Holy Spirit influence on christians’ lives.

Holy Spirit and the influence on christians’ lives.

The Holy Spirit is a very important yet controversial and often emotional topic. In all groups there is often a general lack of knowledge of what scripture teaches. The Spirit is integral in bringing us to salvation, completing salvation and bringing us to our eternal life.

Beliefs regarding the influence of the Holy Spirit

Teleios recently examined the important role of the Holy Spirit in Christians’ lives in visitors to the Instagram account, InstaPray. We had 475 participants, 68% were adolescents (<18) as well as millennials (18-34), 78% evangelicals and 71% female. Wow, we received some amazing answers!

The Holy Spirit is a very important yet controversial and often emotional topic. Opinions vary widely about the role of the Spirit, from traditional orthodox to charismatic beliefs. However, in all groups there is often a general lack of knowledge of what scripture teaches. Let’s cover some pertinent topics over the Spirit examining what scripture says and perhaps we can all better shape our own thinking based on the truth of God.

I generally breakdown scriptures handling of the Spirit for the New Testament Church into three basic realms:

  • The Spirit’s work in salvation
  • The Spirit’s role in our Christian walk
  • The Christian’s duties to the Spirit

Let’s examine what our participants said regarding the Spirit and salvation (please see table).

Holy Spirit info

 

What the Bible says: Indeed, the Spirit in salvation in scripture is key. He performs the following vital functions.

  • Convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8) – This role is vital because left to our own resources, as fallen man both physically and mentally, we would not come to faith and salvation by our own reckoning (Romans 3:10-12). Therefore, the Spirit is central to help unbelievers recognize their faults, coming judgment and God’s demand for righteousness.
  • Baptizes (Romans 6:2-3,9; Ephesians 2:4-7; Colossians 2:12-13) – In the epistles the word ‘baptism’ signifies spiritual baptism which occurs at our salvation by the Spirit. The actual meaning of the word baptism (βαπτιζω, baptizoo) is ‘to identify with’. Therefore, the Spirit baptizes us by identifying us with Christ’s death and resurrection.The incredible fact of spiritual baptism (which water baptism may symbolize) gives us surety for our great salvation as a new creature that cannot be slain and re-created our old dead self.
  • The Spirit accomplishes this by putting to death our old person and resurrecting us to a new living person. ‘Regeneration’ and ‘born again’ are other concepts in Scripture signifying this important event (Titus 3:5; John 3:3). These wonderful verses demonstrate to us the profound importance of the resurrection because there is no eternal life without the resurrection and regeneration (1 Corinthians 15:13-19).
  • Seals to Redemption (2 Corinthians 1:20; 2 Corinthians 5:5; Ephesians 1:13-14) – This great promise indicates that each of us has the Holy Spirit from our time of belief in salvation until the day we die and go to be with God. Indeed, one of the definitions of a Christian is that we have the Holy Spirit for we if do not have it we are not yet a Believer (Romans 8: 9).
  • Places us into the church (1 Corinthians 12:13) – The spirit graciously has placed us at salvation into the universal church of Christ for which he is the head (1 Corinthians 12:13).

As you can see, the Spirit is integral in bringing us to Salvation, completing salvation and bringing us to our eternal life. What a fantastic blessing that we have such a gift from God as the Holy Spirit.

HOLY SPIRIT SURVEY RESULTS

We received 475 responses.

The Holy Spirit is extremely important in our lives as Christians and often is underappreciated in preaching. Beliefs vary widely and can be emotional. I’ve tried to limit my comments to passages in the New Testament epistles.

The role of the Holy Spirit can be divided neatly into 3 general functions:

  • The Spirit’s role in Salvation
  • The Spirit helping us to grow spiritually
  • Our responsibilities to the spirit.

