AUTHORITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: THE "MISSING LINK" IN OUR CONTEMPORARY UNDERSTANDING OF DIVINE AUTHORITY?, THE

As Athanasius pointed out, 1 Cor 2:10-13 reveals the Spirit's divinity. This passage also has strong implications for the Spirit's divine authority, incorporating divine transcendence, divine access, and personhood. The rulers of this age (v. 8), and particularly their lack of knowledge regarding the mystery of God's wisdom (v. 7), are countered in this passage by what God has revealed by his Spirit "to us."

For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.

Verse 10 emphasizes the authoritative means of revelation -the transcendent Spirit (as opposed to the recipients themselves). In this verse, "The Holy Spirit is the agent of this definitive revelation of grace ... an unveiling by the Spirit where 'human ability and research would not have sufficed.'"19 The Spirit is able to reveal God's wisdom ημιν ("to us") because the Spirit searches παντα ("all things"), including τα βαθη τον θεον ("the depths of God"). Athanasius particularly found this searching activity to be proof of the Spirit's divinity. The Spirit is portrayed as a divine Person with full access to the triune God, with eternal authority to enter into the very depths of God. Verse 11 sets up an analogy to show that, since the only person who knows what is inside one's mind is oneself, there remains a profound discontinuity between humankind (who do not know the things of God) and the transcendent Spirit (who knows the mind of God). This discontinuity, however, finds reconnection in the Holy Spirit himself, according to v. 12. The "spirit of the world," a spiritual force opposed to God, is contrasted with the Spirit that is "from God." Here Paul is making a special effort to point out the Spirit's divine origin and transcendence. "Since 'like is known by like,' the Spirit of God becomes the link on the human side for our knowing the ways of God."20 The Spirit who knows the depths of God is the same Spirit we have received, "that we might know the things freely given by God." The Spirit retains his transcendent origination in God when he is "received" and when this knowledge is "freely given." Paul sets up another contrast in v. 13. The "words" they speak come from the Spirit, not from "human" origination. The Spirit's transcendence is presented here in the context of the Spirit's teaching.

Other passages provide essential attributes for determining the Spirit's divine authority as well. Divine transcendence is also witnessed in his omnipresence (Ps 139:7), his supreme judgment (Isa 4:4), as the "Spirit of holiness" (Rom 1:4), and as the "eternal Spirit" (Heb 9:14). The Spirit's dominion or lordship is seen in creation: at the beginning of history as the one who assists in the creation of heaven and earth through the Word (Gen. 1:2); in "re-creation" after the flood (Gen 8:1); at the creation of the people of Israel (Exod 14:19-20; 15:10); in the breath of life (Job 33:4); in the creation of heavenly hosts (Ps 33:6); and in his understanding of the created order (Isa 40:13). Finally, his divine personhood is clearly portrayed in Acts 5:1-4, in that he is interchanged with "God," and in that only a person can be grieved or can understand the complexity of the sort of financial "lie" portrayed here.