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The Holy Spirit - His nature and working

The ministry of the Holy Spirit in the believer

Published since 30. Apr. 2025

The Holy Spirit not only dwells in each believer and works through them, but He also works in them. He has a task, a ministry that is done in us. In 2 Corinthians 3, the apostle Paul speaks of various ministries (the ministry of the new covenant, the ministry of death, the ministry of the Spirit, the ministry of condemnation, and the ministry of righteousness) and associates the ministry of the Spirit with glory (v. 8). The aim of the work of the Holy Spirit is always to occupy us with the glory of the Lord Jesus. That is why He says of the Spirit: "He will glorify me" (John 16:14). In practical terms, this means two things:

  1. The Holy Spirit wants to remove everything in us that is not in accordance with the glory of the Lord Jesus and, therefore, prevents us from being seized and filled with his glory. This is the negative side of his ministry.
  2. The Holy Spirit wants to actively engage us with the glory and excellence of the Lord so that we may be transformed into His image in beholding His glory (2 Cor. 3:18). This is the positive side of his ministry.

1. The negative side

God's Word shows us the believer as a person who has received new life and in whom the Spirit of God dwells. At the same time, however, the flesh is still present, i.e., sin is still present in him. In this context, we often speak of the "old nature" that the believer still possesses. Even if this expression does not appear in God's Word, what it expresses does. This old nature only produces sins and works through our body, the "deeds of the body" (Rom 8:13). The unbeliever cannot help but sin because only this old nature works in him. He is inevitably a "slave to sin" (Rom 6:17). Sin rules over him.

In contrast, a believer does not have to sin. We can indeed sin - and unfortunately, it happens repeatedly - but the compulsion to sin is no longer there. The believer is freed from this compulsion; sin no longer rules over him. “But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of righteousness.” – “But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.” (Romans 6: 18, 22). The believer is no longer a slave to sin; the old man has been crucified, and the death sentence is pronounced on the flesh. We have died to sin (Rom 6:2). This removes the compelling mechanism of having to sin.

Nevertheless, it remains true that we can still sin. Paul even says that we can persist in sin and live in it (Rom 6:1). Our body is then used by the sin that still dwells in us to act carnally, i.e., to "live according to the flesh" (Rom 8:12). This is where the ministry of the Spirit comes in. He always works so that we do not sin. He is the power within us that we need in order to consider ourselves practically dead to sin. It is the "law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" that has made us free "from the law of sin and death" (Romans 8:2). This is why Paul concludes:

“Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” (Romans 8:12-14)

We are, therefore, called upon to put to death the actions of the body through the Spirit. These are all the things produced by the old nature, which are, therefore, sinful and have no standing before the glory of the Lord. The Spirit in us firstly warns us against sin, and secondly, He gives us the power to put to death the actions of the old nature, i.e., to acknowledge that they are evil and that the Lord Jesus had to die for them, too. The Colossians were told: “Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth…” (Colossians 3:5). If we have sinned, we do not again take refuge in the shed blood of the Savior, but we mourn in the thought that the Lord also had to die for the sins that we as believers have committed again.

The Spirit of God who dwells in us is completely opposite to the old nature. Paul writes to the Galatians about this: “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:16-25)

The flesh always wants to draw us away from the Lord and His glory; the Spirit works in exactly the opposite direction. He helps us to consider ourselves dead to sin, to kill the actions of the body so that He can then occupy us with the glory of the Lord.

2. The positive side

It is always the positive goal of the Holy Spirit to make the glory of the Son of God great for us. However, He can only do this if we practically walk by the Spirit and the flesh is not involved. Therefore, we must ask ourselves, each of us personally, how much time the Spirit must spend in my life to take away what comes from the flesh and how much opportunity I give the Holy Spirit in my everyday life to occupy me with the glory of my Lord. Unfortunately, we must say that the Spirit has to deal much more often with what comes from the old nature and prevents us from following the Lord. Only in glory can He reveal all His power to us to show us the glory of Christ without restriction. Then, there is no longer any obstacle to truly enjoying the Lord in His glories and beauties.

Nevertheless, we do not need to wait until we are no longer on this earth. The Holy Spirit has been sent, among other things, precisely to speak here of the Lord Jesus and to impress his glory upon us deeply. We distinguish four steps in this ministry of the Spirit:

  1. He shows us the glory of the Lord
  2. He puts the glory of the Lord in our hearts
  3. He makes the glory of the Lord visible in us
  4. He enables us to bring the glory of the Son to the Father in worship

a) He shows us the glory of the Lord

The Lord Jesus speaks of this in his parting words to his disciples: “He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.” (John 16:14). To glorify a person means nothing other than to bring their glories and excellences to light and to speak of them. In this sense, the Lord Jesus glorified God on the cross because He showed in perfection who God is (namely light and love). So, it is the Spirit's endeavor to familiarize us with the excellent virtues of the Lord Jesus. He shows us Him as the Son of God who came from heaven, as the perfect man who consumed Himself here on this earth in the service of God to do His work. The Spirit of God shows us His deep humiliation, obedience, dedication and consecration to God, mercy, kindness, patience, and goodness. We can admire Him in all the details of His life on earth. The aim of the Spirit of God is that we, like the bride in the Song of Songs, say: "Everything about him is lovely" (Song of Songs 5:16). This is how the sons of Korah felt when they prophetically said: "You are more beautiful than the sons of men; grace is poured out on your lips" (Ps 45:3). Nothing and no one can be compared to the Lord Jesus. The Holy Spirit wants to imprint this knowledge deep within us. Wherever we look, we see only divinely perfect glory and beauty.

