Discuss concerning the Holy Spirit? That’s at all times been difficult. In spite of everything, he’s the Spirit, the Wind, the nice unseen Enigma, that almost all mysterious and hidden Particular person of the ineffable Godhead.
Additionally, we dwell in instances that may make pondering and talking concerning the Spirit all of the tougher. For one, pervasive secular influences strain us to take care of concrete phenomena — the seeable, hearable, touchable, tastable. The impact is a delicate however sturdy bias towards the Spirit. With Jesus, we’re speaking real-life humanity, at the least in principle; with the church, we’re speaking real-life fellow Christians; with creation, we’re speaking tangible, sense-able, the world that surrounds us; with anthropology, flesh and blood and our personal plain inside individual. However the Invisible Wind is sort of a no-starter for the thoughts formed by secular influences.
What’s extra, many Christians have the unlucky tendency to rapidly flip Spirit-talk to “manifestations of the Spirit” (1 Corinthians 14:12) — that’s, non secular items and particularly controversial ones like talking in tongues. All too quickly, we aren’t even speaking concerning the Spirit and the true coronary heart of his work however primarily speculating about ourselves and telling unusual tales.
In Scripture, the Spirit himself doesn’t obtain the front-and-center consideration that the Father and the Son do. He usually hides in compact, significant phrases and works quietly within the theological background. In fact, that is the Spirit’s personal doing. He’s the writer of Scripture, thrilled to shine his gentle on Father and Son, to hold alongside prophets and apostles in phrase ministry, and to empower the phrases and deeds of the everlasting Phrase himself. Scripture’s brevity of give attention to the Spirit isn’t oversight or suppression. The Spirit likes it that method — he did it that method.
‘Life within the Spirit’
Nonetheless, conceal and work quietly as he might, he does step ahead in a spot of placing prominence, in one of many best letters ever written, on the very climax of Paul’s magnum opus: “The Nice Eight.”
Romans chapter 8 is among the few spots the place the Spirit pulls again the curtain and says, in impact, “I’ll let you know a bit of bit about myself: as a lot as you should know, however not an excessive amount of, and never for too lengthy.” For hundreds of years, devoted Christians have given particular place to the guarantees and wonders of Romans 8, which is effectively summarized within the ESV with the heading “Life within the Spirit.” Romans 7:6 units up the distinction that follows in the remainder of chapter 7, and into chapter 8:
We serve within the new method of the Spirit and never within the previous method of the written code.
Romans 7:7–24, then, rehearses the challenges of serving below the oldness of the earlier period and its legislation (holy, righteous, and good because it was), and Romans 8:1–27 bursts into the fun and advantages of dwelling within the newness of the Spirit. In Christ, the Spirit is just not solely with us, as he was with old-covenant saints, however now, poured out from heaven in new fullness by the risen Christ, the Spirit testifies to us of our standing, intercedes for us in our weak point, and even dwells in us as the current, private energy of the Christian life. Contemplate these three Spirit-glories in Romans 8, working from the skin in.
Sonship: He Testifies to Us
First, the Spirit speaks to us — and never any insignificant phrase. His is the foundational phrase about our most foundational id. And it’s a weighty phrase, a sworn statement — understanding with certainty what has already occurred, he testifies to us about what is really the case, like a witness in court docket, with a view to persuade us of the reality.
Not solely are we creatures of the Creator, people shaped from humble mud, and never solely are we sinners who’ve turned towards our King, however now, in Jesus Christ, God’s distinctive Son, we too are “sons of God” (Romans 8:14). “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we’re youngsters of God” (Romans 8:16). He’s “the Spirit of adoption as sons” (Romans 8:15) who solemnly testifies to guarantee us that we’re God’s chosen — not mere creatures however beloved youngsters drawn into his household, who now irrepressibly cry out, “Abba! Father!” (Romans 8:15). Already we are youngsters. The Spirit is aware of this and bears witness to it in order that we, too, may confidently know and embrace it.
