Does Divine Mystery Lead to Moral Paralysis? The Agency of the Spirit and the Skeptical Theist Response to the Problem of Evil (Part 6)

Last time I noted that the skeptical theist needs an alternative model that appropriately identifies the locus of her skepticism. This model will make the following claims:

(1) Some, but not all, of God’s purposes are beyond our cognitive capacities.

(2) God has revealed to us the purposes of divine agency, which are relevant to our moral obligations.

(3) Therefore, we have revealed to us divine purposes relevant to our moral agency while divine purposes are not fully understood.

What is it, then, that we affirm about divine agency that is helpful here? First, we affirm that both human and divine agency involve the power to bring about certain states of affairs intentionally. Agents of any kind act in purposive ways so as to achieve an end. This definition ensures that we can indeed predicate the same sense of agency to both God and humans. Secondly, we must affirm, however, that there are significant differences in how God and humans are able to bring about states of affairs. The difference that is relevant here which I would like to highlight is that for the Christian tradition, God is a Trinitarian agent. That is to say, there are three divine agents who act in various ways and with distinct roles in the Godhead. It is often noted that the Father is closely associated with creation, the Son with redemption, and the Holy Spirit with perfection. Indeed, Gunton notes that “the Spirit’s work is considered to be eschatological: as perfecting that which was created in the beginning.”[1] Relevant to our discussion is that the Holy Spirit is affirmed in the Christian tradition as that divine agent whose mission it is to perfect creation, to rid the earth of suffering and evil. Thus an oft-neglected element in Christian discussions of the problem of evil is the pneumatological element. If we want to look for the God who acts with regard to evil today, we should look no further than to the agency of the Holy Spirit.

The upshot of our interest with the agency of the Spirit is that rather than acting solo, the Spirit mediates his agency through human agents. Luke 4:14 sees the Spirit empowering Jesus for mission and service, and Acts 1:8 describes to the disciples the impending day of Pentecost, at which they will be given power through the Spirit. It is this focus on the Spirit’s enabling our own human agency that is characteristic of Pentecostal theology, as Kärkkäinen affirms, “Pentecostal/Charismatic approaches emphasize empowerment through the Spirit for witnessing and service.”[2] The problem of evil should therefore take a distinct turn for Pentecostals.

It is not simply that we question why God allows evil to happen in the world, but it is that we have already affirmed that we are part of the solution. As the Holy Spirit has mediated his agency through the church, we have been empowered to partner with the Spirit’s work of perfecting and restoring creation. In their recent work, Mission in the Spirit, Julie and Wonsuk Ma emphasize that while Pentecostals have historically focused their mission on evangelism and healing, a broader and more comprehensive concept of mission is needed: “If Pentecostals develop the theological capability to apply their prized heritage of healing to the broken families, relationships, divided churches and societies, racial conflicts and moral decay, the impact of Pentecostal mission will be unimaginable.”[3] Thus, a robust Pentecostal theology with an emphasis on mission in the Spirit will have far-reaching consequences on our moral agency. Pentecostals will want to say that they have not only been enabled to preach the gospel to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives, to set free those who are oppressed, but that they have been mandated to do this work. Further, Pentecostals will affirm with John 16:13 that the Holy Spirit is the divine agent who leads us into all truth. Because moral truth is here included, this means that the Pentecostal will rely on the Holy Spirit for guidance in the arena of moral action.  This formulation of Pentecostal theology provides a rich framework for moral agency and obligation.

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[1] Colin Gunton, The Christian Faith (Oxford: Blackwell, 2002), 185.

[2] Velli-Matti Kärkkäinen, Pneumatology (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2002), 92.

[3] Julie C. Ma and Wonsuk Ma, Mission in the Spirit: Towards a Charismatic/Pentecostal Missiology (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2010), 25.