Dr. R. T. Kendall has been preaching for over sixty years. He has also personally experienced the power of the Holy Spirit. For twenty-five years he served as the pastor of Westminster Chapel in London. He is the author of many books and now ministers internationally. He is a strong advocate for bringing together in the church the exposition of the Word and the power of the Spirit.
An updated version of his book, Word and Spirit: Truth, Power, and the Next Great Move of God was released in October 2019.

PneumaReview.com: In Word & Spirit you have written about a great divorce in the church. Please tell our readers what you mean by that.

R. T. Kendall: I call it a silent divorce because nobody knows precisely when it occurred nor has it been officially announced – except that I have been saying it for nearly thirty years. That said, it is obvious that the evangelical wing of the church has been divided into two emphases – those who stress the Word – sound doctrine, historical Protestant theology and expository preaching, and those whose emphasis has been the gifts of the Spirit, signs and wonders and the need to be as the church was in the book of Acts. Both are exactly right. But it seems that nearly wherever I go in the world it is either one or the other. In the book of Acts they had both. But to find a church where both are truly carried out is exceedingly rare.

PneumaReview.com: What are some of the key factors that have contributed to this divorce?

R. T. Kendall: I don’t know for sure, but possibly because those who have assumed that signs and wonders ceased way back in the early church have espoused cessationism and have turned it into a dogma. If you believe in the gifts of the Spirit you are not very welcome in some churches. They are suspicious of those who uphold the possibility of signs and wonders today. I will say that this is not everywhere. In England the Charismatic Movement is mainstream; in America it is often regarded as the lunatic fringe. Cessationism has helped polarize these two movements. There should not be a divide, but there is. The word churches think they believe in the Holy Spirit because they are Trinitarian. The truth is, they believe in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Bible. Many are fearful of the Holy Spirit. At the same time many (thankfully not all) have little or no deep theology. For example, a robust view of the sovereignty of God is largely absent.

PneumaReview.com: You have said that there is a lot of biblical illiteracy in the church, even among Evangelical and Charismatic Christians. What are some of the main reasons for this?

Keith Warrington, Discovering the Holy Spirit in the New Testament (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2005), 230 pages, ISBN 9781565638716.

Every pastor should have in their library this reference on the work of Holy Spirit in the New Testament. It is a scholarly and a practical book; it is not for the casual reading, although it would be good to skim through to know what you will want to refer to later.

Keith Warrington is a member of the Elim Church in England and the director of post-graduate studies and a lecturer in New Testament at Regents Theological College in Cheshire, England.

As Pentecostals we claim we know much more than other Christian groups on the work of the Holy Spirit, while this may be true when discussing topics such as on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit, most Pentecostals will have problems explaining the work of the Person of the Holy in the book of Revelation. This book will be helpful to provide a well-rounded biblical understanding of the ministry of the Spirit as it takes us through every book in the New Testament.

Keith Warrington

Discovering the Holy Spirit in the New Testament is divided into 19 chapters, each chapter is divided into a mixture of scholastic and practical information. For example chapter 8 on the book of Galatians describes the setting, what the author says about the Spirit, exposition, significance to the original reader and a bibliography.

The following is an example of the book of Romans: “What does the [canonical] author say about the Spirit? The Spirit: is set apart and sets believers apart (1:4); provides spiritual gifts (1:11; 12:6-8); provides a balance to the law (2:29; 7:6, 14; 8:2, 4); is the channel for the love of God (5:5; 5:30); opposes the flesh and identifies and empowers believers as God’s children (8: 5-13); affirms adoption for believers (8:14-17); is the ‘firstfruits’ for believers (8:23); prayers for believers (8:26-27); empowers the believer (14: 17; 15: 13, 16, 18-19).” In his section on exposition and significance for the original reader, Warrington says of Romans 8:23,

Not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit groans inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

In the context of the final redemption, Paul describes believers as having the “firstfruits,” identified as the Holy Spirit. The term “firstfruits” regularly referred, in a sacrificial sense, to the first of the flock or the first of the fruits of the harvest that worshippers gave to God (Exod 23: 19, Lev 2:14). Here, Paul uses the term to describe a down payment or guarantee of something to come. The gift of the Spirit is foretaste of what is to come …

The Spirit provides a glimpse and an insight into the life that believers will know in its fullness when the resurrection occurs. The Spirit is a flavor, a whisper, a breath of what is to come (91).

Reviewed by Aldwin Ragoonath

Keith Warrington’s introduction: http://keithwarrington.co.uk/?page_id=198

Publisher’s page: www.hendrickson.com/html/product/638719.trade.html (including sample chapter)