The Ministry of the H o fg by Glenn O ’Neal, Pb.D., Professor o f Practical Theology, Talbot Theological Seminary
T m a n y C h r is t ia n s the idea of the person of the Holy Spirit is vague and intangible. God the Father is more understandable, because the comparison can be made to a human father. God the Son is conceivable, because He dwelt on earth in the person of Jesus Christ. But the concept of God the Spirit, made more complicated by the King James translation, “Holy Ghost,” is too often relegated to that which is impossible to comprehend. Yet teaching about the person and work of the Holy Spirit occupies a prominent place throughout the Scrip tures. Especially is this true of the instruction given by Christ just prior to His departure and the account of ex periences of the disciples in the 'book of Acts-. The work of the Spirit should be important to every believer because his entrance into the body of Christ, the continuation of his relationship in fellowship with Christ, and empow ering for the service of Christ are all related to the min istry of the Holy Spirit. The purpose of this discussion is to present three aspects of the ministry of the Holy Spirit, namely, the regenerating work of the Spirit, the baptism of the Spirit and the sealing of the Spirit. The Regeneration of the Spirit The regenerating ministry of the Holy Spirit involves the communication of the divine nature to men. 1. The work of regeneration. There are three phases in the accomplishment of this operation: a. Convincing man of his need. When Christ abruptly declared to Nicodemus, “Ex cept a man be bom again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3), He was trying to awaken the Phari see to the recognition of his need for a new life. The command that he “must be -bom again,” or, as it could be translated, “'bom from above,” stresses the idea that man could never hope to attain a proper relation to God through his best human efforts, but that he must have life from God. If one were trying to reach the sky, it would not make much difference whether the attempt was made from the bottom of the Grand Canyon or from the top of Mt. Everest. The difference in distance would be without significance. Likewise man’s best effort can never enable him to reach the heights of favor with God. Christ continued to stress this to Nicodemus as re corded in John 3:6, when He explained that “ that which is bom of the flesh is flesh; hnd that which is bom of the Spirit is spirit.” It is most difficult for any person to admit his weakness and inability to refine his charac ter to the point where he can attain to God’s standards. It is even more difficult to admit as did Paul “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing” (Rom. 7:18a). When man comes to accept this verdict, he then can concur with A. J. Gordon who declared that “regeneration is not our natural life carried up to its highest point of attainment, but the Divine
life brought down to its lowest point of condescension, even to the heart of fallen man.” b. The work of cleansing. Christ further clarified the teaching of the new birth to the bewildered Nicodemus as He .explained that “Ex cept a man be bom of water and of the Spirit, he can not enter into the Kingdom of God” (John 3:5). The meaning of being “bom of water” has been variously interpreted. Some say it refers to baptism. Others inter pret it as another instance where the “water of the Word” is mentioned. A few have even suggested that it is analogous to the breaking of the water prior to natural birth. But what did Christ ask Nicodemus who experienced difficulty in understanding these truths? “Art thou a master of Israel and knowest not these things?” (John 3:10b). This would indicate that if he had understood the Old Testament, he would have had no doubt as to the meaning of Christ’s words. His ref erence was obviously to the prediction recorded in Ezek iel 36:24-29, when God would restore Israel to the place of favor. Notice how many times reference is made to the actual cleansing of the heart from sin. “For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fa thers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. I will also save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will call for the com, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you” (Ezekiel 36:24-29). This emphasis on thé actual work of cleansing takes away the necessity for finding a symbol for water other than the common use of water, namely, cleansing. The first work of the Spirit is the application of the blood of Christ to the heart, making possible release from the penalty of sin. The realization of this truth is the reason that Paul could declare in Romans 8:1 “There is there fore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” And then he explains in verse two, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” Because of 4he law that operates when the Spirit of life does His work of cleans ing, the law that declares that sin must reign and bring death is nullified. The believer is cleansed from sin and can rejoice with assurance in his eternal pardon. Thus the first work of regeneration is the cleansing of the heart. This is further emphasized in Titus 3:5 where it is stated that the new life in Christ is attained “not by works (continued on next page)
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JU LY, 1963
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