MINISTER’S MOMENT | The Father and the Son give us the Holy Spirit
- By REV. JAYSON S. GALLER
Recently our 7 p.m. Wednesday Midweek Bible Study, “Salvation History is Our Story”, has been studying Jesus’s extended teaching in the upper room on the night when He was betrayed. I had previously preached and led studies on portions of what is sometimes called Jesus’s “Farewell Discourse”, but I had not previously looked at it so carefully and holistically.
The Discourse arguably spans chapters 13-17 of the Holy Gospel according to St. John. And, in a fashion typical of that Gospel account, Jesus repeatedly circles back to some of the same themes, each time building on what He has said before and taking the teaching to a higher level. Jesus’s teaching about the Holy Spirit, especially worth considering as we head toward the feasts of Pentecost and the Holy Trinity, is no exception.
Notably, Jesus first says that He will ask the Father and that the Father will give the disciples another Paraclete (John 14:16; usually translated “Comforter”, “Counselor”, or “Helper”), and Jesus later similarly mentions the Father’s sending that Paraclete in Jesus’s name (John 14:26). But, Jesus then twice refers to His sending the Paraclete, Whom He says proceeds from the Father (John 15:26; 16:7).
Clearly, the Father and the Son are involved. Yet, centuries ago the Eastern (think Eastern Orthodox) and the Western (think Roman Catholic) portions of the one Christian Church split in part over a creedal statement that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son (in Latin, filioque). But, that statement was nothing new.
Ultimately, the works of the Triune God toward the world are not attributed to any of the Divine Persons individually but to all three Persons corporately. So, based on Holy Scripture, we could say that either the Father or the Son gives us the Holy Spirit, or we could even say that the Spirit comes Himself (John 16:8, 13).
What matters most to us is that the Holy Spirit is sent and does come. For, He leads us to know our sin and to know the Son and so also to know the Father. Through God’s means of grace we receive the Spirit, Who, when and where He pleases, works in us faith that receives the Father’s forgiveness of sins for the sake of the Son crucified for us. And, the Spirit’s renewing us leads us to strive to overcome sin and do good works according to our vocations.
Click here to view the original article in the Kilgore News Herald.
