Book Review: Flame of Love: A Theology of the Holy Spirit
Alejandro Gonzaga
April 21, 2018
THEO 546
Clark Pinnock (February
3, 1937—August 15, 2010) was Professor Emeritus of Systematic Theology at
McMaster Divinity College and explored varying schools of theological thought
before his death. He tackles the difficult subject of pneumatology in The Flame of Love: A Theology of the Holy
Spirit. From his introduction, Pinnock reveals his bias against a
purely-scriptural theology, and instead declares that he will “provide the full
perspective required by the church” by moving “beyond exegesis”[1]. Pinnock attempts to
reconstruct the Gospel in order to make it more attractive to men, but only
succeeds in diminishing the glory of God.
Pinnock begins his
introduction with a prayer that asks, “Help us to overcome our forgetfulness of
Spirit” [2]. Pinnock distinguishes
between three different theological traditions and says that “in both Catholic
and Protestant theology the place of the Spirit has surely been diminished”[3]. He says this because
Western traditions neglect the experiential side of the Spirit. This point
cannot be overstated. In his introduction, Pinnock states repeatedly that his
book will forego a scriptural basis for pneumatology and strive to discover
what other avenues have to say about the Holy Spirit. Pinnock alludes to
finding a “more experiential basis for the doctrine of the Spirit”[4]. He wants to not only use
Scripture, but “insights from the ecumenical church”. He says that we have to
be “sensitive to things that are only spiritually discerned” as opposed to
scripturally discerned[5]. He believes that “knowing
the Spirit is experiential”[6]. Finally, as to drive the
point home that Scripture is insufficient for his task, Pinnock says, “Exegesis
alone cannot provide the full perspective required by the church. There has to
be a wider sweep of investigation that takes into account other
dimensions—historical, theological, philosophical, cultural, and mystical.”[7]
Pinnock aims to examine
“the Christian vision from the vantage point of the Spirit”[8]. His book explores this
through seven chapters:
- 1. Spirit and Trinity
- 2. Spirit in Creation
- 3. Spirit and Christology
- 4. Spirit and Church
- 5. Spirit and Union
- 6. Spirit and Universality
- 7. Spirit and Truth
Chapter 1 covers the Holy Spirit in
his relationship with God and Christ in the Trinity. Chapter 2 covers the Holy
Spirit as Lord and Giver of Life. Chapter 3 explores how the Holy Spirit
“anointed Jesus of Nazareth to heal human brokenness”. Chapter 4 dives into the
presence and activities of the Spirit in the Church. Chapter 5 examines the
goal of salvation, living in union with God through the Holy Spirit. Chapter 6 explains
how God desires all men to be saved and the Holy Spirit is “present with every
person in every place”[9]. Finally, in chapter 7,
Pinnock explains how the Spirit leads the church in its mission to spread the
Gospel.
If the Gospel tells us
that God sent his Son to earth to save us from his wrath, then Pinnock has
written this book to rewrite this Gospel. Pinnock consciously moves the focus
of the Gospel away from God’s glory and directly towards man’s dignity. God’s
love for man, and not God’s glory, is the central theme of Pinnock’s Gospel. In
Chapter 2, instead of acknowledging God’s power to create conscious, living,
thinking humans, Pinnock attributes the existence of humanity to evolution. He
says, “The orderliness of the world is amazing—especially the capacity of nature [emphasis added] to produce living,
conscious, personal beings.”[10] While the psalmist
believes that the purpose of creation is to “declare the glory of God” (Psalm
19.1), Pinnock says that “theology declares that humanity is the goal of
creation”[11].
In Chapter 3, Pinnock attempts to remove God’s wrath from the Gospel. He claims
that the satisfaction of God’s wrath on the cross is “strange” and that God
does not actually hate sinners and is not humanity’s enemy[12], but we know this is
false (Prov 6.16-19; Romans 5.10). In attempting to state that the Gospel does
not preach individual guilt under God’s law, Pinnock uses Philippians 3.6 to
say that “Paul did not have a guilty conscience”[13]. This is a blatant
distortion. Paul intends to say that if he were to be judged superficially by
the Old Testament law, he would be guiltless, but regardless, his so-called
perfection under the law does not matter in view of living for Christ. Pinnock
often takes scripture intended only for believers and applies it to everyone.
He says that “humanity is not destined for wrath, but for salvation”[14] (1 Thess 5.9). Chapter 6
is dedicated completely to asserting that the Holy Spirit is present
everywhere, working salvation in men who do not hear and do not respond to the
Gospel. He says, God “is the reconciler of the whole world” and “there is no
general revelation or natural knowledge of God that is not at the same time
gracious revelation and a potentially saving knowledge.”[15] Despite appearing to
avoid claims of universalism, Pinnock plainly states that “Spirit works
everywhere in advance of the church’s mission,”[16] and that even if someone
is not a Christian, they are saved.[17] Pinnock’s aims to preach
universalism and declare that everyone will eventually be saved.
Pinnock slants this
book heavily toward a glossy view of humanity, and for this reason and others,
I cannot in any way recommend it. Humanity is infected with sin and that to the
core. We are dead in it and enemies of God. God’s is rightfully angry with us.
Scripture teaches that we are sinners by nature and not by a conscious and
completely “free” choice. If anyone is to be saved, God must save them, yet he
does not save everyone. God remains perfectly justified in saving some but not
all, for grace is elective, but wrath is obligatory. Pinnock desperately
strives to rebuild the dignity and freedom that Adam and Eve had before the
Fall, but he must completely shipwreck scriptural teaching in order to do so.
Pinnock is not committed to scripture, but to his opinion, and for this reason,
his book fails as theology.
[1]
Clark Pinnock, Flame of Love: A Theology
of the Holy Spirit (Downers Grove, IL: Zondervan, 1996), page 17.
[2]
Ibid, 9.
[3]
Ibid, 10.
[4]
Ibid, 10.
[5]
Ibid, 13.
[6]
Ibid, 15.
[7]
Ibid, 17.
[8]
Ibid, 18.
[9]
Ibid, 18.
[10]
Ibid, 67.
[11]
Ibid, 71.
[12]
Ibid, 107.
[13]
Ibid, 156.
[14]
Ibid, 109
[15]
Ibid, 187.
[16]
Ibid, 192.
[17]
Ibid, 194.
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