August 2001

Christian Chronicles, August 2001 - Volume 4, Issue 70

The Editor's Pen

Several questions from different parts of the world have crossed my desk in recent weeks concerning the Trinity, the Divine union of three distinct Persons in a single God.

Many have been the interpretations of the Trinity over the centuries of the Church Age, but not a single explanation has served to actually answer the question or define the nature of the Trinity in terms that are truly comprehensible to the candid mind.

In previous issues of CC we have dealt with the first two Persons of the Godhead. In this one, we shall deal with the third Person, the Holy Spirit. While we would love to be the first group in history to adequately explain the Trinity, we understand that we are no more able to do so than any of the many others who have written on the subject. Therefore, we believe that our readers are better served if we devote our attentions to each of the three Persons individually, leaving the intellectual dissection of the Trinity for a time in heaven when we shall be able to understand it in such a way as to actually understand it.

Mid-East Update

We know that the world, under the federal head of the Antichrist, will turn violently against Israel during the second half of the tribulation period. While that seven-year period of tribulation is inaugurated by the ratification of a seven-year treaty between Israel and many of her neighbors, and while, during the first three and one-half years of that treaty, international troops under the head of the nation from which the Beast arises will guarantee Israel’s security, Israel will come to be viewed by more and more of the nations of the world as belligerent and intractable. It is this perception of Israel as “stiff-necked” that will cause the nations of the world to turn against her, regardless of whether or not Israel is truly at fault in the breakdown of the peace treaty.

Today we already see the nations of the world looking askance at that tiny nation, blaming her for the escalation of violence in the region. Terror attack after terror attack has stricken the peoples of Israel with a deep-seated sense of fear. Car bombs kill and maim Israeli citizens. Suicide bombers kill even more. Snipers shoot at Israeli soldiers from every direction. Yet, whenever Israel strikes back, she is castigated in the world’s press. The U.S. recently (August 1, 2001) and Britain condemned Israel for firing rockets into Hamas headquarters, killing eight, including two young children. Why is there no outrage against the Palestinians who do the same and much worse to Israelis?

The answer is not far away. The world is preparing rapidly for the great persecution of Israel that is to follow the ratification of the aforementioned peace treaty. We are this very day watching prophecy being fulfilled as violence moves the world toward a peace treaty in the hope of stanching the ever-increasing effusion of blood in the Middle East.

Fruit of the Vine

How many times have you heard someone say, “I saved so and so last night,” with a proud smile? Or perhaps, more commonly, “I led so and so to the Lord yesterday!” Technically, neither expression is correct. It is the work of the Holy Spirit altogether, although we are His instruments. God saves; we speak. We do not lead people to the Lord; God draws sinners to Himself. If the Holy Spirit does not give us those particular verses which will be fruitful with the individuals with whom He also places us in contact, we would have no idea what verse or verses would move them to repentance. It is different with almost everyone to whom we minister. One plants, another waters, but it is God who gives the increase. We are but the tools that He uses to accomplish His purposes in us. At the same time, we are participants in the process of salvation, so that those expressions are not wholly invalid. After all, we have to refer to our part in a person’s salvation in some way if we are to pass the good news around that another soul has been saved. The angels rejoice, and we should too. We do so partly by telling others of the fruit that God has given us. But rather than putting the emphasis on ourselves, it is better to put it on God, to wit, “Another soul was saved last night…” or, “God made me fruitful last night.” While it is not “wrong” to use the other expressions, these two are probably more accurate.

Perspectives: Fruits of the Spirit

But the fruit of the Spirit is
Love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
Kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
Gentleness, self-control.
Against such there is no law.

(Gal. 5:22-23)

We can see, in the above verses, that this fruit, produced in the believer, is purely supernatural in character and is, as Paul states, the fruit “of the Spirit” and not the fruit of the individual Christian.

C.I. Scofield writes, “Christian character is not mere moral or legal correctness, but the possession and manifestation of the graces of vv. 22-23. Taken together they present a moral portrait of Christ, and may be understood as the apostle’s explanation of [Galatians] 2:20, ‘no longer I…but Christ,’ and as a definition of ‘fruit’ in Jn. 15:1-8.”

