Week 8: The Ruach Ha’Kodesh
The Ruach Ha’Kodesh (the Spirit of God) in Salvation: Perhaps the least understood person of the Trinity is the Ruach. There may actually be a good reason for this: His work is not to glorify or even bring attention to Himself, but to exalt Yeshua, who said of the Spirit, “He will testify of Me” (John 15:26 and 16:13-14). We can also clearly see from these verses that the Ruach Ha’Kodesh is not merely an impersonal force or influence. The Spirit of God is a person. Indeed, He has all the qualities of personality: intelligence (Romans 8:27), will (First Cor 12:11), can feel sad (Ephesians 4:30), can be resisted (Acts 7:51), can be extinguished (First Thess 5:19) and insulted (Hebrews 10:29). The Ruach Ha’Kodesh teaches, instructs, leads and directs (John 16). He can also be vilified (Luke 12:10), lied to (Acts 5:3), and sinned against (Matthew 12:31-32).
The Ruach Ha’Kodesh is God (Romans 8:9; John 14:26 and 15:26). As Yeshua is God in the flesh, the Spirit of God lives within you (John 14:17). The Ruach Ha’Kodesh possess the qualities of God: eternity (Hebrews 9:14), Omnipotence, being all powerful (Micah 3:8; Romans 15:13), Omnipresence, being present everywhere at the same time (Psalm 139:7-10), Omniscience, being all-knowing (First Corinthians 2:10-11), possessing life (Romans 8:2), holiness (Matthew 12:31-32) and truth (First John 5:6). Not only does the Ruach Ha’Kodesh have the attributes of God, be He does the work of God in creation (Genesis 1:2), in regeneration (John 3:8), in resurrection (Romans 8:11) and receives the honor due God (First Corinthians 3:16) because He is equal to God (2 Corinthians 13:14). Now that you’ve learned about the Spirit’s nature, you need to understand four wonderful works that He accomplishes in your life:
1. The Ruach regenerates you: He makes you alive to God forever! When you trusted in Yeshua for your salvation, the Spirit actually made you spiritually alive to God (Romans 8:11). Regeneration is receiving the full, free, and forever salvation: He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Ruach Ha’Kodesh (Titus 3:5-6). This is also called a new birth, “The Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at My saying, “You must be born again” (John 3:6-7). In Messiah, all your sins were washed away. You were set apart for the purposes of God. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Yeshua Messiah and by the Spirit of God (First Corinthians 6:11).
2. The Ruach indwells you: In the TaNaKh the indwelling of the Spirit was only temporary. Hence King David prayed: Do not take Your Spirit from me (Psalm 51:11). In the B’rit Chadashah, however, He takes residence within us permanently (John 14:16; Ephesians 4:30). That is why you are called the Temple of the Spirit of God (First Corinthians 6:19-20). As the gracious choice of God, the Ruach came to live inside of you, not merely to be with you. The resources of the Spirit are illustrated by His titles like Helper and Advocate. Just as Messiah is your Advocate before the Father on your behalf (First John 2:1-2), so the Ruach Ha’Kodesh is the Father’s Advocate in you. As your indwelling Helper, He is able to intercede as you relate to God in prayer (Romans 8:26-27; Ephesians 6:18; Jude 20). And to convict us of wrongdoing!!!!!
At salvation, the Ruach Ha’Kodesh came to live inside you forever (Romans 5:5). At that same time you were given a down payment for eternity: Now it is God who makes you stand firm in Messiah. He anointed us, set His seal of ownership upon us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come (Second Corinthians 1:21-22). Anointed means to be dedicated for God’s purposes, like the priests in the Torah (Leviticus 8:12, 30). This anointing enables you to learn His truths taught in God’s Word (First John 2:27). Sealed refers to God’s eternal guarantee that He will keep you secure in Messiah. The word for deposit (Greek: arrhabon) is used for an engagement ring in waiting for a wedding ring, the promise of things to come, the wedding feast of the Lamb (Revelation 19:6-10).
