Gospel of John [Joh 16:12-15]. The Doctrine of the HS, part 28. 2 nCo 1:21-22; Eph 1:14; 4:30; .

Title: Gospel of John [Joh 16:12-15]. The Doctrine of the HS, part 28. 2 nCo 1:21-22; Eph 1:14; 4:30; .

 

Simultaneously accomplished by the HS at salvation: efficacious grace, regeneration, baptism of the Spirit, indwelling of the Spirit, and the sealing of the Spirit.

 

A seal signifies security, safety, ownership, and authority or responsibility. The Holy Spirit is the seal.

 

As a seal on a contract it is a guarantee of fulfilling whatever was contracted between the two parties. As with the other ministries of the Spirit at salvation there is no condition upon us. We had already believed in Christ as Savior through the common grace gospel.

 

The Holy Spirit has contracted with every believer their eternal security and their inheritance in Christ. The Holy Spirit Himself is the seal.

 

2Co 1:21 Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God,

 

2Co 1:22 who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.

 

The Holy is the pledge and therefore the seal.

 

"pledge" - avrrobw,n[arrobon] = earnest money, money deposited by the purchaser and forfeited if the purchase was not completed.

 

Eph 1:13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation —  having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,

 

The sealing was immediate at salvation.

 

Eph 1:14 who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory.

 

The Holy Spirit is the seal that is a guarantee of our inheritance in Christ.

 

Eph 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

 

The sealing of the Holy Spirit is universal among all believers and is a finished fact in that each is set apart unto God until the Rapture.

 

2Co 5:4 For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed, but to be clothed, in order that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

 

2Co 5:5 Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge.

 

As with the rest of the Spirit's ministries at salvation, it is not an experience. It marks the eternal security of the believer as well as his eternal inheritance and it is a vow to keep him safe until the redemption of the body of Christ at the resurrection of the Church.

 

The nature of the seal forbids any possibility of removal, loss, partial sealing, or counterfeit sealing. The seal is the Holy Spirit who possesses all the attributes of deity. His presence in the believer is a token of God's abiding grace which is total and complete. This should bring comfort and assurance to the believer's heart that the plan of God for his life is full of grace and his call to a supernatural and superhuman life is completely dependent on that grace.

 

All five of these ministries of the Spirit were accomplished at salvation. After salvation the believer has the option to be filled with the Holy Spirit and thus walk through his new life by means of the Spirit. This ministry is dependent on the volition of the believer and it brings the experience of victory in time.

 

And so we return to Joh 16.

 

After revealing the common grace ministry of the Spirit, Christ now gives insight into the ministry of the Spirit to believers after salvation.

 

We might assume that Christ did not mention the 5 ministries of the Spirit to the believer at salvation in the upper room because they are from the sovereignty of God and have nothing to do with the volition of the believer. Plus also, it is likely that these amazing ministries would have only served to confuse the disciples more on this most transitional night for them. All five ministries would occur for each of them, simultaneously and instantaneously on the day of Pentecost a little more than 50 days from this night. They would better understand these ministries after the fact.

 

Joh 16:12 "I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.

 

The word used here means to bear what is burdensome.

 

Joh 16:13 "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.

 

Mentioned in this verse is both the guiding of the Spirit as Counselor and the teaching of the Spirit as Mentor. Specific to the apostles and other early church members is the gift of prophecy through direct revelation. This gift is no longer necessary since the canon of scripture is complete.

 

Jesus Himself is the embodiment of truth, Joh 14:6; the truth that the Spirit will disclose is not additional to the truth that is in Christ, but a further unfolding.

 

Eph 4:21

truth is in Jesus

 

It is in Him because by becoming a man He made Himself able to communicate such truth to mankind, yet only with the teaching ministry of God the Holy Spirit.

 

Christ doesn't have enough time in one night to give them all of the revelation of His truth to His Church, nor would they have been able to bear it without the Helper and teacher, God the Holy Spirit.

 

The Spirit will not speak on His own initiative - He will not speak of Himself but Christ and will speak what the Father has planned.

