Pauline view on the Holy Spirit

  • William Warren
  • Jul 24, 2009

    THE PAULINE VIEW ON THE HOLY SPIRIT - William Warren

    Introduction

    I have recently been asked by a young Christian about the workings and ‘manifestations’ of the Holy Spirit. The questions were very real and sincere and I found myself having to dig deep into what I know and have experienced myself and what the bible actually says about the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is often the ‘neglected’ entity of the Trinity. What I mean by neglected, is that we often marginalize the Holy Spirit in living the Christian life. We are familiar with the attributes of the Father and with the work of Jesus on the cross and what He established for us, but the role of the Holy Spirit is often not that clear. Also, when it comes to the Holy Spirit, many people, Christians also, struggle to get a clear ‘picture’ of the Holy Spirit. People can visualize the idea of a Father and a Son, but often the idea of a Spirit, is sort of vague. Many people subconsciously perceive the Holy Spirit as some kind of a “force”, rather than a person.

    Also, in our time, we are faced with questions about charismatic movements like the ‘Holy Laughter’ phenomenon of the 90’s and similar outpourings of the Holy Spirit in our present day, where often very “strange” things happen. Keeping in mind that in general us Westerners tend to be more ruled by the rational, and any kind of spirit manifestation scares us a bit, we would be foolish to make a quick judgement on things like these without proper knowledge of the nature and work of the Holy Spirit. We also live in an age where many people live for that “ultimate experience” and thus grab onto anything that promises excitement. And certainly, things in the spiritual realm could deliver great ‘excitement’, good or evil!

    I also think it could do us good to get a biblical view on the Holy Spirit, for in the age we live; many Christians have a ‘flexible-theology’ thinking. To many people, absolute truth, is old fashioned and truth is seen to be relative to the time and place you live in, and the Bible is thus not regarded as the ultimate truth anymore. If that is our starting point in our Christian walk, the bible is no longer our ‘measuring stick’ to make sense of life anymore, and it will leave us utterly confused. We will definitely be confused on matters of the Spirit also! If we though are serious about the true God of the Bible, we will submit to His Word, but this is another topic for another day. What I am trying to say is that I think it would be good for us to get a fresh view of what the bible says on the ‘topic’ of the Holy Spirit.

    It is not only crisis that lead us to study the topic of the Holy Spirit, but also wanting to understand the role of the Holy Spirit in our living of the Christian life. We want to know how to ‘apply’ the Spirit, just like we ‘apply’ the work of Jesus on the cross in our lives. Surely there must be more to the Holy Spirit than strange manifestations like laughing, crying, speaking in tongues and gold dust falling from heaven. I am not flippant about these things, and I am not making judgements on them either, but surely we can expect that there is more to God, the Holy Spirit!

    For this exercise, we will be looking at the Apostle Paul’s view on the Holy Spirit. Why Paul? Well, seeing that most of our Christology (theology concerning Jesus) came through the pen of Paul; it is worth looking at his theology and experience of the Holy Spirit.

    I am not claiming with this writing to be an expert on the topic, nor for this to be an exhaustive study on the topic, but after having read Gordon Fee’s book on the topic of Paul’s view of the Holy Spirit, I’ll attempt to highlight some elements I think are important for us in our Christian walk today.

    Paul and the Holy Spirit
    Let’s start by looking at where Paul is coming from in his understanding of the role of the Holy Spirit for every believer. With Paul’s Jewish heritage “…circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee…” [Phil.3:5], he was very familiar with the religious culture and teachings of Israel (God’s chosen people), in what we would call Old Covenant times. He would certainly have been familiar with the prophetic promises of the Old Testament prophets - promises of a salvation through a messiah in a new covenant that God would make with His people. (Notable for this exercise of studying the Holy Spirit, is Ezekiel 36:26,27 that speaks of the nature of that new promised covenant - “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”). I think three things are particularly important: the promise of salvation, the promise of the Holy Spirit and walking in God’s ways.

