02.10. THE HOLY SPIRIT - 04 - The Spirit's Work in Conversion
THE HOLY SPIRIT – 04 – The Spirit’s Work in Conversion Reading. John 16:7-15.
Golden Text. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of Truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.--John 14:16-17.
Daily Readings. John 7:37-40; Romans 2:9-16; Acts 8:26-39; Ezekiel 36:25-30; Galatians 5:16-26; 1 Corinthians 2:6-16; 2 Corinthians 3:6-18.
IN this second study on the Holy Spirit, we have to consider the abiding and continuous work of the Spirit of God in the conversion of sinners and the sanctification of Christians. There could scarcely be a more important theme. The Spirit’s Work in Conversion.
Conversion is essential to discipleship, pardon, entrance into the kingdom, life eternal. Men must turn from sin to serve the living God. Jesus told his disciples, "Except ye turn and become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 18:3). The greatness of the change is such that Jesus referred to it as a birth from above (John 3:3; John 3:5), and Paul to it as a "new creation" (2 Corinthians 5:17, R.V. Margin). Men, before "dead" through trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1), are "quickened" or made alive (Ephesians 2:1; Ephesians 2:5). This turning to God may be looked at from two points of view.
(a) The man must turn, it is his act. The common version in Matthew 18:3 and Acts 3:19, in using the passive voice, "be converted," obscures man’s activity. The Revised Version rightly has "turn," showing the human action. We can gather from the very responsibility of man that he is capable of obeying God’s voice. God would not condemn a sinner for not turning if it were not in man’s power to turn.
(b) We may also look at the work of conversion from another view. We may consider what God, or the Spirit of God, does in bringing a sinner to himself. The common consent of Christendom is that the Spirit’s agency is imperatively necessary. Those dead through trespasses are made alive by God (Ephesians 2:1-5). "No man," said Jesus, "can come to me, except the Father that sent me draw him" (John 6:44). Peter said, "Unto you first God, having raised up his Servant, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities" (Acts 3:26). Jesus said of the Holy Spirit, "He, when he is come, will convict the world in respect of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin because they believe not on me; of righteousness, because I go to the Father, and ye behold me no more, of judgment, because the prince of this world hath been judged" (John 16:8-11). We may use the words of Alexander Campbell, and say that we "could not esteem as of any value the religion of any man, as respects the grand affair of eternal life, whose religion is not begun, carried on, and completed by the personal agency of the Holy Spirit." This is quite in harmony with the Word of Chad. Man owes his salvation to God.
The fact that the Holy Spirit has a most important and essential work to do in the conversion of the sinner is clearly seen from the foregoing passages. We shall have to give some attention to the question, How is this work done? At the outset two passages must be noted, which will serve to clear out of the way some theories widely held. Our Lord Jesus, who said he would send the Spirit to his apostles, used these words: "The Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive" (John 14:17). The Apostle Paul, in harmony therewith, said: "Because ye are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying Abba Father" (Galatians 4:6). No statement which is out of harmony with these texts can be accepted as a satisfactory account of the Spirit’s operation in conversion. All the views of conversion which presuppose the need of the Spirit’s entrance into the heart of the sinner before his conversion are negatived. The best commentary on Jesus’ words concerning the Spirit’s convincing power (John 16:8-11) will be found in the accounts of conversion recorded in the New Testament. Since the Spirit inspired the narrator, we have His own account of His work. The very first gospel sermon (Acts 2:1-47) will serve for illustration. The Holy Spirit here furnished the preacher with his message. The apostles spoke as the Spirit gave them utterance (Acts 2:4). Peter in the course of his address refers to the Spirit’s help (Acts 2:17-18; Acts 2:33). The result of the sermon was the conviction of many of sin; three thousand obeyed the gospel. Who convicted these men? Unquestionably of God, for He gave Peter utterance. In Acts 8:1-40 we have the story of the eunuch’s conversion. The Spirit comes and works for that man’s salvation. But He does not enter the seeker’s heart. He goes to the preacher (Acts 8:29). The work of the Spirit here is to bring preacher and seeker together, so that the word may be preached. The Spirit does not directly tell the man he is saved, or even what to do to be saved. Jesus had committed the word of reconciliation to His disciples, and the Holy Spirit does not take that work out of the disciples’ hands. In similar fashion the Lord Jesus, when, he personally appeared to Saul, did not tell him what to do to be saved, but left that work to a qualified disciple (Acts 9:10-17). We may learn from these Scriptures that the Holy Spirit did not so work as to dispense with the word of the gospel. These examples are quite in accord with Jesus’ word to His apostles that they should be His witnesses (Acts 1:8), that the Holy Spirit should bear witness, (John 15:26), and speak of what things He had heard (John 16:13). They are also in accord with the parallelisms which might be cited, in which what is said to be done by the Spirit is said also to be done by the instrumentality of the Word. Jesus e.g., said a man must be born of the Spirit (John 3:5). Peter says we are "begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible through the word of God" (1 Peter 1:23). Paul says, "I begat you through the gospel" (1 Corinthians 4:15). Jesus, after saying that none can come to Him unless the Father draw him, shows the means of drawing used by the Father: "It is written in the prophets, And they shall all be taught of God. Every one that hath heard from the Father, and hath learned cometh unto me" (John 6:45). The apostolic preachers spoke the word of the Spirit (see 1 Peter 1:12; 1 Thessalonians 1:5; 1 Corinthians 2:4, etc.); What work was done by that spoken word was therefore the work of the Spirit. Men were led to faith through hearing the word of God (Romans 10:17). We read of no conversions, either in apostolic days or in modern times, where the spoken or written word has not gone. True, the taking of the gospel to the heathen was opposed by tome who said that if God wanted to save the heathen, He would do it without our agency. But we have learned that it is the entrance of God’s word which giveth light (Psalms 119:130). Even those who now plead for the direct and immediate operation of the Spirit on the hearts of men send for able preachers in order to a big revival. We may learn that "to convert men by the accompanying influence of the Holy Spirit, we must do what Paul commanded Timothy, ’Preach the word, be instant in season and out of season.’" We remember that "the word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12). The foregoing treatment is far from implying that the Word alone converts the sinner. We do not seek to separate speculatively Spirit and Word in their action. We rather believe that "it is the Spirit that quickens, and that the Word of God--the living Word--is that incorruptible seed which, when planted in the heart, vegetates, and germinates, and grows, and fructifies into life eternal"; and that it is unscriptural "to discriminate between spiritual agency and instrumentality--between the Word, per se, and the Spirit, per se, severally does, IS though they were two independent and wholly distinct powers or influences Let it also be distinctly understood that we have not said or implied that the Holy Spirit cannot act otherwise than as indicated. That would be a foolish thing to say. We have only sought to note from the Word of God what the Spirit has revealed as to His work. We have no desire and no warrant for discussing what He may or can do, save in so far as He has revealed it. Nor does the present article say anything against special providences or leadings of God. We have not been discussing these, but trying to see from the Bible what the Spirit says that He does in ma-e’s conversion.