48.    How does the Bible describe the Holy Spirit?

• "the Spirit of God" (Gen 1:2; 1Co 6:11) and "the Spirit of Jesus" (Ac 16:7; Ro 8:9).
• Clothing (Lk 24:49): symbolizes the protection, the power, and the holiness of God
• Dove (Mt 3:16; Mk 1:10; Lk 3:22; Jn 1:32): indicates the purity of the Spirit (see Mt 10:16) and peace; His descent from heaven signifies the heavenly origin of the Spirit
• Deposit (2Co 1:22; 5:5; Eph 1:14): guarantees the final inheritance, God’s pledge that He will never fail any promises connected with our salvation
• Fire (Ac 2:3): symbolizes the presence of God (Ex 3:2), the approval of God (Lev 9:24), the protection of God (Ex 13:21), and the judging, sanctifying, cleansing power of God (Lev 10:2; Isa 6:1-8)
• Oil (Lk 4:18; Ac 10:38; 2Co 1:21; 1Jn 2:20): symbolizes the anointing of believers for a fruitful ministry (Ex 40:9-16; Isa 61:1-2; Lk 4:18), the cleansing and sanctifying (Lev 8:30; 14:17)
• Seal (2Co 1:22; Eph 1:13): symbolizes the completion of a transaction (Jer 32:9-10), where the believer is owned by God, has security for his salvation, and will receive all promised blessings at the day of final redemption (Eph 4:30)
• Water (Jn 4:14; 7:38-39): signifies the abundance of the new life of believers
• Wind (Jn 3:8; Ac 2:1-2): signifies the power of the Spirit’s work on the believers

49.    What is the work of the Holy Spirit?

• creation (Job 33:4; Ps 104:30)
• common grace: the unmerited favour of God toward all men in the form of natural benefits of the world including sunshine, rain, good health, etc. (Mt 5:45; Ac 14:17).
• reproves, convicts sinners (Jn 16:8-11)
• hinders growth of lawlessness (2Th 2:7)

• selective indwelling (Gen 41:38; Da 4:8; 5:11-14) and even filling (Ex 31:3; 35:31), in some persons but not all God’s people
• instructing (Ne 9:20)
• enabling for service (Ex 31:3; 1Sa 16:13; Jdg 14:6)
• limited in extent, duration and effect, e.g. Samson (Jdg 13:25), Saul (1Sa 10:10; 1Sa 16:14), David (his plea with God not to withdraw His Spirit from him, Ps 51:11)

• birth (Lk 1:35)
• Jesus led by the Holy Spirit (Mt 4:1; 12:27-28)
• Jesus anointed by the Holy Spirit for service (Ac 10:38; Lk 4:18)
• Jesus filled by the Holy Spirit (Lk 4:1; Jn 3:34; Isa 11:2)
• Jesus raised from death by the Holy Spirit (Ro 1:4; 8:11; 1Pe 3:18)

• regenerates believers (Jn 3:5)
• baptizes believers (to bring Christians into the body of Christ) (Tit 3:5)
• justifies believers (1Co 6:11)
• indwells believers (1Co 3:16; 6:19) forever (Jn 14:16)
• frees believers from sin and death (Ro 8:2)

• seals believers (Eph 1:13-14; 4:30; 2Co 1:22): ownership and likeness (2Ti 2:19-21)
• assures believers (Ro 8:16)
• guides believers (Ro 8:14; Gal 5:16,25) to walk in God’s way
• intercedes for believers (Ro 8:26-27; Eph 6:18): guides and directs our prayers, indirectly cultivates our assurance of redemption
• comforts believers (Jn 14:16)
• sanctifies believers (2Th 2:13; Ro 15:16)
• fills believers (Ac 2:4; Eph 5:18): one baptism but many infillings (Ac 4:31)

• revelation and inspiration of the original Bible (2Pe 1:21; 2Sa 23:2-3)
• teaches believers (Jn 16:12-15; Eph 1:17): leads us to understand the Word of God (1Jn 2:27)
• illuminates believers (1Co 2:10)
• empowers believers to serve (Ac 1:8)
• gives believers spiritual gifts

50.    What is the difference between baptism and filling of the Holy Spirit?

• It is universal among all believers, that is, all believers have been baptized with the Holy Spirit (1Co 12:13) at conversion.
• A believer can only be baptized with the Holy Spirit only once. The tense of the Greek (aorist tense) in 1Co 12:13 indicates that it is an unrepeated experience.

• It is experienced by the same people on more than one occasion (the disciples: Ac 2:4; 4:8,31; Stephen: 6:3,5; 7:55; Paul: 9:17; 13:9,52)
• In Eph 5:18, the tense of the Greek suggests an ongoing action. A Spirit-filled person is one controlled by the Holy Spirit. The verb here is an imperative, that is, a Christian is commanded to be filled with the Spirit. It is of course not a matter of our getting more of the Holy Spirit; presumably all of us possess the Spirit who cannot be split into parts. It is a matter of the Spirit possessing more of our lives. Each of us is to aspire to giving the Holy Spirit full control of our lives.
• To be filled by the Spirit requires: (1) to yield our lives fully to God (Rom 12:1; Gal 2:20); (2) to obey God’s commands in our lives (1Jn 2:6); (3) to depend fully on God for power to live our lives (Ro 8:13; Gal 2:20; 3:2-3).
• A Spirit-filled person is one with a Christ-like character (Gal 5:22-23), full of worship and praise for God (Eph 5:18-20), submissive (Eph 5:21), and dedicated to serve God (Jn 7:37-39).

• Charismatic churches emphasize a separate and distinguishable "Spirit baptism" apart from conversion, always accompanying with tongues (based on examples from Ac 10:44-46; 19:4-6). They distinguish between the baptism "by" the Spirit (1Co 12:13) which places one into the Body of Christ, and the baptism "with" the Spirit (Ac 1:5) which brings tongues. However, both verses use the same Greek words and refer to the same baptism.
• Some (including Moody) believe that baptism of the Spirit is the same as filling of the Spirit which came some time after regeneration. Both of these are wrong.