The Holy Spirit by Sinclair B. FergusonMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Masterful, thorough, and Biblical. Ferguson covers every aspect of the Holy Spirit in this theologically packed volume. I'd recommend any book in this "Contours of Christian Theology" series.
Ferguson's contribution is balanced. He covers the Spirit's work in individual regeneration and in the church corporately, and in the regeneration of all things, without prejudicing one over the other.
His view of the gifts of the Spirit was an especially helpful chapter. He is a cessationist, which is just fine with me. The gifts of the Spirit centered on the proclamation of the Word right from the very start of the New Testament, and the gifts of tongue speaking and prophecy ended with the close of the apostolic age. We are now in a post-apostolic age, where those gifts are not operating. Ferguson does not exclude the miraculous and supernatural working of God through the Spirit today, however, as the cessationist position is constantly accused of holding.
This work was spiritually edifying, especially in seeing the Spirit's work on behalf of the believer personally and sacramentally. The one down-side is that he uses very academic terminology, which will turn away most believers. Re-writing words like "repristinization" and "eschatologization" (on the last page!) would have been helpful to the reader.
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