The Holy Spirit within Tradition
Written by Dan McDonald
In the closing days of Jesus’
earthly ministry, he sought to prepare his disciples for his sufferings unto
death, and for what was to become of them when he would depart from them. He promised them how after he would go to the
Father, that the Holy Spirit would come unto them. The importance of a living tradition to the
Church has always been in large part an acknowledgment that Christian tradition
is not merely a history of the Christian’s response to a book of Scripture, but
the history of the Holy Spirit’s work among, in and through the people of God. As the Scriptures of both Old and New
Testaments are regarded as “inspired by God through the work of the Holy Spirit”
there is no reason to doubt that the Scriptures have a central role in guiding
and defining the people of God. The
history of God’s people through the centuries is itself to a large degree the
history of the work of the Holy Spirit.
It is for that reason that tradition, whether recognized or unrecognized
by God’s people almost always shows itself in the life of God’s people.
Consider for example how a church
that says it has no tradition but the Bible; nevertheless will almost always
have its favorite Bible teachers who get quoted in sermons, and whose books are
handed out to people interested in what this church says, or by the men and
women of this church who want to win others to their version of the Bible’s
teaching. Whether one has the tradition
of an ancient church, a Reformation church, or a few decades of a Christian
movement there are some men and women quoted as insightful, some recognized as
living especially commendable lives worthy of our imitation, and others whose
prayer and devotional habits inspire us in a devotional life before God. Rather than accusing such churches as being
inconsistent in accord with their principles, we might well say that whatever
their declared principles are, their practice is to understand in some innate
manner that the Holy Spirit distributes various gifts of God to various people,
for the purpose of encouraging God’s people in all times and places.
This tradition, rooted in the Holy
Spirit, can be frightening to some people.
It would seem that among those whose Christian life is characterized by
a fortress mentality that tradition instead of being viewed as something living
capable of being developed and used to encourage zeal and growth and freshness,
becomes something of a fixation on the proven past. Thus the Christian community characterized by
a fortress mentality tends to dig into a proven past and receives nothing but
that which conforms to their defensive mindset.
We must see the continuity of tradition to teach us both that the
ancient in the faith is never remote in its lessons for the present, nor is
freshness for the present and future to be regarded as contrary to the spirit
of the tradition we recognize as Christians.
The lesson of the tradition, rooted in the Father’s sending of the Son
and the Spirit is that there is something fresh and living to be experienced by
every individual, faith community, generation, and era. The Spirit will surely be with us in each of our
lives, communities, times, and eras. He
will be in the midst of us wherever two or three are gathered together in
Christ’s name. He will provide in each
setting a faithful insight, a holy life, and a memory to be used to instruct
and challenge the future. The Bible as
the shared word and message to the Christian community in all eras, times, and
places will be central in the work of the Holy Spirit; but around that gift of
the Holy Scriptures within the Church, the gifts given to God’s people will
build a fresh layer of a continuing tradition upon the proven layers of the
Holy Spirit’s work in past generations.
I would like to conclude this blog
with some remarks by Louis Bouyer from his book entitled Liturgy and
Architecture, printed by the University of Notre Dame Press in 1967. He was one of the scholars relied upon during
the time of the Second Vatican Council and expresses what he felt was needed by
the Roman Catholic Church at that time. I
believe his words may well strike a chord with modern Protestants and
Evangelicals, and especially among those of us who have had, at times, a
tendency to ignore anything a Catholic might have to say.
Bouyer speaks of how detrimental a
fortress mentality often becomes to a church or Christian community’s ability
to make full use of its tradition. He
writes: “For the last centuries, with
the ‘siege’ mentality of the Church of the Counter-Reformation, hardening
itself to resist external attacks or temptations, there has been an unconscious
or subconscious tendency to reduce tradition to a merely external handing of
some practices and formulae, to be kept unchanged in their materiality, with
little or no attention paid to their meaning.
This was a dangerously distorted view of Christian tradition.”[i] If I understand Bouyer, he is saying to us
that when we feel our faith is threatened we have this tendency to turn
tradition into a fortress mentality. We
easily hold on to the past and begin to lose the ability to dialogue with the
present or to bring the fruit of our past and our heritage to bear upon the
modern scenarios pressing against us. Tradition
is not simply a reverence for the past, but a recognition that the Holy Spirit
who has been teaching Christ’s people since Christ’s ascension to the throne of
grace; continues to teach us and has already left us a heritage and a treasure
to make use of in our dealings with the present. He will also faithfully provide for us in our
future dealings when we will face challenges we cannot begin to contemplate in
the present.
Bouyer describes Christianity as “tradition”. How does he equate the single word of
tradition with the full reality of the faith?
He says: “For Christianity,
authentic Christianity lives only by tradition, not a tradition of dead
formulae or mechanical practices, but a tradition of life, a life, that is to
grow organically, in and through some embodiment. In the continuity of its body, as well as in
its ever renewed aspects, both the permanence and ever creative power of the
same Spirit have to be constantly manifested and exercised.”[ii]
The Christian should not regard
tradition as merely learning a lesson from history. The Christian concept of tradition resides in
our affirmation that when Christ went to the Father that the Father and Son
commissioned the gifting of the Church with the Holy Spirit based on Christ’s
finished work on behalf of the Church.
Since that time the Spirit has been calling out the people of God,
giving them gifts and insights, and sanctifying them to be holy as our Father
in heaven is holy. The Holy Spirit has
forged a growing and living church which spans the boundaries of borders,
including the boundaries of the borders of time. Those who have finished their earthly lives
are now in the presence of Christ, and when he prays as our intercessor and
mediator, those who have gone on before us are praying and agreeing in his
prayers. The Holy Spirit is able to
bring before us their words, their insights, their holy lives, as remembrances
to encourage and refresh us in our challenges at this moment in our lives. There is but one living church, for which
Christ died, and which is composed of the Apostles and all who have heard their
holy word and have been granted to believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ, unto the
glory of God the Father, by the power of the Holy Spirit. This tradition should be a constant comfort
to us. It should free us to know that
nothing in this era coming against us is beyond the power and wisdom of the
Holy Spirit who has been with us since Christ ascended into the heavens as he
passed out of the sight of the Apostles.
He passed out of their sights not to be taken from them, but to be given
back to them in the person and presence of the Holy Spirit. This Spirit has been with those who have
heard the Apostles’ Teaching ever since our Lord went to the Father. This Holy Spirit is now able to remind and encourage us in
each generation both from the Scriptures and from all that he has brought forth in
his two thousand years of work among the people of God, since his time of especially being given as a gift of the Father and Son to being the comforter, instructor, encourager, and shared presence of God among God's people within the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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