Holy Spirit Essay

The Trinity is a complex idea which man will never fully be able to understand. Throughout the Bible we see God as the Father, Son and Spirit working in incredible ways. More than simply addressing how the coming of the Holy Spirit revolutionized the people of God it will also be important to recognize the infinity of the Spirit and the effect The Holy Spirit has had on mankind throughout history.

Long before creation up to today we see the Spirit as work in the lives of people. Genesis 1:2b says, “And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.” However, the way the Spirit works is different in the Old Testament times and after Jesus as we see at Pentecost in Acts 2. One of the biggest differences between the time before the ‘coming’ of the Holy Spirit is that the Spirit in the old testament would come upon people occasionally as we see with Saul in 1 Samuel 16:12-13 where as afterwards the Spirit dwells in and among the people of God permanently, 2 Timothy 1:14 clearly shows that the Holy Spirit lives in us, “Through the power of the Holy Spirit who lives within us, carefully guard the precious truth that has been entrusted to you.” 

There are many different ways in which the Holy Spirit works. There are four things I have pulled out to show the ways He is the same in the old and new testament.  He brings about rebirth, dwells within, retrains and empowers people.

In John 3:3 we read about the way we need to be reborn to enter the kingdom of God. It is the Holy Spirit who brings about this rebirth when we confess Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour. In Deuteronomy 30:6 we also read of the way our hearts are changed so that we may have life. Ezekiel 36:26-27 also has this concept of renewal through the Spirit in us, “And 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. And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations”

This passage in Ezekiel also shows how the Spirit leads us away from sin, in Genesis 6:3 God says, “My Spirit will not remain in humans for such a long time, for they are only mortal flesh…”  It is the Spirit of God who leads us to repent, turn from sin and draws us to the Father. Then also, the Spirit is the one who empowers us and gives us what we need to do the will of God, in new testament we see the Spirit bring about the fruit of the Spirit and give the Spiritual gifts (Galatians 5:22-23 and 1 Corinthians 12:7-11 respectively ). In Exodus 31:3 it says, “I have filled him with the Spirit of God, giving him great wisdom, ability, and expertise in all kinds of crafts.” The Holy Spirit gives us what we need, to do what God tells us to do.

Then also the Spirit is indwelling, man can be filled by the Spirit of God. This is true for all time but the change is more apparent when it becomes a permanent indwelling. We read of the Spirit being in Joshua in Numbers 27:18 and also see this clearly in 1 Corinthians 3:16 and 6:19 where Paul explains that our bodies are the Temple of the Holy Spirit.

However, although it is the same Spirit indwelling, His permanent presence revolutionized the early church both Jews and Gentiles. With the death and resurrection of Christ and the coming of the Spirit and new covenant the early church had to undergo a great change in their minds and hearts. Possibly two of the biggest shifts they needed to make were, for the Jews to accept that with the coming of the Spirit and because of the work of Jesus both Jews and Gentiles could be believers. Galatians 3:28 explains how we are all one in Christ Jesus. This was extraordinary also for the Gentiles because they now God have the Spirit in them and they were not required to live by the Jewish law in order to serve the true God, they now lived by grace through faith. The second mind shift is the idea that the old covenant had been abolished and replaced by the new and any believer no longer lived by the law but rather by the Spirit.

Both of these revolutionary ideas affected the ministries and personal lives of the early church in several ways. We see throughout the epistles that the Jews really had a hard time accepting the Gentiles and moving away from a life guided by law to a life guided by the Holy Spirit. The Gentiles had a hard time as well. Together these believers were starting off as infants, having to be taught and reminded of how to properly use the spiritual gifts given by the Holy Spirit and how to work together with the holy Spirit to bring about God’s will. Examples of these are the churches of Galatia (swayed by false doctrine of living by works and not the spirit), Ephesus and the churches in Rome. 

However, I believe that not only did the early church have to change their minds to come to an understanding of how to live a Spirit filled life but today still we need to do the very same thing. Personally, I have been on a journey of discovering the person of the Holy Spirit and all He is and does in my life today. I suppose one of the more clear examples of how the Spirit has worked in my life is concerning the fruit of the Spirit. From a young age I had learned them and always strived to live it out. However, it was frustrating because I was striving, I needed the revelation that it is the Holy Spirit in us which produces this fruit and rather than striving to produce fruit I started focusing on following the Spirit and that in turn produced all the good fruit. My walk in coming to know the person of the Holy Spirit has been a long one and I have a long way to go. I know that I have not been called to an ordinary life but a life of missions. The Holy Spirit always guides me to do things I only later realize was equipping me for something bigger. I am preparing to go home and study as the next step and I heavily need to rely on the Holy Spirit to guide me. It is His guidance which helps me to fulfill my calling, to live in intimate relationship with God, drawing people to Him by example. I cannot do it by myself and I have no idea how! 

