By Lyengamuwa Wakung’oli	Ambassador International University
Course: Advanced Life of Christ	Prof: Dr. Kris B
Submitted on Jan 6, 2022

I. Introduction

In this paper, I am going to handle how the Holy Spirit is the personal presence of Christ and His love expressed to the Church. The importance of the Holy Spirit to the Church finds its roots in the teachings of Christ. Our Lord made it known during His ministry that it is to the Church’s advantage that He goes away to the Father. He also made clear the ministry of the Holy Spirit when He comes. The center of the ministry of the Holy Spirit is Christ. At the root of this ministry of Christ is the building of believers in the love of God revealed in Him.

To deal with this subject well, I am going to look at the relationship of the Lord Jesus to the Holy Spirit. I will then talk about how we know that the Holy Spirit is the personal presence of Christ. Then, I will show how the Holy Spirit embodies the love of Christ for the Church.

II. THE RELATIONSHIP OF JESUS TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

We learn of the Holy Spirit earlier in the birth of Christ. He is the one who came upon Mary and with the power of the Most High overshadowed her so that Jesus is born to fulfill what the Angel said (Luke 1:35, NIV). Not only that we also learn of the Holy Spirit as the one who came and anointed Jesus on the day of His baptism so that He is ready to do the work of God (Matthew 3:16). The Holy Spirit led Jesus in the wilderness to be tempted by Satan (Matthew 4:1). After that victory of Jesus over Satan, we learn of the Holy Spirit as the one through whom Jesus performed miracles.

When the time for our Lord to die came close, He promised that the Holy Spirit will come and dwell in the disciples: “If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you (John 14:15-18, NIV).” This promise was not only for the disciples but for all those who come to faith in Christ as mentioned in Romans 8:9 that “if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ (NIV).”

Later when Jesus was giving the great commission, we see that Jesus is commanding the disciples to baptize those who believe in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:18-20). This clearly shows that i) the Holy Spirit is an important figure in the ministry of Jesus Christ ii) He shares the same nature of deity as Jesus Christ because He does things that only God can do. Only God can dwell in the hearts of many people because He is omnipresent.

III. THE HOLY SPIRIT AS THE PERSONAL PRESENCE OF JESUS

Just as Christ was the personal presence of the Father and made known the Father in His person so the Holy Spirit is the personal presence of Christ.

A.   How the Holy Spirit is seen as the personal presence of Christ

I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.  All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you (John 16:12-15, NIV).

Let us first look at the ministry of Jesus and learn of what He said about Him representing the Father then will see the connection I am making of the Holy Spirit being the personal presence of Jesus. Our Lord Jesus during His ministry made clear that He has come to glorify the Father. In His prayer, in John 17:4 He said, “I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do (NIV).” He also said earlier in His ministry, “For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it. I know that his command leads to eternal life. So, whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say (John 12:28-50, NIV).” So, the work of Christ on earth signified the presence of the Father with Him and hence those who have Christ have the Father also. “No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also (1 John 2:23, NIV).”

The same idea of glorifying is spoken of the Holy Spirit. He has come to glorify Christ through His work. Jesus said, “He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.” The same idea also of not speaking for oneself is seen in the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Our Lord Jesus said, “He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come (John 16:13).”

 The presence of the Holy Spirit is the firm assurance that God lives in us. John says, “We know that we live in Him and He in us because He has given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world.If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God.And so we know and rely on the love God has for us (1 John 4:13-16, NIV).”

With that said, we are sure that the presence of the Holy Spirit is to be seen as the personal presence of Christ. To have the Holy Spirit is to have Christ in us dwelling richly. As the Holy Spirit continues to reveal more of Christ, the Father is also made known. For He has come not to die as the Lord Jesus did but to teach, guide, sanctify, baptize, renew, bring conversion, convict, dwell in the believers, etc.

After considering the significance of the Holy Spirit’s presence, let us look at one of the cardinal issues associated with Him dwelling in us which is the love of Christ poured in us.

IV. THE HOLY SPIRIT AS THE LOVE OF CHRIST FULLY EXPRESSED TO THE CHURCH

A.   The promise of Christ making the Father known and its purpose

In John 17:25-26, Jesus said, “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them (NIV).”

In this passage, we notice that Jesus is making a promise to the Father and the purpose for that promise. The promise is the continuation of making the Father known to the saints (v.26). The purpose is that the love of the Father for Christ and Christ may be in the saints (v.26). “The presence of the love of the Father and that of Christ in the saints is simultaneous (Jairos Banda).” The issue here is not that believers do not have Christ in them or the Father, they do. John said, “whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also (1 John 2:23, NIV).” What the Lord is saying here points us or focuses on the growth of believers into the love of Father whereby through that they come to take hold of the reality of having Christ dwell in them. As Paul said,    

I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (Eph 3:16-19, NIV)

B.    The fulfillment of the promise of Christ to the Father through the Holy Spirit

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us (Rom 5:1-5).

My main emphasis in this passage is this part where Paul says, “God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.” From this verse, we can say that the presence of the Holy Spirit in us is the pouring of God’s love for us into our hearts. The application of that love that God has for Christ is seen through the Holy Spirit. Since all that belongs to the Father is of Christ, we know for sure that the Love of God here poured into our hearts fulfills the promise that Christ made in His prayer to the Father of which the intended purposes of the act of making the Father known is that love and the presence of Christ being in the saints.