    We, as believers, are familiar with the fulfilment of the coming of the promised Saviour, in the person of Jesus Christ. The account of the outpouring of the promised Holy Spirit is also recorded for us in Acts 2. For Paul, that realization of the fulfilment of these promises came after his conversion on the road to Damascus.  He experienced the Holy Spirit himself, as he testifies to the Corinthians that he has ‘seen the Lord’ and he also testifies of a subsequent ‘baptism in the Holy Spirit, when Ananias laid hands on him. From his conversion experience onward, Christ was the centre of everything for Paul - “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” [1 Corinthians 2:2]. He knew that with Christ everything changed and a new age had come - the age of Christ and the Spirit “…on whom the end of the ages has come.” [1 Corinthians 10:11] and a new order has begun “…behold, the new has come.” [2 Corinthians 5:17].

    The nature of the Holy Spirit
    As said in my introduction, many people’s subconscious idea of the Holy Spirit is more that of some kind of impersonal force than that of a person. Just the other day a friend said to me that she grew up with the translation of ‘Holy Ghost’ rather than ‘Holy Spirit’, and for years she pictured the Holy Spirit as a scary force. For many people the Holy Spirit is more of an agency for God’s activity and not very personal. Although everything we learn from Paul about the Holy Spirit is very experiential in nature, Paul’s language does paint a personal picture of the Holy Spirit. Let’s look at some examples: the fruit of the indwelling Holy Spirit carries the personal attributes of God [Galatians 5:22-23], the Holy Spirit can be grieved [Ephesians 4:30], he has desires that are in opposition with the flesh [Galatians 5:17], he intercedes on our behalf [Romans 8:26,27]. These are just a few evidential instances that Paul never paints a picture of ‘it’, but rather that of a ‘person’ when he talks about the Holy Spirit.

    Indeed, the Holy Spirit is a person, and that in triune relationship with God the Father and God the Son, and it is evident from Paul’s language that he recognizes the Holy Spirit as a distinct person of the Trinity [2 Corinthians 13:13] - “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all”. [Ephesians 4:4-6] “There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call - one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”  [1 Corinthians 12:4-6] “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.” He does sometimes change his language by using terms like “the Spirit of God” and “the Spirit of Christ” [Philippians 1:19] and “Spirit of his Son” [Galatians 4:6] when talking about the Holy Spirit, but it is simply to convey the functionality or work of either God the Father or Christ through the Holy Spirit and not different persons.

    The role of the Holy Spirit
    Paul’s understanding of ‘salvation in Christ’ also comes from his Jewish heritage – God saving a people unto Himself to fulfil what was promised to Abraham. Salvation is to be found in God the Father as the initiator, God the Son as the one who brought it into effect and the Holy Spirit as the one who produces the effect. In other words, the Holy Spirit plays the role of the ‘worker’ in this great salvation. It would be good for us to quickly look at the meaning of the term ‘salvation’. It seems that the idea or meaning of salvation for Paul was something that had already been achieved by Christ, but salvation is also something that is ongoing in the believer’s life on earth. It reminds me of Michael Eaton that said ‘salvation’ must be seen as a ‘big’ term. It is not something that happens once-off, but rather something that happens in ‘stages’. He explains that ‘salvation’ has separate elements and ‘justification’, ‘sanctification’ and ‘glorification’ are each sequential elements of the process of salvation. Sometimes Paul talks about “have been saved” [Ephesians 2:8], “we are being saved” [1 Corinthians 1:18] and sometimes “will be saved” [Romans 5:9]. For Paul, the Holy Spirit plays a crucial role in every element or ‘stage’ of this salvation in Christ. It seems that for Paul, ‘salvation’ (the ‘big’ term) is always in the context of the ‘people of God’ and not the individual believer. Salvation starts at the level of the individual believer’s conversion, but in the context of the community of believers. I get the idea that it is unthinkable for Paul that a believer can live the Christian life outside of the community of believers. God knits individuals into ‘his people’, the church. In our day, it won’t sit very well with many Western Christians. We are very individualistic and community living is foreign to us. Nevertheless, it does seem Paul assumes that every believer is part of a local church.  

    In ‘working out our salvation’ [Philippians 2:12] (not working for our salvation – as Michael Eaton says) as believers, we live in something of the ‘already’ but we also live in the ‘not yet’. Some part of our salvation has already been effected and some part still has to come to pass. Our justification is a done deal, our sanctification and the completion of it is a process and a promise, and our day of glorification is a future promise. In all of this, the Holy Spirit’s presence is both our evidence of what we have and our guarantee of what we’ll get! Evidence of the ‘already’ and a guarantee of the ‘not yet’. It does seem that Paul spends a lot of time speaking about the work of the Holy Spirit in the ‘in-between’ times, where the believer has to live the Christian life here on earth, and we’ll concentrate on that too.

