God Behind the Scenes

With unseen power, a seed breaks through the soil. A flourishing plant, starting from almost nothing, builds itself from minerals in the ground. If we were to think about it properly, we would be amazed. With a similarly concealed potency, a person is transformed in their innermost self from self-loving creature to a God-soaked disciple of Jesus. In both the plant and the disciple God is working behind the scenes.

This is the Holy Spirit, the lesser known of the divine persons. Paul lived before the idea of the "Trinity" was established, but all the formative concepts were in place and Paul deliberately uses language attributing works to Father, Son, and Spirit, such as this passage in 2 Corinthians 13:14 (see also Ephesians 4:4-6 and 1 Corinthians 12:4-6):

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,

and the love of God,

and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit,

be with you all.

—1 Corinthians 13:14 NASB

Paul received this understanding of God working in a new way—by sending his Spirit to dwell in us—from both the Jewish scriptures and Jesus:

Moreover, I will give you a new heart

and put a new spirit within you;

and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh

and give you a heart of flesh.

And I will put My Spirit within you

and bring it about that you walk in My statutes,

and are careful and follow My ordinances.

—Ezekiel 36:26-27 NASB

Here we see the kind of forward-projecting promises in the Jewish scriptures that fueled Paul's passion for teaching non-Jews about Israel's God and Messiah. The prophet speaks of two "spirits" here: ours and God's. The promise for those who take hold of it is a new spirit in us which then becomes the home of God's Spirit sent to take up residence in our spirits. This results in us becoming like the Tabernacle or Temple from the Torah. We who have the Holy Spirit are living temples with the Presence dwelling in the holiest place within us (see 1 Corinthians 3:16).

And Paul also received all of this from Jesus, who had much to say about going away and sending the Holy Spirit to his disciples. In one particularly potent place he said:

It is the Spirit who gives life;

the flesh provides no benefit;

the words that I have spoken to you

are spirit, and are life.

—John 6:63 NASB

Jesus indicated that something new was going to happen with the Holy Spirit, something beyond the stories from the Jewish scriptures where kings like David had the Holy Spirit working through them and where the Spirit inspired the prophets to speak up. At his baptism, the Spirit came visibly upon Jesus and immediately after the Spirit sent him out into the desert to be tempted. Having relinquished the independent use of his divine attributes, when Jesus dwelt among us, he relied on the Spirit to empower his miracles. And he left his disciples with something new: a new message, a new total act of redemption, and a new source of empowerment through God the Spirit.

The Lifecycle of a Jesus-follower in the Spirit . . .

The Spirit's work begins before a person is converted:

And He, when He comes,

will convict the world regarding sin,

and righteousness, and judgment . . .

—John 16:8 NASB

This concept is much misunderstood, in my opinion. In the justification Gospel that this blog is dedicated to dismantling, conviction of sin is supposed to make us feel guilty and afraid. We desperately need a pardon for sin or we face something much worse than life in prison according to the flawed Gospel. But that is not it at all. I prefer to think of it in terms of an analogy: being convinced that one is a sinner can be compared to a person with an addiction or similar psychological illness discovering that they need help. It is not about guilt. It is about helplessness and need.

Then the Spirit does something most Christians seem unaware of (since the justification Gospel makes it sound like we do this for ourselves). The Spirit causes us to believe in Jesus:

Therefore I make known to you

that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says,

"Jesus is accursed";

and no one can say,

"Jesus is Lord,"

except by the Holy Spirit.

—1 Corinthians 12:3 NASB

When we find that we have faith, that we can say and mean "Jesus is Lord," this is the sign that God has poured out his Holy Spirit on us in love. We cannot choose our belief—not just about Jesus, but about any issue (see, "Can't Choose Your Belief").

