When it seems as if everyone, including God, hates you, that you are less than worthless as a human being, and you have not a clue as to what to believe or do, the Holy Spirit opens the believer’s mind so you may understand how God sees you as opposed to how you feel. He then gives you the next step to know how to respond by faith without necessarily taking away the confusion.  Because the Holy Spirit is God, and also lives within us, he intimately knows everything God desires as well as everything we face.  He is our eternal instructor and encourager.

Sometimes he tells us to do things that simply do not make sense, like “forgive one another.” Unbelievers scoff at such a notion; whereas those who follow the Holy Spirit’s leading find that when they forgive others, they really are gaining forgiveness, healing, and peace for themselves. Similarly, the non-Christian can understand that Christians believe that Jesus’ death can take away their sins, but it makes no sense and therefore they reject that truth. However, in the cross of Christ the Christian finds more than he or she could ever fathom because the Holy Spirit is making it known to them.

Dana Arledge, Kevin Farmer, Will Uminn, Phil Meade

First, let us look at the one with which we are most comfortable. Romans 8:9 speaks of the indwelling of the Spirit, “You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.” This indwelling is a seal that occurs at the time of conversion. It is related to regeneration and provides for our sanctification. It is a permanent arrangement as I Corinthians 3:16 points out that we are the temple of God in which the Spirit abides. These truths are bringing us comfort as we face the world.

The other words associated with the Spirit can also bring us both comfort as well as joy. Both words are used often in the scriptures. The concept of baptism of the Holy Spirit is used in all four Gospels and by both Paul and Luke, but not always in the same vain. For Paul, baptism of the Spirit is connected with regeneration. In I Corinthinas 12:12 and 13 Paul speaks of being baptized into the body of Christ, which is a clear reference to regeneration. Paul would see this as a one-time event that occurs at the point of salvation. But Luke uses the phrase differently. It is related to the experience of Pentecost and is more related to filling of the spirit. In Acts 11 Luke talks about gentiles having had the Spirit move upon them, being baptized by the Holy Spirit, were like the believers at Pentecost. And in his description of that experience in the upper room in Acts 2 he uses the word “filling”.

Filling of the Holy Spirit is an ongoing and repeated experience. It is used in scripture many times and is often followed by an act of power. Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones discussed this topic in his book Joy Unspeakable. For him, filling of the Spirit could be described as situations where the Spirit comes upon people and enables them to act. The words they use, the actions they take are beyond what they normally would experience. It is a ministry of the Spirit in both the lives of the listener and the speaker. Dr. Jones says that the filling of the spirit is “to enable God’s people to witness in such a manner that it becomes a phenomenon and people are arrested and are attracted.” (Joy Unspeakable, p. 84) This experience brings us joy in seeing the Glory of God worked out in a transforming way. The joy is not because of our efforts but because it is obviously of God and for His glory.

Kevin Farmer, Will Uminn, Phil Meade, Dana Arledge

How one understands the extent and nature of that work depends at least partly on how much of a Calvinist one is or isn’t.  The stronger one’s theology of sin, the more essential and extensive the work of the Spirit is understood to be.  Verses like John 1:12 and 6:44 and the work of the Spirit throughout the Acts narratives make clear that at least some supernatural work is involved in coming to Christ.

The more intriguing question in this activity is how the Spirit works.  How does he engender conviction in a sinner?  There is very little in the New Testament to suggest that he works apart from some human action.  In Acts 13 the Spirit sets apart missionaries and works through them to bring people to faith.  The focus is usually on the proclamation of the gospel.  Following such usage, the Reformation insisted that there is an intrinsic connection between the Spirit and the Word.  Its doctrine was developed in distinction to both Roman Catholic rationalism and the more fanatical subjective elements that developed in the wake of Luther’s break with Rome (known collectively sometimes as enthusiasts).

In the modern church the Reformation view has sometimes been taken in an almost magical sense, as if there is some inherent power in the text of the Bible that the Spirit puts to use with sinners.  Thus, all one has to do is quote the Bible to sinners and let the Spirit work.  Conversion is certain to result.  But perhaps it isn’t out of line to point out that the Bible is not magical.  The New Testament was not written in a special Holy Ghost Greek, as was once thought, but in the language of the marketplace.  What the Spirit uses in his work is truth, whether expressed in biblical language or not.  Paul did not quote the Old Testament when evangelizing people who did not know it or accept its authority, though he did present Old Testament concepts (see Acts 17).  The Bible gives us truth that we could not otherwise know and truth that is more important than any other we might know.  The job of the evangelist is to present that truth in language and a conceptual framework that the sinner can grasp.  The Holy Spirit uses that to bring conviction.

