Wednesday: The Holy Spirit
Daily Lesson for Wednesday 11th of December 2024
The Holy Spirit is not as prominent in the Gospel of John as the Father and the Son are. Yet, His role is crucial to the success of Jesus’ mission.
Read John 1:10-13. What does this text teach us about the importance of the Holy Spirit for conversion?
In the first chapter of John, we can see just how central the role of the Holy Spirit is. John tells us that as many as received the Word (that is, as many as believed in Him) became children of God, those “who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13, NKJV). This comes only from the work of the Holy Spirit.
What do the following passages tell of the activities of the Holy Spirit? John 3:5-8, John 6:63, John 14:26, John 15:26, John 16:7-11.
image © Linda Lovett from GoodSalt.com
“In describing to His disciples the office work of the Holy Spirit, Jesus sought to inspire them with the joy and hope that inspired His own heart. He rejoiced because of the abundant help He had provided for His church. The Holy Spirit was the highest of all gifts that He could solicit from His Father for the exaltation of His people. The Spirit was to be given as a regenerating agent, and without this the sacrifice of Christ would have been of no avail. The power of evil had been strengthening for centuries, and the submission of men to this satanic captivity was amazing. Sin could be resisted and overcome only through the mighty agency of the Third Person of the Godhead, who would come with no modified energy, but in the fullness of divine power.”—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 671.
What a blessing, then, to receive the Holy Spirit, who certifies that God is true (John 3:33). It is the Spirit that convicts of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment (John 16:8-11). Hence, the key for us to know what is right, what is true, and what is good is our submission of our reason and life experiences to the Word of God through the convicting and convincing power of the Holy Spirit.
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Electricity is pretty powerful stuff. I saw a bolt of lightning hit a tree once not to far from where I was standing. The noise was deafening and bits and pieces flew off the tree. I was scared spitless, afraid the next strike would be me. At another time, I was visiting a power generation station with a school group, when, just as we arrived, there was a power grid failure. We were standing next to the high voltage switch yard and they had to turn the power off quickly. It sounded like world war 3 had started. High voltage switches are blown apart with powerful blasts of compressed air to stop the switches from burning.
For all its power, electricity comes quietly into our houses at 240 volts (110 Volts for those who are scared of it). Without any fuss it gently lights our lightbulbs, cooks our supper, powers our computers, and if you let it, will even brush our teeth.
The importance of electricity for us is not the power it can display, but the utility it provides in everyday activities.
When I talk to some Christians about the Holy Spirit, I get the idea that it's all about the power and the spectacular. They want rushing winds and flaming doves. They want to fall about talking in a language that nobody understands. They want the urge to be brave enough to preach the gospel.
Jesus said:
Jesus also said:
It looks like the really important thing about the Holy Spirit is not its power but its utilitarian purpose. Are we willing to embrace that?
Maurice, I appreciate your illustration of electricity. I feel it is pertinent to our understanding of the way the Holy Spirit works.
As you know, there is a movement within our beloved church to diminish the role and personhood of the Holy Spirit to nothing more than the impersonal force or power of God, dare I say, the "electricity of God."
If this movement is true then the Scriptures and even Christ himself is wrong. How so, some may ask? Think about it. Jesus didn't address the Holy Spirit as an impersonal force, but as a personal being by using personal pronouns in mentioning the work of the Holy Spirit. The use of the third person pronouns, "he," "him," confirms the being and personality of the Holy Spirit. He didn't refer to the Holy Spirit as an "it."
Jesus directly refers to the Holy Spirit as a person. Jesus himself has assigned the Holy Spirit with the attributes of personhood, that performs the actions and emotions of persons, and has inter-personal relationships. What follows is a listing of some of the personal aspects of the Holy Spirit; He has insight (1 Corinthians 2:10-11). He knows things, which requires an intellect (Romans 8:27). He has a will (1 Corinthians 12:11). He convicts of sin (John 16:8). He performs miracles (Acts 8:39). He guides (John 16:13). He intercedes between persons (Romans 8:26). He is to be obeyed (Acts 10:19-20). He can be lied to (Acts 5:3), resisted (Acts 7:51), grieved (Ephesians 4:30), blasphemed (Matthew 12:31), insulted (Hebrews 10:29). He relates to the apostles (Acts 15:28) and to each member of the Godhead (John 16:14; Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14). The evidence of the personhood of the Holy Spirit is presented without question in the Bible. The question is, are we willing to accept it?
