Holy Spirit

From the outset of Christianity the person and work of the Holy Spirit have been both overstated and understated, coupled with a fear of excess religiosity and extremism in application.  Many references to the God-head of the Trinity are weakest in the accent of the Holy Spirit in writings or discussions.  In discussion and writing about God and redemption there are many references to God the Father, and God the Son, but fewer to God the Holy Spirit – if any at all.  There was some passage of time from the time of my Christian conversion until I began to grasp the meaning of the Holy Spirit to the application of the works of God in Christ, and from him to the world and to Christians in particular.  Perhaps the words of Jesus, that the Holy Spirit would testify of him (Jesus), that the humility of God is demonstrated in the mystery of the persons of the God-head and acts of the Holy Spirit.  We are surprised to discover the humility of God, a humility that delays as long as possible any judgment for violation of his creative acts – including the creation of mankind.  Further, language does not capture the full meaning of the Holy Spirit, perhaps not even as much as our own spirits absorb.  The use of the word Ghost for Spirit (pneuma) in the English of the King James translation may have contributed to our interpretations and reluctance.  This and other words, lost or distorted, have inspired a plethora of versions seeking to capture original meanings.  Even as late as the rise of Charles Dickens and references to ghosts of Christmas had spiritual force that we do not follow in our time.  Ghosts now belong to Halloween.  Even Dickens related the concept to fear and death.

As a practical person I presume God approves of the somewhat muted approach in that human beings have enough difficulty in processing God in Jesus Christ among mortal persons so to add to the discussion the persistent and faithful presence and work of the Holy Spirit, invisible to us, adds cause for skepticism which affects faith.  Those who have walked for decades in the Christian experience often refer to the sense of presence of God in their lives, a presence rightly identified with the Holy Spirit of God.  In this the Holy Spirit can take over the human spirit when invited to faith.  In this context the person is changed from what may have identified him or her in bygone years.  Some matters formerly neglected are now closely related and accented, and some matters formerly related and held closely have faded and died.  Behold all things have become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17)  Too many saints have discovered this truth, and lived in it with openness to have it effectively denied.  I have seen realities of it, and faking of it.

Scripture refers to reality in a number of passages.  There are about 300 or so references to spirit (pneuma) in the New Testament.  It sometimes refers to the Holy Spirit of God, and sometimes to the human spirit.  The King James Version differentiates by using a capital letter for the Holy Spirit, and a lower case rendering for the human spirit.  Note this in the rendering of Luke 2:27 and 40 – the first referring to the Holy Spirit and the second to the human spirit.  Newer translations seem less likely to catch the implications that make the understanding and work of the Holy Spirit in the appearances of the Greek word (pneuma).  A part of the image of God in us is the spirit of the individual.  There is a spark of the nature of God in every human being – enhanced by awareness.  That life context is given in the plan of redemption offered of God.  The human spirit flawed and weakened in the present natural state, can be given new life in the Holy Spirit.  Human nature challenges that divine experience – which causes some conflict within us.  Obedience to Christ can change that and form the human spirit of the person – toward that it was meant to be at the creation of mankind.  Some Christians seem not to apply well the redemptive experience to natural life.  The Trinity of God contributes from each member that which addresses the complete redemptive enterprise.  One of the most productive ways of understanding both ourselves as human beings in the dimensions that form us, is to understand that the image of God in us is to make of that image what it ought to be in the representation of God in us.  When achieved it makes us accepted in the beloved. (Ephesians 1:6)