*This is an updated version of Herman Bavinck, Our Reasonable Faith, trans. Henry Zylstra (Eerdmans, 1956), chapter 19.

1. The Exalted Christ and the Gift of the Spirit

The Outpouring at Pentecost

The first work which Christ does after His exaltation to the right hand of the Father is to send out the Holy Spirit. At His exaltation He Himself accepted from the Father the Holy Spirit promised in the Old Testament, and therefore He can now, as He promised His disciples He would, share it with His disciples (Acts 2:33). The Spirit He gives proceeds from the Father, is given Him by the Father, and is thereupon given to the church (Luke 24:49 and John 14:26).

This sending of the Holy Spirit which took place on the day of Pentecost is a unique event in the history of the church of Christ. Just as the creation and the incarnation, it took place but once. It was not preceded by any granting of the Spirit equal to it in importance, and none has ever followed it. Just as Christ in His conception assumed the human nature, never again to lay it aside, so the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost chose the church as His dwelling place and temple, never again to be separated from it. Scripture clearly indicates the unique significance of this event on Pentecost by speaking of it as an outpouring or a shedding of the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit Before and After Pentecost

This is not, of course, to say that there is no mention made of various kinds of activity and granting of the Holy Spirit before the day of Pentecost. We have previously observed that the Spirit together with the Father and the Son is the Creator of all things, and that in the sphere of redemption He is the Implementer of all life and salvation, of all talent and ability. But there is a difference between the activity and the granting of the Holy Spirit in the days of the Old Testament and in those of the New. The difference is remarkable and essential. This is apparent first of all from the fact that the Old Dispensation always looked forward still to the appearing of the Servant of the Lord upon whom the Spirit of the Lord was to rest in all its fulness as the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of fear of the Lord (Isa. 11:2). And, in the next place, the Old Testament itself predicts that even though there was then already a certain granting and activity of the Holy Spirit, that Spirit would not be poured out over all flesh, over sons and daughters, old and young, menservants and maidservants, until the last days.¹Isa. 44:3; Ezek. 39:29; and Joel 2:28 ff.

The Anointed One

Both promises were fulfilled in the New Testament. Jesus is the Christ, the Anointed of God, pre-eminently. He was not only conceived by the Holy Spirit in Mary’s womb, and was not only anointed at His baptism without measure by that Spirit, but He also continuously lived and worked through that Spirit. By that Spirit He was led into the desert (Luke 4:1), and by Him He returned to Galilee (Luke 4:14), preached the gospel, healed the sick, cast out devils,²Matt. 12:28; Luke 4:18 and 19. delivered Himself up to death (Heb. 9:14), was raised, and as the Son of God was revealed in power (Rom. 1:4). In the forty days which elapsed between His resurrection and His ascension, He gave His disciples charges through the Holy Spirit. And at His ascension by which He subjected all enemies to Himself and subordinated all angels, principalities, and powers to Himself (Eph. 4:8 and 1 Peter 3:22), He fully received the Holy Spirit and all His powers. Ascending on high, He took captivity captive, gave gifts to men, and was exalted above all heavens, in order that He should fulfill all things (Eph. 4:8-10).

The Lord Who Is the Spirit

This taking possession of the Holy Spirit by Christ is so absolute an appropriation that the apostle Paul can say of it in 2 Corinthians 3:17 that the Lord (that is, Christ as the exalted Lord) is the Spirit. Naturally Paul does not by that statement mean to obliterate the distinction between the two, for in the following verse He immediately speaks again of the Spirit of the Lord (or, as another translation has it, of the Lord of the Spirit). But the Holy Spirit has become entirely the property of Christ, and was, so to speak, absorbed into Christ or assimilated by Him. By His resurrection and ascension Christ has become the quickening [life-giving] Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45). He is now in possession of the seven Spirits (that is, the Spirit in His fulness), even as He is in possession of the seven stars (Rev. 3:1). The Spirit of God the Father has become the Spirit of the Son, the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit who, not only in the Divine being, but in harmony with it, also in the dispensation of salvation, proceeds from the Father and the Son, and is sent by the Son quite as much as by the Father (John 14:26; 15:26; and 16:7).³Acts 1:2; compare John 20:21-22.

The Spirit in the Service of Christ

On the basis of His perfect obedience Christ obtained the full and free command over the Holy Spirit and over all the gifts and powers of that Spirit. He can now share it with whom He will and in the measure that He will, not in conflict, naturally, but quite in accordance with the will of the Father and of the Spirit both, for the Son sends the Spirit of the Father (John 15:26). And the Father sends the Spirit in the name of the Son (John 14:26). And the Spirit will not speak of Himself, but will speak that which He hears: just as Christ Himself on earth always glorified the Father, so the Spirit in His turn will glorify Christ, receive everything from Christ, and show it to Christ’s disciples (John 16:13-14). The Holy Spirit, accordingly, freely puts Himself in the service of Christ. And in the Spirit and through the Spirit Christ gives of Himself and His benefits to the church.

Christ’s Reign Through the Spirit

It is not by might or violence, therefore, that Christ rules in the kingdom given Him by the Father. He did not do this in His humiliation, and He does not do it in His exaltation. His entire prophetic, priestly, and kingly activity He continues to carry on in a spiritual way from His place in heaven. He fights only with spiritual weapons. He is a king of grace and a king of might, but in both kinds He leads His regiment out through the Holy Spirit, who, in turn, makes use of the Word as a means of grace. By that Spirit He instructs, comforts, and leads His church, and dwells in it. And by the same Spirit He convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8-11). The eventual victory which Christ will gain over all His enemies will be a triumph of the Holy Spirit.

