Participants: Deyvy Rodriguez & Jon Paulien
Series Code: JBOTB
Program Code: JBOTB00022A
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00:21 Hello, friends and welcome back
00:22 to this program "Books of the Book." 00:24 We're so happy that you're taking this time 00:26 to study the Bible with us. 00:28 And we are studying the Gospel of John. 00:31 And so if you have a Bible with you, 00:33 go ahead and open your Bibles. 00:34 So we're going to be flipping 00:36 through different verses of this gospel today. 00:39 We're talking about the Holy Spirit. 00:42 Well, my name is Deyvy Rodriguez 00:43 and again I welcome you to this program 00:45 and with us is Dr. Jon Paulien. 00:48 He will be helping us in this Bible study. 00:50 He is the Bible scholar 00:52 and he has written several books 00:54 and three especially on the Gospel of John. 00:57 And today we'll be talking about the Holy Spirit. 01:00 And Dr. Paulien, you know, 01:02 one of your favorite verses is found in Chapter 3 01:05 where Jesus is talking to Nicodemus 01:07 and He says concerning the Holy Spirit, 01:10 He says that the Holy Spirit is like the wind. 01:13 It blows where it wishes. 01:14 We can hear the sound of this the wind 01:18 but we don't know where it comes from 01:19 or where it is going." 01:21 And so it's He who is born of the spirit. 01:25 So what are we learning today about the Holy Spirit? 01:29 Well, one of the things special 01:31 about this particular program 01:33 is that the rest of the series 01:35 is all taking a portion of the Gospel of John, 01:38 looking at that portion and speaking about it. 01:41 But the Holy Spirit really comes 01:44 all through the Gospel of John. 01:46 So the only way to really tackle 01:48 that subject is to look at all of those together 01:52 which is what we're going to do. 01:54 And the interesting thing is in the farewell 01:56 discourse Chapters 13, 14, 15 and 16 of John. 02:00 You can study those chapters without the Holy Spirit text 02:04 and it kind of make sense as we've tried to do 02:07 in the last three programs. 02:09 But now we want to zero-in 02:11 on the Holy Spirit part of that 02:13 and see how we can put it all together. 02:17 Now, and if we go to the first half of the gospel, 02:20 there are five references to the Holy Spirit. 02:24 In the farewell discourse Chapters 13 to 16 02:27 there is five more references to the Holy Spirit. 02:31 And then in Chapter 20, 02:32 there's one more at the end. 02:35 So if you want to look at the Holy Spirit 02:38 in the Gospel of John, 02:39 you want to look at all those passages together 02:42 and I think that's helpful. 02:44 Now, one of the things that's going on here 02:47 is you're in a transition between the ministry of Jesus 02:51 and the ministry of the Holy Spirit. 02:54 And so in the Old Testament 02:56 there had been a number of trans-- 02:57 what do you call them, 02:59 transitions like that in the Old Testament, 03:02 for example Moses to Joshua. 03:04 Moses hands over to Joshua 03:07 the ministry that he had had. 03:09 Elijah to Elisha is a similar transfer of power. 03:14 Earlier in this gospel the Baptist 03:16 hands over his position with God to Jesus. 03:20 Now Jesus is going to take over the role 03:23 that the Baptist was playing. 03:25 So in these passages in the Gospel of John, 03:28 Jesus is handing over His commission to the Holy Spirit. 03:33 The Holy Spirit is going to take the place of Jesus 03:36 for the disciples and for the world. 03:39 And so that's in a nutshell what all this is about. 03:43 As I mentioned there's five mentions 03:45 of the Holy Spirit in the first half of the book. 03:48 And why don't we take those one at the time. 03:51 Sure. And the first is in Chapter 1:32, 33. 03:58 And John bore witness, saying, 04:01 "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, 04:04 and He remained upon Him. 04:06 I did not know Him, but He who sent me 04:08 to baptize with water said to me, 04:10 'Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, 04:12 and remaining on Him, 04:14 this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit." 04:18 So the first reference to the Holy Spirit here 04:21 has the Holy Spirit playing a role 04:23 of pointing out Jesus to John. 04:26 John doesn't know Jesus at least as an adult 04:29 and he has no way of recognizing Him in the crowd 04:33 but the Holy Spirit is with John. 04:35 And when John sees Jesus he knows. 04:38 This is the one that my mission is all about. 