spirit and healing in africa - University of the Free State

one another in the sense that reconciliation through Christ refers to redemption through the
Spirit, and the work of the Spirit serves Christ’s revelation and reconciliation.
The work of the Holy Spirit includes not only the koinonia of the Trinitarian modes of being, and
the believer’s communion with Christ, but it also produces communion with one another. The
Spirit is the One who brings people together in a communion of faith, hope and love, in
solidarity with the world. As such, the work of the Spirit kindles fellowship, and makes one
aware that the believer, who is in communion with Christ, is relational in being (CD 4.1, 153).
This means that the believer is truly connected with others and with the world in such a way that
the individual is no longer just one part of the whole, but that the individual actually represents
the whole (CD 2.2, 312). That is the koinonia of the Spirit of God.
Spirit, creation and health
The Spirit’s work in creation is heavily determined by its Christological focus. The implication is
that Barth does not make a clear distinction between the Spiritus Creator and the Spiritus
Redemptor, because in his perspective the work of the Spirit is aimed at leading creation into
communion with Christ (CD 4.1, 648); the creative activities of the Spirit are thus redemptive
activities simultaneously, in the sense that they can only be known on the basis of the Word,
Jesus Christ. Barth rejects any form of knowledge about God that has its source in creation, and
thus creation itself receives its meaning from the God who reveals himself in Christ.
Barth’s doctrine of creation states that creation is the work of God the Father, and that creation
depends on Christ. Since creation is not capable of responding properly to the self-revealing
God, the Spirit comes to its aid and provides creaturely life with responses to God’s invitation to
participate in His life. Barth thus prioritizes God’s sovereignty and self-revelation in such a way
that the Spirit’s work is about creating situations where God’s will is done in human existence:
“As the Spirit of Jesus Christ who, proceeding from Him, unites men closely to Him ut secum
unum sint, He distinguishes Himself from the Spirit of God who lives as vita animalis in
creation, nature and history, and to that extent in the godless as well” (CD 1.2, 241). In other
words, just as the Spirit affirms and upholds inner-Trinitarian relationships, so She sustains what
God has done salvifically in creation.
Barth addresses the theme of health in relation to creation in his discussion of ethics as the
command of God the Creator (CD 3.4, 356-374). He does not refer explicitly to the work of the
Holy Spirit, but one could see how in Barth’s pneumatology the Spirit is involved in the human
response to live according to God’s will. Barth defines health as the strength for human life; it is
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