Page 34 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 22

is not �ed to the intelligence or reflec�ve capa- Zwei schon in der Einleitung erwähnte Konzep-
city of gi�ed people. People with mental limita-
�ons and disabili�es can also experience it
(Cortez, 2019, 2)4. The Holy Spirit as ini�ator
and promoter of spiritual growth
4.1 The divine contribu�on: The Holy Spirit
changes our character
In theology, both the doctrine of the Trinity and
biblical anthropology emphasize the central
role of the Holy Spirit in the spiritual growth
and character transforma�on of people. What
happens when lost, fallen people respond to
God's grace and gradually become more like
Christ? What role does the Holy Spirit play as
the Lord of this spiritual growth process? In this
ar�cle, I follow the editors of an anthology on
the art and science of spiritual forma�on in Hie-
stad & Wilson (2019, page 2): “Ul�mately, for-
ma�on into Christlikeness is not the result of
human effort or self-will. Nor is it simply the by-
product of more prayer, more therapy, more bi-
ble study, more posi�ve psychology, more of
anything! Instead, it is a new crea�onal reality
brought about by the Sovereign Spirit who is
the Lord and Giver of Life. In the words of the
Apostle Paul, “we all with unveiled face, behol-
ding the glory of the Lord, are being transfor-
med into the same image form one degree of
glory to another. For this comes from the Lord
who is the spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18).
Chapter 5 of Gala�ans describes the effects of
the Holy Spirit on character development. They
enable the change in spirit in the life of a Chris-
�an. Tomlin (2019) points out that the apostle
Paul gives a list of quali�es that are reminiscent
of the lists of virtues in Greek philosophical lite-
rature: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and abs�-
nence. However, one difference should be no-
ted. Paul does not use the usual term arete =
virtue, but the image of the fruit of the Spirit
and points out that it is not about isolated vir-
tue training, but about the holis�c results of a
growth process brought about by the Holy Spi-
rit. “The image of the fruit shows that the deve-
lopment of these quali�es takes �me, just as
fruit ripens gradually. These are not gi�s that
34
te versuchen die vielen Aussagen der Bibel
über diesen Prozess in den Konzepten der
Theosis und der Deifika�on zu bündeln. Die
Herausgeber des renommierten Oxford Hand-
book of Deifica�on definieren es folgenderma-
ßen: “Deifica�on is a process and goal by which
the human being or church or in some way the
whole crea�on comes to par�cipate in God,
Christ, divine life, divine a�ributes, divine ener-
gies, or divine glory by growing into the likeness
of God, while remaining a creature ontological-
ly dis�nct from the Creator. This process is
o�en described as divine adop�on, regenera�-
on, glorifica�on, sanc�fica�on, and union with
God. Human deifica�on is made possible by the
incarna�on of the divine Logos in Jesus Christ
and is sustained by the Holy Spirit through the
sacramental life of the church, prayer, asce�cal
discipline, and growth in virtue (Gawrilyuk, Ho-
fer, & Levering, 2024, p. 5).
Marc Cortez versucht den geheimnisvollen Ge-
danken der Go�es- und Jesus-Ähnlichkeit als
Zielpunkt des christlichen Lebens auf die Spur
kommen. Nach seiner Einschätzung sollte die-
ser Prozess über die Imita�on oder Nachah-
mung Jesu hinausgehen und alle kogni�ven,
emo�onalen und voli�onalen Kapazitäten ein-
schließen. Der Prozess sei aber nicht an die In-
telligenz oder Reflek�onsfähigkeit von begab-
ten Menschen gebunden. Auch Menschen mit
mentalen Einschränkungen und Behinderun-
gen könnten ihn erleben (Cortez, 2019, 2)
4. Der Heilige Geist als Ini�ator und Förderer
des geistlichen Wachstums
4.1. Der gö�liche Beitrag: Der Heilige Geist
verändert unseren Charakter
In der Theologie wird sowohl in der Trinitäts-
lehre als auch in der biblischen Anthropologie
die zentrale Rolle des Heiligen Geistes im geist-
lichen Wachstum und der Charakterverände-
rung von Menschen betont. Was passiert,
wenn verlorene, gefallene Menschen auf
Go�es Gnade antworten und Schri� für Schri�
Christus ähnlicher werden? Welche Rolle spielt
der Heilige Geist als Herr dieses geistlichen