Why are Lutherans so Afraid of the Holy Spirit?
Because Pentecost is this Sunday, I am reposting an article I wrote a few years ago. Let me know what you think.
Luke, the author of Luke and Acts, described a conversation between the Apostle Paul and 12 followers of Jesus in the city of Ephesus.
Paul asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”
They replied, “We didn’t even know there was a Holy Spirit.” (Acts 19:17)
About a year ago, I had the same conversation with a lifelong believer in our church. I was teaching a few men about the Holy Spirit. Then afterward, one man approached me privately and said, “I didn’t even know there was a Holy Spirit.”
Just last night, it happened again. A very strong Christian heard I was preaching on the Holy Spirit and said, “I don’t know much about the Holy Spirit. I know God the Father is my true father and creator. I know Jesus is God, the Son, my Savior. But I really don’t know what to do with the Holy Spirit.”
I know exactly how they feel. As Lutherans, we almost avoid the Holy Spirit.
Lutherans are known for emphasizing Jesus Christ.
Every worship service, Bible study, and children’s Sunday school stresses the death and resurrection of Jesus (as it should!).
But why are we so afraid of the Holy Spirit?
Our avoidance of the Holy Spirit is cultural, not Scriptural
Lutherans find their origin in the Reformation of Martin Luther. 500 years ago, Martin Luther boldly exposed the abuses in the church and returned God’s people to the foundational teachings of Christianity: We are saved by grace alone, in Christ alone, through faith alone, standing on the Scriptures alone.
During Luther’s day, there was also a group called the Zwickau prophets. Supposedly, they claimed to have direct revelations from the Holy Spirit. They went so far as to say, “We don’t need the Bible because we have the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Luther knew that the Holy Spirit would never be opposed to Scripture. So he denounced those false teachers. (Thank God!) In his mind, these men were very similar to many teachers in the Roman Catholic Church, who minimized the importance of the Bible because they had the “Traditions of the Church.”
Luther had a name for anyone who tried to know God primarily outside of the written Scriptures; He called them “Schwärmerei”, pronounced shver-muh-RY, which means enthusiast or fanatic.
“Schwärmerei” was a demeaning term in Luther’s day and is still used today.
I remember hearing the term tossed around at the seminary, mostly by fellow students. If you seemed to emphasize the Holy Spirit too much, you would be called a “schwärmerei”. That word was like a pin that popped any young pastor who seemed too filled with the Spirit’s passion.
Modern-day Lutheran culture
Can you see how Luther’s experience has trickled down through the ages and has formed the culture in the Lutheran church today? Can you connect the dots? Luther’s negative experience and fear have been passed on to Lutheran pastors, who have passed them on to congregations.
If you consider yourself a Lutheran, you know what I mean. You have sung the ancient refrain: “Come Holy Spirit, renew our hearts and kindle in us the fire of your love”, but inside you know you are really singing, “Come Holy Spirit, but not too much, I don’t want people thinking I’m Pentecostal.”
Does anybody else see a problem here?
In our zeal for preserving the Scriptures, we have neglected clear commands/invitations from the Lord:
Pray for the Spirit (Luke 11:13)
Do NOT quench the Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19)
Eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 14:1).
Do not grieve the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30)
Be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18)
We must change our culture, NOT our doctrine
Before I go any further, let me clearly say: Lutherans are Christians who have a sincere love of Jesus and a deep love for the Bible. I love being Lutheran. But I suspect I’m not the only one thinking…something is still missing.
Have you ever talked to someone who has visited our churches? Have you ever heard someone say, “It just seemed a little dry” or “It just seemed a little cold”?
Some would say, “We just need to liven up the liturgy or get rid of it altogether.” But I think the issue is much deeper.
We need to embrace all that God’s Word says about the Holy Spirit.
Martin Luther himself wrote beautifully about the Holy Spirit and his gifts in the explanation of the Apostle’s Creed:
“I believe that I cannot by my own thinking or choosing believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him, but the Holy Spirit has called me by the gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, sanctified me and kept me in the one true faith.”
We believe and teach the truth about the Holy Spirit. Unfortunately, the culture in our congregations keeps us from embracing what we teach.
Embracing the Holy Spirit
So what are we going to do? How do we faithfully believe and receive the Holy Spirit without becoming schwärmerei?
We need to believe and practice no more and no less than what the Scriptures say.
So what do the Scriptures say concerning the Holy Spirit?
Every Christian has the Holy Spirit.
Paul says, “No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:3). That means every believer came to faith in Jesus because they were moved by the Holy Spirit. If you are a Christian, you already have the Holy Spirit, whether you feel him or not.
It also means that you can’t argue someone into the faith. The Holy Spirit must work through the Word to convert someone. The pressure is off. So go out and discuss and declare the truth about sin and salvation through Jesus Christ with your unbelieving neighbor, trusting in the power of the Holy Spirit to change their hearts.
