The Work of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God

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@Ritajanice

Part One

Rita is tagged in this OP because of statements she made and questions she asked in a thread that pulled that thread off topic. One of the statements being, that we do not get born again from the Bible. It is unclear what she means by this, but subsequent questions to her about what was meant, produced no viable answers. Neither was she able to explain how we are born again and have the indwelling of the Spirit, or how the Spirit bears witness to our spirit that we are the children of God. It appeared that to her it was some feeling we get, near as I can tell. It came out in the debate that she is a Charismatic, and then I began to understand the confusion in ascertaining what she meant, and her inability to even explain it. The teachings in Charismatic churches give no grounding on which to define it. When debating with non-Charismatics, it is like two people trying to communicate by speaking different languages but using the same words. However, it is an important subject and I do not want to stand alone in what I say. Neither do I want the subject to go unexplored and the insights and views of others to be absent. It is a much bigger and more important topic and my words should not stand in isolation from the careful, doctrinally sound and supported, perspectives of the rest of the body of Christ who are present on the forum. As J.I, Packer said in his book Knowing God, "If there was no work of the Holy Spirit, there would be no gospel and no Christians." There would be no new birth.

In addition all that I am about to put forth comes from deep study on the matter, post my own Charismatic days, where I bore witness to the teachings and the activities, and things said to be the Holy Spirit. I am attempting here to begin to shed biblical light on the movement that is so absent any biblical light. Rather it supports itself, and that loosely, with scriptures that are isolated from all context and from sound biblical hermeneutical examination or even any interest in the use of hermeneutical tools altogether. Are times, an outright disdain of them.

The Holy Spirit is a personal being, the third person of the Trinity. As such, he does not work independently of the Father's will or of the Son's will. He was sent by the Father and the Son for a specific purpose and work, just as Jesus was sent by the Father for a specific purpose and work -----in this case, relating to salvation. He is not some mythical, mystical, invisible force, to be conjured into catering to the whims and demands of people. That is an occult, pagan view. He is in fact a parallel figure to Christ, the "another" Helper.

We need to examine the scriptures to ascertain what the work of the Holy Spirit is in redemption.

On the eve of his crucifixion and departure, Jesus said to his disciples in John 14:25-26 "These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 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." Previously in verses 16-17 he told his disciples, "And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor know him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you."

We learn here that the Holy Spirit comes in Christ's stead.

 

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Part Two

After his resurrection and just before his ascension, Jesus instructed his disciples, Matt 28:18-20 "When Jesus came near, he spoke to them. He said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. So wherever you go, make disciples of all nations, Baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Teach them to do everything I have commanded you. And remember that I am always with you until the end of time."

We learn there what he is sending them to do. We have already learned that it will be the Spirit in them who teaches, guides, and equips them in this work. In Acts we learn that Paul is appointed by Jesus as an apostle to the Gentiles and the Jews.

In Eph 2:17-20 we learn of another duty assigned to the apostles when Paul states, "And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 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 of the Lord. In him also you are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit."

We see this idea of a foundation being laid again in 1Cor 3:11-16. "For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw---each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire."

This foundation image establishes exactly what the epistles are doing, and their words as the word of God. What they speak and write is given by the Holy Spirit. So what is this foundation? What does that mean?

It is the doctrinal (teachings) laid out in the NT and the Prophets (the whole Bible), for Christ's church---his called out ones. These are the truths that the Holy Spirit imparted to the apostles and no other foundation is to be laid. It is these truths that the Holy Spirit indwelling the believer illuminates for them to give them understanding. These truths are nowhere else. They are not new revelations or personal predictions or whatever thought enter our mind, or scriptures that we have give a meaning to, but have not contextualized, or feelings we have, as being the Holy Spirit speaking to us. It pertains to truths found in the Bible. He speaks to us by reminding us of what is contained IN the scriptures. He does not operate through omens and superstition, and signs.

So how does this pertain to the new birth, and how does the Spirit witness to our spirit that we are children of God?

The Bible and with it the gospel, that speaks of salvation, is available to all in that it is not restricted from an particular group of people. Salvation requires believing the gospel (the person and work of Jesus). And yet 1 Cor 2:14 says, "The natural person (all people born in Adam) 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."

Jesus said in John 3:6-8 "That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."



He said in the same chapter, "Unless a man is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God."

Blind eyes do to see or respond to the light. We must be born again of the Holy Spirit (out of Adam and into Christ. Christ undoing for us the curse of Adam) who opens blind eyes. And he, the Holy Spirit, testifies through our belief in the gospel, that we are children of God who have been born again. Not by an experience or a feeling. Feelings are not proof of anything, though we will certainly have them. An experience is not proof of anything, not all people have them when they are born again. Those things are a result of the new birth, of the light entering our eyes and hearts. But they are not the proof of the thing itself. And the experience or the feeling is not the rebirth itself.

The Holy Spirit cannot be called down by repetitive singing or gibberish as we see in Charismatic communities. That is antithetical to Scripture that says the Holy Spirit indwells the believer. He does only what the Father and the Son tell him to do, just as Jesus only did and said what the Father told him. The displays in Charismatic churches that are said to be manifestations of the Holy Spirit, are a dangerous blasphemy, The produce no lasting inner change or evidence of anything related to the Holy Spirit's work in anyone. All the ecstacy and feeling of good will fade when the doors of the church open and it is pouring down rain or the car won't start, or Monday comes with the same old same old. The Holy Spirit is God the Spirit and when He shows up it is is power to transform people on the inside. And it will always,always, be related to Christ and focused on him.

From the High Priestly Prayer. John 17:17-19 "Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As You sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

These manifestations in Charismatic churches attributed to the Holy Spirit, including the babble claiming to be languages; the taught practice of looking to feelings to see what the Spirit is saying to an individual; the taught practice of attributing guess work/fortune telling to the Holy Spirit; the teaching that brings forth new revelation attributed to the Holy Spirit, is at best wood, hay, and straw. At worst, it is a whole other foundation than the one built by the apostles/

 

[ElectedbyHim]

This is Biblical truth and extremely well written.