Additional information
by Yacob Godebo (Author), Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen (Foreword by)
The Scriptures teach the church that in biblical times the coming of the Holy Spirit equally entailed objective gift of divine reality and subjective experience of his presence, gifts, and works. There was objective pouring out and imparting of the Holy Spirit from the divine side and subjective experiential demonstration from the receivers' side, which resulted from the gifts endowed and power imparted along with the Holy Spirit. Having given them either verbally uttered or visibly performed gifts, the Holy Spirit then moved believers towards practical demonstration through subjective experience. Believers' subjective experience took place only as a result of the objective gift of the Holy Spirit and the resulting endowment and empowerment. Thus, in the objective content of his manifestation, the Holy Spirit is the objective gift of God to indwell his people. In the subjective content of his manifestation, the Holy Spirit endows people with audibly uttered or visibly performed gifts. The subjective experience of the Holy Spirit's presence, therefore, is an original theological input from God just like the objective impartation of the Holy Spirit. Practitioners were just objects of divine purpose and their subjective experience was divine-provided and divine-initiated genuine experience beyond their consciousness and calculation. Reception of the Holy Spirit, therefore, means equally an experience of his presence, gifts, power, and works in the church and in, with, and through believers from Hosanna to Maranatha.
Author Biography
Yacob Godebo is a professor of systematic theology and director of post graduate studies at Mekane Yesus Seminary, Addis Ababa. He earned his MTh and PhD from the University of Chester, UK.
