The Apostles’ Creed
© 2012 by Third Millennium Ministries
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means for profit, except in brief quotations for the purposes of review, comment, or scholarship, without written permission from the publisher, Third Millennium Ministries, Inc., P.O. Box 300769, Fern Park, Florida 32730-0769.
About Third Millennium Ministries
Founded in 1997, Third Millennium Ministries is a nonprofit Christian organization dedicated to providing Biblical Education. For the World. For Free. In response to the growing global need for sound, biblically-based Christian leadership training, we are building a user-friendly, donor-supported, multimedia seminary curriculum in five major languages (English, Spanish, Russian, Mandarin Chinese, and Arabic) and distributing it freely to those who need it most, primarily Christian leaders who have no access to, or cannot afford, traditional education. All lessons are written, designed, and produced in-house, and are similar in style and quality to those on the History Channel©. This unparalleled, cost-effective method for training Christian leaders has proven to be very effective throughout the world. We have won Telly Awards for outstanding video production in Education and Use of Animation, and our curriculum is currently used in more than 150 countries. Third Millennium materials take the form of DVD, print, Internet streaming, satellite television transmission, and radio and television broadcasts.
For more information about our ministry and to learn how you can get involved, please visit http://thirdmill.org.
ii.
For videos, study guides and other resources, visit Third Millennium Ministries at thirdmill.org.
Contents
Question 1: Has the church always affirmed that the Holy Spirit is an equal member of the Trinity? 1
Question 2: Does Scripture demonstrate that the Holy Spirit is fully God? 2
Question 3: What are some aspects of the Holy Spirit’s divine work that are most beneficial to believers? 4
Question 4: Do Christians benefit from the fact that the Holy Spirit is a person? 6
Question 5: What are some personal and pastoral implications of the Holy Spirit’s indwelling? 7
Question 6: What are we supposed to do with our spiritual gifts? 9
Question 7: Do unbelievers benefit from being involved in the life of the church? 11
Question 8: What kinds of truth does the Holy Spirit reveal through general revelation? 12
Question 9: How does illumination affect our understanding of God’s revelation? 12
Question 10: What role does inward leading play in a Christian’s life? 13
Question 11: How can we verify the illumination and inward leading we think we’ve received? 14
Question 12: How should we respond to the Holy Spirit in our worship and prayers? 16
ii.
For videos, study guides and other resources, visit Third Millennium Ministries at thirdmill.org.
The Apostles’ Creed Forum Lesson Four: The Holy Spirit
With
-18-
For videos, study guides and other resources, visit Third Millennium Ministries at thirdmill.org.
The Apostles’ Creed Forum Lesson Four: The Holy Spirit
Dr. Stephen Blakemore
Dr. Knox Chamblin
Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III
Dr. Steve Harper
Dr. Dennis Johnson
Dr. Keith Johnson
Dr. Samuel Ling
Dr. Rebecca Luman
Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr.
Dr. Thomas Schreiner
Dr. Glen Scorgie
Dr. Mark Strauss
Dr. K. Erik Thoennes
Dr. Derek Thomas
Dr. Peter Walker
Dr. Stephen Wellum
Dr. Donald Whitney
-18-
For videos, study guides and other resources, visit Third Millennium Ministries at thirdmill.org.
The Apostles’ Creed Forum Lesson Four: The Holy Spirit
Question 1: Has the church always affirmed that the Holy Spirit is an equal member of the Trinity?
The Apostles’ Creed mentions the Holy Spirit by name in two places. First, it says that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and second it affirms belief in the Holy Spirit at the beginning of its third major section. Belief in the personhood and divinity of the Holy Spirit is a critical part of Christian theology. But did this belief develop over time, or has the church always affirmed that the Holy Spirit is an equal member of the Trinity?
Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr.
Well, the believing church has always affirmed the divinity of the Holy Spirit. It certainly shows up in the early Christian creeds. When you look at the Holy Spirit as presented in the New Testament, the reality is that it is impossible to understand the Holy Spirit as anything other than divine, and you understand the Holy Spirit is a person. It’s not merely a vague spiritual force. This is a person, and when we talk about the Trinity and we come to an understanding of how the Bible explains the Trinity, what we really find in the biblical narrative is that the Holy Spirit is there, as Jesus says in the Gospel of John, “He sends the Spirit.” And so what we have is a very clear understanding that wherever God is, the Spirit is present. And there is a very special sense in which the Spirit, as person, is the presence of both the Father and the Son for us today in the church.
Dr. Derek Thomas
Has the church always affirmed the divinity or deity of the Holy Spirit? And one could answer that by saying, yes, because the Bible affirms the deity of the Holy Spirit and the Bible is part, of course, of the church. The data of Scripture is that the Holy Spirit is spoken of in terms that require us to believe that he has divine properties. And not only that, but Jesus himself in almost his farewell statement said, “Go into all the world and make disciples, baptizing in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” putting the Holy Spirit and the Son on a par with the Father. That’s the data that the church takes several centuries to get right and some would argue that it took even until the time of the Reformation and some contributions even of the Reformer John Calvin to get the doctrine of the Holy Spirit perfectly right, if I can put it that way. But certainly by the third or fourth centuries doctrinally and “creedally,” the church affirmed the deity of the Holy Spirit.
