Introduction
The following is
an attempt to concisely identify and explain the most prominent characteristics
of the Holy Spirit revealed in Scripture in a systematic way. It is a daunting
task and so a few shortcuts have been taken that should be clarified up front.
The basic structure and attributes of the Holy Spirit that form the outline of
this paper have been borrowed from Charles Ryrie’s Basic Theology, a book that does a good job of explaining the bare
essentials of theology in plain English for anyone to read. Basic Theology will be the primary
source in this paper just behind the scriptures themselves, and other
Systematic Theologies will act as support works. One other shortcut taken is
that not every scripture about the Holy
Spirit will be analyzed. Ideally, every single reference in the Bible to the Holy
Spirit would appear in this paper and would be exposited to understand what it
tells us about the Holy Spirit’s character, but this is an unrealistic goal for
a ten- to twelve-page paper. The point of this paper is to get the basics, not
the particulars. That being said, the attributes of the Holy Spirit that will
be discussed are: (1) His Personhood, (2) His Deity, (3) His Indwelling Work,
(4) His Filling Work, (5) His Baptizing Work, (6) His Sealing Work, and (7) His
Gifting Work.
His Personhood
His
personhood is important, not only because it is a common misconception that the
Holy Spirit is an it instead of a he, but also because my outline can’t
use the pronoun He unless this fact is established early on. How then can one
establish or even define personality? Personality is simply “possessing
intellect, emotions (or sensibility), and will.”[1] If
this is the case, all we have to do is determine that the Holy Spirit has intellect,
emotions and will and then we can confidently state that he does have
personhood.[2]
Notice that flesh is not a necessary requirement for personhood. Jesus is the
only person in the Godhead to have flesh, and yet there are three “persons” in
the trinity.
Intellect
The
Holy Spirit clearly possesses a mind and the ability to use that mind in the Bible.
In 1 Corinthians 2:10 the Spirit is said to search the things of God, and
Romans 8:27 says that a man can know the, “mind of the Spirit.”[3]
This clearly indicates an intellect that the Holy Spirit possesses and
controls.
Emotions
Merely
displaying one single emotion would be enough to determine that the Holy Spirit
does feel emotions, because by asserting that one emotion is being felt at one
time by the Holy Spirit, there is the assumption that a change has occurred to
feel that emotion, meaning a second separate emotion was felt before. With that
in mind, Ephesians 4:30 clearly states that, “He can be grieved by the sinful
actions of believers.”[4]
But beyond that the Spirit is said to love in Romans 15:30. [5]
Will
The
Holy Spirit’s will is dependent on showing that He makes decisions or
discriminating judgments. He does in fact do this, particularly when “He uses
[His will] in distributing gifts to the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:11). He also
directs the activities of Christians (Acts 16:6-11).”[6]
His Deity
It
has clearly been shown that the Holy Spirit is a person and not an attribute of
God or a mere influence on humanity, but is this person equal in essence with
God? In order to prove this, we merely need to identify passages that equate
the person of the Holy Spirit with God. This is easily managed in both testaments.
“In the Old Testament, the Spirit is spoken of as Jehova (Isa. 61:1).”[7] Jehova,
or YHWH, is the highest name for God and is revered among the Jews of the Old
Testament. This name was not used lightly in any contexts, and so, equating the
Holy Spirit with this name for God gives the Holy Spirit His deity.
In
the New Testament, the clearest passage that equates the Holy Spirit with God
is found in Acts 5. Ananias and Sapphira lie to Peter about the land that they
sold. Peter replies, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the
Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land? …Why is it that you
have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.”
Clearly, Peter, the rock of the church, considers the Holy Spirit to have a
rightful place in the Godhead.
On
top of this, the Holy Spirit is ascribed many attributes of the divine. Geisler
summarizes it well when he says, “Attributes of God such as life (Rom 8:2);
truth (John 16:13); love (Rom 15:30); holiness (Eph 4:30); eternality (Heb
9:14); omnipresence (Ps 139:7); and omniscience (1 Cor 2:11) are ascribed to
the Holy Spirit.”[8]These
are clearly attributes of God and give credence to the conclusion that the Holy
Spirit is indeed divine.
