THE HOLY SPIRIT
The Holy Spirit is God, an equal member of the Trinity; Father, Son and Spirit. The concept of a triune God is sometimes difficult to grasp until we think of ourselves, also triune,
(1 Thessalonians 5:23),
three discrete entities so tightly bound together that we act and think in the singular. One seldom gives any consideration to his own tripartness except during a philosophical moment when deliberately exploring the subject.
- The Trinity.
- God the Father Romans 1:7.
- God the Son Hebrews 1:8.
- God the Holy Spirit: Acts 5:3-4.
- All three mentioned together Matthew 28:19,
2 Corinthians 13:14,
1 John 5:7.
Although their activities are not compartmentalized, it is sometimes convenient for us to think of God the Father as ruler of the universe, God the Son as redeemer of mankind and God the Holy Spirit as the interface (point of contact) between God and man.
The Holy Spirit was a partner in the creation of the universe and in the creation of man. Early on, until the event known as Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was occasionally sent by God to temporarily rest upon selected persons, empowering them for specific tasks.
After Jesus had been crucified, resurrected and ascended to Heaven, the disciples were observing the Jewish feast of weeks, (now celebrated by Christians as Pentecost, fifty days after Passover) when the promised Comforter, the Holy Spirit, came to permanently dwell, not upon, but within Christ's believers. From that point in history all Christians are, at the moment of conversion, filled with the Holy Spirit.
- The conversion process is:
- 1. The Holy Spirit attracts a person's attention to Jesus,
- 2. When the person believes, the Holy Spirit regenerates that person (the new birth), and
- 3. takes up residence within that person, encouraging and empowering him or her to grow in Christ-like character and behavior.
The goal, of course, is that the new Christian may become mature and reproductive, useful to the Spirit in attracting others to Christ.
The Bible does not promise that the Christian life will be all "Happy, happy." Satan does his best to thwart the Holy Spirit as he works in us. Discouragement, temptation and false teaching dog us all of our lives, but, as the Apostle John writes in
1 John 4:1-4, " Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world."
RESEARCHING THE HOLY SPIRIT
There are many excellent books in your local Christian bookstore regarding the Holy Spirit. However, viewers of godsview.net frequently prefer to be a little more thorough than can be comfortably fit into a small book for general release. If you are interested and willing to put the effort into it, here is how one can use the search feature to make a thorough study of the subject. Suggested steps:
-
- 1. Use the search feature to identify every verse in the Bible containing the word "Spirit" and/or "Holy Ghost" (a New Testament reference to Holy Spirit).
The search identifies 594 verses, many of which relate to spirits other than the Spirit of God.
2. Download the resulting list to your personal computer. (At the bottom of the first page of the list click DOWNLOAD.) When asked whether to open or save the file request SAVE but under a meaningful_name.txt, example Holy_Spirit.txt. The .txt filetype is important.
3. Use your favorite text editor to scan your saved file for relevant verses, deleting the verses which are not. Save the resulting "cleaned up" file under a different name.txt so that you may access it as required.
4. Again using your text editor begin an analysis of the references to the Holy Spirit. Depending upon your goal you may wish to look for names assigned to the Holy Spirit or perhaps functions of the Holy Spirit. You may wish to use the editor to move verses into groups depending upon your analysis. HINT!
Do not modify your good file of references. Copy the file to another name and modify the copy to your heart's content, leaving the original file untouched..
EXAMPLES OF CATEGORIES REGARDING THE HOLY SPIRIT
- Attributes of the Holy Spirit.
-
- Eternal: (Hebrews 9:14).
- Omnipotent: (Luke 1:35).
- Omnipresent: (Psalm 139:7-12).
- Omniscient: (1 Corinthians 2:10-11).
- In the beginning.
-
- Creation of the universe: (Genesis 1:1-2).
- Creation of mankind: (Genesis 1:26-27).
- Gives life to man: (Job 33:4).
- Sustainer of mankind: (Psalm 104:30).
- Strives with man: (Genesis 6:3,
John 16:7-11).
- The Holy Spirit's relationship with the incarnate Christ.
-
- Predicted: (Psalm 110:1,
Mark 12:35-37).
- Conception: (Luke 1:35,
Matthew 1:18-21).
