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Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God

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"Justification by faith" is not the total thrust of Paul's message, according to Fee, as it is too narrowly focused. The life of the Holy Spirit has been minimalized in the church when it should be an experienced reality. The Spirit enables us to live an ethical, holy life, not by some New Testament rule-keeping, but by "walking in the Spirit". This Spirit-life is lived in a now/not yet existence inwhich kingdom life has begun, but is still yet to be fulfilled. Fee rules out "triumphalism" inwhich the "not yet" side of eschatology is supposedly "now". Fee maintains that the charismata(gifts of the Spirit) are mentioned by Paul in a passing, matter-of-fact sort of way, as they were the common experience of the early church. Paul's "theology" is not of the armchair type as Paul's letters were written to correct problems. I urge those of the Reformed and those of the Dispensationalist stripe(not to mention Baptists) would do themselves a favor by reading this book. Fee is a Pentecostal, true, but doesn't toe the Pentecostal line on everything. He agrees with Calvin that the true saints perservere to the end! Pentecostals and Charismatics who think for themselves will find much to ponder. MAKE SURE TO READ THE APPENDIX FOR FEE'S VIEW ON THE "BAPTISM OF THE SPIRIT". Fee is a first-rate biblical scholar and one would be poorer for ignoring this book. The fact that he doesn't fit perfectly in anyone theological "box" shows his attempt to be true to his reading of the scriptures.

Gordon D. Fee has done everyone a favour. This is a scaled-down version of 'God's Empowering Presence', without all the pages of Greek exegesis. Suitable reading for the lay-theologian, a good devotional read.
Particularly interesting are his comments on the flesh-Spirit theme, and he certainly deserves to be heard in this regard. He competently expounds Paul's theology of what it means to be 'in the Spirit' and 'walking in the Spirit' (though the reader will have to go to GEP for the full exegetical background)and exposes the shallowness of the prevailing evangelical view that flesh and Spirit is about the unceasing internal battle between two natures, a doctrine which can be used to cover up sin and obscure the reality of the freedom believers have in Christ.
Fee's findings make great pastoral theology, and I have found his insights invaluable, both in my own life and in teaching others. My only concern is that his emphasis on the Spirit may tend to promote a corresponding de-emphasis on Christ, who is the central figure in Paul's teaching.

This is an excellent book and written by a scholar. This book deals primarily with the presence of the Holy Spirit in the individual life of the believer and in the church. Fee examines the presence of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament and shows how God dwelt amongst His people and how the presence departed and was renewed again.

He describes the eschatological nature of salvation, showing that salvation has a past tense aspect, a present tense aspect and a future tense aspect. Anothre theme shown in this book is that God is still saving a people for His name describing how salvation is corporate as well as individual and cites various scriptures to back this up.

Fee's teaching influences the way one reads the New Testament. Upon reading this book one can't help but see when ope reads the New Testament, the perspective the Early Church had on Salvation and their existence.

At the back of the book there is an appendix dealing with Spirit and Water Baptism.

For a clear balanced and uncompromising book dealing with the Holy Spirit and the Early Church this book is a must read.

When I found out that Gordon Fee, one of myfavorite Bible scholars, was Pentecostal, I was surprised. Frankly, I've always thought the words "Pentecostal scholar" were somewhat of an oxymoron. But Fee has persuaded me to be a "Pentecostal" in terms of his theology of the Spirit and "charismata." This is certainly as close to an "unbiased," Biblical Theology approach to the Spirit in Paul's writings that I have seen - though admittedly "Pentecostal," Fee is not afraid to be critical of unBiblical excesses in the movement. However, he is much more critical of Christianity in general, which, though "Trinitarian" in creed, is actually "Binitarian" in practice. The Holy Spirit has truly been avoided and ignored in the life of the Church today. His emphasis on the Church as the People of God living between the times, and his emphasis on Paul's view of the "already/not yet" of eschatology, is especially helpful in guiding the Church today into a truly Biblical view of the Spirit's work in the Church and the world. By Debbie Cartwright

Fee's major work "God's Empowering Presence" is foundational in the area of Pauline pneumatology. This book successfully condenses the heavy exegesis of the larger work into an easily readable text. Fee has a lot of poignant and challenging things to say concerning modern-day evangelicalism's understanding of the Holy Spirit.

