Fallen from grace: Hint #4 The work of the Holy Spirit

It's been too long since I posted something on this big dilemma I'm dealing with--how can a person, who is secure in God's hand, fall from grace? This is hard enough to figure out in traditional Christian theology; i.e., why would a believer stop believing? But I find the issue even more puzzling because I hold to the "emergent" position that God's creatures are all part of his kingdom, whether or not they know it, unless they choose to abandon this favoured situation. How do you abandon God when you have never heard of him? Or don't believe in him? Or believe in someone or something else?

Perhaps we should look at what the Holy Spirit's "job" is. Is there a clue there? William Young's depiction of the Holy Spirit, or as Young calls her/him, Sarayu, offers some insight:

Both evil and darkness can only be understood in relation to Light and Good; they do not have any actual existence. I am Light and I am Good. I am Love and there is no darkness in me. Light and Good actually exist. So, removing yourself from me will plunge you into darkness. Declaring independence will result in evil because apart from me, you can only draw upon yourself. That is death because you have separated from me: Life (136).

But before I go any further on what the Spirit does 9 to 5 (and all the other hours), a brief mention of his name. Regrettably, the Third Person of the Trinity is not known by nifty titles as are the First and Second Persons.

In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word for Spirit is Ruwach meaning wind or breath. The wind, like the Spirit of God, is unseen and active in the world. In the Old Testament, He is referred to as the Spirit of God, or the Spirit of the Lord, My Spirit or just the Holy Spirit (e.g., Psalm 51:11, Isaiah 63:10,11).

In the New Testament, the Greek word for Spirit is Pneuma, which like the Hebrew is derived from the meaning of wind or breath. The Holy Spirit is also called the Comforter or Helper, translated from the Greek word Parakletos, meaning one who comes alongside to plead the case before the judge (John 14:16,26;15:26). He is also called the Spirit of Jesus (Phil. 1:19).

St. Paul speaks of the work of the Spirit in the loftiest terms in I Corinthians 2:10-11: But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God....no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.

I take it, then, that to reject the Spirit is to cut oneself off from any possible knowledge of God, his character, will, love, grace, and mercy.

We don't have to ask God for knowledge about himself--the Spirit is happy to do that for us. But if we blaspheme (diminish or reject the role of) the Holy Spirit, we cut ourselves off entirely from God. This action is not unforgivable in the sense that God drops about nine pounds of mercy at this point and turns his back on a person. Rather, a person chooses to turn her/his back on God, making her/himself unforgivable, or as Young put it, plunging yourself into darkness.

I think the way I have expressed this is consistent with the traditional roles assigned to the Spirit of revealing, redeeming, indwelling, and transforming. If through revelation, creation, or conscience the Holy Spirit reveals the life that God wants to empower his creatures to lead, and some reject this revelation, we have blasphemed the Spirit and cut ourselves off from God in so doing. Presumably the Spirit will persist in attempting to turn the prodigal's face around toward the Light, but her/his respect for free will and human choice means that the one rejecting these attempts will eventually become so hardened that no further work of grace will be possible.

The unforgivable sin. The fall from grace. The end of life. Death. Tragedy. The broken heart of God.