2. The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit

“The Spirit Was Not Yet”

After Christ has been raised to the right hand of God, the second promise of the Old Testament can be realized. It speaks of a pouring out of the Holy Spirit over all flesh. Christ must first have earned and appropriated that Spirit fully for Himself before He can give it to His church. Before that time, that is before the ascension, the Holy Spirit was not yet, because Christ was not yet glorified (John 7:39). Naturally, this does not mean to say that before the glorification of Christ the Holy Spirit did not yet exist, for not only is reference made to the Holy Spirit again and again in the Old Testament but the gospels also report that John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:15), that Simeon was led to the temple by the Holy Spirit (Luke 2:26-27), that Jesus was conceived by Him and anointed by Him, and so on. Moreover, the meaning cannot be that the disciples did not know before the day of Pentecost that a Holy Spirit existed. For they had been taught otherwise by the Old Testament and by Jesus Himself. Even the disciples of John who said to Paul at Ephesus that they had not received the Holy Spirit and that they had not heard whether there was a Holy Spirit (Acts 19:2) could not have meant to indicate their ignorance of whether or not the Holy Spirit existed. What they meant to say is that they had not noticed any unusual operation of the Holy Spirit, that is, the event of Pentecost. For they knew that John was a prophet sent by God and qualified by the Spirit. But they had remained disciples of John, had not joined Jesus and His group, and so lived outside the pale of the church which on the day of Pentecost received the Holy Spirit. On that day there was such an outpouring of the Holy Spirit as there had never been before.

The Promise of the Spirit

The Old Testament had already given expression to this promise, and Jesus, too, took it up and repeatedly returned to it in His teaching. John the Baptist had already said of the Messiah, who was to come after him, that He would not, like himself, baptize with water, but with the Holy Spirit and with fire (that is, with the purging and consuming fire of the Holy Spirit).⁴Matt. 3:11 / Luke 3:16; and John 3:11. And in harmony with this statement. Jesus promised His disciples that after His exaltation He would send them the Holy Spirit from the Father who would lead them into all truth (John 14:16, 26; 16:17, 13). In saying this, He was plainly making a distinction between two kinds of activity of the Holy Spirit. By the one kind the Holy Spirit, having been poured out into the hearts of the disciples, comforts them, leads them into truth, and remains with them eternally. But this Spirit of comfort and guidance is given only to the disciples of Jesus. The world cannot receive this Spirit, for the world does not see Him nor know Him (John 14:17). On the contrary, in the world the Holy Spirit carries out a very different activity: living in the church and thence exercising His influence upon the world, the Spirit convicts it of sin, righteousness, and judgment, and condemns it on all three counts (John 16:8-11).

The Apostolic Gift

Jesus fulfills His promise to the disciples in the narrower sense, that is, to the apostles, even before His ascension. When, on the evening of the day of His resurrection, He appeared to His disciples for the first time again, He introduced them in a dignified way into their apostolic mission, He breathed on them, saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld” (John 20:22-23). For the apostolic office which they must exercise presently they require the particular gift and strength of the Spirit. And this Christ Himself gives them before His ascension. It is distinct from that which on the day of Pentecost He will give the disciples in fellowship with all believers.

The Day of Pentecost

The outpouring proper took place forty days later. The Jews were then celebrating their feast of Pentecost in celebration of the harvest and of the law-giving on Sinai. The disciples were in Jerusalem awaiting the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise, and were constantly in the temple, praising and blessing God (Luke 24:49, 53).⁵John 14:16; 15:26; and 16:7. But they were now not alone. They continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brethren, and with many others, the number of names together being about a hundred and twenty (Acts 1:14, 15; and 2:1). And as they were thus gathered there came suddenly and unexpectedly a sound from heaven, resembling a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the place not only where the disciples were gathered but the whole house also. At the same time tongues appeared which looked like little flames of fire, which divided above the heads of those gathered there, and rested upon them. Accompanied by these signs, which signified the purging and illuminating activity of the Holy Spirit, the outpouring took place. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:4).

The Church as the Spirit’s Temple

The same expression occurs earlier also (Ex. 31:3; Micah 3:8; and Luke 1:41). But the difference lies on the surface. Beforehand the Holy Spirit had come down to a few, independent persons, and only temporarily for a specific purpose. Now it descended upon the whole church and upon all its members, and it remains dwelling and working there permanently. Just as the Son of God appeared more than once in the days of the Old Testament but chose human nature as a permanent dwelling only at the conception in the womb of Mary, so formerly, too, there was all kinds of activity and gift of the Holy Spirit, but only on the day of Pentecost does He make the church His temple which He continually sanctifies, builds up, and which He will never forsake. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit gives the church of Christ an independent existence. That church is no longer contained by the nation of Israel nor the boundaries of Palestine, but lives now independently through the Spirit that dwells in it, and it spreads itself out over the whole earth. Out of the temple on Zion God proceeds to dwell in the body of the church of Christ, and so on that day this church is born as mission church and world church. The ascension of Christ has its necessary consequence and the proof of its reality in the descent of the Holy Spirit. Just as this Spirit first sanctified Christ through suffering, perfected Him, and led Him to the highest pinnacle, so He is now committed in the same way to forming the body of Christ until it achieves its full maturity and constitutes the fulfillment, the pleroma, of Him who fulfills all in all.