You were included in Messiah when you heard the word of truth, the Gospel of salvation. Having believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Ruach Ha’Kodesh, who is a deposit guaranteeing [your] inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession – to the praise of His glory (Ephesians 1:13-14; Second Corinthians 5:5). This indwelling assures us that neither Satan nor his demons can posses you. For you are sealed in Messiah by the all-powerful Ruach Ha’Kodesh. The devil cannot overcome the Spirit because the One who is in you is greater than the [evil one] who is in the world (Matthew 12:29; 1 John 4:4). In fact, nothing can separate you from the love of God (Romans 8:37-39).
You are saved with an eternal salvation (see my commentary on The Life of Christ, to see link click Ms – The Eternal Security of the Believer), based on faith in what Ruach Ha’Kodesh has already done for you, and not on any of your own deeds, either to save you or to keep you saved (Galatians 3:2-3). This doesn’t mean that you should sin up a storm because you know you are forgiven. Paul said: What shall we say, then? Shall we continue to sin so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Messiah Yeshua were baptized into His death (Romans 6:1-3). Therefore, it is by the Spirit of God that you are secure in your Savior forever.
3. The Ruach Ha’Kodesh baptizes you: When you trusted in Yeshua for your salvation, the Spirit of God baptized you into the Body of Messiah, making you a living member of His spiritual Body. This baptism of the Spirit is a onetime event, enabling you to live out Messiah’s love and supernaturally empowering you to serve as a member of His Body. As a result, you are eternally joined to Yeshua Messiah our Lord through the Spirit which thus joins you to all believers. For we are all baptized by one Spirit into one Body – whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free – and we were all given the one Spirit to drink (First Corinthians 12:13).
You may have heard of ritual water baptism. This will be covered in depth in Lesson 13, but for now we should understand that water baptism is actually pictures the Spirit-baptism that took place at salvation. Just as all believers are baptized in/by or with (Greek: eis) the Ruach Ha’Kodesh (the real baptism), all believers are to be baptized in water (the ritual baptism) in obedience to Messiah (Matthew 28:18-19). This water baptism is an outward expression of an inward conviction. That’s why Ephesians 4:5 teaches that there is only one baptism for all believers.
Remember, you are in a relationship! The Spirit’s baptism joins you to Yeshua and is pictured in a variety of ways. Your union to Messiah is like: (1) A bride to her Husband (John 3:29; First Corinthians 6:17; Second Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 5:30-31; Romans 7:4; Revelation 19:7, 21:2). This is a picture of God’s love for you. (2) A body to a head (Ephesians 1:22-23; 4:15-16; Colossians 1:18, 2:19). This is a picture of God’s direction for you. (3) A branch of a vine (John 15:1-5). This is a picture of God’s fruitfulness for you. (4) Stones of a temple on the strong foundation cornerstone (Ephesians 2:20-22; First Peter 2:4-9). This is a picture of God’s security for you. And (5) a member of a family (John 1:12; Hebrews 2:10-14). This is a picture of God’s family with you as one of His children.
The Spirit of God in Ministry: The moment you were saved the Spirit of God gifted you to serve Him effectively you’re your spiritual gift(s). Regardless of your particular gift, the purpose is always the same – for the common good, as opposed to personal, selfish gain (Acts 8:18-23). In other words, your spiritual gift is for the benefit of others. As you spiritually mature in Messiah whatever gift you have will perfectly fulfill God’s will for you, glorify Him in your life, and bless you for eternity.
You have learned that the Spirit regenerates you, indwells you and baptizes you. This is what God does for us at the moment of salvation and came as a free gift of the Ruach Ha’Kodesh by faith in Yeshua. The Ruach Ha’Kodesh’s part in salvation, is that you are justified. However, in another area – the filling of the Spirit – you live out the spiritual life. You are sanctified. We will cover that in Lesson 11: The Fundamentals. Being filled with the Spirit is something that you cooperate in with God. Through filling, God pours out His love through your life to others and sets you apart for His holy use.
In the Scriptures to be filled is used to mean “to be controlled by, or be under the influence of something or someone else.” To be filled with the Spirit, therefore, is to be controlled or strongly influenced by the Spirit. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). As drunkenness affects behavior for evil, being filled with the Spirit affects a person for good. As a drunken person is under the control of wine, so a Spiritually filled person is under the control of the Spirit. This does not make you a robot, without your own will. Rather, you freely comply with the Spirit and His purposes and His Word. That is what it means to be “spiritual.”
