Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 316148598X, Paperback)

Finny Philip inquires into Paul's initial thoughts on the Holy Spirit. Paul's conviction that he was called to be an apostle to the Gentiles and that God bestowed the Spirit upon the Gentiles apart from Torah obedience is the basis for any inquiry on this subject. Central to Philip's argument is Paul's conviction that God graciously endowed his Gentile converts with the gift of the Spirit, an understanding that is rooted primarily in his conversion experience and secondarily in his experience with and as a missionary of the Hellenistic community in Antioch. Paul's Damascus experience was an experience of the Spirit.

His experience of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ provided him with the belief that there was now a new relationship with God, which was possible through the sphere of the Spirit. The conventional expectation of a Gentile share in the future blessing of a restored Israel and the Hellenists' belief about the newly constituted community of Christ as the new eschatological temple significantly influenced Paul's early thoughts on the Spirit. The author is academic dean for Filadelfia Bible College in India.

Partial Contents: Introduction. Review of Scholarships (6 authors). Book of Ezekiel. Book of Isaiah. Book of Joel. Prophetic Expectation of the Spirit in Post-Biblical Lietarture. (Apocrypha. Philo.) Pre-Christian Paul, The Pharisee & the Holy Spirit. Persecutor of the Church. Paul & the Holy Spirit. Paul's Conversion/Call. Early Church, the Spirit, & the Gentiles. Jerusalem Council. Hellenists & Church in Antioch. Paul, the Spirit & the Gentiles. Conclusion. Bibliography. Index of Authors. Index of Sources. Index of Subjects.