The Body of Christ
The Role of the Holy Spirit
Remember: The three Divine Mysteries of our Faith.
#1 The Union of the Trinity of Persons in one Godhead, Unique in Roles, One in Love, Will, & Purpose, Eternally One in every activity.
#2 The Union of the Divine and human natures in One Person, Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man. (Colossians 1:19, 2:9; Hebrews 1&2)
#3 The Union of God’s chosen with Christ, the God/Man. It is our being in Christ, and having Christ Himself in us by such a close union so that we are one spirit and one flesh with Him. (John 6:56; 14:20,23; I Cor. 6:17) This is the Mystery of Ephesians 5:32, “shadowed” so imperfectly in Christian marriage. This will be our theme in the rest of our studies. How does God miraculously bring this impossibility to pass?
#4 To these Mysterious Unions, I am adding a fourth mystery, so called by the Apostle Paul in I Timothy 3:16, The Mystery of Godliness. We have examined the six themes of this scripture in another study. In reality, this Mystery summarizes what the Triune God has done to bring about Mystery #3, the Union of His Beloved Son with the children the Father gave to his Son. (Heb. 2:10-18) Remember that the only “active role” of the children in the six statements of Godliness is “believed on in the world.” John 6:29 in contrast to Hebrews 3:12.
The Application of the Body of Christ
I. What is the greatest commandment?
Matthew 22:37-38 “Jesus said to him, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment.”
This is not some warm squishy kind of love. This love is what God requires and is foundational to any Eternal relationship with God. It is that love that freely and unrestrictedly flows between the Father and the Son by, in, and through the Holy Spirit. This is love that requires the total devotion of the heart, soul, and mind. But as we have seen, there is no human who seeks after God, let alone loves him in this manner.(Romans 3:10-1) This is the foundational commandment of the entire law of God, but the OT is a chronicle of the failure of man to keep it because of the weakness of fallen flesh.
Romans 8:4-5 “for what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, GOD DID by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirements of the law might be fulfilled IN US who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” So how does God bring “non seekers” to become “heart, soul, and mind lovers?
II. Ezekiel 36:26-27 Against the backdrop of Israel’s hard hearted rebellion against God, the defiling His Name among the nations by their evil heart of unbelief (Heb. 3:17-19), we come to this glorious promise from the God of Mercy. This is the New Covenant, the foundation to the creating a people whose hearts, souls, & minds love the Lord their God.
“I will give you a NEW HEART , I will put a NEW SPIRIT WITHIN YOU: I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. (Flesh/soft in contrast to hard) I WILL PUT MY SPIRIT WITHIN YOU and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall be My people, and I will be your God.” It is important to note that the writer of the Hebrews attributes these words to the Holy Spirit! Heb. 10:15-17 The very Spirit of God Who makes the promise, fulfills it in His people by indwelling them as the Living Law.!!!
III. John 14:15-18 Here we have our Man making the promise that He will pray to the Father for the sending of the Holy Spirit, the Helper, Who is Christ’s Spirit Whose coming is Christ’s coming to us and in us! (Vs 18) These are His Words are His Assurance of the fulfillment of Ezek. 36:26-27!
John 3:6-7 Our Lord’s words to Nicodemus are crucial to New Covenant understanding. “That which is born of flesh is flesh (recall the OT failure), that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (New Covenant promise and reality) Marvel not that I say unto you, you MUST BE BORN AGAIN.” The New Birth depends solely upon the “activity” of the New Covenant coming of the Holy Spirit. Flesh has no part in being born again. See I Timothy 3:16.
Acts 1-2 After the Christ’s ascension to the Father, nothing happens (other than the choosing of Mathias) until the New Covenant Spirit falls upon the disciples. Acts 2 is the beginning of the continual answer of the Father to the Son’s prayer in John 14:15-18 & 17:20-26. The Glory which is to make His children one with the Father and the Son is His Glorious Spirit! Of course, Acts is the history of the expansion of the Covenant of God to the nations, but throughout, it is the Acts of the Holy Spirit!
