THE HOLY SPIRIT
THE HOLY SPIRIT EMPOWERS AND ENABLES BELIEVERS TO BE AUTHENTIC FOLLOWERS OF JESUS
The Holy Spirit is not a force, or our conscience, but he is God, one of the persons of the Trinity; he is a spiritual being, whom the Bible refers to most often in the first person masculine ("he," not “it”). The Bible also refers to the Holy Spirit as the “Spirit of Christ” and the “Spirit of God” which is why believers can say, “Christ lives in me." The Holy Spirit was sent at Pentecost (50 days after the Sabbath of Passover week), following Christ’s death to live in all true believers, to be the divine connection between Christ and man. Prior to Pentecost the Holy Spirit did not live in people permanently, but “came upon” certain prophets, kings, and others to empower them to know the will of God, write scripture, perform miracles, or do great things for God.
The work of the Holy Spirit begins even before we are born again. It is he who breaks through our sinful and rebellious spirit and causes us and encourages us to believe. It is because of his pre-salvational “softening up” of our spirits that we believe at all.
Now that the Holy Spirit lives in us, for the first time in our lives we have both the ability and the desire to understand the will and heart of God. He reminds us of the things Christ taught and what his will for us is. We receive knowledge of the things of God primarily from Scripture, but the understanding of these truths comes only from the Holy Spirit.
Jesus wants us to die to everything in us that is selfish - sinful habits, anything we allow ourselves to think or do with our minds and our bodies, which is contrary to the will of God. This conscious surrendering our will and allowing the Holy Spirit to direct our thoughts and actions on a day by day basis is called being filled with the Holy Spirit, or walking in the power of the Holy Spirit. In Ephesians we are told, “Do not be drunk with wine, but be filled with the Holy Spirit.” (Eph. 5:16) Paul is teaching that just like people who are drunk give their will over to alcohol, losing their inhibitions and become more bold than they normally are, we as believers are to do the same under the influence of the Holy Spirit. We are called to abandon ourselves over to the will of God and live with what the world would call a certain recklessness or foolishness, by obeying God by faith.
One of the ways we begin this process is to “cloth yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience.” (Col. 3:12) Neil Plantinga, Jr., says, “To put on these virtues is to “put on Christ”. (Rom. 13:14) Christian virtues make up the family uniform of the followers of Christ... Christians are people who dress up like Christ, not because we want to deceive people into thinking we are better than we are, but because the only way we can become better than we are is by trying on our (new) clothes.” [1]
Because we still have sin in our bodies and our minds we will continue to be tempted by sin and we will struggle with bringing all these things into perfect alignment with the will of God, all our lives. That process is called sanctification. Being born again happens in a moment in time, but sanctification is a life-long journey.
Every person has natural gifts and talents. They may be physical, intellectual, emotional, creative, relational, etc. We also have natural skills and experiences which we develop, or which have shaped us which can and should be used to advance the kingdom. However, when we are born again, the Holy Spirit gives each person one or more spiritual gifts, such as teaching, mercy, evangelism, administration, giving, etc. These are different from our natural gifts, skills or personalities. They are given for the purpose of serving others and carrying out our ministry on earth as determined by Christ. Jesus not only gives us a heart to serve him, but the supernatural means to do it.
When we are born again, the Holy Spirit causes us to produce the “fruit of the spirit” (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control). Christian character and virtue are produced by the Holy Spirit and are not simply the efforts of our own personal and moral discipline. The Holy Spirit also gives us courage to tell others about Jesus and to live boldly for Jesus. The Holy Spirit is also our guarantee that we belong to Christ and that as a result we cannot ever lose our salvation.
The Bible also teaches that we can grieve the Holy Spirit or sadden him by our sin. In human terms, when we disappoint or hurt someone who loves us dearly, it saddens them, embarrasses us and strains our relationship. The same is true of the Holy Spirit. To restore our relationship with the Holy Spirit requires confessing our sin, making a serious effort to live as God would have us in the future and thanking God for forgiving us.
In summary, the Holy Spirit is absolutely critical for us coming to faith, giving us the power of live out the Christ-centered life and keeping us spiritually safe until we die.
John 15:26; John 16:8; John 16:13-14; Acts 2:38; I Cor. 12:4-11, 13; Rom. 8:5, 9; II Thess. 2:6-7; I Cor. 6:19; Eph. 4:30-31; Eph. 5:18; Gal. 5:22-25; Rom. 8:26, 27; Titus 3:5; Acts 1:8; Eph. 1:13, 14; Eph 2:8-10; I John 5:18
- Cornelius Plantings, Jr., Engaging God’s World, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., page 93.