Think about it, can an impersonal force or power accomplish all these things, or fulfill all these attributes? I think not. As a child I learned not to play with electricity when I stuck a knife in an outlet. The resulting spark, shock, and smoke taught me to never do that again. I didn't need my mother to scold me for my foolish curiosity, or tell me to never do that again, though she did. It definitely grieved me, but I didn't grieve, hurt, or insult it at all. Had not the fuse blown I may have been electrocuted by my curiosity. Needless to say I was never again tempted to misuse or abuse electricity.
To grieve someone requires that someone to have emotions, empathy, and personhood, all of which are lacking in an impersonal force or power.
I have navigated this maze several times and never found the cheese. I have a question. Why would Satan counterfeit a counterfeit? He doesn't! He always counterfeits a genuine article, this is where the power of his deception lies. Bank tellers don't study the many ways that currency can be counterfeited. Rather, they spend much time in studying the genuine currency, so that when they are exposed to a counterfeit bill they will detect it instantly. As Christians we need to spend more time studying the work, personality, and Deity of the genuine Godhead, so that we can instantly detect the false one when we are presented with it.
People cite the "Pioneers" of our church as not believing in the Holy Spirit as a divine person as reason not to believe in it. I ask, did they have all truth? No! They didn't even understand that the seventh day was the true Bible Sabbath. A Seventh-day Baptist, Rachel Oakes, presented it to them. Truth and knowledge are progressive. God shines the light on our path expecting us to walk in it. When we do, He gives more light for us to walk in. If we refuse to walk in the light revealed, that light becomes darkness.
Ellen White herself refers to the "third Person of the Godhead," the "heavenly trio," "these three," "three living persons," when referring to the Godhead.
The RC Trinity is not the same as the Bible Godhead. We must not let the presence of a counterfeit cause us to discard the genuine, but to study and appreciate more and more the genuine article's, existence.
The RC Trinity is merely a mediocre facsimile and counterfeit to the great and glorious Godhead of inspired scripture.
Many thanks Tim for the blessed reminder of the truth about the mighty, personal yet mysterious third Member of the GODhead. Also for reiterating that the Roman Catholic and all pagan concepts of a trinity are completely different to that expressed in the Word of GOD.
Jesus came and died for all humanity. The Holy Spirit, Who always existed too, is now filling our heart's gap left by Christ's ascending. He is our true Comforter.
Christ is our Comforter dear author. We have only one comforter.
CHRIST comes as a COMFORTER to all who believe. 13LtMs, Lt 103, 1898, par. 15
Christ longs to give those who do not understand him, correct views of his character, to set them right, to take away their burden of sin and resistance, and give them rest. The DIVINE COMFORTER is full of pity, sympathy, and love, and seeks to woo them to God. ST November 26, 1894, par. 3
Trying to suppose another being other than Christ is to refuse His atonement and glorification of which the Holy Spirit was tied to.
How readeth thou, a teacher who undestandeth not, have you not used "its" in regard to the holyspirit showing that you understand it to be divine power, influence. Is it not the spirit of the Father and His Son that makes us united?
(1 John 4 )
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12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.
13 Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.
God hath not send another being supposed to be "God the Holyspirit"
You talked of John 17 and you put your own words on that verse "3". It's very clear that in order for a believer to have eternal life, only God and His Son is necessary, but you twisted the verses to suit your theology
Dear Patrick,
It was Jesus Himself who said that when He ascended to the Father in human form that He would send "another Comforter." (John 14:16) The word for "another" here means someone of the same kind or nature.
