historic Churches how much they have neglected life in the Spirit"
(p. 41).
4. See my book, The Era of the Spirit,
p. 53, text and footnote, for brief delineation.
5. No attempt is made above to go beyond
the record in Acts. However, Acts is the only description in the New Testament
of the origination of Christian communities and of the complexities and variations
of the relationship between faith in Christ and the coming of the Spirit. The
Epistles are written to established situations in which these things have already
occurred. One may find, for example, in Ephesians 1:3-14 reference to a pattern
of events not unlike Acts, but they have already happened. Hence, the primary
use of Acts is necessary for perception into the dynamics of these interrelationships.
6. The water baptismal formula used generally
by Protestants (and of course Christendom at large) is baptism "in the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (according to
Matthew 28:19). Here there is recognition of a baptism also in connection with
the Holy Spirit and a practice that goes beyond baptism in the name of Christ
only (as in the Book of Acts). This is not unimportant, because the baptismal
act points to more than a liturgical formula; it signifies introduction into
("into" may be preferable to "in" for the Greek word eis)
a living relationship with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Thus it could properly
be held that everyone baptized in the Triune name has some experience of baptism
"in" or "with" the Holy Spirit; consequently, what has been
said thus far about "baptism with the Spirit" is not altogether foreign
to the life of any regularly baptized person. For there is a sense in which
the whole Pentecostal reality, or event of the Spirit, is anticipated in the
third part of the baptismal formula. From this perspective "baptism with
the Spirit" could be understood not as the wholly new but as the appropriation
of what was given in baptism. This, however, by no means lessens the importance
of an "event of the Spirit," whereby the potential is actualized or
the anticipated brought to fulfillment. (The same could be said about baptism
in the name of Father and Son; however, this is not the place to go into other
aspects of the baptismal reality). Whether one follows the line of "baptism
with the Spirit" as representing a totally new dimension of Christian living,
or an appropriation of what has already been given, the same result may follow.
See chapter 5, "The Holy Trinity," for further elaboration.
7. For some Catholic Pentecostals there
is a serious attempt to bring together a unity of sacramental action and inward
experience by speaking of "baptism with the Spirit" as "experiencing
the effect of confirmation." See Confirmation and the "Baptism
of the Holy Spirit" by Stephen B. Clark, especially p. 15.
Bibliography
Christenson, Larry. Speaking in Tongues. Minneapolis: Bethany Fellowship,
1968.
Clark, Stephen B. Confirmation and the "Baptism of the Holy Spirit."
Plainfield, New Jersey: Logos International, 1971.
McDonnell, Kilian. Catholic Pentecostalism: Problems in Evaluation.
Plainfield, New Jersey: Logos International, 1971.
Williams, J. Rodman. The Era of the Spirit. Plainfield, New Jersey:
Logos International, 1971.
Faith and Order: Louvain, 1971. Geneva: World Council of Churches, 1971.
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