Biblical Moorings
The Covenant Church believes in the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity.
He is the inspirer of the Word, and the guide into its truth. He is the wise and insightful convictor of the world, the testifier to Jesus, the witnesser of Jesus, the bringer of new life in Christ Jesus. He is the one Spirit that fuses the church to Christ, its head, the gatherer of that Body, the occupier of that Temple, the sovereign dispenser of gifts to and within the Church, the director of its ministries, the empowerer of its life for mission and witness (2 Timothy 3:16; 1 Peter 1:10-12; John 16:13; 16:8-11; Romans 8:16; John 3:5-8; 1 Corinthians 12:13; Ephesians 4:3; Acts 2; 2 Corinthians 6:16; 1 Corinthians 12:11; e.g. Acts 13:1-4; Acts 1:8; 4:29-31).
He is the prevenient actor in the drama of salvation, the creator of hunger for Christ’s life, and the fulfiller of that hunger. He is the one who baptizes the newly “born of the Spirit” into the Church; he is the indweller of every Christian; the creator of the likeness of Christ in individual believers; the bearer of Christian character though the believer. He is the indwelling monitor of morality and conduct. He is the enabler for every Christian responsibility. Ultimately he is the glorifier of Jesus Christ (John 3:8 [the Wind]; e.g. Ethiopian Eunuch, Acts 8:26-40; 1 Corinthians 12:13; Galatians 4:6; Romans 8:9; 2 Corinthians 3:16-18; Galatians 5:22,23; Ephesians 4:25-32; John 16:14).
...We are commanded to seek the fullness of the Spirit in the common worship of the Church (Ephesians 5:18ff). We are to manifest the gifts he imparts and the fruit he bestows. We believe in the Holy Spirit.
Covenant Doctrine Committee, Covenant Affirmations (Booklet, 1976), pp. 19,20,22.
It has been contended by many that the gifts of the Spirit are given in a “second blessing” (as in the Wesleyan movement) or is a “baptism of the Holy Spirit” (as in Pentecostalism and the Charismatic movement). It is held that these occur subsequent to the experience of conversion, thus introducing two stages into the course of Christian life. Some would hold that the “baptism of the Spirit” is accompanied by speaking in tongues as a sign of the outpouring of the Spirit.
The Evangelical Covenant Church, emphasizing as it does the new life in Christ, appreciates every emphasis upon openness to the powerful and life-giving work of the Holy Spirit. It has, however, insisted, as does the New Testament, that to become a Christian is to receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). All who are redeemed have the gift of the Spirit (Galatians 4:6). Paul states it bluntly, “Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him” (Romans 8:9). As we have often observed...it is only through the Holy Spirit that the Christian life becomes a possibility at all.
Donald C. Frisk (1911- ), Covenant Affirmations: This We Believe (1981), p. 166
Spirit and Word
The Holy Spirit, for Spener [1635-1705], is the third person in the triune Godhead. [He] was intent upon demonstrating the close connection between the Holy Spirit and the Son of God. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ, who proceeds from him and was sent from him to illuminate people with faith. Therefore, Paul calls him “the spirit of faith” (2 Corinthians 4:13). Paul's reference to the Holy Spirit as “the Spirit of Christ” (Romans 8:11) prompted Spener's remark that what the Spirit teaches, he has learned from Christ. In fact, the task of the Holy Spirit is to clarify (verk1ären) and glorify the Son, just as the Son seeks to glorify the Father.
Spener took pleasure in describing the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers. The Holy Spirit is poured out upon persons as an invisible and divine water along with the waters of baptism. He lives in believers, not as a guest in a hotel, but as Lord of the manor. As such he is the pledge of our inheritance and the inner witness that we are sons and daughters of God. However, when a person resists the Spirit's good work, does not follow him, or gives place to an evil spirit and thus serves sin, the Holy Spirit will no longer remain. Thus, through false doctrine or a godless life, we lose the Holy Spirit. A list of characteristics was provided by Spener for those who wished to test whether or not the Holy Spirit abided in them. He admitted that the Holy Spirit was not completely bound to Scripture in his working. There could be revelation in dreams, for example. However, all “special revelations” needed to be judged by Holy Scripture. A close collaboration between the Holy Spirit and the Holy Scriptures was to be found in Spener's writings.