Hidden and enigmatic because the Spirit could appear, he isn’t some silent power however a revealing, talking, main Particular person. He’s “the Spirit . . . of revelation” (Ephesians 1:17), who not solely “carried alongside” the prophets and apostles as divine mouthpieces (2 Peter 1:21; Ephesians 3:5) however nonetheless speaks, says, signifies, and testifies (1 Timothy 4:1; Hebrews 3:7; 9:8; 10:15; Acts 20:23; 1 John 5:6) by means of the dwelling phrase of Scripture. He nonetheless prompts and leads God’s individuals (Romans 8:14; Galatians 5:18).
His profile might usually appear unpronounced, however he isn’t silent. If you realize your self to be a beloved, chosen baby of God, the Spirit is the one who woke up and sustains that recognition in you. With out him, sinners might cry out for assist to a distant, unknown deity. With him, saints cry out for the care of our Father. And that crying out results in the second glory of the Spirit in Romans 8.
Intercession: He Prays for Us
To be beloved youngsters — “heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17) — is sort of too good to be true. But so it’s in Christ. However this towering splendid of sonship doesn’t imply Romans 8 is unrealistic about our lives on this sin-sick and cursed world. The heights of God’s grace don’t ignore the depths of our lives. We undergo. We groan. We all know ourselves to be weak.
Due to human sin, God subjected the creation to futility, and
the entire creation has been groaning collectively within the pains of childbirth till now. And never solely the creation, however we ourselves, who’ve the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our our bodies. (Romans 8:22–23)
We all know ourselves to be youngsters by means of the Spirit’s testimony. But we nonetheless anticipate the general public formality and revealing. Sure, we’re heirs, however nonetheless to come back is our full inheritance. In the mean time, we groan. On this life, we navigate seasons and sequences of ache. At instances (if not usually), we come to forks within the highway the place we don’t even know tips on how to pray — whether or not to be spared ache or to endure it faithfully, whether or not for respite from our groanings or holy persistence in them.
“Hidden and enigmatic because the Spirit could appear, he isn’t some silent power however a revealing, talking, main Particular person.”
Right here, amazingly, the Spirit helps us in our weak point: “The Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for phrases” (Romans 8:26). Within the agonies and complexities of this age, we come wordless earlier than God, unable even to articulate the center of our sighs and groans. “We have no idea what to hope for as we ought” (Romans 8:26). And oh, what consolation in these moments to have God himself at work in us praying to God for us. Past our means to ask as we ought and even articulate our prayers, the Spirit appeals to the Father for our eternal good.
Christ’s intercession for us (Romans 8:34) is outdoors of us, in heaven, the place he sits on the Father’s proper hand, having completed his atoning work and risen once more to make good on it by means of his life. The Spirit’s intercession is in us, prompting us to hope and empowering our prayers (Ephesians 6:18; Jude 20). The Spirit is just not solely deep in God (1 Corinthians 2:10) but additionally deep in us (Romans 8:26–27) — which results in a 3rd Spirit-glory in Romans 8, maybe essentially the most astounding of all.
Indwelling: He Lives in Us
In Romans 8, and elsewhere within the New Testomony, we discover a bundle of mind-bending claims about God himself and Christ dwelling in us by the Holy Spirit. Paul hammers it on repeat in verses 9–11:
The Spirit of God dwells in you. [You] have the Spirit of Christ. . . . Christ is in you. . . . The Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the useless dwells in you . . . his Spirit . . . dwells in you.
In case you missed it: in case you are in Christ, you have the Spirit. You have him. He dwells in you. God himself has taken up residence, because it have been, in your physique and soul — in you. In a method that was not half and parcel of God’s first covenant with Israel, the risen and glorified Christ has given his Spirit to new-covenant Christians (John 7:38–39).
Our having the Spirit (Romans 8:9, 23) doesn’t imply we personal and management him. He additionally has us. He’s in us, and we’re in him (Romans 8:5, 9). He’s despatched into our hearts (Galatians 4:6), given to us (Romans 5:5), provided to us (Galatians 3:5), and never simply as soon as however regularly (Ephesians 1:17; 1 Thessalonians 4:8). And thru religion, we obtain him (Romans 8:15). So, as Paul repeats elsewhere, the Spirit dwells in us (1 Corinthians 3:16; 2 Timothy 1:14). That is what it means to have “Christ in you” (Romans 8:10; Colossians 1:27).
