The Holy Spirit and the Church, Part 1

/ W. Keith Brenton / 23 Comments

I’ve blogged mostly about why I believe that the Holy Spirit lives within the believer, but I don’t want to ignore an important implication of that belief: the Holy Spirit lives among believers, plural; unites believers and intercedes for believers and empowers believers to proclaim the gospel boldly. Plural. Plural. Plural.

When Ananias and Sapphira conspired to defraud the early church at Jerusalem and cheat the beneficiaries of that church’s generosity, the charges against them were not just fraud and cheating, not to Ananias:

Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land?  Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.” ~ Acts 5:3-4

And not to Sapphira:

Peter said to her, “How could you conspire to test the Spirit of the Lord? Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.” ~ Acts 5:9

Ananias and Sapphira, as nearly as we can tell (like every believer in Jerusalem) were the beneficiaries themselves of the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is no stretch of the imagination to understand that the same Holy Spirit within them – or at least among them – revealed their conspiracy and lie to Peter and the other believers.

Clearly, the Spirit is no One to be trifled with. Peter’s words to Ananias are clear: the lie was not just to human beings, but to God Himself.

It should not be a surprise that Paul links the Holy Spirit’s work to the unity of the believers, and advises them to maintain it in order to mature in Christ:

Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. ~ Ephesians 4:3

Or that Paul describes how the relationship between Spirit and believer works in terms of unity:

But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit. ~ 1 Corinthians 6:17

Or that he cites it when encouraging believers to agree in humility:

Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. ~ Philippians 2:1-2

And no wonder. Jesus’ prayer for unity – at the very table where one had separated himself to betray his Lord – describes His desire for that unity taking place by God being in us as well as us being in God:

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” ~ John 17:20-23

He has just spent the text of the previous three chapters punctuating His final mortal discourse with them with hints at how His Spirit would help and unite them from within – beginning with:

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. ~ John 14:16-17

So I think it’s clear as can be that the Spirit’s dwelling place within believers is also among believers. Where we have let Satan take us off-center with this is by believing the lie that our individual understanding of the scripture inspired by the Spirit is more important that our communal sharing of it.

But that’s where I plan to go in part two of this subject.

Why the Holy Spirit Matters

/ W. Keith Brenton / 24 Comments

On seeing this series of posts (linked through my Facebook account), a childhood friend privately advised caution in the way I proceed. His concern, in short, was that my pursuit of the way the Spirit works might cause some folks who are opposed to my perceptions to overstate their objections, blaspheme and be lost.

His concern is genuine, and I share it.

So let me say this, and be as clear and loving as I know how to be:

If you believe that the Holy Spirit works through the written word of God, you go right on believing it. It’s true. He inspired it. He reveals God through it. He tells the gospel of Jesus Christ with it. As I just wrote in a comment on the previous post, scripture is the tangible way we have been given to know of God.

However …

If you believe that the Holy Spirit works ONLY through the written word of God, I would only ask that you be open to the other ways and possibilities described in scripture. I have only described what I find to be revealed there in these posts. I have not quoted other sources or supposed authorities or recounted personal experiences of myself or others in support of the conclusions I’ve drawn.

Don’t let what others have written or taught you personally on the matter limit your perception of the Spirit’s power, or God’s giving of it. Don’t trust what men write – not even what I write. Go to scripture. Read it for yourself. Draw your own conclusions. Prove all things. Hold fast what’s good.

Here’s why I believe the Holy Spirit – fully empowered by our permission as well as God’s gift in our lives – matters.

There are too many instances given in scripture in which the Holy Spirit is spoken of as being given to believers, dwelling within them, giving them gifts, acting with God’s purpose and glory, benefiting His children, propelling His gospel, glorifying the Christ … which simply cannot be fully done by written scripture alone.

A commenter at New Wineskins once observed, “If the Holy Spirit still dwells within believers, why do we not all believe the same thing?”

I should have answered, “If the word alone is perfect, why do we not all believe the same thing?”

