Who is the Holy Spirit? (Reading was John 14: 15-26)
I rarely focus on the Spirit because my personal faith journey has been focussed on Christ. My definitive shaping of faith came from the Salvation Army where Jesus Christ was central – ‘washed in the blood of the lamb’ and so on, and absolutely the Spirit was part of the trinity but not the focus. Moving into the Church of Scotland, the main influences were Paul and Father. Now that just happened to be the Church I attended. I did once ask the minister why Paul was on every Sunday – but my preacher was expository and started at the beginning of a book and kept going to the end. Sermons were regularly 45mins long especially in the evening service. And preachers tend to stick with what they know.
But the Spirit has a way of making his presence felt. The church I attended went through the Toronto Blessing, prior to our arrival in it and it changed the church. In fact a number of people left because of the impact the Toronto Blessing events had on a number of individuals. This was the first time in modern times I had really had heard anything of a spirit-led revival. I did know there were over-enthusiastic Christians who liked to bounce about like they’d been on the go-go juice too long. Of course with knowledge comes wisdom and I love the charismatic element of our faith.
What we really know about the Spirit is that when he or she puts in an appearance nothing stays the same. We are worried that we might lose control, be made to speak words in a strange language or dance in the aisles or fall over. And so rather than engage with the Spirit we kinda ignore or pay lip service to the Spirit. At least, I know I am guilty of that. I don’t want to fall over in Church, and apparently give me the right cocktail of painkillers and I can talk a lot of nonsense, but over the years I have wondered if the neglect of the Holy Spirit is or has been detrimental to the Church and the growth of Christianity.
Now before you think I don’t connect with the Spirit at all – of course I do. The Spirit is a part of my life and my faith, present at my baptism, my ordinations and a regular helper in many situations. But I wonder if it is enough. Joyce Meyer in her book – Filled with the Holy Spirit said I was a believer in Jesus Christ, so the Holy Spirit was in me, but I knew I was a Christian who had no victory and was looking for a deeper walk with God.
I am being honest with you not because I want somehow to show off, but I think because I am not alone in my uncertainty and doubts. When I was finishing my probation a lady I had got to know quite well and was part of my support team tried to help me! She asked me gently and without pressure if I would like her to pray for the Spirit to give me the gift of tongues. I refused. I wasn’t ready for that – God was already big enough for me and he didn’t need to get any bigger. He had taken an introverted lass with limited self-esteem and put her in a patriarchal institution as an upfront speaker and people lover. To be honest I had enough God in my life. But as I mature in faith and as the world around me loses its faith in anything bigger than the individual – such as politicians, role models and gods, I think as a church, as a community and indeed for many of us as Christians we don’t have enough God in our life.
We need Jesus and I will never not be Christocentric but Christ needed the Spirit. And if he needed the Spirit, and he said his disciples needed the Spirit, then I am in no doubt that we need the Spirit. However, what does this mean?
Handley Moule writing in 1890 on the subject of the Holy Spirit writes ‘Upon his divinity, his deity, there is little practical need that I should dwell, so plain it is on the very surface of Scripture that the Holy Spirit, whether personal or not, is divine, is a Power of the divine Order. But is it he, or it? Is it a divine faculty, influence, phase, mode or a divine person?
Earlier we explored the different images and understandings we have of the Holy Spirit. And I wanted to do that because God is definable and yet not definable. Original words for the Holy Spirit scattered throughout Scripture including breath of God, wisdom, dove, advocate, helper, comforter, truth teller, and so on are found both in the feminine form and masculine form and neuter. So our English translations are often limited in scope. It is fair to say the Holy Spirit is male or female or neither but never it. In the passage we heard the Holy Spirit is referred to as a male although both male and gender neutral terms are used in the Greek. To treat the Holy Spirit as an ‘it’ is disrespectful and a huge risk to our faith. It is said in Scripture that none of us can call Jesus Lord without having the Spirit, and Jesus said that the unforgivable sin was to blaspheme against the Holy Spirit.
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. John 14:16-17
Strangely repetitive of what John wrote about Jesus in the opening chapter of his Gospel – he came into the world but his own did not receive him.
The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:9-14
Look at the varied imagery even used of Jesus but also the idea that we must receive him. And so it is with the Spirit. We need to be willing to receive the Spirit, to welcome the Spirit into our lives, into our faith and into our Church. I need to be willing to do that even if it means dancing in the aisles, speaking in tongues, healing the sick, challenging the status quo, being prophetic, or indeed humbling myself and letting God take the drivers seat.
As you go through this week, as you read your Bibles and ponder God, who is the Spirit to you? As you reflect on your life, where has God the Spirit moved in your life, guiding your feet in the right path. Remember our ignorance or neglect of the Spirit does not mean that the Spirit has neglected or ignored us. But maybe we could begin a beautiful rich powerful friendship…
We will explore further the Holy Spirit, looking next week at role and purpose in more detail, followed by gifts and then empowerment in the last week of August.
I hope you can join us on this journey.
God bless
Love in Christ
Sarah
Interesting read, thank you
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