3. Speaking in Other Tongues

A Miracle of Speech, Not of Hearing

This outpouring of the Holy Spirit was accompanied in the early period for the disciples of Christ by all kinds of extraordinary powers and operations. As soon as on the day of Pentecost they were filled with the Holy Spirit, they began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance (Acts 2:4). According to the description of Luke we are to regard this wonder as a miracle of speech or language and not as a miracle of hearing. Luke was a friend and fellow-worker of Paul and knew the phenomenon of speaking with tongues as it took place, for instance, at Corinth, very well. He speaks of it himself in Acts 10:46 and 19:6. No doubt the phenomenon of Pentecost was related to the speaking with tongues. Otherwise Peter could not have said that Cornelius and those with him had received the Holy Spirit just as Peter and the other apostles had (Acts 10:47; compare 11:17 and 15:8). Nevertheless there was a difference. For, in 1 Corinthians 14, as in Acts 10:46 and 19:6, the speaking with tongues is not modified by the adjective strange [other]. But Acts 2:4 expressly mentions the word other tongues. When the members of the church at Corinth speak in tongues, they are not understood unless an interpretation follows later on (1 Cor. 14:2ff.). But in Jerusalem the disciples were already speaking in other tongues before the multitude came up and heard them. A miracle of hearing is therefore out of the question (Acts 2:4). And when the multitude of people heard it, they understood what was said, for everybody heard the disciples in his own language in which he was reared (Acts 2:6, 8). The other languages of which verse 4 speaks are doubtlessly the languages which verse 6 calls the languages of the auditors, and which in verse 8 are still more specifically designated as the ones in which those who heard were born. They were not therefore incomprehensible sounds in which the disciples spoke, but other tongues, new tongues, as Mark says in Chapter 16:17 of his Gospel, and such as they had not expected from untutored Galileans (Acts 2:7). In all those languages they proclaim the wonderful works of God, and particularly those which in the most recent time He had done in the raising and exaltation of Christ (Acts 2:4 and 14ff.).

What the Miracle Was Not

We are not to take Luke’s account of this as though it meant to say that the disciples of Jesus at that moment knew and could speak all the possible languages of the earth. Nor does the account mean to say that all of the disciples spoke all of the other tongues. The purpose of this miracle of languages was not even that the disciples should preach the gospel to the strangers in their own tongues for the reason that they could not otherwise understand it. For the fifteen names listed in verses 9-11 do not represent as many different languages. They are designations of the countries from which the strangers had come to Jerusalem on the occasion of Pentecost. And all of the strangers named there [would have] understood Aramaic or Greek, so that in this respect no qualifying of the apostles for speaking new languages was needed. Later in the New Testament, too, we do not again find any mention made of this gift of strange languages. Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, who would then certainly have received the gift rather than others, never speaks of it. He could get on very well with the Aramaic and the Greek in the world of his time.

A Unique Event

The speaking in strange tongues on the day of Pentecost was therefore a unique event. It was related, it is true, to the speaking of tongues generally known and referred to elsewhere, but it was a speaking of a particular sort and a higher form. Paul ranked that general and common kind lower in importance than prophecy (1 Cor 14:1-5). But the thing that took place at Jerusalem was a combination of the speaking with tongues and prophecy. The operation of the Holy Spirit, then first poured out in its fulness, was so powerful that it dominated the whole consciousness and expressed itself in the speaking of articulated sounds which were recognized by the auditors as being their own languages. The purpose of this miracle was not, therefore, to equip the disciples with the knowledge of strange languages, but rather, in an unusual way, to leave a powerful impression of the great event that had now taken place. And how could this be done better than by having the small, newly established world church proclaim in many tongues the mighty deeds of God? At the creation the morning stars sang together and all the children of God rejoiced (Job 38:7). At the birth of Christ the multitude of heavenly hosts raised the jubilee of God’s good will (Luke 2:13-14). On the birthday of the church that church itself sings the wonderful works of God in myriad tones.

4. The Gifts of the Spirit

Extraordinary Powers in the Apostolic Church

Even though the speaking with tongues has an important place among the signs of Pentecost, we must remember that the pouring out of the Spirit in that first period became manifest in many unusual powers and operations. The gift of the Spirit was generally given after someone had come to the faith, sometimes at baptism (Acts 2:28), or at the laying on of hands before baptism (Acts 9:17), or at the laying on of hands after baptism (Acts 8:17 and 19:6). But usually it consisted of the granting of a particular power. Thus we read that by the Spirit the disciples were given boldness to speak the word (Acts 4:8 and 31), a particular strength of faith (Acts 6:5 and 11:24), comfort and joy (Acts 9:31 and 13:52), wisdom (Acts 6:3 and 10), speaking with tongues (Acts 10:46; 15:8; and 19:6), prophecy (Acts 11:28; 20:23; and 21:11), manifestations and revelations,⁶Acts 7:55; 8:39; 10:19; 13:2; 15:28; 16:6; and 20:22. miraculous healings,⁷Acts 3:6; 5:5, 12, 15, 16; 8:7, 13; and elsewhere. and the like. Just as did the works which Jesus performed, so these unusual powers which were made manifest in the church caused great fear and perturbation. On the one hand they did provoke opposition, driving the heart of the enemies to hatred and persecution; but, on the other hand, they also prepared the soil for receiving the seed of the gospel. They were necessary in that first period to provide entrance for the Christian confession in the world.