By saying "another Comforter" Jesus was acknowledging that He was their Comforter, but since He became incarnate in a human body, He could no longer be with them personally after He ascended to heaven - especially if they were not all at the same place. But, don't worry, He said, I'll send you "another Comforter" - someone who will minister to you in my behalf. After Christ ascended to heaven, the Holy Spirit, not limited by a human body as Christ is, could and does minister to believers in Christ's behalf.
Let me illustrate in modern English, which has basically the same meaning for "another." Let's say, someone gave you a book today and said, "Next week I'll give you another one." What do you expect next week? A bowl of soup? A bicycle? A hat? No, you expect another book, because that's how the word "another" is used. You expect something different but of the same kind or nature. Likewise, "another Comforter" is distinct from Christ but of the same kind or nature. He is a Person, just like Christ, but not limited to a human body.
Ellen White, whom you quote in your comment also wrote (as quoted in the lesson):
Also please read Tim's comment above which provides additional evidence of the personhood of the Holy Spirit both in the Bible and in the writings of Ellen White.
I also suggest you review Maurice Ashton's reply to you on Sunday's lesson. If you will take the trouble to read Gerhard Pfandl's paper, The Doctrine of the Trinity Among Adventists, I believe you will understand why the author of these lessons writes as he does.
Please do read the paper before commenting further on the subject of the Holy Spirit.
Sr. Inge--Both you and I respect highly Ty Gibson's books; I just reread "The Heavenly Trio", the title being what Ellen called the Trinity! If you haven't read it, he goes into the greatest detail where some early Adventist pioneers got way off in their thinking because of the word "begotten". Hopefully this too might be very helpful to Patrick!
Thanks, Lorayne. I'm currently re-reading Ty Gibson's The Sonship of Christ. It is available on Lightbearers.org in paperback format at a very reasonable price and on Amazon.com in Kindle format. The whole book is devoted to showing how the sonship of Christ (Son of man, first begotten, only begotten) is a covenant term designating Christ as fulfillment of the Edenic covenant as the second Adam. I had read it before, but I had clearly forgotten some things, and I'm being really blessed in being reminded of the mind-blowing condescension and sacrifice of Christ in becoming one with humanity and fulfilling the covenant that Adam failed to keep. He traces the covenant theme through all of Scripture in a way I've not seen anyone else do. (I spent years studying the sanctuary and its implication in my earlier years, and I thought I understood the "covenant." But apparently not, since Ty Gibson opened my eyes in a new way, and so much more of Scripture fits together beautifully in the covenant framework he presents.)
A reminder to others reading this comment: To get a taste of the flavor of Ty's writing style, read "Adventism as Worldview," published a few days ago. He writes as easily and as interestingly in his books as well.
The Heavenly Trio is on my reading list, with a sample currently in my Kindle app, and I don't doubt that it will be a rewarding read as well. It is also available on the Lightbearers.org site as a paperback and on Amazon in electronic format.
As I reflect on the role of the Holy Spirit, The Helper, I have learned the meaning of humility. The Spirit is always portrayed and considered by most to be, the "3rd wheel". The Father/Son get top billing and the Spirit does not care. He comforts/guides and goes about the business of the Godhead irrespective of His perceived station. That is humility.
The first shall be last.
In speaking about the Holy Spirit, Jesus said that he will be our teacher, help us to remember the truth that we studied previously, reveal and testify of Christ, etc. Our prayers should thus focus one begging the Holy Spirit to transform us from carnal to spiritual in nature so that his conversion power could be manifested in our lives. Romans 12:1,2 and Ephesians 6:18 confirm this.
The nature of that manifestation should be left to the Spirit's choosing. If he chooses to manifest or not to manifest tongues, healing, pastoring, helps, etc., it must be up to his choosing. In addition to spiritual gifts, the fruits of the Spirit will grow and manifest themselves in the lives of Spirit filled individuals.
My prayer is that the Lord will tune my heart to be in conformity with his will, so that he will use me as he chooses.
