When Christians recite the Apostles’ Creed, we pay close attention to the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, and to Jesus Christ, his Son and our Lord. But of the third member of the Trinity, we say only, “I believe in the Holy Spirit.” Granted, later creeds and confessions have more to say about the Spirit, but most of these still tend to say much more about the Father and the Son.

Although some Christian traditions today focus more on the person and work of the Holy Spirit (for example, Pentecostalism and its developments), most Christians give much more attention to the Father and the Son. In the 1980s, two theologians even wrote a book called The Holy Spirit: Shy Member of the Trinity. Is the Holy Spirit really the “shy member of the Trinity”? How much attention should we give to him in our prayers, worship, and devotion? Does the Spirit even want our attention?

One with Father and Son

To begin to answer these questions, we have to admit that the Holy Spirit is often misunderstood. In fact, in a 2014 Ligonier survey, 50 percent of self-identified evangelicals said they think the Holy Spirit is more like a force than a person. I suspect those numbers have not improved in the years since. The Holy Spirit is not some kind of mystical power that mysteriously binds the universe together and helps Luke Skywalker move objects with his mind. Throughout the Bible, we see that the Holy Spirit is an active divine person, fully engaged in the mission of God in the world.

“The Holy Spirit is an active divine person, fully engaged in the mission of God in the world.”

As one of the three persons of the one God, the Spirit shares a single divine will with the Father and the Son. More than that, in a real sense, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit also share the same actions. When the Father acts, the Son and the Spirit act as well. This does not mean that the Father or the Spirit became incarnate, but it does mean that all three members of the Trinity operated in the incarnation. As Adonis Vidu puts it, they “share the same agency, and thus the same operations.” When we pray to the Father and he acts, the Son and the Spirit are acting with him.

Therefore, there is a sense in which we cannot separate worship and prayer to the Father and the Son from worship and prayer to the Spirit. Even still, the Gospel of John clearly speaks about the Son glorifying the Father (John 13:31; 17:1), and both the Father and the Spirit glorifying the Son (John 13:31; 16:14; 17:1). But who glorifies the Spirit? Just how much attention does he want?

God’s New-Covenant Gift

The Spirit’s mission in the plan of redemption is to point to Jesus. But this mission does not minimize the Spirit; rather, it again demonstrates the profound unity of the Godhead. Consider Jesus’s words about the Spirit in John 16:14: “He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”

Jesus is probably referring here to the inspiration of the New Testament, which would be largely written by his apostles. In other words, the New Testament tells us that the Spirit is the active agent who gives shape to the New Testament. Peter says that something similar happened in the Old Testament: “No prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21). The point in both texts is that the Holy Spirit is the primary agent and author of Scripture. This alone makes him worthy of our attention and adoration.

Not only should we give the Spirit attention because he is a member of the Trinity and he is the primary author of the Scriptures, but in our daily lives, God calls us to consciously depend on the Holy Spirit. If we are united by faith to Jesus, then we have received the gift of the Spirit (Acts 2:38). This is one reason the new covenant is so amazing: all the people of God get the gift of the Spirit so that all the people of God are equipped for God’s calling on us.

If you are a part of his people, you too will receive and display the work of the Spirit as he empowers you to accomplish his mission. To walk in daily obedience to our King Jesus, to love each other, and to come together as churches seeking to reach our neighbors and the nations is a miraculous work of the Spirit. Every Christian can lean into these truths — because we believe in the Holy Spirit, and we believe that under the new covenant, all of God’s people have been given the Spirit.

Seeking the Spirit’s Strength

We can see the transformative power of the Spirit more clearly in a text like Romans 8. In the first part of Romans 8, Paul writes, “God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh” (Romans 8:3). As a result of this work, we walk according to the Spirit and are not obligated to the flesh (Romans 8:12–15). We have the Spirit, so we are no longer enslaved to sin.

