The Work Of The Holy Spirit In The New Testament Part 2

After baptising new believers into the church, the next step in the work of the Holy Spirit is to impart new life to them. This is what Jesus calls being born again, and being born of water and of the Spirit (CP Jn 3:3-8). Being born again expresses the change wrought in the life of a sinner after being converted to Christ. This is when sinners become saints. Being born again is a process. It is not limited to the initial act when repentant sinners are first converted to Christ, but is a continuous work of the Holy Spirit renewing and transforming their lives throughout the entire course of their Christian walk. In Jn 3:8 Jesus illustrates the activity and effect of the Holy Spirit in the lives of those who have been born again. Just as the wind is invisible but its activity and effect can be witnessed, so too it is with the Holy Spirit. He is also invisible, but the proof of His work is apparent. There is undeniable and unmistakable evidence of the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of born again believers (CP Ac 1:1-8; 4:33; 1Cor 2:1-5). Jn 3:3-8 teaches the doctrine of regeneration, or the new birth. This is one of the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith (CP Ro 12:2). The new birth is the only way into the Kingdom of Heaven. The water referred to in Jn 3:5 is the word of God - the gospel - which is the water of life. Jesus uses water figuratively in the context of being saved by the word. Being born of water and of the Spirit means being saved by the word of God and being renewed by the Holy Spirit (CP Psa 119:9; Jn 4:5-14; 15:3; Eph 5:25-26; Jas 1:18; 1Pe 1:23; Rev 21:5-6; 22:17 with Eze 36:25-28; Jn 7:37-39; Tit 3:5).
During the process of regeneration, believers must never take the Holy Spirit for granted. While the Holy Spirit alone can regenerate, He never regenerates alone. Their repentance must be sincere, and believers must be completely surrendered to Christ and the authority of God's word for the work of the Holy Spirit to be effective in their lives. Their old sinful nature must yield to the new nature of God imparted to them for the Holy Spirit to complete His work of re-creation in them (CP 2Cor 5:17; Ga 6:15).
Contemporaneous with convicting sinners of their need for salvation, baptising them into Christ and into His body, the church, the work of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament church also encompasses teaching the church, testifying of Christ, guiding believers in all truths, glorifying Christ, imparting God's love to believers, empowering them to overcome sin, bearing witness to their adoption as sons of God, making known the things God has prepared for them, distributing gifts to the church, enduing believers with power to be Christ's witness in the world, helping them to pray, interceding for them with the Father, inviting all who are willing, to be saved. These works are not conclusive but will suffice for the purpose of this study. Also, they are not in any official order but are listed like this simply to show the extent of the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament church (CP Jn 14:26).
This work of the Holy Spirit is to enable believers to understand clearly and to recall the teachings of Christ in scripture (CP 1Jn 2:20). Unction here (KJV), is the anointing of the Holy Spirit upon believers which enables them to distinguish between good and bad teaching in the church (CP V 27). This does not mean that human teachers are not needed in the church, but that believers, under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, already known the truth and have no need of any instruction from false teachers who try to seduce them from the truth (CP V 20-27) the Holy Spirit testifies of Christ. He bears witness to believers, then through them, to the world. He glorifies Christ in the outworking in believers of all the Spiritual gifts and graces He distributes to the church (CP Ro 12:5-18; 1Cor 12:4-11, 28; Eph 4:7-16). The Holy Spirit testifies of Christ in everything He has done and is doing in believers. It is only in and through the Holy Spirit that Christ is made known (CP Jn 14:26; 15:26; 16:12-15: 1Cor 12:3; 1Jn 5:5-6).
The Holy Spirit will also raise up dead believers (CP Ro 8:11). Quicken here (KJV), means give life to. The Holy Spirit will raise up dead believers to life at the first resurrection, when Christ comes again to take all the saints of God back to heaven with Him (CP Jn 5:25, 28-29; 14:1-3; 1Cor 15:51-58; 1Th 4:13-18; Rev 20:4-6). The presence of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament church is God's assurance to believers of their future resurrection and eternal inheritance in Christ (CP Ro 8:23; 1Cor 6:14; 2Cor 1:21-22; 4:13-14; 5:1-5; Eph 1:3-14; 4:30; 1Th 4:14). The word earnest in 2Cor 1:22, 5:5 and Eph 1:14 (KJV), is used figuratively of the Holy Spirit which God has given to believers in this present life to assure them of their final redemption. Further proof of this is the love God has for believers which the Holy Spirit has poured out into their hearts (CP Jn 5:1-11). Eph 1:3-14 teaches that through their union with Christ, believers have already been made beneficiaries of every spiritual blessing from heaven in accordance with God's redemptive plan in Christ. Whether redemption, forgiveness, bodily healing, gifts of the Spirit, the assurance of immortality, the promise of the resurrection, the inheritance of the Kingdom of Heaven, the privileges of adoption, etc. The Holy Spirit is the source of them all.
The Holy Spirit bears witness to believers' adoption as sons of God when they receive Christ as their Saviour (CP Jn 1:12; Ga 3:26 with Ro 8:14-16; Ga 4:4-7). The Holy Spirit leads believers in the way of righteousness. He empowers them to follow after righteousness and not fulfil the lusts of the flesh (CP Ro 6:6-7; Ga 2:20-21; 5:24-25). The Holy Spirit works in the hearts of those who diligently study God's word, and through anointed preachers and teachers God has set in the church (CP 2Ti 3:16-17 with Eph 4:11-16). The Holy Spirit sanctifies believers for their salvation (CP 2Th 2:13). Sanctification in this context defines the work of the Holy Spirit in believers, separating them from sin to serve God; enabling them to live holy lives unto salvation (CP Ro 6:17-18, 22; 1Cor 1:30; 6:9-11; Col 3:5-7; Tit 3:3-7). The Holy Spirit produces Christlike graces in believers that glorifies Christ and ensures their salvation (CP Ga 5:22-25). The Holy Spirit transforms believers into Christ's image. His is a ministry of constant transformation, progressively moulding and refining believers as the reflection of God's standard they behold in Christ (CP 2Cor 3:18 with Ro 8:29; 2Cor 4:6). This is part of the process of believers' sanctification.
Another work of the Holy Spirit attributed to Him in scripture is generally misconstrued by most Christians (CP 1Cor 2:9-10). The things that God has prepared for them that love Him in V 9 is generally construed by contemporary Christians as referring to the wonders of heaven awaiting believers in eternity. But a careful study of the context in which the words in V 9 were spoken, clearly shows that is not correct (CP V 1-10). When kept in context it is plainly evident that what Paul said in V 9 does not refer to the wonders of heaven awaiting believers in eternity, but rather to the knowledge of God's purpose for fallen man, which the Holy Spirit imparts to believers in this life, which is what V 10 clearly teaches. The Wisdom of God in a mystery in V 7 is the gospel - God's plan of Redemption for fallen man through the propitiatory death of His Son, Jesus Christ (CP Ro 16:25-26). It was God's plan of redemption for fallen man through the propitiatory death of Jesus Christ, His Son, that Paul was referring to in 1Cor 2:9 which was revealed by the Holy Spirit in V 10. It was not the wonders of heaven awaiting believers in eternity, as so many think (CP 1Cor 2:11-16 with Psa 31:19-24 and Ro 11:33-36). Had the religious leaders of Israel been open to receiving the knowledge of God, they would never have crucified Jesus (CP 1Cor 2:8).