What does the Holy Spirit do?
The Spirit of God is not a vague influence but a divine Person sent into the world after Christ was rejected and glorified, and Scripture describes His activity in two directions at once — toward the world outside, and toward those who believe. What follows traces that work from the first stirring of conscience to the forming of the church.
Demonstration to the World
The Spirit's first work is not comfort but exposure, and it falls on the world in three parts.
Samuel RidoutThe Lord, in describing the Spirit's work, dwells on His testimony to the world and His work in the saints. His testimony in the world is convicting, in a threefold way. He does not merely bear witness of ordinary sin, He intensifies that sin. The crowning sin of all is unbelief. The Spirit convicts the world of this; also of righteousness — that is, the One whom the world is condemning as a criminal, the Spirit declares has been received by the Father.
Commentators note that the word behind "convict" is hard to render, and one writer warns against a common misreading of the second item:
Arno Clemens GaebeleinThis does not mean that He brings righteousness to the world, or makes the world righteous, as so many wrongly believe. Our Lord adds: "concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer." The Holy One was rejected by the world, cast out as an unrighteous one. But He, who owned and satisfied God's righteousness in dying as the substitute of sinners, is now exalted to the right hand of God; there He is the witness of righteousness.
New Life and Then Indwelling
The Spirit works in a soul before He takes up residence in it, and these two things should not be confused.
C. H. MackintoshBut we must distinguish between His work and His indwelling — His quickening and His sealing. The very first dawn of conviction in the soul is the fruit of the Spirit's work. It is His blessed operation that leads to all true repentance, and this is not joyful work; it is very good, very necessary, absolutely essential; but it is not joy — no, it is deep sorrow. But when, through grace, we are enabled to believe in a risen and glorified Saviour, then the Holy Spirit comes and makes His home in us, as the seal of our acceptance and the pledge of our inheritance.
Assurance, Sonship and Worship
Once He indwells, the Spirit settles the question of where the believer stands with God, and He is the source of everything that goes back to God in praise.
Raymond K. CampbellIt is the Holy Spirit who gives the believer the full assurance of the efficacy of the work of Christ on our behalf and of our acceptance before God in Him. By the Spirit the love of God is poured into our hearts, and by that same Spirit we are able to call God our Father, to draw near to His presence as His redeemed children, and to worship the Father without fear or trembling. The Holy Spirit is the originator in us of all the thoughts, affections, and feelings of love and praise which rise in our hearts in response to the love of the Father and the Son.
Teaching That Points to Christ
He also instructs — and His teaching has a direction to it. He never draws attention to Himself.
Samuel RidoutFor saints, there is a blessed contrast. For them, the Spirit delights to reveal Christ. The One rejected by the world has been believed in by His people. Therefore the Spirit will guide these into all truth. He will take the things of Christ and show them to us. He will glorify Him and show us things to come. So His blessed ministry in the saints of God is sanctifying, and glorifies Christ. We may be sure, then, that wherever the Spirit is unhindered He will lead to occupation of heart and mind with the Son of God.
Shaping the Character
His aim inside a believer is not merely knowledge but likeness.
Other AuthorsWhat is the work which the Holy Spirit seeks to do in the souls of believers?… He labours to form Christ in us. That is, He works to displace the old motives, desires and inclinations and to make Christ the centre of our affections and aims, so that He may be reproduced in our lives and seen in our actions.
Forming and Guiding the Church
His work is corporate as well as personal.
Andrew MillerThe Holy Spirit first forms the church, and then dwells in it. "For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body — Jews or Greeks, slaves or free — and all were made to drink of one Spirit." He sets the different members in their several places. "God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as He chose." Having formed the body in this way, and set the different members in their places, He ministers to it out of the fulness and glory of Christ, and guides all its movements.
Help in Prayer — and How He Is Hindered
Daily dependence, and the possibility of resisting Him, belong together.
Raymond K. CampbellHe would teach us to pray too — "praying at all times in the Spirit"; "praying in the Holy Spirit". So we must be walking in the Spirit if we want our new nature to be fed and developed. If a believer disobeys the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, the Holy Spirit is grieved and quenched, and He is not free to promote the desires of the new nature. He can only convict such a person of sin and lead him to self-judgment and confession.
Summary
- Convicts — toward the world His work is exposure: sin proved by unbelief, righteousness proved by Christ received above, judgment proved by the sentence on its prince.
- Quickens, then seals — first the sorrow of conviction and new life, then indwelling as the seal of acceptance and pledge of the inheritance.
- Assures — He gives certainty about Christ's work, puts the cry "Father" in the heart, and is Himself the source of all worship offered back to God.
- Reveals — He never advertises Himself; He guides into all truth by occupying heart and mind with the Son, and forms Christ in the character.
- Gathers — He formed the church, placed each member, ministers Christ's fulness to it, and He is grieved and quenched wherever He is disobeyed.