Therefore, this fruit is none other than Christ’s life lived out through the child of God as he abides in Him and reckons himself, by faith, to have been crucified with Him. For “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me...” (Gal. 2:20a). To see this fruit produced in our lives by the Holy Spirit is to be filled with the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, for He Himself said of the Spirit, “He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you” (Jn. 16:13-14). “And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Gal. 2:20b).

Miles J. Stanford writes, “The Spirit of God will never give power through faith in Himself, but will ever increase the believer’s realization of his need of Christ. In this He is faithfully carrying out His mission of glorifying the Lord Jesus, all the while speaking not of Himself but remaining hidden. He has not even revealed His name.”

Charles Stanley, in writing an article on the fruit of the Spirit, elected not to give a detailed description of each fruit. He explained that at the first, he began to study each one in order to write on them, but ran into the problem of seeing the need for each one in his own life and trying to produce them on his own. He concluded, “I believe there is a reason Paul listed these virtues and moved on. They aren't given to us as goals to pursue. Why? Because you and I cannot produce fruit. Remember? That's not our responsibility. The Holy Spirit is the producer. We are merely the bearers. The fruit of the Spirit was never intended to be a demonstration of our dedication and resolve.”

It is having Christ’s life manifest in our mortal flesh (2 Cor. 4:11). How? Through faith for “as you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him” (Col. 2:6). Our walk in the Spirit is not us walking like Christ, but is Christ in us. It is not us who walk, but Christ Himself in us.

As the Spirit Leads...

The question often arises, “How can I know in which direction the Holy Spirit is leading me?” When the issue is a moral decision, it is never hard to know which way we should go. When that question arises, the choice is whether we should sin or not sin. In those cases, we already know which way the Spirit of God is leading, for His will always coincides with His Word. The only reason for asking that question in a moral dilemma is usually to prolong the activity until God has hammered us so hard in chastisement that we finally have no choice but to quit practicing that sin. It is merely a delaying tactic, and is insulting to God, not in any way honoring Him or His Word. The only decision that one must make is whether or not the choice is injurious to a spirit of love toward anyone. If it is, go the other way. Some things are expressly forbidden, but some are not, but the whole Law hangs on the principle of love.

On the other hand, not every decision is a moral decision. Deciding about a job or a marriage or other life decisions is not always easy. The solution for the Christian is amazingly simple, however. Pray. Make no firm decision until it is time for the decision to be made. Acknowledge God in everything, and He has promised that He will certainly direct your paths. You cannot make a wrong decision if you pray and then trust God to lead you. He will always lead His children if they request it (Prov 3:6). Your choice may lead to a hard lesson on occasion, but it will be the lesson that you need. Wait until it is time to choose, make your choice, and go forward confidently, trusting God to take you where He wills.

The Third Person of the Trinity

Note: Much of this article is derived from the footnote at Acts 2:4 in the Scofield Study Bi- ble. It is not all a direct quotation of that footnote, but is drawn therefrom.

Christians find it very easy to relate to the first two Persons of the Trinity. God the Father is our Protector and our Provider. We look to Him for our needs, and answer to Him in confession and prayer for our misdeeds and our service. He is our Father, our authority figure in the heavenlies, and the One to whom we cry when our hearts are heavy with fear or worry. Jesus is our Lord. He is also our Advocate before the throne of grace. He is our Lawyer when the devil accuses us before God the Father. He is our Model, and it is Jesus who will one day deliver us from this world of trial and travail and take us to the home that He is even now preparing for us in heaven (Jn 14:1-3). He is our Betrothed, that Groom whom the bride awaits. Christians do not have a particularly difficult time relating to Jesus as God, though He is called the Son of God. Both Father and Son strike the mind and the spirit of man personally, as distinct and separate equals, as Persons of the Godhead to whom we may relate in prayer and walk, in praise and service.