The answer for both questions is the same: because we believers do not believe to the extent that we are willing to fully turn our lives over to Christ, permit the Spirit to say what He says and do what He does through us or to help us understand completely and clearly what is written. We are satisfied to see in part and know in part, as in a mirror, dimly … and to confidently declare that our vision and knowledge is as good as face-to-face.

I am no more exempted from this judgment that anyone else, but I am convinced that grace still covers my insufficiency. That, however, is no excuse for remaining indolent, arrogant, selfish or deluded about our own competence. Believers have been promised and given a Holy Spirit for the asking who can draw us closer to God in Christ if we’re willing.

If we limit God’s action in our lives to leaning on our own understanding of His will in His word, we are only half-armed for the battle against sin and for the cross.

Just because your Bible may have a paragraph break after Paul’s description of the full armor in Ephesians 6:10-17 doesn’t mean his thought ends there. It continues:

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should. ~ Ephesians 6:18-20, my emphasis

So I’ll close out this part of the study with an index of where I began it years ago, asking questions and positing answers. I’ll encourage you to begin at the beginning and end at the end, because you’ll find the Spirit in the first sentences of scripture, and closing them out as well. Ask questions. Ask more and different questions than I did. Ask God for answers to them.

Ask Him for His Holy Spirit.

His Holy Spirit, Part I
His Holy Spirit, Part II
His Holy Spirit, Part III
His Holy Spirit, Part IV
His Holy Spirit, Part V
His Holy Spirit, Part VI
His Holy Spirit, Part VII
His Holy Spirit, Part VIII

As Long As We’re on the Subject….

/ W. Keith Brenton / 54 Comments

… you should read Jay Guin’s post on baptism, the Holy Spirit and salvation.

http://oneinjesus.info/2011/01/baptism-an-exploration-water-baptism-and-the-spirit/

If this doesn’t either comfort you deeply with the expansiveness of God’s mercy and grace or rile your righteous indignation over the challenge to your justice-only vision of God … well, the link must have taken you to the wrong article.

Is the Spirit Too Holy To Dwell in Sinful Men?

/ W. Keith Brenton / 8 Comments

There is an old saying in Christianity – stated one of several ways – that God is too holy to tolerate sin; to abide sin; to dwell in the presence of sin, or the sinner. It is used to support the Spirit-in-the-written-word-only-today doctrine by saying that the Holy Spirit somehow becomes an accomplice to sin if the person in whom He dwells falls even for a moment.

To establish this proverb, Isaiah 59:1-2 is sometimes quoted:

Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save,
nor his ear too dull to hear.
But your iniquities have separated
you from your God;
your sins have hidden his face from you,
so that he will not hear.

But, generally the rest of the chapter is not cited … because a thinking person would realize that it ends with God’s covenant to inspire descendants forever with His words through His Holy Spirit:

“As for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the LORD. “My Spirit, who is on you, will not depart from you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will always be on your lips, on the lips of your children and on the lips of their descendants—from this time on and forever,” says the LORD. (Isaiah 59:21)

That – and the rest of the chapter which describes how God overcomes the sin He sees through a Redeemer – is inconvenient to the argument that men are too sinful for God to dwell with them or within them.

And sometimes Habakkuk 1:13a is cited:

Your eyes are too pure to look on evil;
you cannot tolerate wrongdoing.

But the rest of the verse, usually not … because a thinking person would realize that the prophet is having a conversation with God and actually accusing Him of tolerating evil:

Why then do you tolerate the treacherous?
Why are you silent while the wicked
swallow up those more righteous than themselves?

Plus … how could He be aware of evil if He does not see it or look upon it? if He is indeed blind to it?

The Lord’s answer in chapter two make it obvious that He sees and judges the sin spread out before Him and pronounces His woes and will dispense His justice:

The cup from the LORD’s right hand is coming around to you,
and disgrace will cover your glory. ~ Habakkuk 2:16

The LORD is in his holy temple;
let all the earth be silent before him. ~ Habakkuk 2:20

It is always a foolish and dangerous thing to base an argument upon what God cannot do. With God, nothing is impossible (Matthew 19:26; Mark 10:27; Luke 18:27) – and His eyes remain holy even if He sees sin. His Presence is not hobbled nor destroyed by the presence of it in His world.

