Category: Attributes Of The Holy Spirit

Spiritual Gifts and the Holy Spirit: Part 5 - Serving Gifts, Service

6/26/2021

TBC Glassboro Sermons and More · Spiritual Gifts and the Holy Spirit: Part 5 - Serving Gifts, Service

There are six serving gifts that are permanent or have not ceased — serving, helping, administration, giving, mercy, and leading. The term serving (diakonía) means to render help, support, or provision. The gift of serving is displaying compassionate love to those in need, specifically within the fellowship of believers. Every task or service done sacrificially to benefit others is an expression of the gift of serving. The New Testament is filled with examples of believers using this gift to minister to others.

And having sent into Macedonia two of those who ministered (diakoneō) to him, Timothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia for a while. - Acts 19:22
the Lord grant to [Onesiphorus] to find mercy from the Lord on that day—and you know very well what services (diakoneō) he rendered at Ephesus. - 2 Timothy 1:18
whom I wished to keep with me, so that on your behalf he might minister (diakoneō) to me in my imprisonment for the gospel; - Philemon 13
For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered (diakoneō) and in still ministering (diakoneō) to the saints. - Hebrews 6:10

The gift of service is given to all believers though its application or deployment may differ from person to person.

And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. - 1 Corinthians 12:5

According to Ephesians 4:11-12, Christ gifted apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor-teachers to the Church to equip believers to do the work of service (diakonía). The work of service is not relegated to those in leadership. It is the job of every disciple. When disciples are involved in service then the Church will grow.

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The Attributes of the Holy Spirit: Part 4 - Truth

4/17/2021

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TBC Glassboro Sermons and More · The Attributes Of The Holy Spirit: Part 4 - Truth

The attribute of truth means that it is impossible for God to lie.

in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago, - Titus 1:2

However, it is more than just speaking truth. That God is truth means that He is perfectly reliable in all that He says and does.

God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? - Numbers 23:19

Thus, the attribute of truth guarantees the God is complete or perfect and lacks nothing. Jesus, the second Person of the Godhead declared that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth.

[The Holy Spirit] is the Spirit of Truth… - John 14:17
When the Helper comes… that is the Spirit of Truth - John 15:26

As the Spirit of truth, He is completely and perfectly God. There is nothing lacking or diminished in Who He is. Biblically, the number seven is associated with completion of perfection. As the complete and perfect God, the Holy Spirit is known as the Seven Spirits (Revelation 1:4; 3:1).

John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, - Revelation 1:4
He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says this: I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. - Revelation 3:1

That the Holy Spirit is known as the Seven Spirits of God is rooted in the prophecy of Isaiah 11:2 — “The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.” Contextually, Isaiah 11 is a prophecy of the coming Messiah. Isaiah 11:2 prophecies that the Messiah will be anointed by the Holy Spirit and minister in the power of the Holy Spirit. Isaiah 11:2 provides a seven-fold description of how the Holy Spirit empowers Christ. Hence, in Revelation 5:6, John describes the seven eyes of the Lamb of God as the seven Spirit of God. In other words, the Lamb is completely empowered by the perfect Spirit of God.

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The Attributes of the Holy Spirit: Part 3 - Holiness and Love

4/14/2021

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TBC Glassboro Sermons and More · The Attributes Of The Holy Spirit: Part 3 - Holiness And Love

Holiness defines someone or something as set apart or separate. That God is holy means that He is has no peer and is set apart from all others.

Who is like You among the gods, O Lord? Who is like You, majestic in holiness, Awesome in praises, working wonders? - Exodus 15:11
There is no one holy like the Lord, Indeed, there is no one besides You, Nor is there any rock like our God. - 1 Samuel 2:2

As well, holiness implies absolute moral purity. Hence, God is free from sin.

Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, And You cannot look on wickedness with favor. - Habakkuk 1:13a

The most common designation for the third Person of the Triunity is Holy Spirit.

Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come. - Matthew 12:32

He is also known as the Spirit of Holiness.

who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord, - Romans 1:4

That the Spirit is holy implies that like the Father and the Son, He has no peer and is without sin.

The attribute by which the infinite God is moved to communicate with finite humanity is love. 1 John 4:8 declares that “God is love.” Hence, because the Holy Spirit is coequal with God, He is love. God’s love is not an emotional feeling or response but rather a reasoned-out love. It is sacrificial, springing from a deliberate voluntary choice regardless of what it is given in return. The attribute of love is grounded in the Spirit’s holiness. Because the Holy Spirit is love, He produces love in believers.

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The Attributes of the Holy Spirit: Part 2 - Omnipotence and Omnipresence

4/14/2021

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TBC Glassboro Sermons and More · The Attributes Of The Holy Spirit: Part 2 - Omnipotence And 0mnipresence

Omnipotence means that God is all powerful and can do whatever He wills so long as it conforms to His perfect nature. As the third Person of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit is omnipotent.

The Spirit (rûaḥ) of God has made me, And the breath (rûaḥ) of the Almighty gives me life. - Job 33:4

In Job 33:4, the Hebrew term for Spirit and breath are the same — rûaḥ. The term itself refers to something immaterial and when applied to humanity, depicts the consciousness of man. That God is a spirit or rûaḥ means that He is immaterial, that is He lacks flesh and bone. Nonetheless, He is very much real and alive. As well, the Spirit is omnipotent or all-powerful and He created humanity and gave life to humanity. Because the Holy Spirit is omnipotent, He is known as the Spirit of Strength.

The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. - Isaiah 11:2

That the Holy Spirit is God means that He possesses omnipresence. Omnipresence means that God is all-present or present everywhere at once. Because the Spirit is eternal, He is not bound by time. Because He is the Creator, the Spirit is not by bound space. Therefore, He can be present to the entirety of creation and its various parts. Because the Holy Spirit is omnipresent, there is nowhere that one can go to escape His presence.

Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me. - Psalm 139:7-10

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The Attributes of the Holy Spirit: Part 1 - Eternal and Omniscient

4/10/2021

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TBC Glassboro Sermons and More · The Attributes of the Holy Spirit: Part 1 - Eternal and Omniscient

Because the Holy Spirit is a member of the Godhead, He shares the same attributes as the other members. A. H. Strong states that God’s attributes are “those distinguishing characteristics of the divine nature which are inseparable from the idea of God and which constitute the basis and ground for his various manifestations to his creatures.” (1)

The Holy Spirit is Eternal (Hebrews 9:14).

how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? - Hebrews 9:14

Eternality means that the Holy Spirit is not beholden to temporal limitation. Charles Hodge stated, “With Him there is no distinction between the present, past, and future; but all things are equally and always present to Him.” (2) Everything created exists within time. Whatever exists within time changes. Since the Holy Spirit is not limited by time, He cannot change — He remains the same eternally.

The Holy Spirit has omniscience (1 Corinthians 2:10-11).

For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. - 1 Corinthians 2:10-11

Omniscience refers to His ability to know all things actual, possible, past, present, and future in one moment. The Holy Spirit knows all things possible, including every variable. Thus, He is referred to as the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding and the Spirit of Counsel and the Spirit of Knowledge (Isaiah 11:2).

The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. - Isaiah 11:2

ENDNOTES:

Augustus Hopkins Strong, Systematic Theology (Philadelphia: American Baptist Publication Society, 1907), 244.
Paul P. Enns, The Moody Handbook of Theology (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1989), 193.

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Spiritual Gifts and the Holy Spirit: Part 5 - Serving Gifts, Service

The Attributes of the Holy Spirit: Part 4 - Truth

The Attributes of the Holy Spirit: Part 3 - Holiness and Love

The Attributes of the Holy Spirit: Part 2 - Omnipotence and Omnipresence

The Attributes of the Holy Spirit: Part 1 - Eternal and Omniscient

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