THE HOLY SPIRIT
This nine-part series was originally developed for a class environment, and later adapted for use in a prison ministry conducted via correspondence. Because of that background, questions were developed for each lesson for participants to use in a setting conducive to discussion, or as handouts for private use if the lessons are presented as sermons. At the beginning of each part of the series, I will include the outline of the series.
OUTLINE OF THIS SERIES OF STUDIES
Part 1
Introduction, Holy Spirit as deity
Names of the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit in the Old Testament
Part 2
Holy Spirit in the NT (apostles to receive power)
Gabriel’s message to Mary
Foreseen by NT characters—Jesus, John
What we learn from Jesus in John 14,16
The coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost
Baptism in, or by, the Holy Spirit
Baptism of believers
Part 3
If I do not go away the Holy Spirit will not come
Men received and were dependent on the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is a Guarantee
Grieving the Holy Spirit
The Indwelling of the Holy Spirit
Being Filled With the Spirit
Part 4
The Holy Spirit in the Functioning of the church (first installment)
(1 Cor 12; Rom 12; Eph 4)
Gifts of the Spirit
The Head
Grace as Gifts (did not delve into each of the gifts, or special aptitudes, given by the Holy Spirit)
Functions “God Has Appointed”
Tongues/prophesying
Part 5
The empowering gifts of the Holy Spirit
Bestowing honor upon less “presentable” members
Order of functions (First apostles, second prophets, third teachers) Teachers discussed in Part 6
Part 6
Teachers
First apostles, second prophets, third teachers.
Part 7
Ministries of the Holy Spirit
Are the Bible and the Holy Spirit the same?
Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit
Part 8
Fruit of the Spirit
The Spirit vs the Flesh
Attributes of the Holy Spirit
Part 9
Acting in opposition to the Holy Spirit
• Lying to the Holy Spirit
• Resisting the Holy Spirit
• Quenching the Holy Spirit
• Grieving the Holy Spirit
• Defiling the Temple of the Holy Spirit
• Insulting the Spirit of Grace (doing despite)
Intercessor (though mentioned previously)
How Can I Know if I Have the Holy Spirit?
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HE HOLY SPIRIT
Part 8
The Fruit of the Spirit
In the apostle’s letter to the churches of Galatia, he contrasts the “works” of the flesh with the “fruits” of the Spirit. In the interest of space I am not including the passage here, but I encourage you to read Gal 5:19-23 in your Bible before continuing to read this lesson.
Notice that in verses 22-23, Paul describes the Spirit’s fruit:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Fruit is a metaphor for the produce – the garden, the crop – produced by the Holy Spirit. I see little use in going through a detailed analysis of each fruit mentioned, although each fruit deserves to be considered in the context of its presence in the life of every Spirit-filled Christian. But we are familiar with all the words and therefore do not need to define them here. If I define “love,” or “joy,” or “peace,” you will no doubt see in those definitions pretty much the qualities you already understand those words to describe.
So I don’t believe see that Paul’s intention was to launch a fragmented individual inspection of these qualities, which were already well understood by his readers, but to say “This is the kind of fruitfulness the Holy Spirit produces.” The larger question is, “Do our lives reveal, by this fruit, the Spirit’s presence?” Our difficulty is in examining the fruit in relation to ourselves, and saying “that’s me,” because there are times in our lives when our actions are not Spirit-led.
How many fruits are there of the Spirit? Nine?
Some commentators suggest that there is ONE fruit of the Spirit, and that the Spirit’s single produce--Spirit fruit--possesses all of the qualities Paul listed.
In Greek the word for "fruit" is karpos and the same word is used both for the singular and the plural. So, to translate this a little loosely but taking no inappropriate liberties, it could read like this:
"But the single fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control."
This would means that the qualities listed are a group of features describing the qualities of a single fruit. Other commentators point out that while the grammar in the original language allows that view, it does not exclude the view that each quality listed is a separate kind of fruit. It is an interesting question to ponder, but it’s not very important whether we believe there is one fruit of the Spirit, or nine.