You see, if God is too holy to even look upon sin, too holy to dwell among sinners, too holy to live within them …

Too holy to dwell in sinful men?

Yes, but not the ones He has forgiven.

Our sins may hide God’s face from us, but He still sees. He sees those sins repented. He sees them nailed down, lifted up, and crucified dead. He sees His Son, dying on that cross.

And for reasons unfathomable to us save in the term “love,” that is all that matters to Him.

Shame on any of us for ever trying to pretend God or His Son or His Holy Spirit are too weak to do what Christ’s blood has done.

The Holy Spirit: Then and Now

/ W. Keith Brenton / 52 Comments

A few important questions: If the Holy Spirit only operates today through the written word, then …

What scripture says so?

Doesn’t it stand to reason that He only operated that way in the first century too?

What scripture makes it clear that His operation changed from active to passive; from literal to figurative?

If His dwelling within the believer is figurative now but used to be literal, when did it change? What scripture makes this clear?

Are the promises regarding the Holy Spirit really different for people now than they were then? Does He no longer distribute any kind of spiritual gifts? Or any of the other aids mentioned in this previous post? If He does provide some but not all, which ones? How can one tell from scripture; which passage differentiates them?

If His dwelling within is figurative and always has been, how does He help believers through the written word only but in ways that only a living, present Person could (such as intercession in prayer)?

How much other scripture is figurative and not literal? How can we as readers know when God does not really mean what He says?

These are questions that beg an answer if the Spirit-in-the-written-word-only-today doctrine is to be taken seriously.

Does the Holy Spirit Work Miraculously Today?

/ W. Keith Brenton / 17 Comments

Here’s a refreshing way to answer that question:

I don’t know.

I have my suspicions, and my suspicions are that He does … just as He did. I don’t believe – as I have already posted several times – that there is a time, date, or event prophesied or spoken of as having passed in scripture which indicates that the work of the Holy Spirit among people is over, or that it has been limited only to the written word.

I also do not believe that scripture makes a distinction between what we would call miraculous gifts and less-than-miraculous gifts. Both kinds, to our reckoning, disappear when “that which is perfect is come”: knowledge as well as prophecies and tongues (1 Corinthians 13).

Plus, while some may perceive anything unusual or anything accomplished through the Spirit as miraculous, others like me will more narrowly define miraculous as “visible, audible, tangible manifestations of supernatural power” (per my previous post Does the Holy Spirit Only Work Miraculously? ).

So if you disagree with my perception of those items, you are not likely to agree with my suspicions about the Spirit’s work today.

Confession: I have never witnessed anything that I would describe as a miracle. Ever.

But as Jay Guin observed in a recent post on this subject, “… absence of proof isn’t proof of absence.” (I’ve never seen anyone who collects kewpie dolls, but that doesn’t prove that none of them exists.)

I’ve had unusual experiences, and I can’t explain them, and I have benefited from them – and have seen others benefit from them. I know Whom I feel compelled to credit them to. But I have no proof.

And that’s fine.

As always, what I believe is rooted in scripture:

I will remember the deeds of the LORD;
yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.
I will consider all your works
and meditate on all your mighty deeds.
Your ways, God, are holy.
What god is as great as our God?
You are the God who performs miracles;
you display your power among the peoples. ~ Psalm 77:11-14

This psalmist was apparently Asaph, and he remembered “miracles of long ago.”

He was a musician; a contemporary of David, and very few miraculous events were recorded in that era. A sound in the tops of poplar trees cued David to victory over the Philistines (2 Samuel 5). Uzzah was struck dead for touching the ark of the covenant (2 Samuel 6). That’s about it.

Yet Asaph still praised the Lord as “the God who performs (present tense) miracles.”

Do we seem to be living in a similar era when the tap of miracles-poured-out has run dry? Are we in a drought of divine intervention?

I think that it’s worth noting that there were spans of biblical history – usually about four hundred years at a time – when God did not speak to His people – likely because they had not been speaking to Him. Then He would show His providence and glory in memorable ways. Like deliverance from Egypt by Moses. Or deliverance from sin by Jesus.

