by Shane Carrington
Synopsis: The Holy Spirit redeems us by fulfilling His primary mission: to convict the world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8), through the truth that He revealed (John 16:13).
We need Jesus for redemption: His incarnate life, sacrificial death, victorious resurrection, and glorious enthronement. Without Jesus. . . there is no salvation!
We need God the Father for redemption: His gracious plan to rescue us from ourselves by sending His Son (Eph. 1:3-6). Without the Father. . . there is no salvation!
What about the Holy Spirit? Answer this with another question: How much would we know about the saving plan of the Father or the redeeming work of Christ without the revealing work of the Spirit? Absolutely nothing. We would possess 2,000 years of guesswork. If you have ever played the “gossip game,” where you sit in a circle, whisper a prompt into your neighbor’s ear, and repeat the message around the room? At the end, the answer is a distortion—bearing little or no resemblance to the original words. It sounds nothing like the original. Imagine playing this game over a 2,000 year period through various cultures! We would know little about the true gospel that way. Fortunately, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, God insured preservation of the gospel, not distortion. Without the Holy Spirit. . . no salvation!
Before studying the Spirit’s primary role in our redemption, behold a breathtaking panorama of activities in which He was or is involved. He. . .
Prophesied the coming of Jesus (Luke 24:25-27; 1 Pet. 1:10-12)
Was integral in the incarnation of Jesus (Matt. 1:18-20)
Shared fellowship in the ministry of Jesus (Acts 10:38)
Empowered the resurrection of Jesus (Rom. 1:4; 8:11)
Revealed and confirmed the message of Jesus (John 16:7-15; Eph. 3:3-5)
Convicts and converts people to Jesus via the word (1 Thess. 2:13; John 16:7-15)
Transforms the lives of the people of Jesus (Eph. 6:17; Heb. 4:12)
Produces spiritual fruit in the true disciples of Jesus (Gal. 5:22-24)
Shapes the redeemed into the true temple of Jesus (Eph. 2:17-22)
Produces spiritual life in the people of Jesus (Rom. 8)
The breadth of His work in human redemption runs quite the gamut, showing us His true importance. Now contemplate His primary role in redemption.
Revelation and confirmation combine as the Holy Spirit’s primary role in redemption. He revealed the message of salvation (John 16:13; 20:30-31), and He confirmed it through miracles, signs, and wonders worked through first century disciples whom He empowered (Mark 16:15-20; Heb. 2:1-4).
Jesus’s words about the Holy Spirit’s work recorded in John’s Gospel give great insight into the process through which God preserved His word for all time (read John 16:5-15).
The departure of Jesus from living on this earth paved the way for the Holy Spirit’s coming to the apostles (John 16:7). While Jesus instructed disciples during His earthly ministry, He would hand the baton to the Spirit, whose primary job would be “to convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment” (John 16:8). Jesus taught them while on earth, but when He ascended, He sent the Spirit to reveal the rest of God’s instructions (John 16:12-13). By inspiration, the Holy Spirit would guide the apostles “into all the truth” (John 16:13). What God wanted recorded in written fashion would also be inspired by the Spirit (John 20:30-31; cf. Eph. 3:3-5; Jude 3). Since God accomplished that through the Spirit in the first century, we should not tolerate additions to, or subtractions from, this message (Rev. 22;18-19; 2 John 9; Jude 3). God’s written word (Eph. 3:2-5) is powerful and life-changing (Heb. 4:12; John 20:30-31), because it is “the sword of the Spirit” (Eph. 6:17) designed to “convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment” (John 16:8).
Understanding the primary role of the Holy Spirit—a combination of revealing and confirming the word of God—compels us to three important tasks:
By yourself. With others. The written word declares the plan of the Father, the redeeming work of Jesus, and the revelation of the Holy Spirit of all we need to know and do. Let God speak to you through Scripture, transforming your heart and life.
They are lost and need salvation. God no longer addresses men directly; rather, He uses saints to appeal to the lost with the words of salvation. We might wonder why God used disciples to make disciples, but that is His plan (Matt. 28:18-20). Read the book of Acts. How many people did God save directly—on the spot—without a human soul-winner? None. Even Saul of Tarsus was told to go into the city, where He was instructed, “Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name” (Acts 22:16; cf. 2:21, 36-38). Like the pattern God implemented, He used a disciple (Ananias) to make this disciple (Saul/Paul). Teaching the gospel supersedes political viewpoints and personal opinions. May we have the vigor to teach the soul-saving word of the Spirit to those lost and dying all around us. They need Jesus—not our preferences.
Some are reading “signs of the times” like tea leaves, assuming that God is “leading” them apart from the written word’s instructions. Often these “nudgings of the Spirit” are perceived to be leading them to practices contrary to what Scripture teaches. God does not speak to us directly—Mt. Sinai-style. He does not whisper to us in still, small voices. The written word is our bread through which God nourishes us spiritually (Matt. 4:4). Crave it and consume it, and thus follow the Spirit’s true leading, for He revealed it.
Consider a few summary observations: (1) The Holy Spirit is integral to all of the above. Like the Father and the Son, we cannot do without Him; (2) We have no spiritual life without the Spirit—no redemption from our past sins, transformation in our present lives to be more like Jesus, nor eternal glorification after final judgment. Like Jesus said, “It is the Spirit who gives life. . . the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life” (John 6:63); (3) Trying to be “spiritual” without the word revealed by the Holy Spirit is impossible (John 6:63). “It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth” (1 John 5:8c). Claiming to be “spiritual” without being “religious” is deceptive, for discipleship requires participation in the Holy Spirit-revealed word (cf. Jas. 1:21-27).
Along with Father (designer) and Son (savior), the Holy Spirit (revealer) saves us. We need the work of all three (Eph. 1:3-14)! We need God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—for new birth and spiritual growth. Praise God for redeeming us and adopting us as His true, spiritual family (Rom. 8:14-17), the church (Heb. 12:23)!
