2 Corinthians 3:17- (NRSVCE)
“17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.”
The Holy Spirit, is the most neglected Person among The Triune GOD, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. But the life is in the Spirit. Jesus was raised to life by the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:10-11 says “But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of Him (GOD) who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through His Spirit that dwells in you.” Jesus Christ died and rose and ascended to Heaven to give us the Holy Spirit for us to have Spiritual life. John 16:7 says, “ Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.
He is now for us the Gift from GOD. being promised in Joel 2:28;
“And it shall come to pass afterward,
that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh;
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,…
He is a divine person because like the Father and the Son, He has mind also, (Rom. 8:27; ”And he who searches the hearts of men knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”).
He has a will, (1 Cor. 12:11; “All these are inspired by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.”).
He prays, (Rom. 8:26; “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words.”).
He speaks. He spoke to many in the Book of Acts. He spoke to Phillip to go and join the Ethiopian Eunuch, (Acts 8:29). He spoke to St. Peter on the housetop, (Acts 10:19), and to St. John to write His message to seven churches in Asia, (Rev. 2-3).
He permits and forbids, (Acts 16:6-10).
He searches our minds and reveals the deepest things of GOD, (1 Cor. 2:9-11; “But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him.” God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For what person knows a man’s thoughts except the spirit of the man which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.”).
He also grieves, but most of all, He also loves, (Eph. 4:30; “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God,…” Rev. 2:4; “ But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.” And in Rom. 15:30 “I appeal to you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together …”).
It is but so important that we know that the Holy Spirit is very much active as member of GOD Head and we should be aware of His presence in living our faith in GOD and He should not even a second be forgotten or disregarded.
But even more, we should be aware of His Deity. He is called God, (Acts 5:3-4). He is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient. As omnipotent, He moved upon the face of waters, (Gen. 1:2), or sound like a rush of mighty wind from heaven, (Acts 2:2). The apostles and disciples of Jesus had shown power to speak in tongue, to heal, to drive demons, to raise dead persons after they received the Holy Spirit in Pentecost, (Acts 2:4, 3:7, 5:15-16, etc.).
He is omnipresent as David proclaimed in Ps. 139:7 which says “Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence?”
He is omniscient, He knows all the deepest things of GOD, (1 Cor. 2:10-11).
He is equal with the Father and the Son. Whatever they do, the Holy Spirit of GOD is always present. He was there in Day One, (Genesis 1:1), He was there in Jesus baptism, (Mt. 3:16), and in Jesus temptation, (Mt. 4:1) and in many verses in the Book of Acts. He is the author of the Old and New Testaments, (2 Sam. 23:2, Isa. 59:21, John 14:25-26, I Cor. 2:13).
To have Salvation, we must live in accordance with the Holy Spirit. We have to receive Him and be controlled by the Spirit of GOD. How? In Mt. 1:18-23, God made it fulfilled in the birth of Jesus. Jesus is the Word that became flesh. (Jn. 1:14 says; And the Word (who is GOD in the beginning) became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth …). The words that Jesus spoke comes from the Father, (Jn. 14:24; … the word which you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.”). Now the words He spoken are the Spirit and Life, (Jn. 6:63). That is how GOD pour out His Spirit on all flesh, everyone should hear and live in the Word. 1Cor. 2:12-13 says; “ Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who possess the Spirit.”
Now, the Holy Spirit, who is GOD, who is the Word in the beginning (Jn. 1:1) and which Jesus had spoken (Jn. 6:63), is dwelling WITH us all, (although we are not so aware of it) through hearing the Gospels. Those hearers of the Word of God has the Spirit WITH them, but those who are not only hearers but doers of the Word, had the Spirit living or dwelling IN them. That’s the disparity. The Scripture advised us in Jas. 1:22; “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only.” The guarantee to have Eternal life is to be doers of the Word. Eph. 1:13-14 confirms, “In him you also, who have heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and have believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance..” So let’s keep the Word in our hearts so that the Holy Spirit will dwell “in” us. 1 Cor. 6:19-20 says:“ Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God?”
Thanks be to the Holy Spirit, my Counselor in this article, in Jesus Christ Name, AMEN.
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