James H. Cagle
“Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, . . . thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God” (Acts 5: 3, 4).
The study of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit is called pneumatology.
The Spirit is presented to us throughout Scripture as the third Person of the Godhead. He isn’t any less God than the Father or the Son. He is not third in rank or rated third. He is placed third because He carries out or executes the will of the Godhead. What has been planned by God it’s the Spirit’s function or responsibility to ultimately fulfill. The Spirit performs the works of God, in creation (Gen. 1: 1, 2; Ps. 104: 30; Job 33: 4), regeneration (Jn. 3: 3, 5-8), resurrection (Rom. 8: 110, transformation (Rom. 8: 10), and salvation (I Cor. 6: 11).
The Holy Spirit’s a Person. The Spirit is not an “it.” “We sometimes confuse personality with visibility. Personality is not an attribute of a body; it is the attribute of a spirit. You yourself have never been seen; you are not a body, but a spirit having a body.”
The attributes of personality are possessed by the Spirit. He has intellect (Is. 11: 2, 3; Neh. 9: 20; I Cor. 2: 10.1; 12: 8; I Pet. 1: 11; II Pet. 1: 21), will (I Cor. 12: 11), power (Is. 11: 2; Zech. 4: 6; Rom. 15: 13, 19; Eph. 3: 16), knowledge (I Cor. 2: 10-12), and love (Rom. 15: 30).
The Spirit as a person acts personally. He speaks (Acts 13: 2), testifies (Jn. 15: 26), commands (Acts 16: 6, 7), oversees (Acts 20: 28), guides (Jn. 16: 13), teaches and illuminates (Jn. 14: 26; I Cor. 2: 9-14). As a Person he may be grieved (Eph. 4: 30), vexed (Is. 63: 10), tested (Acts 5: 9), resisted (Acts 7: 51), blasphemed (Mk. 3: 29, 30).
In the New Testament dispensation the Spirit abides in the church (I Cor. 3: 16), builds the church (Eph. 2: 22), calls and appoints officers in the church (Acts 20: 28), directs church work (Acts 13: 2). That does not mean that all church work is of the Spirit, for many times the church operates in the power of the flesh.
The Spirit indwells the believer at the moment of salvation (I Cor. 6: 19), and gives them assurance of their salvation (Rom. 8: 16). The Spirit gives gifts to the believer (Rom. 12; 1 Cor. 12; 1 Peter 4: 10). The Spirit seals the believer (II Cor. 1: 21, 22; Eph. 1: 13; 4: 30). This sealing signifies God’s ownership (II Tim. 2: 19), identification and security (Eph. 1:13, 14). The Spirit is the “earnest” payment or down payment of the believers salvation, of which there’s much more to come (II Cor. 1: 22).
The Christian is to be filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5: 18), and bear the fruit of the Spirit (Gal.5: 22, 23).
Before A Holy God
James H. Cagle
