(Personal actions of the Holy Spirit,) Romans 8:16, a personal action is testimony, the Spirit bears witness about Christ and he bears witness with believers regarding adoption, that does not mean every strong inner sensation comes from him, feelings rise and fall for many reasons. Paul places this testimony inside the gospel reality of belonging to Christ and being received by the Father, the Spirit does not merely make a person feel secure, he testifies to a relationship God has established. For someone who has spent years trying to earn acceptance, that difference matters, an emotion can disappear by morning, adoption is not rebuilt every time confidence drops, the Spirit’s testimony is not a spiritual mood you have to keep alive, it is witness within a relationship.
Now, four personal actions are visible, speech, teaching, guidance and testimony and a fair objection has been growing beside them, scripture sometimes gives personal language to things that are not persons. Wisdom calls in the street. Blood cries from the ground. Creation groans. Sin reigns. So, could the Spirit’s action simply be a way of describing God’s power poetically? One personal-sounding verb would not settle the question, even several verbs in one poem might not settle it. But, that is not the pattern here, the Holy Spirit remains a distinct agent as the settings change, he relates to the Father, the Son, apostles, churches and individual believers. The actions fit together, knowledge informs speech, purpose shapes guidance, relationship gives testimony its meaning.
The question is not whether one sentence could be figurative, the question is what explanation can hold the whole portrait and the next scene adds what the first four actions have not yet stated plainly, will. The setting is Corinth and the problem is spiritual comparison, this church has activity, knowledge, gifted people and deep division. Some members treat visible gifts as proof of importance, difference has become a ranking system, but before Paul talks about who receives which gift, he explains who knows the things of God, 1 Corinthians 2:10-11, another personal action is searching and knowing. The word searches can sound as though the Spirit begins ignorant and then discovers information, that is not Paul’s point, his comparison is inward knowledge, your own spirit knows your inner life in a way an outsider does not, in the same way God’s Spirit knows the things of God.
Now, four personal actions are visible, speech, teaching, guidance and testimony and a fair objection has been growing beside them, scripture sometimes gives personal language to things that are not persons. Wisdom calls in the street. Blood cries from the ground. Creation groans. Sin reigns. So, could the Spirit’s action simply be a way of describing God’s power poetically? One personal-sounding verb would not settle the question, even several verbs in one poem might not settle it. But, that is not the pattern here, the Holy Spirit remains a distinct agent as the settings change, he relates to the Father, the Son, apostles, churches and individual believers. The actions fit together, knowledge informs speech, purpose shapes guidance, relationship gives testimony its meaning.
The question is not whether one sentence could be figurative, the question is what explanation can hold the whole portrait and the next scene adds what the first four actions have not yet stated plainly, will. The setting is Corinth and the problem is spiritual comparison, this church has activity, knowledge, gifted people and deep division. Some members treat visible gifts as proof of importance, difference has become a ranking system, but before Paul talks about who receives which gift, he explains who knows the things of God, 1 Corinthians 2:10-11, another personal action is searching and knowing. The word searches can sound as though the Spirit begins ignorant and then discovers information, that is not Paul’s point, his comparison is inward knowledge, your own spirit knows your inner life in a way an outsider does not, in the same way God’s Spirit knows the things of God.