It isn’t like He owes us any more miracles.

But it also isn’t like God doesn’t love us enough to confirm His word or manifest His compassion through miracles today.

I hope to share some further thoughts on this as I have opportunity to organize them, but for right now I just want to share this one:

Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”  Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” ~ John 20:24-29

You may have heard a sermon that took the notion that Jesus was scolding Thomas for doubting what the other apostles told him they had seen and heard. Maybe you heard it developed to the point that people who have not seen yet have believed are somehow more blessed than actual witnesses.

Let me propose an equal possibility, because the text doesn’t say either of those things.

Thomas was blessed to see, hear and touch the evidence of Jesus’ resurrection in His very own body. Maybe Jesus was trying to impress on Thomas how very blessed he was to have been a witness, and what a responsibility that was to bless others with his testimony. Maybe Jesus said those words to Thomas how important it was to be more persuasive than his fellow apostles had been with him.

You see, I’m afraid the two other teachings can be knotted up in an arrogance that teaches the Spirit as active only in the written word today, and that those of us who believe without confirmation beyond reading or hearing it are somehow better, more righteous, more blessed than those who see and hear and touch.

Really?

Don’t you think there will be millions of us come-latelies in heaven who would queue up for eternity between velvet-chained stanchions just to have the opportunity Thomas had?

I’d be one of them.

We are not more blessed – or less blessed – than those who saw Jesus, witnessed the miracles He did or that the apostles did or that others did by virtue of the living Holy Spirit’s gifts within them. All who believe and obey are blessed with resurrection and eternity with God.

Let me just ask this … and understand that I am shamefacedly asking myself this question, too:

Do we bless others by vigorously persuading them about the gospel of Jesus Christ; by witnessing what we have seen, heard and touched … lives irrevocably changed by the power of His grace; souls with the deposit of the Holy Spirit marking and sealing their resurrection to come? Do we remember and proclaim the miracles of the past and still praise the Lord as “the God who does miracles”?

If we don’t, then why should we expect to witness the glory Thomas witnessed?

Is the Holy Spirit Found Only in the Word Today?

/ W. Keith Brenton / 36 Comments

I feel compelled to point out that the Spirit-in-the-word-only-today proponents’ case is almost totally dependent upon twisting together two or more basically-unrelated passages of New Testament scripture into a logical argument, which usually runs like this:

Ephesians 3:17 says “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith….” Scripture says Christ dwells in our hearts and then tells us HOW He dwells in our hearts, “by faith.” The Holy Spirit dwells in a Christian the same way as Christ dwells in a Christian – by faith. The Bible says that faith comes by hearing the Word of God in Romans 10:17.

This logical argument depends upon several assumptions: first, that Christ dwells in a believer’s heart ONLY by faith; that the Holy Spirit dwells in a Christian the same way as Christ dwells in a Christian (unsubstantiated with scripture); that faith ONLY comes by hearing the Word of God; that these two passages were written with textual, contextual or subtextual purpose of establishing that the Holy Spirit dwells in the believer only in the form of the word or bodily; that this logical argument outweighs any other clear scripture (usually ignored, but sometimes explained away) which implies otherwise.

That’s a lot of assumptions. If any fail, the logical argument falters as well.

Let’s just deal with them:

Ephesians 3:17 is immediately surrounded by this context: “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” So it is surrounded by a prayer for the Spirit’s power in your inner being with no mention whatsoever of written scripture, which establishes a bodily surround for the Spirit.

Romans 10:17 is surrounded by the context:

“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’ But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed our message?’ Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ. But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they did: ‘Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.’ “ So it is engulfed in a discussion about the importance of believing and the importance of hearing and preaching so that something crucial – the gospel – may be known and believed. There is no mention of the Spirit. (Though it is worth mentioning that the Spirit is deeply involved in the proclamation of the gospel … I was going to list scriptures here, but my previous posts establish that.)

