George H. Warnock — Pneumatology
b2 — Evening and Morning
Person of the Spirit — Spirit of the Father and the Son
Warnock describes the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of the glorified Christ, proceeding from the Father to the believers:
“He must go away in the fulness of glorified humanity, perfect man returning to the heart of God, that out from the heart of God He might come forth again as the Spirit of Truth, even as the Spirit of the Father and the Son.”
— Warnock, Evening and Morning, Chapter 5 — The River of God
“The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Son and of the Father, even the Spirit of Truth, who comes forth from the heart of God to begin the circle of Truth over again.”
— Warnock, Evening and Morning, Chapter 5 — The River of God
As scriptural confirmation, Warnock quotes John 16:14-15:
“He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you.”
— Warnock, Evening and Morning, Chapter 5 — The River of God
The Spirit searches the depths of God to disclose them to believers:
“The Spirit searcheth out the heart of God, not merely to satisfy our intellectual fancy, but to satisfy that inner longing within to partake of and receive that which the Spirit has discovered and explored.”
— Warnock, Evening and Morning, Chapter 5 — The River of God
Interpretation: Warnock describes the Spirit functionally as the return of the glorified Christ in the Spirit. The Spirit is the Spirit of both Father and Son, and his task is to disclose and administer the things of Christ to believers (John 16:14-15).
The Spirit as South Wind — Song 4:16
In Chapter 4 Warnock develops the south wind metaphor explicitly in pneumatological terms:
“Therefore the songwriter says, ‘Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out’ (Song 4:16). Notice the order once again: first the north wind, and then the south. First the cold, then the heat. First the snow, then the warm rains of spring.”
— Warnock, Evening and Morning, Chapter 4 — Come, O South Wind
God’s order of emptying before fruitfulness:
“God’s order is first darkness, then light. First chaos, then order. First barrenness, then fruitfulness. First weakness, then power. First death, then life.”
— Warnock, Evening and Morning, Chapter 4 — Come, O South Wind
The north wind is not the enemy but a divine season:
“The north wind will certainly strip us—leaving a veritable picture of frustration and defeat in its wake… Nor should we be too alarmed about it in the realm of the New Creation. We accept the seasons, as periods of Divine provision, and we embrace each winter season as a PROMISE.”
— Warnock, Evening and Morning, Chapter 4 — Come, O South Wind
Interpretation: The south wind of Song 4:16 is for Warnock a type of the Spirit’s action that produces fruit from emptying. The north wind = divine discipline and stripping; the south wind = the outpouring of the Spirit effecting sanctification and fruit.
Law of the Spirit of Life — the Generation of Christ
Chapter 2 builds pneumatology around the Pauline concept of the “law of the Spirit of life” (Rom. 8:2):
“This generation likewise has been in a continual process of development and ever abounding fulness, because of the functioning of the law by which it lives. This law is the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus.”
— Warnock, Evening and Morning, Chapter 2 — Another Generation Cometh
The power of the Spirit surpasses that of the law of sin and death:
“Five times in Romans 5 does the apostle Paul use the expression ‘much more’ relative to the power of the grace of God, in contrast to the sin of Adam. Shall we not believe that there is a much greater and a ‘much more’ potential in the Law of the Spirit of Life, than there is in the law of sin and death?”
— Warnock, Evening and Morning, Chapter 2 — Another Generation Cometh
The shared anointing in the Body of Christ:
“‘Christ’ means ‘Anointed One’ and we share the ‘same anointing’ (1 Jn. 2:27), are partakers of the same Spirit, and therefore become ‘of his flesh, and of his bones’ (Eph. 5:30).”
— Warnock, Evening and Morning, Chapter 2 — Another Generation Cometh
Interpretation: The “generation of Christ” carries the same anointing as Christ himself — the Spirit works collectively in the Body. Warnock places the law of the Spirit of life as the counterpart to the law of sin and death: in Christ grace “much more” exceeds the power of the fall.
