The Work Of The Holy Spirit
The best way a family can function well is when the father, mother and children are working together. Their functions are interrelated, there is growth and development, happiness and peace and decisions are made without any conflict because the father and mother are one and the child only comes as a result of two parents coming together. Outside the three parties, it is dysfunctional family. To understand the Trinity one must interest themselves in relationships especially at family level.
The Spirit’s role is to glorify the Son and reveal the Son’s teaching, which ultimately is given by the Father. Our understanding of God needs to be about what we see of the Trinity self-giving love in humble relationship, deferring to the other and always for the sake of mission and ministry. The Spirit’s relationship is in full accord with the work of Jesus and is an outpouring of his ministry and actions. He is a witness to Jesus (15:26-27) and guides believers into all truth from the authority of the Father and the Son (16:13-14). This purposeful relationship of the Son to the Spirit was for the benefit of the disciples and it reveals the Spirit as Helper because of the glorification of the Son and now extremely beneficial for all believers. Although the Bible does not have the word Trinity, it clearly stipulates the relationship in the interrelated function of the father, Son and Holy Spirit. The three persons were present in creation as stated; “Let us create man in our own image and likeness.”
Reading the gospel of John helps to open our minds to the doctrine of Trinity.
The Spirit does not try to do anything on his own, in a divine self-giving way, the Spirit is silent except in revealing what Jesus has said. And what Jesus has isn’t purely his own; in a divine self-giving way; the Father has granted all that is his own to the Son.
The Father is the source of truth, and the Son has all that the Father has, and because of the Spirit’s glorification of the Son, the Spirit takes that truth to the believer. Let me share some scriptures for us to read in our
free time to internalize the relationship of the Trinity. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:29-30) You can read
about the supremacy of Christ in Colossians 1:15ff. The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation….In John 10:30. Jesus said; I and the father are one.
Other scriptures you can look at are 2 Corinthians 4:4, Hebrews 1:2-3 and a systematic reading of the gospel of John.
Today we look at the work of the Holy Spirit as enshrined in the father and the son. In John 16:8, the Holy Spirit convicts us concerning sin, righteousness and Judgment, in verse 12, he guides us in all truth, remember that Jesus is the way the truth and life, and the Spirit is life and truth. As we speak and conduct our affairs truth is a lost virtue in society today. Finally the Holy Spirit glorifies the son and makes him known. May God bless us as we embrace the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
The Very Rev. Canon Dr. Rebecca Nyegenye
Provost