THE REGENERATION, ANOINTING, LEADING, FILLING, AND THE WITNESSING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

For the Christian, the Holy Spirit generally works in conjunction with the Word of the Spirit – the Scriptures. This should not surprise us, because all spiritual blessings are given to us through our knowledge of God:

·       May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. (2 Peter 1:2-4 (ESV)

Of course, these blessings cannot be received through the knowledge of God alone without the anointing of the Spirit, which is present with those who are born of God. This is because the one without the Spirit rejects the knowledge of God:

·       The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things…(1 Corinthians 2:14-15)

In contrast, the one who has the Spirit has discernment. As Jesus taught, he can recognize and appreciate the things of the Spirit:

·       “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.” (John 10:27-28)

The Spirit also opens our minds to understand the Word, as Jesus had done for His fearful disciples (Luke 24:45). It is the anointing of the Spirit that enables us to understand the Scriptures (1 John 2:20, 27). Without this anointing, the Scriptures are folly. Several had departed from the church. John reassured the brethren that it is was because they never had the anointing, the Holy Spirit:

·       They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. (1 John 2:19-20)

The group that left never had the Spirit, since they never believed to be saved. Those who remained did have the Spirit.

John certainly was not telling them that the anointing was enough, and that they no longer needed the Scriptures. Instead, the anointing functioned in conjunction with the Scriptures. Therefore, John insisted that those who did have the anointing would embrace the Word of the Lord coming from the Apostles:

·       They are from the world; therefore, they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. We [Apostles] are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error. (1 John 4:5-6)

Those who do not have the Spirit listen to the world, and the world listens to them. Once regenerated (Titus 3:5), Scripture begins to speak to us. Nikodemus had failed to understand that we need to be born again by the Spirit (John 3:3-8) to respond to the Words of the Spirit. Both Word and Spirit are necessary:

·       since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever” [Isaiah 40:8]. And this word is the good news that was preached to you. (1 Peter 1:23-25)

Nikodemus should have been aware of the need to be born of God. The Hebrew Scriptures mention “born again” in different ways – as “circumcising the heart” or by receiving a “new heart” (Deuteronomy 30:6; Jeremiah 32:39-40):

·       And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. (Ezekiel 36:26-27; 11:19-20)

Until this renewal takes place, the Israelites had been unresponsive to the Scriptures. Paul had explained this unresponsiveness as a veil that covered their heart, preventing the Word entrance:

·       But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:14-18)

The Spirit removes the veil through the process of regeneration enabling us to behold the Lord through His Word and to be transformed. Consequently, we can now appreciate the transforming Word:

·       And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:3-6)

However, we had not been innocent victims of Satan but willing accomplices. This is why we rejected the Word (Ephesians 4:17-19; 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12).

It is the Spirit, working through the Word, who gives us the freedom from the darkness of Satan, a freedom to perceive the depths and glory of the Word in our Savior Jesus. No wonder we are to meditate on the Word day and night (Psalm 1:1-3; Joshua 1:7-8)

The Holy Spirit is the Author of all the Scriptures. No wonder He would use them:

·       Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit Of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. (1 Peter 1:10-12)

• For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:21)

The Scriptures had been authored by the Holy Spirit, even though through the hand of man. Knowing this, Paul had written:

·       All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

Paul had penned these Words but insisted that these Words had been revealed to the Apostles by the Spirit for those who had the Spirit:

·       these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we [Apostles] impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. (1 Corinthians 2:10-13)

The Holy Spirit bears witness to this fact through the Scriptures themselves:

• And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying,  “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds.” (Hebrews 10:15-16; 9:8; Jer. 31:33)

We worry too much about whether we are able to detect the “witness” or the “leading of the Spirit.” However, many verses, as the above verses indicate, attest that the Spirit leads us by the Scriptures, which He has authored. However, be warned that the Spirit accomplishes this as we study the Scriptures and meditate upon them (2 Timothy 2:15; Psalm 1:2) and make use of the resources He has provided (Ephesians 4:11-14).

There are many more indications that the Spirit gives witness through the Scriptures. Peter affirmed this in the Upper Room:

• "Brethren, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.” (Acts 1:16)

Jesus indicated that David was “in the Spirit” when he wrote Psalm 110, meaning that he was being led by the Spirit to write what he did:

• He said to them, "Then how does David in the Spirit call Him 'Lord,' saying, 'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand, Until I put Your enemies beneath Your feet?’"  (Matthew 22:43-44)

“In the Spirit” does not mean that David had been speaking in an unknown tongue as he penned Psalm 110 but had been led by the Spirit. The Hebrew Scriptures also recognized that the Spirit had “testified” through the Prophets of Israel:

• “Yet for many years You had patience with them [Israel], and testified against them by your Spirit in your prophets. Yet they would not listen; Therefore, You gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands.” (Nehemiah 9:30)

Likewise, John asserted that what he had written was the testimony of the Spirit:

• “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.” (Revelation 2:17)

The Spirit had been the author! Paul proclaimed to the rabbis who visited him while under house arrest in Rome that the Spirit had testified against them through the words of Isaiah:

• So when they did not agree among themselves, they departed after Paul had said one word: "The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet [Isaiah 6:9-10] to our fathers, saying,…’Hearing you will hear, and shall not understand; and seeing you will see, and not perceive’”… (Acts 28:25-26)

The Spirit works in conjunction with the Word, as Paul had assured Timothy:

·       Think over what I say, for the Lord [the Spirit] will give you understanding in everything. (2 Timothy 2:7)

The above should make clear that the Word is the tool of the Spirit to accomplish His purposes:

• And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.  (Ephesians 6:17)

Now let’s try to apply this to understand other workings of the Spirit.

The filling of the Holy Spirit:

·       And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit. (Ephesians 5:18)

We had already been filled with the Spirit when we believed (Matthew 3:11; John 1:33; Acts 11:16; 1 Corinthians 12:13). Must we be filled with more of the Spirit? Either we have the Spirit, or we don’t. It is like being pregnant – either we are, or we aren’t.  What then could this mean? I think that this is a matter of being filled with the influence of the Spirit (Luke 1:15). In what sense? It seems that to be filled with the influence of the Spirit is to be filled with the Word of the Spirit. Where is the evidence? This passage from Ephesians is parallel with one in Colossians where being “filled with the Spirit” parallels “Let the word of Christ dwell richly in you” (Colossians 3:16):

Ephes. 5:18-22	Col. 3:16-18
Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.	Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly (as you teach and
19Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord,	admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you) sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.
20always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (21Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.)	17And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
22Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.	18Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.

Every following verse found in Ephesians matches those of Colossians. It is therefore reasonable that Ephesians 5:18 also matches Colossians 3:16, and that this filling matches being filled with the Words of the Spirit.

I admit that I have left a lot out of this presentation, which has been devoted to demonstrating that the Spirit works through His Word. However, He affects our live in many other ways. He can guide our steps without our being aware of it:

·       A man's steps are directed by the LORD. How then can anyone understand his own way? (Proverbs 20:24)

·       The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases. (Proverbs 21:1)

We are even His workmanship:

·       For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10)

However, it seems that the Spirit accomplishes much of this through His Word. Since this is so, the believer must be occupied with His transforming Word:

·       Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2)