We Believe in the Holy Spirit

And we believe in the Holy Spirit,

the Lord, the giver of life.

He proceeds from the Father and the Son,

and with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified.

He spoke through the prophets.

Nicene Creed

I believe in the Holy Spirit.

Apostles’ Creed

This post is about the Holy Spirit.

I’m very aware that the Holy Spirit engenders different viewpoints among evangelical Christians, so it’s important to state right from the outset that I won’t be addressing those differences, other than to acknowledge that they exist.(i) This is the last post in my series on the creeds. In all my posts in this series, I have been focusing on the impact that the ancient creeds have on us as leaders. So here I will focus on the unifying truths the creeds outline.

The statement about the Holy Spirit in the Apostle’s Creed is amazingly brief: ‘I believe in the Holy Spirit’. Nothing about who the Spirit is. They did, however, outline what the Holy Spirit does. The remaining statements in that creed—about the Church, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting—are all subordinate to the statement of belief in the Holy Spirit. The Apostles’ Creed, therefore, affirms that the Holy Spirit is the active agent of God in salvation and in the future restoration of all things. All Christians can agree on that.

The Nicene Creed also links the Church with the Holy Spirit, although it separates out its comments on forgiveness of sins and end times. This later creed, however, goes further. In elaborating who the Holy Spirit is, the Nicene Creed emphasises his oneness with the Father and the Son. He is Lord and he proceeds from the Father and the Son.(ii) The Spirit is God, the Lord, one with the Father and the Son in glory and to be worshipped with them. We can say he is eternally co-equal with the Father and the Son. In human history, however, he is clearly more prominent in the New Testament. Though he is present in the Old Testament and the gospels, his work is described in detail only after Jesus has completed his work in his crucifixion, resurrection and ascension.

This fuller work of the Spirit is prophesied in the Old Testament. Sometimes it is explicit, for example in Ezekiel.

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

Ezek 36.26

In Jeremiah, it is implicit.

I will put my law in their minds

and write it on their hearts.

I will be their God,

and they will be my people.

Jer 31.33b

In one of his letters to the Corinthians, when the apostle Paul commends his readers, he explains the work of the Holy Spirit in the new covenant era.

You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

2 Cor 3.3

John the Baptist said Jesus would baptise people with the Holy Spirit (Mark 1.8) and Jesus himself also pointed forward to a greater work of the Holy Spirit to come after him.

Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.

John 4.23

He also linked this concept with the events of the Day of Pentecost.

On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

Acts 1.4-5

The intimate connection between the creedal clauses on the Spirit and the Church teach that Pentecost is the day when the Church was born in its complete sense of the Spirit-indwelt and empowered body of Christ.

As well as clarifying who the Spirit is, the Nicene Creed mentions two things the Holy Spirit does.

LIFE-GIVING, SPEAKING SPIRIT

First, it says the Holy Spirit is ‘the giver of life’. This role of the Spirit is closely linked in Scripture with the fact that both Hebrew and Greek words for ‘spirit’ can also be translated ‘breath’ or ‘wind’. The Holy Spirit gave life in creation. The Holy Spirit is also the one who regenerates and renews people, giving them new life in Christ (Titus 3.5). All Christians should agree on that fact.

Second, the Nicene Creed says the Holy Spirit ‘spoke through the prophets’. The creeds don’t include explicit statements about the inspiration and authority of Scripture like those in later evangelical bases of faith,(iii) but confidence in Scripture is implicit in this clause. The prophets spoke God’s words because God the Holy Spirit spoke through them. On this too all Christians should agree.

In summary, we can affirm two clear statements of faith.

• The Holy Spirit is God and co-equal with the Father and Son.

• The Holy Spirit inspired Scripture and brings about new birth in those who believe in Jesus Christ.

What does all this mean for Christian leadership?

Our belief in the Holy Spirit has implications for how we teach others. I think many of us who teach others tend to veer in one of two unhelpful directions when it comes to the Holy Spirit.

THE HOLY SPIRIT IS NOT A ‘SEPARATE’ GOD

Some emphasise the Holy Spirit’s work to such a degree that they end up talking about him as if he were separate from the Father and the Son. We can, of course, talk about the work of each of the three persons of the trinity separately to some degree, but we must be careful not to do so to the point where it sounds like we worship three gods. Jesus is clear about the Spirit’s role in John’s gospel.

