Chapter 13

The Holy Spirit

His Names (1)

Having learned about the deity and personality of the Holy Spirit, we must learn something about His nature. While He is God and shares His attributes, there are things that relate especially to the Spirit's ministry with us.

One in particular about the Holy Spirit and His relationship to us after Pentecost is in John's Gospel. Jesus was in Jerusalem at the time and John recorded it this way:

John 7:37-39

37 Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.

38 "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.'"

39 But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

John distinctly says that the Holy Spirit had not been given while Jesus was ministering on earth, because He had not been glorified. We know by subsequent Scripture that Jesus had to go to the Cross. He had to be buried, to be raised from the dead, and then 40 days later to ascend to the right hand of God the Father where He now sits in glorified power with all authority in heaven and on earth. Because He is glorified in heaven, the Father and the Son sent forth the Spirit into the world. The Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost and indwelt every believer with faith in Jesus Christ.

The Names of the Holy Spirit

To learn more of the nature of the one who came at Pentecost, we need to study the names and the titles given to Him. It is one thing to know that He is a person and a member of the Godhead, but it is quite another thing to know what kind of person He is. In the early chapters we discussed the names of God in the Old Testament. We saw, for example, that God provides a sacrifice, heals, and sanctifies us. In like manner, the names of the Holy Spirit also describe His nature and activities.

He Is the HOLY Spirit — The most prominent description of the Spirit is that He is holy. In fact, His holiness is so much a part of His being that it is also His name; He is known as the Holy Spirit of God. The words "Holy Spirit" appear 93 times in the NASB Bible, but only seven times in the KJV since it refers to Him as the Holy Ghost in the New Testament. That is far too many to quote; however, let us look at just one of them. In Luke, Jesus taught the disciples about prayer before Pentecost. He said:

Luke 11:9-13

9 "And I say to you, ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you.

10 "For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it shall be opened.

11 "Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he?

12 "Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he?

13 "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?"

Luke gives an obvious contrast between evil and good. In verses 11 and 12 the words "snake" and "scorpion" represent the evil demonic world. Men are said to be evil in verse 13 because we are fallen creatures. But still, Jesus says, we give good gifts to our own children. That being the case, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him. The contrast throughout the passage is between the evil of the satanic kingdom, and the holiness and goodness of the Holy Spirit.

Keep in mind that Pentecost changed the Holy Spirit's relationship to believers. You do not have to ask God for the Holy Spirit since He came at Pentecost to indwell all believers. Jesus spoke the above for believers living before His glorification and the coming of the Holy Spirit in His new relationship to believers at Pentecost.

The Spirit of Holiness — In Romans 1:4 another, but similar name, is given to the Holy Spirit. There He is called the Spirit of holiness by the Apostle Paul. You may wonder, "What is holiness and how is it different from righteousness?" I think of holiness as a part of the character – God is holy as a part of His being. The actual deeds of a holy character are righteous deeds. God is holy, so all of His deeds are righteous. He does right because He is holy and righteous. The Holy Spirit is absolutely holy with no taint of sin whatever.

As human beings we can be holy only as we permit the Spirit of holiness to control our lives and reshape our characters into the moral image of God. Paul taught that you should be:

Ephesians 4:23-24

23 … be renewed in the spirit of your mind,

24 and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

It is up to each of us to give God control of our lives in order that we may live pleasing to Him. Among the marks of a Spirit-filled life are integrity and holiness that reflect constant fellowship with God.

The Spirit of Grace — The "Spirit of grace" is found in Hebrews 10:29 where the writer says, "How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?" Grace is God acting kindly toward us when we deserve the exact opposite. Our sin deserves the punishment of hell and eternal separation from God. There is no holiness in fallen man, none whatsoever, which makes him pleasing to God. By grace God extends His love toward us. In Ephesians the Apostle Paul explains:

Ephesians 2:8-9

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;

9 not as a result of works, that no one should boast.

Since grace is God acting in kindness toward us when we deserve the exact opposite, then the Spirit of grace works in our behalf to bring us into the full blessing of Christ in God when we do not deserve it. Even when our lives are against the purposes of God, the Spirit of grace convicts, and if necessary, disciplines us until we return to the path of truth.

Spirit of Judgment, Spirit of Burning — Fire is a symbol of judgment and purification from sin. The Old Testament prophet Isaiah mentions the Spirit of judgment and burning, showing by example what those names mean. He wrote:

Isaiah 4:4-5

4 When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and purged the bloodshed of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning,

5 then the Lord will create over the whole area of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, even smoke, and the brightness of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory will be a canopy.

The Spirit of judgment and burning purges sin and rebellion from the hearts of those who come to God. He will not let one of God's children continue in sin without bringing strong conviction to his or her heart. John the Baptist, in speaking of Jesus Christ, said that "He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire" (Matthew 3:11). The Spirit of God burns with judgment against the sin and evil we tolerate in our lives. But it is comforting to know that He will also give us strength and help to overcome those very sins as we yield to Him for cleansing and strength.

Make It Personal

At first thought, the names Spirit of holiness and Spirit of grace seem to conflict with the names Spirit of judgment and Spirit of burning. However, there can be no holiness and grace without judgment and purging of sin. The Holy Spirit's desire to produce the life of Christ in you may require judgment and discipline in order for the sin to be put away.

Since sin brings ruin, we can actually praise God for times of discipline that keep us from utter disaster. The Spirit of God is truly the Spirit of grace even while He works in judgment and discipline. If the Holy Spirit is disciplining you at this time, don't fret under it. Rather praise God that He has not left you, but He is continuing to work in your heart and life to conform you to the image of Christ.

Hebrews 12:9-10

9 Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live?

10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness.

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