    When talking about the ‘already’ and ‘not yet’, Paul uses images like ‘seal’ and ‘guarantee’ to illustrate this role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. I think in Ephesians 1:13 and 14 Paul describes it best. “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, V14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”. The word ‘sealed’ carries the meaning of ‘preserved’ or ‘conserved’ or ‘marked as possession’. It speaks about the ‘already’ – been marked as God’s possession when we believed the gospel of our salvation, and the evidence of this mark is the Holy Spirit that lives in us (the presence of the Holy Spirit is actually the mark). It also speaks of the ‘not yet’ - the Holy Spirit as our guarantee of our future inheritance (Verse 14)! The following passages are also evidence of these images: [2 Corinthians 1:21,22] “And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. [2Corinthians 5:5] “He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.” [Ephesians 4:30] “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” What wonderful assurance we have in having received the Holy Spirit!

    Before we get to the more practical outworking of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, we have to look at another role the Holy Spirit plays. To me, this is crucial in our day. In the new covenant, according to Paul, the Spirit came as a replacement of the Jewish law system and as a fulfilment of the righteous requirements of the law. It is a difficult matter to discuss the depth of the Jewish law, but some see the law system as a means of achieving right standing with God and by some it is seen as a “boundary marker”. Anyway, observance of the Jewish law system in any form has come to pass with the new covenant. It does seem like there are contrasts in what Paul is saying about the law, because he speaks of the law as an “arouser of sin” [Romans 7:5], to be a prison – “Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law…” [Galatians 3:23], it is a ‘ministry of condemnation’ [2 Corinthians 3:9], the law has to do with death and not life - “… for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” [2 Corinthians 3:6] and he even says that those who associate themselves with the law are the enemies of Christ.

    In contrast, Paul also talks of the law as “holy, righteous and good” [Romans 7:12,14] and that faith does not nullify the law, but establishes and upholds it. But whichever way you look at the law, as a boundary layer or a way of living for the Jews, it seems that Paul says: “Those who are led by the Spirit are not under the law” [Gal 5:18]. Also, for those who walk in the Spirit, the righteous requirements of the law was fulfilled – “… in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us …” [Romans 8:4]. With the coming of Christ and the Spirit, the law is discontinued –“For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” [Rom 10:4]. God’s new promise is “I will put my Spirit in you and cause you to follow my decrees” [Ezek. 36:27]. In our present, living in the Spirit continues to fulfil the requirements of the law for us. And the Spirit guides us to live in a manner that the law intended for us to live. In such a way, from Paul’s view, the Spirit replaced the law.

    Just a personal note: I think people often think that in order to maintain a ‘balanced’ Christian life, one has to apply a bit of law to balance out grace. The thinking comes from the misunderstanding of the gospel of grace, where one makes the assumption that if a person embraces the full grace message, it will result in licentious (using grace as the license to sin). The full extend of the message of the true gospel of grace is a topic for another time. I am however convinced that the law (observance of it) has absolutely nothing to do with my Christian walk! The righteousness that the law requires has been fully met by the coming of Christ and his Spirit. By living in the Spirit or according to the Spirit, one ‘accidentally’ fulfils the law. It is the ‘living in the Spirit’ that affects our behaviour and attitudes, not the application of the law. We should not live with the tension of grace and law, but live in the Spirit that comes with the gospel of grace!

    Another matter we need to look at is Paul’s contrasting use of the terms ‘according to the flesh’ and ‘according to the Spirit’. It seems that in general, when he talks about ‘according to the flesh’, he refers to the things of the believer’s past, just like for Israel, the era of observance of the law is something of the past. It is a way of life that belongs to the era before and outside of Christ. It is a way of living that is conditioned by, and belongs to the worldly value system, it is passing away, and it cannot have part of God’s Kingdom at all. When he talks about ‘living in the Spirit’, he refers to a new way of life, set in motion by Christ and the Spirit, and it is everlasting. It has nothing to do with the observance of the law or the effort of man. For example: To the Corinthians, Paul writes to tell them that although they are believers, they have the thinking of those who ‘live according to the flesh’ or ‘as people of the flesh’ as the ESV says [1 Corinthians 3:1]. He does not mean they are not saved, but that they have the thinking and behaviour of people ‘in the flesh’.  To the Philippians, he writes that they should not put their confidence in the flesh - “For we are the real circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.”[Philippians 3:3] - In this case he was talking about trusting in the act of circumcision – an old way, outside of Christ.

