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Experiencing the Holy Spirit
David VanDrunen
(First published in
Evangelium, Vol. 3, Issue 2, Mar/Apr2005)
Who is the Holy Spirit and what sort of work does he do? How and
where are we as Christians to experience and enjoy the Holy
Spirit? Questions like these have challenged Christians for a
long time, but they seem to trouble many believers in the
present day more than ever. The Pentecostal movement points to
miraculous healings and speaking in tongues as evidence of the
Spirit’s presence in their midst. Promoters of inter-religious
dialogue claim that the Spirit is at work in all religions.
Learned scholars write heavy volumes on a theology of the
Spirit. All of this threatens to make average Christians wonder
whether they really understand the Spirit’s work or whether they
are missing out on the Spirit’s blessings. We do not have to be
perplexed about such questions, however. Scripture makes clear
what the role of the Holy Spirit is: to testify about Jesus
Christ and apply the salvation that comes from him. And
Scripture also makes clear where we experience and receive these
blessings of the Spirit: in the church of Jesus Christ.
The Spirit and Christ
Many things being said about the Holy Spirit in the present day
suggest some sort of independent role for the third person of
the Trinity. Does the Spirit lead people to God in non-Christian
religions apart from the saving work of Christ, for example? Or
does the Spirit enable people to speak in tongues or perform
miraculous healings without reference to Christ? The Scripture’s
teaching about the Holy Spirit does not permit such an
understanding. In fact, Scripture is clear that Christ and his
Spirit stand in the closest of relationships and that the Spirit
has no independent role, but works redemptively in this world
solely to testify about Christ and apply his salvation to
believers. (1)
The relationship between Christ and the Spirit is already
evident in the Old Testament. Many of the prophecies that speak
of the coming Messiah proclaim his glory and saving power by
describing him as Spirit-endowed. Isaiah 11:1-2, for example,
testifies of the shoot coming forth from the stump of Jesse:
“The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of
wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the
Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.” Later in Isaiah
the coming Messiah says of himself: “The Spirit of the Lord is
upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to
the poor…” (61:1). When Jesus did come into this world, the
gospel of Luke describes the marvelous scene in which Jesus
reads this passage from Isaiah 61 in the synagogue and then
announces to his listeners: “Today this Scripture has been
fulfilled in your hearing” (4:21). Indeed it was, for the
entire earthly ministry of Christ was characterized by the
Spirit’s presence and power. Jesus’ mother, though a virgin,
conceived because the Holy Spirit overshadowed her (Luke 1:35).
When John baptized Jesus, the Holy Spirit descended from heaven
in the form of a dove (Luke 3:21-22). Thus anointed by the
Spirit, Christ took up his work of ministry and accomplished his
astounding works precisely by the Spirit’s power. For example,
Matthew tells us that Christ drove out demons by the Spirit of
God—and that this was definitive proof that the kingdom of God
had arrived (12:28). In fact, after the return of the
seventy-two disciples that Jesus sent to heal the sick and
announce the kingdom of God, he saw Satan fall like lightning
from heaven and he “rejoiced in the Holy Spirit” (Luke 10:21).
Even in the dark hour at the climax of his earthly ministry,
Hebrews 9:14 explains that he “through the eternal Spirit
offered himself without blemish to God.” Of course, this was
not the end of the story, for the very same Spirit raised up
Jesus from the dead. Though he was “put to death in the flesh”
he was also “made alive by the Spirit” (1 Pet 3:18, my
translation). The resurrected Christ then ascended into heaven,
and there he “received from the Father the promise of the Holy
Spirit” (Acts 2:33). Christ did not lack the Spirit during his
earthly work, as we have seen, but he now possesses the Spirit
in fullest measure, as the glorified God-Man who bestows
salvation upon his people. As the New Testament describes the
saving blessings we enjoy in Christ, it consistently points to
the Spirit as the giver of these gifts. For example, our
adoption as the children of the Father, as co-heirs with Christ
the Son, is sealed by the Spirit: “Because you are sons, God has
sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts” (Gal 4:6). By the
Spirit, we are enabled to approach God freely, calling him
“Abba, Father” (Gal 4:6; Rom 8:15). Furthermore, the Spirit
sanctifies us, conforming us unto the image of Christ (Rom
8:3-8, 26-29). He also serves for believers as a pledge or
guarantee, a sort of down-payment that cannot be revoked: God
has “put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as
a guarantee” (2 Cor 1:22). The Spirit is a foretaste of our
heavenly life lavished upon us now. In light of this, it is
little surprise that the same Spirit who raised up Christ from
the dead is also the agent of our own resurrection. In fact,
Paul connects our resurrection with that of Christ as he marvels
at the Spirit’s work: “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus
from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the
dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his
Spirit who dwells in you” (Rom 8:11). The Spirit has been sent into this world for one grand
purpose—to glorify Christ. Christ sent him for the purpose of
being our advocate in his place, recalling to mind the things
that Christ taught, speaking his words, and magnifying him (John
14:16-17, 26; 16:13-14). Thus, we understand why the Spirit is
none other than the “Spirit of Christ,” without whom no one
belongs to Christ (Rom 8:9). No theology or religious practice
that attempts to treat the Spirit as an independent contractor,
as one who works in individuals apart from the saving work of
Christ, has properly reckoned with this important biblical
truth.
