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one that could serve to provide a response to contemporary misconceptions of ‘Spirit?’”10 My Thesis Statement is, “In order to meet the challenge posed by contemporary misconceptions of ‘Spirit,’ a biblical conception of the Holy Spirit’s authority to establish and govern the Church must be recovered in systematic theology.” I will demonstrate this recovery both theoretically (by discerning the nature of the Spirit’s authority within the overall pattern of divine authority), and “practically” (by showing how the Spirit’s authority is brought to bear with respect to hermeneutics, the structure and guidance of the church, and Christian spirituality).11

      A Framework for Understanding and Defining “The Authority of the Holy Spirit”

In order to introduce the notion of “the authority of the Holy Spirit” we need to (1) define the general concept of authority and the specific “principle” of authority to be used throughout this work, (2) understand the basic “pattern of authority” exhibited within biblical Christianity, and (3) provide an initial determination of the Holy Spirit’s place within this pattern.12 Then, in the remainder of this thesis, we will have clear starting points for discussing the theological nature of the Spirit’s authority in a biblical/systematic way and for discerning the “practical” nature of this authority with respect to the Church.

      Defining the General Concept of Authority and the Christian Principle of Authority

      A good secular definition of “authority,” according to Ramm, is as follows:

Authority itself means that right or power to command action or compliance, or to determine belief or custom, expecting obedience from those under authority, and in turn giving responsible account for the claim to right or power.13

Webster’s dictionary defines authority as “the power or a right to command, act, enforce obedience, or make final decisions.”14 As a result, “authority” might be thought of according to two interrelated categories: (1) an authority over particular domains and people, and (2) an authority to act in a given situation. These two “perspectives” on authority might be referred to as imperial authority and executive authority, respectively.15

“Authority” appears in many areas of investigation (i.e., law, politics, education, etc), each developing their own “principle” of authority that specifies the general definition within a particular field or context. We can thereby expect a specific principle of authority to emerge with respect to religion as well. Ramm demonstrates that the common problem faced by all religions is the need for an understanding of authority that goes beyond a “bare monistic principle.”16

Most treatises on religious authority assert that God is the final authority in religion, but this bare assertion does not make its way. Unless the assertion is expressed in a more concrete fashion it becomes mere platitude. A principle of religious authority, along with its pattern designed for its practical and concrete expression and execution, should incorporate all the necessary elements associated with such a complex notion as religious authority.17

      Only in Christianity do we encounter a divine principle of authority (one that incorporates the notion of a “final” imperial authority) along with an extensive pattern of authority through which the principle is graciously expressed and executed in practical ways. According to Ramm,

God’s imperial authority is graciously expressed. When God binds His authority upon man, it is an act of grace. In God’s supreme revelation, Jesus Christ, exists the epitome of God’s authority—grace and truth (John 1:17). There is no impersonal force in grace, and God’s authority is sealed by grace, not by impersonal force. Bound to God by love and grace, the believer’s mind is free from all traces of imposed authoritarianism or forced obedience.18

As a result, the Triune God should be thought of as the One who demonstrates “imperial authority” over the world, but this authority includes a divine “executive authority” to act in the world. “Imperial authority” is portrayed in Scripture in terms of God’s position as the one sovereign, holy, eternal, omniscient, and omnipotent Lord who reigns over all. Scripture tells us that “The Lord reigns, let the nations tremble . . . . He is exalted over all the nations . . . . He is Holy” (Ps 99:1–2). According to Ramm, “God as God occupies the highest conceivable personal station, and possesses all the authority which derives from that station.”19 For sake of discussion, however, when speaking of imperial authority in relation to God, I will from this point on refer to it as simply “divine authority.” Divine authority will thus refer to God’s imperial authority over the world, one that incorporates an authority to act in and toward the world. It will thus serve as our general definition for the sort of authority located in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

      “Divine authority” is distinguished from other authorities by its intimate association with several of God’s “absolute” or “supreme” characteristics. Most significant characteristics would include God’s absolute metaphysical primacy, eternality, and necessity (see Exod 3:14; Deut 33:27). Such characteristics in themselves do not constitute divine authority, but instead substantiate God’s transcendence, which is a relational term identifying God as uniquely other than creation and above all creation.

      Our study of “divine authority” in Christianity (and with respect to the Holy Spirit) will therefore proceed along two lines: the Christian principle of authority (defining the nature of divine authority) and the associated pattern of authority (the execution of the principle). First, what is this principle of authority in Christianity? Ramm states,

In Christianity the authority-principle is the Triune God in self-revelation. This is the central piece of the mosaic of authority, and the first and most impressive link in the chain of authority. This is the Object of religion declaring Himself to men, and in this declaration there is not only the imperial authority of God (“hallowed be thy name”) but the truth from God about God.20

This “authority-principle” tells us that “divine authority” not only possesses a quality of supremacy over the world but also that it must be revealed in the world. The principle thus alludes to a triune God whose authority is both transcendent (it “comes to the fore when God is presented to us as exalted above creation”) and immanent (God’s authority is “as far removed as possible from any notion of God as ‘wholly other’ or as ‘infinitely distant’”).21 Divine transcendence can be witnessed in God’s intellectual attributes (omniscience, faithfulness, wisdom), ethical attributes (holiness, righteousness), and existential attributes (freedom, authenticity).22 Divine transcendence, however, translates into divine authority when such divine attributes are immanently brought to bear on the world and revealed to the world in all components of human existence.23 As a result, God is the highest authority in the world; he above all is to be honored and obeyed. Frame points out the “absoluteness” of God’s authority:

Authority is God’s right to be obeyed . . . To say that God’s authority is absolute means that His commands many not be questioned (Job 40:11ff.; Rom 4:18–20, 9:30; Heb. 11:4, 7, 8, 17, passim), that divine authority transcends all other loyalties (Exod 20:3; Deut

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