The Holy Spirit and the Christian Life

What you'll learn

• Show from Scripture that the Holy Spirit is a divine person, and trace his work in creation, inspiration and the life of Christ
• Explain how the Spirit applies redemption: regeneration, union with Christ, illumination, assurance, sanctification, fruit and gifts
• State the classic Reformed cessationist view and the Reformed continuationist view fairly, and assess Pentecostal and charismatic distinctives with charity and biblical care

The doctrine in one sentence

The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity, true and eternal God with the Father and the Son, who gives life in creation, spoke by the prophets and apostles, anointed and empowered Jesus Christ, and is sent by the Father and the Son to apply Christ's redemption to God's people: uniting them to Christ, giving them new birth, faith, illumination, assurance and holiness, and equipping the church with gifts for its good.

The Shorter Catechism puts the Spirit's saving work in one line: we are made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ by the effectual application of it to us by his Holy Spirit (Q. 29). The Father plans salvation, the Son accomplishes it, and the Spirit applies it. Without the Spirit, Christ's work would remain outside us and do us no good.

Some think of the Spirit as a vague force; others focus on dramatic gifts. Scripture gives a richer, steadier picture. As Jesus said, the Spirit's great aim is Christ-centred: He will glorify me (John 16:14). The Reformed tradition, rightly understood, has a deep and warm doctrine of the Spirit.

Who the Spirit is: a divine person

The Spirit is a person, not a force. He speaks: the Holy Spirit said, Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul (Acts 13:2). He teaches and reminds (John 14:26), guides into truth (John 16:13), intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words (Rom 8:26), distributes gifts as he wills (1 Cor 12:11), and can be grieved (Eph 4:30), lied to (Acts 5:3) and resisted (Acts 7:51). Jesus calls him another Helper (John 14:16), another of the same kind as himself. Forces do not grieve or decide.

The Spirit is God. Ananias lied to the Holy Spirit, and Peter says, You have not lied to man but to God (Acts 5:3-4). Believers are God's temple because the Spirit dwells in them (1 Cor 3:16; 6:19). He has divine attributes: he is everywhere present (Ps 139:7), searches the depths of God (1 Cor 2:10-11) and is the eternal Spirit (Heb 9:14). He shares the one divine name with the Father and the Son (Matt 28:19) and is named alongside them in blessing (2 Cor 13:14).

The church confessed this against those who denied the Spirit's deity in the fourth century. The Creed of Constantinople (381) confesses the Spirit as Lord and Giver of life, worshipped and glorified together with the Father and the Son. Scripture says the Spirit proceeds from the Father (John 15:26) and is also sent by the Son (John 16:7) and called the Spirit of Christ (Rom 8:9). The Western church later added that he proceeds from the Father and the Son (the filioque), which the Eastern Orthodox reject; Reformed confessions follow the Western form (WCF 2.3). On the Trinity more fully, see Lesson 3.

The Spirit in creation, inspiration and the life of Christ

Creation and providence. At the beginning the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters (Gen 1:2). He gives and sustains life: When you send forth your Spirit, they are created (Ps 104:30; compare Job 33:4). In the Old Testament he equipped people for particular tasks: Bezalel was filled with the Spirit with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship (Exod 31:3), and the Spirit came upon judges, kings and prophets.

Inspiration. The Spirit is the divine author of Scripture. Men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit (2 Pet 1:21). The creed confesses that he spake by the prophets. Jesus promised the apostles that the Spirit would bring to their remembrance all he had said and guide them into all the truth (John 14:26; 16:13), which is the foundation of the New Testament (see Lesson 1).

The life of Christ. Every stage of Jesus' ministry was in the Spirit. He was conceived by the Spirit (Luke 1:35), anointed by the Spirit at his baptism (Luke 3:22), led by the Spirit into the wilderness (Luke 4:1), and preached in the Spirit's power: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me (Luke 4:18; Acts 10:38). He cast out demons by the Spirit of God (Matt 12:28), offered himself through the eternal Spirit (Heb 9:14) and was declared Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection (Rom 1:4; 8:11).

Then the exalted Christ poured out the Spirit on his church: having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing (Acts 2:33). Pentecost is a once-for-all event in the history of redemption, like the cross and the resurrection: the risen King giving his Spirit to his people as the firstfruits of the new creation.

Applying redemption: new birth, union, illumination and assurance

Regeneration. Jesus told Nicodemus, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God, and compared the Spirit to the wind that blows where it wishes (John 3:5, 8). God saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5), fulfilling the promise of a new heart (Ezek 36:26-27). Regeneration comes first, and from it come faith and repentance (see Lesson 7).

Union with Christ. The Spirit is the bond that joins us to Christ, as Calvin taught (Institutes 3.1.1). The Shorter Catechism says the Spirit applies redemption by working faith in us, and thereby uniting us to Christ (Q. 30). In one Spirit we were all baptized into one body (1 Cor 12:13), and he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him (1 Cor 6:17). Every blessing, from justification to resurrection, comes to us in union with Christ.

