Ultimately, current expectations concerning the Holy Spirit’s work in worship must derive, not from experience, but from Scripture. Too often in modern evangelicalism, expectations regarding how the Holy Spirit works are based upon anecdotes, stories, or other testimonies of people’s experiences rather on what the Bible actually teaches. Unfortunately, this is just as true of those who claim to be cessationists as it is of charismatics.

In his book, The Work of the Holy Spirit, Abraham Kuyper presents several helpful reasons we must not derive our theology of the Holy Spirit on the basis of experience.¹Abraham Kuyper, The Work of the Holy Spirit (New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1900), 4ff. First, it is difficult to discern the difference between people whose experience we believe to be “pure and healthy” and those we “put aside as strained and unhealthful.” We may think we have reasons for trusting one person’s experience over another, but at the end of the day our determination of which experiences to believe is subjective. We need a more objective standard than anyone’s personal experience, no matter how much we trust them.

Second, “the testimony of believers presents only the dim outlines of the work of the Holy Spirit.” Even if a person is accurately describing their experience, what they describe in only their finite perception of the effects of his work and can never capture the fullness of what he does.

Third, great men in church history who have spoken “clearly, truthfully, and forcibly” about the Spirit’s work in their lives, in contrast to those who speak “confusingly,” do so by using language taken directly from Scripture. In other words, many of the Spirit’s works are indeed experiential, but even in describing our subjective experiences of the Spirit’s work, it is best to use objective language from Scripture.

Finally, when people do describe their experiences in words other than Scripture, this is typically because of the influence of some strong preacher or teacher whose language these people begin to borrow. In other words, the language we use to describe the Spirit’s experiential work will come from somewhere; it is best that our language come from Scripture itself rather than from someone else.

Ultimately, current expectations concerning the Holy Spirit’s work in worship must derive, not from experience, but from Scripture.

For all of these reasons, we cannot derive our expectations regarding how the Holy Spirit works from our own experiences or other people’s testimonies of their personal experiences. Rather, we must align our expectations of the Holy Spirit’s work with the teachings of Holy Scripture.

Works of the Holy Spirit in Scripture

Scripture contains roughly 250 explicit descriptions of the Holy Spirit’s actions, 90 in the Old Testament, and 165 in the New Testament.²Thanks to PhD students in a seminar I taught on the Holy Spirit and Worship at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and especially my graduate assistant John Gray, for helping to compile and … Continue reading

Revelation

Overwhelmingly, the dominant action ascribed to the Holy Spirit in both Testaments is the giving of revelation (37 times in the OT and 64 times in the NT). God the Spirit speaks through prophets and apostles, and ultimately inspires the Holy Scriptures themselves (2 Tm 3:16, 2 Pt 1:21).

In the Old Testament, much of the revelation of God given to his people through human prophets occurs after the Holy Spirit “came upon” them. For example, this is true of Joseph (Gn 41:38), the elders of Israel (Nm 11:25), Balaam (Nm 24:2), and Saul (1 Sm 10:10). David, too, declared, “The Spirit of the Lord speaks by me; his word is on my tongue” (2 Sm 23:2), and several places in the New Testament attribute David’s prophecies directly to the Holy Spirit (Mt 22:43; Mk 12:36; Acts 1:16, 4:8). And certainly other cases of divine revelation, though not explicitly attributed to the Holy Spirit, were his work. For example, Nehemiah 9:20 describes all of the prophecy given to the Israelites in the wilderness as instruction from God’s good Spirit.

In the New Testament, prophetic words are almost always described as a work of the Holy Spirit, including those given to Elizabeth (Lk 1:41), Zechariah (Lk 1:67), Simeon (Lk 2:25–26), Stephen (Acts 6:10), and even Jesus himself (Acts 1:2).

Likewise, he guides the apostles into the truth (Jn 14:26, 16:13) necessary to establish Christian doctrine and set the church in order (1 Tm 3:15). Jesus had promised them that the Spirit would speak through them (Mt 10:20, Mk 13:11, Lk 12:12), and so several apostles are specifically identified as those through whom the Spirit gave revelation, including Peter (Acts 10:19) and Paul (Acts 20:23).

Empowerment

Second in order of frequency in the OT and third in the NT is special empowerment given to individual leaders whom God has called to perform special ministry on his behalf, often closely associated with giving revelation. This act of the Holy Spirit occurs 20 times in the OT and 18 times in the NT, describing the Spirit’s work upon men like Moses (Nm 11:17), Joshua (Dt 34:9), judges (Jgs 6:34, 13:25), and prophets (1 Kgs 18:12). Likewise, in the New Testament, the Spirit uniquely empowered Jesus Christ (Jn 1:32), John the Baptist (Lk 1:15), and the apostles (Acts 2:4).

Other Actions of the Spirit

Actions of the Holy Spirit in the OT fall off considerably in frequency after the top two categories. They can be described as follows: The Holy Spirit participated in creation (Gn 1:2, Jb 33:4, Ps 104:30), gifted Bezalel and Oholiab with skill to build the tabernacle (Ex 31:1–5, 35:30–35), and dwelt in the midst of Israel (Neh 9:20, Hag 2:5; cf. Ex 29:45).

