What Is The Holy Spirit’s Job With The Body Of Christ

1. How the Spirit comes to the believer in this dispensation

God saves today by the gospel revealed to Paul. Christ died for our sins, He was buried, and He rose again the third day. Read First Corinthians 15 verses 3 through 4. The moment a sinner believes this gospel and puts faith in the blood of Christ, the Holy Spirit acts at once. He seals the believer. He indwells the believer. He baptizes the believer into one Body. Read Ephesians 1 verses 13 through 14, Romans 8 verse 9, First Corinthians 12 verse 13. Scripture never instructs the Body of Christ to seek or tarry for the Spirit. We receive the Spirit by the hearing of faith. Read Galatians 3 verse 2.

2. What the Spirit accomplishes at salvation

The Spirit seals us as God’s present possession and as the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession. Read Ephesians 1 verses 13 through 14 and Second Corinthians 1 verse 22 and Second Corinthians 5 verse 5. He indwells our bodies as His temple. Read First Corinthians 6 verse 19. He places us into Christ and into His one Body where there is neither Jew nor Gentile. Read First Corinthians 12 verse 13 and Ephesians 2 verses 15 through 16. He bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God and He sends forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying Abba Father. Read Romans 8 verse 16 and Galatians 4 verse 6.

3. What the Spirit does daily in the believer

The Spirit strengthens the inner man so that Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith and so that love may abound. Read Ephesians 3 verses 16 through 17. He leads us to mortify the deeds of the body and to walk as sons. Read Romans 8 verses 13 through 14. He produces the fruit of the Spirit which is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Read Galatians 5 verses 22 through 23. He gives liberty from the bondage of performance religion. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Read Second Corinthians 3 verse 17. He helps our infirmities in prayer and makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. Read Romans 8 verses 26 through 27. He supplies assurance and joy in the gospel. Read First Thessalonians 1 verse 5 and Romans 15 verse 13.

4. What the Spirit does with the Scriptures

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. Read Second Timothy 3 verse 16. The same Spirit who inspired the Scriptures now teaches, illuminates, and applies the written words so the believer can know the things that are freely given to us of God. Read First Corinthians 2 verses 12 through 13. The Spirit’s filling is explained by the parallel between Ephesians 5 verse 18 and Colossians 3 verse 16. Be filled with the Spirit matches let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. To be filled is to have the word ruling the heart and mind so that thanksgiving, wisdom, and obedience follow. He also establishes us according to Paul’s gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery. Read Romans 16 verses 25 through 26.

5. What the Spirit does in the Body together

The Spirit unites all believers into one Body and keeps the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Read Ephesians 4 verses 3 through 4. Through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father and are built together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. Read Ephesians 2 verses 18 through 22. He distributes differing measures of grace and service for edification so that the Body may be taught, strengthened, and matured into Christ. Read First Corinthians 12 verses 4 through 7 and Ephesians 4 verses 11 through 16 and Romans 12 verses 3 through 8. The measure and aim of every operation is edification in charity, not spectacle. Read First Corinthians 14 verse 12 and verse 19 and verse 26.

6. What the Spirit does not do with the Body of Christ today

This section is intentionally full, since most confusion lives here. Every line is grounded in the King James Bible and in right division.

1. He does not make us seek a second blessing or a later sealing. We are sealed when we believe the gospel. Read Ephesians 1 verses 13 through 14 and Galatians 3 verse 2.

2. He does not tell us to tarry in an upper room. That command belonged to the apostles in Jerusalem before Pentecost inside Israel’s program. Read Luke 24 verse 49 and Acts 1 verse 4.

3. He does not center our life on signs, wonders, and tongues. The Jews require a sign and tongues were a sign to unbelieving Israel. Read First Corinthians 1 verse 22 and First Corinthians 14 verses 21 through 22 with Isaiah 28 verse 11.

4. He does not continue apostolic sign credentials as our rule today. Those signs confirmed the word in that setting. Read Second Corinthians 12 verse 12 and Hebrews 2 verses 3 through 4.

5. He does not give new revelations that add to or stand beside Scripture. The written words are sufficient to thoroughly furnish the man of God. Read Second Timothy 3 verses 16 through 17.

6. He does not guide us by fleeces, omens, or open door superstitions. He guides by Scripture renewed judgment, by wisdom, and by things excellent. Read Romans 12 verses 1 through 2 and Philippians 1 verses 9 through 10 and Colossians 3 verse 16.

7. He does not override the one Mediator. There is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. Read First Timothy 2 verse 5.

8. He does not send believers to break generational curses, to bind territorial spirits, or to stage confrontations with the devil. We resist steadfast in the faith and give place to the devil in nothing. Read Ephesians 4 verse 27 and First Peter 5 verses 8 through 9 and Jude verse 9.

