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Thinking about the Spirit |
Some quotes for your serious thought:
"Social
life is the necessary condition for the growth of the individual self,
and at the same time it is the revelation of inherent and intrinsic capacities
of that self. ...It is, then, from the social implications
of 'spirit' that the whole development of morality proceeds."
(p.68, emphasis mine).
"A
selfish man, i.e. a man whose spiritual nature is yet undeveloped in its
social relations, cannot 'know' the Gospel of an unselfish God, in the
deep Biblical sense of knowledge, though its proclamation may awaken him
to the discovery of his own stunted growth. 'He that loveth not his brother
whom he hath seen cannot love God whom he hath not seen'". (I Jn.4:20)
(p.69, emphasis mine).
"However
earnestly we may desire, however diligently we ought to see, the unity
of the Church in both faith and order, we must not forget that the unity
so emphasized in the New Testament is that of a common purpose, rather
than of a common organization." (p.133, emphasis mine).
"But
spirit, even in the overwhelming presence of the divine Spirit, is always
active, and never wholly passive, though relatively it may be so described,
and there can be no revelation of the divine into which the human does
not, however infinitesimally, enter." (p.90).
| See: Prophetic Consciousness |
"In a deep and real sense, Christ is the one answer to our many questions, and we gain that answer by the experience of Him, not by a number of statements
about Him. He becomes to us the centre of life, because our life finds
its only satisfaction in Him, and then, as we interpret life from this
new experience, He becomes the centre of thought. As the iron filings
arrange themselves by pattern and order in the magnetic field, so our
many scattered thoughts and purposes fall into their places, in proportion
as He becomes central." (p.102, emphasis mine).
"Unless
[the Church] is continually led by the Spirit into a deeper realization
of God, and therefore a larger truth about Him, her repetition of ancient
creeds will fail of its purpose, her devotion to the Bible will become
pathetic antiquarianism. As for new developments of Christian truth, their
truth will always be tested by the reaction of Christian life to them,
which means the acceptance or rejection of them by the Holy Spirit, as
vehicles of His activity. Prior to this final and infallible test, there
is the intellectual sifting of new truth by its congruity with the old,
not so much in form as in principle. Where there is continuous life (the
Church's history), there will be some continuity of principle that will
carry us back to the historic bases of the Church." (p.135/6, emphasis mine).
| (Excerpts from 'The Christian Experience of The Holy Spirit' by H. Wheeler Robinson, 1951).
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| "But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit." |