The Holy Spirit, on the other hand, seems to many Christians to be less personal than the Father or the Son. He strikes the mind and heart of many as some sort of spiritual Essence, some ethereal Something out there somewhere that is used by the other two Members of the Godhead to effect the will of God in believers and to restrain those who are not saved from committing the more serious misdeeds that they will commit after He is taken out of the way. Intellectually, practically every Christian understands that the Holy Spirit is a Person, but many do not attribute to Him the characteristics of personality or the attributes of God.

Every Christian recognizes the presence of the Spirit of God in those moments when He manifests Himself during prayer or study, singing or preaching, but even in those situations, emotion is often confused with Spirit. Fleshly experiences of euphoria and excess are often mistaken as the Spirit of God moving among men. The charismatics display this tendency more than any other group. A good rule of thumb to apply in worship and study and praise is this: If it is the Spirit of God, and not emotion, the tendency will be toward sobriety, toward growth in the knowledge of God, not toward displays of euphoric feeling. When it is the Spirit of God, the object of our devotion will not be our reactions, but His instruction. Our growth and service do not spring from that which we supply in our reactions, but through what He supplies in understanding and edification.

Let us then look at this third Person of the Trinity with a view of His Person. We shall begin in the Old Testament. No one in the Old Testament period, from Adam to Christ, was continuously indwelt by the Spirit of God the way saints are today. Rather, the Spirit would come upon them for a time, and they would prophesy or otherwise communicate the Word of God to men (Num 11:17, 25-26; 24:2; Jud 3:10; 11:29; 1 Sam 10:6; cp. 1 Sam 16:14; and many others). It was not some Thing that came upon the Old Testament saints, but some One. The verses above prove how He functioned in the OT, but they do not define Him as a Person. However, one need only consider the nature of a spirit being in order to understand that the Holy Spirit is a Person. What is a ghost, a spirit? Is it not considered a disembodied person? We have no trouble identifying Satan and his fallen angels as personal. When we speak of a person having a sweet spirit, or being mean-spirited, are we not describing his person? We may see by His attributes and His works that the Spirit of God in the OT is personal. He participated in Creation (Gen 1:2; Job 26:13). The ability to create something from nothing implies omnipotence and omniscience. David declares the omnipresence of the Spirit of God when he cries, “Where can I go from Your Spirit?” (Ps 139:7). A thing cannot be said to strive with anything. Striving is a distinctly personal action. Yet, in the account of God’s dealings with men before the Flood, God declared, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever…” (Gen 6:3). He executed judgment in Judges 3:10. He enables men for service to God (Ps 51:12-13), which is also distinctly personal. This is especially also to be noted in Joel 2:28. Knowledge is specifically personal as well, and He is called the Spirit of knowledge (Isa 11:2).

Many Christians tend to think that the Holy Spirit was never referred to in the pages of the Old Testament, that no hint was given of the Trinity. This is not so, however. As early as the second verse of the Bible (Gen 1:2) the plurality of the Godhead is indicated. and then, in the creation of man, God said, “Let us make man in our image…” (Gen 1:27). For those who doubt the fact of the Trinity, the possibility of three Persons existing, yet there being only one God, notice that God did not say images, but a single image. The readers of the New Testament were prepared in the pages of the Old Testament for the pouring out of the Holy Spirit (which will yet occur in Israel) in the above reference in Joel (2:28-29).

It is as we turn to the New Testament, however, that the Holy Spirit comes into clearer focus. Let us note first of all that it is because of the presence of the Spirit of God in us that we are able to discern the truth of the Scriptures in the first place. Those who have not been born of the Seed of God cannot discern spiritual truths, and the Bible, though they may read it a hundred times, is to the unsaved a mysterious book, totally beyond their comprehension. It is because we have the Spirit of God that we are able to discern its truths.

The Holy Spirit is declared to be a Person by the use of the personal pronouns used of Him in those great chapters of the Gospel of John, 14-16 (see 14:16, 17, 26; 15:26; 16:7, 8, 13, 14; 15). Mt 28:19, in giving the formula for baptism, includes the Holy Spirit as one of the three Persons of the Godhead.

