©2007, Crossway Books, 310 pp. with indices, in hardback

Perhaps the person and work of the Holy Spirit is in the background of Christian thinking and talking today because He points us to Christ and Christ’s work. The author shows throughout this book that the Spirit’s work is vital in the Christian life.  The Spirit opens our eyes to the Gospel. He gives us faith and repentance. He gives us an understanding of scripture. He intercedes for us when we do not know how to pray. The Holy Spirit inspired God’s word.

The Spirit and His work are a mystery just as the three Persons of the Godhead are a mystery. We can study them and never know the depths of any of them. We can easily have many questions regarding the Spirit’s work. We cannot comprehend why revival breaks out in one nation but not in another. Why is one particular person saved and another, perhaps my relative, remains hardened in sin? The author reminds his readers of Christ’s comparison of the Spirit’s movement to that of the wind. The author also examines the ministry of the Spirit in the Old and New Testaments. In the Old Testament section he looks at the Spirit and creation and the Spirit’s work in the nation of Israel.

In the New Testament section, Christ and His relationship with the Spirit are examined along with the Spirit’s relationship to God’s people. As Cole shows us, the Spirit was very involved in Christ’s ministry. The incarnation, temptations, transfiguration, and the resurrection are but a few of the events examined.

Cole also examines a number of controversies surrounding the Spirit’s work. He believes the Old Testament believers were saved in the same manner as Christians after Christ’s work was completed. All Christians are saved by the Spirit opening their hearts to the Gospel.

He supports the teaching that the unforgivable sin – blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is the ongoing refusal to be convicted of sin. He also does not believer that tongues in the New Testament are ongoing. He believes that Christians should be open but discerning to those who hold to the continuation of tongues. We can carry on a dialogue with them but be mindful of the scriptural accounts of tongues in the early church and its purpose then.

The author often presents arguments on both sides of issues being addressed. He consistently comes down on traditional reformed positions. He often draws on his research into the writings of Calvin, Kuyper, and Packer among others.

A very helpful part of the book is Cole’s constant effort to make the doctrine of the Spirit practical to today. As chapters are brought to a close, time and again he focuses on the implications of that chapter’s focus on believers today. This is a constant remainder to the reader that doctrine is to be practiced.

This book is well-written and practical.  It opens up an often neglected area of study. The reader can easily see the importance of and wide ranging aspect of the Spirit's work.

This book is one volume in the Foundations of Evangelical Theology of which John Feinberg is the general editor.

©2009 Byron Snapp, Hampton, Virginia