The Mystery of the Holy Spirit

Have you ever been asked that question? Do you know the answer? Would you like to? Here it is.

I have read two books that I consider credible Biblical views on the Holy Spirit, one is the abridged version of John Owen's treatise published by The Banner of Truth, which is excellent yet highly technical, and the other one is this book, which I tend to enjoy more, perhaps because Prof. Sproul wrote it not as a theological treatise that tends to sound like a graduate-level seminary course, but at the level more easily digestible for layperson like me. He begins by hammering on the deity of all three Persons in the Trinity, though discrete in persons, yet having the one and the same essence, particularly the Son and the Holy Spirit, considering there is much controversy and heresy surrounding this matter, past and present. He also covers why today's so-called neo-charismatic view on a separate special baptism of the Holy Spirit being reserved for certain people only is false. These are the apologetic portion of the text. What I like more, however, perhaps because of my selfish motive to comfort my soul by loving and cherishing this third Person of the Trinity more, being the "Supreme Vicar of Christ on earth" as Sproul puts it, is to learn what he does, what his jobs are in the life of believers. I have come to love the titles given to the Holy Spirit; "Helper", "Counselor", "Comforter", particularly the sweet title "another Paraclete", or "one who is called alongside", that gives me a sense of his nearness and faithfulness, as my most gracious company and keeper. Now in closing, let me point out an important excerpt from this book. Considering the Holy Spirit always points to Christ, the first "Paraclete", according to John 14:26, I thought Sproul brought up an exquisitely profound observation in the account of the stoning death of Stephen, where when he was about to be stoned, he saw "...the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God" (Acts 7:55-56). Here is what Sproul wrote that I thought so beautiful, "The supreme irony of Stephen's vision is that at the very moment his earthly tribunal is condemning him to death as a theological heretic, the Prince of Theology rises in the court of heaven to plead Stephen's case for him before the Father. When Jesus stands, He rises as Stephen's Advocate. He is Stephen's Paraclete in heaven. What Jesus did for Stephen was not an isolated event. He does the same thing for all who are His people. He is our Advocate, even now." Amen. Thank you, Jesus.

I read this book because I felt totally ignorant of the Holy Spirit. I know of the Holy Spirit's power and influence in today's world, but I couldn't say I understood it. I have read chapters on it from Systematic Theology books by Erickson and Grudem, but those books hardly touched on the subject. They both left so many questions unanswered. So here comes this little book, barely less than 200 pages in length and I give it a try. The very first chapter addressed my ignorance of it... saying that the Holy Spirit is part of the triune God, but we know nothing of it. We study Jesus the Son and God the Father, but our knowledge of the Holy Spirit is pititful in comparison. RC Sproul is dead on. The book goes head on in explaining the Spirit's role in the trinity, and logically explains how the trinity can exist. He goes into an entire chapter about the sentence "Three in person, one in being" with an emphasis on the Holy Spirit's role. Sproul addresses the trinity in his other books, but it was interesting to see it from this perspective. But my favorite chapter in this book is his analysis of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, aka the second baptism, which implies two tiers of Christians. I have personally been exposed to this phenomena, and have seen it positively affect people and negatively destroy people... so I felt very uncertain when discussions came about on this matter. This chapter completely answered my questions and went further. Epiphanies upon epiphanies rained down. I love Sproul because he DOES take a stance and doesn't cower upon these issues, but gives his opinions on his stance. And his explanations are always Biblically thought out. His Biblical analysis isn't just throwing in some verses and letting the verses explain for themselves. I read so many Christian books today where the author just throws in some verses and does hardly any analysis of it, and in doing so, endangers the purpose of the verse by isolating it and taking it out of context. I'll end it here b/c you'll do much better by reading this enlightening book.

This book is for every believer who wants to know more about God's Spirit. Sproul shows how the Holy Spirit was present in creation to being active in our prayers. A bit heady at times but you can get through it. This book is a must for the time we live in where counterfeits are masquerading blessings as The Holy Spirit's work.