His Indwelling Work
The Holy Spirit
has interacted with humanity in a new way since Pentecost in Acts 2. In
particular, the work of His indwelling was not previously seen in humanity.
This indwelling is
a permanent gift that is given to all those who trust in the gospel of Jesus
Christ. Some suggest that it is not permanent in the current dispensation, but
temporary. According to Romans 8:9, we have the Spirit of God and He dwells in
us, but if anyone does not have this Spirit they do not belong to Christ. At
the very least, to suggest that the indwelling of the Spirit is temporary, one
must also say that eternal security does not exist.[9]
The real knockout punch to the idea of temporary indwelling is found in John
14:16, when Jesus says that he will pray to the Father and send the Helper
“that He may be with you forever.”[10]
It
should also be noted that this indwelling is not a possession or removal of the
will of the human. The indwelling of the Spirit can bring extra gifts to the
person as it did in Acts 2 when the Apostles were given the ability to speak
coherently in intelligible tongues for the furthering of the Gospel, but He
does not remove a person’s own personality or override it with His when He
indwells believers. This sort of possession is more characteristic of evil spirits
as in Mark 5.
The
indwelling work of the Holy Spirit was different in the Old Testament than it
is today. The exact terminology is debatable, but in some form, the Holy Spirit
did go into the holy men of antiquity. Systematic theologians sometimes call
this indwelling and sometimes call it filling. In fact, Jewish thought is not
of a personal entity for the Holy Spirit at all, but the few times that the
word spirit is used it refers to God’s energy, such as in Isa 40:13 and Zech
4:6.[11]
This view is the minority in Christendom, however, and so His seeming
indwelling in the OT must be examined.
The
clearest passages that suggest an indwelling of some sort are found in Psalm 51
and 1 Sam 16. In Psalm 51:11 David pleads with God not to take His Holy Spirit
away from him. This would logically suggest that David did have the Holy Spirit.
Most of the time when this verse is examined, it is done so to the exclusion of
its context. In the verses surrounding this one David also asks that God’s
“presence” not be taken away, that “a steadfast spirit” may be renewed in him,
and that God would sustain “a willing spirit” within him. These verses make it
nearly impossible to determine if David is speaking of the Holy Spirit, the
third person of the trinity, in verse 11, or if it is simply another
description of the energy of God as the Jews take it.
The
stronger argument for temporary indwelling in the Old Testament is found in 1
Samuel 16:14. In this passage, just after David is anointed king, the attention
is turned to Saul. The text says that then “the Spirit of the Lord departed
from Saul and an evil spirit from the Lord terrorized him.” Putting aside the
discussion of whether or not God directs and controls demons, we should turn to
the more pertinent question for this paper: Was Saul indwelt by the Holy
Spirit?
In
context, it seems clear that the Holy Spirit did indwell Saul and that Spirit
did leave him. The integrity of the third person of the trinity is upheld as
the word Spirit makes much more sense contextually to refer to the third person
of the trinity and this would be the plainest reading of the text. This view is
substantiated by looking back at when Saul was anointed king in 1 Sam 10:10 and
the Spirit of God came mightily upon Saul. It makes sense to take this as an
indwelling for the purpose of ruling as king over Israel since the Spirit left
him when another was anointed the new king.
Other
passages that fall into “Old Testament Indwelling” could also be examined, such
as Luke 11:13 or John 20:22, but the case has been clearly made for a temporary
Old Testament indwelling and a permanent New Testament indwelling, so they will
not be discussed here.[12]
Some might argue that a “temporary indwelling” is merely another phrase for
“filling.” I would not spend much time arguing this point. The issue becomes
largely one of semantics and not doctrine. Instead of arguing we should define
our terms and be done with it.
His Filling Work
There
are two different kinds of filling, one of which is more closely related to
indwelling, which is why it will be discussed next. These two kinds of filling
will be more thoroughly explained later. For the purposes of this paper the
differences and similarities to the Spirit’s indwelling will be discussed, and
this will be considered a satisfactory treatment of the filling of the Holy
Spirit.
