On the Spirit as a Heavenly Gift

On the Spirit as a Heavenly Gift.

THE HOLY SPIRIT: The eternal life-giving Third Person of the Holy Trinity; the intimate bond of divine love and truth shared by God the Father and God the Son; the dynamic power of God offered to every human being on earth; the supernatural Presence in the Community of God who is personal without being material; the invisible creative force with divine intelligence who truly knows the mind of God from the inside; the Spirit of God who thus has all knowledge and is present everywhere in the universe; the sacred energy streaming forth from the Father and the Son, pouring love into our hearts (Romans 5:5), producing virtuous qualities in us (Galatians 5:22-23), and gradually transforming each believer into the image of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18).

God’s eternal Spirit was present at creation, of course, “brooding like a bird over the watery abyss.” (Gen. 1:1, MSG). No surprise there. All three Persons of God existed together eternally before creation began, and they will be intimate spiritual companions forever after the world’s recreation as well. At creation, the Spirit was like a mother bird hatching an egg, bringing beauty and order out of nothingness and chaos, waiting to take us under His wing.

Because the Triune God is united and inseparable, the Father and the Son is everywhere the Spirit us. If the Spirit dwells in us and alongside us, so does the Father and the Son. If the Father and the Son have promised to make a home in us, the Spirit is right there as well, arm-in-arm in their Trinitarian Presence, establishing a dwelling place in us. Since we are welcomed inside the relationship of the Trinity, the Spirit helps make that happen. Since we are adopted into God’s family as His children, we can be sure the Spirit was a part of that process. We can be assured the Spirit will work to sustain us in the Trinitarian circle and fellowship.

St. Paul’s Trinitarian blessing that closes his second letter to the Corinthians contains an interesting observation concerning the Holy Spirit (2 Cor. 13:14). After praying for them to be blessed in the grace of Jesus Christ and the love of God, Paul completes the blessing by praying that they would experience the “koinonia” of the Holy Spirit. Koinonia is another rich Greek biblical term, meaning communion, participation in, companionship, intimate partnership with, deep fellowship with. We are not only joined into the community of the Trinity through the Spirit, but we are plugged into a profound fellowship with other believers as well. There would be no communion with other people were it not for the source of all communion, the intimate unity of the triune God. We are one with other believers only because of our oneness with the Trinity. Believers are welcomed into the relationship of the Trinity, and through that spiritual source of oneness we have the possibility of intimate fellowship with fellow believers. The Holy Spirit dwells within us, along with the Father and the Son, and thus we are able to live inside the Trinity while the Trinity lives within us and we live within the community of believers. The Holy Spirit, our true Companion, our intimate Friend “who sticks closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24).

“For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit.” (Hebrews 6:4).

What is the greatest gift that God could ever give us? What would be the supreme gift of all other gifts? And like any other gift offered by someone who loved us, all we have to do is reach out and receive it! The Holy Spirit is that gift, and He came straight from heaven, His eternal homeland. Jesus didn’t leave us empty-handed when He returned to the Father. He graciously gave us the gift of His Spirit to do all the work in each of us that Jesus and the Father want to be done in us. Christ left us with the very special gift of His presence within each of us. The Holy Spirit is the Gift that most definitely just keeps on giving.

Throughout Scripture, the Spirit of God has been seen as a gift. Live into these wonderful words from the earliest Christians about God’s greatest gift: “Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptized, everyone of you, in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38); “While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. The Jewish believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles.” (Acts 10:44-45); “As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as He had come on us at the beginning. Then I remembered what the Lord had said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ So if God gave them the same gift as He gave us, who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ…” (Acts 11:15-17); “Those who obey the commands of Jesus live in Him, and He in them. And this is how we know that He lives in us: We know it by the Spirit He gave us.” (1 John 3:24); “No one has ever seen God; but if we love each other, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us. We know that we live in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.” (1 John 4:12-13). 

“God has given us magnificent promises that are beyond all price, so that through the power of these tremendous promises you can experience partnership with the divine nature.” (2 Peter 1:4).

