The Holy Spirit & Conversion (i)

He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.

(Gal.3:14)

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

(I Cor.6:11)

As we step into this new JCL term, considering together the life and work of the Holy Spirit, we’ll need to constantly remind ourselves that we have already spent time reflecting on the relationship of the Spirit to the Father and the Son. Particularly in our series on the Person and Work of Christ we studied the Bible’s teaching on the bond between Jesus and the Spirit. All of that is assumed as we turn our attention more particularly to the third Person of the Trinity. We are also anticipating future JCL terms. When we consider what it means to become a Christian, or to grow in holiness, or our future hope, we will be revisiting subjects of our studies here. A term looking at what we believe about the Church will inevitably lead us again to the life of the Spirit.

But there is an even more delicate issue to negotiate. The question of whether the Spirit indeed wants to be the focus of our attention at all. We’ll come back to this question in a moment, but for now let’s simply note that (at one level) there is an issue here. Packer, in his brilliant book ‘Keep in Step with the Spirit’ unpacks a helpful analogy of a spotlight shining on a Church building. The spotlight itself is hidden discreetly out of view. It throws it’s light on an object other than itself. This, Packer suggests, captures the heart of the Spirit. He doesn’t – so to speak – want to be the focus of our attention. His desire is to fix our eyes on Jesus. A Spirit-filled Church is a Jesus centred Church. Nevertheless, He remains gloriously part of the life of God. ‘We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of life…’. And as One who is fully God in Himself, He is utterly worthy of our attention, and indeed our worship. And so we sit in the midst of this tension. We cannot worship God without worshipping Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We cannot speak of Christ (the Anointed One) without speaking of the Spirit as ‘His inseparable Companion … All the activity of Christ was unfolded in the presence of the Holy Spirit’ (Basil of Caesarea,330-379, so Is.11:1; 42:1 etc.). He is present throughout the Bible, albeit at times slightly out of sight. That does not in any way undermine the sense of reverence and seriousness with which we should think and speak of this Divine Person.

Certainly we cannot speak of our own experience of Christ, or of our relationship with God through Christ, without reference to the Spirit of Christ. He is the way God actively engages with His creation – including the parts of that creation that are you and me. The Spirit is the One through whom the love of God comes, and by whom the work of Christ – provoked as it is by that love – is carried into our experience. ‘As to Divine works, the Father is the source from which every operation emanates, the Son is the means through which it is performed, and the Holy Spirit is the Executive, by which it is carried into effect (Smeaton, 4).

And so we come to the question of the role of the Spirit in our salvation. We begin with Jesus. It was the Spirit who enabled the Incarnation (Lk.1:35); through whom Christ preserved his human righteousness (e.g. Lk.4:1-13). It is through the Eternal Spirit that Christ ‘offered Himself unblemished to God’ (Heb.9:14). Even such a representative survey alerts us to the realisation that there would be no salvation for us to enjoy without the Holy Spirit involvement. But it is also the Holy Spirit who catches us up into the work of Christ. It is through the Spirit – the Executive of God – that we receive the life of Christ.

Humanity was created to be a Temple of the Holy Spirit (Gen.2:7). Fallen humanity is Spirit-less, and destitute of the Spirit we are merely ‘flesh’ (Rom.8:5; Jude 19). It is a defining characteristic of the Christian that they have received afresh the Spirit of Christ (Rom.8:9). Our conversion is simultaneously achieved through the Spirit, and marked by the reception of the Spirit. We are the people of the Spirit. Without Him we could not exercise faith (II Cor.4:13), nor utter the most basic Christian confession (I Cor.12:3). Without Him, our mind cannot know or love the things of God (I Cor.2:14), nor our will be subject to the Law of God (Rom.8:7-8); we cannot be born of God (Jn.3:3-6), nor can we grasp the most infantile of spiritual privileges (Rom.8:15). Everything we can say about being a Christian is done in us, to us and through us by the Sovereign Spirit (Jn.3:8). This is by no means the last work of the Spirit, but His uniting us to Christ is central in our experience and is foundational for all that follows.

Questions

If someone asked you to explain to them what it means to become a Christian, and to help them become one, what would say and do?

What would you say to help someone who wasn’t sure whether they were a Christian or not? Do you think it is possible to be a Christian and not be sure?

What would it look like if you tried to do Christianity without the Spirit?

Read Titus 3:3-8

Do you agree with Paul’s assessment of life before Christianity (v.3)? …or do you feel Paul is being a bit extreme? Does it match your own experience? … or your experience of people you know who aren’t Christians? How does understanding this about people make you feel and think?

How would you feel if you brought someone to an evangelistic event at MIE, and we described non-Christians in these terms? If this is what people are like, what motivates God in saving people? [note 2:11]

What do you think Paul means by ‘the washing of re-birth’? … and by ‘the renewal (better: regeneration) by the Holy Spirit (v.5)?

Why do you think Paul makes the point that the Holy Spirit has been poured out on us generously by / through Jesus? If this is the case, should we ask God for ‘more’ of His Spirit?

Why does Paul connect our regeneration with our becoming heirs, having the hope of eternal life?

How does vv.3-7 motivate us to devote ourselves to doing what is good (v.8)? What do you think Paul has in mind?

Memory Passage:

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from your idols. I will give you a new heart and will put a new Spirit within you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees, and be careful to keep my laws.

Ezek.36:25-27

For further reflection:

We will return to the question of what it means to become a Christian in a later JCL series – and in doing so, will revisit the work of the Spirit in ‘regeneration’. It is as all-pervasive in its effects (indeed more so) as those of the Fall (Gen.6:5; Jer.17:9). The Spirit achieves in us nothing short of the genesis of a new creation, and He will carry that work through to its completion (II Cor.5:17; see study ix). In His conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus is clear that such a supernatural feat is exclusively the prerogative of God (Jn.3:5-8). We cannot control or predict the Spirit’s powerful working; we can only see its inevitable consequences. Ezekiel’s famous vision of the valley of dry bones is a powerful picture of the spiritual realities involved when new life is given (37:1-14, note the promise of the Spirit).

This sense of the Sovereignty of God is found in the Articles of the Church of England. Article 10 captures Anglican conviction: The condition of Man (sic) after the fall of Adam is such, that he cannot turn and prepare himself, by his own natural strength and good works, to faith, and calling upon God… How then does anyone become a Christian? By the work of the Spirit, bringing the grace of Christ to bear. This doesn’t happen in a vacuum. A recurring theme in our studies over the next few weeks will be the idea of the Holy Spirit working through God-ordained means.

In this instance, the Spirit’s favoured means tends to be the Word of God. Peter celebrates that ‘You have been born again … through the living and enduring Word of God’ (I Pet.1:23). James concurs: ‘He chose to give us birth through the Word of Truth’ (Jas.1:18, see also Jn.15:3). Through His Word (see study 6), the Spirit achieves a direct (re-)creative act, which the Bible calls new birth. It is evidenced by the ongoing presence and work of the Spirit, and nothing less will do.