Holy Spirit guides, transforms, and enables communal faithful life
Hutterites affirm the Holy Spirit as the third person of the Trinity, dwelling in the community and individual believers. The Spirit enables Gelassenheit — yieldedness to God and the community — and empowers members to share their goods, resolve conflicts, and maintain the communal life. The Spirit is understood as the source of genuine community.
Hutterites are not Pentecostal: they do not emphasize charismatic gifts such as tongues or healing, and dramatic supernatural manifestations are not characteristic of Hutterite spiritual practice. The Spirit's work is associated with the formation of character — humility, simplicity, patience, communal love — rather than with spectacular experiences.
Key Distinctions
- Personhood:
- third divine person, coequal with Father and Son
- Spiritual gifts view:
- open but cautious — gifts may continue; tongues not mandated as evidence
- Spirit baptism:
- occurs at conversion; subsequent experiences of filling are possible
Scripture References
Sources
- Peter Riedemann, Rechenschaft (1542)