Paul continues, “If you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (Romans 8:13). The next verse describes putting to death the deeds of the body as being “led by the Spirit” (Romans 8:14). We follow the Spirit where he leads us, and he leads us toward conformity to the image of Jesus (Romans 8:29).

John Calvin said, “The advancement of every man in godliness is the secret work of the Spirit” (Institutes 3.24.13). But the Spirit’s secret work does not make us passive. Romans 8, and other texts like it, indicate that we can actively seek the help of the Holy Spirit as he sustains us and conforms us to the image of Jesus. We cannot be transformed into the image of Jesus if we do not consciously depend on the Spirit. So, it is right and good to ask the Holy Spirit to fill us and empower us to fight sin. We can ask him to transform us into the image of Jesus.

Proper Attention

Should we pray to the Holy Spirit? Absolutely. When we confess our belief in the Holy Spirit, we affirm his divine personhood and equality with the Father and the Son. We also confess that he gives power to every follower of Jesus to grow in Christlikeness, and so we can lean on him for daily, even moment-by-moment, help.

“We can pray to the Spirit, glorify him, and seek to be empowered by him.”

Even as we give attention to the Spirit, we should not forget John 16:14: the Spirit glorifies Jesus. Nor should we forget that Jesus teaches us to address “our Father” in prayer (Matthew 6:9). So, if we prayed exclusively to the Holy Spirit or talked only about glorifying the Spirit, this would not fit with the New Testament’s emphasis on the roles of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the plan of redemption. We ought to pray often to the Father to transform us into the image of his Son. But even as we do so, we recognize that this prayer will not be answered apart from the work of the Spirit.

So, let’s give proper attention to the Holy Spirit. In this glorious new-covenant era, the Holy Spirit himself empowers us for Christ’s mission and transforms us into Christ’s image. We can pray to him, glorify him, and seek to be empowered by him.

Audio Transcript

Welcome back to the podcast. On Monday we looked at what distinguishes our lives from the lives of non-Christians around us. There, in APJ 1858, we touched on spiritual gifts. And then in the episode before that, we asked, “What are my skills worth?” That was APJ 1857, and it was a fascinating discussion because in many churches you have a doctor, a lawyer, a plumber, a carpenter, an auto mechanic — someone who makes money from their skills. And sometimes those skills can be exploited by people in the local church for free. Maybe you have experienced that very thing yourself. Piper’s conclusion in that episode was, “Be willing to pay for the service. If the skilled person wants to make a special gift to you, that’s his or hers to decide, not yours to expect.”

So if skilled Christians in the church share the same skills you will find among non-Christians outside the church, what makes a spiritual gift spiritual? As we will hear today, “many unbelievers have great abilities” — abilities to lead and administrate and teach — but those gifts are not automatically spiritual gifts. What makes a spiritual gift spiritual?

In a sermon, Pastor John turned to Paul’s testimony in Romans 1 for the answer. There Paul writes, “I long to see you [the church in Rome], that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you — that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine” (Romans 1:11–12). Here’s Pastor John to unpack and apply it.

The basic problem is becoming the kind of person who wakes up in the morning and thanks God for life and for salvation and then says, “Lord, oh how I want to strengthen people’s faith today at work. Lord, let me come to the end of this day and be able to look back and say, ‘Somebody has more confidence in your promises today because I crossed their path. Somebody is more happy in your grace because I crossed their path.’” That’s the main problem, waking up and being that kind of person.

“Let’s apply ourselves to becoming the kind of people who more and more long to build up each other’s faith.”

The reason I say that’s the basic problem and not the discovery of spiritual gifts is because, if there were 550 people in this church waking up and saying that and praying that and meaning that, the Holy Spirit would not leave you frustrated in finding ways to do that. He will not let a person whose heart is earnestly desirous of building other people up go without building them up. He will help you find those ways, and the finding of those ways will be the discovering of your gifts. It doesn’t matter whether you can find a name for it or not. Let’s apply ourselves to becoming the kind of people who more and more long to build up each other’s faith, to make each other happier in the Lord, and to make each other more confident in his promises.