The filling of the Spirit is commanded by God: be filled with the Spirit, literally, stay filled (see my commentary on Ephesians Bt – Be Filled with the Ruach). As imperfect humans, we are leaky vessels of clay, and we need to be constantly refilled. This was true even for the apostles (Acts 2:4, 4:8 and 31, 9:17, 13:9). This continuous condition of being filled with the Spirit is dependent on our submission to the Spirit. You may wonder, can a believer resist the Spirit and still be a believer? Yes, people can resist the filling of the Spirit. In fact, the Bible deals extensively with this subject:
The [natural] man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned (First Corinthians 2:14). Natural people, without the Spirit, are not saved.
The spiritually [compliant] man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment, “For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?” But we have the mind of Messiah (First Corinthians 2:15-16). Spiritual people are believers in Yeshua who understand and live life from a Biblical frame of reference in submission to the Spirit. They produce good fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). The filling of the Spirit gives them a Godly perspective on life, and they yield their life to Yeshua and are therefore conformed, or molded like clay, into the image of Messiah (Romans 8:29a).
Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly – mere [uncompliant] infants in Messiah. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere [unsaved] men (First Corinthians 3:1-3)? Worldly believers have been saved, but the world, their flesh and the devil (Ephesians 2:2-3a) have led them astray. They are believers, but without good spiritual fruit.
How can we be filled by the Spirit? When we are filled with the Spirit we:
(1) walk by the Spirit, living your daily life in His will and by His power (Galatians 5:25);
(2) pray in the Spirit, praying for God’s will to be done (Ephesians 6:18; Philippians 3:3; Jude 20), even when you do not know the details of His will (Romans 8:26-27);
(3) are taught by the Spirit (First Corinthians 2:14; First John 2:27);
and (4) are led by the Spirit, to do those things which are pleasing to God, like repenting of worldly attitudes and activities (Romans 8:13-14; First John 1:9-10).
In short, the life you are living is God’s life: I have been crucified with Messiah and I no longer live [for I have died to self] but Messiah lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of god, who loved me and gave himself up for me (First Corinthians 2:20).
The evidence of the Spirit-filled life is called the fruit of the Spirit. It is the result of His working in and through you. The fruit of the Spirit reflects the characteristics of God, seen in those who live in submission to His Spirit, which is called godliness. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22). Several commands express how to be filled with the Spirit:
Do not grieve the Spirit. The Spirit grieves when a believer sins, because He knows the reality of what sin does both in the believer and in the believer’s relationship to Him (Psalm 32:1-8). In short, He knows the grief of sin before we do. He grieves until we confess and repent from our rebellion toward Him. The first step to being filled with the Spirit is to repent of all sin and to accept cleansing in the blood of Yeshua (1 John 1: 7-9).
Do not quench the Spirit. The Spirit is “quenched” or “stifled” when His prompting to submit, yield and respond to God’s Word is ignored. Those who confess their sins are cleansed but now need to yield to the Spirit and stop resisting Him. For instance, when you know He wants you to apologize to another person, not to resist His godly urging and worldly excuses. Instead, you are to yield to the Spirit and submit your will to His will, even as Yeshua did (Luke 22:42).
But we are to walk by the Spirit. To walk by the Spirit (Galatians 5:16) is not merely obedience, but full dependence on the Spirit of God. We need to consciously depend on His power for daily living for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose (Philippians 2:13). God provides all the power you need to do His will for His glory (Romans 8:37; Philippians 4:13). As we walk by the Spirit we are enabled to love, forgive and be humble, or even bold, in ways that go beyond our own personalities.
Being filled with the Spirit is living as a spiritually yielded person. It is the evidence of your relationship with your God. He has told you, O man, what is good and what the LORD requires of you: To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8). In doing these things, you are filled with the Spirit.
How is being filled with the Spirit different than being baptized by the Spirit? How are you filled with the Spirit? Memorize Galatians 5:16.
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