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Glory · The Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is not an impersonal force: He is a Person, fully God, whom Jesus promised to send to dwell in His people, teach them, and bear witness to Him. The entire New Testament assumes that He is present and active in every believer.
https://glorystudy.com/questions/who-is-the-holy-spirit · Scripture quoted from the World English Bible
John 14:15-31
As you read: Jesus speaks of sending "another Helper": a Person who will dwell with you and be in you.
15If you love me, keep my commandments.
16I will pray to the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, that he may be with you forever,—
17the Spirit of truth, whom the world can’t receive; for it doesn’t see him, neither knows him. You know him, for he lives with you, and will be in you.
18I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you.
19Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more; but you will see me. Because I live, you will live also.
20In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
21One who has my commandments, and keeps them, that person is one who loves me. One who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will reveal myself to him.”
22Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, what has happened that you are about to reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?”
23Jesus answered him, “If a man loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home with him.
24He who doesn’t love me doesn’t keep my words. The word which you hear isn’t mine, but the Father’s who sent me.
25I have said these things to you, while still living with you.
26But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and will remind you of all that I said to you.
27Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, give I to you. Don’t let your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful.
28You heard how I told you, ‘I go away, and I come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I said ‘I am going to my Father;’ for the Father is greater than I.
29Now I have told you before it happens so that, when it happens, you may believe.
30I will no more speak much with you, for the prince of the world comes, and he has nothing in me.
31But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father commanded me, even so I do. Arise, let us go from here.
John 16:5-15
As you read: Notice what the Spirit does: He convicts, guides, speaks, and glorifies Jesus.
5But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’
6But because I have told you these things, sorrow has filled your heart.
7Nevertheless I tell you the truth: It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I don’t go away, the Counselor won’t come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.
8When he has come, he will convict the world about sin, about righteousness, and about judgment;
9about sin, because they don’t believe in me;
10about righteousness, because I am going to my Father, and you won’t see me any more;
11about judgment, because the prince of this world has been judged.
12“I have yet many things to tell you, but you can’t bear them now.
13However when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak from himself; but whatever he hears, he will speak. He will declare to you things that are coming.
14He will glorify me, for he will take from what is mine, and will declare it to you.
15All things whatever the Father has are mine; therefore I said that he takesof mine, and will declare it to you.
Acts 2:1-21
As you read: The promised Spirit arrives, and Peter explains that this is the age of the Spirit.
1Now when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all with one accord in one place.
2Suddenly there came from the sky a sound like the rushing of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
3Tongues like fire appeared and were distributed to them, and one sat on each of them.
4They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other languages, as the Spirit gave them the ability to speak.
5Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under the sky.
6When this sound was heard, the multitude came together, and were bewildered, because everyone heard them speaking in his own language.
7They were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Behold, aren’t all these who speak Galileans?
8How do we hear, everyone in our own native language?
9Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia,
10Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, the parts of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,
11Cretans and Arabians: we hear them speaking in our languages the mighty works of God!”
12They were all amazed, and were perplexed, saying one to another, “What does this mean?”
13Others, mocking, said, “They are filled with new wine.”
14But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and spoke out to them, “You men of Judea, and all you who dwell at Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to my words.
15For these aren’t drunken, as you suppose, seeing it is only the third hour of the day.
16But this is what has been spoken through the prophet Joel:
17‘It will be in the last days, says God, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions. Your old men will dream dreams.
18Yes, and on my servants and on my handmaidens in those days, I will pour out my Spirit, and they will prophesy.
19I will show wonders in the sky above, and signs on the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and billows of smoke.
20The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes.
21It will be, that whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
Romans 8
As you read: Paul's great chapter on living by the Spirit: He sets us free, leads us, prays for us.
1There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death.
3For what the law couldn’t do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh;
4that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
5For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
6For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace;
7because the mind of the flesh is hostile towards God; for it is not subject to God’s law, neither indeed can it be.
8Those who are in the flesh can’t please God.
9But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if it is so that the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if any man doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his.