Illumination. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him (1 Cor 2:14). The Spirit does not add new books to Scripture; he opens blind eyes to see the truth already there (2 Cor 4:6; Eph 1:17-18). The Westminster Confession speaks of the inward illumination of the Spirit of God as necessary for a saving understanding of the Word (1.6), and says our full persuasion of Scripture's authority comes from the inward work of the Spirit bearing witness by and with the Word (1.5). This matters for apologetics: you give reasons, but only the Spirit gives sight.

Assurance. The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God (Rom 8:16). He is the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry, Abba! Father! (Rom 8:15), and the seal and guarantee of our inheritance (Eph 1:13-14). Normally he gives assurance through the gospel promises, the evidence of his grace in our lives and his witness with our spirit together (WCF 18.2), not through private voices detached from the Word.

Sanctification, fruit and gifts

Sanctification is the Spirit's lifelong work of making us holy. If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live (Rom 8:13). We are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another by the Lord who is the Spirit (2 Cor 3:18). This is not passive: we are commanded to walk by the Spirit (Gal 5:16), to work out our salvation because God is at work in us (Phil 2:12-13), and not to grieve or quench him (Eph 4:30; 1 Thess 5:19).

The fruit of the Spirit is the character of Christ formed in every believer: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Gal 5:22-23). Fruit is the same in every Christian and is the main evidence of the Spirit's presence. The command be filled with the Spirit (Eph 5:18) is followed by singing, thanksgiving and humble submission to one another (Eph 5:19-21), not by anything spectacular.

The gifts of the Spirit (Greek charismata) are distributed differently: To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good (1 Cor 12:7). Lists appear in Romans 12:6-8, 1 Corinthians 12:8-10, 28-30, Ephesians 4:11-12 and 1 Peter 4:10-11, ranging from teaching, giving and mercy to prophecy, tongues and healings. Gifts serve the body, not personal status, and love is the more excellent way without which gifts are nothing (1 Cor 12:31-13:3). A believer with quiet gifts of mercy or administration is no less Spirit-filled than one with public gifts.

Cessationism and continuationism: an in-house debate

Do the miraculous and revelatory gifts (prophecy, tongues, healings, miracles) continue today? This is an in-house debate among believers, including within the Reformed family.

The classic Reformed view is cessationism. It argues that apostles and prophets were the once-for-all foundation of the church (Eph 2:20), that signs and wonders authenticated the apostles and their message (2 Cor 12:12; Heb 2:3-4; Acts 14:3), and that with the apostolic witness complete in Scripture, new revelation has ceased. The Westminster Confession speaks of those former ways of God's revealing his will unto his people being now ceased (1.1) and says nothing is to be added to Scripture whether by new revelations of the Spirit, or traditions of men (1.6). B. B. Warfield's Counterfeit Miracles (1918) and Richard Gaffin's Perspectives on Pentecost (1979) are standard defences, and among pastors John MacArthur (1939-2025), especially in Strange Fire (2013), was a well-known cessationist voice. Note what cessationists do not say: they affirm that God still heals and acts powerfully in answer to prayer (James 5:14-16) and that every believer has the Spirit and spiritual gifts. What has ceased is the foundational, revelatory and sign-gift ministry of the apostolic age.

Some Reformed believers are continuationists. They argue that 1 Corinthians 13:8-12 places the ending of prophecy and tongues at the perfect, which they take to be Christ's return when we see face to face; that Paul commands earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy and do not forbid speaking in tongues (1 Cor 14:1, 39); that Acts 2:17 describes the whole last days; and that no text explicitly says the gifts ended. Many, following Wayne Grudem, hold that New Testament congregational prophecy is not equal to Scripture, must be tested (1 Thess 5:19-21) and can contain error. Respected Reformed pastors such as John Piper and Sam Storms hold this view, while firmly affirming the sufficiency of Scripture.

Both sides agree on far more than they disagree: the Spirit indwells every believer, Scripture is closed and sufficient, Christ is central, and all claimed experiences must be tested by the Word. Both reject the prosperity gospel and Word of Faith teaching, and both reject any claimed revelation that adds to Scripture or stands over it. Hold your view with conviction and charity, and judge every claim by Scripture, as the Bereans did (Acts 17:11).

Pentecostal and charismatic distinctives, and where others depart

Modern Pentecostalism grew from the outbreak of tongues at Charles Parham's Bible school in Topeka, Kansas (1901) and above all the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles (from 1906), led by the African American preacher William J. Seymour. The Assemblies of God formed in 1914; its Statement of Fundamental Truths (1916) teaches that the baptism in the Holy Spirit is an experience distinct from and subsequent to new birth, with speaking in tongues as its initial physical evidence. From around 1960 a charismatic renewal spread into older denominations. Pentecostal and charismatic Christianity is now among the fastest-growing forms of the faith, especially in the Global South.