Romans 6:4 + 8:11 “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism in to death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the Glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness (think eternal) life.” 8:11 “But if the Spirit of Him Who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He Who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies THROUGH HIM WHO DWELLS IN YOU.”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And remember, the Holy Spirit continually proceeds from the Father. (John 15:26) He is the Divine Family DNA! The case can be made that the Holy Spirit IS THE GLORY OF THE FATHER, for He Eternally proceeds from the Father. (John 15:26) He doesn’t leave the Father to fulfill His New Covenant Role, no!. He is the Spirit of the Father, the Spirit of Christ Who continually flows from the Bosom of the Father without any diminishing of His Being, Nature, or Power. This is akin to the fulness of the Godhead dwelling bodily in Christ Jesus, our God/Man. (Colossians 2:9)
Romans 8:9-10 “But your are not in the flesh (defined by the flesh & its lusts) but in the Spirit (the source of our new “definition”), if indeed the spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, HE IS NOT HIS. And if Christ is in you (because His Spirit dwells in you as in Vs 9) the body is dead because of sin (It can produce nothing that has to do with Eternal Life), but the Spirit is Life because of Righteousness.” (Because of Christ’s Righteousness on our Eternal account, the Spirit is the source of anything that has to do with Eternal Life.)
IV. Romans 8:12-16; Galatians 4:4-7 These “adoption” verses must be read with our Lord’s promise in John 14:18 in mind, “I will not leave you orphans.” The “abba” cry of the Holy Spirit is the testimony of the family bond initiated in our history at the new birth, the Family Love we now have with the Father through His Indwelling Spirit. This is the Family relationship that the Son of God became Man in order to bring many “children” into. This is the glorious adoption process we find in Hebrews 2:5-18. (I said earlier, “in our history”, for it was truly established before the foundation of the world in the Eternal Counsels of God. See Ephesians 1:3-6 + Hebrews 2:10-15)
Romans 5:5 “Now hope does not disappoint, because the Love of God has been poured out IN OUR HEARTS by the Holy Spirit WHO WAS GIVEN TO US.” The context here is our Justification and the benefits that flow from it, even in the midst of tribulation. And how do we “hang on” in the midst of tribulation? We have a sure hope, and why? “Because the Love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit Who was given to us.” “And I have declared to them Your Name (Father), and will declare it, that the Love with which You Loved Me may be in them , AND I IN THEM.” (John 17:26) The Holy Spirit pours out in our hearts the exact same Love with which the Father Loves His beloved Son. I believe that the Holy Spirit Who is given to us is the Personified Love of God! What is the foundational fruit of the Spirit’s Presence in His people? Love!!! (Galatians 5:22, I John)
Romans 8:38-39 Remember, these verses are Paul’s conclusion after His discussion of the Holy Spirit of Adoption, the Holy Spirit of Assurance. This is what has persuaded Him! “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the LOVE OF GOD (which is not created but Eternal FOR GOD IS LOVE. (I John 4:8)
This then, is the starting point of any discussion of the “Christian life”, “being saved”, “discipleship” or the many other terms we naively substitute for the only goal of our salvation, that of being conformed to “the stature of the Fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13) Who is the exact Image of God. (II Corinthians 4:4; Hebrews 1:3) And that is so that we can dwell eternally in the Presence of the Father of all Glory! (John 14:1-11) This is what sanctification is all about, that we might be brought to conformity with the Image of the One Who said from a perfect heart, “Then I said, ‘Behold, I come; In the scroll of the Book it is written of me, I delight to do Your Will, O My God, and Your Law is within My Heart.” (Psalm 40:7)
Hebrews 10:9-10 declares that in these words, our Christ Jesus “takes away the first (OC) that He may establish the second (the New Covenant in the Spirit). Our Jesus is the New Covenant,(see Isaiah 42:6, 49:8; Psalm 89:3) the fulfillment of all God requires. Only the Spirit of the New Covenant, the Spirit of Christ can “in work” the Promise of Ezekiel 36 into His children so that they might love the Lord their God with all their heart, with all their soul, and with all their mind!!
