The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit - pt. 1

by Jason E. Robertson @ http://fide-o.blogspot.com/

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After years of inconsistent dispensationalism many Christians are completely confused about the Holy Spirit. Many Christians are unaware that the Holy Spirit was even active in the Old Testament. They are unaware that OT saints knew the Holy Spirit. Many are unaware that the HS performed miracles and bestowed gifts in the OT. And as a result, such confusion has caused many to misunderstand what the HS did at Pentecost. Furthermore, such confusion has been fertile ground for the spread of Pentecostalism and the Charismatic chaos of much of Christendom.

J. I. Packer has written of this ignorance (Knowing God): “Christian people are not in doubt as to the work that Christ did; …even if they differ among themselves as to what exactly this involved. But the average Christian is in a complete fog as to what work the Holy Spirit does. Some talk of the Spirit of Christ in the way that one would talk of the Spirit of Christmas.”

The first point we must settle in our minds in regard to the Holy Spirit is whether the Holy Spirit is a person or mere power. Either He is a real person, whose work it is to get hold of us and use us, or the Holy Spirit is merely some vague power we are to get hold of and use to our benefit. If we think of the Holy Spirit as a mysterious power, our thought will continually be, “How can I get more of the Holy Spirit?” If we think of the Holy Spirit as a person, our thought will be, “How can the Holy Spirit have more of me?” The first thought is entirely pagan. The second is biblical Christianity.

Secondly, we must settle in our minds what the Holy Spirit does and has he always done what He does in the same way. For example, how long has the Holy Spirit been present in the world. If one were to read John 7:38-39 or John 14 from a hyper-literal hermeneutic, one may come away with the idea that the Holy Spirit was not operating in the world prior to the Day of Pentecost. But such beliefs would directly oppose the confession of His omnipresence, eternality, and immutability. We confess that the Holy Spirit is true and eternal God. He is a unique person within the Triune God and therefore omnipresent; hence no creature, stone or animal, man or angel, is excluded from His presence. David agreed in Psalm 139:7-10.

The Holy Spirit cannot be said ever to have moved from one place to another; to have been among Israel, but not among the rest of the nations; to have been present after the day of Pentecost where He was not before. The testimony of John the Baptist in John 1:32 and that of Luke in Acts 10:44 may not therefore be understood as though the Holy Spirit came to a place where He was not before. That is impossible. That is inconsistent with the nature as God. Besides, Genesis 1:2 declares that the Holy Spirit was present in the world from the very beginning! And I contend that He has never been absent since.

Furthermore, the Holy Spirit gave life to Adam (Genesis 2:7) and knowledge to name the animals and woman (note "knowledge" as a blessing for those who know the Holy Spirit in Colossians 3:9-10 and 1 John 2:20). He was upon the Israelites (Nehemiah 9:20), the elders of Israel (Numbers 11:16-17), the Judges, the kings, and the prophets (2 Peter 1:21). The Israelites knew the Holy Spirit personally and resisted Him (Isaiah 63:10; Acts 7:51).

Some say, "Yes but on the Day of Pentecost he came and granted charismatic gifts which He had never done before." Really? What about the gift of healing that Elijah had, or the gift of miracles that Moses had, or the gift of prophecy that Daniel had? But you ask, "What about the gift of tongues?" Yes, I agree that was a marvelous miracle, but I remind you of Balaam's ass speaking in a foreign language and the men of Babel given foreign languages. I am not saying that those miracles in the Old Testament are identical to the apostolic gifts in Acts, but my point is that we should not be so fast as to say the Holy Spirit's workings are limited only to the New Covenant. In fact, there are vast similarities between His works in both the dispensation of the Old Covenant and the dispensation of the New Covenant.

Even upon individuals in the Old Testament did the Holy Spirit work. He granted Noah great wisdom to build the first boat, Samson strength, Bezaleel artistic talent, Joshua military genius, and Saul an official character of kingliness and took it away. He even worked through Cyrus. All of these are outward workings of the Spirit's power upon people in the Old Testament dispensation, and we must remember that He does the same today. Abraham Kuyper said, “A person outwardly wrought upon may become enriched with outward gifts, while spiritually he remains as poor as ever." Even pagans cannot exist without in some sense the sustaining power of the HS. No man can take credit for his achievements, but God is the giver of all good gifts.

But some may contend that the Holy Spirit did not indwell the Old Covenant saints. Yet I suggest the following passages be studied: Numbers 27:18; Micah 3:8; 1 Peter 1:10-11; and Luke 1:15. Then study the Old Covenant evangelism of Jesus himself in John 3:5-8 and notice what He says of the Holy Spirits necessary involvement in Old Covenant salvation. Abraham Kuyper rightly notes: "Believing Gentiles and Israelites were saved. Hence they must have received saving grace. And since saving grace is out of the question without an inward working of the Holy Spirit, it follows that the Holy Spirit was the Worker of faith in Abraham as well as in ourselves."

There have been many good men of God who have faltered in their understanding of the role of the HS in regeneration, due mostly to their dispensational views of redemption. For example, Lewis Sperry Chafer was the founder of the college in 1924 that was to become Dallas Theological Seminary and was president of DTS until his death in 1952. On page 74 of the 6th Vol. of his systematic theology, Pneumatology, says the following: The conception of an abiding indwelling of the HS… belongs only to the age of the NT Church and has no place in the OT. I completely disagree with Dr. Chafer.

Here are some conclusions:

First, there is the omnipresence of the Holy Spirit in space, the same in heaven and in hell, among Israel and among the nations.

Second, there is a spiritual operation of the Holy Spirit according to choice, which the Holy Spirit does a special work in a local place or at a specific time.

Third, this spiritual operation works either from without, imparting losable gifts, or from within, imparting the unlosable gift of salvation.

Fourth, Scripture evidently seeks to impress us with the two facts, that the Holy Spirit has always existed in and work in the world prior to the New Covenant but came in a special way upon God’s people on and after the day of Pentecost

• So there are clearly two distinct dispensations of the Holy Spirit.
• Before Pentecost and after.
• In the Old Covenant and then in the New.
• In the church of the Old Testament in preparation for the Messiah and then in the church of this New Testament age now that Christ has been glorified.

Fifth, no matter whether you lived before Christ or after, the Holy Spirit regenerated and indwelt believers.

Lastly, the fuller work of the Holy Spirit comes when the Spirit is poured out upon the church of the New Covenant. That is a special work of the Holy Spirit that needs to be examined, defined, and explained. I shall do so in a future post.