Where is the Holy Spirit[i]?

The doctrine of the Holy Wind is almost absent from the Reformed Baptist circle. The 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith does not have a paragraph of comprehensive discussion on the Wind of the Lord, and this should be a great concern for the Reformed believers. John Calvin was known as the theologian of the Holy Wind. Reformed Baptists are proud to be Calvinist, but why is the doctrine of the Holy Wind almost left out in the Confession? I am not surprised that, as the result of this negligence, seldom one can hear Him being mentioned by the members and seldom one can hear Him being preached from the pulpit. This scenario was fixed probably as soon as the first Reformed Baptist church was founded in Malaysia. The church was established at the height of the “sign seeking”[ii] movement in Malaysia in the 80’s. On the contrarily, teaching was issued from the pulpit against the movement with its experiential doctrine or anybody who attempts to explore this experiential expect of the doctrine[iii]. The blasting was so effective that so much so members begin to shun away from the mentioning the Holy Wind and it was deem to be the right thing to do. As the result of this, the church has sent out a wrong message that Reformed Baptist people are “anti charismatic and the Holy Wind”. Are we? No, we are definitely not like that, but such definition is hard to remove.

Is the Holy Wind important to the Christians? The answer is a resounding “Yes”, but why nobody pays attention to Him? We all know that our Lord Jesus was conceived in Mary’s womb and declared as the Son of God by the Holy Wind. He ushered our Lord Jesus Christ into a public ministry by John’s baptism. Our Lord continuously spoke to the crowd and performed signs and wonders by the Wind. The Lord reminded Nicodemus that none can enter the Kingdom of God except that he is born of the Wind. The Lord was raised from the dead by the exceedingly great power of the Wind. After the Lord was taken up, the Wind of God toke on the name and character of the Lord, and ever since He was known as the Wind of the Lord or the Wind of Christ. He established the first church in Jerusalem, and from there He spread the gospel throughout the Roman Empire. According to the gospel, the Wind of the Lord was present, from the beginning to the finishing end, in the saving work of God in the believers.

How should I describe this scenario? I would say, in the absence of a good doctrine of the Wind of the Lord, believers tend to look for substitute. This tendency was clearly shown in the choice of the Jewish believers for the custom of Moses over and against the Wind of the Lord[iv]. In a similar manner, this scenario is shown in the Confession. When we neglect the Wind of the Lord, we tend to resort to a hard and harsh self made regulation to rule our life. Indeed we have particularly established a set of religious regulative principle as a replacement of the doctrine of the Wind of the Lord. A hard doctrine has presented Christ Jesus as a teacher of the Law or a moral teacher who was promoting a conservative moral teaching. Presumably, all who believe in Him should follow His moral teaching. But the question is, was Jesus a moral teacher?  If Christ Jesus was merely a moral teacher, don’t we have many of such teachers in our own cultures and why must we follow Him? In fact, every other religion offers its moral teaching and why should Christianity be so different? If Christ Jesus was merely a good moral teacher or a teacher of the Jewish Law, I would not have been His follower. If Christianity is all about strict moral practice, then I would not have been a Christian, because I have KongZi (孔子Confucius), LaoZi (老子), MoZi (墨子), and the whole lot of the Chinese moral teachers and philosophers to choose from[v].

Christianity has offered me something that I could not find elsewhere. The good news that I received gave me the joy of salvation. When I came to Christ Jesus and He gave me His Wind and by whom I have my experience of repentance and an assurance of forgiveness, and by that encounter I was assured that I have entered the Kingdom of God. In a new dimension, He has transported me to heaven and made me sit together with other believers in Christ Jesus. He helps me to understand that I have been made right with God the Father by the blood of Christ. As a way to assure me of this certainty He has poured out the love of God into my heart and gave me peace and hope and reminds me that I am an adopted child of God. He gives me the joy that is like rivers of living water flow from within me. He has made clear to me that He wants to transform me into the likeness of Christ. He is eager to see the fruit of His labor. Without any delay and untiringly, from my first day as a believer, He began to labor hard in my life to bring out the character of Christ that is reflected in His love, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. He has expressed Himself clearly that He wants me to dwell deeply in Him and walk closely with Him, and to please Him always. He teaches me to worship God and teaches me to cry and pray to the Lord. He desires that I stay close to the fellow believers and He gives me gifts and teaches me the gospel and its ministry. This whole operation of the Wind of the Lord grants me a rich and meaningful and emotional experience.

If it is such a wonderful experience to have the Wind of the Lord in our lives, why is there still apprehension found in us? I gather that many feel uncomfortable with the word “freedom” that comes with the gift of the Holy Wind, and they also feel uneasy with the “sign seeking” movement that highlighted the experiential aspect on the doctrine of the Holy Wind. Unconsciously, they apply some kind of a curb on this freedom and they prefer not to talk much about the Holy Wind as far as possible.