The Role of the Holy Spirit
Remember: The three Divine Mysteries of our Faith.
#1 The Union of the Trinity of Persons in one Godhead, Unique in Roles, One in Love, Will, & Purpose, Eternally One in every activity.
#2 The Union of the Divine and human natures in One Person, Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man. (Colossians 1:19, 2:9; Hebrews 1&2)
#3 The Union of God’s chosen with Christ, the God/Man. It is our being in Christ, and having Christ Himself in us by such a close union so that we are one spirit and one flesh with Him. (John 6:56; 14:20,23; I Cor. 6:17) This is the Mystery of Ephesians 5:32, “shadowed” so imperfectly in Christian marriage. This will be our theme in the rest of our studies. How does God miraculously bring this impossibility to pass?
#4 To these Mysterious Unions, I am adding a fourth mystery, so called by the Apostle Paul in I Timothy 3:16, The Mystery of Godliness. We have examined the six themes of this scripture in another study. In reality, this Mystery summarizes what the Triune God has done to bring about Mystery #3, the Union of His Beloved Son with the children the Father gave to his Son. (Heb. 2:10-18) Remember that the only “active role” of the children in the six statements of Godliness is “believed on in the world.” John 6:29 in contrast to Hebrews 3:12.
The Application of the Body of Christ
I. What is the greatest commandment?
Matthew 22:37-38 “Jesus said to him, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment.”
This is not some warm squishy kind of love. This love is what God requires and is foundational to any Eternal relationship with God. It is that love that freely and unrestrictedly flows between the Father and the Son by, in, and through the Holy Spirit. This is love that requires the total devotion of the heart, soul, and mind. But as we have seen, there is no human who seeks after God, let alone loves him in this manner.(Romans 3:10-1) This is the foundational commandment of the entire law of God, but the OT is a chronicle of the failure of man to keep it because of the weakness of fallen flesh.
Romans 8:4-5 “for what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, GOD DID by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirements of the law might be fulfilled IN US who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” So how does God bring “non seekers” to become “heart, soul, and mind lovers?
II. Ezekiel 36:26-27 Against the backdrop of Israel’s hard hearted rebellion against God, the defiling His Name among the nations by their evil heart of unbelief (Heb. 3:17-19), we come to this glorious promise from the God of Mercy. This is the New Covenant, the foundation to the creating a people whose hearts, souls, & minds love the Lord their God.
“I will give you a NEW HEART , I will put a NEW SPIRIT WITHIN YOU: I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. (Flesh/soft in contrast to hard) I WILL PUT MY SPIRIT WITHIN YOU and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall be My people, and I will be your God.” It is important to note that the writer of the Hebrews attributes these words to the Holy Spirit! Heb. 10:15-17 The very Spirit of God Who makes the promise, fulfills it in His people by indwelling them as the Living Law.!!!
III. John 14:15-18 Here we have our Man making the promise that He will pray to the Father for the sending of the Holy Spirit, the Helper, Who is Christ’s Spirit Whose coming is Christ’s coming to us and in us! (Vs 18) These are His Words are His Assurance of the fulfillment of Ezek. 36:26-27!
John 3:6-7 Our Lord’s words to Nicodemus are crucial to New Covenant understanding. “That which is born of flesh is flesh (recall the OT failure), that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (New Covenant promise and reality) Marvel not that I say unto you, you MUST BE BORN AGAIN.” The New Birth depends solely upon the “activity” of the New Covenant coming of the Holy Spirit. Flesh has no part in being born again. See I Timothy 3:16.
Acts 1-2 After the Christ’s ascension to the Father, nothing happens (other than the choosing of Mathias) until the New Covenant Spirit falls upon the disciples. Acts 2 is the beginning of the continual answer of the Father to the Son’s prayer in John 14:15-18 & 17:20-26. The Glory which is to make His children one with the Father and the Son is His Glorious Spirit! Of course, Acts is the history of the expansion of the Covenant of God to the nations, but throughout, it is the Acts of the Holy Spirit!
