14-Chapter 7. The Inauguration Of The Kingdom Of God (The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit)
Chapter 7. The Inauguration Of The Kingdom Of God (The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit)
“Become full in spirit” (Ephesians 5:18). With Pentecost a new era begins, the age of the Holy Spirit. The difference from the Old testament period is threefold:
1. The Extent. Under the old covenant the Spirit came only on certain individuals. (Numbers 11:29) under the new covenant He comes on all believers (Acts 2:4; Acts 2:17; Romans 8:9). 17
Footnote 17: The difference is not expressed by the short “on” and “in,” as if under the new covenant the Spirit of God is in believers whereas under the old covenant He came only on them. For not only the Old Testament working of the Spirit is described by on, but also that of the New Testament, indeed the event of Pentecost itself (Acts 2:3; Acts 2:17-18; Acts 10:44; Acts 11:15; Luke 24:49). Conversely, the Old Testament working of the Spirit is not only described by on but also in (1 Peter 1:11).
2. The Duration. Under the old covenant the Spirit in each instance worked only for a time (Numbers 11:25): under the new covenant He dwells in believers (John 14:17; John 14:23; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 2 Corinthians 6:16; 2 Timothy 1:14; James 4:5).
Only on this account can the church universal be described as a “temple” or “house” of God, and this as the whole church (Ephesians 2:21-22; 1 Peter 2:4-5), the local church (1 Corinthians 3:17; 1 Timothy 3:15), and the individual Christian (1 Corinthians 6:19). Even of such believers as were at Corinth it is stated quite generally that “your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who dwells in you (1 Corinthians 6:19). That the Holy Spirit is not merely a power, capacity, or attribute of God, but a conscious Ego with a will, a Divine super-personality follows from this, that He speaks and calls (Acts 13:2), commands, permits (Acts 16:6-7), leads (Romans 8:14), instructs (John 16:13), comforts (John 14:26), intercedes (Romans 8:26), bears witness (Romans 8:16), and can be grieved (Ephesians 4:30)—all expressions which can be used only of a living personal being. Also in the baptismal command (Matthew 28:19), and in the benediction in 2 Corinthians 13:14, He so plainly stands on the same level as the Father and the Son that He, exactly as They, is to be acknowledged as Divine Person (Ego). The third difference is
3. The Content and Purpose of the Spirit’s work. Under the old covenant the Spirit worked only to educate and to capacitate for service: in the new He works in most manifold ways namely, for the awakening of faith— wooing unto salvation, as the Spirit of truth (John 15:26); for effecting the new birth— dispensing life, as the Spirit of sonship (Romans 8:15); for leading in sanctification— educating, as the Spirit of holiness (1 Corinthians 6:19-20; 1 Thessalonians 4:7-8); for stimulating service— equipping, as the Spirit of power (2 Timothy 1:7); for bringing about the glorifying— transfiguring, as the Spirit of glory (1 Per. 4:14). 18
Footnote 18: Thus His activity is: 1. Evangelistic; 2. Organic; 3. Pedagogic; 4. Charismatic (charisma = gift of grace); 5. Eschatological (final history). i. Wooing unto Salvation. The office oft he Spirit is to glorify Christ (John 16:14). As the Witness of the Lord to the world (John 15:26; Revelation 19:10)He is the great evangelist of the Son(Revelation 22:17). He speaks to the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment; of the sin of the world, of the righteousness of Christ, and of the judgment upon Satan (John 16:8-11). The sin of the world He exposes by reference to their unbelief, by which they rejected the Lord, the only true good (John 16:8-9; Acts 2:22-23; Acts 3:13-15; Acts 7:52). The righteousness of Christ He establishes by reference to the ascension to heaven; for by that exaltation He Who had been rejected by sinners as being unrighteous had been acknowledged by God as the holy and righteous One (John 16:10; Acts 2:25, comp. 34,35; 1 Timothy 3:16).