    Although the believer has been declared righteous by grace through faith in the work of Jesus on the cross, having a status of righteousness before God, Paul never suggests that the believer is now in a state of perfection or is living in perfect victory all the time. Neither does he go to the other extreme where there is a constant battle between the “flesh” (sinfulness) and the “Spirit”, only for the flesh to get it’s way in the end!. He concentrates rather on the role of the Holy Spirit in empowering the believer to live the Christian life. I think it is safe to say that true believers have come into the new way of life with Christ, but can be influenced by the way of the flesh as described above. Paul is urging believers to live empowered by the Spirit in a world with an opposing value system.   

    Paul also uses terms like “power” and “weakness” in the context of talking about the Holy Spirit. In 1 Corinthians 2:4 and 5, he refers to ‘power’ as visible manifestations that’s evidence of the Holy Spirit’s presence –“… and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God …”. In Ephesians 3:16-20,  he uses ‘power’ in a the sense of the power of the Holy Spirit changing attitudes of believers – “that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

    When Paul talks about ‘weakness’ it is in correlation with the ‘power’ of the Holy Spirit and he is not talking about man’s sinfulness, but rather his inabilities. It seems from the famous 2 Corinthians 2:9, that the Holy Spirit is the source of the believer’s power in the midst of affliction or weakness – “But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” As Gordon Fee puts it: “God’s greater glory rests on the manifestation of his grace and power through the weakness of the human vessel, so that there will never be any confusion as to the source”.

    So, we have seen so far, that the presence of the Holy Spirit is both our evidence of us being sealed in God (the ‘already’) and the guarantee of a future inheritance. The Spirit is the replacement of the law and a fulfilment of the righteous requirements of the law. For the ‘in between’ living, Paul is urging believers to live empowered by the Spirit!

    As seen before, the Holy Spirit is a person, and as a person, part of the Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). But with language like ‘dwelling place’ and the image of ‘temple’ (where God dwells), Paul describes the role of the Holy Spirit as God’s presence in the believer. With the coming of Christ and the Spirit, in the light of the fulfilled promise of Ezekiel 36:26,27, God dwells in the ‘hearts’ of people individually and he also made his gathered community his dwelling place. This was not the case in the Old Covenant. It was only on the day of Pentecost, where God’s Spirit was poured out into the ‘hearts’ of people. With the New Covenant, the physical temple building became obsolete and God chose to make people His dwelling place. The physical body of the believer is now God’s dwelling place [1 Corinthians 3:6 and 6:9] “Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?” In other words, God is present in the individual believer through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Paul also speaks of the community of believers (the church) as a holy temple and dwelling place of God. “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.  [Ephesians 2:21,22].

    In the light of Ezekiel 36, the purpose of the indwelling presence of God in his people, both corporately and individually, is so that they may walk in his ways - “And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”. For Paul, it is significant that every believer is ‘led by the Spirit’, who is the personal presence of God, living inside the believer, in order to enable him and lead him to walk in God’s righteousness, and that for His name’s sake! That is the fulfilment of the promise of the outpouring of the Spirit as described in Ezekiel 36.

    The Spirit and conversion
    I have said earlier that the Holy Spirit fulfils the role of the ‘worker’ in this great salvation plan of God. We can now take a look through Paul’s eyes, at the work and role of the Holy Spirit in the conversion of the believer. I am immediately thinking of Romans 10:14 – “But how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?” Paul refers to his own preaching ministry (of the new covenant) as the ‘ministry of the Spirit’ [2 Corinthians 3:8], empowered by the Spirit and it results in others receiving the Spirit. [1 Thessalonians 1:5,6] “…because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction…..you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit…”. The Holy Spirit convicts of the gospel with power and signs and wonders [Romans 15:18,19] “For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience—by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God…”. There are many more instances that prove Paul’s claim of the Holy Spirit being the ‘power’ behind his ministry of preaching and conviction of the unbeliever [1 Corinthians 1:18-25, 2 Corinthians 3:3,  1 Corinthians 14:24,25].

