In chapter one we discussed the reformed view of reconciliation and saw that Christ's death on the cross satisfies God's justice. Christ's work was primarily a transaction between him and God. On Golgotha God was reconciled to the whole world, but this reconciliation must still be put into effect in the world. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit occurred as a new act of God so that Christ's sacrifice of reconciliation could receive structure in the present. Christ's power of reconciliation fulfills all things through the Holy Spirit. Reconciliation is a once-for-all act that occurred on Golgotha but that wants to be put into effect in every time and place, primarily in our justification and sanctification. This is the work of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit reveals the salvation that we have received in Christ. Therefore there is a very close relationship between the glorified Christ and the Holy Spirit. The work of Christ is the continual background of the work of the Holy Spirit and through the Holy Spirit we are united to Christ. The Spirit cannot be separated from Christ. The Spirit is the Spirit of Christ! However the Spirit is not identical to the glorified Christ and his work is different to that performed by Christ. The complete work of reconciliation was performed by Christ on the cross but this reconciliation needs to be mediated to us and we need to appropriate it. This mediation and appropriation cannot be understood christologically. Perhaps it does not sound too bad to talk of the Christ who proclaims himself but if we speak of the Christ who believes in himself it is clear that we are no longer within the bounds of christianity.3.19 It is us who believe - faith is the gift and the work of the Holy Spirit. In the present we experience salvation (that is we participate in the regnum Christi) in the mode of the Spirit. Since the ascension the only access to Christ is through the Spirit. This access must thus be understood pneumatologically, not christologically.
In order to gain a correct understanding of the significance of the pneumatological mode of our participation in salvation we will begin by distinguishing the pneumatological from the christological point of view.3.20
In the first place the doctrine of the unio personalis sive hypostatica is decisive in christology - in Jesus Christ God (the Son) took on human flesh. But there can be no talk of anhypostasis and enhypostasis in pneumatology. The Spirit dwells in me but I am and I remain myself. In no way do I find my essence in God. The Holy Spirit dwells in humanity but it does not become man. From this we can see that in christology the concern is with human nature, which is taken on by the Logos and goes into the unity of his person. In this sense Jesus is a unique instance, a `special creation'. The Spirit, however, dwells in (`moves' into) an already existing person. There is no nova creatio, the person is not replaced by the Spirit, but saved in the Spirit. Pneumatology is not concerned with human nature but with the already existing human person.
A third structural difference is found in the ideas of substitution and reciprocity. Jesus Christ is and remains our substitute (extra nos). Everything the Messiah does (and is) he does (and is) in our place and for our benefit. His whole being is a being in our place. In the Spirit, on the other hand we are completely included, in a theonomous reciprocity, in the appropriation and application of salvation. In this manner the intolerance that occurs when salvation is thought of exclusively christologically, is done away with.
The fourth difference is found in the fact that Christ's work of reconciliation is to be understood in Anselm's terms as expiatio, placatio and satisfactio. This once-for-all work is put into effect by the Holy Spirit in reconciliatio (we are reconciled to God), sanctificatio and glorificatio.
A fifth structural difference lies in the fact that Jesus Christ is a unique instance in history. He performed the once-for-all, sufficient work of reconciliation on Golgotha. Of course the outpouring of the Holy Spirit is also a once-and-for-all fact of salvation that took place in Palestine. However the outpouring of the Spirit has an `unrepealableness of continuity'. The Spirit does not ascend as Jesus did but remains with us and gives us the `courage to be' (Tillich). Time is fulfilled with salvation but not enclosed in Jesus Christ. The Church, church tradition and the historical process are divine realities but these cannot be understood christologically as a prolongation of the incarnation. Pneumatologically the concern is for us and for this world, that we express the image of God in our lives and experience this world as his kingdom.
A sixth difference follows from this. The indwelling of the Spirit in us is essentially different to the unio personalis of the divine and human nature of Christ. God the Spirit dwells in us but we remain human creatures - there is no deification of the creature. The individuality of God and the individuality of man is respected. This dwelling of God the Spirit in us is more than God's creation immanence. It is the special dwelling of God with us and this indwelling must not be limited to the individual or to the church. In the course of the apostolic word nations are included into God's covenant with Israel. The Spirit lives in the corpus Christi, in the corpus Christianiand in the corpus Christianum.
