Pneumatology
1. Who or what is the Holy Spirit?
Sadly, much of today’s Christendom is blaspheming the true character and work of the Holy Spirit. Therefore the untrue beliefs about the Holy Spirit must be addressed. In reality we owe the Holy Spirit just as much praise and adoration as the Father or the Son for all that He does to endure with and help us. For that reason the Holy Spirit must also be rightly worshipped.
The Holy Spirit is not an “it”. He is not simply a power. He is a person. He has been given descriptors such as “Counselor” or “Helper” that only a person could be given. “He” is the term, not “it”. “He will teach you all things” (John 14:26) and “the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as He did upon us at the beginning” (Acts 11:15). He’s not just a part of God. He is fully God though He is a distinct person of the trinity.[1] Verses such as “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:19) make direct connections to the Holy Spirit being on the same level as the other persons. We know that He is God because His powers are not less than the others. He has a different role but He’s still omniscient and omnipresent. “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? (Ps. 139:7). “For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God… the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God” (1 Cor. 2:10-11). The Holy Spirit is also eternal and involved in Creation as we read, “the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters” (Gen. 1:2).
Perhaps more important to the believer is that the Holy Spirit is so extremely personal. The Holy Spirit is not an entity or presence that we trust without any true discipleship. So many of today’s “Christians” do little repentance, study, or true worship but instead follow their own feelings claiming that they were led by the Holy Spirit. But the Holy Spirit never lets a true believer behave selfishly without eventually bringing conviction. “And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment” (John 16:8). He is how we know that we are saved. He does not zap us. We do not feel Him but we do feel His work in leading us to repentance and this bears witness of Him (Rom. 8:16, John 15:26). He causes us to live out fruit for God’s glory, “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Gal. 5:22-23). None of these behaviors can be applied apart from His involvement. When Jesus described what it is to be “born again” it was the Spirit attributed to this amazingly gracious act (John 3:5-8). The Holy Spirit lives within us. He’s intimate with us. He patiently endures and tolerates our sin though it grieves Him (Eph. 4:30). He prays for us (Rom. 8:27) and gives us gifts for the sake of the Church (1 Cor. 12:11). He is who sanctifies us through our difficult Christian walks. We can trust that He will give us words in moments of persecution and trouble (Luke 12:12). Though today’s “Christianity” has a mystical, warped view of babbling to the Holy Spirit and claiming that He gives them special revelation,[2] we know that preaching who He is becomes vital to worship. In calling church leaders to bring back true worship of the Holy Spirit from those who’ve twisted it John MacArthur said, “be a part of a force to restore the honor and true worship of the Holy Spirit to the Church… the Father initiated salvation, the Son validated salvation and then demonstrated it but the Spirit activates it. You are what you are now in the Kingdom of God because of the direct work of the Holy Spirit. Have you ever thanked Him? Ever? Do you praise Him? Do you honor Him? Do you glorify Him?”[3] He regenerates, endures with, and changes us. Yet He so often receives so little of our petition and praise. Pray that the Church honor Him as He is.
[1] For more on the Trinity see the response to “Theology Proper – 1.”
[2] See response to Bibliology #5.
[3] Dr. John MacArthur audio lecture “General Session IX” of the 2012 Shepherd’s Conference from www.shepherdsconference.org
The Holy Spirit is not an “it”. He is not simply a power. He is a person. He has been given descriptors such as “Counselor” or “Helper” that only a person could be given. “He” is the term, not “it”. “He will teach you all things” (John 14:26) and “the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as He did upon us at the beginning” (Acts 11:15). He’s not just a part of God. He is fully God though He is a distinct person of the trinity.[1] Verses such as “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:19) make direct connections to the Holy Spirit being on the same level as the other persons. We know that He is God because His powers are not less than the others. He has a different role but He’s still omniscient and omnipresent. “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? (Ps. 139:7). “For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God… the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God” (1 Cor. 2:10-11). The Holy Spirit is also eternal and involved in Creation as we read, “the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters” (Gen. 1:2).
