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THE HOLY SPIRIT

THE PERSONALITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT:

God the Holy Spirit is a person. He is not a force. Following are some features proving this:

• He has mind (Rom 8:27)

• He searches out the human mind (I Cor 2:10)

• He has a will (I Cor 12:11)

• He speaks (Acts 8:29, 10:19)

• He loves (Rom 15:32)

• He grieves (Eph 4:30)

• He prays (Rom 8:26)

THE DEITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT:

• He is omnipresent (Ps 139:7)

• He is omniscient (I Cor 2:10-11)

• He is omnipotent (Gen 1:1)

• He is eternal (Heb 9:14)

• He is called God (Acts 5:3-4)

THE NAMES AND TITLES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT:

• The Spirit of the God (I Cor 3:16)

• The Spirit of the Christ (Rom 8:9)

• Eternal Spirit (Heb 9:14)

• The Spirit of the Truth (John 16:13)

• The Spirit of Grace (1-leb 10:29)

• The Spirit of Glory (I Pet 4:14)

• The Spirit of Life (Rom 8:2)

• The Spirit of wisdom and revelation

• The Comforter (John 14:26)

• The Spirit of Adoption (Rom 8:15)

• The Spirit of Holiness (Rom 1:4)

• The Spirit of Faith (II Cor 4:13)

EMBLEMS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

• Dove (John 1:32) — symbolizes Purity, Peace, and Modesty

• Water (Is 44:3, Jn 7:37-39) — symbolizes Life and Cleansing

• Oil (Heb 1:9, Lk 4:8) — symbolizes Light, Healing and anointing

• Seal (Eph 1:3, 4:30, II Cor 1:22) — symbolizes Ownership and Security

• Wind (Jn 3:8, Acts 2:21) — symbolizes Unseen power

• Fire (Ex 3:2, 13:21, Lev 9:24, Is 6:1-8, Acts 2:3, Heb 12:29)

        - symbolizes Presence, Approval, Protecction, Purifying and Judgment

MINISTRY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT ON BELIEVERS:

When a sinner believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, five things happen:

1. The Holy Spirit regenerates the believer (Tit 3:5, )n 3:3-7, I Pet 1:23)

2. The Holy Spirit baptizes the believer (I Cor 12:13)

3. The Holy Spirit indwells the believer (I Cor 3:16)

4. The Holy Spirit seals the believer (Eph 1:13, Jn 10:29)

5. The Holy Spirit fills the believer (Acts 10:44, 2:4)

All the five ministries happen instantaneously to the believing sinner. The first four can never be lost; whereas the last one is lost when a believer walks in disobedience.

BAPTISM AND FULLNESS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

BASIC PRINCIPLES OF APPROACH:

1. Our common desire and duty as Christians must be to enter into the full purpose of God for us. (Phil 3:12-14, in 14:16-17, Eph 4:11)

2. We are to desire this purpose of God in Scripture. The will of God for the people is in the Word of God. We should neither covet for ourselves what God may have given to others, nor urge upon others what God may have given to us, unless it is plainly revealed in His Word that this is part of the inheritance promised to all His people. What we seek for ourselves must be governed by Scripture alone. Experience must never be the criterion for truth. Trust must always be the criterion for experience. (II Pet 1:17-21)

3. The revelation of the purpose of God in Scripture should be sought in teaching passages rather than descriptive parts.

4. Our motive in seeking to learn God’s purpose from the teaching of Scripture is practical and personal, not academic nor controversial.

BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT:

• The expression “Baptize with the Holy Spirit” occurs only 7 times in New Testament.

• Four times in Gospels when John the Baptist uses the nature if ministry of Lord Jesus Christ. “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit” (Mt 3:11, Mk 1:8, Lk 3:16, in 1:33)

• In Lord’s quotation of John the Baptist’s prophecy (Acts 1:5)

• In Peter’s quotation of Lord’s quotation of John the Baptist’s prophecy (Acts 11:16)

• In 1Corl2:13

The concept of Baptism is initiatory:

• The baptism of the Holy Spirit was to be one of the main distinctive blessings of the new age (U Cor 3:8)

• It is a universal blessing. (Birth right of all Believers)

• In the Old Testament days, the Holy Spirit came upon special people for special ministries at special times.