2. Pray for the Spirit.
In Luke 11, Jesus’ disciples ask him, “Lord, teach us to pray.” So Jesus taught them the Lord’s Prayer. Then Jesus invites his followers to ask, seek, and knock on the door of God’s heart. And what does Jesus say they ought to pray for? Read it for yourself:
“If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:13)
Jesus is inviting you to ask to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and he promises to answer that prayer.
3. Don’t resist the Spirit.
As mentioned earlier, because of cultural pressure, you might pray, “Come Holy Spirit…but not too much. I don’t want to be too filled up or too on fire for you.”
But James, Jesus’ brother, warns against praying without trusting God’s answer. He says, “Such a person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do” (James 1:7-8).
That means: let down your guard. Jesus is inviting you to pray for the filling of the Holy Spirit. The gift of the Holy Spirit is a good thing. Don’t resist this blessing. Don’t fear what He could do through and in you.
4. Be filled with the Spirit
You might wonder, “If every Christian already has the Holy Spirit, why would Jesus tell us to pray for the Holy Spirit?” Every Christian has the Holy Spirit, but not every Christian is filled with the Holy Spirit. This is not my idea. Again, read the verse for yourself:
“Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18)
So what does it mean to be “filled with the Spirit”? It doesn’t mean some Christians are better, more loved, or more saved than others. It just means God is at work in them. The Holy Spirit is strengthening their faith to carry out his will.
Maybe this still doesn’t make sense. So let’s look at the disciples’ example before and after Pentecost.
Before Pentecost…
They believed in Jesus but were confused about the importance of the cross.
They loved Jesus, but they were still obsessed with being first.
They followed Jesus, but they would not follow him to death.
After Pentecost…they were still sinners who struggled with temptation and stumbled, but…
They believed and preached that the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus were their everything.
They loved and glorified Jesus above themselves.
They followed Jesus to the death. (All the Apostles, except John, died for their faith.)
Let me make a bold statement, even if you might disagree with me:
I believe many of us Lutherans, including myself, have a pre-Pentecost faith.
Think about the disciples before Pentecost. They believed in Jesus and followed him just like we do. But they didn’t seem to have the boldness, passion, and power they experienced after Pentecost.
If you looked at many of us, we would look more like the Disciples (pre-pentecost followers) versus the Apostles (the post-pentecostal-sent-off ones). We have a true faith, but maybe not an inspiring faith.
I pray that we would be filled with the Holy Spirit to have the boldness, humility, joy, and the desire of the post-Pentecost Apostles.
5. Gifts of the Spirit
Being filled with the Holy Spirit doesn’t necessarily mean you will prophesy or speak in tongues. I have no experience with such gifts, and no genuine desire to pursue them.
Being filled with the Holy Spirit means that you will have the fruit of the Spirit mentioned in Galatians 5:22-23.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Just look at that list! This is what every Christian aspires to be! By nature, we are sinners and cannot produce these good works on our own. We need a supernatural power to work in us and through us.
How does it happen? The Holy Spirit always focuses on Jesus and his love for us. (See John 16:12-15) Then the love of Jesus fills us up so that we produce good fruit.
6. Test the spirits
Martin Luther was right in confronting the Zwickau Prophets. They were false teachers. But just because some people have abused the gifts of the Holy Spirit doesn’t mean we need to throw out everything that the Bible teaches about the Holy Spirit. Instead, John says, “Test the spirits”.
Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. (1 John 4:1–3)
So, how do we test the spirits? How do we know what the work of the Holy Spirit is and what it is not?
God’s Word gives us some direction:
The Holy Spirit inspired every word of the Bible, so he will never go against Scripture. (See 2 Peter 1:21)
The Holy Spirit will always put the spotlight on Christ. (See 1 John 4 above, 1 Corinthians 12–14, and Acts 19:13-16)
The gifts of the Holy Spirit will lead to love and humility, not pride and self-promotion. For example, Peter tested the motives of Simon the Sorcerer, and Paul tested the work of the Spirit in Corinth. See 1 Corinthians 12–14. In both cases, the Apostles confronted and denounced those false teachers. And yet, the wickedness of a few did not stop them from teaching and promoting the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Final Thoughts
I love being a Lutheran because we believe: “The Bible is our authority.” If a teaching is in the Bible, we believe it’s true. The Bible says a great deal about the power and work of the Holy Spirit.
But because of our Lutheran culture, we seem to avoid some of these passages.
I pray this blog might lead you to study, learn, and embrace everything the Bible says about the Holy Spirit.
Better yet.
Could you take Jesus at his word?
Drop your cultural defenses.
Pray, “Come, Holy Spirit.”
And you won’t just know about him.
You will know the Spirit himself.