9. He does not make daily confession the condition for forgiveness. In the Body of Christ we have forgiveness now through the blood of Christ. Read Ephesians 1 verse 7 and Colossians 2 verse 13.

10. He does not teach that material prosperity proves spirituality. Paul learned to abound and to be abased and he warned against supposing that gain is godliness. Read Philippians 4 verses 11 through 12 and First Timothy 6 verses 5 through 6.

11. He does not tell us to chase atmospheres, anoint objects, or import temple ordinances. Our bodies are the temple and our worship is in Spirit and in truth through the word. Read First Corinthians 6 verse 19 and Colossians 2 verses 20 through 23.

12. He does not make the Body of Christ a priestly nation on earth. That identity belongs to Israel in the remnant epistles. Read First Peter 2 verse 9 and compare with Ephesians 4 verse 4 and Ephesians 2 verses 15 through 16.

13. He does not instruct us to use Israel’s new covenant prayer promises for blank check outcomes. The Body prays with understanding according to Pauline truth and rests in sufficiency of grace. Read Philippians 4 verses 6 through 7 and Second Corinthians 12 verses 9 through 10.

14. He does not cause confusion or disorder in the assembly. God is not the author of confusion but of peace. All things are to be done decently and in order. Read First Corinthians 14 verse 33 and verse 40.

15. He does not point us to Himself as the focus. The Spirit testifies of Christ and glorifies Christ. Read John 15 verse 26 and John 16 verse 14.

16. He does not replace personal responsibility with impressions. We prove what is acceptable by the renewed mind and by Scripture working effectually in us. Read Romans 12 verses 1 through 2 and First Thessalonians 2 verse 13.

17. He does not mix the Body into Israel’s covenant signs like water rites for power or kingdom healing lines for proof. Our completeness is in Christ already. Read Colossians 2 verse 10.

7. How to walk in step with the Spirit

Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. Read Galatians 5 verse 16. Be filled with the Spirit which means let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Read Ephesians 5 verse 18 and Colossians 3 verse 16. Quench not the Spirit and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. Read First Thessalonians 5 verse 19 and Ephesians 4 verse 30. Approve things that are excellent, pray with understanding and thanksgiving, and serve one another by love. Read Philippians 1 verses 9 through 11 and Philippians 4 verses 6 through 7 and Galatians 5 verse 13.

8. A word about right division and the Spirit

The Spirit’s operations must be read in their program. In the Lord’s earthly ministry and in the early chapters of Acts, God dealt with Israel under covenants with signs following. In the revelation of the mystery, God forms the Body by the gospel of Christ’s blood and resurrection and gives the Spirit at belief for sealing, indwelling, and baptism into the one Body. Keep these distinct and you protect consciences from man made expectations that Scripture does not place on the Body of Christ. Read Romans 16 verses 25 through 26 and Ephesians 3 verses 1 through 9.

9. Summary you can use

The Holy Spirit’s job with the Body of Christ is to apply the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ to the believer, to place us into Christ and into His Body, to seal and indwell us as God’s own, to strengthen and lead us into holy living, to produce fruit, to illumine the written word, to assure and intercede, and to build up the Body in love and truth. He does not send us to seek a second blessing, He does not keep us under Israel’s sign program, and He does not draw attention to Himself. His ministry is to glorify Christ as we let the word of Christ dwell in us richly and walk by faith.

Gospel clarifier for today

Salvation comes only by the gospel that Christ shed His blood for our sins, that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day. Read First Corinthians 15 verses 3 through 4. Believe this good news without works and God will justify you freely through faith in His blood, seal you with the Holy Spirit, and seat you in heavenly places in Christ. Read Romans 3 verses 24 through 26 and Ephesians 1 verses 13 through 14 and Ephesians 2 verse 6.

Key passages to revisit

Ephesians 1 verses 13 through 14, Romans 8 verses 9 and 13 through 16 and 26 through 27, First Corinthians 12 verses 13 and 4 through 7 and 14 verse 12 and verse 19 and verse 21 through verse 22 and verse 26 and verse 33 and verse 40, Galatians 3 verse 2 and 4 verse 6 and 5 verses 16 through 25, Second Corinthians 1 verse 22 and 3 verse 17 and 5 verse 5, Ephesians 2 verses 18 through 22 and 3 verses 16 through 17 and 4 verses 3 through 4 and 30 and 5 verses 18 through 20, Colossians 3 verse 16 and 2 verse 10 and 2 verses 20 through 23, Romans 12 verses 1 through 2 and 16 verses 25 through 26, Philippians 1 verses 9 through 11 and 4 verses 6 through 7 and 4 verses 11 through 12, First Timothy 2 verse 5 and 6 verses 5 through 6,