The Spirit and the Church
This intimate connection between the Spirit and Christ raises
another question: how does the Spirit relate to the church? Most
people have probably heard the complaint that the institutional
church stifles the Spirit’s work. The church, with its
established government, creeds, and liturgies, may seem to
represent predictability and deadness. This complaint can seem
especially powerful when more traditional churches are compared
to Pentecostal groups that display such spontaneity and
enthusiasm. Is it true that spontaneity and the downplaying of
the institutional church is a sign of the Spirit’s work in
Christians’ midst? Scripture speaks in a different way. The
Spirit’s work is to testify about Christ, and Christ is to be
found precisely in the church and its ministry of word and
sacraments. The Christian who despises the church despises the
Spirit who is pleased to reveal Christ in his church. That all
of Scripture points to Christ is an important affirmation.
Christ himself taught his disciples that even the whole of the
Old Testament—the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms—testifies
about him (Luke 24:27, 44). But Scripture is also clear that the
message about Christ is especially made known through the word
preached. Romans 10:14 asks: “But how are they to call on him in
whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him
of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without
someone preaching?” In 10:17 Paul adds: “So faith comes from
hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” Therefore, in
this remarkable passage Paul first affirms that faith comes
through hearing someone preaching and then explains that faith
comes through the word of Christ. His meaning is unmistakable:
to hear the preaching of the word is to hear the word of Christ
himself!
Did Paul not contemplate the common objection that preaching
is only one way of communicating, and perhaps not even the most
effective way? He undoubtedly did—but he warned in 1 Corinthians
1:21 that God is pleased to use preaching to save his people
even though it seems foolish in the eyes of the world: “For
since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through
wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to
save those who believe.”
Where is the Spirit in all of this? Scripture explains that
the Spirit is precisely the one who inspired this word of God
that is preached unto salvation. For example, Peter explains:
“For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men
spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2
Pet 1:21). What is true of the preaching of the word is also
true of the sacraments. Reformed theology traditionally has
taught that sacraments are signs and seals of Christ and his
redeeming work. This language is explicitly biblical, as Romans
4:11 demonstrates, calling the Old Testament sacrament of
circumcision both a “sign” and “seal” of the righteousness of
Christ that comes by faith. As signs, the sacramental elements
are visible representations of Christ and his work. But they are
more than this, for as seals they guarantee Christ’s promises to
Christians, encouraging, edifying, and assuring them of their
salvation in Christ. Is the Spirit active in communicating
Christ to us in the sacraments? Indeed he is, for Scripture
speaks of the work of sealing as a distinctive task of the
Spirit (e.g., Eph 1:13; 4:30). The Holy Spirit, by the
sacraments, seals the grace of Christ to us. Though there is
not the space here to show in detail how this is true in regard
to baptism and the Lord’s Supper specifically, a few remarks may
be helpful. Baptism clearly displays and seals Christ and his
work, especially his death, burial, and resurrection (see Rom
6:3-4; Col 2:11-12). Yet here again the Spirit is active. Water
and the washing with water, which Scripture associates with the
Spirit’s work of regeneration (John 3:6; Titus 3:4-6), is itself
a sign of the Holy Spirit’s work (e.g., John 7:37-39). Similar
things can be said in regard to the Lord’s Supper. The bread and
wine are memorials of Christ’s death (e.g., Luke 22:19-20). Even
more, they are seals of Christ and his saving blessings in that
those partaking of them have fellowship or communion with his
body and blood (1 Cor 10:16). As the Reformed tradition has
helpfully explained, Christ nourishes us in communion as the
Spirit makes the true body and blood present to believers in the
Supper, even while Christ’s body remains in heaven.
Conclusion
In the midst of the many conflicting claims made today about
where to find the Spirit and his work, Bible-believing
Christians need not wonder about this nor be worried that they
might miss him. Scripture has told us clearly what sort of work
the Spirit does and where we may expect to find him: the Spirit
glorifies Christ, and does so particularly in the church through
the preached word and sacraments. May we rejoice in this
bountiful gift of God and never be discontent with such gracious
abundance.
For Further Reading:
Dr. VanDrunen recommends The Holy Spirit by Sinclair Ferguson (IVP,
1996), a book on pneumatology generally. For the more specific
question of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, Richard B. Gaffin,
Jr., Perspectives on Pentecost: New Testament Teaching on the
Gifts of the Holy Spirit (P&R, 1979).
Footnotes 1 I would add for
clarification that the Holy Spirit is certainly present in this
world as an agent of divine providence, with the Father and the
Son. This work of governing and upholding all things is very
important, but must also be distinguished clearly from the
saving work of God. Insofar as God brings salvation to his
people, the Spirit’s work is entirely that of glorifying and
applying the benefits of Christ.
Ó2005
Westminster Seminary California All rights reserved
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S. M. Baugh
R. Scott Clark
Iain M. Duguid
Bryan D. Estelle
W. Robert Godfrey
Michael S. Horton
Dennis E. Johnson
Hywel R. Jones
Peter R. Jones
Joel E. Kim
Julius J. Kim
George C. Scipione
Robert B. Strimple
David M. VanDrunen
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