Andrews University Digital Commons @ Andrews University Dissertation Projects DMin Graduate Research 2004 The Role of the Holy Spirit in Enabling Believers for Ministry: an Adventist Perspective Marcos De Benedicto Andrews University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/dmin Recommended Citation De Benedicto, Marcos, "The Role of the Holy Spirit in Enabling Believers for Ministry: an Adventist Perspective" (2004). Dissertation Projects DMin. 37. https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/dmin/37 This Project Report is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Research at Digital Commons @ Andrews University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertation Projects DMin by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Andrews University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Thank you for your interest in the Andrews University Digital Library of Dissertations and Theses. Please honor the copyright of this document by not duplicating or distributing additional copies in any form without the author’s express written permission. Thanks for your cooperation. Andrews University Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary THE ROLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN ENABLING BELIEVERS FOR MINISTRY: AN ADVENTIST PERSPECTIVE A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Ministry by Marcos Carvalho De Benedicto July 2004 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 3148897 INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. ® UMI UMI Microform 3148897 Copyright 2005 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. THE ROLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN ENABLING BELIEVERS FOR MINISTRY: AN ADVENTIST PERSPECTIVE A dissertation presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Ministry by Marcos Carvalho De Benedicto APPROVAL BY THE COMMITTEE: -— ———— ------------------- adviser, Directpr'of D.Min. Program John T. Baldwin Skip Bell VvLa-^u Dean, SDA ThpedogicatVSeminary John K. McVay J u ly <7.&004 Peter M. Van Bemmelen Date approved Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT THE ROLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN ENABLING BELIEVERS FOR MINISTRY: AN ADVENTIST PERSPECTIVE by Marcos Carvalho De Benedicto Adviser: John T. Baldwin Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT OF GRADUATE STUDENT RESEARCH Dissertation Andrews University Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary Title: THE ROLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN ENABLING BELIEVERS FOR MINISTRY: AN ADVENTIST PERSPECTIVE Name of researcher: Marcos Carvalho De Benedicto Name and degree of faculty adviser: John T. Baldwin, Ph.D. Date completed: July 2004 Problem The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Brazil, although growing swiftly, has few published resources on the Holy Spirit and needs a better understanding of his empowering work. Method I employ an eccletic and topical approach combining biblical exegesis and pastoral insights. Among other aspects, six symbols, twelve kinds of enablements, the fruit, and the gifts of the Spirit are studied. Results The Holy Spirit, who must be viewed as divine and personal (since he is God), has a multifaceted enabling work, with a variety of effects. In a nutshell, he is life-giver, action- motivator, message-revealer, mind-illuminator, art-creator, gospel-communicator, Christ-witness, leadership-empowerer, truth-teacher, people-transformer, community-builder, and God-presenter. Even his images seem to be better understood from an enabling perspective. As the originator of Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ethical life, the Spirit presents Christ or God himself as a model, renews the image of God in the believers (in a process I call “Imago-Dei-ization”), and causes them to live in love, which is the integrative motif in Christian ethics. As the giver of spiritual gifts, which must not be seen in a supematuralistic sense in opposition to talents, he enables the believers to minister to the church, bless the world, and build up the body of Christ. The so-called miraculous gifts can be viewed from three perspectives, here called “Foundational Approach” (Cessationist Model), “Charismatic Approach” (Pentecostal/Charismatic Model), and “Continuous-Cyclical Approach” (Biblical/ Adventist Model). The third model means that the miraculous gifts are available during the whole history of salvation, but have an uneven character and cyclical peaks, climaxing with a pre- parousial cycle. These cycles must not be seen in a dispensational fashion. Conclusions Adventism was more charismatic in its early history than it is in the beginning of the twenty-first century. With a popular claim of being a remnantal movement, the theological synthesis for the end-time, it should recover the biblical perspective on the multifold work of the Spirit. This means to bind together all streams of the biblical witness, granting space for the contemporary expression of the full spectrum of the Spirit’s empowerments, instead of focusing almost exclusively on the gift of prophecy. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES..........................................................................................................................vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS............................................................................................................ viii Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION: CONTEXT AND D ESIG N ............................................................ 1 The Problem ....................................................................................................................2 The T ask ....................................................................................................................... 3 Justification .............................................................................................................. 3 Definition of T e rm s .................................................................................................. 5 M e th o d ...........................................................................................................................12 S o u rc e s ...........................................................................................................................14 Use of Scripture ..............................................................................................................16 Limitations ......................................................................................................................20 O v e rv ie...................................................................................................................... w 21 2. A BIBLICAL VIEW OF THE HOLY SPIRIT AS E N A B L E R ..................................... 27 The Nature of the Spirit: A Personal and Powerful A g e n t ..................................... 28 The Personality of the Spirit .................................................................................... 35 Argument 1: Attributes ........................................................................................ 37 Argument 2: A d d re s s ........................................................................................ 37 Argument 3: A ction .............................................................................................39 The Divinity of the S p irit........................................................................................ 41 Argument 1: T itle s ............................................................................................ 43 Argument 2: A ssociations ................................................................................44 Argument 3. T a sk s ............................................................................................ 46 Images of the Spirit: Pictures of the E nabler ...............................................................46 W in d .......................................................................................................................... 49 F i r e .......................................................................................................................... 52 W ater.......................................................................................................................... 58 O i l ...............................................................................................................................63 D o v e.........................................................................................................................