During His earthly ministry, Jesus did not give His disciples the indwelling Spirit as we have today. But He did promise Him to them in the chapters delineated in the paragraph above. The Apostle John tells us (20:22) that Jesus appeared to His disciples in the upper room following His resurrection, and breathed on them, saying to them, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost…” But He did not at that time actually give to them the Spirit of God. Rather, he empowered them to receive Him when He should come upon them at Pentecost. In Luke (24:49), He is recorded as instructing them not to begin their ministry until they received “power from on high.” In Acts (1:8) the instruction is that they will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon them. The second chapter of Acts records the coming of the Holy Spirit and the creation of the Church.

The rule for this Age is that everyone who believes the gospel receives the Holy Spirit, who indwells every believer forevermore (Jn 15:16; Eph 4:30). The only condition upon which a person is to receive the Holy Spirit in this Age is trust in the sufficiency of the work that Christ did at Calvary (Acts 10:44; 11:15-18). It is through faith in Christ that we receive remission of sins, and it is by that same faith that we receive the Holy Spirit. Every believer is born of the Spirit (Jn 3:3-6; 1 Jn 5:1). This new birth is a miraculous implantation of the Seed of God in every believer (1 Jn 3:9), creating a new nature which resides in sinful flesh alongside the corrupt fleshly nature that everyone is initially born with (Gal 5:17). The presence of the Holy Spirit in the believer makes of his body a temple of God, which temples we all are (1 Cor 6:19). As the individual Christian is a temple of God because of the presence of the Holy Spirit, so also is the Church corporately a temple of God insofar as the Holy Spirit indwells the whole as well as the parts (1 Cor 12:12-13). Because we are individually and corporately (1 Cor 3:16-17) the temple of God, we are sealed, so that our eternal security is assured (Eph 1:13; 4:30).

There is a real distinction, however, between having the Spirit and being filled with the Spirit. Every believer has the Spirit of God but not every believer is filled with the Spirit. We all have all of the Spirit, but He does not always have all of us. When we walk in the flesh, we are not filled with the Spirit. We always have the Holy Spirit in us, but to be filled with the Spirit is both a responsibility and a privilege.

The Holy Spirit forms the Church by baptizing believers into the body of Christ (1 Cor 12:12-13). He also imparts spiritual gifts to every member of the body of Christ (1 Cor 12:7-11; 27-30), enabling him to serve God while yet in his sinful flesh. The Holy Spirit guides the members of the body of Christ in their service (Acts 16:6-7), and is Himself the power of that service (Acts 1:8; 2:4; 1 Cor 2:4). What a great God we serve so poorly!

Note: This section is quoted directly from the Scofield footnote:

The NT indicates a threefold personal relationship of the Spirit to the believer: “with,” “in,” and “upon” (Jn 14:16-17; 1 Cor 6:19; Acts 1:8). “With” indicates the approach of God to the soul, convicting of sin (Jn 19:6), presenting Christ as the object of faith (Jn 16:14), imparting faith (Eph 2:8), and regenerating (Mk 1:8; Jn 1:33). “In” describes the abiding presence of the Spirit in the Christian’s body (1 Cor 6:19) to give victory over the flesh (Rom 8:2-4; Gal 5:16-17), create the Christian character (Gal 5:22-23), help weaknesses (Rom 8:26), inspire prayer (Eph 6:18), give conscious access to God (Eph 2:18), actualize to the Christian his sonship (Gal 4:6), apply the Scriptures in cleansing and sanctification (Eph 5:26; 2 Th 2:13; 1 Pet 1:2), comfort and intercede (Acts 9:31; Rom 8:26), and reveal Christ (Jn 16:14). “Upon” is used of the relationship of the Holy Spirit to the Lord Jesus Christ (Mt 3:16; Mk 1:10; Lk 4:18; Jn 1:32-33), to the Virgin Mary in connection with the incarnation and birth of our Lord (Lk 1:35), to certain designated disciples (Lk 2:25 [Simeon]; Acts 10:44-45; 11:15 [house of Cornelius]; Acts 19:6 [disciples at Ephesus]), and to believers generally (Lk 24:49; Acts 1:8; 2:17; 1 Pet 4:14).