Similarities
The
main similarity has to do with the way the Holy Spirit interacts with humanity.
In both cases He takes up residence within a human being and changes the status
quo of a situation. These two events can often happen at the same time as they
did at Pentecost. The apostles were both indwelt with the Holy Spirit and
immediately filled in order to speak in tongues and preach to the crowds of
people gathered at Pentecost. Because of this singular similarity between the
two works, many people get them confused in their minds. It is important
therefore to focus on their differences to distinguish the two works.
Differences
Filling
and indwelling are most clearly different in three important ways. First,
indwelling is merely the presence of the Holy Spirit and occurs in believers of
the Gospel; filling is more overpowering to a person’s will and some are not
convinced that a person must be saved to be filled. Second, filling is temporary
for temporary purposes where indwelling is permanent for permanent purposes.
Third, filling, in some senses, has to do with maturity and spirituality, an
abiding state of fullness, where indwelling has to do with the Spirit’s mere existence
within a person and nothing more.
The
first point, the overpowering nature of Spirit filling, is the clearest
difference. Ryrie describes the filling of the Holy Spirit, in some cases, as
“a sovereign act of God whereby He possesses someone for special activity.”[13]
This possession is the closest description of the filling of the Spirit that
can be used, but it must not be misconstrued. Possession usually has a negative
connotation where an evil spirit overrides a human’s will for the purpose of
evil. In this context the Holy Spirit overrides a human’s will for the purpose
of good.
This
overriding of will through filling can be seen in Luke 1:15 in John the
Baptist, Acts 4:31 in the believers of the gospel, Acts 9:17 and 13:9 in Paul,
and in many other instances.[14]
The Spirit’s filling appears fifteen times in the New Testament and four of
them before Pentecost.[15]
The
second point, the temporary aspect of filling, again relates to this first kind
of filling, where the filling of the Spirit was given to a human for a specific
purpose at a specific time. In all of the cases where filling was that
overpowering sensation, there was a task that needed to be accomplished which
the Spirit assisted the believer in doing. In Acts 2:4 it was preaching the
gospel in tongues, in Acts 4:8 it was Peter to preach the Gospel to the rulers,
elders, and scribes, and in Acts 4:31 it was for the new believers to speak
with boldness instead of timidity. Each time a specific motivation was clear
behind each filling.
The
third point, the abiding fullness of the Spirit, refers to the second kind of
Spirit filling. This kind is described most clearly in Ephesians 5:18, “And do
not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit.”
Paul goes on to describe what being filled with the Spirit is and he seems to
describe a spiritual person. This kind of filling of the Spirit can then be
described as “the pervasive influence and control of the Spirit in a believer’s
life.”[16]
It is progressive sanctification, or the transforming of the mind, or a mature
believer maturing. Whatever words used, this Spirit filling is more closely related
to indwelling. It is the daily surrender of one’s own will for the will of God.
This is the filling of the Spirit Paul describes in Ephesians 5:18.
His Baptizing Work
The
baptizing work of the Holy Spirit is the most misconstrued of all the works of
the Holy Spirit. It is similar to indwelling in some ways, and this, along with
other issues, causes confusion. Ryrie introduces his chapter on baptism in a
poignant and important way:
“This [baptism] is confusing to many
people as they seek to understand the ministries of the Spirit. Confusion of
this sort is most difficult to dispel since it is often connected with
experiences some have, and it is always difficult, if not impossible, to
persuade people that their experiences may not be in line with Scripture. Also,
we must recognize that many believers have sincere hunger to know and
experience all that God has for them, and in seeking such, they may not always
keep on track with the teaching of Scripture.”[17]
Some
of the issues with baptism have to do with an over-emphasis on water baptism,
some with the necessity of tongues to accompany one’s baptism, and some with
the idea of multiple baptisms of the Spirit or different kinds of baptism at
different times. These confusions are understandable but should be corrected to
line up with the scriptural view of baptism of the Spirit.