    The preached word, which is the gospel, falls on the ear of the unbeliever [1 Thessalonians 2:13] that leads to faith. Hearing comes before faith, but is also accompanied by faith. [1 Thessalonians 1:13] “… that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God….”, and is also suggested by Romans 10:14.

    In the hearing of the word, the Holy Spirit is the one that brings revelation to the unbeliever.  In 1 Corinthians 2:6-16, Paul describes the gospel as a mystery or ’hidden wisdom’. Only the Spirit can reveal these hidden truths and it stays hidden to those without the Spirit. Only by the Spirit can hearers understand what ‘no mind can conceive’. The gospel is the most crucial revelation any man can get and this spiritual truth is not from human wisdom, but is taught by the Holy Spirit. It is carried over from Spirit to spirit. The unbeliever’s response of faith to that revelation from the Holy Spirit, leads to conversion, which we’ll discuss in a moment.

    In reading passages where Paul talks about faith, he seems to contradict himself in two passages. In Galatians 3:2-5, it seems like he says that the gift of the Holy Spirit comes through faith in Christ, but in 1 Corinthians (like Galatians 5:22), faith is considered a manifestation or fruit of the Spirit. It does seem that these are two ‘kinds’ of faith.  The first is the faith a person puts in Christ in becoming a believer and the second, a sort of ‘unusual’ faith that accompanies the miraculous. Whatever one’s view, and whether it makes logical sense to us or not, it does seem that the Holy Spirit is both the cause and effect of faith!  

    In hearing the preached gospel and believing it, something ‘happens’ in the life of the believer, that we refer to as ‘conversion’. Conversion brings about change to the believer’s status or position in the eyes of God. The believer now steps into a new kind of relationship with God. Paul uses terms like ‘redemption’, ‘reconciled’, ‘washed’, ‘justified’, adopted [Gal 4:4-6], birth etc. to describe the conversion of unbelievers [1 Corinthians 6:11] “And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.] As we can see, the Holy Spirit does the work of ‘washing’, ‘justifying’ and ‘sanctifying’ (sealed or set apart in this case) in this conversion. This is a spiritual work, and it is done by the Holy Spirit. [Galatians 4:29]  “But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now.”

    When one reads all these passages to investigate the connection between the Holy Spirit and anything to do with conversion, it seems like the Holy Spirit plays the leading role. Paul reminds the Galatians of what happened to them when they became Christians. He refers to the event as ‘receiving the spirit’ [Gal 3:2-5] “Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law or by hearing with faith”. It does seem that in Paul’s mind the gift of the Holy Spirit is experiential at conversion, both outwardly (miracles) and inwardly [Galatians 4:6] “And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba! Father!”

    Also worthy of note, is that the very presence of the Holy Spirit, is what distinguishes the believer from the unbeliever [1 Corinthians 2:14-16 and Romans 8:9] “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned… but we have the mind of Christ … you, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.” Also, the one without the Spirit cannot confess Christ [1 Corinthians 12:3] “Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says Jesus is accursed! and no one can say Jesus is Lord except in the Holy Spirit.

    So, we can see the work of the Holy Spirit is absolutely crucial in the conversion of the unbeliever – in hearing the preached word, getting a revelation of the gospel, believing it and confessing it!

    Water baptism and baptism in the Holy Spirit
    Concerning the baptism of the Holy Spirit, I have heard many a testimony of it happening experientially at the moment of water baptism, accompanied by speaking in tongues as the ‘sign’. Although in the early church, water baptism was the immediate response after the believer’s conversion (not so today), nowhere in Paul’s writings, is there any direct connection between the water baptism and the receiving of the Holy Spirit. Where he does refer to water baptism, it is always in reference to Christ, not the Spirit. Only in 1 Corinthians 12:13 are ‘baptism’ and ‘Spirit’ mentioned together, but it refers to baptism in the Spirit and not the water baptism. The context in 1 Corinthians 12:13 is also not ‘conversion’, but the Spirit making them one body. “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.”

    So, nowhere does Paul give the indication that the receiving of the Holy Spirit, is a cause or an effect of water baptism. He does however give an indication that the Holy Spirit is given when the Word (the gospel) is ministered and conversion takes place. Galatians 3:2-5 talks about ‘beginning in the Spirit’ and it also shows that the Holy Spirit came with dramatic events (miracles) “Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith”.

