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Holy Spirit Posts

  • March 3, 2011 by Matthew Mason

    Jesus, Water, Spirit

    There’s much more to be said, not least from the Farewell Discourse, but some thoughts on Jesus and the Spirit in John, basically plagiarizing Sinclair Ferguson.

    Jesus is the one to whom the Father gave the Spirit without measure (Jn 3:34), the one on whom the Spirit rests (1:34).

    Therefore, he is the one who, following his glorification, will give the water of the Spirit to all who come to him (Jn 7:37ff; I agree with Ferguson, and Carson, that it makes best sense to read v. 38 Christologically – Jesus is the one from whom the rivers of living water flow.)  This seems to be another way of saying that he is the one whom the Father granted life in himself (5:26) and who can thus give life to all men in creation (1:4) and salvation (passim).

    When God withdraws his Spirit, we die and return to dust (cf. Ps 104:29f).  Thus, when Jesus takes our death upon himself he thirsts (Jn 19:28).  Having completed his work, water then pours from his side to demonstrate that because his work of atonement is finished the life-giving gift of the Spirit is now his to give.

    Therefore, when Jesus appears to his disciples on Resurrection evening, he shows his hands and side, the tokens that demonstrate that the Spirit is his to give, before breathing on them that they may receive the Spirit (Jn 20:19-23).  Just as the Son breathed on Adam’s lifeless body to give him the breath of life (Gen 2:7), so now he breathes on his disciples to bring New Creation by the Spirit.

    In Pauline terms, the first Adam was of the dust, a living being, the last Adam, the man of heaven, in his resurrection has become life-giving Spirit.

    Categories: Christology | General | Holy Spirit

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  • February 21, 2011 by Matthew Mason

    His life is our life

    In the Apostles’ Creed, the order of the articles on Christ and on the Spirit is full of striking parallels.

    He was conceived by the Holy Spirit (The Spirit prepares Christ’s incarnate body) One holy catholic church, the communion of saints (the Spirit prepares Christ’s ecclesial body)
    suffered under Pontius Pilate, crucified, died, buried… the forgiveness of sins
    on the third day he rose again, he ascended into heaven the resurrection of the dead
    he will come again to judge the living and the dead the life everlasting

    The hinge is the confession of faith in the Holy Spirit, because his principal work is to unite us to Christ, incorporating us into his body, such that what is true of Christ is true of us.  Thus, the narrative of our life is shaped by the narrative of his.

    Categories: General | Holy Spirit

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  • February 14, 2011 by Matthew Mason

    Lord of the Spirit

    I’ve been dipping into Sinclair Ferguson’s wonderful book on the Holy Spirit again.  His treatment of the Spirit as the Spirit of Christ is particularly rich.

    Ferguson notes that 2 Cor 3:18 the phrase apo kuriou pneumatos could be translated in one of three ways: (1) ‘from the Spirit of the Lord’; (2) from the Lord who is the Spirit’ (3) ‘from the Lord of the Spirit’.  He argues (as does Herman Bavinck) that the last is the most natural rendering, and is also theologically illuminating: ‘There is no ontological confusion here, but an economic equivalence; nor is there an ontological subordinationism, but rather a complete intimacy of relationship between Jesus and the Spirit’.

    In effect, Paul is teaching that through his life and ministry Jesus came into such complete possession of the Spirit, receiving and experiencing him ‘without limit’ (Jn. 3:34), that he is now ‘Lord’ of the Spirit (2 Cor 3:18).  With respect to his economic ministry to us, the Spirit has been ‘imprinted with the character of Jesus.  This is precisely what it means for Jesus to send him as allos parakletos [another Helper – Jn 14:16] (Ferguson, The Holy Spirit, 55)

    As he’s said earlier,

    From womb to tomb to throne, the Spirit was the constant companion of the Son.  As a result, when he comes to indwell Christians, he comes as the Spirit of Christ in such a way that to possess him is to possess Christ, just as to lack him is to lack Christ. (37)

    Or, again,

    The ministry of the Holy Spirit in this increasing identification with Jesus is in order that, being ‘shaped’ as messianic Spirit by the life and ministry of Jesus, he may come to us thus qualified to shaped us to be ‘like Christ’, from one degree of glory to another (2 Cor 3:17-18).  This is the central function of the Spirit in the life of the Christian believer.  (56).

    Categories: Biblical Theology | Christology | General | Holy Spirit

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