I will ask the Father and he will give you another Comforter (Intercessor, Counselor, Strengthener), the Holy Spirit of Truth, who will be with you—and He will never leave you…You will know him intimately, because he will make his home in you and will live inside you. John 14:16,17

Last time we talked about 4 ways to look at any hard-to-grasp topic in the Bible. 

1.      Academic theology asks What? What can we learn intellectually and how should we interpret that information?
2.      Historical theology asks When? It looks at what has been learned over time and how does it relate to our current understanding?
3.      Spiritual theology asks “So what?” How does this work out in our every-day lives? What does my own (and others’) life-experience teach us?
4.      Practical theology asks the “What now?” Given the truths we’ve discovered, how do we personally apply what we know in a hands-on way? How does this change you and me?

So today I want to look at the first way to look at the Holy Spirit: What information do we have?

The Holy Spirit exists along with God the Father and God the Son eternally to form what we call “the Trinity”. Co-equal with God the Father and God the Son, the Spirit’s roles is to perform specific God-jobs in the life of Christians. The work of the Holy Spirit is seen as an essential part of the bringing of the person to the Christian faith. He convinces the unsaved person of the sinfulness of their actions, and the corrupted state of their being.

Once saved, the Holy Spirit enables Christian life by dwelling in each individual believer and empowering them to live in holiness and faithfulness. The Spirit also acts as comforter who intercedes, or supports in the good times and the bad.

Another role of the Holy Spirit is the inspiration the Bible and interpretation of what it says to the individual Christian. The Holy Spirit also empowers believers to represent Jesus here on earth, displaying love and doing good (Fruit of the Spirit-Gal 5:22,23).

In order to carry out all that Jesus and the Bible call Christians to do, the Holy Spirit gives every Christian one or more specific abilities (Gifts of the Spirit – Lists of these gifts can be found in 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12, and Ephesians 4.These gifts/abilities are given so that every Christian can contribute to building up every other Christian.

Obviously, thousands of books have been written going into far more detail than this medication can. But mostly, they just illuminate what the Bible says. So if you want to know more, read John 14-17. It covers much of what Jesus said regarding the Holy Spirit’s living inside in those who believe in Him, empowering them to do His will, His teaching ,and His work in His physical absence.