THEOLOGICAL STUDIES
THE HOLY SPIRIT
INTRODUCTION
When Billy Graham visited the world-renowned scholar Karl Barth (pronounced Bart), Barth informed Billy Graham that the next great topic to engulf NT scholarship would be the person and work of the Holy Spirit. Barth appears to be right in his assessment. Conservative denominations, such as, Southern Baptists, are taking a fresh look at the work of the Spirit, as seen in the focus on spiritual gifts. In a perverse strain the Episcopal diocese of New Hampshire appealed to the Holy Spirit for its claim that practicing gays could be clergy in the Anglican church.
Another area in which we as Baptists are struggling with this issue is the area of worship. There can be 2 extremes to this issue: (1) a very stilted approach to worship and (2) a very emotional approach to worship. Some churches are promoting a theology of laughter in worship. Others basically reduce worship to Bible study. What we need is a balanced approach to worship, that is, a strong injection of God's Word and God's Spirit. God's Word will be preached with great passion in such instances. Such a worship will be both cognitive and emotional. It will touch the mind and the heart.
(It is interesting to note that emotionalism in worship has troubled Southern Baptist churches recently. It used not to be that way. My great grandmother was a "shouting" Baptist. In other words, whenever you started singing Amazing Grace, it got loud around the house. Our worship in many ways resembled the worship of some of our black congregations today. It's only when we got wealthier and more educated that we decided to kill the movement of the Spirit in our worship services. This trend has not only occurred among Baptists; it also occurred among the Methodists.
Another element though has sparked my interest in the Holy Spirit. According to Milton Cunningham he said that if he could only preach another 100 sermons, 50 would be on prayer and 25 on the Holy Spirit. (Whereas no mention is made of what the other 25 sermons would be about, I would probably devote at least that many to Jesus.) Because of the extremism practiced by charismatic churches, Southern Baptists have overreacted and basically ignored the study of the Spirit.
Some will sincerely argue that since Jesus says the Spirit draws attention to Jesus and not to Himself, then we should not draw attention to the Spirit. There is a legitimate concern here that we do not overemphasize the Spirit as some of our charismatic brothers do; however, if we refuse to study the work of the Spirit, then we basically are having problems with Paul and Jesus who themselves drew attention to the Spirit. Like Jesus and Paul, we will try to take a judicious approach to the study of the third Person of the Godhead.
When you come to the study of the Holy Spirit, you come to appreciate the development not only of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit in the OT, you also come to understand that the role of the Holy Spirit has grown and expanded throughout the OT and NT. It should not surprise us that we need BOTH the OT and the NT to understand the role of the Spirit. According to Hebrews 10:1 "the Law . . . only has a _____________ of the things to come and not the very form itself." The OT gives us a perfect picture but an incomplete picture of the Spirit. The NT helps us to understand what the OT is saying about the Spirit.
THE SPIRIT AND CREATION
The Creation of the Material Universe
According to Genesis 1:2 what was the Holy Spirit doing at the time of creation?
The image behind the word "moving" is that of a mother hen hovering over her brood of chicks. In this image the Holy Spirit is seen as being protective and watchful over creation. He vitally cares for creation.
We know that God and the Holy Spirit were present at the time of creation. According to John 1:1-14 who also was present at the time of creation (see especially John 1:3)?
Sometimes it is confusing when we speak about the Father creating the universe, and then the Son creating the universe, and lastly the Spirit creating the universe. Although this may be a little simplistic, it is probably best to assign the Godhead these roles in the act of creation: the Father is the architect of creation, while the Son is the foreman who oversees the entire project. On the other hand, the Holy Spirit is the construction worker whose hands-on approach brings about the actual construction of the universe.
It's just like in modern construction. When you go to Rome today, you are so impressed by the dome Michelangelo designed to crown St. Peter's Basilica. You never hear about the poor soul who risked his life by putting the finishing touches to the dome. You just hear about Michelangelo who sat in some safe room designing and drawing the plans for the dome. Just as the architect in modern construction primarily receives the glory, in this analogy of the creation of the universe the primary glory goes to the Father the architect, then to the Son, and lastly if at all to the Spirit.
The Holy Spirit and Maintaining Creation
The Holy Spirit did not simply create the universe and leave it on its own to take care of itself. This totally flies in the face of what our founding fathers believed and the way most of us act. Do these things just happen? Are we lucky sometimes and unlucky at other times, or is God in charge of the universe? Whenever the tsunami hit Sri Lanka on Sunday when the Christians were safe at church, was this just luck or was God's hand behind it? Whenever a certain Muslim community in Sri Lanka forced the Christians to leave the city and celebrate Christmas on top of a hill safe from the tsunami, was this luck or God's hand at work?
According to Psalm 104:27-30 what happens when God takes away a person's breath? What happens when God breathes His Spirit into the life of a person?
