The Missionary Emphasis of Lukan Pneumatology 185075800X

Table of contents :
Journal of Pentecostal Theology Supplement Series 12
ISBN 1-85075-800-X
The Missionary Emphasis ofLukan Pneumatology
Abbreviations
1. A Problem in Hermeneutics
^BEOSKIfEOLOSKI FAKULTET - OSIJFK
to the narrative interpretation of the events.77 It is because Jesus is anointed to perform his ministry as the suffering servant78 that the
t:

24 That this is a Lukan substitution for Q s good thines' (cf Mt 7 11) is
Spirit.
me risen Christ.” The Holy Spirit also connects the two central themes
pneumatology may be excessive but he is right to underscore the dm- gers of losing Luke’s missionary emphasis:
The bottom line: ‘All God’s people are “to prophesy’’...are called to proclaim the story of God’s love’.39

Citation preview

John Michael Penney

Journal o f Pentecostal Theology Supplement Series

12

Editors John Christopher Thomas Rickie D. Moore Steven J. Land

Sheffield Academ ic Press Sheffield

The Missionary_____ Emphasis o f________ Lukan Pneumatologv

John Michael Penney Sheffield Academic Press

Copyright © 1997 Sheffield Academic Press Published by Sheffield Academic Press Ltd Mansion House 19 Kingfield Road Sheffield SI 1 9AS England

Printed on acid-free paper in Great Britain by The Cromwell Press Melksham. Wiltshire

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 1-85075-800-X

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments Abbreviations

7 8

Chapter 1 T h e P u r p o s e o f t h e S pir it in l u k e - a c t s

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

A Problem in Hermeneutics Theological Approaches The Thematic and Architectural Unity of Luke-Acts The Purpose of Luke-Acts Summary

11

12 13 16 18 25

Chapter 2 THE SPIRIT IN THE INFANCY AND INAUGURATION NARRATIVES

1. The Infancy Narratives 2. Jesus’ Anointing: Paradigm for the Church? 3. Summary

26

27 35 46

Chapter 3 PRAISE, PRAYER, PROCLAMATION AND THE SPIRIT IN LUKE

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

The Spirit and Prophetic Praise The Significance of Prayer for the Spirit The Holy Spirit: Blasphemy and Witness The Spirit in Luke’s Great Commission Prophetic Witness Conclusions

48

48 51 53 55 57 62

Chapter 4 THE SPIRIT OF MISSION AND THE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL

1. Signs and Wonders and the Proclaimed Word 2. The Powerful Word of God 3. Restoration of the Kingdom

64

66 67 69

The Missionary Emphasis ofLukan Pneum atology

6

4. The Restored Mission of Israel 5. The Selection of Matthias 6. Summary Chapter 5 THE DAY OF PENTECOST 1. Peter’s Sermon and the Meaning of Pentecost 2. The Spirit of Abrahamic Promise 3. Summary

72 75 77

78 84 91 95

Chapter 6 MIXED METAPHORS: SPIRIT TERMINOLOGY IN LUKE-ACTS

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

‘Filled/Full of the Spirit’ ‘Baptized with the Holy Spirit’, ‘Pour out’ ‘Receive the Gift of the Spirit’ ‘Clothed with/Receive Power’, ‘Come upon’, ‘Anoint’ Summary

96

96 100 103 109 110

Chapter 7 OBJECTIONS TO THE MISSIONARY EMPHASIS OF THE SPIRIT IN ACTS

1. 2. 3. 4.

The Spirit as Director of Missions The Spirit's Direction and Conventional Prophecy The Spirit and the Missionary Community The Spirit of Prophecy is the Spirit of Mission

111

112 116 117 119

Chapter 8 CONCLUSION: TOW ARDS A PRACTICAL PNEUMATOLOGY

FOR MISSIONS

122

Bibliography Index of References Index of Authors

126 135 141

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I wish to record my grateful appreciation to many people whose support has meant much during the research for and writing of this work, which began life as an MTh thesis. The faculty of Moore Theological College, especially my postgraduate supervisor Dr Glenn Davies, patiently encour­ aged this brash Pentecostal in their midst. Midway through my first undergraduate year I could hardly imagine what madness had possessed me to go there; by the end of my second year I could hardly imagine what madness had kept me away so long. A number of friends and ministry colleagues have also been a major source of encouragement. Ray McMartin, Regional Superintendent of the Apostolic Church (Australia); Philip Underwood, General Superintendent of the Apostolic Church in New Zealand; David Parker and Rikk Watts, AOG ministers and scholars, all kept me believing there just might be a place for another Pentecostal scholar down under. Thanks also to the editors of the Journal of Pentecostal Studies for believing this work has something new to say in well-trodden territory. Finances would have been impossible without the generous provision of subsidized housing by Moore College, the award of the David Garnsey Scholarship by the Australian College of Theology, and various friends and anonymous supporters whose generous and often sacrificial gifts enabled me to continue full-time study. My wife Gail and children Joshua, Daniel and Amiria bore cheerfully the brunt of my five-year sojourn in relative poverty after a career in Management Consulting. Ma te Atua koutou katoa e manaaki.