The tense of the verb in this sentence “God has poured out His love” is perfect passive indicative. Dr. Mounce says concerning the Greek perfect tense that “Greek perfect describes an action that was brought to completion and whose effects are felt in the present.”[1] With that said, our verse shows us two things: first, it is God who poured love in us. Second thing is that the pouring of the love of Christ is an act that God did in the past with continual effects on the recipient.

Since this is seen as a one-time act with continual effect, we understand that it happened on the day of conversion. As the effect of conversion continues so is the love of God poured into the heart of the believer through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. When one becomes a Christian, the Holy Spirit is given to that believer and He continues to dwell in that believer forever. As the Lord Jesus said, He will be with you forever (John 14:16). We understand that Paul was writing to the believers and hence the act of God of having poured His love into their hearts is seen as to have happened in the past through the presence of the Holy Spirit while the reality of the love continues to be felt as long as the Holy Spirit dwells in that person.

C.    The Holy Spirit is the full expression of that love of God

The depth of the love of God is understood in the person of God. What I am trying to draw us close to is this: when God the Father revealed His love for the world, He gave us the Son. This means the Son is the full expression of God’s love for us hence having the Son is having that love of the Father. When Christ spoke of His love for us, He sent the Holy Spirit, hence the Holy Spirit is the full expression of the love of Christ. When we look at that, we have to take note of two things: the act of giving demonstrates the love that God has for us at the same time the person given is the one who fully demonstrates the unfathomableness of that love of God. Therefore, we come to know that Christ is the embodiment of the love of the Father and the Holy Spirit is the embodiment of the love of Christ and the Father since He is from both. The reason why we cannot reach the end of the love of God is that we are dealing with God who does not have an end or beginning. As John said, “God is love (1 John 4:8).”  To have God is to have the love of God.

So, we can see that what the Holy Spirit does toward us reveals His love toward us. We learn from the teachings of Jesus our Lord that the Holy Spirit teaches us all truth, He guides, He cares for us, makes us holy, He convicts us, etc. All these things are done in love. So, we understand the love of Christ through the Holy Spirit.

V. WHAT THE BIBLE MEANS WHEN IT SAYS “THROUGH JESUS” OR “THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT”

A.   “Through Jesus”

“Through Him, all things were made (NIV).”

Let us learn of this first by looking at its usage in light of Christ. In John 1:3, we read, “Through Him, all things were made (NIV).” In KJV, the preposition “through” is expressed by the word “by.” The sentence is still communicating the same message. The preposition “through” is translated from the Greek word “dia.” According to Thayer’s dictionary, the preposition “dia,” when its object is in genitive its primary meaning is “through.”  Now, this meaning can be understood in different ways. Thayer list several ways in which it can be used and one of them is: “of the means or instrument by which anything is effected.” He shows also that, that can be understood in this way “1. of one who is the author of the action as well as its instrument, or of the efficient cause: Rom 11:36. 2. of the instrument used to accomplish a thing, or of the instrumental case in the stricter sense: — with the genitive of person by the service, the intervention of, anyone.”[2]

The right usage of the preposition when it comes to God is “of one who is the author of the action as well as its instrument, or of the efficient cause: Rom 11:36.” So, when we are looking at God as the means of something, we are looking at Him as the author of the action and the one who carries out the action to bring results. This is significant to understand. Just as we noticed that Christ is said to have made the world. He is understood not as the passive instrument used by God the Father to bring things to pass. No. He is the active person who by the very nature of His being is able to carry out the will of the Father of making the world. Matthew Henry comments on John 1:3 saying, “God made the world by a word (Ps 33:6) and Christ was the Word. By Him, not as a subordinate instrument, but as a co-ordinate agent, God made the world (Heb 1:2), not as the workman cuts by his axe, but as the body sees by the eye.”[3]

B.    “Through Holy Spirit”

“And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us (Rom 5:5, NIV).”

The same principle is true of the Holy Spirit. When we talk of Him as the means through which the love of God is poured into our hearts (Romans 5:5), we are not looking at Him as the passive instrument used by God to reach us in the manner of a pipe transporting water from the source to the place of its usage, but as the member of the Trinity who through His person expresses that which God the Father or the Son desires to be expressed to us. In this context, the love of God.

VI. SUMMARY

So, we have looked at how the Holy Spirit is an important figure in the ministry of Jesus. We have also looked at how the Holy Spirit is the personal presence of Jesus and the love of Christ fully expressed to the church. We then looked at what the Bible means when it says “through Christ” or “through the Holy Spirit.”  With the above-mentioned points, we have seen how God has really loved us that He has made His dwelling in us forever. This is something to consider and praise God for.

VII. APPLICATION

I desired to do this subject out of curiosity of what Jesus said in John 17:26. The thought came in mind when I read Roman 5:5. I noticed that there was a connection between the Holy Spirit and the love of God poured in us. I noticed that the Holy Spirit was the fulfilment of the love of the Father for Christ being given to the saints (John 17: 26) since it is through Him that love is poured into our hearts. So, I have learnt a lot in this research and I desire to do more work on the subject so that I take hold of the riches of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.  It is my prayer that God will help me get grounded in the truth that I have learnt and grant me the grace to teach others to the glory of God the Father.

CITE THIS WORK

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