Bible Studies for Life
Associate Professor of Divinity, Beeson Divinity School, Samford University
LIVING IN THE SPIRIT
Genesis 1:2; John 7:37–39; Acts 4:29–31, 5:3–4; 1 Corinthians 12:4–7
For each of the three persons of the triune God, the question of who that person is may be answered both in terms of the person’s essential identity and distinctive work. The previous two lessons in this series have given attention to the person and work of the Father and the Son and their relationship to the lived experience of the Christian life. In turning to the third person of the Trinity, we find it more difficult to say something about the identity of the Holy Spirit apart from an explanation of what the Spirit does. That’s because as Jesus explained to Nicodemus, the Spirit is like the wind that “blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes” (John 3:8). We know who the Spirit is through the Bible’s portrayal of what the Spirit does and our experience of the continuation of that same work in our own lives.
In the Bible, the Spirit is the presence and power of God at work in the world — the fullness of God that also belongs to the Father and the Son as well as to every dimension of the created order. That definition applies to the Old and the New Testament. Jesus spoke of the Spirit not yet being given in John 7:39, but this refers to the historical uniqueness of what happened when the Spirit was poured out upon the church at Pentecost and dwelled within its members. That was the definitive revelation in history of something that has always been true of the work of the Spirit. Through the Spirit, God has always been present and powerfully at work in the world. The focal texts for this week’s lesson explore four specific aspects of that work in relation to creation in general and the Christian life in particular.
Agent of Creation (Gen. 1:2)
Like the Father and the Son, the Spirit played a distinctive role in the creation of the world. The Hebrew word for Spirit, “ruach,” also means “wind” and “breath.” The Spirit’s role in the divine work of creation is portrayed as a wind from God sweeping across the surface of the waters at the beginning of the formation of the world in Genesis 1:2. In Genesis 2:7, the Spirit is the breath of God, breathing life into human beings. God’s Spirit continues to work like that in creation and in the aspect of the created order that is human life.
Source of Life (John 7:37–39)
God breathes new life into those who believe in the Son through the Spirit, who comes to dwell within them. Here Jesus employed the image of water as an indispensable source of life to speak not only of how the Spirit provides the believer with a never-ending source of renewed life but also of how through the Spirit, the believer becomes a source of this life for others: “Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.”
Power and Presence of God (Acts 4:29–31, 5:3–4)
Throughout the Book of Acts, the Spirit worked in the lives of the first followers of Christ to empower them with a new boldness obvious to others. They were “filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 4:31), an image that suggests the permeation of every aspect of their lives with the empowering Spirit for the particular purpose of bearing witness to Christ as the word of God. The presence of the Spirit in the lives of Christ’s followers was nothing less than the personal presence of God, for when Ananias and Sapphira deceived the apostles, they were really lying to the Spirit (Acts 5:3).
Giver of Gifts (1 Cor. 12:4–7)
The Spirit is also the means by which God gives gifts to the Church for the sake of its growth as the body of Christ. In verses 4–6, the apostle Paul attributed this bestowal of gifts to each person of the triune God who is “Spirit,” “Lord” (the Son) and “God” (the Father). The Spirit plays a prominent and distinctive role in the distribution of these gifts as the One who indwells and empowers each Christian for particular forms of service. These gifts are as varied as the personalities and formative experiences of those who receive them, but they have a common source in the work of the Spirit and a common purpose: “the common good.”
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