May 14, 2010
Developing a Vocabulary of the Holy Spirit: How We Are Saved
While I believe that the Holy Spirit should be quite noticeable and active in the lives of Christians today, the role of the Holy Spirit in our salvation is something that we may not notice at first. I know I can’t say why exactly I believed the words of scripture and began to follow Jesus in the first place.
However, in retrospect, I can see that somehow God’s Spirit was at work, guiding me to him. When I look back at the times I took significant steps forward, I can hardly take any credit because the Holy Spirit taught me something or brought a particular healing to my life.
If we are saved by God’s grace, and we are dependent on him to one degree or another (no Calvinist/Arminian debates please), then at rock bottom we can agree that the Holy Spirit must be integrally involved in the process. The Holy Spirit is how God imparts life to us (see John 3:3,6; 6:63).
In addition, when we speak of Jesus as Lord, we can be confident that this is only possible because of the Holy Spirit (see Matthew 22:43). Any devotion we may feel toward God is the work of the Holy Spirit who is given generously to all who repent (see Acts 2:38).
When we speak of being saved, or brought into God’s family by the Holy Spirit, we can trust that the means by which we have entered will continue to be the means by which we continue. If we couldn’t come to God without the work of the Holy Spirit in the first place, what makes us think we can add anything to our relationship with him now?
In continuing to grow as believers, we continue to rely on the Spirit who brought salvation to us and enabled us to become God’s children. Next week we’ll discuss some of the ways we continue to follow the Spirit in our lives as disciples of Jesus.
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This may or may not have anything to do with what you are writing about here – I’m not knowledgeable enough in this area to say – but what you say reminds me of something I heard Beth Moore say one time. I don’t remember which study of hers it was that I was doing at the time, but she talked about the Holy Spirit in us being like a possession. I always thought of possession only occurring when evil spirits possessed us, like those that Jesus expelled in the stories in the Gospels. But if you think about the wording in the New Testament of having the Holy Spirit within us, I guess it truly is being “possessed” of the Holy Spirit.
Thoughts?
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I was born and raised as Christian. But something really bothers me ever since but never had the chance to ask anyone. The Holy Spirit and our Lord, are they the same, but in different form?
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Jeremy,
I’ll have to think about that idea of possession. The concept of influence and Lordship is important with the Holy Spirit, but I wonder if possession makes our roles too passive? it could be a helpful concept in driving home the power of the Holy Spirit, and there are times when the Spirit does assert his presence in powerful ways. However, we can still resist the Spirit and sin, and that’s where the possession idea doesn’t quite connect for me. I hope that helps.
Christian, That’s certainly a big concept to grapple with. Classic Christianity teachings that God is a trinity. Each member of the trinity is fully God, but also distinct. Once we start using words like “entity” or “substance,” we run into the debates that flared up in the early church, but in some mysterious way God is one, but also three persons: The Father, Son, and Spirit.
So if you read the Gospels, Jesus often speaks of the Father’s will and testimony. At other times we read that Jesus is full of the Spirit or empowered by the Spirit. However, there are other times when Jesus makes it clear that he is fully God. It’s a mystery, but we have to accept God on his terms and accept that mystery. Thanks for asking!
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