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Ron Writes

Too often we treat the Holy Spirit like the red-headed stepchild. He is neglected. He is often treated like some mysterious “it.” By the way, the Holy Spirit is not an it, but a “He.” He is God! He didn’t suddenly appear on the Day of Pentecost, He was there in the second verse of the Bible. He has been from all eternity.

As we have been recently traveling through Romans 8 on Sunday mornings, there is seen Trinitarian activity. The “law of the Spirit of Life” has set us free (vs. 2), but that law is “in Christ Jesus” (vs. 2) and is a result of what “God did” (vs. 3). God in three movements.

We are to have our “mind set,” our world view, focused on the Spirit and not on the flesh. Paul explains in vs. 9, “you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit” that is we have the Holy Spirit within us. Then he calls Him, “the Spirit of God” and then he adds, “But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. There again, let’s not overlook this, there is God in three movements. So closely are they related, that He is called merely “the Spirit,” but also the “Spirit of God” and the “Spirit of Christ.”

Again in vs. 10, He speaks of “the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead.” And then he says “He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” You can see the trinitarian activity. Who raised Jesus from the dead? God raised [Jesus] from the dead (Acts 2:24). God the Father raised Him from the dead (Gal 1:1). The Holy Spirit raised Him (Rom. 1:4; 8:11). Jesus raised Himself (Jn. 2:19, 10:18). How could Jesus raise Himself? He is “the resurrection and the life” (Jn. 11:25).

The Spirit helps our weakness (vs. 26), the Father “causes all things to work together for good” (vs. 28) and we are to “become conformed to the image of His Son (vs. 29). God in three movements. 

We know the character of the Father by what He does. We learn the character of Jesus by what He does. And in the same way, we understand the character of the Holy Spirit by what He does. The Holy Spirit resurrects the dead (vs. 11). He gives us the power over sin, to put to death the deeds of the body (vs. 13). He leads us (vs. 14). He testifies that we are children of God (vs. 16). The Spirit gives us hope of the resurrection, our adoption as sons, and the redemption of our body (vs. 23). He assists in our prayers (vs. 26). Three characteristics – One God.