Throughout the whole apostolic period these unusual operations of the Spirit continued. We know this especially from the witness of the apostle Paul. He was Himself, in his own person, abundantly endowed with these special gifts of the Spirit. In an unusual way, that is, by a revelation of Jesus Christ Himself, He was brought to repentance on the way to Damascus, and called to be an apostle (Acts 9:3 ff.), and later, too, revelations came to Him periodically.⁸Acts 2:7, 37, 43; 3:10; 4:13; 5:5, 11, 13, and 24. He knows himself to be in possession of the gift of knowledge, of prophecy, of doctrine, of speaking with tongues (1 Cor. 14:6 and 18). He performs signs, wonders, and works which are evidences of his apostleship (2 Cor. 12:12). He preaches in demonstration of the Spirit and power (1 Cor. 2:4). Christ Himself wrought by him to make the Gentiles obedient, by word and deed, through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God (Rom. 15:18-19).

Gifts Given to All Believers

But, although Paul is fully conscious of his apostolic office and its dignity and always maintains it as absolutely as possible, he knew that the gifts of the Spirit were not given to him alone but also to all the believers. In 1 Corinthians 12:8-10 (compare Rom. 6:8) Paul cites a number of these gifts, and he says of them that they are distributed by the Spirit in differing proportions and to each according to the will of the Spirit. The apostle values all of those gifts very highly. They are not owing to the believers themselves for these have nothing which they have not received, and therefore have no basis at all for exalting themselves and despising others (1 Cor. 4:6-7). But all of those gifts and powers are achieved by one and the same Spirit. They are a fulfillment of the prophecy made in the Old Testament (Gal. 3:14) and are to be regarded as first fruits which herald a great harvest and as an earnest of our future, heavenly inheritance.⁹Acts 16:6, 7, 9; 2 Cor. 12:1-7; and Gal. 2:2.

Paul’s Measure of the Gifts

The Confession of Jesus as Lord

Nevertheless, Paul gives out an appraisal of all these unusual gifts which differs significantly from that of many members of the church.¹⁰Rom. 8:23; 2 Cor. 1:22; 5:5; Eph. 1:14; and 4:30. There were persons at Corinth who exalted themselves on the basis of the gifts given them by the revelation of the Spirit, and who looked down with disdain on those who had received lesser gifts or no gifts at all. These persons did not apply their gifts to the benefit of others, but flaunted them. And they attached a particular importance to the mysterious and incomprehensible speaking with tongues. But Paul points out their mistake (1 Cor. 12-14). In the first place, he points to the norm by which all of these gifts must be measured. That norm is the confession of Jesus as Lord. Whoever speaks through the Spirit of God cannot call Jesus accursed. Only those who confess Jesus as Lord demonstrate that they speak through the Holy Spirit. The earmark of the Spirit and of all His gifts and operations is His being bound to the confession of Jesus as Lord (1 Cor. 12:3).

The Edification of the Church

Next, Paul points out that the gifts of the Spirit, although all answering to one norm, are nevertheless greatly differentiated, and that they are given to everyone not according to his merit or worth, but according to the sovereign will of the Spirit (1 Cor. 12:4-11). They are not therefore to be the occasion or basis for self-exaltation and the despising or disdaining of others. Rather, they must all be heartily and willingly applied to the benefit of the neighbor, for all believers are members of one body and need each other (1 Cor. 12:12-30). But if the gifts are used to that end, if they are devoted to that which is profitable (1 Cor. 12:7), that is, beneficial to others, to the edifying of the church, as it is called (1 Cor. 14:12), then gradations become evident among the gifts themselves, for the one is more beneficial to the edifying of the church than the other, and so one can speak of good gifts, better gifts, and best gifts. Therefore the Apostle advises the believers in 1 Corinthians 12:31 that they may certainly covet the best gifts.

The More Excellent Way

In that energetic aspiration to the best gifts, love is the pre-eminent way. Without it, the greatest gifts are without value (1 Cor. 13:1-3). Love far transcends all others in virtue (1 Cor. 13:4-7). Love transcends all the gifts in duration, for all gifts will sometime cease, but love is eternal. Among the three virtues, faith, hope, and love, love is again of highest worth (1 Cor. 13:8-13). Therefore it is to be pursued above all things, even though the following after spiritual gifts is in itself commendable (1 Cor. 14:1). But in this pursuit the attention must be directed to such gifts as serve to edify the church and thus most exercise love. Viewed from this point of view, prophecy stands much higher than speaking with tongues. For they who speak with tongues are not understood, speak mysteries which are incomprehensible to the auditors, speak into the air, leave mind and judgment out of account, do not bring the unbelieving to the faith, but leave the impression of being mentally ill. If there are members of the church who possess this power, they are to make use of it with restraint, and are preferably to accompany it with an interpretation. If no interpretation can be given, let them keep still in the church! On the contrary, those who prophesy, those who through the revelation of the Spirit proclaim the word of God, speak edification, admonishment, and comfort to men. They build up the church, and they win the unbelieving. Irrespective therefore of what gift a person may have received, it has its norm of genuineness in the confession of Jesus as Lord and its purpose in the edifying of the church. God is not a God of confusion but of peace.