04:42 And so thanks to the Holy Spirit, 04:43 who appoints Jesus out to him? 04:47 John is able to make that identification. 04:49 Then we go to Chapter 3:5-8. 04:53 And that includes the part that you mentioned earlier. 04:56 So we can do it quickly. 04:57 "Jesus answered, most assuredly, 04:59 I say it to you unless one is born of water and the Spirit, 05:03 he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 05:05 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, 05:07 and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 05:10 Do not marvel that I say it to you, 05:12 You must be born again. 05:14 The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, 05:18 but cannot tell where it comes from or where it goes 05:21 so is every one who is born of the Spirit." 05:24 All right so here it becomes clear 05:27 that in order to enter the kingdom, 05:31 you need to have the spirit. 05:33 So the spirit is something that should belong to everybody 05:37 who enters the kingdom of God. 05:39 You know some people say, well, you know, 05:42 I have Jesus but now I need to get the spirit. 05:46 There maybe an essence of truth in that 05:48 that really what it's saying here 05:51 is if you have Jesus you have the spirit. 05:53 It's the spirit that brings Jesus. 05:55 It's the spirit that gets you into the kingdom. 05:58 And also in Chapter 3 here is the concept 06:02 that you must be born again. 06:04 We're born from above depending on 06:07 how the Greek is translated. 06:09 And that means that entering the kingdom 06:12 involves major life change. 06:14 The Holy Spirit when he enters your life changes your life 06:18 and that's an important feature here. 06:20 Chapter 4:23-24 is the next reference to the spirit. 06:26 "But the hour is coming 06:28 and now is when the true worshippers 06:30 will worship the father in spirit and truth. 06:33 For the father is seeking such through worship him. 06:36 God is spirit and those who worship him 06:39 must worship in spirit and truth. 06:42 In Old Testament times you worshipped in temple. 06:46 You know geographically you worshipped ethnically-- 06:48 you have to be a Jew to get into the temple. 06:50 There was a wall outside if you weren't a Jew. 06:53 So before the coming of the spirit after Jesus-- 06:58 the worship was for certain people in certain places. 07:02 The Holy Spirit makes worship universal. 07:05 There's no more ethnic distinctions, 07:07 no more geographical distinctions. 07:10 Every place on earth is equidistant 07:13 to heaven through the Holy Spirit. 07:16 So Holy Spirit has opened up the worship of God 07:20 to every place and every person. 07:24 That's the fundamental message here. 07:26 Moving on to Chapter 6:63. 07:32 Verse 63 "It is the spirit who gives life. 07:36 The flesh profits nothing. 07:39 The words that I speak to you 07:40 are spirit and they are life." 07:43 So here it brings it out that the Holy Spirit 07:46 comes to us through the words of Jesus. 07:49 The words of Jesus bring us the spirit 07:52 that you come together. 07:54 So for somebody to say, I have the spirit 07:58 and I'm not interested in the Bible, 08:00 that makes no sense. 08:01 For someone who say well I love studying the Bible 08:03 but I don't know anything about the spirit, I don't care. 08:06 That makes no sense, the spirit and the word come together. 08:10 Whenever we study the word, 08:11 we want to open our hearts in prayer to God. 08:15 Whenever we are walking in the spirit, 08:17 we want to always check by the Word of God 08:21 what kind of spirit we're walking with. 08:24 So Jesus cautions us that the spirit 08:26 and the word always go together. 08:28 Then Chapter 7:37-39. 08:33 "On the last day that great day of the feast, 08:35 Jesus stood and cried out saying, 08:37 'if anyone thirsts let him come to me and drink. 08:41 He who believes in me has the scripture has said, 08:43 out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.' 08:47 But this he spoke concerning the spirit 08:49 whom those believe in him would receive 08:52 for the Holy Spirit was not yet given 08:55 because Jesus was not yet glorified." 08:58 So here Jesus is coming close to the idea 09:02 that really the Holy Spirit can become part of us, 09:07 that the spirit and disciples in the sense become one. 09:11 That when we receive Jesus, 09:13 the spirit becomes part of us 09:15 and we can become agents of the spirit toward others. 09:19 Those, God will use-- excuse me, 09:21 use us to minister the spirit to others. 