Romans 6:4 + 8:11 “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism in to death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the Glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness (think eternal) life.” 8:11 “But if the Spirit of Him Who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He Who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies THROUGH HIM WHO DWELLS IN YOU.”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And remember, the Holy Spirit continually proceeds from the Father. (John 15:26) He is the Divine Family DNA! The case can be made that the Holy Spirit IS THE GLORY OF THE FATHER, for He Eternally proceeds from the Father. (John 15:26) He doesn’t leave the Father to fulfill His New Covenant Role, no!. He is the Spirit of the Father, the Spirit of Christ Who continually flows from the Bosom of the Father without any diminishing of His Being, Nature, or Power. This is akin to the fulness of the Godhead dwelling bodily in Christ Jesus, our God/Man. (Colossians 2:9)
Romans 8:9-10 “But your are not in the flesh (defined by the flesh & its lusts) but in the Spirit (the source of our new “definition”), if indeed the spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, HE IS NOT HIS. And if Christ is in you (because His Spirit dwells in you as in Vs 9) the body is dead because of sin (It can produce nothing that has to do with Eternal Life), but the Spirit is Life because of Righteousness.” (Because of Christ’s Righteousness on our Eternal account, the Spirit is the source of anything that has to do with Eternal Life.)
IV. Romans 8:12-16; Galatians 4:4-7 These “adoption” verses must be read with our Lord’s promise in John 14:18 in mind, “I will not leave you orphans.” The “abba” cry of the Holy Spirit is the testimony of the family bond initiated in our history at the new birth, the Family Love we now have with the Father through His Indwelling Spirit. This is the Family relationship that the Son of God became Man in order to bring many “children” into. This is the glorious adoption process we find in Hebrews 2:5-18. (I said earlier, “in our history”, for it was truly established before the foundation of the world in the Eternal Counsels of God. See Ephesians 1:3-6 + Hebrews 2:10-15)
Romans 5:5 “Now hope does not disappoint, because the Love of God has been poured out IN OUR HEARTS by the Holy Spirit WHO WAS GIVEN TO US.” The context here is our Justification and the benefits that flow from it, even in the midst of tribulation. And how do we “hang on” in the midst of tribulation? We have a sure hope, and why? “Because the Love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit Who was given to us.” “And I have declared to them Your Name (Father), and will declare it, that the Love with which You Loved Me may be in them , AND I IN THEM.” (John 17:26) The Holy Spirit pours out in our hearts the exact same Love with which the Father Loves His beloved Son. I believe that the Holy Spirit Who is given to us is the Personified Love of God! What is the foundational fruit of the Spirit’s Presence in His people? Love!!! (Galatians 5:22, I John)
Romans 8:38-39 Remember, these verses are Paul’s conclusion after His discussion of the Holy Spirit of Adoption, the Holy Spirit of Assurance. This is what has persuaded Him! “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the LOVE OF GOD (which is not created but Eternal FOR GOD IS LOVE. (I John 4:8)
This then, is the starting point of any discussion of the “Christian life”, “being saved”, “discipleship” or the many other terms we naively substitute for the only goal of our salvation, that of being conformed to “the stature of the Fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13) Who is the exact Image of God. (II Corinthians 4:4; Hebrews 1:3) And that is so that we can dwell eternally in the Presence of the Father of all Glory! (John 14:1-11) This is what sanctification is all about, that we might be brought to conformity with the Image of the One Who said from a perfect heart, “Then I said, ‘Behold, I come; In the scroll of the Book it is written of me, I delight to do Your Will, O My God, and Your Law is within My Heart.” (Psalm 40:7)
Hebrews 10:9-10 declares that in these words, our Christ Jesus “takes away the first (OC) that He may establish the second (the New Covenant in the Spirit). Our Jesus is the New Covenant,(see Isaiah 42:6, 49:8; Psalm 89:3) the fulfillment of all God requires. Only the Spirit of the New Covenant, the Spirit of Christ can “in work” the Promise of Ezekiel 36 into His children so that they might love the Lord their God with all their heart, with all their soul, and with all their mind!!