Holy Spirit at-a-glance
When God the Father and God the Son sent God the Holy Spirit upon the church at Pentecost (Acts 2), the Gentile inclusion into the people of God began to predominate. The Holy Spirit’s work to apply salvation to God’s chosen people had mostly been limited to the elect remnant of ethnic Israel (Rom 9:6). Now, the Holy Spirit would cause innumerable elect Gentiles to be born again of God, too (1 Pet 1:3).
The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Holy Trinity. He is the One appointed to call and to gather the Israel of God from every nation, tribe, and tongue (Rev 5:9; 7:9). The Holy Spirit is the Lord (2 Cor 3:17), and the Lord knows those who are His (2 Tim 2:19).
It is the Father who draws those whom He has given to the Son (Jn 6:37, 44). It is the Spirit’s work to do this drawing, because it is the Spirit who bears witness of Jesus Christ (Jn 15:26). The Spirit glorifies Christ (Jn 16:14). Those whom the Father elected before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4–5) are brought by the Spirit to Christ Jesus. Preaching is followed by baptism and indwelling in God’s newborn child.
It is the Spirit of truth who guides those He indwells (Rom 8:9, 11) into all truth (Jn 16:13). Once the Spirit baptizes the new believer into Christ, the process continues under the leadership of the Spirit. Those who belong to Christ are led by the Spirit (Gal 5:18; 8:14). The sons of God, therefore, walk by the Spirit (Gal 5:16) on the path of righteousness.
To live by the Spirit (Gal 5:25) means the child of God is living a life of faith in Jesus Christ (Gal 2:20). God had promised the Holy Spirit, and He sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts (Gal 4:6) as a gift (Acts 2:38; 10:45) whereby we know we have received Him (Jn 1:12; Acts 2:38) because we cry out, “Abba! Father!”
The gift of the Holy Spirit produces the fruit of the Spirit in the saint (Gal 5:22–23). These are the communicable attributes of God now manifesting in the Spirit-filled soul. The life of God in the soul of man demonstrates how God is transforming His redeemed people into conformity to Christ (Rom 8:29).
Christian, set your mind on the things above (Col 3:2), for the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace (Rom 8:6). It is the Spirit who is our Teacher (Lk 12:12; 14:26). Employing the man of God, who is appointed by the Holy Spirit to be an overseer in the church (Acts 20:28), He will speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine (Titus 2:1). Many will not endure sound doctrine (2 Tim 4:3), so this man must refute those who contradict (Titus 1:9). He does so in the wisdom and power of the Spirit (Acts 1:8; Rom 15:19; 1 Cor 2:4).
The church of God is the temple of the Holy Spirit, where God’s people dwell in righteousness, joy, and peace in the kingdom by the Spirit (Rom 14:17; Eph 2:22). It is by this one Spirit that we have access to the Father in Christ (Eph 2:18). We are seated with Christ in the heavenlies (Eph 2:6) in the Spirit who lives in us. This is our spiritual union with Christ (He in us, and we in Him).
Christ in us, by His Spirit, is how God is willing and working His good pleasure (Phil 2:13). Our trust is in the Lord (Ps 37:4), who accomplishes what concerns us (Ps 57:2; 138:8). It is God’s will for His people to be sanctified by the Spirit (1 Thess 4:3), who uses the Word of truth (Jn 17:17) to renew our minds (Rom 12:2), into the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16). He has removed the blindness of our minds (2 Cor 4:4), which were subject to futility (Eph 4:17). Truth sets our minds free (Jn 8:32) from the deceiver and his lies. The Spirit of Christ has set his captive people free through the preaching of Good News (Is 61:1).
“Jesus Christ is Lord,” is the confession of the Spirit-filled professor (1 Cor 12:3). As the Spirit’s internal work is manifest, the gifts of the Spirit become discernible (1 Cor 12–14). The works of the Holy Spirit are many and diverse for the common good of Christ’s body, the church (1 Cor 12:7). The gifts distributed by the Spirit to each member of the church are according to the will of the Spirit (1 Cor 12:11).
God is love (1 Jn 4:8); therefore the love of God indwells the Christian and constrains her to labor in love for her Lord, who is the Spirit (2 Cor 3:17). All things must be done with the motive of love for God and for one’s neighbor. It is the Spirit’s work to bring the regenerate soul through death of the body. It is also the work of the Holy Spirit, who raised Jesus from the dead, to bring again to life our bodies in the resurrection to life on the last day (Jn 5:29).
The Holy Spirit was given to each elect soul, as a token or a pledge of the fullness of glory to be revealed to us (2 Cor 1:22; 5:5). The Holy Spirit is the pledge of the promise of our eternal inheritance (Eph 1:13–14). This is reserved for us in heaven (1 Pet 1:4).
Our task here has been to see the person and work of the Spirit at-a-glance. The Subject is worthy of more space than has allowed for here. My encouragement, Christian, is to further your study of the One who promises to never leave you nor forsake you (Heb 13:5). You have a friend who sticks closer to you than a brother. He actually lives in you, and He is your God!
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
May 6, 2022
