Definitions
When is a Charismatic Not a Charismatic?
It is important to emphasise that, by my definition, you can believe
in ‘charismatic gifts’ (as I do) and not be a Charismatic. After
all, I believe in baptism, but that doesn’t make me a Baptist!
The Charismatic is someone who holds to the three points above, (1)
that there is an experience of the Holy Spirit subsequent to, and improving
on conversion, (2) that spiritual gifts come with this experience and
(3) that this is the key to renewal. If you believe in ‘speaking in
tongues’ but deny these three points you are not, in my book, a
Charismatic and it would be helpful if you said so in conversation with
those who are.
Why Does it Matter?
The reason for stressing this point is that the Charismatic movement
is about a theology of the Christian life, not particular spiritual
phenomena. Charismatics like Nicky Gumbel distinguish between Christians
who ‘have only got the pilot light of the Holy Spirit in their lives’ (Questions
of Life [Eastbourne: Kingsway Publications, 1993] p 133) and Christians
who are ‘filled with the Holy Spirit’ and who ‘fire on all cylinders’ (Ibid.).
This distinction is fundamental to understanding Charismatic spirituality
and to understanding where and why it has gone wrong.
Back to Basics
To understand where Charismatic theology has gone wrong,
we have to understand the Bible. And first we have to see that in the Bible
God
does not do everything all at once.
The Bible shows us that the fundamental problem with the human race is sin resulting in God’s curse (Genesis 3:14-19). The story of the Bible is the story of how God reverses the curse and brings us blessing. But this doesn’t happen straight away! Genesis 3 is followed by Genesis 4 (where Cain murders Abel) then 5-9 (the flood) and so on. In fact, there is not a lot of improvement until chapter 12, where, many years later, God speaks to Abraham (then known as Abram). What he says is:
‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you I will curse; and by you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’Notice, Abraham is to be the source of ‘world blessing’. From here on, the Bible focuses on the story of him and his descendants. And also from here on, the issue of blessing and cursing is focused on how people respond to Abraham.
So although the Bible shows us that God doesn’t do everything at
once, it also shows us that when God does do something it changes
everything else from that point onwards!
The Fulfilment of the Promise
We have to wait nearly two thousand years from the time of Abraham
before the promise of world blessing is fulfilled. But this happens through
the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus. The Apostle Paul writes about
this where he says in Galatians 3:13-14:
‘Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us - for it is written, "Cursed be every one who hangs on a tree" - that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.’ (RSV)The death of Jesus on the cross brings about the removal of the curse. But Paul also links Jesus’ death to two other events. In one direction he links it to ‘the blessing of Abraham’ (which we read about in Genesis 12:1-3). In the other direction he links it to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Gentiles. This outpouring of the Spirit is, ultimately, ‘the blessing of Abraham’.
But how is this outpoouring of the Spirit received? The answer Paul gives in the passage quoted above is ‘through faith’? But through faith in what? In actual fact, Paul has already given the answer earlier in chapter 3. In Galatians 3:2 he asks his readers, ‘Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law, or by hearing with faith?’ (RSV). The answer is obvious, even to us - they received the Spirit ‘by hearing with faith’. But by hearing what with faith? The answer comes as we read on:
‘Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith? Thus Abraham "believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness." So you see that it is men of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." (Galatians 3:5-8, RSV)
Notice the issue is not ‘does God do miracles?’ That is not what divides Charismatics from non-charismatics today, any more than it divided Paul from his opponents in Galatia. The question is ‘How did you receive the Spirit?’ The answer Paul gives - the answer the Galatians already know - is by hearing the GOSPEL with faith. Paul says that Genesis 12:3 contains the gospel as it was preached by God to Abraham: ‘in you shall all the nations be blessed’. And Paul says Abraham was himself blessed because he believed the gospel as he received it. So he concludes in v.9 ‘those who are people of faith [in the gospel of Jesus’ death] are blessed with Abraham who had faith [in the gospel of world blessing]’.
So we may summarize Paul’s message in Galatians as follows:
Galatians and the Charismatics
This understanding of Galatians drives a coach and horses through the
claims of the Charismatic Movement. Galatians says that the Holy Spirit
is received by those who hear the gospel with faith. The Charismatic Movement
says more of the Holy Spirit is available to those who respond to
their message. Galatians says the Holy Spirit received through hearing
the gospel with faith is the blessing of Abraham. The Charismatic Movement
offers a ‘Second’ (or third, or fourth) blessing superior to the
blessing God promised to Abraham. But the Bible sees the blessing of Abraham
as the thing for which Christ died. What could be a greater blessing
than something the Son of God died for? The Charismatic Movement says that
the Christian who lacks the experience it offers is spiritually lacking.
The Bible says the Christian who hears the gospel with faith is delivered
from the curse of sin and that nothing can separate us from the love of
God demonstrated in the death of his Son.
Tidying Up
But what are we to make of the various outpourings of the Spirit.in
the book of Acts? The answer is to come back to the point made earlier,
that God does not do everything at once, but when he does something it
changes everything from that point onwards. In the book of Acts the day
of Pentecost is never repeated for Jews. There is no description
of the same thing happening again, even to the people converted on the
Day of Pentecost (which would be the obvious time for it) because from
then on things have changed.
Peter says to the Jewish audience in his Pentecost speach: ‘Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise [notice that word again!] is to you and to your children and to all that are far off, every one whom the Lord our God calls to him." (Acts 2:38-39, RSV)
But some of the phenomena of Pentecost are repeated when the gospel goes to Gentiles (Acts 10:44-46). Peter is surprised, not having expected God to treat Gentiles in exactly the same way as Jews. In his report to the Jerusalem church in Acts 11 he says ‘As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning’ (11:15, RSV). But notice he doesn’t say, ‘The Holy Spirit fell on them as always happens when we preach to Jews’. He says ‘the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning’. This would suggest that ‘Pentecostal’ experience was not the standard response to gospel preaching.
The point is that, throughout the Bible, after each fresh act of God the situation has changed for everyone else. The theology of Galatians - that the Spirit is received in response to gospel preaching - is the outcome of what God has been doing up to that point. Charismatic theology appeals to the narrative of Acts, but as a result of ignoring the total biblical picture it has to construct a process of receiving the Spirit which is simply absent from (or even contradicts) biblical teaching. Let’s look again at what Nicky Gumbel teaches in Questions of Life:
2. Turn from any area of your life that you know is wrong. Again, you did this when you repented. (And if you think you didn’t do it enough then to receive the fullness of the Spirit, how do you know you’re doing it now?)
3. Ask God to fill you with his Spirit and to give you the gift of tongues. [...] But nowhere in the Bible are these two instructions linked. Moreover, in his comments on tongues in 1 Corinthians 12-14, Paul puts them last in his list. There is no harm in asking God to allow you to speak in tongues, but why not ask him to give you the gift of teaching or administration which are placed higher in Paul’s list at 12:28?)
4. Open your mouth and start to praise God in any language but English or any other language known to you. But this is not what happened on the day of Pentecost, nor is it ever suggested anywhere else in the Bible. (Questions of Life, pp 146- 147, my comments added in bold)
John Richardson
March 1997
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This page is maintained by Rev
John Richardson, Anglican Chaplain to the University
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Last updated 29 September 1997