So far, have learned about the Holy Spirit’s name, person, and deity. However, one very important question remains: What does the Holy Spirit do? Put another way, what is the work of the Spirit? We know that the Son came from the Father to accomplish salvation for His people. But why was the Holy Spirit sent from the Father? What is the Spirit’s mission for the people of God today?
Christ’s View of the Holy Spirit
Christians should take these questions very seriously because Jesus viewed the Holy Spirit’s ministry seriously. One of the most incredible statements from Christ in the New Testament about the Holy Spirit appears in the Gospel of John. Jesus says, “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come” (John 16:7).
For many, including myself, this is a hard statement to wrap our minds around. In fact, it sounds extremely counterintuitive. One would think that it would be more advantageous for Christ to be with His people rather than Him going away. But according to Jesus, he says it is for the Christian’s benefit that He depart from His people. Therefore, if Christ has a high view of the Holy Spirits’ work, how much more should the Christian?
With that in mind, let us look at three ways the Holy Spirit works in a Christians faith, life, and practice
The Regenerator
The Holy Spirit is the instrument used by God to transform an unbeliever from spiritual death to life; to give the gift of faith so that they experience salvation and the “new birth” through Jesus Christ. Put simply, the Holy Spirit brings a person from unbelief to faith, giving him or her a new heart and mind.
In the New Testament, this act of God is called regeneration (Gk. palingenesia). The Greek word denotes the “state of being renewed” or to “experience a complete change of life.”[1]
This truth of the Holy Spirit’s work is revealed in Scripture: “He [God] saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5).
George Whitefield said that the doctrine of regeneration “[is] one of the most fundamental doctrines of our holy religion… [and] the very hinge on which the salvation of each of us turns.” 2
The Helper
Scripture also reveals that the Holy Spirit is the Christian’s helper. Jesus says, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor nows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you” (John 14:16-17).
The Greek word translated in English “helper” is parakletos. The meaning denotes someone who is called alongside to help, encourage, and counsel someone.[2] In the day of the New Testament, when a person encountered legal trouble, he or she would call a parakletos, someone who would help them in court by advocate, representation, or witness.[3] This person called upon was a credible and trusted friend who knew you well.
For Christians, their helper, advocate, and counselor is the Holy Spirit, who Jesus calls “the Spirit of truth.” He not only indwells but also is with us, pointing us continually to the person and work of Christ. Moreover, the Spirit knows us better than we know ourselves – He is God. Therefore, it is because He is the Spirit of God that Christians can trust Him. What an advantage!
The Sanctifier
Scripture teaches that we are sanctified, that is, made holy, through the Holy Spirit: “But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers believed by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits to be saved, through the sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth” (1 Thess. 2:13).
The Greek term translated in English “sanctification” denotes a person being set apart by God. Moreover, it carries a sense of moral purification Put simply, it is God’s continuing work through the Holy Spirit to make a person more into the image of Christ.
The Westminster Shorter Catechism defines sanctification as “the work of God’s free grace, whereby [Christians] are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.”
The great Puritan, William Ames, said, “Sanctification is the real change in a man from the sordidness of sin to the purity of God’s image.”[4]
“The Holy Spirit, in his indwelling, his influences and fruits, is the sum of all grace, holiness, comfort and joy, or in one word, of all the spiritual good Christ purchased for men in this world: and is also the sum of all perfection, glory and eternal joy, that he purchased for them in another world.”
Johnathan Edwards
Conclusion
Over the last couple of articles, we have aimed to answer the question “Who is the Holy Spirit?” While not exhaustive, the teaching on the name, person, deity, and work of the Holy Spirit should give Christians a better understanding of the third person of the Godhead.
My prayer for this series is that Christians would come away with a high view of the Holy Spirits ministry and depend on Him in a more intimate way.
For, as Johnathan Edwards wrote, “The Holy Spirit, in his indwelling, his influences and fruits, is the sum of all grace, holiness, comfort and joy, or in one word, of all the spiritual good Christ purchased for men in this world: and is also the sum of all perfection, glory and eternal joy, that he purchased for them in another world.”1[5]
[1] William Arndt, Frederick W. Danker, et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 752.
2 George Whitefield, “On Regeneration,” in Sermons of George Whitefield, ed. Lee Gatiss, 2 vols. (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012), 2:275. Originally published as The Nature and Necessity of Our New Birth in Christ Jesus (London: C. Rivington, 1737), this sermon “could almost be regarded as the manifesto of the movement” during the Great Awakening. Arnold Dallimore, George Whitefield: The Life and Times of the Great Evangelist of the 18th Century Revival, 2 vols. (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1970, 1980), 1:345.
[2] Sinclair B. Ferguson, Lessons from the Upper Room: The Heart of the Savior. (Stanford, FL: Ligonier Ministries, 2021), 89.
[3] D. A. Carson, The Gospel according to John, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; W.B. Eerdmans, 1991), 499.
[4] William Ames, The Marrow of Theology.
1 Jonathan Edwards, An Humble Attempt, in WJE, 5:341.
[5] Joel R. Beeke and Paul M. Smalley, Reformed Systematic Theology: Spirit and Salvation, vol. 3, Reformed Systematic Theology (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2021), 49.
