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Scripture Reading: Matt. 1:18b, 20b; 3:11c; 28:19; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16; John 1:33; Matt. 3:16b; Luke 3:22; John 1:32; Matt. 4:1; Luke 4:1b; Matt. 10:20; Mark 13:11; Luke 12:12; Matt. 12:18, 28a; 25:4, 8-9; Mark 1:12; Luke 1:15b, 41b, 67, 35; 2:27-29, 25-26; 4:1a, 14a; 11:20; 24:19; 4:18a; 11:11-13; 15:8; John 3:5-6, 8, 34; 6:63; 7:38-39; 14:16; 15:26a; 16:7; 14:17a; 15:26b; 16:13a; 14:17b, 26; 15:26c; 16:8, 13-15; 20:22
In chapter 5 we saw the functions of the Spirit in the Old Testament. In this chapter we want to see the functions of the Spirit in the four Gospels of the New Testament. Many more functions of the Spirit are revealed in the New Testament than in the Old Testament. The Gospel of John reveals more aspects of the Spirit than each of the synoptic Gospels—Matthew, Mark, and Luke. These three Gospels are called synoptic because they correspond closely to one another.
The first function of the Spirit in the New Testament is the function of begetting (Matt. 1:18b, 20b). Matthew 1:20b says, “That which has been begotten in her is of the Holy Spirit.” Something was begotten in Mary’s womb of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit that begets. The entire Triune God was begotten of the Spirit in Mary’s womb. God was begotten in man. This is the greatest wonder and miracle in the whole universe. From the first day of Mary’s pregnancy, God was in her womb. According to the natural principle of God’s creation, He stayed there for nine months. Matthew 1:18 and 20 indicate that the divine essence out of the Holy Spirit had been generated in Mary’s womb before she delivered the child Jesus.
The Spirit also has the function of baptizing (3:11c; 28:19; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16; John 1:33). Actually, according to the Word, the baptizer is not the Spirit. The baptizer is either Christ or His disciples, His believers. Why then do we say that the Spirit has the function of baptizing?
Matthew 28:19 reveals that we need to baptize the nations into the Triune God, and the Triune God is consummated in the Spirit. The Father is the source, the Son is the course, and the Spirit is the consummation. When we have the Spirit as the consummation, we have the Father as the source and the Son as the course. If we have the Spirit, we have the Son and the Father. To be baptized into the Triune God is to be baptized into the Spirit as the consummation of the Triune God (1 Cor. 12:13).
The One whom we baptize people into is more important than the one who baptized them. The One into whom we are baptized is so important because in baptism we are mingled with Him. To be baptized into the Spirit means that the Spirit mingles us with Himself. When the Spirit puts us into Himself, we are brought into an organic union with the Triune God. This organic union with the Triune God is not accomplished by the baptizer but by the very element into which we have been baptized.
When we go out to preach the gospel, we baptize people into the Triune God, who has the Spirit as His consummation. Through this baptism, the Spirit mingles the baptized one with Him. This creates an organic union. In baptism, the baptized one is mingled with the Triune God. When we say that the Spirit has the function of baptizing, this is what we mean.
The Spirit also has the function of brooding for ministering (Matt. 3:16b; Luke 3:22; John 1:32). In Genesis 1:2 the brooding of the Spirit is for the producing of life. In the New Testament the dove came down to Jesus and brooded over Him for His ministry. These two instances of the brooding of the Spirit show that the ministry of Jesus was for producing life. The ministering of Christ is to produce life. After this brooding, Jesus began to minister, and His ministry was always to produce life, to dispense life to all His contacts.
After the brooding of the Spirit is the leading of the Spirit (Matt. 4:1; Luke 4:1b). The leading of the Spirit in the Gospels is in reference to Jesus. First, the Spirit broods over Jesus for His ministry of producing life. Then the same Spirit, the brooding Spirit, became the leading Spirit. He led Jesus to carry out His ministry for producing life.
The Spirit has the function of speaking in the believers (Matt. 10:20; Mark 13:11; Luke 12:12). It is hard to find a verse in the New Testament which says that the Spirit speaks in Jesus. This is because Jesus is absolutely one with the Spirit. Therefore, every time He spoke, the Spirit spoke.
