The Theology of Jesus: Part 8 Pneumatology

Okay.  Okay.  I’ll confess.  I have a particular interest in the doctrine of the Person and Work of God the Holy Spirit.  I did my Ph.D. dissertation on “The Pneumatology of John Nelson Darby (1800-1882).”  I even wrote a chapter on the Holy Spirit entitled “The Other Comforter” or “The Forgotten God” (I don’t remember which) in the book edited by Jack Fish Understanding the Trinity.

In my preaching and teaching ministry, I encourage other believers to develop a relationship with God the Holy Spirit!  If He is personal, we can have a relationship with Him.  If He is God, we can worship Him.  This challenge is not meant to supercede our relationship with the Lord Jesus, of course, for the Spirit’s primary work is to glorify Christ!

In our experiment of asking how the teachings of the Lord Jesus fit into the ten categories of systematic theology (the doctrine of man, the doctrine of sin, the doctrine of the church), we have covered several areas.  Let’s ask what the Lord Jesus taught about the Third Member of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit.

The Lord Jesus had a great deal to say about God the Holy Spirit.  Let’s look briefly at His teaching in the Upper Room Discourse (John 14-16):

There is so much here in these three chapters!  Here’s what I learn about God the Holy Spirit:

1. We need “another advocate” (14:16).  He will help us and be with us forever.
2. He is called “the Spirit of truth” — and we need truth! (14:17).
3. We should not be surprised that “the world” cannot accept the Spirit for it has no relationship to Him (14:17).
4. The Spirit will have a specific teaching ministry to the disciples of reminding them of the truths of the Lord Jesus (14:26).
5. The Spirit’s “curriculum” is the Lord Jesus — “He will testify about me” (15:26).
6. There is an order to the working of the Triune God.  Jesus came to do the Father’s will.  He is returning to the Father and the Spirit is being sent to take Jesus’ place (16:7).
7.  The Spirit’s primary ministry to the world is that of conviction of sin (16:8-11).
8.  The Lord Jesus was not finished with what He wanted to teach the disciples.  The Spirit of truth will guide the disciples into all truth (16:13).
9.  The Spirit of God will not speak on His own, but only what He hears (from the Father and the Son) (16:13).
10.  He will glorify the Lord Jesus (16:14-15).

If I’m right that we should develop a personal relationship with God the Holy Spirit, then we can talk to Him and ask Him for things.  One of His ministries is conviction of sin.  Write out a prayer today to the Holy Spirit, asking that He would bring conviction of sin to someone that you love. (to be continued)

 

The Spirit, the Preacher, and the Word (Part 6)

Biblical Eldership Resources (http://biblicaleldership.com/) has invited me to speak at their conference in March and my topic is “Faithful Preaching and the Power of the Spirt.” These posts are helping me to work my way through some of the issues concerning the preacher and the Spirit of God. Let’s look at our second section of the Upper Room Discourse again . . .

²⁶ “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me. ²⁷ And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning. . . . ⁷ But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. ⁸ When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: ⁹ about sin, because people do not believe in me; ¹⁰ about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; ¹¹ and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.

¹² “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. ¹³ But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. ¹⁴ He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. ¹⁵ All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”

 

 

 

 

The Spirit, the Preacher, and the Word (Part 3)

We are working our way through some of the biblical material on the Holy Spirit. In our last post, we saw a number of ministries He has toward the believer in general.

But what are His specific ministries toward the preacher? Let’s look at our first section of the Upper Room Discourse once more . . .

15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[c] in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

 

 

The Spirit, the Preacher, and the Word (Part 1)

Friends:  I have been asked to participate in a March conference with Biblical Eldership Resources.  I will be presenting two messages on the subject of preaching and God the Holy Spirit.  In light of that assignment, I want to take a number of posts to think through some passages that may shed light on the awesome task of proclaiming God’s Word.

Jesus’ “Upper Room Discourse,” as you know, deals with a variety of subjects, not the least being the coming and ministries of the Third Person of the Trinity.  Let’s look at several verses in that discourse which is found in John 14-16.

Jesus gives an amazing promise in John 14:

15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[c] in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.