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partakers of the Spirit. There are no special classes of Spirit-bearers, no separate groups of Spirit-filled believers. Fullness of life in the Spirit, participation in the abundant life in the Spirit, is a common possession of the whole Church, although not appropriated in equal measure by all . . . The statement stresses the plurality but not equality of charisms. As mani-festations of the Spirit – ‘inseparable but not identical’ – spiritual gifts are constitutive both of the nature of the church and of ‘the nature of the Christian life in its communitarian and individual expression’. In this sense every Christian is a charismatic and therefore has a ministry to the church and the world. A radical equality of charisms and ministries is not a principle of church life. One must also say that the charisms of the Spirit are without number. Finally, one of the bonds which binds laity and the hierarchy is the one Spirit manifesting himself in different service functions. . . . Irenaeus said: ‘Where the Church is, there is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of God is, there is the Church . . .’ Charism is a principle of order in the Church in such a way that there is no distinction between the insti-tutional and the charismatic Church.
DOI link for partakers of the Spirit. There are no special classes of Spirit-bearers, no separate groups of Spirit-filled believers. Fullness of life in the Spirit, participation in the abundant life in the Spirit, is a common possession of the whole Church, although not appropriated in equal measure by all . . . The statement stresses the plurality but not equality of charisms. As mani-festations of the Spirit – ‘inseparable but not identical’ – spiritual gifts are constitutive both of the nature of the church and of ‘the nature of the Christian life in its communitarian and individual expression’. In this sense every Christian is a charismatic and therefore has a ministry to the church and the world. A radical equality of charisms and ministries is not a principle of church life. One must also say that the charisms of the Spirit are without number. Finally, one of the bonds which binds laity and the hierarchy is the one Spirit manifesting himself in different service functions. . . . Irenaeus said: ‘Where the Church is, there is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of God is, there is the Church . . .’ Charism is a principle of order in the Church in such a way that there is no distinction between the insti-tutional and the charismatic Church.
partakers of the Spirit. There are no special classes of Spirit-bearers, no separate groups of Spirit-filled believers. Fullness of life in the Spirit, participation in the abundant life in the Spirit, is a common possession of the whole Church, although not appropriated in equal measure by all . . . The statement stresses the plurality but not equality of charisms. As mani-festations of the Spirit – ‘inseparable but not identical’ – spiritual gifts are constitutive both of the nature of the church and of ‘the nature of the Christian life in its communitarian and individual expression’. In this sense every Christian is a charismatic and therefore has a ministry to the church and the world. A radical equality of charisms and ministries is not a principle of church life. One must also say that the charisms of the Spirit are without number. Finally, one of the bonds which binds laity and the hierarchy is the one Spirit manifesting himself in different service functions. . . . Irenaeus said: ‘Where the Church is, there is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of God is, there is the Church . . .’ Charism is a principle of order in the Church in such a way that there is no distinction between the insti-tutional and the charismatic Church.
ABSTRACT
Notes 1 F.L. Cross (ed.) The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 3rd edn, ed. E.A.
Livingstone, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997, p. 321. The work remains disappointingly weak on evangelical Christianity in general.