    I have no doubt that an outpouring of the Holy Spirit can happen simultaneously with the water baptism, but it does not seem (from Paul’s view) that the receiving of the Holy Spirit, is a cause or an effect of water baptism.

    In the receiving of the Holy Spirit, Paul mostly talks in the present tense [1 Thessalonians 4:8] “Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.”, which suggests that it is not a single, once-off experience at conversion only, but it is ongoing and dynamic and it’s ‘visible’. Ephesians 5:18 is also evidence that there are many accounts of further, ongoing empowerments from the Holy Spirit “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit..”. I think, for Paul the ‘life in Spirit’ begins at conversion with receiving of the gift of the Holy Spirit, but at the same time, the Holy Spirit is both dynamic and renewable.  

    I have often wondered about the real nature of the ‘baptism in the Holy Spirit’ - at what moment it happens, whether it is experiential and if so, to what extend? One day I heard RT Kendall tell of his experience in his car in 1955. While driving, the glory of God suddenly filled the car and he had never felt such a joy and peace ever before. He had a glorious experience of the presence of God which afterward, left him in a state of resting in God, assured that he was indeed saved. He refers to this experience as the ‘baptism in the Holy Spirit’. He explains, that at conversion, there is an immediate witness of the Holy Spirit, but the ‘highest form’ of assurance often does not come at conversion, but days, or months, or even years later. Like in Paul’s case, he got converted on the road to Damascus, but got filled with the Holy Spirit, only meeting with Ananias [Acts 9:1-9]. The same thing happened to certain believers in Samaria [Acts 8:15-17]. RT Kendall says that his experience of baptism in the Spirit, not only left him in a state of resting in God, but also with a change of heart and a change of theology! He says that baptism is an immediate and direct witnessing of the Holy Spirit that comes straight to the heart, bypassing the mind. It comes without reasoning, thinking, application or reflecting or anything on man’s side, but by God’s sovereign choice. The fruit of it is an unusual joy and peace and a deep assurance of salvation. I had a similar experience, years after I got ‘saved’, sitting under the preaching of the gospel of grace. For years I’ve had knowledge of the gospel, without a deep felt assurance. That day, I felt a sudden impartation from the Holy Spirit, saying ‘that is for you’. In an instance all doubt vanished and an exceeding joy filled my heart. The immediate result was a deep assurance of my salvation which is lasting till this day. I can also say that it changed my theology forever!

    My understanding is this: The Holy Spirit is given to the one who hears and believes the gospel of grace. The baptism of the Holy Spirit may come sooner or later, as God chooses in his sovereignty. This baptism or outpouring of the Spirit gives the believer a ‘deep’ assurance of faith and results in joy and peace and rest in God. Both instances of receiving the Spirit have to do with the gospel of grace. The receiving of the Holy Spirit and the gospel of grace always go hand in hand! I do believe that there can be many more ‘outpourings’ of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. I believe this is what happens at ‘revivals’. Michael Eaton says that at the heart of every revival lies the assurance of faith. God reassures his people and pours out his Spirit which manifests in many ways. People see the wonder of God, they are convicted of sin, they have a new-found peace, they get clarity, they are overjoyed and I believe that is why some people laugh uncontrollably. All sorts of phenomena happen when God pours out his Spirit. I think I am a rational, analytical, somewhat conservative and very self-conscious man, but on a few occasions in my life, God has supernaturally intervened, either by preaching of the Word or Scripture or reading or ‘just out of the blue’. It has always been experiential to the extend that I would become ‘foolish’ in expression, laughing to point of no breath and crying with relief or singing or dancing (which I don’t do) like a mad man! Every time I have felt God assuring me Spirit to spirit that I am His!