Q9 – The role of the Holy Spirit in our salvation was (choose all that apply):

  • Convicted us of our sin*
  • Regenerated us to a new person, identified with Christ (i.e., spiritual baptism) *
  • Sealed us to the day of our redemption*
  • Led us to salvation by signs and/or speaking to us
  • Provided us the mental capacity to choose our salvation
  • No specific role
  • Other

*Correct answer

Note: Scripture indicates that the Spirit is active in our salvation by:

  • Convicting us of sin to bring us to the point of belief (John 16: 8-11);
  • Baptizing us, identified with Christ’s death and resurrection. This is our new life and eternity in Christ (our regeneration, Titus 3:5, Romans 6:2-9. Colossians 2:11-13, Ephesians 2:4-7). When the epistles speak of baptism they mean ‘spiritual baptism’.
  • Sealing us as God’s own possession to the day of our final redemption (Ephesians 1:13-14, 2 Corinthians 1:21; 5:5).

Q10 – The role of the Holy Spirit in our Christian walk is (please choose all that apply):

  • Helps us put to death the deeds of the flesh*
  • Leads us by God’s word*
  • Comforts us that we are children of God*
  • Teaches us*
  • Encourages us with signs and wonders
  • Prays for us*
  • Convicts us of daily sin
  • Provide signs and wonders to lead believers
  • Gives us power by the armor of God (i.e., Bible, faith, righteousness, truth, hope, gospel) *
  • Indwells us with His full power until we are home with Christ*
  • Awaits the second indwelling by asking Him to come into our lives
  • Heals us of every sickness
  • Other
  • No specific role

*Correct answer

Note: There are no concise texts regarding the actions of the Spirit in our lives as there are with our Savior, Jesus Christ. Key texts are Romans 8:11-16, 26, John 14-16 and Ephesians 6:11-17. These passages are the bases of the correct answers above. Importantly in the armor of God passage the Spirit uses the Word of God directly but the rest of the armor is associated with His actions through the Gospel (Romans 1:16-17, Galatians 5:5) and the fruit of the spirit (Ephesians 5:11 and Galatians 5:22-23). Therefore, it is the Spirit who matures us and His methods are signified by the armor of God passage (Ephesians 5:13-17).

Q11 – What is the duty of a Christian towards the Holy Spirit (please choose all that apply)?

  • Do not grieve the Spirit* Ephesians 4:30
  • Do not suppress the Spirit* I Thessalonians 5:19
  • Do not commit the unforgivable sin by blaspheming the Spirit
  • Walk in the Spirit* Galatians 5:16, 235
  • Be zealous towards the Spirit* Romans 12:11
  • Be filled (mature) in the Spirit* Ephesians 5:18
  • Ask for the second filling of the Spirit
  • Exercise the miraculous gifts
  • Pray in tongues
  • Put to death the deeds the flesh through the Spirit* Romans 8:13
  • Put on the armor of God to allow the Spirit to act* Ephesians 6:11-17
  • Listen to the Spirit’s guidance
  • Other
  • No specific duty

*Correct answer

Note: The answers from the scripture are referenced above. One point over the blasphemy of the Spirit (Matthew 12:31). This verse relates not to Christians but to Jews primarily who rejected the witness of the Spirit at the baptism of Christ who had come to present the kingdom and salvation (Matthew 3:16).

Q12 – What are the results of the Holy Spirit acting in all our lives (please choose all that apply)?

  • Controlled and/or mature behaviors* Ephesians 5:18
  • Fruit of the Spirit (i.e., love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control, righteousness, truth) * Ephesians 5:11, Galatians 5:22.
  • Able to interpret dreams and signs
  • Act according to the armor of God Ephesians* 6:11-17
  • Able to do miracles, signs and wonders
  • Speak in tongues or interpretation of tongues
  • Able to prophesy
  • Speak the things of God Ephesians* 5:19
  • Other
  • No specific results

*Correct answer

Note: Over charismatic theology, approximately one-third of evangelicals identify as “charismatic”. Generally, this theology interprets Acts 2 as an encouragement for each Christian to receive a second, more powerful filling of the Holy Spirit so that they can perform the miraculous gifts identified in 1 Corinthians 12-14.

