On the Spirit as Teacher

On the Spirit as Teacher.

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).

“The Helper (Paraclete), the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you… When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth… As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you. But as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as He has taught you, abide in Him. (John 14:26 and 16:13; 1 John 2:27).

It is not at all surprising that Jesus called the Holy Spirit a Teacher, or that the earliest Christians called the Spirit the “Eternal Teacher.” After all, Christian believers trust in a Trinity of Teachers! All through Scripture, the Father taught, the Son taught, and so now we have a special unveiling of the Holy Spirit who is a Teacher as well. Teaching is so central to the divine identity that creation is merely a classroom without walls, and all of us are students awaiting instruction. Wisdom and understanding, which are the true goals of all instruction, are given to those who look to God as the Teacher. Proverbs says this so many times… the wise are those who listen to the Lord and follow His teachings, while the fools and the lost are those who turn their backs on Him and ignore His teaching. And thus we discover the main ingredient to remaining an apt student of the Lord… Humility. The biblical evidence is overwhelming. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are all Master Teachers, and simply desire disciples, students, who are open, teachable, humble, and willing to both hear and do.

God the Father as Teacher. “All your children will be taught by the Lord, and great will be your children’s peace.” (Isaiah 54:13).  The Chosen People had, and continue to have, God as their Teacher! What a mentor for the Faith and for wisdom! All through the Hebrew Bible, the Father loved to teach, He embraced the role of divine Teacher. He taught Moses what to say to Pharaoh (Exodus 4:12-15); He taught children in their youth (Ps. 71:17); He loved the idea of combining His teaching with counsel and protection (Ps. 32:8-10); God loved teaching so much that he wouldn’t give up with difficult students, returning to His instruction “again and again” (Jer. 32:33). God knew how to perfectly include discipline and correction in His teaching, holding them accountable and helping His students set boundaries (Deut. 4:36). God embraces the role of giving knowledge (Ps. 94:10). And He thought that it was most important to teach His students, all of us, how to love each other (1 Thess. 4:9). The Father taught the people how to live the right way (Is. 28:26), “so that the people may walk in His paths.” (Is. 2:3). Maybe the prophet Isaiah said it best… “The Sovereign Lord has sent me, with His Spirit. This is what Lord Yahweh says, Your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: ‘I am Yahweh your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go. If only you had paid attention to my instruction, your peace would have been like a river, your righteousness like the waves of the sea.” (Is. 48:16-18). 

God the Son as Teacher. As a Master Teacher, Jesus was an entrepreneur of learning.  Any object could inspire Him to make an object lesson. Any person could become a visual aid. Any teachable moment was insightfully seized by Jesus if the disciples were around. He would use the tangible to teach an intangible idea. He would use a physical object to teach a moral principle or abstract truth. Even His stories and parables could be seen as verbal object lessons of the Kingdom. His miracles were demonstrative object lessons of His power and mercy. The world was His classroom without walls. He consistently inspired His listeners to become learners. His three-year ministry was one long teachable moment, so intent was He on discipling the people in His midst. It is exciting and inspiring to see that seven different times in the Gospel of John, Jesus reported to His disciples that He only speaks what the Father has taught Him to say. (eg, 8:28, 12:49). Jesus is so humble that He only teaches what the Father has told Him to teach! Amazing.

The ultimate Teacher, Jesus captured the imagination while also appealing to logic. He inspired the will to action while piquing the conscience. He told stories. He offered case studies, object lessons, and even sent out His students on extended field trips. Sometimes Jesus blended together many teaching methods into one demonstration that would include a visual aid and an object, whether human or inanimate, to make a lesson. He taught while washing feet and cooking breakfast. He practiced ritual and reenactments. He did Q and A, socratic discussions, and guided conversations. He sat ’em down and then got ’em moving. He used nature and all the senses. He served as an example of a model learner, which is what all good teachers do. He explored Scripture. He thought out loud. In terms of teaching and methodology, Jesus wrote the book without ever actually writing anything. Following the lead of His Father’s instructions to Moses in Deuteronomy 6, rabbi Jesus’ teaching was communal, experiential and multi-sensory. He was creative and humorous. Yes, Jesus was a genius, and He used quite a variety of methods as He tended to the content of His teaching. Of course, He was also the Son of God, filled with the Holy Spirit, so it is exciting to see Jesus in the teaching role. Every teacher would do well to follow His example.

God the Holy Spirit as Teacher. “You gave Your good Spirit to instruct Your people.” (Nehemiah 9:20). In describing the Spirit’s ministry of teaching in John 14-16, Jesus referred to the Spirit of Truth, that the Holy Spirit is a truth-giving Teacher. The Spirit will guide us into all the truth about Jesus, who of course is Truth in the flesh. Jesus also mentioned other important aspects of the Spirit’s teaching, including His role  of reminding us of what Christ had said and done. In the Hebrew mind, to remind someone, to help someone remember, means not only to recall something but also to understand it as well. So the Spirit helps us to remember and to understand what we remember. The Spirit, by being called a “paraclete” by Jesus, is telling us the importance of “coming alongside of” in the teacher’s role. The Spirit’s role of teaching is essentially pastoral, and involves a close fellowship with the student as He counsels, advocates for, encourages, and comforts us. Jesus also spoke about the importance of peace in the teaching process, and how those who are taught need to be at peace, and that one of the results of good teaching is that the student will be at peace.

If Jesus only speaks what the Father wants Him to say, and the Spirit doesn’t even give Himself the authority to speak on His own (John 16:12-15), that means that the Spirit of Jesus only speaks what He has heard from Jesus. The Holy Spirit accepts what Jesus has said to Him and takes the thoughts of the Lord and makes them known to us! What an amazing circle of humility… The Spirit only teaches what He has heard from Jesus, and Jesus only speaks what He has heard from the Father. When we hear the Spirit speak to us deep in our spirit, we are not only gaining the mind of Christ, but we are privileged to gain the mind of the Father as well.

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him.’ God now unveils these profound realities to us by the Holy Spirit. Yes, He has revealed to us His inmost heart and deepest mysteries through the Spirit who constantly explores all things. After all, who can really see into a person’s heart and know his hidden impulses except for that person’s own spirit? So it is with God. His thoughts and secrets are only fully understood by His Spirit, the Spirit of God. For we did not receive the spirit of the world system but the Spirit of God, so that we might come to understand and experience all that grace has lavished upon us. And we articulate these realities with the words imparted to us by the Spirit and not with the words taught by human wisdom. We speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths.” (1 Corinthians 2:9-13).