Spener was solidly trinitarian....
K. James Stein (1929- ), Philipp Jakob Spener: Pietist Patriarch (1986), pp. 160,161.
The Covenant Church affirms the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Our understanding of the Holy Spirit is thoroughly trinitarian: we believe in the mystery of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We believe that the Holy Spirit plays a strong and active role in the life of the church and of the believer. The Holy Spirit illumines the truths of the Scriptures and enlivens the believer from deep within. The Holy Spirit leads the church and its believers into truth and through crises. The Holy Spirit brings conviction of sin and prompts repentance by believers.
Some Covenant churches place a more visible importance on the experience of the Holy Spirit in worship than do other churches. By and large, the Covenant is not a charismatic church in the sense of widespread speaking in tongues and other manifestations in worship. But neither does the Covenant deny that expression of the Holy Spirit in the church. The Holy Spirit works through Scripture and equips each believer and church for their own ministries. Again, the key question we ask is, “What do the Scriptures say?”
A Family Matter: An Exploration in Believing and Belonging (Inquirer’s Class Manual of the Evangelical Covenant Church, 1994), p. 32.
The Holy Spirit accompanies the Word of God as it goes forth to accomplish its work. God may be said to work with two hands: the one is the Word; the other is the Spirit which makes the word effective in our lives. Word and Spirit are conjoined and cannot be separated. The Spirit does his work through the instrumentality of the Word, and does not work redemptively apart from the Word. On the other hand, the Word is without effect unless the Spirit gives it power. “My Word...shall accomplish that which I purpose, and prosper in the thing for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11).
Donald C. Frisk (1911- ), Covenant Affirmations: This We Believe (1981), p. 23.
Power Unlimited
Salvation in Christ becomes ours through the work of the Holy Spirit in us. Man cannot through his own understanding or his own power acquire salvation, but is brought by the Holy Spirit to a sense of the importance of God's grace and a true faith in Jesus Christ. He is not saved against his will, however, but must voluntarily surrender himself to the work of God's Spirit and let himself be saved.
Axel Mellander (1860-1922), “What We Believe and Teach”
From Covenant Roots: Sources and Affirmations Glenn P. Anderson, ed. (1980), p. 141.
It is the presence of the Holy Spirit that makes the Christian life an abundant life, that is, a life of meaning, richness, and purpose (John 7:37-39; 10:10). Without the Holy Spirit the early church would have been left with only the memory of some dramatic events. With the Holy Spirit its life was a continuing drama of triumph. Without the Holy Spirit the early Christians would have been left to explain nothing but their weaknesses. With the Holy Spirit they were continually required to explain the power of their movement. Much of the preaching in Acts comes as a need to explain the events that were taking place because of the presence of the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit the Christian life would become a tedious effort to adhere to principles laid down in the past. With the Holy Spirit the Christian life becomes the expression of the presence of the living Christ in continuing experience.
Wesley W. Nelson (1910- ), Salvation and Secularity (1968), p. 48.
Often one hears the complaint that the Christian church lacks power. But in the Holy Spirit unlimited power is available–power which is released through prayer and through action. Power, however, is a precious gift which God does not bestow indiscriminately. He gives as much as is needed for a specific task. Too often we lack power because we do not accept tasks and responsibilities big enough to merit such strengthening from above. The mediocre lives which multitudes of Christians love do not require great strengthening and hence there is little evidence of its presence, but let a Christian seriously attempt the demands of the Lord in the church and community and strength would be given in proportion to the task. What world-shaking things the church could accomplish if we prayerfully accepted the full responsibilities that now confront us!