I see that in my life although I trust the Holy Spirit to help me live out all the fruit of the Spirit the most evident are joy, love and faithfulness. I need to work on and want to see growth in a fruit of patience, self control and peace, not peace with others but within myself. I don’t like putting myself or God in a box but of the Gifts given as we see mentioned in several places, of the Spirit specifically in 1 Corinthians 12:7-11 there are several I identify in myself. I have definitely got the gift of giving wise advise (1 Cor 12:8), many times I find myself helping others and counseling, giving advice that I have no idea where my words come from if it is not from the Holy Spirit. I also have the gift of teaching (Ephesians 4:11) and leadership (Romans 12:8). All these are things which are continually developing and getting stronger.

I pray that as the Holy Spirit has always been and will continue to be, He will continue to develop me as I draw near to His guidance and to the Father and Son.

Romans

·       Summary (church, strengths and weaknesses, reference to Acts):

We do not read much about the Roman church in Acts but there are some references to members in Acts 18:1-2. The church in Rome was not unified and we see that there were several congregations meeting separately (16:5, 14, 15). It seems as though most of the church was gentile with a few returned Jews. Both the faith (1:8) and obedience (16:19) of the church were well known. Paul did not start the Roman church and has not been to them either at the time the letter is written (1:10). The church seems to be mature (14:1) but was struggling with pride and judgment (12:3.)

·       Main ideas, key words and repeated ideas:

The main idea of the letter to the Romans was to set straight their idea of the design and nature of the gospel. It is repeated that the gospel and what Jesus did is for everyone!

Paul stresses the new covenant and the fact that all who believe are saved by grace, Jew and Gentile alike. The key verse of Romans is ,” For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes – the Jew first and also the Gentile. This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life” (1:16-17).

·       Character and nature of God:

I think the main message of God’s character can be summed up in Romans 2:11,” For God does not show favoritism.” There are also many other parts of God’s character that we see in Romans. Romans 2:2-4 shows God’s justice, kindness, tolerance and patience. We see in 3:26 that God is fair, righteous and just. In 9:22-23 God is shown to have anger, power, patience, glory and mercy. God is both kind and severe (11:22). He is full of wisdom and knowledge and His ways and decisions are much higher than ours (11:33). In 12:6 we see that God is generous and full of grace. He is also the ultimate source of hope, joy and peace (15:13).

·       Point of Passion:  Romans is applicable to education in many ways, specifically when we focus on equality. Romans clearly shows us that God loves all people and He extends his mercy to whoever calls on His name. Therefore it is vital that when teaching we are not prejudice and treat all people equally. However that is not what I want to focus on. In Romans 2:21 it says, “Well then, if you teach others, why don’t you teach yourself? – You tell others not to steal, but do you steal?” This just shows me again the importance of being humble and living a life of example. Why should anyone listen to what we have to say if there is no evidence of the truth in our lives?! Teachers need to teach from example and without judgment or pride.

2 Corinthians

·       Summary (church, strengths and weaknesses, reference to Acts):

In this epistle we see Paul respond to the accusations of some ‘super apostles’ in Corinth which have begun to turn believers from their faith by questioning Paul’s authority, his veracity (1:15-17) and ability to speak (10:10; 11:6). One can read about the church of Corinth in Acts 18:1-18. We can see that this church was bearing good fruit (3:2) but were very proud (3:1).

