Video from BibleProject
Who is the Holy Spirit?
Galatians 5: 16,25
16So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh
25Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
In the is excellent 4 minute YouTube video from The Bible Project (bibleproject.com)
we learn about the person of the Holy Spirit.
Just as God the Father and Christ Jesus are persons so is The Holy Spirit.
God ultimately provided Christ as a completely relatable person for all of humanity. To see Jesus is to see God. Right now our Lord Jesus is physically like us and stands beside God the Father.
Jonathan Edwards characterizes the Spirit as “the sum of the blessings Christ sought, by what he did and suffered in the work of redemption,”
The Spirit illumines our Savior’s face (John 16:14).
The Spirit puts “Abba! Father!” in our mouths (Romans 8:15).
The Spirit plants heaven in our hearts (Ephesians 1:13–14).
There is much confusion when it comes to recognizing the Spirit’s presence and his blessings in our lives. Some believe speaking in tongues and prophesying are two signs of the Spirit’s power and presence. Other believers identify the Spirit’s presence most readily with his miraculous gifts: visions, healings, impressions, and more.
When Paul tells the Galatians to “walk by the Spirit” and “keep in step with the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16, 25), he focuses not on the Spirit’s gifts, but on the Spirit’s fruit.
In context, the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit describe two communities: the rebellious community of those in the flesh, seeking righteousness based on their works (Galatians 5:19–21); and the true community of those in the Spirit, justified through faith alone in Christ alone (Galatians 5:22–23).
Let us then examine ourselves do these graces mark us, not when we sit in peaceful isolation, but when we move among God’s people in our day-to-day lives? You and I may appear patient, gentle, and kind when alone in our home, but what about when we are with the church, the body of Christ? Who we are around other people — are we confusing, irritating, or even oblivious to other people? These attitudes reveal how far we have come in bearing the Spirit’s fruit.
Consider now the words of Puritan Richard Sibbes:
“Do we entertain Christ to our loss? Doth he come empty? No; he comes with all grace. His goodness is a communicative, diffusive goodness. He comes to spread his treasures, to enrich the heart with all grace and strength, to bear all afflictions, to encounter all dangers, and to bring peace of conscience, and joy in the Holy Ghost. He comes, indeed, to make our hearts, as it were, a heaven.”