Pneumatic

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. – John 14:16-17

When Jesus says ‘another Helper’ – paracletos or paraclete, one called alongside, He is saying ‘another of the same kind I am’.  The Third Person of the Trinity is not different in His divine nature from the Second Person.  They with the Father are One.  The Son returned to His throne, but the Spirit remains with us always as an advocate, a counselor, One who comforts and consoles us.  All we have to do is turn to Him.  Pentecostals and Charismatics, rightly, get a lot of scorn and mockery for their excesses and gullibility, but the Pentecostal movement has helped many Christians with regard to an understanding of the Spirit and His work.  

Jesus could walk with His disciples, teaching and training, healing and delivering, but He could not be everywhere with everyone at any given moment.  The Holy Spirit is not limited.  He can be and is, not just with us, but dwelling in us, as we are His temples.  Our reconciliation and justification comes through the Cross, the death, burial, and resurrection, and it was finished and done, once for all.  The first thing the Spirit does for any of us is to convince us of that truth.  As Jesus said, the Spirit comes to convict us of sin, of righteousness and of judgment.  

If we have come to realize that the root sin in our lives is our refusal to believe God and in particular to believe the truth as revealed in Christ Jesus, that realization came through the Holy Ghost.  If we have understood that the sacrifice of Christ was accepted by God and made all of us acceptable in Him, that understanding was given to us by the Holy Ghost.  If we see that the world system with all its rebellious leaders and adherents is judged and condemned in the Cross and the Resurrection, our eyes were opened by the power of the Holy Ghost.  

A lot of us will say that we do not know much about the Holy Spirit.  What Jesus has said about the Comforter in John chapters 14 and 16 forms the basis of most of what can be said about Him.  We can talk about what He does, but it is wise to be somewhat skeptical of those who purport to be experts in pneumatology.  There are, I think, good reasons why the Spirit remains mysterious.

First, He is not what we are to see; rather, He is the Light by which we see it.  Second, He is very close to us.  The back of one’s head is close as well, but two mirrors are needed to see it, a reflection of a reflection.  Finally, much of what we might be able to say about Him is very easy to misinterpret.  It is better to know Him than know about Him.  His presence brings peace and sanctity, while, as Solomon said, “When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.”  With that may we be content.  

There is no denying the Holy Spirit.  To do so is the unforgivable sin, the ultimate blasphemy, for He alone enables us to be forgiven.  He is the Source of life for all.  When Paul says … in Him we live and move and have our being…, that is the Spirit of God, the Pneuma.  We live and move and are sustained by Him as any land-dwelling, living creature must live in and maintain its natural life by the air it breathes.    

And here I am treading close to the mental line I drew when I started this.  We all say things that can be misunderstood, and that can’t be helped.  Language has its limitations.  There are, however, lines wisdom will tell us not to cross.