It is no accident that love is placed first in the list. Love is the connection to the root of the tree, or the vine. It is God's good pleasure that we love, and bear the fruit of love. All of the other fruits are derivatives of love.
• If you are loving, then will you not have joy?
• If you are loving, will you not also have peace?
• If you are loving, will you not also be patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled?
• If you are unloving, will not all the other qualities be absent?
It makes no difference to the outcome, whether you believe that love is that whole fruit, and that there are eight aspects of it (as I believe), or whether you believe Paul describes nine separate kinds of Spiritual fruit (in which case you will surely see them as complementing one another). Looking at the fruit either way, it still stacks up to the whole spiritual personality.
In Jesus’ last meeting together with his disciples he told them:
I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:5)
To amplify upon Jesus’ metaphor, we might say love is like the sap in a tree or vine that feeds and sustains the fruit of joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Consider this: The detailed description of love in 1 Cor 13 ascribes every fruitful feature of the Holy Spirit to love. Look at the comparison of the two passages below:
Gal5-1Cor13
Love (agape)
Galatians 5:22-23 1 Cor 13
JOY (chara) "rejoices in the truth"
PEACE (eirene) "bears all things" "endures all things"
LONGSUFFERING (makrothumia) "suffers long" "not easily provoked"
GENTLENESS (chrestotes) "is kind" "envies not"
GOODNESS (agathosune) "rejoices not in iniquity" "thinks no evil"
FAITH (pistis) "believes all things" "never fails"
MEEKNESS (praotes) "not puffed up" "does not vaunt itself"
TEMPERANCE (egkratera) "does not behave unseemly" "seeks not its own"
If you have the love of God in your heart, then all the other graces listed there are yours too. Whether the Spirit’s fruit is one or nine, all the nine characteristics are already yours as produced by the Holy Spirit. You bear the Spirit’s fruit because the Holy Spirit indwells you.
Paul wrote to Christians in Philippi:
...it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. (Phil. 2:13).
Notice that the fruit of the Spirit is just that--of the Spirit. It is not your fruit, but the fruit of the Spirit of God. This is because the Holy Spirit lives in the believer, and it is the work of Holy Spirit to bear this fruit in you. You cooperate with God in bearing this fruit as you allow the Spirit to produce and ripen it in you.
As you examine yourself you might notice that some aspects of the fruit are not very well developed. You might be kind and good, but not very patient. You might have great joy and peace but need to be more self-controlled and gentle. We are not perfect, and we all have areas needing improvement. But all Christians have the Spirit of God, and therefore have the fruit of the Spirit of God within them. It is there, if only in developing form, but the fruit is there.
But, as the next section shows, the Holy Spirit cannot dwell in you and fail to bear his fruit.
The Spirit vs. the Flesh
The spirit and the flesh are in opposition, and we are partakers in both. Romans 7:22-24 tells us we are hosts to two natures:
For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
In Romans 8:2-11 Paul gives a full analysis of the two conflicting natures within the child of God (please read the passage in your Bible before continuing).
This battle of natures has always been there:
• Then the Lord said, "My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh... (Genesis 6:3)
• Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. (Matthew 26:41)
• That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' (John 3:6-7)
• It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. (John 6:63)
• But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? (1 Corinthians 3:1-3)
• You are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. (1 Corinthians 5:5)
• Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? (Galatians 3:3)
If you are acquainted with the Holy Spirit and his work, and alert to his working, you are conscious of this war going on inside you, for the flesh is and always will be in opposition to the Holy Spirit. And as choices appear before you, you will turn to one or the other.
The presence of the sinful nature notwithstanding, the indwelling Holy Spirit is a source of full and everlasting satisfaction and life:
Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." (John 4:13-14)
The water that Jesus offers is the Holy Spirit, as he made plain in John 7:37-39:
On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'" Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
A careful reading of Jesus’ words shows that there is a well of water inside you, and it is the Holy Spirit!