    The Spirit in ‘everyday living’
    As said earlier, the Holy Spirit is crucially involved in the whole salvation plan of God, and especially in helping the believer to live empowered. The Spirit helps the believer in numerous areas of living, like giving hope, helping understand the will of God, He’s the source of zeal for service, He intercedes for the believer etc.  One of the areas where the Spirit is of crucial assistance to the believer is in prayer. Paul is known as a missionary and theologian, but he certainly was a man of prayer and thanksgiving. He prayed regularly and urged churches and individuals to do the same “.. pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you..” [1 Thessalonians 5:17,18]. ‘Praying in the Spirit’, with all kinds of prayer seemed to be part of Paul’s normal life. [Ephesians 6:18]. In Romans 8, Paul says that the Spirit helps us particularly in our weakness, not knowing what to pray and the Spirit makes intercession for us. ‘Praying in the Spirit’ is God’s provision for us in our struggle against powers and principalities. Paul urges believers to take up their spiritual weapons, which are the message of the gospel and praying in the Spirit [Ephesians 6:18,20].  The nature of ‘praying in the Spirit’ seems to be the praying or speaking in different kinds of tongues [1 Corinthians 14:2,14-16,28]. It is speaking mysteries to God while the mind is unfruitful and these prayers are not directed at man, but God. It seems that this kind of prayer is not meant for the corporate setting, but for the individual. I am saying this, because Paul does not seem eager to use the gift of tongues in public assembly unless it is interpreted. On the other hand, as a gift for private prayer, he speaks very favourably of it! When the believer prays this kind of prayer, he can trust the Spirit because the Spirit ‘knows the mind of Christ’ and will pray in accordance to the will of God. To sum up, prayer should be much more than giving God our requests and uttering desperate cries. It should rather be an activity inspired by God, through the Holy Spirit. Gordon Fee says: “A prayer-less life is one of practical atheism.”

    We know that Paul uses the imagery of the believer’s body as the temple of the Holy Spirit (God) and the temple in Old Covenant times speaks of the presence or dwelling place of God. In the new covenant, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit into the hearts of people brings the presence of God into the hearts of believers. The Holy Spirit is the one that unveils our hearts that we can ‘see’ and experience the presence of God as 2 Corinthians 3:15 says: “Yes, to this day whenever Moses (law) is read, a veil lies over their hearts.  But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” It is very interesting to note again, that the Spirit does the opposite work of the law (Moses), which points back to the Spirit as the replacement of the law. Wherever the Spirit is present, God is present and there is true freedom for the believer! The Holy Spirit is the presence of God in our hearts!

    For Paul the understanding of living the Christian life is one of starting with the Spirit, continuing in the Spirit and to be made complete in the Spirit. [Gal 3:3] “Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” Living the Christian life extends beyond conversion, to ‘righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit’, according to Romans 14:17. Apart from being declared righteous through faith, there remains righteous living for the Christian and this righteous living has nothing to do with working for salvation, but it is God’s desired way of living for the believer [Ezekiel 36:27]. True Christian (righteous) living can only be by the empowering of the Spirit. Living according to the law makes people religious, but living according to the Spirit, causes or moves the believer to live righteously. Paul urges the Galatians to make complete in the Spirit what they started in the Spirit, meaning they were born of the Spirit, but now they should fulfil righteous living in the same way, by walking in the Spirit. Paul tells them to ‘walk by the Spirit’ in order not to fulfil the desires of the flesh. Those who walk by or according to the Spirit, behave accordingly [Gal 5:13-25]. It is clear from what Paul writes that righteous living is affected by the Holy Spirit of God!

    Some elements of the Spirit in the gathering of believers
    We don’t learn much from Paul about worship in the early church, but it does seem that for him, the gathered church  was a worshiping community and the key to their worship was the presence of the Holy Spirit. [Philippians 3:3] “For we are the real circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.” Concerning the nature of corporate worship, it appears that in Pauline churches, worship was free and spontaneous and orchestrated by the Spirit himself. Worship is expressed in a variety of ways according to 1 Corinthians 14:26 “When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.” There is nowhere evidence of a ‘worship leader’ (make of it what you want). The character of the God who is worshiped must be reflected in the manner and content of the worship. Although everyone may participate there cannot be chaos and there are some guidelines, eg. speaking in tongues are limited to two or three at a time and it must be interpreted and those who speak must have respect for one another and submit to one another. All these are evident in 1 Corinthians 14. It must be said that these guidelines were given because there were problems in the church, so Paul never tells us what worship should be like, but rather corrects error. We can however use what he has written as some guideline for corporate worship.

