Gordon Fee and the Quest for a Biblical Pneumatology
Over the course of the last ten or fifteen years there has been a notable explosion of books and articles concerning the person and work of the Holy Spirit. In many ways sparked by the decidedly non-academic Pentecostal and Charismatic movements over the course of this last century, these writings are the acknowledgement that there has been a great gap, at least in the West, in the developed systematic understanding of this third person of the Trinity. As Pentecostals have matured in their reflections, scholars have begun to arise from their midst who seek to ground the Pentecostal understanding in well-developed doctrine and thought. Also, there have been those from other traditions, who upon seeing the life and bounty that the Pentecostal movement tends to bring were brought to a place of reflection and renewal in their own understandings of the Holy Spirit.
In this paper, I will seek to examine the contribution of one of the former types, Gordon Fee, a Pentecostal by heart and tradition, especially focusing on his special emphasis and contribution in the field of Biblical studies for expanding our Pneumatological awareness and understanding. I will begin by looking at his primary book in this field, God’s Empowering Presence, examining his basic argument, approach, and conclusions. I will then seek to show the special contribution that such an approach brings, and how it can and should relate to the broader study of Pneumatology.
God’s Empowering Presence is not a small book, nor light reading. In developing an article for the Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements, Fee realized very little secondary literature existed on the topic of the Holy Spirit as seen in the letters of Paul of Tarsus. Because of the dearth of Pneumatological studies in general, no one had ever thought to write a text specifically focused on how Paul viewed the person and work of the Holy Spirit. So, Fee sought to remedy this. In doing so he realized that he could not simply make assertions without first having a firm foundation of Biblical analysis with which he could base his findings. Understanding that this had not been done in a way which focused on the broader understanding of the Holy Spirit in the Pauline corpus, he felt he had to create his own body of textual analysis which went through the various letters and analyzed verse by verse, use by use, Paul’s understanding of pneumatology. It is this textual analysis which comprises the great bulk of God’s Empowering Presence.
Having exegeted the great bulk of the Pauline Epistles, Fee then feels able to make some observations and conclusions about Paul’s general pneumatology in the last 100 pages of this nearly 1000 page book. He concludes that the Spirit was for Paul more real and evident than we can possibly imagine in our day and age, that the presence of the Spirit was an assumed reality, because of which specific theological discussion is limited. But in the off hand remarks, asides, benedictions, and other such casual comments Gordon Fee is able to discover and lay out eight primary conclusions about Pauline pneumatology. These conclusions are not meant as simply academic points of interest, but are in keeping with Fee’s profound pastoral sensitivity and seek to point out ways in which the modern church can regain some of the liveliness and fullness that is found in Paul’s understanding of the Holy Spirit.
His first conclusion about Paul’s understanding is that the Spirit is absolutely crucial in Paul’s understanding of Christianity and the Christian message. [1] In his analysis of the pertinent texts, Fee determines that no subject for Paul is outside the pale of the Holy Spirit, rather Paul is seen to show the Spirit as being a vital part of all areas of thought, life, and experience. The second point Fee expounds upon is that for Paul the Spirit must be understood eschatologically as both a current evidence and a future hope of God’s Kingdom. The Spirit epitomizes the “already/not yet” understanding that Paul has concerning the end times. Because the Spirit is now amongst us, inaugurated by the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, the kingdom is now at hand according to both prophesies and the power that is evident. However, the times have not yet been fulfilled, with sin and death still waging war in this present world. Even those of the community of the Spirit are not immune, but can look forward with hope and expectation that the day will soon arrive when the eschatological expectations are brought to their fullness by the work of the Spirit.
Fee’s third conclusion is that for Paul the Spirit is dynamically experienced in the individual and in the community. The Spirit is not simply a philosophical illustration, moral quality, ethical imperative, or ethereal expression but is in fact power for those who believe. It is an experienced reality not a religious ideal. For Paul, the activity of the Spirit was assumed in various ways, so that he did not have to write an apology for the Spirit, nor use the signs and wonders as proofs. It was assumed in Paul that wherever the Spirit was people would know. The Spirit is living and active, empowering and enlivening the life of the believer and the community in countless visible and invisible ways.
The Spirit is also seen as being truly a person, not a vague force or impersonal effect. It is God’s personal presence inhabiting his people, working with a personality and expressing to those who are aware the identity of God himself. With this, though, comes Fee’s fifth point, that Paul is truly Trinitarian in that he understands that God is truly one, that the Spirit is the Spirit of God and God’s presence, as well as that both the Spirit and Christ are divine and that the Spirit is nevertheless distinct from the Father and from the Son. Though there certainly is not evidence of later Trinitarian developed thought, in Paul the Spirit is simply presupposed as being both distinct from and one with the One God.
