The Work of the Holy Spirit - B.C. & A.D.

[RobertPGH1981]

Hello Everybody,

I was in a bible study the other day and a question was asked and we didn't have an easy answer for it. The bible verses are as follows:

John 14:15-31; John 16:4-15

The verses talk about how when Jesus dies he will give the holy spirit. He says that it will be to our "advantage" and that it will convict the world of sin, lead people to truth. The questions that came up were as follows:

1.) What was the difference of the Holy Spirits work before Christ and After the death of Christ.
2.) What was the Holy spirits involvement before Christs' death?
3.) Jesus said it was to their advantage that he left the disciples. Because of this advantage what were they lacking that they wouldn't receive without the Holy Spirit?

 

[sevenzedek]

 

[Contra_Mundum]

1.) What was the difference of the Holy Spirits work before Christ and After the death of Christ.

Quantity vs. quality. In the OT, the work of Holy Spirit was (as I like to put it) present most often in "eyedropper" quantities, rather than being "poured out." And there were certain persons who were qualified and prepared for their mediatorial offices by some extra measure of Holy Spirit's presence, equipped for service, in other words. In this way they prefigured the Messiah, who "received the Spirit without measure." Now, while there are still persons gifted for ministry above others, in fact the desire of Moses (Num.11:29) has come to pass, because of the generosity of this age of gift-giving.

The latter also expresses another difference, that of specificity vs. generality. Holy Spirit was notably present in particular persons rather than in the population at large, in Israel rather than the world at large. But we should understand that this picture is relative, and never absolute. Holy Spirit has never been utterly absent from the world. But we could say that in a time such as the flood, he was present in grace in only one tiny place in the whole world: aboard an ark. Compared to now, when he has been poured out in grace throughout the world (need new wineskins!), and the elect from every nation is called to faith en mass.

So, while Holy Spirit's power is unlimited, and absolutely necessary for regeneration whether before Christ or after his earthly presence, God regularly gave only so much of Holy Spirit's presence by which to regenerate and bless his elect individually; and most of his blessing came to his true believers (mainly situated in the church-state of Israel) through their earthly mediators.

2.) What was the Holy spirits involvement before Christs' death?

He was doing what he had always done in OT times, with this special caveat: In Christ we find the Mediator par exellance. He has his own Holy Spirit poured out on him (anointing him) at his baptism, again without measure. The people should come to their Mediator to receive their spiritual blessing, for with him the blessing is even greater than with their best earthly priests, or even the last prophet, John. And of course, he was a King who surpassed even David to bless his nation.

But recall how Jesus was "sharing" his Spirit (in some measure) with the disciples he was training, even as he sent them out during his ministry. They rejoiced, because even the demons responded to their exercise of that Spiritual power that came to them because of their relationship to Christ (Lk.10:17).

3.) Jesus said it was to their advantage that he left the disciples. Because of this advantage what were they lacking that they wouldn't receive without the Holy Spirit?

Because Jesus Christ ascends to where he was before, he resumes all his heavenly, divine prerogatives. His humanity resides in a place where it has no separation from the glories of divinity. And now has come that same Spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead (Rom.8:11), which was promised should be poured out upon "all flesh" (that is, believers from over all the earth) according to Joel 2:28 compared with Act.2:17. The Apostles first received Him in something of an "early blessing" like to that which they had before the cross, see John 20:22. This special "breathing upon them" was part of their commission to "breathe out" themselves the words the Christ gave them to say. And we can say that in some sense, the same gift passes with strength to those ministers of the Word called to preach the same everlasting gospel. And all believers are tinged by this gift.

It is this power to invoke the Spirit's aid, through the Word of God, that brings new life to dead souls. By dispersing his Spirit, Jesus who is in heaven bodily, is "embodied" in his servants the world over. This is the advantage--that Jesus is all the time closer to us who all are indwelt, and even close to the rest of mankind by our salt-and-light presence, than if he was still here in the world and in full possession of his own Spirit, for which all men should still be forced to resort geographically to him in one place in order to receive the Mediator's gift.


Meditate on these things. Hope this is helpful.

 

[py3ak]

B.B. Warfield's answer:

There yet remains an important query which we cannot pass wholly by. We have seen the rich development of the doctrine of the Spirit in the Old Testament. We have seen the testimony the Old Testament bears to the activity of the Spirit of God throughout the old dispensation. What then is meant by calling the new dispensation the dispensation of the Spirit? What does John (vii. 39) mean by saying that the Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified? What our Lord Himself, when he promised the Comforter, by saying that the Comforter would not come until He went away and sent Him (John xvi. 7); and by breathing on His disciples, saying, "Receive ye the Holy Spirit "(John xx. 22)? What did the descent of the Spirit at Pentecost mean, when He came to inaugurate the dispensation of the Spirit? It cannot be meant that the Spirit was not active in the old dispensation. We have already seen that the New Testament writers themselves represent Him to have been active in the old dispensation in all the varieties of activity with which He is active in the new. Such passages seem to have diverse references. Some of them may refer to the specifically miraculous endowments which characterized the apostles and the churches which they founded.35 Others refer to the world-wide mission of the Spirit, promised, indeed, in the Old Testament, but only now to be realized. But there is a more fundamental idea to be reckoned with still. This is the idea of the preparatory nature of the Old Testament dispensation. The old dispensation was a preparatory one and must be strictly conceived as such. What spiritual blessings came to it were by way of prelibation.36 They were many and various. The Spirit worked in Providence no less universally then than now. He abode in the Church not less really then than now. He wrought in the hearts of God’s people not less prevalently then than now. All the good that was in the world was then as now due to Him. All the hope of God’s Church then as now depended on Him. Every grace of the godly life then as now was a fruit of His working. But the object of the whole dispensation was only to prepare for the outpouring of the Spirit upon all flesh. He kept the remnant safe and pure; but it was primarily only in order that the seed might be preserved. This was the fundamental end of His activity, then. The dispensation of the Spirit, properly so-called, did not dawn until the period of preparation was over and the day of outpouring had come. The mustard seed had been preserved through all the ages only by the Spirit’s brooding care. Now it is planted, and it is by His operation that it is growing up into a great tree which shades the whole earth, and to the branches of which all the fowls of heaven come for shelter. It is not that His work is more real in the new dispensation than in the old. It is not merely that it is more universal. It is that it is directed to a different end — that it is no longer for the mere preserving of the seed unto the day of planting, but for the perfecting of the fruitage and the gathering of the harvest. The Church, to use a figure of Isaiah’s, was then like a pent-in stream; it is now like that pent-in stream with the barriers broken down and the Spirit of the Lord driving it. It was He who preserved it in being when it was pent in. It is He who is now driving on its gathered floods till it shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. In one word, that was a day in which the Spirit restrained His power. Now the great day of the Spirit is come.

From: http://www.monergism.com/spiritot.html

 

[Peairtach]

The Holy Spirit also inscripturated the New Testament by the Apostles and Prophets, after Pentecost.

According to O.Palmer Robertson, He has more "raw material" - in the complete Bible - to work with in enlightening the minds of His people, who have been anointed by Him being poured out upon them by Christ.