Is it okay to be so familiar with God that we call Him Abba, Father? Should we be comfortable addressing the almighty and everlasting God the equivalent of “Dad” or “Papa“? The ancient liturgical line leading into the Lord’s Prayer is, “We are bold to say… Our Father.” Bold indeed. And yet in 2 Peter 1:4 we are told that we are partakers of the divine nature, participants in the life of God, partners with the Godhead. We are told that God is including us in His eternal nature. In light of that, we have permission to be familiar with God, calling Him a family name. The Greek word for “partners” in that verse is “koinonos,” which means to be a companion with, to have deep fellowship with. Those are love words, words that invite communion. The truth is that we have been given the astounding gift of intimate community of the Trinity through Jesus and through what He has done to renew the fellowship between God and people. Because of Jesus, we are bold to say, Abba, Father. “Because of His glory and goodness, He has given us great and precious promises, so that through them you may escape from the world’s corruption due to disordered passions and human desires, and may become partakers of the divine nature, participants in His nature, sharing in the divine life of God.” (2 Peter 1:3-4).

“Jesus said to them, ‘If anyone loves me, he will keep my word; and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:23).

Complete Intimacy. There are Scriptures about God making a home in us and about us making a home in God. How does one adequately describe the sacramental union between a believer and God? It’s almost as if God and believer dwell inside each other, abide in each other, make themselves at home in each other. Can there be a deeper, more profound intimacy than that? No wonder the union of a man and woman in marriage in which the two become one flesh is used in the Word as the closest thing we can get to this great mystery.

Extra Large. In Solomon’s famous prayer of dedication for his new Temple, he accurately said, “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven, the heaven of heavens, the highest heaven can not contain you. How much less this Temple which I have built?” (1 Kings 8:27). Since we are told in 1 Corinthians 6:19 that our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, we can ask the same question as Solomon… The entire universe doesn’t even give you elbow room. How can you make a home within my little earthly body? How does it happen that you, O God, can use my body as a sanctuary of your presence? God making a home in each believer is one of the most perplexing and glorious mysteries of the Faith.

Conditional Promise. His home in each of us seems to have a big IF attached. If we love Jesus, if we keep His word, then God Himself will make a home in our hearts. Both the Father and the Son will dwell in us and make themselves at home in our hearts. But evidently God does not make a home in those who don’t love Jesus and don’t keep His word. And how do we show that we love Him? By personally fleshing out His commandment of love, and by remaining in His word, embracing it, believing it, obeying it. Evidently, God doesn’t make His home in just anybody or everybody. Interesting.

Sanctuary. “Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God?” (1 Cor. 6:19). The Temple in Jerusalem was known as God’s dwelling place on earth. And now each of us has this distinct honor because God has chosen to dwell in each of us. Our personal little sanctuary of course is owned by God. It is a sacred place that belongs to the Lord. We each live in someone else’s building when God comes to make a home in us, and this holy Owner has a set of house rules. We are obligated to follow these rules since we are not in our own place. God dwells in each of us and we are God’s possession. So we need to honor God with our bodies to make Him feel at home.

The Trinity. The whole Godhead somehow has made a home in each of us, and it’s a wonder we don’t spiritually explode. The Father is in us who seek to be humble and contrite (Is. 57:15) and who seek to love Jesus (John 14:23); the Son is in us as He makes a home in the hearts of those who trust Him (Ephes. 3:17) and love Him (John 14:23); and the Holy Spirit is in us as we have become a sanctuary, a dwelling place, a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19). We have been invited to participate in the very presence and communion of the Holy Trinity. We have been welcomed into the fellowship of the Godhead. Welcome Holy Trinity. Make yourself at home!

You fathers – if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your  children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.” (Luke 11:11-13).