Regeneration by the Spirit
Regeneration is the silent, initial work of the Spirit — the seed rain:
“Silently does the Spirit of God come into the life and such a one is ‘born again’ by the incorruptible seed of the Word of God. But it is really just the sprouting of the seed. It is a rebirth in the inner man. It is God becoming involved in the life of the individual, that before the entrance of the Word was nothing more than earth… dark, barren, fruitless.”
— Warnock, Evening and Morning, Chapter 5 — The River of God
Regeneration is not the ultimate goal but the beginning — the seed rain distinguished from the harvest rain:
“God says He is waiting for ‘precious fruit’… and has long patience over it till it receive not only the early, but the latter rain. Not only the ‘seed rain’ but the ‘harvest rain.’ Not only for the seed rain of conversion (‘being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible…’), but also for the harvest rain of the FRUIT.”
— Warnock, Evening and Morning, Chapter 5 — The River of God
Interpretation: Regeneration for Warnock is the former rain — the germinating seed. The goal is the latter rain: the full fruit of the Spirit in the saints. This is consistent with the two-stage structure in b1 (The Feast of Tabernacles), now developed through the imagery of rain and harvest.
Gifts vs. Fruit of the Spirit — Eschatological Maturation
Warnock positions gifts and fruit within a maturation framework in which love is the final goal:
“In this realm even the gifts of the Spirit lose their significance, just as the moon loses its brightness in the dawning of the morn. The part gives way to the whole, the seed breaks forth into the blade, the ear, and the full corn. Faith proceeds unto hope, and hope buds forth in Love.”
— Warnock, Evening and Morning, Chapter 2 — Another Generation Cometh
And in Chapter 3, with a direct reference to 1 Cor. 13:10:
“All else that pertains to the realm of spiritual manifestation must give way to the fulness of LOVE, as the first rays of dawn give way to the rising of the sun. ‘When that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.‘”
— Warnock, Evening and Morning, Chapter 3 — The Day Is At Hand
Interpretation: Warnock reads 1 Cor. 13:10 not in a cessationist sense (completion of the canon) but in an eschatological-progressive sense: gifts are partial and temporary; love as the fullness of the fruit of the Spirit is the final goal. [TENSION with earlier source: b1 also emphasized gifts subordinate to fruit — here this is further developed eschatologically.]
Guidance by the Spirit — Freedom from the Law
Warnock develops Gal. 5:18 pneumatologically:
“‘If ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law’ (Gal. 5:18). God would make us completely free from law in this day of His glory. But it is only as we become captives of the Son that we are really made free.”
— Warnock, Evening and Morning, Chapter 4 — Come, O South Wind
“True liberty consists of vital union with the Son… in fact, in becoming bound to the Son with bonds of the Spirit which effectually and experimentally liberate one from the former bondage to sin and self.”
— Warnock, Evening and Morning, Chapter 4 — Come, O South Wind
Interpretation: Freedom from the law for Warnock is not antinomianism but the experience of the Spirit’s guidance in vital union with Christ. The Spirit liberates simultaneously from legalism and the dominion of sin.
Indwelling of the Spirit — Administering the New Covenant
The Spirit administers the New Covenant from within:
“He, the Mediator, is there in the heavens to administer this covenant, and this He does by coming forth in us by the Spirit of Truth. This Word must not return unto the Father void, or empty. The Spirit of Truth comes down from heaven to take all that righteousness and glory and praise that belong unto Christ, and to effectually administer it unto His brethren.”
— Warnock, Evening and Morning, Chapter 5 — The River of God
“It is only the New Covenant as He writes it upon the ‘fleshly tables of the heart.’ For this is the New Covenant, the indelible inscription of the mind and will and heart of God upon the mind and will and heart of His people.”
— Warnock, Evening and Morning, Chapter 5 — The River of God (with reference to Heb. 10:16)
Interpretation: The Spirit is not merely an external gift or anointing, but the executor of the New Covenant promise: the law written on the heart (Jer. 31:33; Heb. 10:16). Warnock connects the indwelling of the Spirit directly with the transformation of mind and spirit (“mind of Christ”).