In the NT, however, the second most frequent action of the Holy Spirit after revelation is the sanctification of believers, appearing at least 24 times. This work of the Spirit characterizes Spirit filling (Acts 6:3, 11:24, Eph 5:18) and describes the Spirit’s work to progressively produce holy fruit in a believer’s life (Rom 15:16, Gal 5:22). In the NT the Holy Spirit also indwells (17 times), regenerates (13 times), assures (5 times), convicts (2 times), and illuminates (2 times).

Finally, Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12–14 discuss gifts that are given to believers; 1 Corinthians 12 explains that these gifts are given “through the Spirit” (v. 8) or “by the one Spirit” (v. 9), and chapter 14 calls them “manifestations of the Spirit” (v. 12). Since these passages explicitly ascribe the giving of these gifts to the Holy Spirit, other passages that discuss such gifts may also safely be attributed to a work of the Holy Spirit (e.g. 1 Tm 4:14, 2 Tm 1:6).

Ordinary but Divine

As we consider the characteristic nature of the Spirit’s work among us, it is important to define some terms. On the one hand, we might use the contrasting terms extraordinary and ordinary. By extraordinary, I mean works of the Spirit that are unique to certain time periods or individuals. They are out of the ordinary—unusual, unexpected, and surprising. In contrast, ordinary works are those the Spirit has performed in the past and continues to perform in the present. These works occur with regularity and ought to be our expectation of how the Holy Spirit will normally work.

Everything the Spirit does is a divine work that should cause us to marvel, though some of his works are ordinary activities he accomplishes through natural means, and not all have external effects.

However, it is important to note that even ordinary works of the Spirit are nevertheless still divine. To call them ordinary is in no way to imply that they are any less wondrous. Every work accomplished by the Spirit is divine, which is to say that these works could be accomplished only by God himself. The Bible teaches that the Sprit normally works in ordinary ways today, but this does not imply that we ought not marvel at the ways the Spirit does continue to work today. Indeed, the divine works accomplished by the Spirit would not take place accept through him, and for this reason alone we ought to marvel at everything he does.

We also could use the contrasting terms supernatural and natural. By supernatural, I mean works of the Spirit which involve bypassing the natural order of things. Supernatural acts are works like stopping the sun, parting the sea, immediately healing physical ailments, speaking directly to men, or causing them to speak in languages they have never learned. By natural, I mean works of the Spirit that operate within the natural order of things, even though God’s providence is always involved. But again, it is important for us to recognize that even when the Holy Spirit works providentially through natural means, his work is no less divine or wondrous. The fact that the sun rose this morning is natural, but it is nevertheless a divine act.

Finally, it is also important to distinguish between works that are judicial, experiential, or external. Judicial works of the Spirit are objective realities that the Spirit accomplishes, but they are not works of which we would be experientially aware. Experiential works of the Spirit are those that impact our daily experience, and thus we are aware of their effects. External works are those with visible effects that are observable even to other people. And once again, works of the Spirit in all three categories are equally divine and praiseworthy.

The importance as we consider works of the Spirit in Scripture is that everything the Spirit does is a divine work that should cause us to marvel, though some of his works are ordinary activities he accomplishes through natural means, and not all have external effects.

Characterizing the Holy Spirit’s Work

The ordinary work of the Holy Spirit throughout Scripture is better characterized, not as extraordinary experience but rather as an ordering of the plan and people of God.

Taking all of the biblical data concerning the Holy Spirit’s work throughout history into account, there is no doubt that he sometimes works in extraordinary, supernatural, observable ways. Yet extraordinary works of the Spirit are not the ordinary way God works his sovereign will through the course of biblical history. When extraordinary experiences occur, they happen during significant transitional stages in the outworking of God’s plan. They have specific purposes, and once those purposes are fulfilled, they cease.

Rather, the ordinary work of the Holy Spirit throughout Scripture is better characterized, not as extraordinary experience but rather as an ordering of the plan and people of God. Indeed, this overarching characteristic of ordering describes much, if not all, of what the Holy Spirit does throughout Scripture, including giving revelation, creating life (both physical and spiritual), and sanctifying individual believers. Louis Berkhof helpfully summarizes the Holy Spirit’s work in this way, with particular attention to the other divine persons:

In general it may be said that it is the special task of the Holy Spirit to bring things to completion by acting immediately upon and in the creature. Just as he himself is the person who completes the Trinity, so his work is the completion of God’s contact with his creatures and the consummation of the work of God in every sphere. It follows the work of the Son, just as the work of the Son follows that of the Father.³Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1938), 98. Emphasis added.

Therefore, we should expect the Spirit to normally work today in ways that bring order and completion to the plan and people of God.

We should expect the Spirit to normally work today in ways that bring order and completion to the plan and people of God.

Author

Scott Aniol

Executive Vice President and Editor-in-Chief G3 Ministries

Scott Aniol, PhD, is Executive Vice President and Editor-in-Chief of G3 Ministries. In addition to his role with G3, Scott is Professor of Pastoral Theology at Grace Bible Theological Seminary in Conway, Arkansas. He lectures around the world in churches, conferences, colleges, and seminaries, and he has authored several books and dozens of articles. You can find more, including publications and speaking itinerary, at www.scottaniol.com. Scott and his wife, Becky, have four children: Caleb, Kate, Christopher, and Caroline. You can listen to his podcast here.