“Good Friday appeared to have adjudged Jesus to be a sinner and His judges to be righteous; but the ascension and Pentecost reversed this sentence; they awarded the righteousness to the condemned one of Golgotha and the sin to His judges.” This is the meaning of the Lord’s words, that the Spirit will convict the world of righteousness “because I go to my Father and ye see me no more” (John 16:10). The judgment upon Satan the Spirit makes clear by reference to the Redeemer’s victory by the cross (John 19:30); for it is by the very cross itself that the prince of this world has been judged (John 12:31; Colossians 2:15); and on that account the world can now be required to do homage to another, its proper Prince.
Thus through the witness of the Spirit the world, which is righteous in its own eyes, is declared sinful; He Who was crucified by the world is proved to be holy and righteous; and Satan, the instigator of the murder of Golgotha, is exposed as the one conquered and judged. This is the threefold witness of the Spirit to the world as the Lord Himself had described it In all this the Spirit associates Himself with the word (1 Corinthians 2:2-4). He puts the words in the mouths of His witnesses (Matthew 10:20; Acts 1:8), and makes the spoken and written word effectual and living (1 Thessalonians 1:5; Hebrews 4:12) unto salvation. ii. Dispensing Life. Those who are won He transforms. To the winning of the soul He adds the renewing of the soul (Titus 3:5). “It is the Spirit that makes alive” (John 6:63; 2 Corinthians 3:6; Galatians 5:25), who sets the captive free (2 Corinthians 3:17; Romans 8:2), and makes slaves to be sons (Romans 8:14; Galatians 4:6). They not only receive something new but become something new, recreated in the very essence of their nature (2 Corinthians 5:17). They are men “in the Spirit” (Romans 8:9), the Spirit of Jesus Christ (Romans 8:9), and are therefore men “in Christ,” united with Him as members. The Old Testament had only an educative activity of the Holy Spirit (Psalms 51:11), a preparing for service. He gave ability to prophesy (1 Samuel 10:6; 1 Peter 1:11; 2 Peter 1:21), to fight (Judges 6:34; Judges 14:19), and for all kinds of handiwork (Exodus 28:3; Exodus 31:3-5). The significance of Pentecost consists in this, that to this pedagogic and charismatic activity of the Holy Spirit there was added the organic, and thenceforward the Holy Spirit works not only as the Spirit of God but especially as the Spirit of the Son. It is in this sense that the Spirit “was not there” before Pentecost (John 7:39), and therefore in the Old Testament was foretold as still to come (Joel 2:28-29; Ezekiel 36:27; Zechariah 12:10). For this reason in Ephesians 1:13 He is spoken of as “the Holy Spirit of promise,” that is, the promised Holy Spirit.
Thus the proper significance of Pentecost is that the Spirit of the Son (Galatians 4:6) sent down from heaven, unites the redeemed with the Redeemer, carries through their incorporation as members (1 Corinthians 12:13), and enables believers to appropriate personally the full fruit of the sacrifice of Christ.
Therefore to the phrase “in Christ” (used by Paul 164 times there corresponds the phrase “in the Spirit” (19 times) and in reference to the same benefits, for example: justification in Christ (Galatians 2:17) and in the Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:11); peace in Christ (Php 4:7) and in the Spirit (Romans 14:17); sanctification in Christ (1 Corinthians 1:2) and in the Spirit (Romans 15:16); sealed in Christ (Ephesians 1:13) and in the Spirit (Ephesians 4:30); indwelling of Christ (Galatians 2:20) and of the Spirit (Romans 8:9).
