Today in Christian History
Abraham Kuyper served as the Prime Minister of the Netherlands in the early 1900’s. An influential neo-Calvinist Pastor, Kuyper established the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands in 1892, a group that merged into the Protestant Church in the Netherlands in 2004. Abraham was one of the most extraordinary men of the nineteenth century – a theologian, a linguist, a college professor, politician, statesman, philosopher, scientist, and humanitarian. While he was younger in pastoral ministry, he was a rationalist (one who believes the criterion of truth is not sensory but intellectual and deductive), until one day a devout Christian peasant woman became influential in his drawing closer to Christ in a personal way. Among his many notable works, Kuyper wrote a book on the systematic theology of the Holy Spirit. Kuyper believed that the Holy Spirit had been too much neglected by theologians, pastors, and the every day Christian. Dated April 10, 1888, he acknowledged in a preface that what he and his predecessors (most notably the 17th century writer John Owen) were insufficient in answering the attacks and arguments against the Holy Spirit that were being raised in more recent times. He also mourned the general lack of interest in the Person of the Holy Spirit shown by many Christians in his day.
He said,
“For although professing Christians acknowledge the work of the Holy Spirit, and all that it includes, and all that flows from it, yet the various groups into which they divide represent it in very divergent ways…He that has not first staked off the entire domain in which the Holy Spirit works can not successfully measure any of it, to the winning of a brother or to the glory of God.”
“Even tho we honor the Father and believe on the Son, how little do we live in the Holy Spirit! It even seems to us sometimes that for our sanctification only, the Holy Spirit is added accidentally to the great redemptive work.”
Today…Kuyper’s words are still relevant, should pierce the heart of every Christian, and resonate throughout the work of those who serve in Christian ministry.
It is my prayer and aim to continually make the Holy Spirit a vital spiritual organ in my every day walk with God the Father and God the Son; and employ His presence and power in my life. This is also my prayer for those who read these scattered points today.
In the words of C. H. Spurgeon, “I believe in the Holy Spirit.’
Blessings to you!
Kraig Lowell Pullam 