With us it is a little different. First Corinthians 6:17 does say that we have been joined to the Lord and that we are one spirit with Him. We should arrive at the point that whatever we do is God’s doing. God’s chosen people through Christ and in the Spirit can arrive at this destination, the destination where they are one with God. Paul said that to him, to live was Christ (Phil. l:21a). This is the same as saying, “To me, to live is God.” Christ is God, and we are the sons of God. It is the function and work of the Spirit to make us one with God.
Because we are joined to Christ, we are the parts of Christ, the members of Christ (1 Cor. 12:12; Rom. 12:4-5; Eph. 5:30). The church is the corporate Christ, the Body-Christ. In 1 Corinthians 12:12, Paul says, “Even as the body is one and has many members, yet all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is the Christ.” This verse refers to the corporate Christ, the Body-Christ, including all of us. In this sense we are all parts of Christ. Our experience of being the parts of Christ in our daily life, however, may be different. If we live by ourselves, we are not parts of Christ in our daily life.
As long as we live by the Spirit, we have the presence of the Lord. The presence of the Lord in Matthew 10:20 is the Spirit for speaking. In this portion of the Word, the Lord Jesus was instructing His disciples concerning the way to meet persecution. We should face opposition and confront attack, not in ourselves but by turning to our spirit where the Spirit of God dwells. We need to trust in Him, let Him lead us, and let Him do the speaking.
Matthew 12:18 reveals that the Spirit is the announcing Spirit. To announce is to preach, and to preach is to proclaim or report. Although preaching, proclaiming, announcing, and reporting are synonyms, they are still a little different. When we report something, this is usually not done with a loud voice. But announcing is done loudly. Sometimes Christ preached in the way of reporting, and other times He announced. Matthew 12:18 says, “Behold, My Servant whom I have chosen, My Beloved in whom My soul has found delight. I will put My Spirit upon Him, and He will announce justice to the Gentiles.”
The Spirit has the function of casting out demons. In Matthew 12:28 the Lord said that He cast out demons by the Spirit of God. In Luke 11:20 He said that He cast out demons by the finger of God. This means that the Spirit is signified by the finger of God. This also shows how powerful God is. Footnote 201 on this verse in the Recovery Version points out that this is a Hebraic expression. This kind of expression means that God needs only a little strength to carry things out. To cast out demons does not need the hand of God or the arm of God; just the finger of God is powerful enough to do it. The Lord uses His arm to carry things out (Isa. 53:1; Luke 1:51a). In John 10:28 and 29, the Lord said that no one can snatch His sheep out of His hand or out of His Father’s hand. Therefore, we have two hands holding us. But to cast out demons, God needs only to use His finger, which signifies the Spirit of God.
The Spirit has the function of infilling as the oil in the vessel (Matt. 25:4, 8-9). We are likened to vessels, and the filling One is likened to oil. Oil is a symbol of the Spirit in the parable of the virgins in Matthew 25. In order to be wise virgins, we need to buy the oil. This means that we need to pay the price to gain the fullness of the Spirit.
Mark 1:12 says that the Spirit thrust Jesus out into the wilderness. To thrust is to drive or to impel. The Spirit drove and impelled Christ to carry out His ministry. Many times the Spirit pushes and impels us to do things. I have had the feeling often that the Spirit was urging, impelling, thrusting, and driving me. Even the Lord Jesus needed the thrusting of the Spirit. We need the Spirit’s thrusting even more.
The Spirit has the function of filling outwardly (Luke 1:15b, 41b, 67). The Greek word pletho refers to the outward filling of the Holy Spirit. When the Spirit fills us inwardly as the oil in the vessel, He is the essential Spirit. When He fills us outwardly, He is the economical Spirit. The infilling is for the essence of life, and the outward filling is for the work.
According to Luke 1:35, the Spirit has the function of overshadowing. Overshadowing is very close to brooding. To overshadow is to cover and protect. Brooding is not for protection or covering but for producing life. In Luke 1:35 the angel said to Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.” When the Spirit came to Mary, He did the begetting within her; outwardly, He overshadowed her. The Spirit came to Mary inwardly to produce life, to beget, and He came to Mary outwardly to overshadow, cover, and protect her. This shows that when the Lord Jesus was begotten in Mary, Mary had the Spirit within as the essential Spirit to beget, and she had the Spirit without as the economical Spirit to overshadow her, to cover her.