Dr. Glen Scorgie
My understanding is that there has never been any doubt that the Spirit of God is from God. And the Holy Spirit is divine. I think the thing that took a little longer for some believers to figure out, was that the Holy Spirit was not just an emanating influence from God, wasn’t just a force coming outward from God, but was actually a personal essence, a person distinct from God the Father. And the personhood of the Holy Spirit that makes the Holy Spirit interactive and differentiated from, though not severed from the Father, was a breakthrough understanding that had tremendous ramifications for how we understood God himself and our relationship to the Holy Spirit as well.
Question 2:Does Scripture demonstrate that the Holy Spirit is fully God?
It’s clear that the early church believed in the divinity of the Holy Spirit, and even affirmed it in the Apostles’ Creed. But were they right in this belief? Does Scripture demonstrate that the Holy Spirit is fully God?
Dr. Keith Johnson
At least four factors point to the deity of the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures. First, the fact that the name “Holy Spirit” is used interchangeably with God. We see that in Acts 5. Second, the fact that attributes of God are attributed to the Holy Spirit. The Spirit’s omniscience is attributed to the Spirit in 1 Corinthians 2, omnipotence in Luke 1:35, eternality in Hebrews 9:14. Third is the fact that the Holy Spirit is included in the single name in which followers of Christ are baptized. And finally, there are certain works that demonstrate the deity of the Holy Spirit, and I’ll briefly mention four. First, in John 16 we’re told that the Spirit judges. Yet, we know that judgment is a prerogative that belongs only to God. Second, we note in Psalm 33:6 that the Spirit is involved in creation. And yet the act of creating is something only God can do. In John 3 we see that the Spirit regenerates, that he brings about the new birth, and yet this is something that only God can do. And finally we know from 2 Timothy 3:16 that the Spirit inspires the Scriptures. And yet only God can reveal himself to us. Together all of these factors point to the deity of the Holy Spirit.
Dr. Rebecca Luman
The Holy Spirit’s divinity can be shown and demonstrated through his work in creation, through his work in Scriptures, through his work in salvation. In creation the Spirit is mentioned alongside God — who we would say, “God the Father” — as one who is present and participating in creation. And only God creates. And so the Spirit’s presence and participation helps us understand that he is divine. And then in the inspiration of the Scriptures. The Scriptures are the Spirit’s book, but we speak of it as God’s Word. And yet it is inspired and providentially superintended, put together, by the Holy Spirit. And then in salvation, divinity is implied or demonstrated by God’s participation in salvation and the way the Holy Spirit participates, he was active in the conception of Christ, he empowered Christ’s ministry, he raised Christ from the dead, he made Christ’s atoning sacrifice powerful and possible. So that amplifies our understanding of his divinity. So, not only in providing salvation, but in producing the church. The Holy Spirit birthed the church. The Spirit empowers the church. The Spirit makes the church into the body of Christ. Individually in our salvation, the Holy Spirit is active. The active regeneration is spoken of as being “born of the Spirit.” The Spirit empowers us. The Spirit produces the character of Christ in us. The Spirit raises us on the last day. So, corporately and individually, salvation is very much the work of the Spirit amplifying and demonstrating his divinity.
Dr. Samuel Ling
It is very important for us to believe that Holy Spirit is God; the Holy Spirit is God the third person. And we can see that through the works, the mighty works that he does in the world and in our lives. First of all, the Bible tells us very clearly in Romans 8:28 that “all things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose.” So everything that happens in our lives and in the world is sovereignly designed, ruled over, by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit rules over everything that happens in our lives. He is God. He is not some liquid, some gas. He’s not just a wind, even though that is his name. The Holy Spirit is a person who is involved in everything that happens in the world. A bird falls to the ground; one of our hairs falls off our head; the Holy Spirit is there. God, in his eternal plan, had planned that event, and God is there when it happens to rule over it.
The fact that some of us trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, repent of our sins and receive baptism and join the church, for example, that’s the work of the Holy Spirit. That’s the result of the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God. He turns that stony, that hard hardened heart of ours, and gives us a new one so that we are now enabled to repent of our sins and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. So, repentance and faith are gifts, they are the results of the work of the Holy Spirit. Again, the Holy Spirit is God. He is the one who changes our nature, our minds, our wills, our hearts from deep within. The Holy Spirit not only begins that work in us — in the fact that we are born again, in regeneration — the Holy Spirit not only gives us a new heart, he continues to change us as we live out of that new heart.
Someone has described this process, sanctification, this way: it’s a little bit like an old house. There is a TV program in the west called “This Old House” where you change a little bit of the kitchen today and the roof tomorrow, the living room the third day and eventually at the end of the process we have a new house. The Holy Spirit renovates. He renews our hearts that way. That we are already new, now that’s where the example falls down. We are already a new person, and yet the Holy Spirit continues to make that person new. He gives us the strength to say “no” to sin, and so, “yes” to God — say “yes” to God — and to say “yes” to obedience. And only God can do that. The Holy Spirit is God, and he does those mighty works in our lives and in our world. He rules over every event. He saves us, literally. He brings salvation that Jesus Christ earned into our lives and makes it ours. And he continues to change us until we meet Jesus someday.
Question 3:What are some aspects of the Holy Spirit’s divine work that are most beneficial to believers?
A rich understanding of the Holy Spirit’s divine work can benefit us in many ways. It helps us appreciate the grace he has shown to us. It encourages us to love and trust him. It teaches us many of the ways he can and will bless us. So, what are some aspects of the Holy Spirit’s divine work that are most beneficial to believers?