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The Holy Spirit reveals the truth of the Gospel

glen001-sm By Glen R. Jackman

     In John 6:63, 68 Jesus notes that “the Spirit gives Life” (v63), and that the Words that He speaks “are full of the Spirit and life” (v 68). The entire ministry of the Holy Spirit is predicated upon the occurrences of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection.The pivotal role of the Spirit as the empowerment and enabler of the mission to teach the Gospel is paramount after Jesus’ ascension and return to the Father.

I will here note what I see as relevant distinctions, similarities, finally merging into the explication of the purpose statement of John.

1) The Spirit as Empowerment of Mission.
The name “the Spirit of truth” (John 14:17; 15:26-27; 16:13-15) which I list also ties to the Holy Spirit in the same chapters noted as “the Holy Spirit” (14:26); and the paraklētos or “helping presence” (cf. 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7). This mission is empowered within the hearts of separated/sanctified men and works personally inside to empower them as speaking-out teachers in mission.

  • The Spirit is gifted to disciples as “another Helper” from the Father: “the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.” (14:17)
  • The Spirit is clearly given to enable testimony in mission: “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me, and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning. (15:26-27)
  • The Spirit unites commissioned saints as co-labourers in the vineyard: Jesus notes that the Spirit takes “of Mine” indicating bringing the ministering saint into a co-labouring union with Christ as He teaches of Him: “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. “He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. “All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you. (16:13-15)

2) The Holy Spirit convicts of experiential mutual joy as residents of the New Covenant Community.

In 1 John we find instances of the mention of the Spirit of God which I here list in context to ascertain the use in (3:23-24; 4:11-14; 5:5-10) as primarily as gifting the interplay of the affection of mutual love within the church community(i.e. the Temple of the Holy Spirit with Christ as the Head). This empowering effect of virtue acts as a witness to and among others, and thus is similar to point #1 but it is dissimilar as it is manifested and witnessed by the unconverted primarily outwardly as a response to the converted church’s inward affectionate joyful obedience to Christ’s royal commandment:

  • Believing in Christ occurs as the Spirit leads within the hearts of men: “This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us. The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.” (3:23-24)
  • Believers testify of their “abiding in the Vine” by their mutual love (cf. John 15): The parable of abiding in the vine in the same farewell period, adds nuance to the New Covenant wine shared at Passover: “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. (4:11-14)
  • The Spirit of God testifies within, that we are children of God (cf. Romans 8:16): “Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? … It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth…If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater; for the testimony of God is this, that He has testified concerning His Son. The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself…” (5:5-10)

3) The Spirit unpacks the Purpose Statement of John in his Gospel.
John 17 goes beyond the Spirit giving eternal life both to His disciples and others who will believe their testimony of His Word, and that they all would be separated out of the world, in context with the above Gospel verses which indicate this is achieved ONLY via the Spirit-Teacher. They are to expound the purpose statement of John to the world from His Church unified as absolutely one in mind, enable by the Holy Spirit.

  • How is this achieved? This is only achieved by the inward gifting of the Holy Spirit for mission and the inward obedience of uniting in Christ in His Church Temple, now explicated in Christ’s High Priestly Prayer to His Father in vss 3, 7-8, 17-21:  “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent…Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You; for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me…Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.”
  • How does the Holy Spirit engage our minds? Clearly the Spirit of Truth is the activator of all understanding in the minds of men of the Word, and the ancient scriptures prophesying of the Christ, making them mindful of who Christ is, as the Word is magnified in Gospel preaching to the whole world prior to His Second Advent. This is evident in vss. 20-21: “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.”
  • United Gospel workers are collaborators in Christ’s glory. The whole purpose Christ indicated as He prayed to the Father, was sharing the glory of the Father with His disciples as they abide in Him born again via the Spirit. And in context this would include all subsequent believers, as per vss 22-23: “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.”