THE SPIRIT OF GOD IN MAN

The Apostle John recorded in his gospel that Jesus, before his death and resurrection, said to the disciples, "I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to help you and be with you forever, the Spirit of truth" (14.16,17). The Son was returning to the Father, but his work would be continued by God, through the Person of his Spirit. It was the sequence of the divine purpose of establishing in Christ a new humanity "(Ephesians1.9,10).

Then, in fulfillment of what the prophet Joel had said in the ninth century BC (2.28-29), on the day of Pentecost - the fiftieth day after the Sabbath of the week of the passover (Leviticus23.15,16) - when all the disciples were gathered together, the Holy Spirit came upon them and filled them with his presence. It was God entering into the intimate of those people who decided to believe in the sacrifice of his Son and live according to his Word. It was as Jesus said: "anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them"(John14.23).

To this day, the Spirit of God continues to "dwell" in human beings. This is by the preaching of the gospel. Paul wrote: "you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit ..." (Ephesians 1:13). However, the moment when the Spirit enters the human being and how it happens remain in mystery. It is a miracle, something inexplicable, from which man immerses himself in the life of the Spirit, reborn to God and acquires a new understanding of existence.

In man, the Spirit acts as a "παρακλητος" (Counselor), that is, as "that called to be beside". He teaches, reveals and interprets Jesus to the disciples (John14.16-6,15:25,26). According to Paul the Spirit is who transforms man without God into a "new creation". Said the Apostle: "we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit" (2Corinthians3.18).

God so loved the world that He gave his Son as a sacrifice in his behalf. And now, through his Spirit, He gives himself again to make sinful men his children. Paul said: "the Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, Abba, Father" (Romans8.15). And it is the Spirit who guarantees the glory that is to be revealed in the resurrection of the dead in Christ: "now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us set his seal of ownership on us and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come "(2Corinthians1.21,22).

Antônio Maia – M.Div.

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