What means does the Spirit use to show us the glory of the Lord in this way? It is his word. On all the pages of the Bible, we find the Lord Jesus and His beauty. In the Old Testament, He speaks in images and types; in the New Testament, in a direct way. In prayer and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, it is up to us to see more of His glory in His Word daily, in whom the Father is well pleased.

b) He puts the glory of the Lord in our hearts

It is one thing to occupy oneself with the glories of the Lord to get to know and admire them. It is another thing to take these glories deep into your heart. For this, too, we need the ministry of the Spirit. Paul writes to the Ephesians: “that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love” (Ephesians 3:16-17).We understand well that we need the Spirit of God as a source of strength within us to be witnesses for our Lord and Savior in this world (cf. Acts 1:8), but that is not the point here. The Spirit here is called the Spirit of the Father, and we need Him as a source of power within us so that "the Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith." This is about the place Christ, the center of God's counsel, has in our affections.

For the Father, there is nothing greater than His beloved Son. He always looks upon Him with pleasure. That is why He has given us His Spirit, so that we may share this one object of delight and joy with Him. The Spirit of the Father always draws to the Son, just as the Spirit of the Son draws to the Father (cf. Gal 4:6). It is, therefore, a reciprocal relationship. The Spirit not only shows us the glory of the Son, but He leads us further. Christ is to dwell in our hearts through faith, as we are rooted and grounded in love. This is not something theoretical, but it concerns our practical lives. Where I live, I am at home. If Christ dwells in my heart, then He is not a guest there but has the rights of the master of the house. The more I am overwhelmed by His glory and enjoy His love, the more I will give Him dominion over my life. This is how Christ wants to dwell in my heart, and where the Spirit wants to lead us. This leads us directly to the next point.

c) He makes the glory of the Lord visible in us

If the Lord Jesus dwells in my heart as the center of God's counsel, and I give Him dominion in my life, then this will also be perceived by my fellow human beings. This is exactly what the Spirit of God wants to bring about. It is the fruit of the Spirit about which Paul writes to the Galatians: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” (Galatians 5:22)These glorious character traits stand in contrast to the works of the flesh, the old nature, of which the apostle speaks a few verses earlier (Gal 5:19-21). Only the Holy Spirit can make these virtues, seen in the Lord Jesus without any shadow, visible in us.

So, the fruit of the Spirit, in the first sense, is not some "good work" we do for God. Nor does it primarily include people we lead to the Lord Jesus (although both should have their place in our lives). No, the fruit of the Spirit is what the Spirit of God produces in us in terms of the characteristics of the Lord Jesus. Let us also note that it is not "fruits of the Spirit" but the fruit of the Spirit. It is one fruit, a harmonious whole, seen perfectly in the Lord Jesus.

We find a beautiful example of this in Stephen. Shortly before he was stoned to death, he raised his eyes to heaven amid the hostility and wickedness of men. The inspired writer reports it thus: "But when he, full of the Holy Spirit, looked steadfastly toward heaven, he saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God" (Acts 7:55). And what was the result of this? A little later, we hear his plea: "Lord, do not impute this sin to them" (v. 60). How similar he was in these difficult moments to the one who had prayed: "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." Filled with the Holy Spirit, this faithful servant was transformed into the image of his Lord. Thus, Paul's words were fulfilled: "But we all, with unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Lord the Spirit" (2 Cor 3:18). It is a daily challenge for all of us to give the Spirit of God more room to form Christ in us (cf. also Gal 4:19).

d) He enables us to bring the glory of the Son to the Father in worship

People in whose hearts Christ dwells and who are filled with Him through the Spirit not only desire to display the characteristics of the Lord Jesus in their lives, but the Holy Spirit will also empower and guide them to worship the Father in spirit and truth (John 4:23). Christian worship is more than reverent admiration and homage. Christian worship is the offering of spiritual sacrifices. These spiritual sacrifices are offered to God, and they speak of none other than the work and person of the Lord Jesus. Peter shows us in 1 Peter 2 that believers are both a royal and a holy priesthood. As royal priests, we proclaim the virtues of the Lord Jesus, i.e., we show in our lives who He was. As holy priests, we turn to God to speak to Him of what we have found in the person of His Son and His work. This is worship, as only the Spirit of God can work in us.

These two sides always belong together. If the Spirit fills our hearts with the glory of the Lord Jesus, we will always be led, on the one hand, to make his characteristics visible to the people of this world and, on the other hand, to tell God in adoration of what we have found in his beloved Son. The bride in the Song of Songs is compared to a garden in which the bridegroom finds his joy. This garden is described in chapter 4:12-5:1. The bridegroom finds fragrant aromatic plants and fruit there. Applied to us, both speak of the Lord Jesus. The fragrant plants speak of his glories, which we bring before the Father in worship. The fruit speaks of his glories that become visible in our lives. Both can only be produced by the Spirit.

In the life of Mary of Bethany, we find these two sides reflected. By anointing the feet of the Son of God and letting the fragrance fill the house, we see her as a worshipper whose heart was full of the glory of the Lord Jesus (Jn 12:1-8). At the same time, the Lord Jesus confirms that she had done "a good work" with this action (Mt 26:10). She revealed the nature of her Master by not defending herself when she was attacked. Her heart was turned to Him in worship. Can we learn anything from this for ourselves?

Let's summarize our thoughts with a word from the apostle Paul. In 1 Corinthians 6:19, he says that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. This fact has consequences: "Glorify God therefore in your body!" (V. 20). When God is glorified in us, Christ is seen. And the Spirit of God wants to make this a reality for us daily.

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