The
scriptural view of baptism of the Spirit has three key components: (1) it is
unique to this dispensation, (2) all believers receive it (3) it occurs at the point
of salvation and regeneration and is not repeated thereafter.[18]
First,
it is unique to this dispensation. This view is fairly uncontroversial. All
believers generally agree that the baptism of the Holy Spirit did not occur
until Pentecost and no example of it is found in the Old Testament. This is
important to remember when dealing with the third point because it reveals a
possible misunderstanding of Spirit baptism.
Second,
all believers receive it. This is slightly more controversial than the first
point. The most important text for determining this is 1 Cor 12:13, “For by one
Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether
slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.” The best
supporting text for this conclusion is Ephesians 4:4-5, “There is one body and
one Spirit just as also you were called in one hope of your calling, one Lord,
one faith, one baptism.” Clearly, baptism here refers to Spirit baptism and it
happens once for all believers, all those in the body. Together these texts
make it clear that all believers are baptized in the Spirit and His baptism is
not dependent on one’s sanctification or carnality. The people of Corinth were
at many different levels of carnality and Paul says that they were all baptized
into one body.[19]
He uses the same phraseology when he says, “one body,” in Ephesians. There is
one body; one baptism. Which leads to the final point.
Spirit
baptism occurs at salvation and is not repeated thereafter. Some denominations
contend that the Spirit baptizes us many times and these denominations often
link these second baptisms with the gift of speaking in tongues. The problem is
a misunderstanding of the distinction between Spirit filling and Spirit baptism.
Keener tries to build a middle ground between the two interpretations by saying
that “each tradition builds its case from some biblical texts, and it is
possible that both traditions may be correctly interpreting their favored
texts… Most Christians agree that we receive the Sprit at conversion but can be
filled afresh with the Spirit on later occasions, the biggest conflict on this
issue today may be semantic.”[20]
While I agree that there is a semantic issue, the error Keener makes is in
asserting that both parties are correctly interpreting the text. In reality,
those who misunderstand Spirit filling to be the same as Spirit baptism are in
fact wrong and need to adopt the correct biblical terminology.
The
correct terminology is to assert that the baptism of the Holy Spirit happens
once for all believers, as evidenced in 1 Cor 12 and Eph 4 as seen earlier.
Refusal to accept the biblical terminology in this case leads to all sorts of
doctrinal issues. This is different than the earlier semantic issue in the
terms “temporary indwelling” and “filling” because neither phrase is used in
connection with the Old Testament passages. In that case, different phraseology
is acceptable. In this case, since the baptism of the Holy Spirit is clearly
used to describe a single event, the phraseology is more rigidly limited.
To
summarize, the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a one-time event that occurs at
the moment of salvation, which joins us to the body of Christ while actualizing
our co-crucifixion with Christ.[21]
His SealiNg Work
The
sealing work of the Holy Spirit is clearly spoken of in 2 Corinthians 1:22,
Ephesians 1:13, and Ephesians 4:30. The first tells us that God sealed us when
he gave us the Spirit in our hearts; the second reiterates that we were sealed
when we believed and the Holy Spirit was given to us as a pledge of our
inheritance; the third tells us that we were sealed for a specific time: the
day of redemption.[22]
These
three verses clearly define what sealing is. It is an act of the Holy Spirit
that occurs at the point of belief that keeps those who believe right before
God until the day of redemption. The effects are security and purity.[23]
We are secure in the promises God has made to us. He has put his seal on those
promises. We should be motivated to purity because of this seal. Remaining pure
in a practical sense helps us in avoiding the grieving of the Holy Spirit.
His Gifting Work
Finally,
it is through the gifting of the Holy Spirit that believers are equipped to do
good works for which, Ephesians 2:10 says, we were made. The gifting of the
Holy Spirit is also quite a controversial topic. The controversies of
cessationism and limited lists of gifts will not be discussed in this paper.
Instead, only the hard and non-controversial facts about the Spirit’s gifting
work will be discussed.
