The Spirit Has Spoken
The Holy Spirit is the third person in the Godhead. By some accounts, he's mentioned 350 times in the Bible. All revelation comes by him; we would know nothing about God and his will for our lives if it were not for the Spirit.
Why, then, are we so reluctant to speak of him? Isn't it strange that Someone mentioned so frequently in Scripture is avoided in our churches?
Part of the explanation has to do with false teaching. Through the years, religious people have believed and taught dangerous ideas that cannot be found in the Bible. Some attribute words to the Spirit which he never spoke, claiming they have a “word from God” or that “the Spirit told them to say this or that.” Others claim the Spirit has endowed them with miraculous gifts, such as speaking in tongues or healing. Calvinistic denominations assert that a person cannot become a Christian until he has received a miraculous operation of the Spirit which opens his eyes and enables him to see the truth. These doctrines and others have led many people astray and brought much confusion into the world. In the churches of Christ, we have become accustomed to talking about what the Spirit doesn't do today and stopped speaking of him positively in terms of what he has done and continues to do in our lives.
We also avoid the Spirit because there is so much we do not know. Despite all that is said about him in Scripture, he is still a mystery to us. We know he indwells us, but how? He is God, but so is Jesus and the Father. He guided the apostles into all the truth (John 16:13) and endowed the early Christians with spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12)—why doesn’t he work the same way now? We have unanswered questions about the Spirit. Naturally, we are hesitant to speak when we know so little.
Despite our reluctance, the early Christians spoke of the Holy Spirit frankly, without hesitation. He was important to them. When you read the Bible, you get the sense they were comfortable speaking about him. It stands to reason that if we are going to restore the New Testament church, we should include in that restoration the Bible teaching on the Holy Spirit.
One of the unfortunate effects of our reluctance to speak of the Spirit is that we have depersonalized the word of God. We have stripped the Bible of its Author. Contrast that with the way the apostles regarded inspired teaching. They spoke of the “spirit of prophecy” (Rev. 19:10). The word of God was the “sword of the Spirit” (Eph. 6:17). When they preached the gospel, they were not speaking words taught by human wisdom but words taught by the Spirit (1 Cor. 2:13). When they quoted Scripture, they recognized the Source, saying, “the Spirit says,” where we would give chapter and verse (Acts 1:16; 4:25; 28:25; Heb. 3:7).
One reason for the difference in outlooks is that in our culture, words have become unattached. We live in a “copy and paste” society. Plagiarism runs rampant, and we do not think much about the source of information. We believe whatever has been passed around on social media without considering the source. We pass memes along, not knowing where they originated. Information doesn't inform, it evolves.
The ancients had a different attitude toward the information they consumed. There was plenty of false teaching to go around, but when people taught, they spoke authentically, owning the words they delivered. For example, consider John's warning in his first letter:
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. (1 John 4:1)
When we see the word “spirit,” we automatically think about a being from beyond this world, an angel maybe or demon. But in the second part of John's warning, he tells us that the “spirits” that concern him are “false prophets” that have gone out into the world. Behind every teaching was the spirit of the person teaching it. False teaching was personal. John's asking his readers to reject not just false ideas but the people promoting them.
What goes for false teaching applies to the truth. When we read the word of God, we should consider the one who ultimately speaks it. When we obey it, we honor him. When we reject it, it's personal: we reject God himself.
To speak of the Spirit as a person who talks to us does not mean he influences outside the word of God. But the Bible does tell us that he leads us (Romans 8:14), speaks to us (1 Tim. 4:1), and that we walk by him (Gal. 5: 16; Rom. 8:4).
Let's not forget the Spirit behind the words of the Bible. When we disobey God's word, we're not just breaking a rule, we're breaking a heart. Paul urges us to respect God's word, saying, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” (Eph. 4:30).
The next time you're reading your Bible or hearing the word of God preached, don't forget: the Spirit has spoken!
Drew Kizer