With this understanding of God in place, Fee sees Paul developing an understanding of the foundational place of salvation in Christ. Christ is the central figure in the act of salvation, but the origins of this salvation come from the hand of the Father and is accompanied by the activity of the Spirit. Thus, Fee concludes that a Triune understanding of salvation is essential in understanding Paul’s theology. While the Son is the redeemer, the Spirit allows humanity to realize and appropriate this salvation, a salvation which allows us to be restored in relationship with the Father. But this is not a one time act without any following activity. Rather, in Fee’s seventh conclusion, Paul understands that the Spirit is an “absolutely essential constituent of the whole of Christian life.” The Spirit leads the believer into a life of holiness and enables an ethical dimension which was impossible prior to the coming of the Spirit. The empowering presence gives the believer the ability to be holy and to begin to live an “eschatological existence” in the here and now. With this is also Fee’s final point, that the Spirit is the key to all Christian Spirituality, enabling the believer’s own spirit to be truly one with God in worship and communion, individually and as a community.
Having very briefly summarized the main points of Gordon Fee’s discussion of Pauline pneumatology it may be useful to now seek to understand why this approach is useful and important and how it fits into the larger picture of Pneumatological studies. The first place to begin is to explain why it is vital that we have a Biblical Pneumatology of any kind. It can be said that in the academic study of Christianity and Christian beliefs there are three main areas of focus and emphasis. The first is Biblical Studies, in which scholars seek to determine the meaning of the core set of primary documents which serve as the foundation of Christianity. The second is Church History, in which scholars seek to examine and understand the various movements, personalities, and thoughts which have arisen in the almost 2000 years since the lives and writings of the apostles. The third is systematic theology, which seeks to mold together ancient and modern thought into something for the present, attempting to discern not only what was thought, but seeking to determine and systematize all that is known.
A Biblical pneumatology is vital because it provides a firm foundation first for understanding the merits and mistakes of Church history and second for our continued explorations of the modern study of the Holy Spirit. If as a community we do in fact hold to a high view of Scripture, which we in the Evangelical community certainly do, we simply must have scholarship which helps us to interpret the Biblical mandate, message, and exhortations. While it is useful and important to read various theologians, one must be grounded in the Biblical record in order to adequately interpret and debate the various scholars. In the specifics of this class, a reading of Fee greatly aided my own reading and evaluation of both Moltmann and Pinnock, as I was informed about their own exegetical interpretations at times, sometimes to the detriment of their arguments (especially in Moltmann).
A specifically Pauline pneumatology, as seen in Fee’s great work, is vital in that Paul shaped so much of early and thus later Christianity by his writings. He was a man who may have experienced the work and activity of the Holy Spirit as much as anyone in history, and whose special calling and leading placed him as a crucial figure in the development of all theology. The modern method of study is relatively unique in Christian history, and thus, modern scholars such as Fee may be able to determine with greater accuracy than ever before what Paul intended in his letters. At this point in history, the method of exegesis has been developed and refined over the course of the last few centuries, so that it is no longer the property and method of those wishing to overturn orthodox Christian beliefs, and can now be used with utmost efficacy by those who share what may be the most essential aspect of Paul’s thought and life, namely the presence of the same Spirit.
It is here that we find Fee also extraordinarily useful. This sharing of the same Spirit, holding the same basic beliefs and the same hope for eternal life, leads Fee to a great pastoral contribution as well. For while this may be forgotten in many academic circles, the Bible was not written to be minutely picked apart by scholars of various beliefs, goals, and presuppositions. Rather, the letters of Paul were meant for communities struggling with the issues of the “already/not-yet” aspects of the Christian life, who were struggling with ethical standards and community behaviors. These were pastoral letters, and thus a truly Biblical Pneumatological exploration would by its very nature insist on dealing with Paul as Paul meant to be dealt with. He was a pastor and missionary, not a systematic theologian of today’s definition. Thus, in God’s Empowering Presence Fee stays true to the fullness of the title of Biblical Scholar and seeks to not only explain what Paul thought, but also to show how what Paul intended to be true in his churches should and can be normative in the Church of today. For the crux of Paul’s thought was indeed that the Spirit is not an academic enterprise, but rather a personal presence of the Divine that brings power and life to those who seek after God. The Spirit is about the power, about the life, about the fullness and bounty of being, not simply dry academic posturing. In developing a true academic foundation with a pastoral concern, Fee has greatly contributed to the field of pneumatology and to the work and efforts of pastors through out the world. It is vital that in studying the Spirit we continue to go back to the foundational sources, understanding that while the Spirit is certainly continuing to work in this day and age, this Spirit was given and revealed in a way to the earliest churches that we can only continue to pray to see in our own communities. A Biblical Pneumatology, then, both provides a foundation for understanding our past, and points towards a future of greater awareness and life with the Triune God.