Thus the relation which first, from the Divine side, was founded upon the incarnation and resurrection of Christ (that is, upon His continuing humanity), now, through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, became also on the human side an experienced reality. “The Lord is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:17; 1 Corinthians 15:45),and he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him (1 Corinthians 6:17). He is a member in His body and therefore a sharer of His work. Thus Pentecost became the beginning of the period of full salvation, and the “day of the opening of the will and testament of Jesus Christ as the last Adam.” But inasmuch as they are all member in Him they are also mutually one body, members of one another (Romans 12:5). Through the birth of the Spirit they have become sons of the one kingdom of God (John 3:3; John 3:5; Matthew 13:38), and “in one Spirit were all baptized into one body” (1 Corinthians 12:13). This means that Pentecost was the birthday of the church and the inaugural day of the kingdom of God in the full New Testament sense. Thenceforth, alongside of the body corporate of the first Adam (1 Corinthians 15:22), there exists the organism of the last Adam; alongside of lost men, the saved; alongside of Israel and the nations the church, the “people” of God, the “new man” (Ephesians 2:15), “the Christ” (1 Corinthians 12:12; 1 Corinthians 1:13), that is, the mystical Christ, the Head of which is the glorified personal Christ. And in the church the Spirit of God works as the Spirit of holiness, iii. Educating. The spirit glorifies the Head to the members, by showing them His glory (John 16:14).
He leads the redeemed in paths of righteousness (Romans 8:14; Galatians 5:25), and effects their sanctification (1 Peter 1:2; 2 Thessalonians 2:13).
He comforts them as an advocate (Gk. parakletos) (John 14:16-18), and gives to them His witness (Romans 8:16).
He convicts them when unfaithful and leads them to repentance (2 Corinthians 2:5-11).
He teaches them the words of Jesus (John 14:26), and guides them into all the truth (John 16:13; 1 John 2:20). iv. Equipping for Service. Then He prepares and uses them as His instruments. He order their gifts and divides them according to His own will (1 Corinthians 12:4-11).
He appoints their service in the church and in its gatherings (Acts 13:4; Acts 16:6-7; Acts 20:28; 1 Corinthians 12:28-30).
He animates their prayers (Jude 1:20; Ephesians 6:18) and grants to these authority (Romans 8:26).
He leads their witness (Matthew 10:20; 1 Peter 1:12). fills it with the power of God (1 Corinthians 2:4; Romans 15:19; 1 Thessalonians 1:5; Acts 4:31; Acts 7:55-57; Acts 13:9), and if they are reproached He rest upon them as the Spirit of glory (1 Peter 4:14). In all this He is the “power from on high” (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:8);
1. as a tree which brings forth its fruit (Galatians 5:22);
2. as oil which anoints and shines Acts 10:38);
3. as fire which blazes (Acts 2:3-4; 2 Timothy 1:6);
4. as water which cleanses (Ezekiel 36:25-26);
5. as the early rain which refreshes (Joel 2:23; Joel 2:28); 19 6. as quiet, soft rustling (Zechariah 4:6; 1 Kings 19:12-13);
7. as a rushing wind, mysterious yet mighty (Acts 2:2; John 3:8).
Footnote 19: From this picture comes the expression “the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.” It is found at Joel 2:28; and forms the contrasted spiritual counterpart to the outward dryness and inward sterility of the people of Israel in Joel’s time (Joel 1:10-12; Joel 1:17-20, comp. 2:23; Acts 2:16-17). v. Transfiguring. As to the future, the Spirit is the guarantee of our deliverance, the “seal” of out salvation (Ephesians 1:13; Ephesians 4:30; 2 Corinthians 1:22), the earnest of our inheritance (Ephesians 1:14; 2 Corinthians 5:5), the interest on the coming glorious estate, the first-fruits of the coming eternal harvest (Romans 8:23). And because our body is a temple of His Spirit God will not leave it a wilderness: “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will make your mortal bodies to live, because his Spirit dwells in you” (Romans 8:11).
Thus the significance of Pentecost reaches on into eternity. Through the Spirit we are sons (Romans 8:14; Galatians 4:6-7), as sons we are heirs (Romans 8:14; Romans 8:17 : Galatians 4:7), and as heirs we are sharers of His coming glory (Romans 8:17).
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