“And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of His glory” (Ephesians 1:13-14)
Growing up Baptist in the 60’s and early 70’s, I was aware that there was a Holy Spirit, but we didn’t really talk about Him. We all agreed that there was a Trinity and we never doubted the existence of the Holy Spirit, but . . . We emphasized God the Son and God the Father, but God the Spirit, not so much.
When we’d sing hymns about the Trinity, we’d skip the third verse, usually the one about the Holy Spirit. To be fair, we didn’t intentionally skip the third verse simply because it was about the Holy Spirit. I think somewhere in the past, someone with major influence in Baptist music life decided the third verses were superfluous, and so it became customary to ignore those verses. And, if the song was about the Trinity, the Holy Spirit usually got omitted until the fourth verse, when He was mentioned with the Father and the Son.
I guess we could have described the Holy Spirit in those days as “with special guest star” status.
But with the rise of the Charismatic movement in the 70’s, we had to start addressing the role of the Holy Spirit and His ministry in the body of Christ. And I’m glad we did. So much of the Christian life is interwoven with the ministry of the Holy Spirit that we should have acknowledged His role all along in a more prominent position. Just as the Gospels were about Jesus and His ministry, so the book of Acts is focused on the role of the Holy Spirit in equipping, leading and working in and through the Church both corporately and individually.
And yet, today, we still are not clear on the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. When does He appear in the believer’s life? Does He come and go? What are His main duties? These are some of the questions that are still being debated and discussed among believers.
All of these issues are of interest, but they’re not the main focus of this writing. More to the point, we want to focus on the work of the Holy Spirit within the lives of the believers.
The Holy Spirit Opens Lines of Communication between God and Us
From the beginning, God has created us to have fellowship with Him. The Fall recorded in Genesis 3 depicts the disruption of that fellowship, and the propensity of people to embrace sin continues to prevent the fellowship God wants with us.
But it is God’s grace that enables us to regain that fellowship. The Bible reminds us that we were dead in our sins (Ephesians 2:1), that we were powerless sinners and enemies of God (Romans 5:6-11) when Christ died for us. By the grace of God, we are given a new life, being born again (John 3:3; Romans 6:1-10) and able now to fellowship with Him.
— The Spirit gives us the ability to understand the things of God. In 1 Corinthians 2:6-16, Paul writes that we speak with a wisdom that comes from God because, through His Spirit, we are given revelation of His thoughts and His ways. Because the Spirit indwells us, we are given a glimpse of the things of God that no one else has had the benefit of receiving. Remember that we “see a poor reflection as in a mirror” (1 Corinthians 13:12a), but we nonetheless gain an insight that is available only through the Holy Spirit.
— The Spirit facilitates our prayers. “We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will” (Romans 8:26-27). Just as the Spirit speaks to us of the things of God, so the Spirit takes our prayers before God and makes them intelligible to Him.
I remember when my children were very young, just learning to speak. Sometimes they’d say things that, to the average person, made absolutely no sense. Fortunately, my wife and I had been around our children and had an insight into their words. We could tell other people what our children were saying. I compare that to our efforts to speak to God. The Spirit of the Lord understands our feeble efforts to speak, and make the words clear to the Father.
What Jesus Says About the Holy Spirit
In John 13-17, we find the last night of Jesus’ life with His disciples. They’re in an upper room, preparing for the Passover feast. Throughout the Bible, Jesus knew that His time had not come. It is this night, though, that we learn that Jesus knew the time had come for Him to return to the Father. Knowing this, Jesus spends the next few chapters giving the disciples last minute instructions and encouragement. He wants to prepare them for the time when He will be crucified and to let them know that they will not be alone. It is in this setting that Jesus gives the most instruction about the role of the Holy Spirit—the Comforter or Counselor—to the disciples and to us.
Jesus describes the Holy Spirit in these words:
–“If you love Me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and He will send you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. . . . But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you” (John 14:15-17). The first word is that the Spirit is a counselor and is true. This counselor will be a part of the disciples’ lives by being with them and in them.
— “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (John 14:26). The role of the Holy Spirit is to teach us and to remind us of Jesus’ words. This is done as we study God’s word and as we prayerfully seek His guidance. It is not unusual for God to direct us to the Bible as we prayerfully seek His direction in our lives, whether we seek comfort, assurance or some other word from God. It will be the Spirit within us, who inspired and directed the writing of the Scripture, who will guide us to the passage we seek. We may have to use our concordance to find the specific verse, but it will be the Spirit giving us the words we are looking for.
— “When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, He will testify about Me. And you must also testify, for you have been with Me from the beginning” (John 15:26-27). Elsewhere in the Gospels, as Jesus was sending the disciples out in teams of two to share the Gospel, Jesus told them, “On My account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you” (Matthew 10:18-20). In our world today, we may not know every chapter and verse of the Bible, but we can be reminded of the things Jesus said and taught through the ministry of the indwelling Spirit of God.
— Jesus continues with: “Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When He comes, He will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment” (John 16:7b-8). This promise lets us know that we are not in the business of saving people or even of convicting them. Our duty is to testify—tell the world only what Jesus has done for us. No more and no less. If we seek to convict others of their sins, or if we seek to bring judgment on others, then we have overstepped our duties and have presumed to become the Spirit of God Himself. Tell others what I know, and leave the rest to the Holy Spirit.
— Finally, Jesus closes with the following words about the Spirit. “I have much more to say to you, more than you can bear. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to Me by taking from what is Mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is Mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is Mine and make it known to you” (John 16:12-15). Here we see the unity of the Trinity, the Spirit taking from the Son what is also from the Father and making it known to those who belong to the Son. The significance is again here that the Spirit will guide us into all truth. If we are willing to prayerfully seek His guidance, the Spirit will show us all things that are true and the things that are false. But we must come to Him with an open heart and mind and we must trust His leadership in our lives.
The Spirit Makes Us Fruitful
Jesus concluded the Sermon on the Mount with a warning to His followers about wolves in sheep’s clothing. He warned against such people who will outwardly appear to be genuine followers. Jesus tells us the way to discern between true and false prophets is to look at their fruit. Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians 5:17 that we are a “new creation.” This new creation is a distinctive being, set apart from other beings because this new creation is indwelt by the presence of God Himself through the presence of the Spirit. This Spirit distinguishes the new creation from the false prophet by the fruit the new creation exhibits.
In Galatians 5:22-23 and Ephesians 5:9, Paul lists elements that make up the fruit of the Spirit. The elements are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, righteousness and truth. These aspects of the fruit of the Spirit must be present in each person who professes to be a follower of Christ. Each Christian exhibits these elements in their lives to one degree or another, depending on their spiritual growth and maturity. As Jesus says, if these fruit are not present in a person, then it is a safe bet to question that person has a genuine relationship with the Father through the Son.
(c) 2018 Glynn Beaty