I don't quite understand why the author thought it important to point out that
The Holy Spirit is not often "prominent" in the Bible because, as Jesus taught, His role is an internal empowering that causes an outward change in the life. It is like a breeze you only notice because of its effect. (John 3:5-8)
I see the Holy Spirit as more prominent in the Gospel of John than any other gospel. It is John who recorded Christ's teaching about the Holy Spirit in John 3:5-8, John 6:63, John 14:16-18,26, John 15:26, John 16:7-15. And if we want to understand the role of the Holy Spirit, we need to begin by studying the teachings of Jesus that John recorded. That will give us a basis to understand the charismatic manifestations in the book of Acts.
Ignoring the teachings of Jesus about the Holy Spirit and focusing only on the charismatic manifestations in the book of Acts and the writings of Paul has, unfortunately, led many people into a faulty understanding of the Holy Spirit. (Charismatic experiences were common to ancient paganism and are still manifested in non-Christian religions in various parts of the world. They are clearly not evidence of divine origin.)
Agreed!
I was thinking the same thing - the Holy Spirit is so important to John. But He has always been content to work behind the scenes which probably allows us to miss Him.
Kindly someone give more references to the Holy Spirit's role in the bible other than John.
Can we pray to the Holy Spirit as we do to Jesus and to God the Father?
Since He is also God can we bring our petitions to Him in prayer?
Thank you for your responces.
Hello Digne! You ask a good question about prayer. I can only give you a response from the Bible. When the apostles asked Jesus to teach them to pray, He directed them to pray to the Father, not the Holy Spirit. What has become known as "The Lord's," is found in two versions in the New Testament: the shorter version is in Luke 11:2–4, and the longer version is in Matthew 6:9–13.
I don't believe that Jesus intended His apostles to repeat from memory, word for word in vain repetition, the format of prayer as their prayer. I believe that Jesus was teaching them the outline, if you will, of prayer, which He followed in His prayer time.
Having said that probably raises a question in your mind. Is it wrong to pray to the Holy Spirit? No, I don't believe that it is, however, again all I can say is what the Scriptures say. There is no reference to praying to the Holy Spirit that I am aware of in the Bible. Ephesians 6:18-20 encourages us to pray in the spirit, not to the Spirit. Romans 8:26,27 says that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us in prayer. I have had times when I was extremely burdened and weighed down in prayer where all I could do was groan. I didn't have the words. We have all probably been there at one time or another. In those moments I request that the Holy Spirit convey to the Father the burden on my heart.
The main thing is that we pray. Remember what Ellen G. White said, "Prayer is the opening of the heart to God as to a friend". We don't need to pray to God in perfectly, polished, pious, prose. Talk to God as a friend, all he wants is to hear from His children. "God is someone to be a friend of, not to be afraid of."
Thank you so much for the explanation!
As a rule, we don't pray to the Holy Spirit, but there are songs that express that idea. I think of simple praise songs like "Come Holy Spirit, fall afresh on me" and "Holy Spirit you are welcome here." They are really prayers and I don't think they are wrong.
Sorry I have a question plz help.
JESUS and the Holy spirit are one. But why blasphemy against the Holy spirit is unforgiven and blasphemy against JESUS is forgiven?! Help plz
Hello Lynn! The best answer that I can give to your question is that the Holy Spirit is the one that brings conviction to accept new truth. Jesus' incarnation veiled His Divinity, so from a human viewpoint Jesus was just another human being. The Holy Spirit was working behind the scenes to encourage them to accept Jesus' words as truth. Remember when Jesus was being crucified and prayed that the Father forgive His tormentors "because they don’t know (realize) what they are doing." Had they known and believed that Jesus was God incarnate they never would have done what they did to Him.
If one rejects the prompting of the Holy Spirit, there's nothing more that could be done for them.
A sermon in David Ascherick's series on the "Unknown God" addresses the personality of the Holy Spirit in his usual thorough and clear style. If you've watched David lately, this will feel a bit like time travel. 😉 I trust that some readers will find this helpful.