10If Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
11But if the Spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
12So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
13For if you live after the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
14For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are children of God.
15For you didn’t receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
16The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God;
17and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him.
18For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed toward us.
19For the creation waits with eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.
20For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but because of him who subjected it, in hope
21that the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of decay into the liberty of the glory of the children of God.
22For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now.
23Not only so, but ourselves also, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for adoption, the redemption of our body.
24For we were saved in hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for that which he sees?
25But if we hope for that which we don’t see, we wait for it with patience.
26In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weaknesses, for we don’t know how to pray as we ought. But the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which can’t be uttered.
27He who searches the hearts knows what is on the Spirit’s mind, because he makes intercession for the saints according to God.
28We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.
29For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
30Whom he predestined, those he also called. Whom he called, those he also justified. Whom he justified, those he also glorified.
31What then shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
32He who didn’t spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how would he not also with him freely give us all things?
33Who could bring a charge against God’s chosen ones? It is God who justifies.
34Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, yes rather, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.
35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Could oppression, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
36Even as it is written, “For your sake we are killed all day long. We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”
37No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
38For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
39nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Scripture speaks of the Spirit as someone who speaks, teaches, testifies, guides, and can be grieved. He is not an 'it': Jesus calls Him 'the Helper' and uses personal pronouns. A force cannot be lied to; a Person can. This is why the Spirit is Someone to know, not something to use.
“But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and will remind you of all that I said to you.”John 14:26
““When the Counselorhas come, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will testify about me.”John 15:26
“However when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak from himself; but whatever he hears, he will speak. He will declare to you things that are coming.”John 16:13
“Don’t grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”Ephesians 4:30
“As they served the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Separate Barnabas and Saul for me, for the work to which I have called them.””Acts 13:2
In the upper room, Jesus promised that the Father would send the Spirit of truth to dwell with His people: 'another' Helper, of the same kind as Jesus Himself. He even said it was to our advantage that He go away, because the Helper would come. The Spirit is the presence of Jesus with us now.
“I will pray to the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, that he may be with you forever,— the Spirit of truth, whom the world can’t receive; for it doesn’t see him, neither knows him. You know him, for he lives with you, and will be in you.”John 14:16-17
“Nevertheless I tell you the truth: It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I don’t go away, the Counselor won’t come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.”John 16:7
The Spirit does not draw attention to Himself. He takes what belongs to Christ and declares it to us, and He bears witness to Jesus. Whenever the Spirit genuinely works, Jesus becomes more real and more glorious, never less.
“However when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak from himself; but whatever he hears, he will speak. He will declare to you things that are coming. He will glorify me, for he will take from what is mine, and will declare it to you.”John 16:13-14
““When the Counselorhas come, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will testify about me.”John 15:26
Paul writes that anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Christ, and that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is the seal and the deposit: God's guarantee that we belong to Him and that the inheritance is coming.
“But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if it is so that the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if any man doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his.”Romans 8:9
“Or don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which you have from God? You are not your own,”1 Corinthians 6:19
“in whom you also, having heard the word of the truth, the Good News of your salvation—in whom, having also believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is a pledge of our inheritance, to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of his glory.”Ephesians 1:13-14
The Spirit produces His fruit in our character: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control. He gives gifts for serving others, and when we don't know how to pray, He Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”Galatians 5:22-23
“Now there are various kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are various kinds of service, and the same Lord. There are various kinds of workings, but the same God, who works all things in all. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the profit of all. For to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom, and to another the word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit; to another faith, by the same Spirit; and to another gifts of healings, by the same Spirit; and to another workings of miracles; and to another prophecy; and to another discerning of spirits; to another different kinds of languages; and to another the interpretation of languages. But the one and the same Spirit works all of these, distributing to each one separately as he desires.”1 Corinthians 12:4-11
“In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weaknesses, for we don’t know how to pray as we ought. But the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which can’t be uttered. He who searches the hearts knows what is on the Spirit’s mind, because he makes intercession for the saints according to God.”Romans 8:26-27