Donald C. Frisk (1911- ), What Christians Believe (1951), pp. 19,20.
Our Need to Receive
Speaking of the folly of resisting when the Holy Spirit calls, [E. A. Skogsbergh, d. 1939] said, “If you were drowning and somebody tried to save you, you would not say to your rescuer, ‘Not yet. Let me sink a little deeper before you pull me out.’ But if you leave the Tabernacle tonight without having turned to Christ, you are just that kind of fool.”
Reminding his hearers that none of them needed to leave with unforgiven sins, he told of a minister who closed a sermon on the Samaritan woman with the words, “Today you have heard about the well. Next Sunday you will hear about the water in the well.” Then Skogsbergh added, “As if the story of salvation needs to be told in installments, like the serials in our magazines. Oh, no! It is so short and simple that it can be told in three sentences of a few words each: You are a sinner. Christ is your Savior. He is calling you now.”
Erik Dahlhielm (1880-1955), A Burning Heart: A Biography of Erik August Skogsbergh (1951), pp.196,197
ET IN SPIRITUM SANCTUM*
There is no life
save as the Spirit's breath
touches, trembles, turns
the soul from death
and darkness ... to light.
There is no life except
the Spirit wakes
the slumbering, long-slept
soul. There is no waking
way but to receive
the Spirit as holy breath...
and, breathing . . . to believe.
*And in the Holy Spirit
Fred Moeckel (1929-1966), Recording Angel (1969), p.107.
God gives the Gift of the Spirit to everybody who believes and obeys him. It is a free gift of grace, just as salvation in Christ is free. We do not have to and cannot earn it. We do not have to win it through some kind of spiritual torture, self-judgment, or battle. We must be careful not to think that we must have some kind of emotional experience to cause God to give us the Spirit. Such experiences often are not spiritual but psychic, yes, physical.. No, this is not what the Scriptures teach. And it is the Scriptures we must investigate, not such and such a man's experiences or ideas. God gives the Spirit as a free gift. He gives it freely and willingly: “How much more will not your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him." Let us then with courage and joy come to the throne of grace and ask for this gift, just like all other gifts.
The Lord is willing, yes, waiting to give us the Spirit in a continuous higher measure, in a richer fulless, to a heavenly clearness, to the assurance of faith. God is willing, has promised,
is willing to give us more and more. The free gift is lying and waiting at our door. It depends on me; how much I am willing to accept; how much I am willing to give the Spirit of myself. “With the measure you measure, it shall be measured to you” (Romans 12:1,2).
A. G. Sporrong (1867-1934), “The Gift of the Spirit”
From Små tal-Stora ting, an unpublished series of articles (1927-1928), Chapter 6, tr. Algot A. Sporrong (1914-1983).
Inviting Prayers
Heavenly Spirit, gentle Spirit, O descend on us, we pray;
come, console us and control us, Christ most fair to us portray.
Hear us pleading, interceding, O interpreter of love;
with your fire us inspire, holy flame from God above.
Pilgrims, strangers, ‘mid life’s dangers, we on you would e’er depend;
Spirit tender, our defender, guide us, keep us to the end.
Joel Blomqvist (1840-1930), “ Heavenly Spirit, Gentle Spirit,” tr. Gerhard W. Palmgren (1880-1959), from The Covenant Hymnal: a Worshipbook (1996), No. 287.
CUM SANCTO SPIRITU*
How can man believe
what passively he knows
no need for? Reason's
practical doors close
hard on the rushing wind,
and snuff the flame,
and shun the bird
of heaven. The same
passive disinterest,
so able to numb
our naivete,
ends our faith. Come
Holy Spirit, enter
quickly, quickly, before
the reasoned closing
of the cruel door.
*With the Holy Spirit
Fred Moeckel (1929-1966), Recording Angel (1969), p. 106.