While it was the Second Person of the Trinity who played the larger role in the inauguration of the Church Age, it is the third Person of the Trinity who has played the greater role down through the centuries of the Age in the calling out, convicting, and saving of the lost souls who together make up a “people for His name” (Acts 15:14). While it was Christ who procured our salvation at the cross of Calvary, it is the Holy Spirit who has been responsible for the growth of the Church throughout the Age.

While, under a modified Calvinism, man has a responsibility to accept that truth which the Holy Spirit presents to him, it is the Holy Spirit Himself who makes available to the sinner that faith by which he believes and accepts the gospel. Just as, in our Christian walk, we do not always avail ourselves of the faith that He ever and always makes available to us, not everyone accepts by faith that which his heart knows to be true, making man responsible for accepting that which the Spirit of God presents, so that God is just who judges those who do not believe.

It is not up to the minister of the gospel to convict of sin. That is the work of the Holy Spirit. Our responsibility is to minister the word of reconciliation (2 Cor 5:18-21). The Holy Spirit convicts the lost soul, and then uses one of God’s people as His instrument in the presentation of the gospel to those whom He has already convicted. The Holy Spirit is infinitely wise, infinitely powerful, omniscient, omnipresent, holy, just, loving, good, truthful, eternal, immutable and sovereign, just like both of the other members of the Godhead. He is God.

Usurping the Work of the Holy Spirit

For 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.
For to be carnally minded is death,
But to be spiritually minded
Is life and peace.

(Romans 8:5-6)

There is a tendency in many churches in these last days of the Church Age to take upon themselves responsibilities that do not belong to them at all. In order to understand this phenomenon, one must understand what the essential purpose of the local church is. That purpose is identified in Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus as, “...the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ…”

The purpose of the local assembly is to provide a place for Christian fellowship and worship and prayer, to be sure, but its primary function is to teach sound doctrine so that the members of the congregation are equipped to go out into the world themselves to minister the word of reconciliation to lost souls (cp. 2 Cor 5:18-21).

However, churches have, by and large, become places where Christians go to learn how to get along in the New Millennium. The preaching is about behavior. It is about conduct. It is about morality. It is about everything but educating Christians in sound doctrine. More than anything else these days, sermons are about sin and sinners.

Now, there is nothing wrong with Christians being opposed to sin. It is proper for Christians to understand how to get along in this world to which we have been assigned as ambassadors. These are all legitimate topics of discussion among Christians. However, it is not the job of the preacher or the Sunday School teacher to convict. Our focus is not to be on the things of the flesh, either of ourselves or of those to whom we minister or of those outside the faith altogether. Rather, the fruitful preacher will focus on the works of God and not the deeds of sinners. When a preacher begins to focus on the sin rather than the solution to sin, he is usurping the work of the Holy Spirit. Neither preachers nor laypersons (there really is no such thing as a layperson—we are all ministers of the word of reconciliation) are charged with judging anyone, saved or unsaved. We have one purpose on earth, and that is to serve as ambassadors from heaven to earth, representing our homeland faithfully with the word of reconciliation.

When we begin to focus on sins of the flesh, our message only leads to more sin, more rebellion. When we focus upon the things of the Spirit, however, we lead our listeners to that which truly is profitable, both to the hearer and to God. When a preacher or teacher focuses on the things of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit produces in his hearers the fruits of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23). It is not the job of the preacher or teacher to turn sinners from sin; it is his job to turn sinners to God through word of the reconciliation that has already been accomplished by God at Calvary. He does not do this by enumerating the sins or delineating the shortcomings of either the lost or the saved, but by teaching what the Scriptures also teach, that Christ died for every sin, and that anyone may be saved who will appropriate that sacrifice for himself. The Holy Spirit convicts of sin; we offer the redemption from the penalty of sin.