Assess it fairly. Many Pentecostals are our brothers and sisters, holding the Trinity, the deity of Christ, the authority of Scripture and salvation by grace through faith, often with admirable zeal in prayer, evangelism and mission. The Reformed concerns are exegetical. First, the events of Acts 2, 8, 10 and 19 mark unrepeatable stages in the gospel's spread from Jerusalem to Samaria to the Gentiles (Acts 1:8), so they are not a pattern for every believer. Second, Paul teaches that all believers have been baptized in one Spirit (1 Cor 12:13), that not all speak in tongues (1 Cor 12:30), and that anyone without the Spirit does not belong to Christ (Rom 8:9), which rules out a two-tier church of Spirit-baptized and ordinary Christians. Third, the prosperity gospel and Word of Faith teaching, which many Pentecostals also reject, distort the Spirit's work into a means to health and wealth. Oneness Pentecostalism, which denies the Trinity, is a separate movement outside historic orthodoxy.

Other groups in this course depart further. Jehovah's Witnesses teach that the holy spirit is God's active force, not a person (Jehovah's Witnesses module). Latter-day Saints teach that the Holy Ghost is a personage of spirit, distinct from the Father and Son, who are said to have bodies of flesh and bones (D&C 130:22; Latter-day Saints module). Many Muslims identify the Holy Spirit (Ruh al-Qudus) of the Quran with the angel Gabriel, and some claim that Jesus' promise of the Helper in John 14-16 refers to Muhammad, appealing to Quran 61:6 (Islam module). John's text answers this: the Helper is the Spirit of truth, who would dwell in the disciples and be sent in Jesus' name (John 14:16-17, 26).

For your own life: pray for the Spirit (Luke 11:13), read Scripture expecting him to open your eyes, depend on him when you speak for Christ (Matt 10:19-20; 1 Cor 2:4-5), and look for his fruit more than for spectacle. The Spirit who raised Jesus will one day raise you (Rom 8:11).

Key texts

• Acts 5:3-4: Lying to the Holy Spirit is lying to God. A direct proof of the Spirit's deity and personhood, useful with Jehovah's Witnesses.
• John 14:16-17, 26: Jesus promises another Helper, the Spirit of truth, who will dwell in the disciples and teach them. Shows the Spirit's personhood and his role in the apostolic witness.
• John 16:7-15: The Spirit convicts the world, guides into truth and glorifies Christ. The best summary of the Spirit's Christ-centred mission.
• John 3:3-8: The necessity and sovereignty of new birth by the Spirit, like the wind that blows where it wishes.
• Romans 8:9-17: No one belongs to Christ without the Spirit; the Spirit gives life, mortifies sin and bears witness that we are God's children. Key for assurance and against a two-tier view of believers.
• 1 Corinthians 2:10-14: The Spirit searches the depths of God and enables believers to receive spiritual truth. Foundation for the doctrine of illumination and for apologetic humility.
• 1 Corinthians 12:4-13: Varied gifts, one Spirit, given for the common good; all believers baptized in one Spirit into one body.
• Galatians 5:16-25: Walking by the Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit. The heart of Spirit-empowered sanctification.
• Ephesians 2:20: The church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Central text in the cessationist argument.

Objections and answers

Try answering each one yourself before you open the response.

Written task

A friend from a Pentecostal church asks whether you, as a Reformed Christian, really believe in the Holy Spirit. In 300-400 words, explain who the Holy Spirit is and what he does in the believer's life, with Scripture. Include his personhood and deity, his work of regeneration and union with Christ, illumination and assurance, and his fruit and gifts. Then explain, with charity, where you stand on the cessationist-continuationist question and why, acknowledging the other view fairly.

Hand this in to Mr Scott. He will look for:

• Shows the Spirit's personhood and deity with at least two accurate texts (e.g. Acts 5:3-4; Eph 4:30; 1 Cor 12:11; Matt 28:19)
• Explains regeneration, union with Christ, illumination and assurance as the Spirit's work, with supporting Scripture
• Distinguishes the fruit of the Spirit from the gifts, and keeps the Spirit's work Christ-centred (John 16:14)
• States a position on the continuation of gifts with reasons, and represents the other view accurately and charitably
• Uses a warm, non-condescending tone suited to a fellow believer

Further reading

• The Holy Spirit (Contours of Christian Theology) by Sinclair B. Ferguson: A rich Reformed theology of the Spirit's person and work, with a careful chapter on the gifts.
• Perspectives on Pentecost by Richard B. Gaffin Jr.: A concise Reformed case that Pentecost is a once-for-all redemptive event and that prophecy and tongues have ceased. For the continuationist side, compare Wayne Grudem, The Gift of Prophecy in the New Testament and Today.
• Pneumatologia: A Discourse Concerning the Holy Spirit by John Owen: The great Puritan treatment of the Spirit's work in creation, in Christ and in the believer; demanding but deeply nourishing.