The Culture of Hope Founded on Faith
More Than Comforter, Part 3
The Holy Spirit is called the Comforter in Scripture, but the Greek word that is used, paracletus, is also translated Helper and Teacher. Two weeks ago we looked at the Holy Spirit as coming in place of the physical Christ to be there as Comforter, Helper, and Teacher for the disciples and for believers since then. Last week we looked at the function of the Holy Spirit in terms of the world, reproving the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment (John 16:8). Today we’ll explore the observable manifestations of the Holy Spirit, or the lack thereof, in human lives.
Galatians 5:16-26 describes how the Holy Spirit impacts the lives of both believers and non-believers:
“This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other so that you cannot do the things that you would. But if you are led of the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against such there is no law. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.”
One observable manifestation of the presence of the Holy Spirit is the conflict between the Spirit and the flesh. As Christians, though we are born again by virtue of the Holy Spirit within us from the point of receiving Jesus Christ as Savior, we still live in a physical body that continues to experience the lust of the flesh and the tendency to desire the unholy. Until we are called home to the presence of our Lord, we need to be wary of this tendency for the rest of our physical lives. Your desire as a Christian is to do good and righteous deeds and engage in good and righteous thoughts. But the flesh entices you to do otherwise. Where the Holy Spirit is not, this conflict does not exist.
Another observable manifestation of the presence of the Holy Spirit is the fruit of the Spirit. These attributes – love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance (Gal. 5:22) – are not what save us, but they are the outcomes of the presence of the Holy Spirit in us once we are saved. The works of the flesh listed in Galatians 5:19-21 have no place in the life of the believer and, in fact, demonstrate the absence of the Holy Spirit and salvation.
The wording in the Galatians 5 passage indicates a dichotomy between the believer and the Holy Spirit in terms of the origin of righteous living and avoidance of the lust of the flesh. Galatians 2:20 affirms that “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Galatians 6:14 adds “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” The once-and-for-all crucifixion of the flesh coincides with Christ’s death on the cross and our belief in His substitutionary death on the one hand. But it is also an intentional action on our part that “they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” (Gal. 5:24). It is an on-going effort requiring our attention just as verses 25 and 26 instruct that it is our responsibility that “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.” We choose to walk in the Spirit and be led by the Spirit when we grow in our relationship with God, spending time reading and meditating on the Word of God as well as praying, both communicating with God and listening to His still small voice.
I am comforted to know that God “has my back”, so to speak, as verse 19 tells us that if we are led by the Spirit we are no longer under the law – the condemnation of the Law being satisfied by Christ’s crucifixion. He calls us to the freedom of His Holy Spirit in us, and at the same time we are called to actively pursue holiness which is achievable only because of the Holy Spirit in us.