There is no question that the Jesus we find in the gospels remained within Jewish tradition as He taught and preached and told His stories. Jesus taught like a Jew, He argued like a Jew, He reasoned like a Jew, and He told stories like a Jew. One classic method of rabbinic teaching involved the words, “How much more?” The Hebrew word for this line of reasoning is “qal wahomer” (kal-ra-Choh-mar). It means “from light to heavy.” This is a traditional rabbinic strategy of argument that was commonly used when trying to convince someone of a particular point. It means going from a minor matter to a major matter, from lesser to greater. In other words, if something is true and good in a minor matter, how much more will it be truer and even better in a major matter? These words of Jesus in Luke 11:13 is a classic example of rabbinic argument: “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give you the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” This commonsense type of reasoning has many other examples in the gospels:

Matthew 12:12 – “What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good (to heal) on the Sabbath.” If a common sheep is valuable enough to rescue on the Sabbath, how much more important to rescue a person?

Luke 12:24, 28 – “Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds? And if God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith?” If God cares for the less valuable things in nature like the birds and the grass, how much more is it likely that God will care for people made in His image?

Luke 11:5-8 and 18:18 – There are two parables about prayer that use this “how much more” style of reasoning. In Luke 11 Jesus tells a story about an angry, apathetic neighbor who resists helping another person in the middle of the night. Eventually the grouchy neighbor relented after the persistent requests for help. The Luke 18 story is about a pagan, callous judge who doesn’t bother listening to the desperate pleas of a widow in distress. Eventually the judge gives in to the widow if only to rid himself of her persistent badgering for help. Both parables strongly imply a “how much more” argument. If an irritable neighbor and unjust judge will respond to a person who begs for help, how much more will a loving Father choose to answer our persistent prayers? Both the neighbor and the judge in these stories were presented as the exact opposite of God in every way. The audience would have known this, of course, and would have laughed at the irony of the neighbor and the judge being compared to God. “By role-playing with divine nature and by using an exaggerated characterization of what God is not like, Jesus teaches us what God is like.” (Brad  Young, Jesus the Jewish Theologian). If the uncaring judge and the terrible neighbor eventually relented to those who kept pestering them, how much more likely is it that a compassionate Father will respond to our prayers?

“… Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Please give me a drink.” He was alone at the time because His disciples had gone into the village to buy some food. The woman was surprised, for Jews refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans. She said to Jesus, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink? Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the Gift of God and who it is that ask you for a drink, you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water.” (John 4:7-9).

While in Samaria they came to Jacob’s well, near a village called Sychar. Jesus was hot, tired and thirsty, so they decided to stop at the well for a while. While the disciples were away getting some food, a Samaritan woman approached the well during the noon hour. She needed to fill her big jar with water. She came at noon to avoid meeting up with other women who tended to come early in the morning or later in the evening. She was aware of her reputation, and wanted to avoid any judgment or confrontation.

Living Water. Jesus starts things off by asking the woman for some water. Then He hints at the Hebrew Bible idea that she is probably not familiar with, since it’s not in the Pentateuch… the idea of God being a fountain of living water. Jesus starts slowly by hinting at living water. He could have quoted from Jeremiah 2:13 or 17:13 where that idea is mentioned. Or He could have quoted from Psalm 36:8-9, where David talks about drinking from God’s delicious streams since God is “the fountain of life.” Or Jesus could have told her about Isaiah 55:1: “O, Come to the water all you who are thirsty.” Jesus didn’t start too heavy-handed by quoting unfamiliar passages like Isaiah 12:3: “And you shall draw water with rejoicing from the spring of salvation.”

But then soon enough, after she got off track by taking Him literally, Jesus began to teach her about the spiritual water of His Holy Spirit. Jesus said that indeed He Himself is the living fountain that will satisfy her spiritual yearning for God. Only He can provide a never-ending stream of living water so that she will never be thirsty again. Only He can quench her spiritual thirst.

This isn’t the last time Jesus talks about spiritual water. Later in His ministry Jesus spoke about water once again in the Temple, shouting out to the assembled crowd, “Anyone who is thirsty may come to Me! Anyone who believes in Me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare that ‘Rivers of living water will flow from His heart.’ By this Jesus meant the Holy Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were later to receive.” (John 7:37-39). The Holy Spirit will provide the eternal life for which all people thirst.

“For we know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with love; God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom He has given us; We can now experience the endless love of God cascading into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who lives in us!” (Romans 5:5, various versions).