He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you.

John 16.14

When we speak of the Holy Spirit, we must always emphasise his role in bringing people to gaze on Jesus and be transformed (2 Cor 3.17-18).

BEWARE DOWNPLAYING THE ROLE OF THE SPIRIT

There is, however, an equal and opposite danger that we can speak too little of the work of the Holy Spirit or do so in terms that fall short of what the Nicene Creed says. For example, we might speak of the transformation of our lives purely in terms of imitating Jesus. Scripture does speak of imitating Jesus, but it describes the change that happens in us as a transformative work of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Remembering that helps us not to give the impression in our teaching that growth comes by our own effort. We should also emphasise that true change comes from a living relationship with Christ through the Spirit.

Somewhat ironically, both of these opposite tendencies often lead to language that makes the Holy Spirit sound impersonal. People in the first group sometimes speak about getting more of the Holy Spirit, as if the Holy Spirit is a thing and not a person. Meanwhile, some in the second group refer to the Holy Spirit with the words ‘it’ and ‘that’, rather than ‘he’ and ‘who’. I have some sympathy with their approach in our age of sensitivity to gender issues, since the pronouns used for the Holy Spirit in the New Testament are neuter.(iv) But ‘it’ and ‘that’ imply an impersonal force rather than a person, and the Scriptures clearly describe the Holy Spirit as a divine person. Describing the Holy Spirit as ‘it’ could reinforce a common misconception about the Holy Spirit among people already influenced by Star Wars and New Age thinking.

MINISTRY IMPACT

Our belief in the Holy Spirit does not have implications only for how we speak about the Holy Spirit. It must also impact how we go about ministry.

The Holy Spirit is the giver of life. Our life is his gift. We are called to abide in Christ and his love. As we do this, we will be given the ability to love others and bear good fruit (John 15). It is the Holy Spirit who maintains this relationship, leading us to worship the Lord Jesus, and causing us to cry to God as Father. When we are weak, the Spirit helps us to pray.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.

Rom 8.26

Our belief in the Holy Spirit, however we understand the details of his work, should cause us to prioritise our own living relationship with Jesus through him. From this, all fruitful service flows.

It is also our belief in the Holy Spirit that gives us confidence in our ability to bear lasting fruit. By ourselves, we are powerless to save anyone or change anyone into the likeness of Christ. But he is at work through us as we proclaim Christ to people. He can bring the miracle of new birth and generate lasting fruit. This is both humbling and encouraging. Humbling because we acknowledge our utter ineffectiveness. Encouraging because we do not depend on our power and ability but on the Spirit.

We believe in the Holy Spirit.

We believe he gives life and has spoken through the prophets. Because of this, we prioritise our own relationship with Christ in prayer and the Word, and we keep our focus in ministry on prayer and the teaching of God’s Word. We are never alone in this, for the Spirit indwells us and empowers us. Nor are those we care for ever alone, even when we cannot be present with them.

He is with them always and we hold fast to this truth.

So, make this your confession today: ‘I believe in the Holy Spirit’.

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(i) Within the Living Leadership Network, we have a diversity of views about spiritual gifts and manifestations of the Spirit, as well as over other matters regarding the Spirit.

(ii) Some readers will note that this is the Western form of the Creed. The words “and the Son” were adopted in Western versions of the Nicene Creed, but rejected in Eastern versions. I side step historically-divisive debates over whether the Spirit proceeds from the Father alone or the Father and the Son in this post for the sake of brevity and focus. Readers may be familiar with or wish to research the ‘Filioque controversy’ that was at least part of the basis for the separation between the Eastern and Western branches of Christianity.

(iii) Clarity about the inspiration and authority of Scripture was not necessary in the Creeds because these beliefs were not seriously contested at that time. Evangelical statements of faith needed to expand on this because the so-called ‘Enlightenment’ brought new challenges to the historic confidence in Scripture.

(iv) Unlike English, Greek words have genders and pneuma (‘spirit’) is neuter, not masculine.