The Holy Spirit, the third member of the Trinity, is not an impersonal force. He is God, and He is very personal. He cannot be controlled by special spells, charms, or actions. He comes with a presence and a power undeniably unique to himself, but his attributes and qualities, the things that make him God, do not end with mere authority and muscle. If they did, however, worship and respect would still be required and owed. Our God, the god of the Bible, is multifaceted in who he is and how he relates to his people.<\/p>\n
Paul understood this. When we look into his letters (a majority of the New Testament) we can see that his view of the Holy spirit includes, but is not limited to; Gods\u2019 very own spirit, His wisdom, His revelation, divine power, missional support, new life and heart giver, eschatological sign signifying God\u2019s promised salvation and restoration, a worship facilitator, and an aide to the believer, so that he may live out God\u2019s will.<\/p>\n
But what did Paul want to communicate to the Galatian church in particular about the Holy Spirit and the role He played in their salvation and life? How did He enrich and encourage the lives of the believers in Galatia, and how will He do the same for us today?<\/p>\n
The Holy Spirit is One<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n In Galatians, Paul asserts that there is one Holy Spirit, and one God, who supplies the spiritual gifts for the covenant community. He is what we are brought into, and the means by which we are brought into this fellowship. This is important because it communicates that we are all one \u201cin the spirit\u201d. This is particularly helpful in understanding the dynamics of the church. We are called to live as one body with Christ as the head -and we are to live by the power of His spirit.\u00a0 And by the grace of God, helping and loving one another well until Jesus\u2019 return.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The Holy Spirit is a gift received by faith<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n There will always be people in every generation that will try to \u201ctickle the ears of their hearers\u201d by perverting the Gospel. It was true in Galatia then, and it\u2019s true in America today! The Gospel is scandalous to the world because it almost seems too easy, cheap even, though it\u2019s not! It cost God himself, in the flesh, his very life. The Judaizers of Paul\u2019s day perverted the Gospel by saying that salvation and the receiving of the Holy Spirit came by following works of the law and not by faith in the Son of God. We Christians understand that it is a scandalous statement to say that, \u201cthe Spirit comes only as a result of faith in Christ and is not otherwise a possession of humanity in general\u201d (Gal 3:1\u20132). But it is a beautiful reality! The Holy Spirit comes to reside in, work through, and empower the believer by faith alone!<\/p>\n The Holy Spirit transforms lives and hearts and calls us sons of God<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Martin Luther made famous the saying, \u201cthe Christian life is a life of repentance\u201d. Another way of saying this is, \u201cthe Christian life is war\u201d. In Galatians, the Holy Spirit is also the power of the future age present for believers in their struggle with the forces of this age which are at enmity with God\u2014particularly the flesh and sin.<\/p>\n When we walk by the spirit, when\u00a0we\u00a0follow His lead, when we recognize Jesus\u2019 lordship and yield ourselves to His spirit\u2019s control we, by the grace of God, experience His victory. The struggles of yesterday are today\u2019s triumphs! And coupled with this triumph is an assurance that we are in fact God\u2019s chosen and beloved children. \u201cAnd because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, \u201cAbba! Father!\u201d (Galatians 4:6).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Holy Spirit, the third member of the Trinity, is not an impersonal force. He is God, and He is very personal. He cannot be controlled by special spells, charms, or actions. He comes with a presence and a power undeniably unique to himself, but his attributes and qualities, the things that make him God, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":677,"featured_media":1361,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,33],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1360","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-god","8":"category-holy-spirit","9":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/brandonscalf\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2022\/01\/yuv-iwbyvrq.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":815,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/brandonscalf\/the-church-needs-an-abrasive-gospel\/","url_meta":{"origin":1360,"position":0},"title":"The Church Needs an Abrasive Gospel","author":"Brandon Scalf","date":"September 7, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"For certain persons have crept in unnoticed\u2026 ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.\u201d - Jude 1:4 The Gospel of Jesus Christ is being trampled violently underfoot in pulpits all across America. It is being spat on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Gospel"","block_context":{"text":"Gospel","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/brandonscalf\/category\/gospel\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/brandonscalf\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2019\/09\/church1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/brandonscalf\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2019\/09\/church1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/brandonscalf\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2019\/09\/church1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/brandonscalf\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2019\/09\/church1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/brandonscalf\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2019\/09\/church1.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/brandonscalf\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2019\/09\/church1.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1052,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/brandonscalf\/the-day-that-changed-everything-a-testimony-of-sorts\/","url_meta":{"origin":1360,"position":1},"title":"The Day that Changed Everything ( A “Testimony” of Sorts)","author":"Brandon Scalf","date":"March 25, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"There once was a guitar. This guitar was brand new; it had a maple neck, a spruce top, and no imperfections. It had one purpose, one reason for existing. That reason was to hit me dead in the center of my chest. Its mission was to bury its now broken\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "God"","block_context":{"text":"God","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/brandonscalf\/category\/god\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/brandonscalf\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2020\/03\/damian-patkowski-T-LfvX-7IVg-unsplash-e1585390449704.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/brandonscalf\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2020\/03\/damian-patkowski-T-LfvX-7IVg-unsplash-e1585390449704.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/brandonscalf\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2020\/03\/damian-patkowski-T-LfvX-7IVg-unsplash-e1585390449704.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/brandonscalf\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2020\/03\/damian-patkowski-T-LfvX-7IVg-unsplash-e1585390449704.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/brandonscalf\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2020\/03\/damian-patkowski-T-LfvX-7IVg-unsplash-e1585390449704.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/brandonscalf\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2020\/03\/damian-patkowski-T-LfvX-7IVg-unsplash-e1585390449704.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":845,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/brandonscalf\/cheap-grace-bonhoeffer-and-the-cost-of-discipleship\/","url_meta":{"origin":1360,"position":2},"title":"Cheap Grace: Bonhoeffer and The Cost of Discipleship","author":"Brandon Scalf","date":"September 9, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"As followers of Christ and members of his church, we must affirm that there is, in fact, a real and present enemy at work souring God\u2019s beautiful song of salvation. This enemy, though restrained, runs rampant in pulpits across America and beyond \u2013 singing a song of its own, threatening\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Gospel"","block_context":{"text":"Gospel","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/brandonscalf\/category\/gospel\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/brandonscalf\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2019\/09\/belief.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/brandonscalf\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2019\/09\/belief.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/brandonscalf\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2019\/09\/belief.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/brandonscalf\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2019\/09\/belief.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/brandonscalf\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2019\/09\/belief.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/brandonscalf\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2019\/09\/belief.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/brandonscalf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/brandonscalf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/brandonscalf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/brandonscalf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/677"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/brandonscalf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/brandonscalf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1360\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/brandonscalf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/brandonscalf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/brandonscalf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/brandonscalf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}