I've been reviewing the comments this week on the nature of God. First I'd like to say that we understand that none of us has (or ever will have) a full understanding of the nature of God. If we did (quite bluntly) we'd be God. Related to that is that a number of passages in scripture use the word God and related terms somewhat fluidly, which can lead to people jumping to conclusions. The only way to approach any Bible topic is "the preponderance of evidence". That is why we have 66 books.
I once met an Adventist couple in a Sabbath School class who lamented that because they didn't believe in the Trinity, they would not be allowed to be baptized into the Adventist Church today. I thought to myself, "why would someone want to be baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Christ's own words) if they didn’t believe that those three beings existed as God?
There are several "problems" involving the nature of Christ. First, Jesus did not exist prior to the incarnation. Now before you write me off as a heretic, let me explain. Both the Bible and Ellen White are quite clear the YHWH of the Old Testament (typically printed as LORD in all capital letters) was in fact the pre-incarnate Jesus or second member of the Godhead. But He was not the "Son" at that point. He became the son when he was born of Mary. Closely related to that is the misunderstanding of the Greek word MonoGenese. The King James translators (and others of that time) mistakenly thought it had to do with Gynecology--being born. We now know that it does not. It simply meant one of a kind or unique. Further, literary license adds to the confusion. God told Abraham to "take your only son Isaac", even though Ishmael was also his son--but Ismael wasn't the unique son of the Promise.
I'm not a Hebrew scholar, but a friend told me that in Gen 1 where "God said let us make man in our image" the word us in Hebrew has the notion of "the three of us" just like a pair of gloves in English refers to two gloves. So the Trinity was involved in creation, even though John clearly states that Jesus (second person of the Godhead) was the creator.
What we find is that the three work together on basically everything, even though their roles may be different and unique.
Do I fully understand that? No. Do I need to? No. Will I understand it better 10,000 years after the second coming? Yes. In the mean time, I'm happy to have been baptized in the name of all three members of the Godhead, per Jesus' instructions.
Indeed Wilton. I avoid using the word Trinity, because it carries too much baggage. The biblical word is Godhead. While I believe in the concept of a triune God, I don't want to get caught up in the vortex of anti-trinitarianism.
Anti-trinitarians misinterpret mongenes to their own detriment. Mongenes properly understood perfectly supports the concept of a triune God. The plurality of "Elohim" confirms that God is not a singular being.
John 1 identifies the preincarnate Jesus as the Word (logos), as being with God, and being God. This is made obvious in John 1:14.
People must be very cautious in rejecting the "Trinity" that they don't reject the Godhead, and blaspheme against the Holy Spirit (the unpardonable sin). I see this dispute as the perfect Satanic trap designed to catch sincere believers.
I agree that the total nature of the Godhead is beyond our finite ability to grasp in this life.
Why wouldn't someone want to be baptized in the manner in which Christ commanded His Disciples to be baptize, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit? It defies logic.
Having said all that I am cautious to remove my "shoes" when writing about such a high and Holy God, for we are standing on Holy ground.
There is an interesting anomaly in The Church Hymnal. Song #73 is Holy, Holy, Holy. I'm not sure if it just happened or if the compilers wanted that song to bear the perfect numbers 7 and 3. The plot thickened a bit when Adventist Hymnal was released 40 years later and #73 was again Holy, Holy, Holy. As far as I know, it is the only hymn with the same number in both hymnals. I don't think it was accidental.
But even more interesting is the ending of the first verse. In every Adventist song book before Adventist Hymnal, including The Church Hymnal, the verse ends "God overall who rules Eternity!" Those are not the words Reginald Heber wrote, nor am I aware of any book outside of the Adventist church that uses those words.
The Adventist Hymnal (1985) printed the original words, "God in three persons, blessed Trinity".
You see the early Adventist pioneers were not all agreed on the nature of God. So, Adventist song books avoided alienating those who disagreed by modifying the words. Over the years, our present understanding slowly gelled. Probably it was most firmly settled in the 1950s along with several other details that came to be seen as not solidly Biblically based. So, by the time Adventist Hymnal was published the Trinity was a firmly settled doctrine of Adventism, and the compilers of Adventist Hymnal were not concerned whether we should sing about it or not.