 

This should not at all be odd to us nor should it ever make someone doubt that the HS is co-equal and co-eternal with the Father and the Son. Jesus insisted many times that he did not speak or act on His own initiative; His words were those which the Father gave Him to utter. So, when the Paraclete comes, He will not speak on his own initiative.

 

GHS has no message over and above that which is implicit in the incarnate Word; it is His function to make that message explicit.

 

The gospel of John, one of the last books of the Bible to be written is a fulfillment of this promise. As the first generation of believers were passing and the apostles all gone except one, John, the message of Jesus as deity in the flesh was not to be lost, but recorded by John who was an eye and ear witness to this pledge.

 

Joh 16:14 "He shall glorify Me; for He shall take of Mine, and shall disclose it to you.

 

This brings us to the truth that the Lord Jesus, indwelling the believer's heart, does not express Himself, does not manifest Himself, in and through the life of that Christian. He has given that ministry over to the Holy Spirit.

 

Christ does not manifest Himself within us. He has given that ministry over to the Holy Spirit.

 

He is the agent who takes of the things of Christ and manifests them to us and through us. Our Lord speaks of this same passive state in which He dwells within the Christian's heart, and the fact that the Holy Spirit manifests Him in His beauty through the life of the believer.

 

There is a demonstrative pronoun in the Greek text which is not brought out in the English translation. In the sayings of Christ about the Spirit, this is the fifth and last time that this demonstrative pronoun is used, which means that He and no other will accomplish these things.

 

Verse 14 begins with a demonstrative pronoun - "That One shall glorify Me." This emphasizes that Christ will not glorify Himself.

 

He shall "take," which is an active appropriation and not a passive "receive."

 

The Holy Spirit's ministry is to take of the things of Christ and show them to the believer who yields to Him.

 

In this way He reveals the beauty of the Person and work of Christ to the believer. Christ is multifaceted and so, as light passes through a prism and shows its component colors, so the Holy Spirit reveals that many facets of Christ, all His grace, sacrifice, love, power, inheritance, etc.

 

This means that if the believer does not have an intelligent understanding of the ministry of the HS to him and if he does not subject himself to that ministry there will be little of the Lord Jesus Christ seen in his life. This explains why so many believers are no different in their practical, daily lives than unbelievers.

 

The Spirit can only go as far as the limitations placed upon Him by the believer's volition in subjecting himself to the Spirit's ministry.

 

If the Lord Jesus will not glorify Himself within the believer and if the HS is limited by the believer's own self-will then that believer will see little of the glory of Christ during his life.

 

Herein lies the imperative necessity of the ministry of the Holy Spirit to the believer.

 

Joh 16:15 "All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said, that He takes of Mine, and will disclose it to you.

 

As was said, in verses 14 and 15 we see for the fifth and last time in these Paraclete sayings the emphatic demonstrative ekeinos is used of the Spirit.

 

He and no other will teach (14:26), bear witness to Christ (15:26), will expose the world's error (16:8), will guide in the way of all truth (16:13), and as His supreme mission glorify Christ (16:14).

 

All things that the Father has are Mine, for He said in Joh 13:3 that the Father had given all things into His hands. Therefore, what the Spirit discloses to the disciples is everything that the Father has, since in disclosing Christ He will disclose all that the Father had given Christ. The Father had given Christ a physical body, a plan, and a ministry that would set the captives free. Christ taught what the Father had given Him. Christ performed what the Father had given Him. So the revelation of Christ is the revelation of the Father.

 

Joh 1:18

 No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.

 

Joh 14:9

He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how do you say, 'Show us the Father'?

 

The Father gave Him the Church and so she and her purpose are revealed in the revelation of Christ.

 

As the Son glorified the Father by His work on earth, so the Spirit by His coming will glorify the Son. In the context of this chapter, He does so by unfolding clearly the meaning of His person and work. The further unfolding of what the Spirit will do within the believer is found in the epistles and so with this context of unfolding the meaning of the person and work of Christ we turn to the part of the ministry of the Holy Spirit to the believer after salvation as revealed in the NT.

 

As with all doctrines our greatest chance of accuracy is attained when we stay close to the Scripture. We must label conjecture properly as well as traditions and stick to the revealed truth in the inspired text.