09:25 So the gift of the Holy Spirit is not to entertain us. 09:31 It's not to make us feel good-- we'll have special experiences. 09:36 The purpose of the spirit is for the sake of others. 09:40 And I think that is an idea 09:42 that comes through fairly clearly here. 09:45 So there's five brief references to the spirit 09:49 in the first part of the book-- 09:50 it is in the farewell discourse of Jesus 09:54 that he gets into a lot more detail. 09:56 But before we get to the farewell discourse. 09:59 Let's go to the very last reference, 10:01 the eleventh reference if you will in John 20:22. 10:07 And some have suggested 10:09 that this is the Johannine Pentecost. 10:13 "And when he had said this he breath on them 10:17 and said to them 'receive the Holy Spirit.'" 10:21 The Holy Spirit, you know, 10:23 it's been said before like in John 7 10:25 that it wasn't until after the cross 10:28 that the Holy Spirit really came with power. 10:31 It's not till after the cross and after the spirit comes 10:35 and the disciples truly understand 10:37 before that they don't understand. 10:40 So here Jesus comes it's after the cross now. 10:44 All that other explanation has happened 10:46 but now it comes to them and he breathes on them 10:49 and says receive the Holy Spirit. 10:52 So because of the death of the Jesus in His resurrection, 10:57 the Holy Spirit is now a living presence with them. 11:01 and Jesus can minister to them. 11:04 In Acts 2 the Holy Spirit is received 11:08 after Jesus ascends to heaven, 11:10 in fact about 40 days later. 11:12 But some suggest that this is a preliminary 11:16 giving of the spirit. 11:18 Already Jesus is able to pass on the spirit to them. 11:22 But there is something about him going up to heaven 11:25 and in His meeting with the Father up there, 11:29 the spirit is sent down with even greater power. 11:33 So we come through six different passages 11:37 outside the farewell discourse that speak about the spirit. 11:42 Then coming to the farewell discourse, 11:45 it's interesting that Jesus comes up 11:48 with a new name for the spirit. 11:50 You won't find this in Paul. 11:53 You won't find it anywhere else in the New Testament. 11:56 In the Greek he calls the spirit parakletos, parakletos. 12:04 Parallel is the idea of something going alongside. 12:09 Parakletos, kletos is from the Greek word kleos 12:13 which means to be called. 12:16 And so the Holy Spirit is parakletos 12:19 the one who is called to your side. 12:23 That's interesting. It's translated in various ways. 12:26 It could be translated comforter. 12:29 It may be translated counselor. 12:32 Sometimes translated helper and all of these translations 12:37 are helpful to one degree or another. 12:40 But the core essence is somebody 12:44 who isn't just at your side as a friend. 12:48 It's someone who is appointed to be at your side. 12:52 And that means that the fundamental 12:54 meaning of this term is actually a lawyer. 12:58 A counselor not in a psychiatric sense 13:02 but more in the legal sense. 13:04 The Holy Spirit is the attorney, 13:07 the counselor who guides you. 13:09 Why would that be significant 13:11 because there's an undertone of judgment 13:15 throughout the Gospel of John. 13:17 Wherever Jesus goes, light shines, 13:22 judgment takes place. 13:24 It's like a court. 13:25 And when people encountered Jesus, 13:28 they are judging whether or not to follow Jesus, 13:31 whether or not He is what He reclaims to be. 13:34 At the same time the light shines on them 13:36 and they're judging themselves. 13:38 Like I'd to follow Jesus or am I not. 13:41 So judgment takes place in the context of Jesus. 13:45 But there is something more in the context of the discourse. 13:52 The Holy Spirit comes alongside 13:54 when they're under judgment by the authorities. 13:58 Others have judged them, others have come to them 14:02 and said "you deserve to die" 14:04 because you don't do religion the way that we do it. 14:07 And so in that context of the law courts of the land 14:12 the Holy Spirit comes alongside. 14:15 The Holy Spirit becomes an advocate, 14:18 becomes a counselor, a lawyer that helps them 14:21 with the accusations that they're faced with. 14:25 So that is the fundamental meaning, 14:27 the meaning of comforter is not a bad translation 14:32 but it is sort of a secondary meaning 14:35 in the normal use of the term. 14:37 All right, well, we're going to continue studying 14:40 the comforter or the Holy Spirit after the short break. |
Revised 2014-12-17