NAMES FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT

One of the most famous and discussed chapters explaining the Holy Spirit are in John 3, when Nicodemus comes to Jesus Christ and asks how a man is to be born again. “How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!”

Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”(John 3:5-8)

The simple term, “Spirit” is defined as, “invisible, non-material part of humans, supernatural being (third person of the Trinity), other lesser supernatural beings; see ‘spiritual’”.  Which is defined: “Having to do with God; the human spirit, or other supernatural spirits.”

The Holy Spirit is also named “God”. In (Acts 5:3-4), Ananias and Sapphira had conspired to lie to the Apostle Peter about the amount Ananias had received for a piece of property which they had sold. They would keep part of the proceeds and lie about what they acquired for the property, making themselves appear to be more generous than they truly were. But being endowed with discernment and knowledge by the Holy Spirit, Peter informed Ananias that he was aware of their deceit, calling the one that they had lied to not only the Holy Spirit, but also God: What made you do such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God.”

The couple had succumbed to temptation by the adversary and were drawn away by their sinful lusts and enticed, just as the enemy will try to provoke us to today. Even though the battle for our souls is finished and we have been declared “not guilty”, the devil tries to make God’s people stumble, even in today’s modern world.  Satan’s overthrow is coming, when Christ returns to rule and reign, judging the world in righteousness and with justice.

The Holy Spirit also holds the title of “Lord” in 2 Corinthians 3:18, when we are described as having ‘unveiled faces’, all reflecting the Lord’s glory, being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (Paraphrased)

Let us go back for a moment. In 2 Corinthians 3: Verse 13, the new covenant is compared to the old by the reminder that Moses covered his face with a veil in order to keep the Israelites from seeing the residual glory of being in God’s presence.  Pick up in Verse 14: But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. 15) Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16) But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17) Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

How can it be that the veil, which was rent in two during Christ’s agony on the cross, can be ignored by the observers of the Law and those who walk in condemnation even today?

Halleluiah! You don’t mind if I celebrate, do a little victory dance right now, do you? I would like to tell you that I have always had revelation knowledge of Christ’s saving grace, but that would be untrue. Suffice to say that today I am really bummed out by those who still try to keep that first covenant, who say that the Old testament must be adhered to to the letter in order to live and to be saved, and refuse to accept the free gift of salvation and redemption from the curse of the law that Christ made possible for even them. But they will not accept Him in that way; they might as well say that He was just a man and be done with it if the law is still in control of this people we call Christianity. Jesus said that not one jot or tittle shall pass from the law until all is fulfilled. When Christ died on that cruel cross for all my sins, that happened, just as Christ read Isaiah 61:1-3 in the Synagogue and said, “today this scripture is fulfilled”. That is how I understand it! Now we have to claim with boldness that the Spirit of life has set us free from the law of sin and death. Amen? Amen!

To put that another way, The Life Application Study Bible puts Verse 18 in this perspective: “The glory that the Spirit imparts to the believer is more excellent and lasts longer then the glory that Moses experienced. By gazing at the nature of God with unveiled minds, we can be more like Him.  In the Gospel, we see the truth about Christ, and it transforms us morally as we understand and apply it. Through learning about Christ’s life, we can understand how wonderful God is and what he is really like. As our knowledge deepens, the Holy Spirit helps us to change. Becoming Christ-like is a progressive experience. The more closely we follow Christ, the more we will be like Him.”

Fulfilling all righteousness, Christ came and led a sinless life. He was baptized, and he was selfless in all that He said and did. But the law was not the reason Christ came; it was to seek and to save that which was lost. Those who kept the law were what Jesus loosely termed as “the righteous”—self righteous, in all honesty. And today the same can be said of those who think that their deeds will make their election sure. Christ makes us able to be reconciled to God, not our white sepulchers and our religious traditions…that’s why He supported man’s being Lord of the Sabbath, and not the commandment to keep it Holy. This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what Christ requires and what He does not. As I admitted, I’m still learning. And nothing could benefit you more than to be in a Bible-based church and reading and praying to God at this time in our lives. The revealing of Christ in my own life is so very much a blessing and an honor! That’s why I call the Holy Spirit “Lord”.

