Holy Spirit Part 9

Part 9

The Holy Spirit Works Through the Means of Grace 

Galatians 3:2–6 (ESV) — Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by  hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the  flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? Does he who supplies the Spirit to  you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— just as  Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?  

Our Helplessness 

Last month my article focused on laying out the Scriptural truth that humans are incapable of saving  themselves. We are incapable of achieving righteousness through our works. The only righteousness we  can possibly possess is the righteousness of Jesus Christ which is graciously given and bestowed upon  those who believe.  

We are not even capable of believing without the guiding power of the Holy Spirit at work in our life. Last month we looked at the truth given us in 1 Corinthians 2:14: a natural person (i.e. one without the Holy  Spirit) cannot comprehend or accept the things of God (including the things we must believe for  salvation).  

Even faith is impossible without the power of the Holy Spirit at work in your life. Incidentally, this is  precisely what our Small Catechism confesses in the explanation of the Third Article of the Apostles  Creed (found on page 98 of our hymnal or in any Luther’s Small Catechism)-  

“I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him;  but the Holy Spirit has called me through the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, and sanctified and  preserved me in the truth faith…” (Luther’s Small Catechism, Explanation of the Third Article).  

The Need for Faith  

We are powerless to bring about our conversion to faith and salvation. We simply cannot create faith in  our own hearts, which is bad news.  

The news gets even worse though. The Bible gives ample testimony to the fact that without faith you  cannot possess or even be in the gracious presence of God the Holy Spirit.  

Isaiah 63:9–10 (ESV) — In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them;  in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old. But  they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit; therefore he turned to be their enemy, and himself fought  against them. 

This text is just one example (of many) where unfaithful, unrepentant people are described as either  losing or living apart from the gracious presence of the Holy Spirit. In the history of Israel there are many  stories of the Holy Spirit departing because of unbelief. As the prophet Isaiah explains, “He turned and  became their enemy.” Some examples of this are the amusing story of naked Saul (1 Samuel 19:18-24),  the epoch-changing story of the Spirit leaving the Temple (Ezekiel 11:14-25), and the humbling stories of  the Spirit breaking out against unfaithful worshippers (1 Chronicles 13:5-11, 15:13 or Leviticus 10:1-3). 

Since our only hope of righteousness is by faith (Romans 3:27, Ephesians 2:8), and since God will judge  all the unrighteous and cast them out of His Kingdom (1 Corinthians 6:9, Romans 3:5-6), we must be  righteous by faith to remain in God’s presence. Without faith we lack the righteousness necessary to be  close to God.  

Our Helplessness and Our Need for Faith 

When you consider our helplessness and our need for faith together the situation looks dire.  

We need faith to draw near to God and have the Holy Spirit. 

We need the Holy Spirit to have faith.  

Without the Holy Spirit working on our souls, we cannot have faith. 

Without faith, we cannot have the Holy Spirit working graciously on our souls.  

Without one we can’t have the other, and vice versa.  

Romans 7:24 (ESV) — Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 

Salvation and even relationship with God seems entirely impossible if faith is something we must first  create in ourselves.  

Not Impossible for God 

There’s no chicken and egg thing here. We don’t need faith first to get the Spirit or vice versa. Neither of  them comes first. We need both. So how do we get them?  

Galatians 3:2 (ESV) — Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by  hearing [the Word of God] with faith?  

Paul used a rhetorical question here to make a point, but the point that he (and the Holy Spirit through  him) was making is this: You receive the Holy Spirit by hearing the Word of God with faith.  

Romans 10:17 (ESV) — So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.  Here, Paul attributes the coming of faith to the hearing of theGospel.  

The power of conversion and salvation comes to us through the Word of God, as Paul says at the  beginning of the book of Romans. 

Romans 1:16–17 (ESV) — For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to  everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is  revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” 

God does the impossible work of saving souls through His Word. Scripture promises us that the Word of  God both creates faith (even in the hearts of unbelievers) and gives the gift of the Holy Spirit.  