Then the Spirit prepares us to be a temple of the Holy Spirit. Our spirit is renewed and regenerated. Some interpreters theorize that human beings have a suppressed spirit—part of our condition as a result of the Adam myth, where Sin and Death entered our lives. Apart from the work of the Spirit renewing our spirit, it is weak and overcome by the desires of the Flesh (the principle of our appetites and selfish inclination). But something changes in the newly converted person. In a Pauline letter—perhaps written by Paul's disciples and not Paul himself—we read about the washing of regeneration in the Spirit. This is preparation for indwelling:

He saved us,

not on the basis of deeds which we did in righteousness,

but in accordance with His mercy,

by the washing of regeneration

and renewing by the Holy Spirit.

—Titus 3:5 NASB

Having been convinced of our need for divine help, then granted the faith to believe in Jesus, and then having our spirits renewed to prepare a home for God's Spirit, then we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit coming to dwell within us:

This is the only thing I want to find out from you:

did you receive the Spirit by works of the Law,

or by hearing with faith?

—Galatians 3:2 NASB

Other verses speak of the Spirit dwelling in us (1 Corinthians 3:16; 2 Corinthians 1:22 and 5:5; and more). I chose the Galatians verse to highlight the connection between the onset of faith and the indwelling of God's Spirit.

Once we have received the New Birth—our own spirit renewed and then filled with the Holy Spirit—the Spirit becomes part of our ongoing life in Christ in many ways. Gifts and talents are given to us in the Holy Spirit. These are subtle and easily missed. We may experience these as a desire to serve and help others and find that when we yield to these wholesome impulses we are energized and resourced. As Paul puts it:

But to each one is given

the manifestation of the Spirit

for the common good.

—1 Corinthians 12:7 NASB

The Holy Spirit is inside us. Each one of us as Jesus-followers is a walking Holy of Holies, like the inner shrine of the Temple where the perilous Glory of God resided of old. But we can ignore the Spirit—all too easily, I am afraid. If we were to really consider the reality of our being shrines with the Divine Spirit living in us, we would be amazed, grateful, and respectful. The sublime has entered the mundane.

If we do regard ourselves as walking shrines, filled with divine power, then we are "filled with the Spirit." This is not something we do once and experience lasting effects. It is a moment-by-moment trusting and submission. Just as we could choose to imbibe alcohol and be "filled with wine," so we must choose continually to be filled with the Spirit:

And do not get drunk with wine,

in which there is debauchery,

but be filled with the Spirit.

—Ephesians 5:18 NASB

To summarize, the Spirit convinces us we need help. Then the Spirit causes us to believe. Then our damaged spirit is renewed and prepared to become the home of God's Spirit. Then God's Spirit comes to dwell with us permanently. Then we are prompted by the Spirit and given talents and abilities for the common good. And in the highest expression of spiritual living, we are enjoined to continually "be filled" with the Spirit—to set our mind on the things of the Spirit, eternal things, and desire God, yielding to the good he will show us every step of the way.

The Neglected Divine Person . . .

The Holy Spirit is almost the unknown secret of Christianity. Perhaps it is the dearth of miracles that has caused people to lose faith in the Spirit of God. Perhaps it is the fake miracles commonly practiced in some Christian groups. Or perhaps it is the subtleness and invisibility of the Spirit.

I am convinced that many people who have faith in Jesus—knowing that he died and rose to include us with him in the New Reality—could greatly benefit from thinking and taking action on the teaching of Jesus and Paul about the Spirit. Our attitude should be like that of Moses in Exodus 33.

Near the end of his book—Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God—Gordon Fee shares the words of Moses, when God said he would go with Moses but not the Israelites:

If Your presence does not go [with us,]

do not lead us up from here.

For how then can it be known

that I have found favor in Your sight,

I and Your people?

Is it not by Your going with us,

so that we, I and Your people,

may be distinguished from all the [other] people

who are on the face of the earth?

—Exodus 33:15-16 NASB

If God the Spirit is not being seen in our communities, if we as individuals cannot sense the Presence of God inhabiting our spirits, how will the world see Jesus? How will love spread like wildfire? How will chains be broken and souls healed? Moses argued with God until he got the Presence for all Israel. Shouldn't we make reclaiming the Divine Presence in the Church a higher priority?