When it comes to being Pentecostal, the Holy Spirit is a pretty big deal. Sure, Christians from other traditions value the Spirit—but Pentecostals have made the Day of Pentecost event of Acts 2 their defining theological symbol. Max Turner has done Pentecostals (and all Christians) a great service examining “the gift of the Spirit” (xii) in the New Testament, and the church today, with a focus on the spiritual gifts of prophecy, tongues, and healing.

The book falls into two parts: “The Development of New Testament Pneumatology,” and “Spiritual Gifts in the New Testament Church and Today.” Of these two parts, I found Turner’s work on Intertestamental Judaism to be the most fascinating.

Those living in the time just before the advent of Jesus would have understood God’s Spirit to be the Spirit of prophecy. In fact, this is what many Jewish people expected of the Messiah. In Turner’s words:

A major strand of Judaism anticipated a Messiah mightily endowed with the Spirit as both the Spirit of prophecy (affording unique wisdom and knowledge of the Lord as the basis of his dynamic righteousness and ‘fear of the Lord’) and the Spirit of power (i.e. of the ‘might’ by which he asserts liberating rule against oppression). (19)

Jesus was, indeed, endowed with the Spirit—transferring that Spirit onto his followers on the Day of Pentecost.

Admittedly, Turner’s work may be difficult reading for some pastors. However, a slow reading is rewarded. Turner has produced an exceptionally thorough resource on the Holy Spirit and the gifts that are still practiced in the church today.

Turner, Max. The Holy Spirit and Spiritual Gifts. Rev. ed., Baker Academic, 2009.