- Annointed: The term Messiah means "Annointed."
(Isaiah 61:1-2,
Luke 4:17-19,
Acts 10:38).
- Certified: (Luke 3:21-22).
- Led: (Luke 4:1,
Matthew 12:17-18).
- Crucified: (Hebrews 9:14).
- Resurrected: (Romans 1:4,
Romans 8:11).
- The Comforter would come after Christ ascended:
(John 14:16,
John 14:26,
John 15:26,
John 16:7).
- Communication with mankind..
-
- Inspired the Bible for mankind's benefit:
(2 Timothy 3:16-17,
2 Peter 1:21).
- The Holy Spirit used some forty individual writers over a period of two thousand years to create a complete document. Though the Bible has multiple human authors, the Holy Spirit superintended it all. It is consistent. No part should be interpreted apart from the framework of the whole.
(Isaiah 59:21,
Mark 12:36,
Acts 1:16).
- The Holy Spirit's relationship with Old Testament individuals
- In the Old Testament the Holy Spirit usually is described as "Coming upon" a person temporarily to empower him to perform a certain task.
- Joseph:
(Genesis 41:38).
- Bezaleel:
(Exodus 35:31)
- Moses and the seventy elders of Israel:
(Numbers 11:16-17,
Numbers 11:24-25).
- Balaam:
(Numbers 24:2).
- Othniel:
(Judges 3:10).
- Gideon:
(Judges 6:34).
- Jeptha:
(Judges 11:29).
- Samson:
(Judges 13:24-25,
Judges 14:19,
Judges 15:14).
- Saul:
(1 Samuel 10:6-10,
1 Samuel 11:6,
1 Samuel 19:23).
- David:
(1 Samuel 16:13,
2 Samuel 23:1-2).
- Messengers of Saul:
(1 Samuel 19:20-21).
- Azariah:
(2 Chronicles 15:1).
- Zechariah:
(2 Chronicles 24:20).
- Ezekiel:
(Ezekiel 11:5).
- Micah:
(Micah 3:8).
- The Holy Spirit's relationship with New Testament individuals
-
- Directs attention toward Christ:
(John 15:26).
- Invites belief in Christ:
(Revelation 22:17).
- Regenerates:
(John 3:1-6,
Titus 3:5,
2 Corinthians 3:18).
- Adopts:
(Romans 8:15-17).
- Seals and assures:
(Romans 8:16,
Ephesians 1:13,
Ephesians 4:30,
Hebrews 10:15-17).
- Fills:
(John 14:17,
Acts 2:1-8,
Acts 4:31,
Acts 10:44-47).
- Indwells:
(1 Corinthians 3:16,
1 Corinthians 6:19).
- Fills with love of God:
(Romans 5:5).
- Helps to pray:
(Romans 8:26-27).
- Teaches:
(John 14:26,
John 16:13,
1 Corinthians 2:10-13).
- Assigns gifts:
(1 Corinthians 12:1-11,
Hebrews 2:4).
- Assigns tasks:
(Acts 13:2-5,
Acts 16:6-7,
Acts 20:22,
Acts 20:28).
- Empowers our witness:
(Matthew 10:18-20,
Acts 1:8,
Acts 4:8,
Acts 7:55,
1 Corinthians 12:3,
1 John 4:2).
- Produces fruit:
(Galatians 5:22-26).
- Restrains the Spirit of Antichrist:
(2 Thessalonians 2:3-7)
The Holy Spirit dwells within the believers and exerts his influence against sin on earth. At the rapture the Christians will be removed from earth and, along with them, the indwelling Holy Spirit. Evil will be no longer restrained, paving the way for Antichrist.
- Hinderances to the Holy Spirit's Work in one's life
-
- Quench: often by discouraging others; especially young, enthusiastic Christians:
(1 Thessalonians 5:19).
- Despise: consider unimportant:
(Hebrews 10:26-29).
- Secret sins:
(Acts 5:3-4).
- Wicked behavior:
(Ephesians 4:30-31).
- Rebellion:
(Isaiah 63:10,
Acts 7:51).
- Blasphemy: declaring that the Holy Spirit is not God, or his work is not of God:
(Matt 12:31-32).