Prophesying is another function of the Spirit. In Luke 1:67 and 2:27-29 prophesying is used mainly in the sense of speaking for God and speaking forth God. In the New Testament usage, to prophesy is mainly to speak for the Lord. With prophesying there may also be some prediction.
The Spirit has the function of communicating, revealing. Luke 2:25-26 says, “Behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. And this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been divinely communicated to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.” Something was communicated to Simeon by the Holy Spirit. This means that something was revealed to him.
The Spirit is also for infilling. Luke 4:1 says that Jesus was “full of the Holy Spirit.” The Greek word for full here is the adjective pleres. To be full of the Spirit is the result and condition of being filled within.
The Spirit is the empowering Spirit (v. 14a; 11:20; 24:49). He is the power for preaching and for casting out demons. In Luke 24:49, the Lord told the disciples, “Stay in the city until you put on power from on high.” The power from on high is the Holy Spirit.
Luke 4:18a says, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me.” This verse shows that the Spirit has the function of anointing. Before the Spirit of God descended and came upon Jesus for His anointing (Matt. 3:16), He was already born of the Spirit (Luke 1:35), proving that He already had the Spirit of God within Him. That was for His birth. For His ministry the Spirit of God descended upon Him. This was the fulfillment of Isaiah 61:1; 42:1; and Psalm 45:7 to anoint the new King and introduce Him to His people.
The Spirit has the function of feeding. Luke 11:11-13 says, “What father among you whose son shall ask for a fish will instead of a fish hand him a snake? Or if he shall also ask for an egg will hand him a scorpion? If you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father who is from heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” Here the life supply is indicated by the fish, the egg, and the Holy Spirit. In verse 5 it is indicated by the loaves of bread. The Holy Spirit is the totality of the loaves, the fish, and the egg. The Spirit brings the bread, the fish, and the egg to us. He is feeding us.
In Luke 15 there is a parable of a woman seeking a lost coin (vv. 8-10). That woman signifies the Spirit as the seeking One, who seeks the sinner as a woman seeks carefully for one lost coin until she finds it. The Spirit does some fine seeking to seek out the sinners and bring them back to God.
John 3 reveals the function of the Spirit in regenerating us (vv. 5-6, 8). Titus 3:5 speaks of the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. In this verse the word regeneration is different from that for born again. It refers to a change from one state of things to another. To be born again is the beginning of this change. The washing of regeneration begins with our being born again and continues with the renewing of the Holy Spirit as the process of God’s creation to make us a new man.
John 3:34 says, “He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for He gives the Spirit not by measure.” Jesus, the Son of God, is the One whom the Father sent. As God’s sent One, He speaks the words of God. He speaks for God, and He gives the Spirit to us without measure. This indicates that the Lord’s speaking gives us the Spirit; that is, the Lord gives us the Spirit by speaking the words of God. The more we speak the words of God, the more of the Spirit we minister to others. Speaking the words of God is a sign that we have the Spirit to give to others. This corresponds to John 7:38-39, which indicates that the Spirit flows out of the believers as rivers of living water through their speaking of the Lord’s words. This is also fully proved in our meetings. If we do not prophesy, we quench the Spirit. The more we speak, the more the Spirit flows out. When we speak, the Spirit is with our speaking and flows out of us to supply others. How can we minister the Spirit to others? We need to speak the words of God.
John 6:63 says that it is the Spirit who gives life and that the flesh profits nothing. The Lord explained in this verse that what He would give people to eat was not His physical body. This is the flesh that profits nothing. What He would give is the Spirit who gives life, who is Himself in resurrection. The Lord as the Spirit in resurrection has the function of life-giving.
When the Lord spoke concerning the Spirit in John 7:38-39, He said that the Spirit would flow out of our innermost being as rivers of living water. The Spirit flows out of us as many rivers, such as a river of patience, a river of holiness, a river of power, and a river of love. The one Spirit has many rivers, just as the one river in Genesis 2 divided into four branches.
The Spirit functions to take care of the saints as a Comforter, a Helper, an Intercessor, a Counselor, and an Advocate (John 14:16; 15:26a; 16:7). The Greek word paracletos, anglicized as paraclete, refers to one alongside who takes care of our cause, our affairs. This word may be translated as “comforter,” “helper,” “intercessor,” “counselor,” and “advocate.” An advocate is one who takes care of legal cases like an attorney. The Lord is like an attorney who takes care of us and our case in a very careful, detailed way.