A seventh difference lies in the fact that we are elected or rejected in Christ from eternity - this rests in God and outside of our personal freedom. However this is put into effect in our free choice - which is never a matter of all or nothing. The indwelling of the Spirit goes together essentially with struggle. The struggle of the Spirit with the flesh. This implies that the indwelling of the Spirit is temporary: If the essence of the indwelling is struggle then the indwelling of the Spirit must come to an end.
The eighth difference is found in the categories of mixing and non-mixing. In christology there can be no mixing of the essence of God with the essence of man - this would lead to monophysitism. The work of the Holy Spirit however is characterized by the category of mixing. There is a mixing of the divine salvation in Jesus Christ with the created and fallen existence of man. This salvation in Christ is given form in us, but this form is different in every different culture, age and person. There is nothing absolute in this synthesis of redemption and creation. Therefore it also gives a principal foundation to the tolerance with which the church stands in the world.
A final structural difference between christology and pneumatology is to be found in the idea of perfection. In christology one must speak perfectionistically - Christ is the sufficient Saviour - in him we are made whole and are no longer sinners. But in pneumatology perfectionism is a `life threatening heresy'. the indwelling of the Spirit puts itself into effect in a bitter and deadly struggle with the flesh. In the Holy Spirit evil is not so much done away with as rediscovered. The cultic aspect of christianity is more important than the ethical. In the Spirit we realize we need a Messiah and that we are nothing but miserable sinners. But we are not replaced by the Spirit, we are incorporated into the works of the Spirit. In a pneumatological context divine infallibility does not exclude the fallibility of man. The individual christian, the church and the christianized nation are divine realities but in the mode of the Spirit and therefore cannot be spoken of perfectionistically.
We have seen that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit is to be understood in the closest possible connection with the ascension and that Jesus Christ and the work of reconciliation accomplished by him on Golgotha is the continual background of the work of the Spirit. However when we consider the structural differences between the work of Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit we see that the Spirit cannot be one-sidedly identified with the glorified Christ. The work of the Holy Spirit is continually concerned with the unveiling of the whole truth of reconciliation as it exists in Jesus Christ - as historical, divine reality. This reality must be proclaimed, preached and appropriated so as to give it structure in the present.3.21 The salvation that has been attained, for us by Christ does not remain encapsulated within him. The Spirit takes this salvation out of him and proclaims it to us by including us in the body of Christ. Our salvation is the fact that we are included in the body of Christ in the mode of the Spirit. In this sense the Spirit is more inclusive than the Messiah.
We are not only incorporated into the Messiah in the Spirit - we are also changed to his image. This image is the form of Jesus Christ and of his kingdom in us. `` A deeper understanding of this shows that this is the form of the kingdom of God, as the kingdom of Christ is directed at the kingdom of God, and is even itself the kingdom of God in a determined modality. In and through the Spirit the kingdom of God is set up in us on the earth. The Spirit must be understood more from the eschatological kingdom of God than from Jesus Christ.''3.22 The Spirit is an eschatological gift of God that occurs `in the last days' (Acts 2:17) and can only be fully understood from the future of God. The Spirit proclaims the future, which he hears from the Father, to us (John 16:13-15). The Spirit and the gift of the Spirit is our relationship in the present with the world as it exists in the eschaton in God's original and final purpose. In other words the gift of the Spirit is our relationship in the present with the kingdom of God as it is present in and through Christ.3.23 The complete salvation which we have in Christ, and which will be revealed in the eschaton, is already reflected in the present in and through the work of the Spirit. ``That is the full gloria dei: not in the first place his self justification as the just and merciful God who justifies us and wipes away our sin, but firstly his sanctification and glorification of us and the world, which is just as much our world as it is his.''3.24 Christ's work of reconciliation took place only before the countenance of God but in the work of the Holy Spirit this salvation is put into effect in the world as justification, sanctification and glorification. Therefore Van Ruler uses the schema means and goal to express the difference between the work of Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit. ``In Christ all the fullness of God dwells bodily, he is our justification, he is the wisdom of God, but the concern is that we become dwelling places of God in the Spirit and become a God pleasing sacrifice so that the wisdom of God, that He laid in creation, shines again. Only then, by the work of the Spirit in us, does God come to rest, then He is where He wants to be, in the work of the mediator He is only on the way.''3.25 Of course this work of the Spirit is also only a provisional goal and a provisional rest. In the long run we ourselves are God's glory. The structure of the inhabitation of the Spirit indicates that the incarnation of the Son will be undone. In a sense we could say that the incarnation is already being undone in the work of the Holy Spirit - in any case its hard kernel, the substitution is affected in many ways.3.26