The Holy Spirit - God In Us

Jesus said that He would send the Holy Spirit, our Counselor/Helper to be with us forever, with and in all disciples. To gain fully from what Jesus has done for us we need to be sure just what we have received! Did we just receive a power or did we receive a person?

Let's see some of what Jesus had to say about Holy Spirit, who would be the same kind of counselor/helper as Himself.

The Holy Spirit - Another Counselor.

Jesus in introducing the Holy Spirit in John, Chapter 14, said this...

John 14:26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

Notice that Holy Spirit is a 'helper' and 'teacher', and can speak to our minds and 'remind' us of what Jesus said. A teacher does not just tells you about things, a teacher has to explain and convey concepts as well as information.

In telling us this, Jesus is developing the information found in the Old Testament about the Holy Spirit being our Teacher and Instructor.

Let's look at Nehemiah 9:20 for instance...

Neh 9:20, “You gave also your good Spirit to instruct them, and did not withhold your manna from their mouth, and gave them water for their thirst.”

So we see in the O.T. 'goodness' is attributed to Holy Spirit as well as the role of 'instructor'. Goodness is an abstract attribute belonging only to rational, sharing beings. It has no place in a diffuse power. And, Holy Spirit 'instructed' them.

Jesus also said this in John, Chapter 15...

John 15:26 When the Counselor comes…, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me .

Here Jesus tells us that Holy Spirit, our Counselor, is the Spirit of 'truth', which is another abstract concept needing mind, not an attribute of power; and that He will testify about Jesus.
To testify is to 'speak' on behalf of someone! Holy Spirit speaks to people who are called, on behalf of Jesus.

In Chapter 16, Jesus has a lot more to say about Holy Spirit's attributes. It's interesting also that Jesus always uses 'He' to refer to Holy Spirit. Greek has a neuter gender and spirit would normally utilise this gender but Jesus deliberately uses the masculine gender whenever He speaks of Holy Spirit.

We can look at attributes mentioned in Chapter 16, verses 8 - 15 for instance which tell us that...

John 16:8-15
- (V08)He will reprove the world of sin, righteousness and judgement
- (V13)He will guide believers into all truth
- (V13)He will speak to believers what he first of all hears
- (V13)He will tell believers things which are yet to come
- (V15)He will take from what is Christ’s and show this to believers.

These are all interesting concepts in that they necessitate a mind on the part of Holy Spirit interacting with our minds to do what Jesus said Holy Spirit would indeed do!

To reprove is to convict someone of truth. Holy Spirit guides us into all truth and convicts us of that truth. Not only that, Holy Spirit hears from the Father and Jesus and passes that info on to us. He will also tell us of things in the future which it would be of benefit for us to know! And, Jesus says that He will take from what belongs to Jesus and show it to us. Have you noticed that this is a selection process which Holy Spirit does on our behalf? He takes from what is Christ's; He doesn't just dump everything on us, He selects for those things useful for your calling!

Once we even put a foot in the door regarding the possibility that Holy Spirit is a personage of the Godhead, the thought will come to mind that God is to be worshipped and yet Jesus always tells us that Holy Spirit will not draw attention to Himself. This is true, but in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Paul gave us the more complete record of the situation NOW, after the fact of Jesus' death and resurection, when he wrote this...

1 Cor 6:19-20 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God. You are not your own; For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

This became true after Jesus' death and resurection made it possible and Holy Spirit could come and dwell IN us. Your body is NOW a temple of the Holy Spirit and temples are places of worship. We can also consider what Luke tells us writing in the book of Acts, Chapter 5, verses 3 and 4 .

Act 5:3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? 4 While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.”

Here in Acts, Chapter 5, verse 3, Peter reprimands Ananias for telling a lie to the Holy Spirit, but then in the next verse he tells him that he has lied not to men but to God! Peter equates the Holy Spirit with being God.

So do we believe what Paul & Luke tell us under inspiration regarding the Holy Spirit and our relationship to Him?

Having seen this, it seemed to me that it would be interesting to get someone else's take on the differences in thinking that are engendered when we have either of the two dominant mindsets. Holy Spirit as power or Holy Spirit as person. Here is what one of my ministers brought to my attention that a great theologian, evangelist and pastor, R.A Torrey, had to say...

    If the Holy Spirit is a power, we’ll want to get hold of it.  If the Holy Spirit is a Divine Person, we’ll want Him to get hold of us.
    If the Holy Spirit is a power, we’ll want it to accomplish our will and whim.  If the Holy Spirit is a Divine Person, we’ll want to surrender more to Him in awe and wonder. 
    If the Holy Spirit is a power, we’ll be proud we have it and feel superior to those who don’t.  If the Holy Spirit is a Divine Person, we’ll be humbled that in His great love the very Third Person of the Trinity has chosen to dwell within us.
(R.A. Torrey).

We see from this that how we think of Holy Spirit affects our attitude towards God and the motivation for what we do in life. It may be subtle in it's effect though in that we may not appreciate the impact it is having until someone causes us to consider what we believe and the difference it makes.

Now, let's look at other things that Jesus said which can impact on our knowledge of Holy Spirit.

