Is the Holy Spirit confined to Christians?

NOTE: This summer I plan to explore some of the questions in Tony Jones’ ebook Questionsthat Haunt Christianity: Volume 1, which grew out of a discussion series bythe same name on his Theoblogy blog. But on the way to that first post, I was sidetracked by something I read in Brian McLaren’s book Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha,and Mohammed Cross the Road?: Christian Identity in a Multi-faith World. You may call it “easily distracted,” but I’ll go with “work of the Spirit.”

Brian McLaren wrote that “the Holy Spirit preexists all religions, cannot be contained by any single religion, and therefore can’t be claimed as private property by any one religion.” [p.150]

In the Gospel of John, Jesus told his disciples that God will send the Holy Spirit to teach us everything (John 14:15-31); And in Acts, the Spirit came down upon Jesus’ disciples at Pentecost (Acts 2:1-13). But does that mean the Holy Spirit is unique or exclusive to Christianity?

Acts isn’t the first appearance of the Holy Spirit. In the beginning of Genesis, we read that the “wind from God” (also translated as the Spirit of God) swept over the waters at creation. The prologue to John tells us that the Word was with God from the beginning (Some interpret that to refer to Jesus; others suggest this is the Spirit, or an intermediary). There are other passages in the Old Testament that mention the Spirit, although the work of the Spirit is not ubiquitous (unless we include the prophets or the acts of God). But, there are indications that the Spirit of God was at work before Acts.

Nor is the Spirit confined to those who consider themselves God’s chosen. Peter discovered that the Holy Spirit didn't distinguish between Jews and Gentiles (Acts 10). We also see glimpses in the Bible where God (or God’s Spirit) is also at work through non-Israelites: Melchizedek, a priest of God, blesses Abraham (Genesis 14:17-24); in Deuteronomy, the Israelites are told to leave the descendants of Esau and of Lot alone because God had already provided them land (Deuteronomy 2:1-9); God worked through Israel’s enemies when the Israelites turned their backs on God, and to restore Jerusalem (Ezra 1); Amos suggests that the Philistines and Arameans had their own Exodus experience (Amos 9:7).

Not all of those passages clearly mention the Holy Spirit, but they do show that God’s work in the world is not confined to one people or one religion. If we work from that premise, then McLaren suggests two implications (and this is where I’d like to focus the discussion):

First, encounters with the Spirit (or presence) of God can occur anywhere, including the world “outside of church control”; in other words, the secular world [p. 151 in McLaren's book]. That means, among other things, that “the scientist studying interstellar dust is investigating the domain of the Spirit.” As a scientist, I've found that, by studying the broad spectrum of God’s creation, we also get a glimpse into the nature of God. In fact, some physicists have described their studies as looking into “The Mind of God.” It also means that we can be inspired by music, art, books, and other things that are not strictly “Christian” (a pet peeve of mine).

Second, people outside of Christianity may have had (or have) encounters with the Spirit (just as Peter discovered with Cornelius’ Gentile family). Under differing circumstances and without a common language or understanding, the may describe it differently than we would.

Before dismissing McLaren’s ideas as heretical, read what he says:

That is not to deny the presence of unique divine revelation in any one religion, nor is it to affirm that all religions are the same, nor is it to imply that the Spirit should be credited or blamed for everything going on in our religions. Instead, it is simply to propose that each religion, based on its unique location and history, would have a unique, particular, and evolving perspective from which to encounter the Spirit in a unique way. That would mean that differences between religions would not necessarily mean contradictions. [p. 151]

That also does not diminish our particular Christian experience. Instead, McLaren writes, it means three things:

First, we Christians can make a strong claim to have received a real revelation through real encounters with the real Holy Spirit in specific locations and at particular times in creation. Second, we have something unique to offer members of other religions, based on our unique and real encounters with the Spirit. And third, it would mean other religions have something to offer us as well, based on their real and unique encounters with the Spirit. To refuse to receive those gifts would be tantamount to dishonoring the Holy Spirit’s work beyond our group’s own experience. [p. 152]

McLaren's book invites us to consider an alternative to the too-often pervasive us-vs-them exchange between Christianity and other religions and asks us to consider that maybe even God’s Spirit is inviting us into conversation that crosses the traditional borders that separate us [p. 152]. He’s not advocating that we abandon the core of our Christian faith but to consider that God may be calling on us to reach out to our neighbors with the same love and grace Jesus brings us.

Do you think the work of the Holy Spirit is intended only for Christians? Can God’s Spirit come to us through someone who is not a professed follower of Jesus? Have you had any experiences that would lead you to believe that God is working only within a Christian community or that God is working in the world beyond the church?