I have noticed a pattern in my readings that may already be known to others but I just recognized it. If a person wants to make a claim about the Christian faith apart from the restraints of Scripture or Christ himself, then they oftentimes refer to "The Spirit." An example sounds something like this, "The Spirit leads communities to consider truth differently than viewed previously."
On the other hand, I have observed that these types of claims are minimized when the reference to the Holy Spirit relates directly to its source and giver, namely, Jesus Christ. These references take the form of "His Spirit" or "the Spirit of Christ."
This may or may not happen 100% of the time but next time you hear or read someone refer to "The Spirit" as opposed to "His (Jesus') Spirit" then check to see how that reference functions in the person's claim about God, humanity and the relationships in the world.
In my view, I would rather hear someone talk about "His (Jesus') Spirit" as opposed to "The Spirit" that stands alone and apart from Jesus Christ.
1 comment:
I've never thought about this. I'll have to pay attention.
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