It is important to note that bringing about conviction is finally the Spirit’s work, not the evangelist’s.  Evangelists are witnesses, but bear no guilt in relation to those who do not respond.  On the other hand, there can be a firm confidence that the Spirit is at work when biblical truth is presented.  We do not speak in vain.

Phil Meade, Will Uminn, Dana Arledge, Kevin Farmer

The idea of the Spirit’s relation to Christ is introduced specifically in the prophetical writings of Isaiah, where it is written that the Spirit would rest upon the Messiah.  The result of this Spirit resting is that the Messiah would receive wisdom, strength, and knowledge for the ministry in which He would partake on earth (Isaiah 42:1-3).  In light of this, the most obvious place to start in understanding the relation of the Spirit to Christ is to first note that it is the Spirit that generated Christ in the incarnation.  Matthew tells us that the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary causing her to be with child (Matthew 1:20).  This act of the Spirit initiated the physical life of Christ and also secured the sinless human nature that the Son would receive.

The next major act of the Spirit resting on Christ is the anointing that Jesus received at His baptism (Luke 4:18).  The Spirit coming upon Jesus, as portrayed as a dove, was the fulfilling of Isaiah’s prophecy in Isaiah 61:1.  The concept of anointing relates historically in the Old Testament to an act performed upon Kings and Priests (both of which Christ was) to initiate and grant right to their duties; and thus, it is in this act that the Spirit conferred upon Christ power for the ministry.  This act of anointing by the Spirit was meant to signify that the Messiah had come (John 1:31).

Thirdly, the idea of the Spirit filling Christ is taught in Luke 4:1.  This     passage says that Jesus was “…full of the Holy Spirit…[and]…was led about by the Spirit.”  The idea of the verb “led” is that of continuous action.  It was not that Jesus was led once in one act, but that continually throughout His ministry He was guided by the Spirit.

From the birth, anointing, and the continuous filling of the Spirit, Christ met the climax of His earthly role in His death.  Yet this act was not His alone, but as  Hebrews 9:14 tells us, Christ “through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God.”  The Spirit that comes upon the Servant in Isaiah 42:1 is the same Spirit who leads the Servant to bear the sins of many in Isaiah 53:1-12.  Furthermore, the death of Christ is not the end of the ministry of the Spirit to Christ.  There are several passages that teach that Christ not only offered Himself through the Spirit but was also raised from the dead “…according to the Spirit of holiness” (Romans 1:4; c.f. 8:11).

Despite the fact that this article did not take into account the role of the    Father, it may be inferred that there is not “any great work of God revealed in the Word of God in which all of the members of the Godhead do not work together to accomplish God’s purpose” (Pentecost, Divine Comforter).

Will Uminn, Phil Meade, Kevin Farmer Dana Arledge

In Deuteronomy 34:9 we read that Joshua was filled with the Holy Spirit to lead Israel into the Promised Land and to deliver her from her enemies. Judges 3:10 reveals how the Holy Spirit came upon Othniel, Caleb’s nephew to deliver Israel from an oppressor, as 1 Samuel 11:6 shows he also did through Saul. The Holy Spirit was Israel’s protector (Isaiah 63:11-12), and through him prophets spoke (Daniel 4:8-9).  The Spirit was equally present in the movement of the wheels of Ezekiel’s vision (Ezekiel 1:12, 20).  The Old Testament also predicts the presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of the coming Messiah (Isaiah 42:1-2).

Jesus once said in John 7:39, “…Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified;” and speaking further of the H.S. Jesus says in John 14:17 “…but you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.”  But how could the Holy Spirit not be given if he had been so busy in the Old Testament, and how could they already know him?  The answer is most probably one of “degrees.”

The Holy Spirit was present in the Old Testament for specific purposes and events. He empowered people, and performed God’s will, but was never as close as promised in the New Testament. In the Old Testament the Spirit came and went according to his sovereign will, whereas in the New Testament he is the final and permanent manifestation of the Trinity throughout the world. Grudem states, “The Holy Spirit had not come within them in the way in which God had promised to put the Holy Spirit within his people when the new covenant would come, nor had the Holy Spirit been poured out in the great abundance and fullness that would characterize the new covenant age (Joel 2:28-29).” Therefore, as important as the Holy Spirit’s presence was in the Old Testament, his presence today only enhances the presence of God among us.

Dana Arledge, Will Uminn, Phil Meade, Kevin Farmer

B.B. Warfield wrote that the Holy Spirit is “the source of all order, life and light in the universe.  He is the divine principle of all movement, of all life and of all thought in the world.” If we could travel back into the void which existed just prior to God saying, “let there be light”, we would find the Holy Spirit hovering over the waters.  His presence guaranteed that when God spoke obedience occurred.  Warfield states, “as God said, Let there be light; Let there be a firmament; Let the waters be gathered together; Let the waters and the earth bring forth – depended upon the fact that the Spirit of God was already brooding upon the formless void. To the voice of God in heaven saying, Let there be light! The energy of the Spirit of God brooding upon the face of the waters responded, and lo! There was light.”  In short, the Holy Spirit was what empowered creation to happen.

