Now, if you remember, in the past several lessons I’ve emphasized the difference between the Old Covenant and its visible rituals and the New Covenant and its invisible realities. In John 3:5-8 Jesus in His conversation with Nicodemus makes that distinction when explaining the necessity of being “born anew” (see verse 2). “Jesus answered, I’m telling you the truth, unless a man is born of water, even the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. What is born of the flesh is flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to the spirit. Don’t be surprised that I’m saying you must be born anew. The wind blows wherever it wants. You can hear it, but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going. That’s how it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
So, the first thing we have to deal with is this necessity of being “born anew”. This might seem overly critical, as most translations have either “again” or “from above” (the Greek is anothen, again or anew, depending on context). Nicodemus was an educated man, a Pharisee, a ruler and teacher (3:1, 10). And what perplexed him was the idea of being born a second time (obvious from verse 4), and the fact that this second birth would produce something new or different – the meaning of being “born anew”.
The next thing we have to understand is the phrase “born of water, even the Spirit”. Instead of “even”, most translations have “and”, which completely changes the apparent meaning (depending on the commentary and agenda, the meaning is said to be either water baptism or physical birth – it is neither). I suggest here that we have the epexigetic use of the conjunction kai and should be translated “even” (the conjunction connects two things that are the same, not two things that are different) to be consistent with Jesus’ teaching. The “born of water” He is talking about is the Holy Spirit (again, clear from His teaching, compare John 4:10, 14 with 7:38-39).
This is the spiritual birth of the New Covenant, when the Holy Spirit breathes life into our dead spiritual nature and we become a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). It’s not a ceremony or ritual to be observed. It is, instead, an invisible reality when the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in the believer (John 14:16, 1 Corinthians 6:19, 2 Timothy 1:14).
There are several different directions we could go at this point, but I’ll try to choose the shortest route. When does this spiritual birth take place? In Galatians 3:1-5 Paul admonishes the “senseless” believers in Galatia by asking them these questions. In verse 2 he asks, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit by observing the works of the law or by believing the message you heard?” Then in verse 3 he asks, “Are you really that foolish? Having begun your new life in the Holy Spirit, are you now reaching perfection through the flesh?” And finally in verse 5, “Does God give you His Spirit and work powerfully among you because you observe the law, or is it because you believed the message?” The answer to these questions is obvious; they received the Holy Spirit when they believed!
The Holy Spirit is the agent of the new (spiritual) birth in John 3 and He begins working in the life of the one who believes the message of Christ in Galatians 3. This is 1 Corinthians 12:13, “For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.” This is the baptism in the Holy Spirit. And, by the way, I should explain the meaning of “drink” here. It is from potizo, to give to drink, used figuratively here to illustrate being blessed by the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. So, let’s begin to examine the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
In Galatians 5 Paul talks about being led by the Holy Spirit in order to control the desires of the flesh (verse 16) and produce the manifestations (fruits) of the Spirit (verses 22 and 23). Then he encourages us to take advantage of the ministry of the Holy Spirit by learning to walk in the Spirit. This is verse 25, "Since our lives (with God) are only made possible through the ministry of the Holy Spirit to us, let’s take full advantage of this fact and learn to walk continually in step with Him."
The practical side of this is found in 1 Corinthians 2:12 (a verse we have previously cited in regards to progressive revelation), “Now we have not received the spirit that belongs to the world, but the Holy Spirit Who is from God, given to us so could understand the things freely bestowed on us by God.” I’ll not repeat it here, but if you review the passage from verse 6 to 16, Paul explains that only the spirit of a man energized by the Holy Spirit can understand the spiritual truths that God has established. And, this is as good a time as any to explain the fact that the process of spiritual maturity is one of progressive revelation by the Holy Spirit. This has already been illustrated in the life of both Peter and Paul in the past several lessons.
Now, before we get into a more specific explanation of the ministry of the Holy Spirit from Paul’s epistles, let’s look at two verses from John’s Gospel where Jesus is explaining to His disciples what the Holy Spirit will do. The first is from John 14:26, "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send to represent all that I Am, will teach you everything you need to know. And He will enable you to remember everything I have told you."
There are two things here. First, the Holy Spirit “will teach you everything you need to know”. That’s revelation, new understanding of something previously not known or understood. Then there’s, “enable you to remember”. The second thing is the Holy Spirit causes us to remember things previously known or understood to help us see things more clearly or understand them more fully in certain situations or times of need. For example, in writing this lesson, the Holy Spirit has caused me to remember scripture verses that are pertinent to the subject.
The other verse from John is 16:13, “But when the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth. Because He will not speak on His own authority, but will tell you what He hears from the Father, and will declare to you the things that are to come.” This is another verse we’ve already looked at regarding progressive revelation. However, I want to look at it again, as it pertains directly to the ministry of the Holy Spirit to every believer.
Again, there are two points. The first is that the Holy Spirit “will guide you into all the truth”. Here, “will guide” is hodegeo, to show the way or guide, used figuratively, to teach. Found here in the future tense, which almost always refers not to one future action, but action that will occur over and over in the future. Then the words “to come” are from erchomai, a word that is used to describe motion from one thing or place to another (or, in this context, from one time to the next). The application is this; the Holy Spirit will guide believers into truth on many occasions, over time, as they are able to understand it.
Again, I don’t want to sound like a broken record, this is progressive revelation – what is illustrated in Acts regarding Peter and Paul’s understanding of water baptism and the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
In the next lesson we will begin to look at what the Holy Spirit teaches and why.