• In the New Testament days, all believers share the blessing of the Holy Spirit. He indwells in all believers. He performs the sanctifying ministry within believers. (in 16:14, Gal 4:19, Eph 3:16-17)

The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is a universal Christian experience, because it is an initial Christian experience. All Christians receive the Spirit as the very beginning of their Christian life. To be “in the Spirit”, “to have the Spirit”, “to live by the Spirit” and “to be led by the Spirit”, these are all descriptions of every Christian believer (Rom 8:9, 8:14, Gal 5:25). The New Testament authors take it for granted that God has ‘given’ their readers His Holy Spirit (Rom 5:5, I Th 4:8, I in 3:24, 4:13). There is no single occasion on which they exhort them to receive Him. No Apostolic sermon or letter contains an appeal to be baptized with the Spirit.

SHOULD I WAIT TO RECEIVE THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT?

People use three main passages to support this view. We should interpret these passages in their circumstances. (Historical)

• On Pentecostal day (Acts 2:1-4)

• The Samaritan believers (Acts 8:14-17)

• The Ephesian disciples (Acts 19:1-7)

In Acts 2, we see two groups of people 120 and 3000. The first group waited since the promise of Holy Spirit. Jn 7:38-39) The Pentecostal experience was an historical occurrence, which can never be repeated.

Bible very clearly says we receive or baptized by the Holy Spirit when we are saved. (Eph 1:13, Gal 3:2) In Acts itself we see people were baptized with the Holy Spirit when they first believed. (Acts 2:38-41, 10:44-46)

Another question commonly asked should any external sign is needed for being baptized with the Holy Spirit. The Scripture never teaches so.

FULLNESS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT:

On the day of Pentecost Jesus Christ baptized with the Spirit first 120 and then 3000. the result of the Baptism was that “they were all filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:4). Thus, the fullness of the Spirit was the consequent of the Baptism of the Spirit. The Baptism is what Jesus did; the fullness is what they received. The Baptism was a unique initiatory experience; the fullness was intended to be continuing, permanent result. As one initiatory event, the Baptism is not repeatable and cannot be lost; but the filling can be repeated and needs to be maintained. If it is no maintained, it is lost. If it is lost, it can be recovered. The Holy Spirit is ‘grieved’ by sin (Eph 4:30) and cease to fill the sinner. Repentance is then the only road to recovery.

“Be filled with the Holy Spirit” is not an option; but a command. (Eph 5:18) We see many examples for this in the New Testament. (Acts 6:35, 11:24, 13:52, 9:17) The Corinthian Christians are a solemn warning in that they were Christians who had been baptized with the Spirit (I Cor 1:4-7) yet unspiritual people. (I Cor 3:1-4) Paul makes it very clear that evidence of the Spirit’s fullness is not the exercising the Gifts; but bearing His fruits — Christ like qualities.

MARKS OF SPIRITS FULLNESS:

The chief evidence of fullness of the Holy Spirit is moral life; not miraculous life. Paul describes the consequences of Spirit’s fullness, are all moral qualities. In Eph 5:18-21, we see the following about fullness of the Spirit:

• It results in fellowship

• It results in glorifying Jesus

• It results in giving thanks always for all things

• It results in submission to one another

FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT:

In Gal 5:22-23, Paul speaks about the Fruit of the Spirit. The Spirit gives each believer different gifts, but He works to produce the same fruit in all.

• The Fruit of the Spirit is super natural in its origin. (Gal 5:19-21)

• The Fruit needs right atmosphere to grow. We need discipline to ensure that the conditions are right.

• It takes time to produce a ripe Christian character. Character is the produce of lifetime. We need patience.

THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT:

The Gifts of the Spirit are given to individual believers for healthy growth of the church.

The church is one because one Spirit indwells all believers. The church is diverse because the one Spirit distributes different gifts to all believers. Four different lists referring to twenty (or more) Spiritual gifts are found in the New Testament. The lists are as follows:

• 1 Corl2

• Rom 12:3-8

• Eph4:7-12

• 1 Pet4:lO-ll

SOME IMPORTANT TRUTHS TO REMEMBER:

• There are different Gifts from the same Giver

• Gifts are given to edify the church

• The Spirit distributes according to His will

• All the people don’t have all gifts

• All believers are blessed with some gifts

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