Luke 4:18:19 The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom to the captives…

In this passage Jesus tells us that it was Holy Spirit that annointed Him and sent him to preach good news and release the captives, etc!

This is consistent with the rest of Jesus' teachings since as I mentioned before, Jesus never spoke of the Counselor (Comforter) as an ‘it’.  The word for ‘spirit’ in Greek (pneuma) would normally take the pronoun ‘it’  -- but Jesus showed the Holy Spirit is a person by speaking of ‘He’ instead.

He has an intellect

The Holy Spirit has mind and will and intelligence and intellect and has the ability to explore, examine and search the things of God.

1 Cor 2:10 For the Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God.

We are told that God’s Spirit is the Spirit of knowledge and so Holy Spirit has all knowledge, but even so he searches the depth and magnitude of the Father’s plans. And, having that knowledge He shares his knowledge with us! Further, Paul points out...

1 Cor 2:11 No one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God..

We can note here that in this section of holy scripture Paul says that 'no one' except the Holy Spirit knows the things of God.

Holy Spirit also uses His mind and intellect to pray for us when we don't know how or what to pray and He intercedes for us in accordance with God's will. By definition also, if He can pray for us when we don't know how to He must have a greater intellect than us, not just be a mere power! Have a look at the book of Romans, in Chapter 8, verses 26-27.

Rom 8:26-27 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.  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.

We see in this passage that Holy Spirit prays and intercedes 'for' us, and doesn't just repeat what we say like a radio communication channel, but He prays what we would say if we had the mind and intellect to figure it out!

Holy Spirit not just prays for us He also speaks to us to show us what is in line with God's will and what is not, so that we can walk in the light.

Rev 2:7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

For instance, in Galatians Chapter 4, verse 6 we read, "And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." The Holy Spirit cries out to our hearts about God our Father. He reveals the Father and testifies of Jesus.

Jesus said that Holy Spirit would be another counselor just like himself and in the light of these scriptures it's interesting to note what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 3:17.

2 Cor 3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

It's also Holy Spirit who decides the gifts to give to us as required to do the work that God has called us to accomplish.

1 Cor 12:7-11 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as 'He' wills.

Having distributed various gifts within the body according to His will, the Holy Spirit then makes particular people leaders in the Church, as He decides.

Acts 20:28 Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which He bought with His own blood.

In keeping with being a person, Holy Spirit has emotions and feelings. He loves and can be hurt emotionally. Being a person He can be lied to and insulted. The biggest insult being to claim that the work that He does is the work of Satan!

Rom 15:30 Now I urge you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God for me...

The Holy Spirit loves! In fact the same word used by Jesus to describe that the Father of the prodigal son embraced or hugged him is used by Luke in Acts and translated to say that the Holy Spirit 'fell' on to the Centurian Cornelius and his family! The word fell is the same word translated embraced in Acts 10:44.

The Holy Spirit can also be affected by the silly and wrong things that we do. We can by our wrong actions, thought and speech grieve his heart. And, this is noted in both the Old and the New Testaments! Because in the O.T. they could not have Holy Spirit IN them there is less information given than in the N.T. but both show that Holy Spirit is not just a power!

Isa 63:10 “Yet they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit: so He turned to be their enemy, and He Himself fought against them.”

Eph 4:30 Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

When we think of those actions that affect us as people adversely, one of the worst is to be lied to by someone. Just as we don't like this to be done to us, Holy Spirit does not like it done to Him either!

Acts 5:3-4 Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.

Here we see that Luke reports, matter of factly, that lies told toward Holy Spirit are lies told to God. This is worse than having lied to human beings.

Even worse that this perhaps is to insult or blaspheme the Holy Spirit. Jesus said that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (to attribute the things done by Holy Spirit to Satan) would not be forgiven.

Mat 12:31-32 “Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. 32“Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.

Here we see jesus making it plain that the Holy Spirit's sensitivity is protected more by God than Jesus' sensitivity even though Jesus is the one who died for us!

Heb 10:29 How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace.

Mark 3:22 The scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebub,” and “He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons...” 28 “Truly I (Jesus) say to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter; 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”

So we see in the above scriptural quotes that Holy Spirit has all the attributes that one would expect in a person and further He has the enhanced mind and intellect of God.

Holy Spirit has come to be our Companion, our Counselor, our Guide and our ever-present Help.

God the Father is truly 'Allmighty'; Jesus has 'All power and authority', so it is not surprising that Holy Spirit also has 'Power', but He has and is much more than that!

We will better serve God once we realize that Holy Spirit is indeed one of the three personages that are the triune God of the Bible and appreciate why Paul said in 2 Corinthians, Chapter 13, verse 14...

2 Cor 13:14 May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.

Jesus told us in John, Chapter 14 that He would send us the Comforter/Helper, who is the Holy Spirit, who would be with us forever, and as a result when we realize who He is we have opportunity to fellowship with Him 24/7.

It would be a shame to miss out on this fellowship (friendship, presence, companionship, advice, guidance, communion, and intimacy) with God!

Attlee.

The Person Of The holy Spirit - R. A. Torrey. Click Here.
God's Sovereignty and Our Healing. Click Here.
Grace and Law in Ancient Israel. Click Here.
The Love Of God Click Here.
The Heart Of God Click Here.

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