ABBREVIATIONS

AB

Anchor Bible

ATR

Anglican Theological Review

BST

Bible Speaks Today F.E. Gaebelein (ed.). The Expositor's Bible Commentary

EBC EvQ ExpTim HTR Int JB ITQ JPT

JSNTSup NASB NEB

N1BC N1CNT NICOT NIGTC NIDNTT N1V NovT NRSV NTS REB RSV RTR

Evangelical Quarterly Expository Times Harvard Theological Review Interpretation

Jerusalem Bible Irish Theological Quarterly Journal of Pentecostal Theology Journal fo r the Study o f the New Testament, Supplement Series

New American Standard Bible New English Bible New International Biblical Commentary New International Commentary on the New Testament New International Commentary of the Old Testament New International Greek Testament Commentary C. Brown (ed.). New International Dictionary o f New Testament TheologyNew International Version Novum Testamentum

New Revised Standard Version New Testament Studies

Revised English Bible Revised Standard Version Reformed Theological Review

SBLMS SNTSMS

Society of Biblical Literature Monograph Series Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series

SWJT TDNT

Southwestern Journal o f Theology G. Kiliel and G. Friedrich (eds.), Theological Dictionary o f the New Testament

TNTC TOTC

Tyndale New Testament Commentary Tyndale Old Testament Commentary

TrinJ TynBul

Trinity Journal Tyndale Bulletin

Abbreviations

VT

Vox Evangelica Vetus Testamentum

WBC WUNT

Word Biblical Commentary Wissenschaftliche Untcrsuchungcn zum Ncuen

VoxEv

Chapter 1 T h e P u r p o s e o f t h e S p ir it in l u k e - a c t s

Roland Allen wrote in the early part of this century, ‘it is in the revela­ tion of the Holy Spirit as a missionary Spirit that the Acts stands alone in the New Testament’.1This is exactly the historical contention of the Pentecostal movement—from inception a missionary movement—which saw, in the Spirit-baptism of Acts 2, a normative paradigm for the em­ powerment of every Christian to preach the gospel.123As Bruner claims. ‘The Pentecostal is persuaded that his historical success is due to his theological distinctive, the experience of the Holy Spirit in power.’’ Acts is more than history for the Pentecostal: it is a missionary manual, an open-ended account of the missionary work of the Holy Spirit in the church, concluding, not with ch. 28, but with the ongoing Spirit-empow­ ered and Spirit-directed gospel preaching of today. This conviction has made Pentecostals a major force in world missions.4 For example, Peter Wagner notes that Pentecostal churches are growing significantly faster than any other churches in Latin America and attributes this to their concern to multiply the number of gospel ‘witnesses’.5

1. R. Allen, ‘Pentecost and the World: the Revelation o f the Holy Spirit in the Acts of the Apostles’ (1917), reprinted in D.M. Paton (ed.). The Ministry o f the Spirit: Selected Writings o f Roland Allen (London: World Dominion Press, rev. edn, 1965), p. 21. 2. J. Penney, ‘Have Pentecostals Lost Their Way?’, Barsahbas 3 (June 1993), p. 2. 3. F.D. Bruner, A Theology o f the Holy Spirit: The Pentecostal Experience and the New Testament Witness (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. 1970). p. 26. 4. P. Pomerville. The Third Force in Missions (Peabody. MA: Hendrickson. 1985). 5. P. Wagner, Look Out! The Pentecostals Are Coming (Eastbourne: Coverdale. 1973).

12

The Missionary Emphasis o f Lukan Pneumatology

1.

A Problem in Hermeneutics

The Pentecostal doctrine of a nonnative, post-conversion Spirit-baptism, initially evidenced by speaking in tongues, and bringing m issionary enablem ent, has been severely criticized on both hermeneutical and theological grounds. A popular evangelical example of the former criti­ cism is that of John Stott, who writes 'The revelation of the purpose of God in Scripture should be sought in its didactic, rather than its historical parts.’6 This argument has not been well received by Pentecostals who retort that Luke’s historical record does have a didactic purpose.7 but Stott later explains: ‘1 am emphatically not saying that biblical narrative has nothing to teach us...the didactic must guide us in evaluating and interpreting the descriptive.'8 A more recent development has been to ground the essentially prag­ matic and experiential way Pentecostals read Luke-Acts in the post­ modern hermeneutics of Paul Ricouer and others.9 The irony is that Ricouer’s hermeneutic provides little support either for the personalism of the Pentecostal encounter with God. or for the work of the Holy 6. J. Stott. The Baptism and Fullness o f the Holy Spirit (Downers Grove. IL: IVP. 1964). p. 23. A Pentecostal attuned to this particular difficulty is Gordon Fee. Sec his G ospel and Spirit: Issues in He k Testament Hermeneutics (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson. 1991). Several o f the essays in this work bear upon it. especially 'Hermeneutics and Historical Precedent: A Major Issue In Pentecostal Hermeneutics', pp. 83-104 Fee s sensitivities here are not. however, appreciated in the American AOG. C f the review article by senior statesman W. Menzies: i do not question Gordon Fee's personal Pentecostal experience. I am not clear, however, about how he expresses Pentecostal theology' ( ‘Review. G ospel and S p irit’. P araclete [Winter 1993). p 32) 7. See for example the critique of Fee's G ospel and Spirit by R. Stronstad. 'Pentecostal Hermeneutics'. Pneuma 15.2 (Fall 1993 1. pp. 215-22 One o f the more significant claim s in Stronsiad's argument is that Pentecostal theology docs not simply derive from its interpretation of the historical narratives of Acts but 'from the teaching of Jesus and from the sermons and teaching of the apostles'