A Lesson for Every Age

This beautiful treatment of spiritual gifts bore its fruit not only for the church at Corinth, but keeps its significance for the church of all ages. For always and again there are persons and parties who attach more importance to unusual manifestations, to revelations and miracles, than to the operation of the Spirit in regeneration, conversion, and the renewing of life. The abnormal and unusual always attracts attention, and the normal and usual goes unnoticed. People take to revelations, appearances, transports of the soul, and theatrical extravagances, and have closed eyes for the gradual and steady maturing of the kingdom of God. Paul was of a different mind. Much as he esteems the unusual gifts of the spirit, he admonishes the church in Corinth: “Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature” (1 Cor. 14:20).

5. The Indwelling Spirit

The Spirit Who Renews the Heart

Thus the apostle shifts the center of gravity from the temporal and transient revelations of the Spirit to the regular religious and moral work which He continuously accomplishes in the church. Such an idea of the work of the Spirit was prepared for already in the days of the Old Testament. Then, too, all kinds of extraordinary gifts and powers were ascribed to the Holy Spirit, but, as the prophets and the psalmists were led more deeply into the apostacy of the people of Israel and into the subtlety and wickedness of the human heart, they declared more clearly and strongly that only a renewal by the Holy Spirit could make the people of Israel a people of God in the real sense. The Ethiopian cannot change his skin, nor the leopard his spots. So they also can do no good that are accustomed to do evil (Jer. 13:23). God by His Spirit must change the hearts of the people, if they are to walk in His ways, and keep His ordinances and statutes. The Spirit of the Lord alone works the true, spiritual, and moral life.¹¹Ps. 51:12 and 13; Isa. 32:15; and Ezek. 36:27.

The preaching of Jesus in the gospel according to John confirms all this. In His conversation with Nicodemus Jesus explains that there is no access to the kingdom of God, nor any sharing in it, except through regeneration, and that this rebirth can take place only through the Holy Spirit (John 3:3-5). And in His farewell addresses (John 14-16) He develops in detail the idea that the Spirit whom He will send from the Father after His glorification is to take His place among the disciples. It is therefore beneficial to them that Jesus Himself go. Otherwise the Helper could not come to them. But when He Himself goes to the Father He can and He will send the Spirit. For Christ’s going to the Father will be the evidence that He has perfectly finished the work on earth that He was to do. In heaven He can and He may then take His seat at the Father’s right hand, may function as high priest and intercessor for the church on earth, and may desire everything from the Father which that church needs. In other words, He can then pray the Father for the Holy Spirit in all His fulness and send the Spirit to His disciples. And this Spirit will then take His place among them. In the future the Spirit will be their Helper, their guide, their intercessor, and their advocate.

Communion with the Father and the Son

In this the disciples will suffer no loss. For when Jesus went about on earth, He went in and out with His disciples, it is true, but there were all kinds of aloofness and misunderstanding among them. But the Spirit who is to come will not remain standing outside of them or alongside of them, but will dwell within them. Christ’s stay on earth was temporary, but the Spirit whom He will send will never leave them, but will remain with them into eternity. Indeed, Christ Himself will come to them again in that Spirit. He does not leave them as orphans, but He returns to them and joins Himself with them in the Spirit in a way which had before been impossible. Then they will see Him again. They will live, as He lives. They will acknowledge that Christ is in the Father, and they in Him, and He in them. And in Christ the Father comes to them. Through the Spirit both come. Father and Son both come to the disciples and make their dwelling in them in the Spirit. That, then, is the thing that the Holy Spirit will, in the first place, accomplish: a communion between the Father and the Son, on the one hand, and between the disciples, on the other. It is a fellowship such as has never existed before.

The Spirit of Truth

And when the disciples share this fellowship and live by it, when they are joined with Christ as the branch is with the vine, when they are not servants but friends, then that same Spirit who has caused them to share in this fellowship will also in the future as the Spirit of truth lead them into all truth. He will not only give them to reflect on what Christ personally told and taught them, but He Will constantly be witnessing to them of the Christ. He will say what He has heard from Christ and has received from Him, and He will even declare future things to them. The disciples will not only have the fellowship with Christ and the Father, but they will also be conscious of having it. The Holy Spirit will enlighten them concerning Christ, concerning His oneness with the Father, and concerning their relationship to both the Father and the Son. The final purpose is that all believers be one even as — so Christ puts it in His own words — “Just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (John 17:21 ff.).

One Holy Church

When on the day of Pentecost the outpouring of the Holy Spirit took place, the extraordinary manifestations by which this rich shedding of the Spirit revealed itself, naturally enough, in that first period, attracted the attention. But we may not for that reason close our eyes to the other and really much more significant fact that the disciples by the gift of the Spirit were united in the most intimate way into one, independent, holy church. Christ was the Lord and Savior of that church, and all the believers mutually continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers (Acts 2:42). The unity of which Christ had spoken was for a time realized in the church at Jerusalem. When the enthusiasm of the first love later gave way to a calmer attitude of heart and mind, when churches were added in other places and among other peoples, when, later still, all kinds of schism and separation came up in the Christian church, then the unity which binds all the believers took on a different form, became less vital and profound, sometimes even very weak or such as not to be felt at all. But we are not to forget in the midst of all difference and strife that in essence the unity of the church has remained until this day. In the future it will become even more gloriously manifest than it was for that brief period in Jerusalem.