·       Main ideas, key words and repeated ideas:

Repeatedly the word comfort is used. This was necessary for them to hear because we see that they were suffering, possibly from persecution or simply from the previous harsh letter from Paul.  The word ‘new’ is found often, new life, new creation, and new covenant and in 5:17 we read about becoming a new person in Christ, the old life leaving and new life beginning. A main reason Paul writes this letter is to vindicate his apostleship and manner of life and he tries to avoid a needed rebuke (1:23-2:3. 13:10). We see a key verse found in 2 Corinthians 12:10,” That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

·       Character and nature of God:

We see that God is a comforter and encourager (7:6). God is faithful (1:18) and keeps his promises (1:20). God is merciful (4:1). God is kind (6:1). God is humble, gracious, loving and unselfish (8:9). I see so much of God’s character in His reply to Paul, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness” (12:8). I also love the beautiful way the character of God and wholeness of the Trinity is displayed in 13:14, “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”

1 Corinthians

·       Summary (church, strengths and weaknesses, reference to Acts):

We see the establishment of the church in Corinth recorded in Acts 18:1-18. Corinth had a really bad reputation and the church was being affected by immorality, sexual and otherwise, of the city as we see in chapter 5. There was disunity and arguments we see this as they were taking each other to court. We see that they were humble enough to write to Paul about certain questions about marriage (7), meats sacrificed to idols, women, use of spiritual gifts and the resurrection. In Paul’s response we see their arrogance, jealousy, quarreling and disunity. Most of their weaknesses and problems came from being selfish and having a lack of love. They were close to Athens and we can see the influence of the culture and intellectualism infiltrating the church.

·       Main ideas, key words and repeated ideas:

This book is about LOVE! Paul explains that they need to love God and love one another. He writes to correct their sinful practices and refute the false doctrine being taught. We see this repeated idea of all things being allowed but not all being beneficial. In 1 Cor 1:10 we read that there needs to be unity! A key verse and simple truth is found in 16:4, “And do everything with love.”

·       Character and nature of God:

God is shown as love in 1 Corinthians, the people would have needed to see and know how to love in the midst of their disunity and selfish lifestyles. We also see that He is a gracious giver (1:5) and that He strengthens us (1:8).God is faithful (1:9). He has supreme wisdom (1:21) and searches out all things, bring revelation to people (2:10). God is the creator (8:6) and the spirit gives according to his perfect discernment (12:11). God is love and thus he encompasses and loves us with all the traits mentioned in 13:4-7. In 14:33 we are told that ‘God is not a God of disorder but of peace.’

·       Point of Passion:

In 1 Corinthians 8:1 it says,”Now regarding your question about food that has been offered to idols. Yes, we know that “we all have knowledge” about this issue. But while knowledge makes us feel important, it is love that strengthens the church.”  Education is as much about teaching information as it is about teaching love. This is something I think is very much missing in education. People are taught knowledge but not what to do with the knowledge and how to use it to benefit others. Here Paul shows that it is not about what you know but how you love!

Colossians

·       Summary (church, strengths and weaknesses, reference to Acts):

The church addressed here was in the small town of Colosse in modern day turkey. It was neither established nor visited by Paul and is therefore not accounted for in Acts. A man named Epaphras shared the good news with them (1:7).  Paul writes to them because they are faced with the danger of falling back to paganism and all the immorality concerned with that (1:21-23/2:6/3:5-11). They seemed to have been trying to find a balance in syncretism between gentile and Jewish ideas (2:8/ 2:11, 16-17). There were influences of angel worship (2:1) and false teachings (2:8-23). However, on the up side, Paul says that He has heard about the love they have for others (1:8).

·       Main ideas, key words and repeated ideas:

The main theme and idea of Colossians is that Christ is the fullness of God, the pre-eminent all sufficient savior! Loving kindness is emphasized through the book as well as the supremacy of Christ. Repeatedly Paul refers to the mystery and secret of our faith which is also repeated as Christ in us, the hope of glory. The key verse of Colossians is 2:9-10, it says,” For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.”

·       Character and nature of God:

I think there is much to be said about God’s character regarding the sovereignty and kindness we see in Colossians. In 1:11 we see that it is His glorious power which strengthens us and that He is the provider of both patience and joy.  Chapter 1:15-20 emphasizes that God is supreme and sovereign over all things. We see that In Christ is all wisdom and knowledge (2:3) and that his mighty power works within us (1::29). In 3:10 Paul points out that God is our creator and we are to become like him. We see that God has free will and has chosen to love us in 3:12.

·       Point of Passion:

Concerning education we need to make sure that no matter what we teach whether it is the Bible or Grade 4 Geography, we need to hold Christ as the pre-eminent in all of life. Colossians 2:3 “In him lie all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” We are to search Christ in whatever we teach and then we will not only find our Savior and friend but along with Him the treasures of wisdom and knowledge which we need revelation on.

In the passages of Colossians 3:1-2 and 3:23-24 we see the importance of teaching people to look at their work and everything with an eternal perspective.