John tells us in his Gospel (16:9) that it is the work of the Holy Spirit to convict of sin, and He does not need our help in this work. When we set our minds on the things of the flesh (whether our own or the fleshly deeds of others), though our intention may be honorable, our teaching is not according to faith, but judgment, and rather than turning our listeners from sin, we turn their attention to sin, and from God. When we teach sound doctrine, the word of faith, our listeners’ hearts are turned to God so that they walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh. The Holy Spirit focuses the hearts of the unsaved on their sins, preparing them to hear the word of grace, the good news of the gospel. The Holy Spirit convicts. He places a great weight of guilt upon the conscience of the unsaved so that they will eagerly accept the gospel when they hear it.

There are times, of course, when a brother or sister is caught in the cords of some sin, to exhort, or even to rebuke. But these are the rare exceptions, not the rule. There are instructions governing such exhortations and rebukes. There are times when the Holy Spirit uses fellow Christians to discipline other Christians, but these are in instances of some practice of sin that is ongoing, which is destructive to the ministry of the whole assembly.

The tendency in many churches today is to act like the very groups that Paul warns about in 1 Tim 1:3-7 and 4:1-11. It is the false asceticism of the Gnostics that he speaks of in Col 2:20-23. It is the false teachers spoken of in Titus 1:9-16. Paul indicated in several ways and in several places that the professing church would become legalistic and vain, seeking its own glory in its reformation of the flesh, and that this tendency would characterize the last days. In 2 Thessalonians 2:3, this is the falling away that he spoke of.

For fear of being accused of preaching licentiousness, churches have turned back to a choking legalism. For many, many centuries, the Jews suffered under a system of laws which they found impossible to keep. Now the professing church is turning away from the grace of God to another gospel (see Gal 1:6-9) and it is losing its fruitfulness through a sense of legalism that overwhelms even the merest hint of Christian liberty. This, because it has lost its faith in the responsibility and the ability of the Holy Spirit to convict of sin, and has taken that authority unto itself in the judging of those outside the faith and the strict regimentation of those in the faith. Rather than remaining guardians (see 1 Tim 6:20) of that body of sound doctrine which has been committed to us, the professing church has set herself up as the “watchdog of morality” in the world. This is, in its purest terms, usurpation of the work of the Holy Spirit.

Lewis Sperry Chafer Says:

Lewis Sperry Chafer (SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY, Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids, MI; 1993; vol. 1, pg. 413-4) concludes his extensive treatise on the Holy Spirit with the following paragraph:

Though strangely slighted, neglected, and unrecognized, the Spirit is the adorable, majestic, ever glorious, equal member of the Godhead Three. That He is disregarded cannot be due to any failure on the part of the Bible to declare His Person, or to set forth the boundless character and infinite importance of His work. Naturally, human thought begins with the First Person and extends to the Second Person, and it is highly probably that, having contemplated these, the point of saturation is so nearly reached there is little ability left that might respond to the proper claims of the Third Person in the Godhead. It becomes the solemn duty of every student of God’s Word to correct, so far as possible, every tendency to ignore the truth concerning the Spirit, and by prayer and meditation to come to a deeper realization of His Person and presence. Reprovable indeed is the Christian who does not know some facts concerning the One whose temple he is. It is true that it is the Spirit’s ministry to glorify Christ, but there is no warrant from the Word of God for the indignity which a common disregard for the Spirit imposes on Him.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; … world without end. Amen.

The Restrainer of Evil in the World

As we look around us and see how greatly wickedness has grown and flourished in the world, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that the Holy Spirit is in the world, serving as a Restrainer of evil. He has not endeavored to cause evil to cease altogether, but merely to hold back the full force of evil in the hearts of men until such a time as it is to be fully unleashed. As bad as things appear in the world today, when the Restrainer is removed (2 Th 2:7), then shall the genuine depravity of mankind be revealed. During the tribulation period, the Holy Spirit will cease His work as the Restrainer of evil, and the vicious character of the human heart will be unleashed as never before on the earth. Then shall many understand how wonderfully well He has worked in this Age.