Attributes of the Holy Spirit
Having examined the fruit of the Spirit and the inevitable conflict between the flesh and the Spirit, let us consider some of the attributes that characterize the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is eternal. Note that Jesus went through the Holy Spirit to offer himself to God.
For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. (Hebrews 9:13-14)
The Holy Spirit is omnipresent (present everywhere at the same time).
Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. (Psalms 139:7-10)
The Holy Spirit is omniscient (knowing everything, including the thoughts of God).
These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. (1 Corinthians 2:10-11)
Being omniscient, the Holy Spirit knows not only men’s thoughts, but also God’s.
The Holy Spirit is omnipotent (having unlimited power; able to do anything). We explore this attribute in more depth than the others since in the Spirit’s works are demonstrated the very power of God himself. There are several works which are the outward and visible signs of the power of the Holy Spirit. We will briefly mention two of these works.
First, the Holy Spirit has demonstrated the omnipotence of his power in creation works; for sometimes creation is ascribed to the Holy Spirit, as well as to the Father and the Son. The creation of the heavens above us is said to be the work of God’s Spirit.
By his Spirit he hath garnished (adorned) the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent. (Job 26:13 - KJV).
All the stars of heaven are said to have been placed there by the Holy Spirit, and one particular constellation called the “crooked serpent” is especially pointed out as his handiwork. Also, the finished development of the earth below is the work of the Spirit of God.
The earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. (Genesis 1:2)
When the earth was first created it had no form or orderliness to it. But the earth took on a form it did not originally have. It became round, became beautiful, and began to move, singing the high praises of God. This was done by the power of the Holy Spirit. If we could have seen that earth in all of its confusion, we would have said, “Who can make a world out of this?” The answer would have been, “The power of the Holy Spirit can do it.”
A second demonstration of the Holy Spirit’s power is to be found in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you. (Romans 8:11)
The resurrection of Christ, then, was achieved by the activity of the Holy Spirit, and in it we have the best illustration of his omnipotence. There is no power on earth greater than the power to raise one from the dead.
The Holy Spirit has a will. Paul, having listed various gifts and manifestations that are given by the Holy Spirit, said in 1 Corinthians 12:7:
But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit…
Paul goes on to explain that the distribution of these gifts and their manifestations is done in a way befitting the will of the Holy Spirit:
But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills. (1 Corinthians 12:11)
The Holy Spirit loves, and is loved.
Now I urge you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God for me. (Romans 15:30)
No doubt there are other attributes of the Holy Spirit that are deserving of mention, as the subject is very large. One final thought is this: the Holy Spirit is best understood by our own experience of him living within us. And yet, we find ourselves unable to fully understand and explain just how the Spirit exerts his power and influence in our lives. We know that he and his power are real, but his effect within us is the meeting place of that which is human with that which is divine. We understand the human part all too well, but the divine is in many respects beyond our mental capacity to grasp, much less put into into words.
THE HOLY SPIRIT
Part 8 Questions
1. As a memory exercise, without looking back at Galatians 5:19-23, can you name those features that describe the fruit of the Spirit.
2. Can the Holy Spirit reside in a person and produce no fruit?
3. Is the war between the fleshly and spiritual nature concluded when we are converted to Christ? Or is that when the war begins?
4. What are some attributes of the Holy Spirit?
5. What does it mean to be born of the Spirit? (John 3:6-7)
Answer True or False by circling T or F:
1. T F Having received the indwelling Spirit, Paul no longer struggled with sin.
2. T F The Holy Spirit was directly involved in the creation.
2. T F Even the Holy Spirit does not comprehend the thoughts of God.
2. T F The Holy Spirit enabled Jesus to rise from the dead.
2. T F Like the Father, the Holy Spirit is present everywhere.
Discussion and Thought
1. Is it up to us to produce the fruit of the Spirit, or it the Spirit’s function to produce them?
2. If the Spirit dwells within us and produces his fruit, are we still flawed vessels? Why or why not?
3. Immediately after the heavens and earth were created, what was the Spirit doing? To what purpose?