The secret wisdom spoken of in 1 Corinthians 2 is that of salvation, which was revealed upon Christ’s resurrection, through the power and the revelation of the Holy Spirit, called simply “his Spirit” in verse 10.  The King James says it best, when it states, “But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit; for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.”

I am reminded as I write this that Jesus questioned Nicodemus once about his belief in what He told him. “If I tell you of earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe when I tell you of Heavenly things?” (John 3:12) he asked.

It is beginning to unfold in this study, as I write this, that the conversation between Nicodemus and Christ, the Son of the Living God, was crucial in the forming of the Christian’s understanding about the Holy Spirit; it cannot be lightly dismissed. This subject has been on my mind much lately, because of unbelievers and their confusion over the liberty in which we operate as Christians! The Old Covenant is important in that it reveals our need for a Savior, while the New Covenant is in response to the facts: we cannot live according to the Law and expect to be reconciled to God. (“The LORD our Righteousness”--Jeremiah 23:6) God said that we would live if we observed the law and did the orders of the commandments, but also said all the earth stands condemned before almighty God, (Romans 3:19, paraphrased)thereby making infinitely important the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made on Calvary to one and all of us as believers.

God sent his Son into the world that all might be saved through Him. This is the message of the Spirit of God. This is the conviction that tugs at your heart whenever you go into a church and listen to the Pastor or Preacher reveal God’s Word. It is the Spirit of God in 1 Corinthians 3:16; it is that conviction of your sins and your need for a Savior that comes with John 15:26, in which Christ promises, “When the Counselor 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.”

God is not only love; He is complete, unadulterated TRUTH. The truth about me was what made me turn to Christ to begin with. I knew that I was a sinner, that I was “tore up from the floor up”, that I was always making mistakes and that I needed what the Baptists call a “Personal Savior” (I was raised as a Baptist). Somewhere inside me was the propensity for being fallible, flawed, a misfit.

Again John 3:12 questions and challenges us to believe, and therefore follow and uphold the commands of Christ, not the law, given to us by a mediator (Galatians 3:19), angelic though it was. Ah! Do you find that hard to understand? Jesus Christ said, “Do not think it is I who judges you, but Moses, whom ye trust” (Paraphrased, John 5:45). One greater than Moses now was among them, and what would they (we) do? Would we be disobedient and refuse to do the Will of our Savior, or would we believe Jesus was the Way, the Truth and the Life, and be done with it? I took Him into my heart at the age of twelve, but did not really have what my heart could believe to be strong faith until He opened my heart’s eyes many years later. I was like that “small and useless seed”, that I had written about in my youth, “Fleeing from its home to greet the sun…suddenly it sees a whole new world, and kills itself before its life is done.”

It was all about dying to the flesh; it was all about leaving no stone unturned until I had exhausted all avenues of investigation of the worldly way. I had gone rogue and had become an enemy of God, but my life was only beginning when I cried out, “Lord, I can’t go on any further; take my life and do with it what you will.”

“Except a seed fall to the ground and die it can in no wise bear fruit”, Christ said. (Paraphrased, John 12:24) It is God who gives that seed the opportunity and the ability to bear fruit. I’m so glad that Jesus set me free and gives me the opportunity to bear much spiritual fruit through His Word and His Spirit!

The Holy Spirit is also known as the “Eternal Spirit” in Hebrews 9:14:  “How much more then, will the blood of Christ, who through the Eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!” (NIV)

The forgiveness of God through Jesus Christ, as I have believed, has lifted the shame and the guilt I possessed from past mistakes and made me able to do all that God requires of me at this point in my life. Ain’t God good? This scripture does not mean that I can continue to sin so that grace may abound, because the Word says of such a concept, “God forbid”. It means that my struggles, my stumbling, my flaws, and defects of character, are all covered by the blood. And the Holy Spirit is making good use of us today, if we are, indeed, sons and daughters, children, of God.

Does this passage mean that consciences filled with past mistakes are condemned to repeat those mistakes? I’ll leave that up to you to decide. But it is established that the Holy Spirit has a great work to do here on this earth and in you. “Have your way, Holy Spirit; have your way.” Amen.

Have a safe and enjoyable New Year's! We at VFO love and appreciate you all. May God bless. Teresa Rowley