Mutual Strengthening

Now there are really interesting insights that come from comparing Romans 1:11 with 1:12. Paul restates Romans 1:11 in different words; that’s what you do when you start a sentence with “That is.” You’re restating what you just said. “I [want to] impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you — that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine” (Romans 1:11–12).

Now, Paul does two things here. The first thing he does is the old “it’s my pleasure” tactic. You remember that sermon back in the fall that I preached called “It’s My Pleasure: Christian Hedonism and Humility”? Paul is doing that right here. Notice that when we say, “Oh, it’s my pleasure” after we do a benefit for somebody, a favor, what we’re doing is trying to be humble. We’re saying, “Well, don’t get too worked up about my self-sacrifice because I just did what I wanted to do.” You cut off too much praise. You try to humble yourself after having done a good deed.

Now that’s what Paul is doing here, I think. Paul rereads verse 11, and he says, “Hmm, I sure don’t want to give the impression that I’m coming on strong there as the great benefactor who’s going to do them all this good and get no benefit.” See? So he backs off and he restates his goal to say, “It’s going to be a two-way street in Rome. I am going to get encouraged, and you’re going to get encouraged. It’s my pleasure. Don’t give me too much praise. I’m just doing what I like to do when I go around preaching and getting encouraged by other people’s faith, as well as encouraging them.” That’s the first thing he does in this text.

Now the second thing he does is to show that the way he’s going to strengthen their faith by using his spiritual gift is by encouraging them with his faith. Now notice the parallel between the two verses. In verse 11, he aims to strengthen them. In verse 12, he aims to encourage them. So those two words are parallel. In verse 11, he aims to strengthen them by his spiritual gift. In verse 12, he aims to encourage them by his faith.

Of Faith, for Faith

Now I think you can draw as the conclusion, therefore, this definition of spiritual gifts: a spiritual gift is an expression of faith that aims to strengthen faith. Wouldn’t that be a fair definition, having put those two verses together and seeing that verse 12 is an explanation of verse 11? A spiritual gift is activated by faith and aims to produce more faith in another person. Or another way to put it would be this: a spiritual gift is an ability given by the Holy Spirit to express our faith effectively for the upbuilding of another’s faith. That’s what a spiritual gift is, I think, from these two verses.

“A spiritual gift is an expression of faith that aims to strengthen faith.”

Now that to me is very helpful because it helps me distinguish and keep separate natural abilities and spiritual gifts. They aren’t the same. Many, many unbelievers have great abilities — administration and teaching, for example — and these are given by God. Everybody has what he has from God, whether they acknowledge it or not, but they’re not spiritual gifts in the New Testament sense, are they? Why? Because they do not come from faith, they’re not expressions of faith, and they’re not aiming to strengthen faith.

Our faith is the channel through which the Holy Spirit flows on his way to building up another person’s faith. Therefore, for any ability that we have to be a channel for the Spirit and therefore spiritual, it has to flow from faith in him and aim toward faith in another person. No matter what abilities we have, if we’re not relying on God (having faith) and we’re not aiming to help others rely on God (produce faith), our ability is not spiritual. It’s not a spiritual gift because the Holy Spirit is not flowing through it from faith to faith.

Now that has tremendous implications for a church in the selection of its staff, the choice of its officers, and its board members. The implication is this: It means that we will never simply say, “Who has the ability to efficiently do this job?” Never. That’s a wholly inadequate criterion for determining a person’s suitability for staff or for office in the church. We will go on and ask, “Does this person use his skill or her ability to express their lively and hearty dependence on the Lord?” And we will ask, “Does the exercise of that skill aim always to be helping other people believe more, or does the way they go about doing their work always manage to put people down or make people feel unbelieving rather than believing?”

A church where the Holy Spirit is alive and powerful will always be sensitive to the difference between natural abilities and spiritual gifts.

http://rss.desiringgod.org/link/10732/15781631/are-we-drained-or-filled-by-serving-the-weak