The greatest danger of this condensation is the tendency some readers will have to accept Fee's conclusions without first examining his exegetical work. I believe that Fee makes a number of exegetical mistakes--some minor, some major--which may lead the unlearned student astray. While the work as a whole holds up against scrutiny, his explanation of Romans 7 is forced and inadequately supported (I believe this comes from his holiness background). Likewise, he attempts to explain the fruit of the Spirit entirely in a community sense. This also comes across forced and ignores the most natural meaning of the text. (In this case, his focus on community seems to have overshadowed common sense in exegesis).

The book overall is a wonderful work and I would highly recommend it to anyone desiring to know more about the Holy Spirit. Fee's emphasis on community is refreshing and his understanding of Paul far exceeds most scholars of this day. May the Holy Spirit continue to work through this book for the glory of the Father and the revival of the church.

This is an excellent book written by an excellent scholar. This is a quick read, but that is not to take away from the fact that it offers a very deep, well rounded understanding of the role of the Holy Spirit in the lives of Christians. Some of the chapters are included by not limited to:

A "Theology" of the Spirit? - The Spirit in Pauline Theology
The Holy Who? - the Spirit as Person
A People for His Name - The Spirit and the People of God
The Ongoing Warfare - The Spirit Against the Flesh
Those Controversial Gifts? - The Spirit and the Charismata

Fee starts off profound immediatly in the Overture by saying that "...all too often our orthodoxy has been either diluted by an unholy alliance with a given political agenda, or diminished by legalistic or relativistic ethics quite unrelated to the character of God, or rendered ineffective by a pervasive rationalism in an increasingly nonrationalistic world" (Fee 1996, xiii).

His basic conclusion is that we need to allow the Spirit be free to interact with us individually: "...our theologizing must stop paying mere lip service to the Spirit and recognize his crucial role in Paul's gospel; and it means that the church must risk freeing the Spirit from being boxed into the creed and getting him back into the experiential life of the believer and the believing community" (Fee 1996, 189).

This is Fee's condensed version of "God's Empowering Presence"--which is his definitive work on the Holy Spirit in the Pauline corpus. If you don't need something along the works of a commentary, skip "God's Empowering Presence" and get this. A fine book.

The book, Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God, is a comprehensive study of the Holy Spirit's person, purpose, and actions as seen through the writings of the apostle Paul. Mr. Fee takes the reader into the mind of Paul and shows how Paul's rabbinical training uniquely influenced his views about the significance of the Holy Spirit's presence and workings in the lives of new covenant believers. He then expands upon this paradigm and traces how the Spirit moves within and upon the hearts of God's people from their initial salvation to their resurrection. It is an excellent book and I highly recommend reading it. It is both informative and thought provoking. If there is any drawback to the book, it is that Mr. Fee tends to concentrate a little too much on the work of the Spirit in the Church body as a whole. He tends to minimize the work that the Spirit does in our individual lives.

and get Dr. Fee's audio tapes from Regent College bookstore.
I studied with Dr. Fee at Gordon-Conwell while pastoring in Cambridge, Ma. Our church supported some of Dr. Fee's mission trips around the world. His books are all great, but his lectures, especially his exegetical NT book studies, are simply unparalleled, satisfying the intellect and the spirit and leading one to experience the Holy Spirit in the Word.

Fee lays out a prescription for true spiritual success to cure what ails churches of all kinds. The main treatment is of course the Holy Spirit-led church service. When He's in charge, of the worship, of the sharing of the Word, there can be only impact and results. Fee is an excellent theologian, but he's also a man of passion about his faith, and a Pentecostal, of which he is not ashamed. Fee shows the way for Christians of all stripes to have a fresh encounter with the 3rd Person of the Trinity. In my view, he's prophetic in his insights, and I wish I could see every pastor in the land read this wonderful summation of His larger 3-volume work on the things of the Spirit. This is meant to be a layman's summary, but is certainly great reading for the average pastor. I highly recommend this book.