6. Union with Christ

The Body of Christ

It is the apostle Paul who of all the apostles most holds this ideal of the unity of the church up before our view and who himself holds to it in spite of all division of which he, in his day too, was already a witness. The church is one body, and all its members need each other and must serve each other (Rom. 12:4 and 1 Cor. 12:12ff.). But it is such a unity because it is the body of Christ.¹²Rom. 12:5; Eph. 1:23; and Col. 1:24. The unity of the church is rooted in the fellowship with Christ and comes up out of it. Christ is the head of every believer, of every local congregation, and also of the church as a whole. All believers are new creatures whom God has created in Christ for good works in order that they should walk in them (2 Cor. 5:17 and Eph. 2:10). Christ lives and dwells in them, and they live, move, and have their being in Christ: Christ is their life.¹³Rom. 6:11; 8:1 and 10; 2 Cor. 13:5; Gal. 2:20; Phil. 1:21; and Col. 3:4. The combination [phrase] in Christ (in the Lord, in Him) occurs more than a hundred and fifty times in the New Testament. It indicates that Christ is the constant source not only of the spiritual life, but that as such He also immediately and directly dwells in the believer. The unity is as close as that between a cornerstone and a temple, a man and a woman, the head and the body, the vine and the branch. The believers are in Christ as all things by virtue of creation and providence are in God. They live in Him as the fish lives in water, the bird in the air, the man in his vocation, the scholar in his study. Together with Him they are crucified, dead, and buried, are raised again, seated at the right hand of God, and glorified.¹⁴Rom. 6:4 ff.; Gal. 2:20; 6:14; Eph. 2:6; Col. 2:12, 20; and 3:3. They have put Him on, have assumed His form, and they show in their body both the suffering and the life of Christ, and are perfected (fulfilled) in Him. In short, Christ is all and in all.¹⁵Rom. 13:14; 2 Cor. 4:11; Gal. 4:19; Col. 1:24; 2:10; and 3:11.

Union Through the Spirit

This close relationship is made possible by the fact that Christ shares Himself with the believer through the Spirit. Because by His passion and death Christ has so perfectly earned the Spirit and all His gifts and powers that He, Christ Himself, can be called the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17), He has also earned the right to give that Spirit to whom He will. The Spirit of God has become the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of the Son, the Spirit of the Lord.¹⁶Rom. 8:9; 1 Cor. 2:16; 2 Cor. 3:18; Gal. 4:6; and Phil. 1:19. To have received that Spirit is to say that one has received Christ, for whoever has not the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Christ, is not His own (Rom. 8:9-10). Just as God gives Him [Christ] to the world, so Christ gives Himself to the church through His Spirit. The believers are one Spirit with Him (1 Cor. 6:17). They are temples of the Holy Spirit through whom God Himself dwells in them (1 Cor. 3:16, 17 and 6:19). They are, they confess, they walk, they pray, and they rejoice in the Spirit.¹⁷Rom. 8:4, 9, 15; 14:17; and 1 Cor. 12:3. They are spiritual beings, understanding and judging the things of the Spirit (Rom. 8:2 and 1 Cor. 2:14). They are continuously led by the Spirit and are accompanied by Him up to the day of the redemption.¹⁸Rom. 8:15-16; 2 Cor. 1:22; Eph. 1:13; and 4:30. By that Spirit they all have access to the Father and are built up together on the foundation of the apostles and prophets for a habitation to God (Eph. 2:18 and 22).

A Union Beyond Comprehension

In terms such as these the Holy Scriptures account for that wonderful unity which exists between Christ and His church, and which later came to be designated by the term mystical union. As a matter of fact we cannot understand this unity in its depth and intimacy. It far transcends our thought. It is certainly to be distinguished in nature and kind from the unity which exists among the three persons of the Godhead, for all three of those persons share in one and the same Divine being, and it is precisely in essence that Christ and the believers remain distinct from each other. True, the unity of Christ and the church is more than once compared with that between Christ and the Father.¹⁹John 10:38; 14:11, 20; and 17:21-23. But at those times Christ is not speaking of Himself as the Son, the Only-Begotten, but of Himself as the Mediator, who will be raised to the right hand of God, and through whom the Father will carry out His good pleasure. Just as the Father has chosen His own in Christ from before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4) to the glory of His grace in which He has made them accepted in the Beloved (Eph. 1:6-7 and Acts 20:28), so He also gathers them all in Christ in one (Eph. 1:10). The Father dwells in Christ as the Mediator and so gives Himself and His blessings to the church.

The Nature of the Union

Close and inseparable as the relationship between the Father and the Mediator is, that between Christ and the believers is equally so. In inner power it surpasses every union that can be found among creatures and even that which exists between God and His world. Distinguished on the one hand from all pantheistic admixture [something mixed with something else], it is on the other hand far superior to all deistic juxtaposition and all contractual relationship. Scripture teaches us something about its nature by comparing it with the relationship between a vine and its branches, the head of a body and its members, a man and a woman. It is a relationship which fully and eternally unites the whole Christ with His church and with its members in the depth of their being and in the essence of their personality. It is a relationship which began in eternity when the Son of God declared Himself to be ready for the Mediatorship. It obtained its objective existence in the fulness of time when Christ put on the human nature, entered into the fellowship of His people, and delivered Himself up in death for His own. And it is personally actualized in each individual when the Holy Spirit comes into him, incorporates him into Christ, and when he, on his part, acknowledges and exercises this unity with Christ.