So what scripture is telling us is that we receive both faith and the Holy Spirit from the Word of God. This is why we call the Word of God the chief “Means of Grace.” The Word of God is the “means” through  which the Holy Spirit promises to work on people’s hearts. If you have faith in Jesus, it’s because the  Gospel and the Spirit of Christ have done the work of creating faith in your heart. 

Anytime we start giving preeminence to either faith or the Holy Spirit we start doing the “chicken or the  egg” thing. Anytime we neglect to believe and proclaim our need for faith or our need for the Holy Spirit, we deny Christ’s Word and become false.  

We need to understand that salvation by grace requires faith and requires the Holy Spirit, and we need  to understand that God promises to give that salvation through the Word of God.  

The Mystery and the Knowns of Conversion 

There is still mystery about conversion. God says that if anyone is saved, it’s because of the grace of Jesus Christ. God also says that if anyone is judged, it’s because of their own sin. Those are things we know  because God has given us Scripture about them. 

Conversely, God never comments on why some people are able to refuse conversion, nor does God ever  say that anyone is saved because He just ignores their sins or says they just aren’t really that bad (all sin  is punished to its fullest on the cross of Christ.)  

So, we can admit that there remains some mystery about conversion. One thing that is not a mystery,  however, is the means which God uses to create and strengthen saving faith.  

God uses His Word to give the Holy Spirit. His Word also gives us the sacraments, which have their own  promises attached to them. Together, we call the Word and the Sacraments the “Means of Grace”,  because God’s Word tells us there is grace attached and given through these instruments. The Holy Spirit promises us He is present in the Means of Grace. 

This is why the life of an individual Christian and of a Christian Congregation must have the Word of God  as its foundation. Without the Word at the center, we will quickly veer off into a Spiritless form of faith,  because it is only the Word of Christ that promises to give the Holy Spirit.  

That was the error of the Galatians that Paul was addressing in the opening text. The Galatians were  acting like their conversion was brought about by their good works. Furthermore, they were acting like  our salvation is held onto and maintained by our good works, as if Jesus gives it to us at first and then we continually re-earn it. None of that was true.  

Salvation comes by faith, and faith comes by the power of the Holy Spirit. That power is encountered  when we encounter the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Every time you read or listen to the Word of God you are in the presence of and under the power of the Holy Spirit.  

Word Alone as Our Revelation of the Holy Spirit 

There are a lot of people out there who think a dogged (I would say “faithful”) dedication to the Word of  God will inevitably lead to a “quashing of the Spirit.” This attitude is false and destructive.  

“Means of Grace” theology does not deny that the Holy Spirit is Himself God and therefore sovereign (as  we’re often falsely charged with believing). We’re often accused of “putting God in a box” because we  teach that conversion happens through the proclamation of the Gospel. That’s a false accusation though, because “Means of Grace” theology isn’t teaching anything that the Holy Spirit has not claimed to be  true about Himself and His work. We’re not “putting God in a box”, but we are telling people to “find  God in the box He promises to be in.” 

If we don’t accept the gifts of faith through the means that God has promised to deliver them, then the  only alternative is to pursue faith and the Holy Spirit through our own invented works. This is a disaster.  

When we believe that we are able to comprehend and believe the things of God without the gracious  giving of the Holy Spirit (contrary to 1 Corinthians 2:14), we will fall into the errors of decision theology.  Instead of telling people what Christ has done for them and the promises He makes, we will throw  people back onto their own works and try to “convince” them to “decide” (by their own strength and  reason) to follow Christ. Eventually this becomes trying to follow Christ by your own strength. Since this  system of thinking is not reliant on the Word, it tends to make up new religious works for people to  prove to themselves that they are saved. A great example of this is the denominations that demand  people speak in tongues to know that they are saved. You’ll never find that demand in Scripture.  

Instead of all that legalism, we should rely on Jesus, as He speaks to us in His Word, and His Holy Spirit,  who promises to come to us through His Word. If we do that, we can know with all the certainty of  Gospel Truth that we are encountering the saving and mighty power of God’s Holy Spirit.