God Solely Is aware of
If you’re a Christian — in case you declare Jesus as Lord and enjoyment of him, and he’s reworking you — contemplate what you’d be with out the Spirit, with out his opening your eyes and providing you with a brand new coronary heart and new needs. With out his nonetheless, quiet, every day promptings and leadings. With out his ongoing provide of non secular life to your soul. With out his sealing and maintaining your coronary heart out of your still-indwelling sin.
Jude 19 mentions these “devoid of the Spirit.” We get some glimpses as to what at the least some individuals with out the Spirit seem like: scoffers, who communicate as much as put the reality down; those that observe their very own ungodly passions and trigger divisions; briefly, “worldly individuals” (Jude 18–19). If that’s not you, in case you are completely different, what has made you completely different? Would possibly or not it’s the Holy Spirit? Nonetheless little you understand it and keep aware of it, your life, from the smallest particulars to the most important, is pervaded by the truth of getting the Spirit. God solely is aware of what you’d be with out him.
Quite a few Issues He Does
Better of all, do you belief and treasure Jesus and love to talk of him? As Fred Sanders so helpfully observes, “The individuals most affected by the Holy Spirit are often those with essentially the most to say about Jesus Christ” (The Holy Spirit, 3). He additionally quotes Thomas Goodwin, that the Spirit “is that Person who leadeth us out of ourselves unto the grace of God the Father, and the peace and satisfaction made by Jesus Christ” (21). Have you ever been led out of your self to lean on the grace of God? The Spirit does that. Have you ever ever skilled peace in Christ? The Spirit did that. Have you ever loved satisfaction in Jesus? The Spirit, the Spirit, the Spirit.
- In him, we obtain the washing of regeneration (1 Corinthians 6:11; Titus 3:5), the righteousness of justification (Romans 14:17; 1 Corinthians 6:11; 1 Timothy 3:16), and the holiness of sanctification (Romans 15:16; 1 Corinthians 6:11; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Peter 1:2).
- He teaches us (1 Corinthians 2:13; 1 Thessalonians 4:9; John 6:45) and provides us non secular life and power (1 Corinthians 12:11; Ephesians 3:16).
- We worship within the Spirit (Philippians 3:3).
- He provides us love for others (Colossians 1:9), pleasure (Romans 14:17; 15:13; 1 Thessalonians 1:6), peace (Romans 14:17; 15:13) — certainly all “the fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22–23).
- He fills us with hope (Romans 15:13; Galatians 5:5), stirs our starvation for God, and turns our consideration to “the issues of the Spirit” (1 Corinthians 2:14; Romans 8:5), relatively than sinful distractions.
- He seals us (Ephesians 1:13; 4:30) and retains us trustworthy to protect the gospel (2 Timothy 1:14).
- In him, we additionally get pleasure from “the fellowship of the Holy Spirit” (2 Corinthians 13:14; Ephesians 4:3–4; Philippians 2:1; Hebrews 6:4) with others who’ve the identical Spirit in them.
“It’s attribute of the doctrine of the work of the Spirit,” says Sanders, “that it’s expressed in lists, splendidly varied lists of quite a few issues the Holy Spirit does” (162).
We will scarcely hint the “quite a few issues” he does in and for us. For born-again Christians, the Spirit’s work in our lives, in our ideas, in our needs, in our wills, is much deeper and extra expansive than we are able to even sense. To obtain him, to have him, is to stroll in a newness of life that touches and impacts every little thing — but in such a method that doesn’t preserve the highlight at all times on him.
Speaking concerning the Spirit is admittedly difficult. However oh, how grateful we may be to have him! We will dwell within the holy confidence that the supernatural Helper dwells in us. How superior to have the Holy Spirit.
