Chapter 6: The Holy Spirit and the Word 

I was raised in the Church of Christ and started out to be a Church of Christ preacher. When I came along, one of the main teachings of the Churches of Christ was that the Holy Spirit works “only through the Word.”  They wanted to counteract what they saw as extravagant and unscriptural claims about the work of the Holy Spirit today; so they virtually equated the Holy Spirit with the written Word of God. They said, “The Holy Spirit does not work separate and apart from the Word of Scripture. (Carl Spain) 

They argued that once Scripture was given there was no more need for the Holy Spirit. God took the Holy Spirit, imbedded Him in the words of the New Testament, so to speak, and all we could have of the Holy Spirit was what we could pack into our minds through reading, studying, and memorizing the Bible. I suppose those afflicted with poor memories could only have a little of the Holy Spirit. In practice, though, none of us had much of the Holy Spirit back then because we didn’t believe we could. 

But the Holy Spirit is a person, not a mere influence or a memory. He lives in the human spirit and continues on earth the work begun by Jesus Christ.

He gives gifts and bears fruit and comforts and assists in prayer; He sanctifies us and convicts us of sin. He is not trapped in the words of Scripture like some genie in a bottle. 

I’m calling this lesson  “The Spirit and the Word.” 

As we will see, the Spirit and the Word work closely together; the Holy Spirit, who inspired the Scriptures, will do nothing contrary to what He has already revealed. And His primary method of converting souls is through the proclamation of the Gospel. Indeed, as the Word of Christ dwells in us richly, we are being filled with the Holy Spirit. The Word and Spirit are partners in redemption. 

I ran across this little poem that points out the necessity of both the written Word and the Holy Spirit for our Christian lives. 

Take the Word without the Spirit, and you will dry up;

Take the Spirit without the Word, and you will blow up;

Take the Spirit and the Word and you will grow up,

And when Jesus returns you will go up. 

It isn’t a question of either/or, but of both/and. We have the Holy Spirit living in us, and we have His Holy Scriptures to guide, comfort, and instruct us. As we hide God’s word in our hearts we are assisting the Spirit in our sanctification. But God didn’t take away the Holy Spirit He had sent to “abide forever” and leave us the Bible in His place. We now have more than they had; we have the Word and the Spirit. 

The Bible is a wonderful gift from God, and we treasure it for all that it is to us. 

2 Tim. 3:16-17:  “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 

The Bible is our prayer book, our catechism, our manual for life, our love letter from Christ; the Bible is our most choice treasure after Christ Himself. I yield to no one in my reverence for the written Word of God, the Bible. But the Bible is not the Holy Spirit, nor all of the Holy Spirit we can have. 

The Holy Spirit in the Writing of the Scriptures. 

First let us look at the work of the Holy Spirit in giving us our Bible.. We have already seen that all Scripture is “God-breathed,” and we know that the breath of God is the Holy Spirit. 

John. 14:26:  “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” 

This is a most important promise. Jesus had spoken many things to His disciples while He was with them; and He told them to make “disciples of every nation, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”  But the disciples were not left to their own memory, or to their own understanding. Jesus had anticipated all of this and said in John 16:12-13: 

“I have much more to say to you 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.” 

So the Holy Spirit will assure that the disciples can pass on His words with complete accuracy. He will 1) remind them of what He said, 2) teach them all they need to know, 3) guide them into all truth, 4) speak what He is hearing from the Father and Christ, 5) and tell them what will happen in the future. 

In both the Old and New Testaments the Holy Spirit revealed God’s mind and will to men. So the writings of the New Testament ‘apostles and prophets’ were to be accepted as Scripture, just as the Old Testament prophecies were. 

2 Pet. 1:20-21:  “Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. 21 For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” 

The Holy Spirit in Understanding Scripture

The Holy Spirit is necessary for the revealing of God’s mind to us, as God has done in the Scriptures; but He is also necessary if we are to understand the Scriptures correctly, and in their spiritual intent .It is possible to be thoroughly Bible-centered (as the Pharisees were) and still not understand spiritual matters. Nicodemus was a teacher of Israel, yet he only thought in earthly terms. Paul tells us that the Jews need a work of the Holy Spirit in order to understand the Gospel. 

2 Cor. 3:13-17:  “We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away. 14 But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. 15 Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” 

Remember what Jesus said to the embittered, spiritually-blind Jewish leaders?  

“You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me to have life” (John 5:39-40). 

Only by the power of the indwelling can we have the mind of the Spirit and understand Scripture correctly and spiritually: 

1 Cor. 2:10-16:  “but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no-one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. [Or Spirit, interpreting spiritual. truths to spiritual men] 14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment: 16 'For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?'  But we have the mind of Christ.” 

If you ask the average Christian why he believes the Bible is God’s inspired Word, you might find that he can’t give a very satisfying answer. He may have begun to believe it as a child because all the adult authority he knew and respected told him it was. He may believe it “just because,” and may be able to give little reason.  

Most serious Christians also may not be able to give a good, rational reason to believe in Scripture, but they have a good reason nevertheless. They know that they know that God is speaking to them through the Bible. They are just not able to explain their experience. For the believer who reads the Word devotionally the words of Scripture are “words of life.”  For him the Bible contains living answers to every question, comfort in trouble, wisdom for life, words of encouragement in dark seasons. He feeds on it as spiritual food; he trusts it as the very words of God.  For the unsaved man, until the Spirit moves on him, the Bible is a closed book, a dead letter until God’s Spirit begins to draw him. He can study it as literature; he can argue it as theology. But only as he is indwelt by the Holy Spirit can he understand God’s Word as God intends it to be understood. 

The Holy Spirit  and the Word in Conversion  

The Holy Spirit also combines with the Word in conversion. The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation. The Word of reconciliation has power in itself to convict the honest heart. But the unbeliever’s heart is not wholly honest, and Satan has blinded the eyes of every generation. Therefore Jesus said, “No one can come to me except the Father who sent Me draw him...” 

Paul said of all non-Christians (II Cor. 4:4) that “the god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers.”  They cannot respond to the Good News without the presence of the convicting Holy Spirit. 

John. 16:8: “When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment...”  It was the presence of God’s spirit on the day of Pentecost that gave power to Peter’s words and caused them to “be pricked in their hearts” and cry out, “Brother, what shall we do?”

See in the following Scripture how both the Word and the Spirit are working in the conversion of the Gentiles. 

1Thess. 1:3-6:  “We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. 6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.” 

Acts 16:14:  “One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshipper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.” 

You see, don’t you, how the message was absolutely essential; yet we don’t need to wonder what would have come of the message if God had not opened Lydia’s heart.  It would have fallen to the ground. The Word and the Spirit are necessary in conversion. 

The Gentiles heard the word of salvation and those who were appointed to salvation believed. Those who belonged to Christ were drawn to Him by the Father through the work of the Holy Spirit on their hearts. 

SUMMARY: 

We are not poorer than the New Testament Church, which had the Holy Spirit but only the Old Testament Scriptures. We have the entire God- breathed Word of God, Old and New Testaments. AND WE HAVE THE HOLY SPIRIT ALSO. 

Prayer:  Father, give us the right balance between your Word and your Spirit.  Increase our reverence for the Bible, and make us sensitive to your Spirit, which lives in the temple of our bodies. My we come to know, to believe, and to claim as our own ALL THAT YOU HAVE MADE AVAILABLE TO US IN YOU WONDERFUL GOSPEL.

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