In
essence, the gifting of the Holy Spirit works in this way: a specific
empowerment or gift is given to the believer at the moment of his belief, to be
used for Godly purposes. Ryrie, as always, says it better and more concisely
when he says it is “a God-given ability for service.”[24]
There
are many lists of spiritual gifts found in Scripture. All told these lists
include the following gifts: Prophecy, Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Giving,
Leadership, Mercy, Words of Wisdom, Words of Knowledge, Faith, Healing,
Miracles, Discernment, Tongues, Apostles, Teaching, Evangelism, and Pastoring.
These can be found in four major passages, Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12,
Ephesians 4, and 1 Peter 4.
Note
the common denominators in all of these gifts. When used properly, all of these
gifts serve a definite purpose and usually that purpose is either evangelistic
or edifying in nature. Also note that these gifts are not natural talents. A
natural talent might enhance a gift, or be used in conjunction with a gift, but
it is not the actual gift given by the Holy Spirit. The differences are worth
mentioning. A natural talent is given by God through our parents, at birth, to
benefit mankind in general. A spiritual gift is given by God through the Holy
Spirit, at re-birth, to benefit the body of Christ in particular.[25]
Conclusion
This
paper is hardly exhaustive on the person and work of the Holy Spirit. There are
many other aspects to His character that are important, but have been left out.
Things such as the Fruit of the Spirit (which are love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control), His intercession,
His guidance, His illumination, and His role as comforter have been excluded.
Lines must be drawn somewhere. However, the seven topics that were covered, His
personhood, deity, indwelling, filling, sealing, baptizing, and gifting, have
been done so as thoroughly as can be reasonably expected. All in all, this
minute window into the third person of the trinity is enough to generate a
response of reverence at His holiness and might.
Bibliography
Enns, Paul. The
Moody Handbook of Theology, 2nd ed. Chicago: Moody Publishers,
2008.
Chafer, Lewis Sperry. Systematic Theology: Vol 1. Kregel Publications, 1993.
Geisler, Norman. Systematic Theology in Four Volumes: Volume 2. Bloomington, MN:
Bethany House, 2003.
Keener, Craig S. Crucial Questions About the Holy Spirit. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker
Books, 1996.
Ryrie, Charles. Basic Theology, 2nd ed. Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers,
1999.
Ryrie, Charles. Holy
Spirit: Revised and Expanded, 2nd ed. Chicago: Moody Publishers,
1997.
Wallace, Daniel B, ed, and M. James
Sawyer, ed. Who’s Afraid of the Holy
Spirit. Dallas, TX: Biblical Studies Press, 2005.
[1]
Charles Ryrie, Holy Spirit: Revised and Expanded,
2nd ed. (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 1997), 13.
[2]
Paul Enns, The Moody Handbook of Theology,
2nd ed. (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2008), 257.
[4]
Ryrie, Basic Theology, 395.
[5]
Ryrie, Holy Spirit, 14.
[6]
Ryrie, Basic Theology, 395.
[7]
Lewis Sperry Chafer, Systematic Theology:
Vol 1. (Kregel Publications, 1993), 399.
[8]
Norman Geisler, Systematic Theology in
Four Volumes: Volume 2. (Bloomington, MN: Bethany House, 2003).
[9]
Ryrie, Basic Theology, 410.
[10]
Ibid, 409-10.
[11]
Daniel B Wallace, ed, and M. James Sawyer, ed, Who’s Afraid of the Holy Spirit. (Dallas, TX: Biblical Studies
Press, 2005), 17.
[12]
Ryrie, Basic Theology, 411.
[13]
Ibid, 434.
[14]
Ibid, 434.
[15]
Ibid, 433.
[16]
Ryrie, Holy Spirit, 157.
[17]
Ibid, 105.
[18]
Ryrie, Basic Theology, 418-419.
[19]
Ibid, 418.
[20]
Craig S Keener, Crucial Questions About
the Holy Spirit. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1996), 20.
[21]
Ryrie, Basic Theology, 419.
[22]
Ibid, 414.
[23]
Ibid, 415-416.
[24]
Ibid, 436.
[25]
Ibid, 437.
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