Perhaps more important to the believer is that the Holy Spirit is so extremely personal. The Holy Spirit is not an entity or presence that we trust without any true discipleship. So many of today’s “Christians” do little repentance, study, or true worship but instead follow their own feelings claiming that they were led by the Holy Spirit. But the Holy Spirit never lets a true believer behave selfishly without eventually bringing conviction. “And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment” (John 16:8). He is how we know that we are saved. He does not zap us. We do not feel Him but we do feel His work in leading us to repentance and this bears witness of Him (Rom. 8:16, John 15:26). He causes us to live out fruit for God’s glory, “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Gal. 5:22-23). None of these behaviors can be applied apart from His involvement. When Jesus described what it is to be “born again” it was the Spirit attributed to this amazingly gracious act (John 3:5-8). The Holy Spirit lives within us. He’s intimate with us. He patiently endures and tolerates our sin though it grieves Him (Eph. 4:30). He prays for us (Rom. 8:27) and gives us gifts for the sake of the Church (1 Cor. 12:11). He is who sanctifies us through our difficult Christian walks. We can trust that He will give us words in moments of persecution and trouble (Luke 12:12). Though today’s “Christianity” has a mystical, warped view of babbling to the Holy Spirit and claiming that He gives them special revelation,[2] we know that preaching who He is becomes vital to worship. In calling church leaders to bring back true worship of the Holy Spirit from those who’ve twisted it John MacArthur said, “be a part of a force to restore the honor and true worship of the Holy Spirit to the Church… the Father initiated salvation, the Son validated salvation and then demonstrated it but the Spirit activates it. You are what you are now in the Kingdom of God because of the direct work of the Holy Spirit. Have you ever thanked Him? Ever? Do you praise Him? Do you honor Him? Do you glorify Him?”[3] He regenerates, endures with, and changes us. Yet He so often receives so little of our petition and praise. Pray that the Church honor Him as He is.
[1] For more on the Trinity see the response to “Theology Proper – 1.”
[2] See response to Bibliology #5.
[3] Dr. John MacArthur audio lecture “General Session IX” of the 2012 Shepherd’s Conference from www.shepherdsconference.org
2. What role does this Spirit play in the believer's life and the counseling process?
The Holy Spirit regenerates, teaches, keeps, changes, convicts, and empowers each individual Christian.[1] Each Christian is to obtain all of the Spirit’s fruits though he/she may not be given the same gifts.[2] His principal work in the regenerated believer is to sanctify him/her to exhibit these fruits regardless of his/her role or gifts. Counseling is about helping people change. The goal of His work is to change us to be more like Jesus Christ. Since He is the only One who can accomplish this He is the most important Person in the counseling context. He has been referred to as the sap in the vine, the very life and fruit in us. Jay Adams wrote, “the biblical counseling context… always involves a minimum of three… where a counselor and counselee meet in the name of Jesus Christ, they may expect the very presence of Christ as Counselor-in-charge.”[3] To seek counsel from someone who does not pray to or believe in the Spirit to produce change is foolish. “Why are Christians without peace turning to men who themselves know nothing of the ‘peace of God that passes all understanding’?”[4] To by-pass the power, promises, and ability of the Spirit in counseling would leave us on our own to make change. Such thinking denies human depravity and affirms the notion that man is inherently good.[5]
Since unbelievers do “not accept the things of the Spirit” they must be evangelized (1 Cor. 2:14). They must be clearly, lovingly, and boldly confronted with the Gospel of Jesus Christ that saves (Rom. 1:16) in hopes that God may grant them repentance (2 Tim. 2:25). They cannot be sanctified because they have not yet been justified.[6] However, believers have the Holy Spirit in-dwelt in them (Rom. 8:9). “All holiness stems from his activity in human lives” and “He uses the ministry of the Word” as His means of sanctifying believers.[7] When a counselor meets with a counselee they must pray earnestly recognizing that He is present among both people capable of producing change through His word and human effort. Counselors must seek wisdom from Him and use His word to nouthetically confront people towards repentance and greater love for God. The counselee must be given assignments that submerge him/her in Scripture all week so that they are not leaning on the Holy Spirit only during their counseling hours. When the counselee exhibits the fruit of the Spirit by laying “aside the old self… and put on the new self… in the likeness of God” (Eph. 4:22-29) the process of change is occurring. The counselee needs to hear His word and be encouraged to memorize and meditate to refill his/her mind with proper and productive thoughts. The Christ-honoring lifestyle and mindset needs to become habitual, through regular practice of leaning on Him for growth and working hard to produce it. Of course, prayer is the first step. Jay Adams wrote, “What makes the difference is one’s attitude and inner motivation: does he do what he does in reliance upon his own efforts, in dependence upon methods and techniques, or does he acknowledge his own inability and ask the Spirit to use his gifts and methods?”[8] God enables man to produce fruit in his own life through the enduring and intimate work of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is given to each believer for “the common good” (1 Cor. 12:7). We are His weak vessels being strengthened through Him to show goodness for Christ’s sake and glory. The beauty of this is no matter how weak or down-trodden we as Christians are, no one is stuck at any point in this life. The Holy Spirit promises to sanctify us in the forward direction despite the many hardships and bumps in the road.
