The double entendre of pneuma in John 3, as both wind and Spirit, is extended to a broader analogy of Christian spirituality. The expansive love of God’s Spirit in and through Christians stirs them, in response, to express that love to those around them. This exchange is compared to an atmospheric high pressure zone that spreads as wind into nearby low pressure zones. Those who experience God’s love as a dynamic reality become spontaneous agents of transformation, stirring both Christians and non-Christians: hearts moved move other hearts. This imagery offers a more theocentric and holistic understanding of faith and ministry, so that the proper motivation for Christian conduct is described as a response to Trinitarian relationality—of God as love—than as the more common stoic and programmatic motivations of duty and discipline.
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