  • Neither passage establishes that it is directly related to the other by any key word or phrase or concept.
  • Neither deals with the focus of the subject matter of the other.
  • Neither establishes, on its own or together, that Christ or the Holy Spirit exists in the believer ONLY by faith (one would have to consider Saul’s experiences in 1 Samuel 10 and 19, certainly, before concluding that – neither mentions a prerequisite of faith on his part).
  • Neither establishes, on its own or together, that faith comes only by hearing (and one would have to ponder about faith being given as a direct gift of the Holy Spirit per 1 Corinthians 12:7-11 before concluding that, especially verse 9).
  • The second passage has no reference to the Holy Spirit; the subject simply isn’t in view. How could a conclusion drawn from it specifically apply to Him, especially if the context of the other scripture contradicts the conclusion?
  • The other passages “explained away” by this logical argument speak clearly and explicitly to the Holy Spirit dwelling within the believer: John 14:16-17; Romans 8:11; 1 Corinthians 6:19; 1 John 3:24. That is their subject and and at least part of their purpose in being written: to describe the way the Holy Spirit – a Person – truly “lives,” not figuratively but literally – in the heart of the welcoming believer.

Most of the supporting assumptions in this logical argument fail. When you knock the supporting legs off of a milkstool, it don’t stand up no more – and this argument is no different.

Does the Holy Spirit Live Within the Believer?

/ W. Keith Brenton / 38 Comments

“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.” ~ John 14:16-17

“We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.” ~ Acts 5:32

“And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.” ~ Romans 8:11

“What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us.”  ~ 1 Corinthians 2:12

“But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.” ~ 1 Corinthians 6:17

“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?” ~ 1 Corinthians 6:19

“The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.” ~ 1 John 3:24

Is there anything particularly difficult to understand about these passages? Is there any language in them which would lead one to believe that they are only meant figuratively? Is there anything that says that the Spirit dwells in the believer through His word only?

Or do these verses simply mean what they say?

When Jesus spoke figuratively about going away (dying) and seeing Him again (being resurrected), John quoted Him as saying so:

“Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father.” ~ John 16:25

When Paul spoke figuratively and slavery to law and freedom from it, he said so:

“These things are being taken figuratively: The women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar.” ~ Galatians 4:24

If they meant to speak in parables or metaphors, the New Testament writers generally clued their readers in by saying so, as Jesus did in His kingdom parables (“the kingdom of heaven is like …”) – or they would use the highly apocalyptic language of the prophets before them (“I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day ….”) They did neither when speaking about the Spirit dwelling within the believer.

Nothing in scripture indicates that when one reads or memorizes the word of God, it is like the Spirit is living in him/her. Nothing scripture says reveals that reading or memorizing it alone IS the Spirit living in her/him.

This promise is stated literally in Joel (2:28-32), is literally fulfilled beginning in Acts 2, and continues being fulfilled throughout New Testament writings – with no record that it stopped or changed in nature or would stop or change in nature (to refer to the Spirit dwelling in someone only through the Word).

If you want to contend that Jesus promises the Holy Spirit to be only in the apostles (John 14:16-17), you still have to explain away Romans 8:11, 1 Corinthians 6:19 and 1 John 3:24.

The burden of proof is clearly on those who wish to propagate and live by a Spirit-in-the-word-only-today doctrine, and their proof continues to be assertion and adding words and/or meaning to scripture that it does not explicitly express. That’s called interpretation, and while we all do it, interpretation has rules: one begins with what scripture says and stops with what scripture actually says.

As most of the proponents of the Spirit-in-the-word-only-today doctrine would agree, “going beyond the word” (Numbers 22:18; 2 John 1:9; and some would add Revelation 22:18) is dangerous business.

They just can’t see or hear themselves doing it.

That’s why it’s so important to let the Holy Spirit lead us into all truth, and if He lives within the believer who listens for the truth, yearns for the truth, and asks for the truth … the source of truth within the written word of God is right there within from the One who inspired its writing.

Is the Holy Spirit – or His Work – Imperfect?