We do not know the exact state of the signs and wonders noted in 1 Corinthians. Nonetheless, charismatic theology is controversial when compared to traditional orthodox theology and normal literal interpretation of scripture in several key points:

  • Signs and wonders are used by scripture generally to note new revelation as with Moses, Elijah and Christ.
  • The purpose of signs and wonders (including tongues), as predicted in the Old Testament, confirmed in the Gospels and Acts, attested to the messiahship of Christ and to condemn unbelieving Jews.
  • Their presence in Acts connects the ministry of the apostles to that of Christ. God is always careful to connect in Scripture a prior era to a new one.
  • Signs and wonders died out with the end of the witness to the Jews in Jerusalem early in Acts consistent with Matthew 13:11. They do not generally reappear in the later witness to the Gentiles, who wanted wisdom and not signs (1 Corinthians 1:22).
  • The church in Corinth still had these signs, even as they were dying out elsewhere, as they were immature and probably needed them as support; and they had a substantial Jewish population to whom these signs witnessed. Nonetheless, their distribution was variable and incomplete (I Corinthians 12:28-30. Even so, Paul encouraged the Corinthians to seek a better way (faith, hope and love), consistent with the rest of the New Testament (1 Corinthians 12:31, 13:13).
  • All Christians are characterized as having the Spirit (Romans 8:9) and there is no limitation described in the epistles of His power in our lives unless we limit it (1 Thessalonians 5:23).
  • The rest of the New Testament emphasizes maturity through the Spirit, by the knowledge and understanding of His word, and as shown by biblical characteristics (Galatians 5:22-23, 1 Timothy 3 and 1 John 2-4).

All of us who are saved by faith are God’s people and we approach God in faith through scripture and the Spirit teaches us and causes us to stand.

Thanks so much for helping us with Teleios surveys and your interest in these results!

If you are interested in receiving routine Teleios updates (survey results, ongoing research, encouraging Christian headlines); just email your request to Lindsay Nelson at [email protected] with “Teleios updates” in the subject line.

You can find the complete survey data here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Young Christians Beliefs Regarding the Influence of the Holy Spirit

 

GOOSE CREEK, S.C., Aug. 3, 2017 /Christian Newswire/ — Teleios recently surveyed the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives in 475 visitors to the Instagram account, InstaPray, of whom: 30% were under 18 and 38% were between 18-30 years of age; 78% were evangelicals and 71% female.

The actions of the Holy Spirit in believers’ lives is an important yet controversial topic. In our survey, the most common response by participants was that the Spirit helps lead them by the word of God (88%).

Also selected by above 80% of the participants, in order, was: The Holy Spirit comforts us that we are children of God, teaches us and gives us power consistent with the armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-17). 

These results are encouraging in that they show that both millennials and adolescents, when presented with a list of biblical and non-biblical actions, overwhelmingly identified important scripturally based roles of the Spirit. This is important because the doctrine of the Spirit can be confusing, often because of differences in beliefs between Christian denominations.

The Bible teaches the Holy Spirit has a critical role in both salvation and the Christian life. The Bible indicates that in salvation the Spirit: draws an unbeliever to God by convicting them of sin, baptizes them into the body of Christ (the universal church), regenerates them to a new life and seals them until Christ comes again. 

In the Christian life, the Spirit gives power, prays for believers, teaches them, helps them defeat sin, and comforts them by assuring them they are children of God among other actions. All the findings of the survey, as well as other Teleios research, are on our website www.teleiosresearch.com. 

Teleios, a non-profit foundation, seeks to demonstrate the truth of Scripture and the Christian faith through the scientific method by providing evidence for the positive results of a biblically-based lifestyle. Prior studies conducted by Teleios have shown that the practice of the Christian faith (praise, prayer, fellowship, service and Bible study) and security of salvation increases well-being while reducing guilt.

 
You can find the original press release here.