The Person and His Benefits

This fellowship with the person of Christ brings with it the sharing in all His blessings and benefits. There is no sharing in the benefits of Christ unless we share in His person, for the benefits are not to be separated from the person. That would to a certain extent be conceivable if the benefits which Christ conferred were material goods. A man can give us his money and property without giving us himself. But the benefits which Christ gives are spiritual in kind. They consist above all of His favor, His mercy, His love, and these are gifts which are thoroughly personal in kind and are not to be separated from the person of Christ. The treasury of benefits has not been deposited somewhere on earth, in the hands, say, of pope or priest, or in church or sacrament. It is to be found exclusively in Christ Himself. He is that treasury. In Him the Father turns His friendly, gracious face to us, and that is all our salvation.

And, conversely, there is no fellowship with the person of Christ without a sharing in His treasures and benefits. The relationship between the Father and Christ is in this respect again the basis and the example of the relationship between Christ and His church. The Father gave Himself to the Son, specifically also to the Son as the Mediator of God and men. The Father has retained nothing for Himself but has given all to Christ. All things were delivered to Him by the Father (Matt. 11:27 and John 3:35). All that the Father has is His (John 16:15 and 17:10). The Father and Christ are one; the Father is in Him, and He is in the Father (John 10:38 and 17:21-23). And so, in His turn, Christ gives Himself and all His benefits to the church through the Holy Spirit (John 16:13-15). He keeps nothing for Himself. Just as the fulness of the Godhead dwells in Him bodily (Col. 1:19 and 2:9), so He also perfects the church unto the measure of the stature of His fulness until it is filled to the fulness of God.²⁰Eph. 1:23; 3:19; 4:13 and 16. He is all in all (Col. 3:11).

Grace Upon Grace

It is a fulness which we receive in Christ, a Divine fulness, a fulness of grace and truth, a fulness which is never exhausted, and which grants grace for grace (John 1:14 and 16). This fulness dwells in Christ Himself, in His person, in His Divine and in His human nature, during the state of His humiliation and that of His exaltation. There is a fulness of grace in His incarnation: “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake, He became poor, that you by His poverty might become rich” (2 Cor. 8:9). There is a fulness of grace in His living and dying, for in the days of His flesh He learned obedience from the things which He suffered, and being made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey Him (Heb. 5:7-9). There is a fulness of grace in His resurrection, for by it He was shown to be the Son of God in power and has begotten us again unto a living hope (Rom. 1:4 and 1 Peter 1:3). There is a fulness of grace in His ascension, for by it He took captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men (Eph. 4:8). There is a fulness of grace in His intercession for by it He can perfectly save all those that come to God by Him (Heb. 7:25). There is a fulness of grace in His bringing forgiveness, regeneration, renewal, comfort, preservation, leading, sanctification, and glorification. It is a long, broad, deep stream of grace, and it bears the believers along from beginning to end, into eternity. It is a fulness which gives grace for grace, grace instead of grace, which immediately supplants the one grace by another, exchanging it for the former one, interchanging them. There is no desisting [holding back] in this, no interim. It is all grace and nothing but grace which comes to the church in Christ.

7. The Benefits of Christ through the Spirit

The Fullness of Grace

The benefits which Christ gives in His fellowship can therefore very well be comprehended under the one term grace. But that one name then comprises a fulness, a riches of blessing, which cannot be surveyed. At the beginning of the last preceding chapter, mention was made of the reconciliation which Christ had accomplished with the Father by His satisfying sacrifice. In Christ God has laid His wrath aside and placed Himself in an attitude of grace towards the world (2 Cor. 5:19). And for the person who accepts this reconciliation with a believing heart, there flows a series of benefits — indeed, salvation itself. Scripture mentions many of them — calling, regeneration, faith, justification, forgiveness of sins, adoption as children, freedom from the law, spiritual liberty, hope, love, peace, joy, gladness, comfort, sanctification, preservation, perseverance, glorification, and others besides. A total summing up is really impossible, for they include everything which the church as a whole and each individual believer in particular, throughout all ages and in all circumstances, in prosperity and adversity, in life and death, this side of the grave and hereafter into all eternity, has received and will receive of the fulness of Christ.

Three Groups of Benefits

Because of this quantity and richness of benefits, it is impossible to develop them all fully. It is highly difficult to get a good survey of them all. And there is some risk too in treating them in a regular order and in assigning to each benefit its place in the context of the whole. The classification, accordingly, differs greatly among theologians. But in the main three major groups of benefits can be defined. In the first place, there is the group of benefits which prepares man for the covenant of grace, introduces him into it, and gives him the ability, on his own part, with a willing heart to receive the blessings of that covenant, and to accept them. These are the benefits of calling, regeneration (in the narrower sense), faith, and repentance. A second group comprises those blessings which change the status of man in God’s sight, free him from guilt, and so renew his mind. These are particularly the benefits of justification, forgiveness of sins, adoption as children, the testimony of the Holy Spirit with our spirit, freedom from the law, spiritual liberty, peace and joy. And, in the next place, there is a third group of benefits, and these introduce a change into the condition of man, redeem him from the taint of sin, and renew him according to the image of God. To this group belong especially regeneration (in the broader sense), the dying and being raised with Christ, the continuous conversion, the walking in the Spirit, and the perseverance up to the end. All of these benefits are perfected and completed in the heavenly glory and salvation which God prepares hereafter for His own. A separate chapter will be devoted to that at the end of this instruction in the Christian religion.