The Lord Jesus was the first Comforter. When He was about to die, He told the disciples that He would ask the Father to send another Comforter. Actually, this Comforter would be the first Comforter in a different form. When the Lord Jesus was in the flesh, He was the first Comforter; today as the life-giving Spirit, He is the second Comforter.
The second Comforter is the Spirit of truth, the Spirit of reality. The Spirit of reality functions to make God, Christ, and the divine things concerning God and Christ real (14:17a; 15:26b; 16:13a). The Spirit makes God real, makes Christ real, and makes all the divine things concerning God and Christ real. He is the reality of God, the reality of Christ, and the reality of all the divine things. The reality of sanctification, for example, is the Spirit. The reality of all the divine things, such as transformation and conformation, is the Spirit.
Another function of the Spirit is to dwell in us (14:17b). As we pointed out in the previous chapter, it is not an easy thing to dwell with someone day in and day out. But the Spirit has the ability to indwell us, to be with us all the time.
In John 14:26 the Lord said, “The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and remind you of all the things which I have said to you.” At the time the Lord spoke this word, He had already spoken many things to the disciples. Without the reminding Spirit, the disciples could have forgotten what He had said to them. The Spirit not only teaches us but also teaches us by reminding us of what He has spoken. He even reminds us of the things He spoke to us years ago. He teaches us by reminding us.
Teaching and reminding are both a kind of testifying. John 15:26c says that the Spirit will testify concerning Jesus. This is His witnessing.
The Spirit also functions to convict the world. John 16:8 says, “When He comes, He will convict the world concerning sin and concerning righteousness and concerning judgment.” At the time of our salvation we were convicted by the Spirit of our sins, our failures, our rottenness, and our corruption. After that time the Spirit continues to convict us. We are convicted of our wrongdoings and our bad attitudes. The Spirit within us is always doing a convicting work.
John 16:13 says, “When He, the Spirit of reality, comes, He will guide you into all the reality.” The Spirit leads us into all reality, or truth. The work of the Spirit is to convict the world and then, as the Spirit of reality, to guide the believers into all the reality. This is to make all that the Son is and has real to the believers.
The Spirit declares the riches of Christ and the things that are coming. In John 16:13b through 15 the Lord told us that all that the Father has becomes His. What God is, which is included in what God has, becomes the Lord’s riches. These riches are passed on to the Spirit. Then the Spirit declares all these riches to the disciples. Declaring means unveiling. The Spirit unveils the riches of Christ, which Christ received from the Father. The riches of the Triune God are received by the Spirit, and the Spirit declares them to us.
He also declares to us the things that are coming. The things that are coming are mainly revealed in the book of Revelation. In the book of Revelation, there is a full unveiling of the coming things. Revelation shows us the first four seals of God’s economy, which consist of four horses with their riders (6:1-8). These four horses with their riders signify the gospel, war, famine, and death. All these will continue until the end of this age. Then the Lord will judge the world and set up His kingdom, which will be His thousand-year reign. Eventually, there will be a new heaven and a new earth with the New Jerusalem. We will be there as parts of the New Jerusalem. These are some of the things that are coming. We may know these things, but we need to trust in the Spirit to give us a living unveiling to see them.
In John 16:14a the Lord said that the Spirit functions to glorify Him. To glorify Christ is to express Christ in His divinity as a splendor. Christ is so rich in His divinity, but His divine riches are hidden and concealed without the function of the Spirit to glorify Him. The Spirit expresses the divinity of Christ as a splendor. Glory is the divine substance of Christ expressed as a splendor. To glorify Christ is what Paul meant when he expressed his desire to magnify Christ (Phil. 1:20). To magnify Christ is to glorify Christ, to express the hidden, concealed Christ in His divinity splendidly. To express Him in His divinity as a splendor in our lives is to glorify Him.
The Spirit was breathed into the believers by the Son in resurrection. “He breathed into them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22). The Holy Spirit here is actually the resurrected Christ Himself, because this Spirit is His breath. The Holy Spirit is thus the breath of the Son. The Greek word for Spirit in this verse is pneuma, a word that is used for breath, spirit, and wind. Therefore, this verse can be interpreted, “Receive the holy breath.” On the day of His resurrection, the Lord Jesus breathed Himself into His disciples as the holy breath. The essential, infilling Spirit is our breath for our breathing.