Another aspect of the Spirit's care for the material universe is seen in the healings found in the OT and NT. According to Paul what is the fifth gift of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:28)?
According to James 5:14 what should the elders do to a person before they pray for that person's healing? How does this act relate to the Holy Spirit?
The Creation of Man
The Spirit has an important role also in the creation of man. According to Genesis 2:7 what did God do to man in order to give him life?
The words "breath," "spirit," and "wind" are the same words in both the Hebrew and Greek languages. This breath would have been understood as being the Spirit, the breath of God.
Because God has breathed into the lives of men, He has created us in whose image (Gen. 1:27)?
When God breathed life into us, He created us in the "image of God." Too often we have misunderstood what it means to be created "in the image of God." In fact much unbridled speculation has revolved around this phrase. The interpretation of this phrase is one of the main dividing points between Catholics and Protestants. The Catholics influenced by Irenaeus of the 2nd century AD taught that there was the image of God and the likeness of God (Gen. 1:26). Whereas Moses probably used these 2 phrases to refer to the same thing, Irenaeus claimed that the likeness of God referred to man's character, whereas the image of God referred to man's intellect. According to the Catholics Adam's sin affected our character (the likeness of God) but not our mind (the image of God). The result was that they claimed that even non-Christians, people without God's Word, could come to know God as well as Christians. In their opinion this justifies their use of Aristotle's philosophy in forming Roman Catholic doctrine. For example, their opposition to contraceptives is not based on Scripture but on Aristotle. Luther, in attacking the Roman Catholic church, launched his attack against Aristotle's philosophy (The Three Treatises). We need to let Scripture interpret for us these difficult phrases and not let speculation run rampant.
Paul tells us quite specifically what it means to be created in the image of God. According to Heb. 1:3 and Col. 1:15 what does it mean to be in the image of God? (Or better, according to these 2 passages who is the image of God?)
According to Rom. 8:29 after God finishes with us, we will be conformed to whose image?
What are some specific descriptions of the person who is in the image of Christ (Galatians 5:22-23)?
We can talk all day about being like God, but until these attributes are true of us, we are not like God because we are not like Jesus.
The Re-Creation of the Universe
As we studied the second coming of Jesus, we saw that God's work with creation is incomplete. Although God created everything to such an extent that He called it "very good" (Gen. 1:31), the fact is that He created it incomplete--otherwise death and sin would not have been able to enter into this creation. According to Isaiah 65:17 what is coming one day?
The Re-Creation of Man
Not only is God going to complete His work in the material creation; He is going to complete His work among mankind. Our physical salvation in addition to our spiritual salvation is awaiting completion. According to Romans 8:11 what will the Spirit one day do to our bodies? According to this same verse what has happened in the past that assures us this will happen?
Probably the most graphic description of this event in the OT is found in Ezekiel 37:1-14. According to this passage what does NOT bring about the resurrection of the nation of Israel? What DOES bring about their resurrection (see especially verses 9 and 14)? (There is a song which goes along with this passage. What is that song?)
In Romans 8:11 Paul uses the image of resurrection to describe God completing His work in you and me. What image does Jesus use in John 3:1-8 (esp. verses 3 and 5) to describe God completing His work in you and me? (Notice once more the role of the Spirit in this act.)
According to 2 Corinthians 5:17 whenever God completes His work in us, we become a new _____________________.
Probably the loftiest description of the person who has God's Spirit living in him, who has been raised from the dead, is found in Rom. 8:15. According to that verse instead of making us God's slaves, God's Spirit makes us what?
According to Jesus how does a person become born again, that is, become a son of God (John 3:5-8)?
How is that the Spirit coming into us makes us God's sons? The HS in many ways is known as the Spirit of Jesus. Although the HS is not Jesus and is not the Father, He obeys the Son so perfectly that for all practical purposes following the HS means that we are following Jesus. Since Jesus obeys the Father, when we follow the Spirit, we are obeying the Spirit, Jesus, AND the Father. As a result, when the HS comes into our lives, the Spirit of God's Son is coming into our lives, thereby making us God's sons. We now become as much God's sons as Jesus is God's Son, the only difference being that He is eternally God's Son.
According to Rom. 8:14 what is the key characteristic of this person?
Due to the fact that we are now God's sons/daughters because the Spirit of His Son lives in us, what kind of relationship do we have with Jesus?
It kind of seems incredible that we are now as much God's sons as Jesus is God's Son. Think of it this way though. Whereas we are literally God's sons, Jesus is God's favorite Son. Many times whenever parents show favoritism, the other children in the family get jealous, it is not so in this case. Who could resent Jesus for receiving this greater glory? Because of His sacrifice on Calvary Jesus receives greater recognition and glory than we receive. We receive do glory but not to the same extent that Jesus does.
What shall we inherit (Matthew 5:5)?