Only Through the Spirit

Before giving more specific attention to each of these groups of benefits, we ought to observe that all of them, even as the person of Christ Himself, can be granted only through the Holy Spirit. We noticed above that the Father is in Christ, that only in Christ He turns His gracious face to us, and that only in Him the Father comes to make His dwelling with us. But just so, too, Christ is in the Holy Spirit, and He can come to us and wants to come to us only through that Spirit. By the Spirit Christ gives Himself to us and gives His benefits to us. The Spirit is called the Holy Spirit precisely because He stands in a particular relationship to the Father and to Christ, and accordingly puts us into a particular relationship with both the Father and the Son. We must not suppose, therefore, that we can ever in any way come into fellowship with the Father and with Christ except through the Holy Spirit. Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity (2 Tim. 2:19).

The Spirit’s Work in the Believer

According to the Scriptures the Holy Spirit is the Factor and Implementer [Author and Agent] of regeneration and of faith (John 3:5 and 1 Cor. 12:3, 9; 2 Cor 4:13). He assures us of our justification and testifies of our adoption as children.²¹Rom. 8:15; 1 Cor. 6:11; and Gal. 4:6. He pours out the love of God into our hearts, gives us peace and joy, and delivers us from the law, the flesh, and from sin and death.²²Rom. 5:5; 8:2; and 14:17. He is the Comforter and Advocate who defends our cause, protects and supports us, and who does not, as Christ does in His human nature, leave us, but remains with us always, comforting us and praying for us.²³John 14:16; Acts 9:31; and Rom. 8:26. Not only is the spiritual life quickened by Him, but it is also continuously maintained and led by Him: He is the law and the rule of it (Rom. 8:2, 14 and Gal. 5:18). He renews and sanctifies that life, causes it to bear fruit, and makes it pleasing to God.²⁴Rom. 15:13, 16; Gal. 5:23; 2. Thess. 2:13; Titus 3:5; and 1 Peter 1:2. The whole life of the Christian is a walking in the Spirit (Rom. 8:4ff. and Gal. 5:16 and 25). He binds all the believers into one body and builds them up into one temple, a dwelling place of God (Eph. 2:18-22 and 4:3-4). He guarantees the heavenly inheritance,²⁵2 Cor. 1:22; 5:5; Eph. 1:13; and 4:30. and will one day effect their resurrection and glorification (Rom. 8:11 and 1 Cor. 15:44).

In short, Christ and all His benefits, the love of the Father, and the grace of the Son, become our portion only in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.

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• 1
  Isa. 44:3; Ezek. 39:29; and Joel 2:28 ff. ↩︎
• 2
  Matt. 12:28; Luke 4:18 and 19. ↩︎
• 3
  Acts 1:2; compare John 20:21-22. ↩︎
• 4
  Matt. 3:11 / Luke 3:16; and John 3:11. ↩︎
• 5
  John 14:16; 15:26; and 16:7. ↩︎
• 6
  Acts 7:55; 8:39; 10:19; 13:2; 15:28; 16:6; and 20:22. ↩︎
• 7
  Acts 3:6; 5:5, 12, 15, 16; 8:7, 13; and elsewhere. ↩︎
• 8
  Acts 2:7, 37, 43; 3:10; 4:13; 5:5, 11, 13, and 24. ↩︎
• 9
  Acts 16:6, 7, 9; 2 Cor. 12:1-7; and Gal. 2:2. ↩︎
• 10
  Rom. 8:23; 2 Cor. 1:22; 5:5; Eph. 1:14; and 4:30. ↩︎
• 11
  Ps. 51:12 and 13; Isa. 32:15; and Ezek. 36:27. ↩︎
• 12
  Rom. 12:5; Eph. 1:23; and Col. 1:24. ↩︎
• 13
  Rom. 6:11; 8:1 and 10; 2 Cor. 13:5; Gal. 2:20; Phil. 1:21; and Col. 3:4. ↩︎
• 14
  Rom. 6:4 ff.; Gal. 2:20; 6:14; Eph. 2:6; Col. 2:12, 20; and 3:3. ↩︎
• 15
  Rom. 13:14; 2 Cor. 4:11; Gal. 4:19; Col. 1:24; 2:10; and 3:11. ↩︎
• 16
  Rom. 8:9; 1 Cor. 2:16; 2 Cor. 3:18; Gal. 4:6; and Phil. 1:19. ↩︎
• 17
  Rom. 8:4, 9, 15; 14:17; and 1 Cor. 12:3. ↩︎
• 18
  Rom. 8:15-16; 2 Cor. 1:22; Eph. 1:13; and 4:30. ↩︎
• 19
  John 10:38; 14:11, 20; and 17:21-23. ↩︎
• 20
  Eph. 1:23; 3:19; 4:13 and 16. ↩︎
• 21
  Rom. 8:15; 1 Cor. 6:11; and Gal. 4:6. ↩︎
• 22
  Rom. 5:5; 8:2; and 14:17. ↩︎
• 23
  John 14:16; Acts 9:31; and Rom. 8:26. ↩︎
• 24
  Rom. 15:13, 16; Gal. 5:23; 2. Thess. 2:13; Titus 3:5; and 1 Peter 1:2. ↩︎
• 25
  2 Cor. 1:22; 5:5; Eph. 1:13; and 4:30. ↩︎