Youngmo Cho, Spirit and Kingdom in the Writings of Luke and Paul: An Attempt to Reconcile these Concepts (Milton Keynes: Paternoster, 2005)
Youngmo Cho (PhD, University of Aberdeen) is currently an assistant professor of New Testament studies at Asia LIFE University, in South Korea. He has formerly been a pastor of an Assembly of God Church, as well as a missionary to the Philippines. He attempts in this book to explore the relation between the Spirit of God and the kingdom of God in the writings of Luke and Paul, which has been heretofore an unchartered territory. The aim of the book is to depict the differences between Luke and Paul regarding their understandings, respectively, of the Spirit’s work. Cho dialogs, mainly, with three positions regarding the relationship between Paul and Luke, which could be characterized as them being in discontinuity with each other, in continuity with each other, or a mediating position of complimentarity with each other. In outlining these three positions, Cho interacts with three scholars prevalently: R.P. Menzies (an advocate of the discontinuity position), J.D.G. Dunn (an advocate of the continuity position), and M.M.B. Turner (an advocate of the complimentarity position). Thus, Menzies could be seen to advocate that there are staunch differences between the pneumatologies of Luke and Paul, whereas Dunn could be seen as advancing the idea that they are the same, but differently expressed, and Turner could be seen to argue that the two are different, but complimentary to each other.
Cho, however, diverges from all three of these generally recognized positions, and posits that Paul’s pneumatology adds something entirely new to the pneumatology that existed in the early church, as attested to by the gospel of Luke. He asserts that Paul speaks of the kingdom of God in new terms, primarily by speaking concurrently of the Spirit in a more comprehensive manner than Luke did. In so doing, Paul communicates the teachings of Jesus in different way, focusing upon the works of the Spirit. He argues that Dunn’s position, which advocates the notion that the Spirit mediates the blessings of the kingdom in both Paul and Luke, is not precise enough to account for the texts in question. Instead, Cho argues that Paul develops the role of the Spirit more fully than Luke, arguing that the Spirit is the way, according to Paul, that all people may participate in the kingdom presently. Cho maintains, however, that Luke asserts a more constricted view of the Spirit and the kingdom, one which only promotes the proclamation of the kingdom of God (as seen by, for example, tongues-speaking). Thus, Cho maintains that Paul taught that the Spirit is the source of life within the kingdom in its entirety, whereas for Luke the Spirit merely enables proclamation of the kingdom, which leads to entrance into it.
The outline of the book is logical throughout. For example, following the introductory chapter, Cho investigates the intertestamental Jewish literature concerning the role of the Spirit, focusing upon the question if the Spirit in this literature was seen to be the distiller of life-giving wisdom. He claims that the answer to this question would directly influence both Paul’s and Luke’s presentation of the Spirit. In chapter three, Cho discusses the relationship between the Spirit in Paul and the kingdom of God in the synoptic. He argues therein that Paul’s concept of the Spirit is substituted for the concept of the kingdom of God (as presented in the synoptic) by showing that life in the Spirit, according to Paul, is virtually synonymous with the kingdom of God, according to the synoptics. Chapter four assesses the characteristics of the kingdom, and ascertains how far the functions of the Spirit according to Paul are (or are not) attributed to the Spirit by Luke. He argues that Luke perceives the Spirit to be limited to the kingdom blessings, whereas for Paul the Spirit is the blessing. In chapter six, Cho elucidates what he perceives the role of the Spirit to be in Luke-Acts, and in the concluding chapter, six, he draws some implications from his study.
All in all, I heartily recommend this title for the readers of Pneuma Review. However, it will (probably) challenge some long-held assumptions by classic Pentecostals. However, for those willing to explore this book, rich rewards are in store.
Bradford McCall
Regent University, Virginia Beach, VA.