Flying Closer to the Flame

Flying Closer to the Flame: A Passion for the Holy Spirit

Book Details

Author: Charles R. Swindoll

Publisher: Word (1993)

Category: Theology, Church, Spirituality, Holy Spirit, Christian Living

Reviewed 05/09/09 By: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., LCPC, Authof of Soul Physicians, Spiritual Friends, Beyond the Suffering, Sacred Friendships

Recommended: A ground-breaking, irenic, balanced book on how Cessationists can experience the Person and ministry of the Holy Spirit today.

Review: Enjoying and Experiencing the Holy Spirit

Though somewhat dated (published in 1993) Flying Closer to the Flame: A Passion for the Holy Spirit, in many ways can be considered a classic in the genre. When he wrote it, Chuck Swindoll, was President of the non-Charismatic, cessationist Dallas Theological Seminary and thus shocked the Evangelical world by his authorship of this book.

As the title suggests, Swindoll encourages his fellow cessationist (Christian who believe that the sign gifts such as healers, miracle workers, speaking in tongues, and prophesy have ceased) to hold those theological views while remaining open to experiencing the full power and presence of the Holy Spirit today. In Swindoll’s thinking, cessationists have often minimized the ongoing role of the Holy Spirit in the believer’s life, and thus minimized their passion for the Holy Spirit.

Swindoll writes not primarily a theological workbook or a “two-fisted, negative warning against all the errors floating around” (p. 13). Instead, in the heat of the theological battle, he wants to urge non-charismatics closer to the heat of the Holy Spirit.

With careful exegesis presented at the lay level, with careful balance avoiding extremes, and with an irenic spirit, Swindoll invites non-charismatics and charismatics alike to consider what the Bible does say about the Spirit’s non-sign-gift-work today. He rightly teaches that there is much that the Bible promises about the Spirit’s ministry that is still alive and well today.

Laying this foundational biblical theology, Swindoll moves into practical/pastoral theology of the spiritual life. He explores with readers the role of the Spirit in decision-making, guiding, and leading the believer. He examines the filling and fruit of the Spirit and how the Spirit produces spiritual maturity in believers today.

He is unafraid to touch on areas often ignored by non-charismatics such as “unidentified inner promptings,” the Spirit and our emotions, and sickness and healing. While never straying from historic non-charismatic teachings, and while always tying his assertions directly to the text, Swindoll explains how the Spirit of God uses the Word of God to speak to our spirit.

As a counselor, I appreciate Swindoll’s repeated return to a comprehensive understanding of the image of God in us. His theological understanding of the imago Dei guides his exegesis both when addressing inner promptings and when explaining the Spirit and our emotions.

For readers wanting an updated and more scholarly focused study of the same topic from a cessationist perspective, Who’s Afraid of the Holy Spirit? by Wallace and Sawyer is the recommended text. What Flying Closer to the Flame is for the general non-charismatic Protestant lay person, Who’s Afraid of the Holy Spirit is for the scholarly non-charismatic Protestant pastor, professor, and student.