[1] See the previous response for more detail.
[2] Jay Adams, A Theology of Christian Counseling, p. 249
[3] Jay Adams, The Christian Counselor’s Manual, p. 4
[4] Jay Adams, Competent to Counsel, p. 21
[5] See the response to Athropology – 1. Who and what is man?
[6] See the response to Soteriology – 2. Sanctification…
[7] Jay Adams, Competent to Counsel, p. 20-21
[8] Jay Adams, Competent to Counsel, p. 24
Since unbelievers do “not accept the things of the Spirit” they must be evangelized (1 Cor. 2:14). They must be clearly, lovingly, and boldly confronted with the Gospel of Jesus Christ that saves (Rom. 1:16) in hopes that God may grant them repentance (2 Tim. 2:25). They cannot be sanctified because they have not yet been justified.[6] However, believers have the Holy Spirit in-dwelt in them (Rom. 8:9). “All holiness stems from his activity in human lives” and “He uses the ministry of the Word” as His means of sanctifying believers.[7] When a counselor meets with a counselee they must pray earnestly recognizing that He is present among both people capable of producing change through His word and human effort. Counselors must seek wisdom from Him and use His word to nouthetically confront people towards repentance and greater love for God. The counselee must be given assignments that submerge him/her in Scripture all week so that they are not leaning on the Holy Spirit only during their counseling hours. When the counselee exhibits the fruit of the Spirit by laying “aside the old self… and put on the new self… in the likeness of God” (Eph. 4:22-29) the process of change is occurring. The counselee needs to hear His word and be encouraged to memorize and meditate to refill his/her mind with proper and productive thoughts. The Christ-honoring lifestyle and mindset needs to become habitual, through regular practice of leaning on Him for growth and working hard to produce it. Of course, prayer is the first step. Jay Adams wrote, “What makes the difference is one’s attitude and inner motivation: does he do what he does in reliance upon his own efforts, in dependence upon methods and techniques, or does he acknowledge his own inability and ask the Spirit to use his gifts and methods?”[8] God enables man to produce fruit in his own life through the enduring and intimate work of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is given to each believer for “the common good” (1 Cor. 12:7). We are His weak vessels being strengthened through Him to show goodness for Christ’s sake and glory. The beauty of this is no matter how weak or down-trodden we as Christians are, no one is stuck at any point in this life. The Holy Spirit promises to sanctify us in the forward direction despite the many hardships and bumps in the road.
[1] See the previous response for more detail.
[2] Jay Adams, A Theology of Christian Counseling, p. 249
[3] Jay Adams, The Christian Counselor’s Manual, p. 4
[4] Jay Adams, Competent to Counsel, p. 21
[5] See the response to Athropology – 1. Who and what is man?
[6] See the response to Soteriology – 2. Sanctification…
[7] Jay Adams, Competent to Counsel, p. 20-21
[8] Jay Adams, Competent to Counsel, p. 24
3. Does the Holy Spirit guide Christians? If so, what means and methods does He use?
Much
has already been described about who the Holy Spirit is,[1]
the role He plays in counseling,[2]
and His work in sanctifying believers.[3] He has already been described as fully God
yet distinctly unique as a person of the Trinity.[4] Additionally, the misconception that He
continues to give inspiration, prophecy, miraculous powers, or the gift of
tongues has been explained in another response.[5] Those previous responses will demonstrate the
Holy Spirit’s role in salvation, sanctification, and more. To answer the question at hand, yes, the Holy
Spirit guides Christians. However, we
must clearly define how He does so and what He uses to accomplish this so that
we are careful to be truthful rather than mystical in our thinking.
