a contextual missiology of the spirit - eTheses Repository ...

Fourth, on a few occasions, the Spirit confirmed to the early Christians that it was
His plan that they undergo hardship. The best example is the testimony of Paul,
when he said that it was the will of the Spirit for him to go to Jerusalem where he
would face chains and tribulations. He also said that he did not count his life dear
to him, but wanted to finish the task (Act. 20:22, 23).
6.2.2.2 The Spirit and Inter-cultural Tension
The Spirit also had a role in resolving tensions over inter-cultural issues in the
early Christian community. One such example was the Hebrew-Hellenistic
tension among Jewish Christians in Jerusalem (Act. 6:1-2). In order to resolve this
they reorganized the administration of the community by choosing seven men to
assist in the daily administration of the church. One of the qualifications of these
men was to be ‘full of the Holy Spirit’ (Act. 6:3). This suggests the leaders felt
that only people with the Spirit would be able to handle the socio-cultural
pressures. At other times, the Spirit intervened to correct their views on cultural
issues, as in the case of Act. 10: 15, where Peter’s attitude to the Gentiles was
changed after being asked to go to the house of Cornelius, a Gentile. While
discussing Luke’s ‘portrayal of the charismatic community as an expression of
justice by the Spirit’s power,’ M.W. Dempster takes the example in Act. 10 to
show that ‘the cultural distinctions between Jews and Gentiles were overcome
within the Christian community by the coming of the Spirit.’ 123 However, there
were occasions when even the Spirit-filled leaders failed to overcome such
cultural crises. Also at the Council at Jerusalem (Act 15) the Spirit played an
123
Murray W. Dempster, ‘Pentecostal Social Concern and the Biblical Mandate of Social Justice,’
Pneuma 9, no. 2 (Fall 1987): 148.
298