This week Cath came and taught on the topic of pneumatology, which is the academic term for the study of the Holy Spirit.
The word “pneuma” is Greek for spirit, wind or breath, and is also the root for the word “pneumatic”, which of course is a type of air power, often used in tools.
We can read in the Bible that people are made up of three parts: body, soul and spirit.
The body is the physical part of a person, and refers to the flesh, bones, brain, internal organs etc.
The soul is the heart, mind, will and emotions of a person.
The spirit is the non-physical supernatural part of us that allows us to connect with the Lord and have a relationship with Him.
We need to have a spirit to connect with God because God is Spirit and the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, is how He works in this universe:
6Then he said to me, “This is what the LORD says to Zerubbabel: It is not by force nor by strength, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.
(Zechariah 4:6)
Who is the Holy Spirit?
So a few weeks ago Pastor Jonny spoke to us about the Trinity: the Father, the Son (Jesus) and the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is the hands-on facilitator in the work of creation and redemption in this world. He also actively brings glory to the Father and the Son by His works and actions. He is the breath in which we live and move and have our being.
In the Old Testament, He was known as the Spirit of God or the Spirit of the LORD (Yahweh).
Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit as an advocate, One who testifies about the truth. The Holy Spirit speaks to us, convicting us of sin and convincing us of the Truth of God’s Word. He illuminates Scripture for us and ensures that we no longer see it as a complex and seemingly-irrelevant book and instead see it as what it truly is: the very Word of God, authoritative in all areas of life.
16After his baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were openedg and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and settling on him. 17And a voice from heaven said, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.”
(Matthew 3:16-17)
In this early chapter of Matthew, we see Jesus being baptised, and this is a rare part of Scripture where we get to see all three Persons of the Trinity working together in unison. We read of the Holy Spirit descending like a dove from Heaven as Jesus gets baptised, all while the Father speaks in an audible voice above.
The phrase “Holy Spirit” is almost explicitly referred to in the New Testament, but if we read the Old Testament with the lens of the Holy Spirit, we can see references to Him all over the place.
He was hovering over the waters at the start of Creation in Genesis.
Pharaoh saw the Spirit in Joseph in Exodus.
The Israelites were led by the Spirit out of Egypt, across the Red Sea and towards the Promised Land.
He inspired the various leadership roles of Ancient Israel, from judges, to prophets, priests and kings.
Crucially, He was with Jesus as He did His ministry, as we see prophecied in Isaiah 11, which was fulfilled when the Spirit descended on Him at His baptism as we saw earlier:
2And the Spirit of the LORD will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.
(Isaiah 11:2)
Turning to the New Testament, we see the Holy Spirit active in the book of Acts and the Epistles as the church began to grow and spread across Europe.
The Holy Spirit’s ministry is pretty obvious in the pages of the New Testament.
He gave the Apostles the right words to speak when arrested on Jesus’ behalf.
He fills us with joy, hope, life and peace.
He helps us in our weaknesses.
He prays for us when we don’t know how to pray for ourselves.
He convicts us of sin, teaches, witnesses, guides, supports and comforts us.
Most importantly, for every single believer, the Holy Spirit is present and available for us:
7But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocatea won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you. 8And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment. 9The world’s sin is that it refuses to believe in me. 10Righteousness is available because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more. 11Judgment will come because the ruler of this world has already been judged.
12“There is so much more I want to tell you, but you can’t bear it now. 13When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. 14He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me.
(John 16:7-14)
As we can see in this passage, after Jesus left earth, He left His Spirit to fill His people and minister to us in a new way, beginning at Pentecost:
1On the day of Pentecosta all the believers were meeting together in one place. 2Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting. 3Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. 4And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages,b as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.
(Acts 2:1-4)
38Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39This promise is to you, to your children, and to those far awayh—all who have been called by the Lord our God.”
(Acts 2:38-39)
Everybody in the New Testament, Jews and Gentiles, who became a Christian, received the Holy Spirit.
What does being filled by the spirit look like?
In Acts it was quite dramatic. For others it can be quite gentle. For instance, the founder of Methodism, John Wesley, didn’t have any dramatic encounter, but described having a warmth in His heart.
What are the marks of the Holy Spirit?
The evidence of the Holy Spirit being present in a person is usually that of a changed life.
In Ezekiel’s prophecy about the coming Kingdom of God, which we can see fulfilled in Jesus and His Church, we see a promise:
26And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.b
(Ezekiel 36:26)
We also see the Fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5, the evidence that the Spirit is active in a person’s life:
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
What are spiritual gifts?
Often, when spiritual gifts are mentioned, people think of dramatic things that we see in Acts, like tongues and miracles.
On a day-to-day basis, spiritual gifts are often much more subtle and diverse. The Bible lists gifts that are much more ordinary in appearance, yet no less supernatural, such as administration, mercy and teaching. The Holy Spirit equips Christians to serve the Body of Christ, the Church.
If you want to read more about spiritual gifts, Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12-14 and Ephesians 4 are chapters that cover this topic in more detail.
Warnings
We are in a spiritual battle and we need to guard ourselves against spirits that are not of God.
This means we ought to avoid mediums, horoscopes and astrology, amongst other things. God holds and ordains the future, and it’s not in our interest for us to know the future, so we shouldn’t try and seek it. Additionally, the spirits behind these acts of divination could be deliberately deceptive in the information they might reveal.
So how do we know the difference between the Spirit, who we can trust, and a spirit that we cannot trust?
2This is how we know if they have the Spirit of God: If a person claiming to be a propheta acknowledges that Jesus Christ came in a real body, that person has the Spirit of God. 3But if someone claims to be a prophet and does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already here.
(1 John 4:2-3)
Psychic mediums, astrology and other such spiritual arts don’t point to Jesus, and so they cannot be trusted. They could be empowered by spirits that serve Satan, so should be avoided.
Another warning is that we shouldn’t make up false prophecy or pretend to have spiritual experiences for the sake of it, whether it be to try and copy other people in church, or whether it be because we’re feeling particularly emotional. The Holy Spirit always speaks in line with God’s Word, and there are stern warnings against false prophets. In fact, in Ancient Israel had the death penalty for false prophets (Deuteronomy 18:20-22).
Blaspheming against the Spirit, otherwise known as the Unforgivable Sin, is the conscious and hardened opposition to the Truth of Jesus all the way up until a person’s death. King Saul in the Old Testament is an example of a person hardening themselves against God.
How to stay in Spirit?
It’s important to remain close to God, praying and repenting of sin daily. Romans 8 is an incredible passage on life in the Holy Spirit:
1So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. 2And because you belong to him, the powera of the life-giving Spirit has freed youb from the power of sin that leads to death. 3The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature.c So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. 4He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.
5Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. 6So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. 7For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. 8That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.
9But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) 10And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you lifed because you have been made right with God. 11The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.
12Therefore, dear brothers and sisters,e you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. 13For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature,f you will live. 14For all who are led by the Spirit of God are childreng of God.
15So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children.h Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”i 16For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children.
(Romans 8:1-16)
This concludes our series on systematic theology. We hope you’ve been blessed over the past few weeks by all the blog posts and sermon videos.