/ W. Keith Brenton / 15 Comments

This is the aspect of the Holy-Spirit-in-the-word-only-today position that I find most troubling:

For those holding to such a doctrine, 1 Corinthians 13:8-10 is interpreted as saying that not only the miraculous and other gifts of the Holy Spirit have ended today, but that the Holy Spirit has done all of the work He was ever going to do; we have the perfect written, completed-canon word of God in the Bible and that is all we will ever need. That doctrine is extrapolated from these few words:

Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. ~ 1 Corinthians 13:8-10 NKJV

And I quote the King James Version because I think most of this doctrine’s proponents would, without much variation.

What troubles me is that this interpretation – which keystones the doctrine that the days of an indwelling Holy Spirit are over and done, because the perfect word of God has come in the form of the Bible – this interpretation casts His previous work through men (at the least) and possibly even the Holy Spirit Himself (at the worst) in the role of being less than perfect.

Is that really what Paul is trying to say in these verses (which do not even mention the written word as perfect, nor does scripture ever describe itself as anything more than “useful” or “profitable” – 2 Timothy 3:16)?

Was that his purpose in writing these lines at all – and, if we believe in inspiration by the Holy Spirit – was that the Spirit’s purpose? Prophetically warning the self-minded and misbehaving believers of Corinth to shape up and stop misusing their gifts because in about three hundred years a final canon would be decided upon by ecclesiastic council and scribes would copy the manuscripts for about 1,200 more years so that a handful of people would have access to them until they would be printed giving a few more people access to them in a language that most didn’t speak until different versions in many native languages would be mass-produced and nearly everyone would have access to the perfect written word which has been the only way the Spirit would deign to bless anyone over all those centuries?

Because – put that way – the doctrine sounds a little short-sighted historically and modern-day arrogant to me. It sounds as if God is going through another four-hundred-year phase of not talking to His people again; another Egypt; another Babylon.

Exactly what impact would that prophecy have had upon the folks in Corinth of century one?

Is that really the way God operates in the Christian age … promising something to all and forever through His prophets and His Son, and then withdrawing it?

Is the work of the Holy Spirit or the Spirit Himself “imperfect,” “immature,” “incomplete,” or however you wish to translate ek merous?

I can understand that God could repent of creating mankind and then all but obliterate every trace of him from the earth. But I also believe I understand that He could not have completely done so because there was a promise involved, a promise just hinted at to Adam and Eve. (Genesis 3:15) But that hint was as good as a promise in God’s mind, and God is not a slacker concerning His promises (Psalm 145:13; 2 Corinthians 1:20) … and to believers in Christ He has made better promises than to the patriarchs (Hebrews 8:6).

Better.

Not lesser.

With the Holy Spirit dwelling in the believer, there is great power – reminding the believer of what Jesus has said; guiding him/her into all truth (truth that believer might not have previously seen in the written word, but would with the Spirit’s reminder); and instructing him/her about when, where, how and to whom that truth might be most effectively shared.

With the Holy Spirit dwelling in the community of believers, there is a bond of peace and a unity that fosters the growth of the truth and the perception of nonbelievers that good is being spoken and done by those who profess and live Christ.

Without the Holy Spirit, the word may be read … but will its meaning be unanimously understood?

Without the Holy Spirit, the word may be recited … but can it be proclaimed?

Without the Holy Spirit, a life may be changed for the good … but can it be changed into the likeness of Jesus Christ?

Without the Holy Spirit, life can be lived … but can it be lived to the fullest and forever?

My Bible says no. The power isn’t in the word alone, or the logic and cleverness and skill and will of the one who shares it, but in Christ.

Shut Him out; retire and reject and limit His Spirit to the printed words on the pages of a book … and the power is gone. Because to the unbeliever, there are lots of books out there; lots of religious books; lots of enlightenment to be had by reading. If there is no power behind it, the Bible is just another book among many.

Satan is the one who gains when the power is removed; when he can persuade us that one of God’s hands is tied behind His back; only what He said and did matters, not what you might think He is saying or doing now. He isn’t speaking or active now; that was only then. He’s retired now; it’s all up to you to do His work, and do it perfectly all on your own because He’s given you this perfect book and that’s all you ever need: just what He said and did for all those dead people back then.

Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. … He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”~ Matthew 22:29; 32

If the Holy Spirit – or His work done while living in the believer – is imperfect, doesn’t it stand to reason that God would not have given those gifts even temporarily in century one; that they were not good enough for believers in his perfect Son?

Isn’t it, at the very least. on the thin edge of blasphemy to designate anything connected with God – His work; His choices; His Holy Spirit – as imperfect, immature, incomplete? That’s a serious charge to face!

“And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.” ~ Matthew 12:31

Jesus pulls no punches about the sin that cannot be forgiven. I’m not going to go into the ring and challenge Him on the point. If I’m going to err about the Holy Spirit, I’m going to err on the side of generosity. I’m going to say that He is just as powerful today as He was then, if not moreso. I’m going to say that He still reflects God’s desire to live with man, transform man, and give him gifts – including eternal life. I’m going to say that He still politely waits to be asked into the hearts of those who desire His presence; that He remains the Spirit of Jesus as well as the Spirit of God, knocking at our door.

Because all of that I can find in scripture, and I cannot find a prophecy which traps Him between the covers of our Bible.

I will venture to say that the gifts over which we quibble and divide now will seem inconsequential one day.

In view of how 1 Corinthians 13:11-13 continues, I’ll even propose that the perfect which is yet to come is most likely to be Jesus Christ, and that while we await His return, prophecy and preaching in different languages and knowledge still are useful, even if in part. We should act as maturely as we can in the meantime, especially in using those gifts in love – with no misconception that we will attain His perfection/maturity/completeness on our own – because now we can only see dimly, as in a mirror with imperfect silvering – but when He comes, we will see His perfect glory face to face; our partial knowledge will be eclipsed by being fully known; our faith and our hope will be overshadowed by the brilliance of His eternal love.

Does the Holy Spirit Only Work Miraculously?

/ W. Keith Brenton / 1 Comment

Short answer: No.

If we define “miraculously” as visible, audible, tangible manifestations of supernatural power, no.

Of the list of ways in scripture that the Spirit aids compiled in the previous post, these are the ways that I see that are, in some measure, miraculous:

  • Tongues / comprehensible foreign languages
  • Interpretation of tongues
  • Prophecy / revelation (especially of the foretelling kind)
  • “Signs, wonders and miracles” (I would include exorcism, specifically; and spiriting people away to other locations)
  • Healing (of illness, deformities, crippling inabilities)
  • Instructs through visions and dreams (not new doctrine, but specific instructions to individual people, such as “Don’t go to Bithynia; go to Macedonia and preach.”)

There were forty-eight ways listed in that post, and even if half of them duplicated the other half in ways that we might or might not perceive, that would be twenty-four. So let’s say at minimum there are at least four times as many ways that the the Holy Spirit works subtly – sometimes imperceptibly – to help believers witness the power of Jesus Christ to those who haven’t heard of Him or need to know more of Him.

His presence is to give life through the gospel, richer and selfless life here that leads to eternal life. (See How Does God Resurrect the Dead?)

I emphasize that because I find it characteristic of the Holy Spirit’s aid in scripture. The connection may not always be obvious, but I believe it is always there. I am open to being proven wrong about that, but even half-a-dozen exceptions would not disprove the support of the gospel as widely characteristic of the Spirit’s assistance.

Just take a look through the Acts of the Apostles as an example. First, the opening eight-and-a-half chapters. Then the last half. Go ahead; really. I’ll wait for you right here.

Finished? Did you find any exceptions? What were they? And is there a possibility, however remote, that the Spirit’s aid is still intended to help in the progress of the gospel, even if it’s not immediately apparent?

While He serves in the role as Counselor/Advocate in a primary way, He also serves in the role of Comforter. (It’s my understanding that paraclete can be interpreted accurately in both those ways.) Early believers knew that hard times were ahead; that their faith would be tested even to the point of death. The Spirit within them, as a seal and comfort of their resurrection to come, was meant to sustain them through the worst of human indignities, tortures, and death.