In the KJV, Job 26:13 says, “By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens…” Warfield states, “The Spirit of God thus appears from the outset of the Old Testament as the principle of the very existence and persistence of all things, and as the source and originating cause of all movement and order and life.”  In the Spirit’s presence in creation he demonstrates his closeness to everything that was created. Normally we think of God’s transcendence, or his majesty when we think of his role in creation. But the Holy Spirit was present with creation.  For while God the Father was over creation speaking it into existence, and God the Son was the one who was actually performing the task of creating, God the Holy Spirit was present before creation began, and empowered every molecule which was coming into existence to exist according to the command of God.

Dana Arledge, Will Uminn, Kevin Farmer, Phil Meade

There was a small group, the Macedonians, that argued against the deity of the Spirit just prior to 381, but as heresies go, it was rather insignificant and generated nowhere near the controversy that Arianism had over Christ.  A full Trinitarianism was incorporated into the creed issuing from the second ecumenical council at Constantinople in 381.  As Christ was held to be begotten of the Father, begottenness defining his personal distinction within the one God, so the Spirit was said to proceed from the Father (Jn 15:26), procession being his personal distinction.

Unlike Christ, the Spirit has had a rather more controversial history in theology regarding his personality.  He has often been thought of as a force or an influence, not as a person.  That may be due at least in part to the fact that both the Hebrew and Greek words for “spirit” also mean “breath” or “wind,” both of which are impersonal.  The Greek word is also grammatically neuter in gender, so the pronoun would be “it,” not “he.”  The difficulties of translating Ezekiel’s passage on the valley of dry bones are legendary because the word “ruach” carries all three meanings there.  How does one decide exactly when “breath” is meant and when “spirit”?  One could also think of the parallelism between “wind” and “spirit” in Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus in Jn. 3.

But there are many places in Scripture where the Holy Spirit acts or is acted upon in ways that show him to be personal.  For example, he can be grieved (Eph 4:30), but obviously that is not true of the wind or breath.  The decision of the Jerusalem council in Ac 15:28 is said to seem good to the Holy Spirit, implying that he makes intellectual or moral judgments as do persons, but not influences.

We may be exceedingly glad that the Spirit is both fully God and personal.  His ministry to us- as comforter (Ac 9:31) and intercessor (Rom 8:26), for example-would be fatally compromised if both were not true.

Phil Meade, Kevin Farmer, Will Uminn, Dana Arledge

The Holy Spirit is often the least studied and thus the least understood member of the Trinity. A. W. Pink in his book entitled The Holy Spirit says this concerning our study of the matter,
“The great importance of a reverent and prayerful study of this subject should be apparent to every real child of God. The repeated references made to the Spirit by Christ in His final discourse (John 14 to16) at once intimates this. The particular work which has been committed to Him furnishes clear proof of it. There is no spiritual good communicated to anyone but by the Spirit; whatever God in His grace works in us, it is by the Spirit. The only sin for which there is no forgiveness is one committed against the Spirit. How necessary is it then that we should be well instructed in the Scripture doctrine concerning Him! The great abuse there has been in all ages under the pretense of His holy name, should prompt us to diligent study. Finally, the awful ignorance which now so widely prevails upon the Spirit’s office and operations, urges us to put forth our best efforts.”

Why do we shy away from this subject? After all, the Great Commission tells us to baptize in the name of the Holy Spirit. Christ promises a Counselor who will live in us and teach us. Yet we as Baptists shy away from the subject. Perhaps it is a fearful reaction to the charismatic view of Spirit. A view, which like Simon the Magician, has a misunderstanding concerning the power and role of the Spirit. As with everything we as man touch, the focus of our theology often is turned inward. We look to answer the questions, “what do I get out of this?” or “what power do I gain through this?”

As we look at the doctrine of the Holy Spirit through the next section of articles we should consider carefully this Third Person of the Trinity.  What things are we lacking in our understanding of God because of our poor understanding of the role of the Spirit? What beauty of glory do we miss because of our fear of how the world views Him? In what ways are we not properly giving glory to God because of our lack of knowledge in this area? As C. H. Spurgeon said, “There never yet was a heavenly thought, a hallowed deed, or a consecrated act, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ, which was not worked in us by the Holy Spirit.”

Kevin Farmer, Dana Arledge, Phil Meade, Will Uminn