Why the agitation? This is really unnecessary; Our Father in heaven is the one who grants the freedom and not us. God is not worried to grant the freedom and why should we worry for Him?  It is like what the Chinese wisdom says, “The eunuch is agitated while the emperor is not.” The gospel has made it so clear that anyone who comes to Christ Jesus would gain freedom from sin and death and would also gain freedom to worship God, but never any indication about freedom from morality. The Wind of the Lord is holy and righteous in character and He will not grant us a freedom that is contradicting His own character. The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is sufficient to guide every believer to the path of holiness. The Wind of the Lord is capable of leading every believer to where He wants them to go. We must not under estimate the power of the Wind of the Lord and over estimate our human effort and the capability of the regulative discipline. Indeed, we have much to learn from Jonathan Edwards[vi] when come to knowing and trusting the Wind of the Lord, and learning how to conduct ourselves under the Lordship of the Wind. Even John Calvin and his contemporary had failed to show that they have fully grasped the freedom given by the Holy Wind[vii].

Ultimately, we have to turn to the apostles’ teaching. The apostles’ were concerned about the believers’ life on earth because they were pneumatic people and they have a pneumatic life[viii]. This pneumatic life is upright and good and free. This pneumatic life would meet the demands of the gospel and the demands of any moral teaching. However, the apostles did not focus on moral demands of the gospel as the main message in their ministry; instead their attention was on the believers’ pneumatic life. For the apostles, the horse was always before the cart. The apostles’ approach was gentle and patient, and ready to bear with all the nonsense of the believers. They reminded the believers that they were pneumatic people, and then they challenged them to live a life that was worthy of the Wind of the Lord. The apostles employed lots of persuasion, encouragement, motivation, and warning, while making the challenge. They used the famous adverb “therefore” (as the result of this) to highlight that the believers were different and special and they deserved to be treated differently. I would list down some texts that show the manner in which the apostles persuaded the believers.

1.       Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.  Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12.1-2)

2.       I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. ….. This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind. (Ephesians 4.1-3; 17-32)

3.       Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. (Colossians 3.5; Read with in context of 3.1-4.6)

4.       Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12.1-2 and read its context  12.1-13.7)

5.       Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babies, desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby. (1 Peter 2.1-2)

The challenge before us today is that we must pay good attention to the Wind of the Lord and have a comprehensive grasp of the believers’ pneumatic life, if we wish to see effective result in our effort in personal growth, evangelism, missions, and church planting and building. We are in need of a comprehensive study on the doctrine of the Holy Wind, and then with the good finding we must fill in the missing part on the doctrine of the Holy Wind in the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith. We must be ready to provide answer to the related issues concerning the Wind of our Lord Jesus Christ. Right now, we are vulnerable because we do not have the answer.

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[i] The word “Spirit” is not an accurate translation of the third person of the Godhead today. Modern mind would understand the word “spirit” as “alcoholic liquor” or “the invisible life principle in man and the animals”. The word “spirit” originally derived from the old Latin word “spirare” which means “breath or wind”. This Latin word was a correct translation of the Greek word “pneuma”. Unfortunately, this Latin root meaning has lost its place in the new English dictionary. In a misleading manner, based on the English translation, the Chinese and Malay Bible both translated it as the “holy soul” of God. Therefore, I would prefer to address the third person in the Godhead as the “Holy Wind” (Jn. 3.8).

[ii] It is commonly known as “charismatic movement”. However, I prefer that the word “charismatic” not to be monopolized by any movement or person.  Strictly speaking, the word “charismatic” is a biblical word and it is a definition of all the believers in Christ. The word “charismatic” derives from the Greek word “charis” which means “grace”. “Charis” is a very important word. Christians are saved by the grace of God and the church has been bestowed with many gifts (charismata) to carry out her duty.

[iii] Unfortunately, Martin Lloyd Jones was one of them and his series of sermons on “Joy unspeakable” was frequently quoted as dangerous. Ian Murray was criticized for defending Lloyd-Jones’ “experiential” attempt.

[iv] Acts 15.1; Gal.5

[v] The students of Confucius’ and Chinese philosophies commented that the gospel lacks depth in comparison with their moral teaching. They are right, in a way, because the gospel is not about moral teaching, but it is all about Jesus Christ being the Son of God and whoever believes in Him shall enter the Kingdom of God. The gospel is a critique of the philosophy and message of the moral teaching, just as it was a critique of the Pharisees’ philosophy and message. The gospel is also a critique of the common belief that “all religions teaches people to do good”.

[vi] Jonathan Edwards, “Religious Affections”.

[vii] The Reformers reserved capital punishment for believers who had violated certain doctrine and practice. John Calvin was one of such reformers. He set up church police to spy on individuals and families and he did not hesitate to punish when he found anyone has violated the church rules. He has betrayed his reputation as a theologian of the Holy Wind by swinging the big stick.  The doctrine of the Holy Wind and the big stick policy do not complement one another at ll. This big stick policy was the result of combining the church and the state and ruled them as one. Our Lord Jesus Christ and His apostles believed in the power of the Holy Wind and had never demand death sentence on any believer.

[viii]  Somehow the adjective “pneumatic” is found in the English dictionary. I found it appropriate as a substitute for the word “spiritual.” Pneumatic life is a life that has been created by the Wind of the Lord; “And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ” (1 Corinthians 3.1).