The particular kind of love in Romans 5:5 is agape love. It is the same love that the Father and the Son share. It is the highest form of love, and can only come from above, from God Himself. Agape love is the ultimate expression of God’s nature, the essence of His character (refer to Exodus 34). The most virtuous person on the planet cannot manufacture agape love as if it’s merely a highly esteemed trait. We don’t have it in us. We aren’t born with the ability to show agape love. It is impossible for us to demonstrate agape love on our own, because it can only derive from God, and not from human nature. Agape love is the supreme fruit of the Spirit, and can only be produced in us through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. This divine love being poured into our hearts is meant to be demonstrated to others through acts of kindness and compassion. This love, this affectionate regard of others, is deliberate and intentional. Agape love spills over from our hearts only after being poured into our hearts. Through the Holy Spirit, agape love can realistically become second nature to us and in us, by displacing the old loves in a Christian’s life, the love of money and things, of pleasure and self, of power and attention. In some beautifully mysterious way, the loyal, unconditional love from above in us is somehow completed when Christians love others. Agape love is the means by which God’s love may reach the world. Agape love is an eternal virtue, and it lasts forever (1 Cor. 13:8). Agape love is the primary fruit of the Spirit, the divine love offered to us to spread God’s love to others. Love poured into us, love splashed out to others.

Pour Forth – “ekkechytai” = to pour out in abundance; a lavish outpouring to the point of super abundance; a pouring out that began at some point earlier (the Cross, or perhaps one’s conversion), and continues to the present time; a continuous pouring out that floods the heart and is immeasurable; an ongoing soaking stream that is never withdrawn.

Just as Jesus was anointed by the Father with the Holy Spirit at His baptism, believers are likewise anointed at their baptism. Two sanctified materials are needed at a baptism to complete the anointing, water and oil. The Holy Spirit comes to the baptized, alights on them and remains as He was with Jesus Christ. Only, just because the baptized become little Christs, doesn’t mean the baptized receive a little anointing. The Holy Spirit doesn’t come in dribs and drabs. The Holy Spirit isn’t dribbled, drop by drop, but instead is poured till overflowing on the newly baptized. Whenever we see the Holy Spirit being applied, He is poured:

• “...till the Spirit is poured upon us from on high.” (Isaiah 32:15);
• “Exalted to the right hand of God He has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.‘ (Acts 2:33);
• “They were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles.” (Acts 10:45);
• “God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.” (Romans 5:5);
• “He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior.” (Titus 3:5-6);
• “Then, I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophecy. Your old men will dream dreams, and your young men will see visions. In those days I will pour out my Spirit even on servants – men and women alike.” (Joel 2:28-29).

Heart. “Kardia” = the center of a person’s knowledge, wisdom and understanding; the wellspring of a person’s mental and moral activity; that aspect of a person’s personality that controls the intellect, the emotion, and the will; the center of a person’s God-consciousness and spiritual life; the ‘control tower’ of a person’s whole being; the core in a person of what it means to be a human being.

Divine Extravagance. This is the term often used for the overflowing love, grace and blessing offered in Christ. The wedding in Cana provides a wonderful example of this. Jesus’ turning water into wine in all those stone jars is a powerful picture of the superabundance of love and truth in Jesus through His Holy Spirit. Providing this much wine went far beyond more than enough. It was extravagant. It was abundantly generous. All the pots were reportedly full to the brim with water, which means 120-180 gallons of wine was produced by Jesus. That amount is equivalent to 600-900 standard-sized bottles of wine today! This was insanely more than was needed. God is not economical when it comes to love and grace. It is immeasurable, it surpasses all forms of measurement. God is not stingy with His blessings and His love. He has an endless supply of love and joy and forgiveness. Cana wine is like crucifixion blood… more than enough. Enough for the whole world. Beyond measurement. A flood of love in our hearts, a flood of wine in Cana, a flood of blood at Golgotha. Overflowing love in our hearts through the Spirit is like the showers of blessing coming from the hand of a merciful God. He provides more grace and love than we need, He seems to almost waste precious blessings in His generosity, providing spiritual riches without measure.

“I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stubborn, hard heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my teachings and be careful to obey my Word.” (Ezekiel 36:26-27).