The Holy Spirit, Our Teacher

Men perish for the lack of knowledge. They are always learning but never coming to the knowledge of the truth (2 Tim 3:7) — the truth as it is in Jesus (Eph 4:21). Jesus Christ is the wisdom of God (1 Cor 1:24), which the natural man deems to be foolish (1 Cor 1:18; 2:14); but the foolishness of God is wiser than men (1 Cor 1:25).

Why does one man scoff at Christ and mock his followers (Ps 2); while another man loves the knowledge of the truth more than his own life, unwilling to recant in order to appease his persecutors (see Foxe’s Book of Martyrs)? The answer is that one man has the indwelling Spirit of Christ (Jn 14:17; Rom 8:9, 11). The other man is void of the Holy Spirit (Jn 14:17; 1 Cor 2:14).

The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Triune Godhead. He is the Spirit of Christ sent from the Father and the Son into the world (Jn 14:26; 15:26). The world, however, cannot receive the Spirit of truth; rather He is sent to God’s elect, redeemed, people whom He causes to be born again (1 Pet 1:3). They are made to see and enter the kingdom of God (Jn 3:1–8; Eph 1:18), having been made alive to God in Christ (Eph 2:5; Col 2:13).

But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus (1 Cor 1:30); and He is in you and abides with you (Jn 14:17), if you indeed belong to the Good Shepherd (Jn 10:26), as one of the sheep of His pasture (Ps 23; 100:3). As we know, sheep are fed and protected by the one who loves them and who cares for them. Christians are fed and protected by the Word of God, which serves as the rod and the staff to comfort the flock of God (Ps 23:4). By it, we taste and see that God is good (Ps 34:8). We graze on God’s Word day and night (Jos 1:8; Ps 1:2).

Growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ is a supernatural work of our Teacher, the Holy Spirit (Jn 14:26; 2 Pet 3:18). It is the Spirit of truth who moved men along to write the Bible (2 Tim 3:16; 2 Pet 1:20–21). He is the divine Author of the written Word of God. He is also the One who illumines the believer’s understanding of the Scriptures (Mt 20:33; 21:42; Lk 24:31; Jn 9; Acts 26:18; Eph 1:18).

With the eyes of the heart (Eph 1:18), spiritual eyes, we see Jesus, who is the mystery of God now revealed to the people of God (Rom 16:25; Eph 3:4; Col 2:2). Jesus Christ, in the Spirit, is made known through the preaching and the teaching of God’s Word (1 Cor 1:21, 23; 2:2; 2 Cor 2:14; 4:6; Phil 3:10), by gifted men with knowledge and wisdom drawn from the Bible (1 Cor 12:8). Jesus gave His disciples an explanation of the Hebrew Bible; and they called Him “Teacher and Lord” (Jn 13:13–14). The Spirit of the Lord is our Teacher, who explains both the written and the living Word, who is Christ.

The Christian life is actually Christ living in us (Gal 2:20). Hence, we live/walk in the faith granted to us as a gift (Phil 1:29). Our trust is in Christ and not in our own understanding (Prv 3:5–6). He is the lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path because He is the Light of the world, who has shone in our hearts that we might see and believe all that He has revealed to us by His grace (Ps 119:105; Jn 8:12; 2 Cor 4:6).

Knowledge tends to puff up the pride of men (1 Cor 8:1). The knowledge of God in Christ deflates a man because it exposes the sinfulness of sinners (Gen 6:5; Jer 17:9; Rom 1:18–32; 3:10–12; Eph 2:1–3, 12). This is why the natural man avoids coming to church to hear the preaching of the Word. He is exposed, as a wretched creature deserving eternal punishment in the lake of fire (Mt 25:41, 46; Jude 7; Rev 20:14–15). He does not want to hear that truth about himself and his future.

The irresistible grace of God actually drags an elect soul to Christ (Jn 6:44), in order to see and know the truth about God, but also the truth about man’s estrangement from his Maker (Gen 3). Christ crucified is preached in power and a demonstration of the Spirit (1 Cor 2:4); the Spirit who powerfully opens the heart for the regenerate to respond in faith (Acts 16:14). It is a radical transformation as much as life is from the dead.

Once the Teacher arrives in the opened heart, He never leaves nor forsakes the student (Heb 13:5), who is now a child of God being disciplined by the love of God unto holiness (Heb 12:4–11). God is holy; and God’s will is for His beloved sons and daughters to be holy, too (1 Pet 1:15–16). God’s will and His work is to sanctify His own (Jn 17:17; Rom 15:16; 2 Cor 7:1; 1 Thess 4:3; 5:23; 2 Thess 2:13; 1 Pet 1:2). Christ-likeness is the molded form He intends for those who bear His image, even as He (Jesus) bears the image of God the Father (Col 1:15). As Christ is formed in us (Gal 4:19), we are being conformed to the image of God’s perfect Son (Rom 8:29). Again, it is His will and work (Phil 2:13).

The means of sanctification is the Word of God employed by the Spirit of God. The truth of the Word sets us free from the lies of our adversary, the devil (1 Pet 5:8). Jesus is the truth that sets the captives free (Is 61:1; Jn 8:32–36). We are no longer slaves to sin and to the fear of death (Rom 6:6; Heb 2:15). Jesus came, in part, to give His people knowledge and understanding of God who is true (1 Jn 5:20).

Christians are subject to what the Spirit teaches us and dependent upon Him for what we know (1 Cor 4:7). When the Spirit gives knowledge by illuminating the Word, it is the grace of God toward His adopted children, who must learn how to behave as royal children in the house of the King of glory, who is the Son of God (Ps 24; 1 Tim 6:15).

Knowledge must be applied. It must be put into practice. Thus, the Spirit is our Teacher and our Lord; and we must live according to the way of Christ (Mt 7:13–14; Jn 14:6), being led by the Spirit in every situation (Gal 5:16, 25). He is the One who guides us into all truth (Jn 16:13).

We have all had Teachers for better or worse. Some have taken a special interest to truly educate us on a particular subject. The Holy Spirit, our Teacher, has gone much further. He lives in us who call God, our Father. He is our Helper (Jn 14:16, 26), our Comforter, who testifies of Jesus Christ so that we truly know Him (Jn 14:26; 15:26). It is in knowing Him that we become more like Him, seeing Him ever more clearly in the Light of life. When we see Him face to face on the last day, we will truly be like Him, body and soul, forever.

David Norczyk

Spokane Valley, Washington

June 3, 2024

John 14:26