    1 Corinthians 14:14,15,26 suggests that singing was some special activity. Colossians and Ephesians give us the idea that singing was corporate and songs were praises addressed to God and hymns served as vehicles of instruction to the people. We also get the idea that the singing might have been charismatic and spontaneous and inspired, either on the moment or beforehand. 1 Corinthians 14:26, at least, suggests that there was some ‘solo’ singing as well! “What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up. I think, the most important factor here when it comes to expression of worship, is the involvement of the Holy Spirit, as we’ve seen in Philippians 3:3. Life is to be found only in the life-giving Spirit, and where the Spirit is, there is freedom. Spontaneous, charismatic, free worship is a product of the Holy Spirit.

    Manifestations of the Spirit
    In 1 Corinthians 12:8-11, Paul lists a variety of gifts of the Holy Spirit to the community of believers. The point of listing these phenomena or manifestations of the Spirit, is to display the diverse ways the Spirit manifests himself when the community of believers get together.“ 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…”

    Some of these gifts of the Holy Spirit can be seen as activities of the Spirit in the form of service to God’s people - like giving and caring. Some of these phenomena can be seen as inspired speech/utterance, like unusual wisdom or knowledge, different kinds of tongues (as already discussed), interpretation of tongues etc. Prophecy is another common phenomenon or manifestation of the Spirit. Paul’s history in Judaism gave him an understanding of prophecy, where God chose specific people to speak under the inspiration of the Spirit and they were known as prophets. Although some were called ‘prophets’, Paul’s writings give the implication that the gift of prophecy is potentially available to all. For him it was a gift of spontaneous speech for the encouragement and edification where believers are gathered. [1 Corinthians 14:24-32,]. It seems the function of prophecy, according to Paul’s writings to the Galatians and to Timothy, is the Spirit, directing the lives of God’s people.  It also seems the Spirit uses prophecy to speak or instruct or warn the church about the future [1 Timothy 4:1]. To unbelievers, he reveals the sins of their hearts through prophesying, and it leads to repentance. For believers, the Spirit speaks words of encouragement to build them up to come to maturity [Ephesians 4].
     
    Others manifestations of the Spirit are more charismatic and more visible or ‘spectacular’ - like the working of miracles and healings. Paul’s language about signs and wonders in Romans 15:18,19 and 2 Corinthians 12:12 are evidence that these powerful displays of the Holy Spirit, was part of his ministry. For Paul, these manifestations of the Spirit were the very sign of the presence of God!


    Conclusion
    For Paul, the Holy Spirit is not an impersonal force, but as promised, the very personal presence of God living in the hearts of people. The Holy Spirit is the gift from the Father to everyone who believes in the gospel of Jesus Christ. The presence of the Holy Spirit in the believer is of crucial significance, firstly as evidence of being sealed as God’s possession and a guarantee of a future with God. Also, with the gift of the Holy Spirit, a new way of life is made possible where the law system is made obsolete and ‘life in the Spirit’ is introduced. For Paul, living the Christian life without the Holy Spirit is impossible, because in all of the ‘salvation process’, the Holy Spirit is the one who does the ‘work’. He is especially the one who empowers the believer to live the Christian life.

    In actual fact, we cannot afford to marginalise the Holy Spirit in our daily living at all! He must be seen as our very best friend, because he is a person, provided by God the Father, to enable us to really live. He is our deep assurance and the source of our power in our daily living and in our ministry. His presence is felt and has an effect on all our behaviour, sometimes to the extent where we would do things we don’t normally do. Because he is charismatic and dynamic in nature, we can expect miracles and things that are not rational to the mind.   

    Perhaps we should be less critical of the wide variety of manifestations of the Spirit, and embrace what God does in His sovereignty through the Holy Spirit. We should also perhaps do less in our own strength and allow the Spirit to take control. Maybe we should not measure our spirituality in terms of ecstatic experiences, but like Paul, live from a place of weakness, empowered by the Holy Spirit.      


    BIBLIOGRAPHY

    Gordon Fee – “God’s Power and Presence’

    RT Kendal – “Pure joy!”

    Bible – English Standard Version (ESV)

    Michael Eaton – “Working out your salvation” (Audio message May/June 2007)

    Internet:
    •    http://www.abu.nb.ca/Courses/NTIntro/Spirit7.htm
    •    http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/Psychology/holylaugh.htm
    •    http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/Psychology/char/more/hist.htm