Paul the Spirit and the People of God
Luke Dickens
2/9/13
BIB304, Life and Teachings of Paul
Kings College
Fee, Gordon, Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God, Grand Rapids, MI:
Baker Publishing Group ISBN 978-0-09010-4624-7
Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God by Gordon Fee lays out a prescription for true spiritual success to cure what ails churches of all kinds. The main treatment is the Holy Spirit-led life. Fee's major work "God's Empowering Presence" is foundational in the area of Pauline pneumatology. This book successfully condenses the heavy exegesis of the larger work into an easily readable text. Fee has a lot of poignant and challenging things to say concerning modern-day evangelicalism's understanding of the Holy Spirit. The difference between Christians today and Paul is staggering. The same spirit that lives in Paul and Jesus is the same spirit that is in Christians today. The western culture of Christians in today’s world live in very similar environment that the early Greco-Roman Western environment of Paul’s day. Disconnection has occurred because as Fee states “is in the large part to their experience of the reality of the Spirit’s presence.” This presents a very concerning issue with the church today who sometimes take the either/or approach to the Spirit between the gifts and the fruit of Spirit. The Spirit was an empowering force to Christian in the early church era. This power was not limited to signs and wonders, healings, or tongues but it was to empower the whole life of a Christian to grasp the beauty of being made in the image of God. The Spirit of God was the fulfillment of all the Jewish prophesies on how God would return His Presence to mankind again. The Trinitarian views became grounded because of Paul’s revelation on the very real true nature of God. The triune nature of God as one shows the vital importance that God is a relational being. He desires relationships and He has sent His Spirit for the church to be unified as one bride.
2/9/13
BIB304, Life and Teachings of Paul
Kings College
Fee, Gordon, Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God, Grand Rapids, MI:
Baker Publishing Group ISBN 978-0-09010-4624-7
Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God by Gordon Fee lays out a prescription for true spiritual success to cure what ails churches of all kinds. The main treatment is the Holy Spirit-led life. Fee's major work "God's Empowering Presence" is foundational in the area of Pauline pneumatology. This book successfully condenses the heavy exegesis of the larger work into an easily readable text. Fee has a lot of poignant and challenging things to say concerning modern-day evangelicalism's understanding of the Holy Spirit. The difference between Christians today and Paul is staggering. The same spirit that lives in Paul and Jesus is the same spirit that is in Christians today. The western culture of Christians in today’s world live in very similar environment that the early Greco-Roman Western environment of Paul’s day. Disconnection has occurred because as Fee states “is in the large part to their experience of the reality of the Spirit’s presence.” This presents a very concerning issue with the church today who sometimes take the either/or approach to the Spirit between the gifts and the fruit of Spirit. The Spirit was an empowering force to Christian in the early church era. This power was not limited to signs and wonders, healings, or tongues but it was to empower the whole life of a Christian to grasp the beauty of being made in the image of God. The Spirit of God was the fulfillment of all the Jewish prophesies on how God would return His Presence to mankind again. The Trinitarian views became grounded because of Paul’s revelation on the very real true nature of God. The triune nature of God as one shows the vital importance that God is a relational being. He desires relationships and He has sent His Spirit for the church to be unified as one bride.