God has left us two things: His Spirit and His word. Both are required for salvation and both are required for growth. If man has knowledge of the Scriptures but not the Holy Spirit he’s deceived (Matt. 2:4-8; 7:21-23). He can’t love God because he’s never been born again. The Holy Spirit gives this new birth (John 3:3-8) and illuminates His truth to us. He causes us to see things as new creatures (John 16:13, Acts 2:43, 2 Cor. 5:17). But this cannot happen apart from the word of God bringing forth the understanding of salvation through the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Rom. 1:16). This salvation drives us to want and need His word (1 Pet. 2:2-3). Therefore, the critical means He uses to save and sanctify is His “inspired” word, the Bible (2 Tim. 3:16).[6]
In addition to setting His desires against ours to move us towards righteousness (Gal. 5:17), the Spirit is faithful to convict us of sin and judgment (John 16:8-10). One method is His providential use of another person to address our need for repentance. However, the more common means seems to be the internal and silent ways He brings guilt and remorse to our consciences (2 Cor. 7:9-10). He works in a moral and mysterious way, not mystical. While many seek counsel because of the guilt and pains of His conviction, they “graduate” counseling because they are changed by obedience to His word. He’s kind to discipline us. But He never leaves us without hope and instruction. The only trustworthy instruction is the Bible.61 We know that we can’t trust our feelings or intuitions because our hearts are “more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick” (Jer. 17:9). Because we are prone to deception we must cling to His word because God never leads contrary to it. Therefore, persistent, serious effort in knowing His word and trusting it for all manners of life is the essential work that we must put in while fully recognizing that “it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13). True sanctification is not opening the Bible randomly, finding a verse, and then doing whatever it says claiming the Holy Spirit led you.[7] It is not acting on a gut instinct and claiming that the Holy Spirit told you to. It is “trusting in the Lord with all your heart” not leaning “on your own understanding” (Prov. 3:5). When a Christian obeys the true God of Scripture he/she has freedom to act within His will. We can trust the Holy Spirit to convict us if we stray from righteousness. But our starting point for all decisions in life ought to be His word. When we find ourselves guilt-stricken or in need of hope we must come back to His word. He is faithful to work within us causing us to have new desires and convictions, but the purpose of it is to always bring us back to His truth that serves as our lamp and our guide (Ps. 119:105).
[1] See Pneumatology – 1.
[2] See Pneumatology – 1 and 2 and Anthropology – 2.
[3] See Pneumatology – 2 and Soteriology – 1 and 2.
[4] See Theology Proper – 1.
[5] See Bibliology – 5.
[6] See Bibliology – 1.
[7] For what sanctification is see response – Soteriology – 2.
God has left us two things: His Spirit and His word. Both are required for salvation and both are required for growth. If man has knowledge of the Scriptures but not the Holy Spirit he’s deceived (Matt. 2:4-8; 7:21-23). He can’t love God because he’s never been born again. The Holy Spirit gives this new birth (John 3:3-8) and illuminates His truth to us. He causes us to see things as new creatures (John 16:13, Acts 2:43, 2 Cor. 5:17). But this cannot happen apart from the word of God bringing forth the understanding of salvation through the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Rom. 1:16). This salvation drives us to want and need His word (1 Pet. 2:2-3). Therefore, the critical means He uses to save and sanctify is His “inspired” word, the Bible (2 Tim. 3:16).[6]
In addition to setting His desires against ours to move us towards righteousness (Gal. 5:17), the Spirit is faithful to convict us of sin and judgment (John 16:8-10). One method is His providential use of another person to address our need for repentance. However, the more common means seems to be the internal and silent ways He brings guilt and remorse to our consciences (2 Cor. 7:9-10). He works in a moral and mysterious way, not mystical. While many seek counsel because of the guilt and pains of His conviction, they “graduate” counseling because they are changed by obedience to His word. He’s kind to discipline us. But He never leaves us without hope and instruction. The only trustworthy instruction is the Bible.61 We know that we can’t trust our feelings or intuitions because our hearts are “more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick” (Jer. 17:9). Because we are prone to deception we must cling to His word because God never leads contrary to it. Therefore, persistent, serious effort in knowing His word and trusting it for all manners of life is the essential work that we must put in while fully recognizing that “it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13). True sanctification is not opening the Bible randomly, finding a verse, and then doing whatever it says claiming the Holy Spirit led you.[7] It is not acting on a gut instinct and claiming that the Holy Spirit told you to. It is “trusting in the Lord with all your heart” not leaning “on your own understanding” (Prov. 3:5). When a Christian obeys the true God of Scripture he/she has freedom to act within His will. We can trust the Holy Spirit to convict us if we stray from righteousness. But our starting point for all decisions in life ought to be His word. When we find ourselves guilt-stricken or in need of hope we must come back to His word. He is faithful to work within us causing us to have new desires and convictions, but the purpose of it is to always bring us back to His truth that serves as our lamp and our guide (Ps. 119:105).
[1] See Pneumatology – 1.
[2] See Pneumatology – 1 and 2 and Anthropology – 2.
[3] See Pneumatology – 2 and Soteriology – 1 and 2.
[4] See Theology Proper – 1.
[5] See Bibliology – 5.
[6] See Bibliology – 1.
[7] For what sanctification is see response – Soteriology – 2.