Bible Quick Notes
“The Holy Spirit”
An Easy Practical Guide to Biblical Doctrine
The Holy Spirit
“Who Is The Holy Spirit?”
In this pamphlet, we’ll be looking at and trying to get a handle on not only who is the Holy Spirit but also the work of the Holy Spirit within our lives and within the life of the church. The reason this is necessary is that the church has muddied up this doctrine.[i]
When religion started taking over the church, it no longer was about a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, or where believers came together, encouraging one another (Hebrews 10:25). The tragic result was the doctrine of the Holy Spirit became neglected, and replaced through priests and priesthood being substituted in place of the Holy Spirit, along with the Church becoming the ultimate authority. They put these in the place and position of the Holy Spirit, thus rendering the Holy Spirit unnecessary.
Even today, the doctrine of the Holy Spirit is being neglected, not only through these substitutions, but also because the doctrine is being over-emphasized, over-hyped, and over-exaggerated. This makes believers and non-believers leery of those who teach about the Holy Spirit. Therefore, as a whole, the church has let the doctrine of the Holy Spirit alone, allowing it to slip by the wayside.
The unfortunate part is that these false ideas and manifestations of what people call a move of the Holy Spirit are because of this overall neglect. Consider how terrible it would be to neglect the teaching or doctrine of the Father or Jesus Christ. Therefore, it is just as bad to ignore or neglect the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. This may be the reason we don’t see a move of God in our generation and in our time.
The Holy Spirit is a Person
The first thing that we need to understand is that the Holy Spirit is not an impersonal force that acts upon our lives, like the force in Star Wars. We see this in the Apostle Paul’s benediction to the Corinthian Church saying how communion with the Holy Spirit is ours (2 Corinthians 13:14). To understand, the word “communion” in the Greek language means to have fellowship with, and we cannot have fellowship with a force or influence, only a person.
But such an outlook that the Holy Spirit is just a force or influence may be because of the titles or names given to the Holy Spirit that make Him look as if He is a part of, but not distinct from, the Father or Jesus. Names like the “Spirit of God,” the “Spirit of the Lord,” or even the “Spirit of the Living God.” He is also called the “Spirit of Christ,” the “Spirit of Jesus Christ,” and the “Spirit of the Son.”
These titles impress upon the reader that the Holy Spirit is a spirit within the Father, and within Jesus, like the spirit within us as humans. It is such an understanding that has brought about the un-biblical view of God being Father and Son only, but not the Holy Spirit.
Other examples from the Scriptures are the designations of the Holy Spirit, where He isn’t a person, but a thing like breath, wind, fire, oil, water, and a dove that represents Him. But these are symbols explaining the work of the Holy Spirit.
And before we move on, there is what the writers of the King James Version called the Holy Spirit, and that is, the Holy Ghost, which conjures up in our minds a shadowy aberration, but not a person.
But when we further examine what the Bible says about the coming of the Holy Spirit, we see there is a distinction.
Jesus said, “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever, the Spirit of truth.” (John 14:16-17a)
That word “another” means someone else who is like the person doing the sending, which Jesus says is not only the Father, but that He (Jesus) also sends the Holy Spirit, as found in John 16:7. So the Holy Spirit is a person, like Jesus, and is distinct from both the Father and Jesus.
And so the Holy Spirit is not an “it” or “force,” or the internal spirit of the Father and the Son. He is separate, and from what the Bible says, a person in the same way as the Father and the Son.
We see this in several ways.
Masculine Pronoun
“I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.” (John 14:16-17)
We see the personhood of the Holy Spirit in the way the Scriptures refer to Him in the masculine pronoun seen in how Jesus describes the Holy Spirit as “He,” and “Him” in the above passage.
Personal Activities
This also becomes clear through some of the Holy Spirit’s personal activities, like teaching (John 14:26), bearing witness (Romans 8:16), interceding (Romans 8:26), searching (Romans 8:27), distributing (1 Corinthians 12:11), forbidding (Acts 16:6), speaking (Matthew 10:20), evaluating (John 16:8), being grieved (Ephesians 4:30), brings comfort (Acts 9:31), and advocates (John 14:6) on our behalf.
Personality
Unique aspects of the Holy Spirit’s personality are also revealed within the Scriptures.
He possesses a mind and knows.
“Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.” (Romans 8:27)
He possesses a will separate from the Father, Jesus Christ, and us.
“But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.” (1 Corinthians 12:11)
He possesses emotions, as He can become both grieved and insulted.
“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” (Ephesians 4:30)
“Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?” (Hebrew 10:29)
He loves and gives His love as a fruit to those who believe.
“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” (Galatians 5:22-23a)
But what makes this relationship with the Holy Spirit personal is what Jesus said in John 14:17. “But you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”
It doesn’t get more personal than that!
What makes this relationship so personal? It’s because the Holy Spirit not only dwells with us, but within us as well.
The Apostle Paul makes this same observation in 1 Corinthians 6:19. “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?”
The Holy Spirit is God
To understand the deity of the Holy Spirit, we must start with the doctrine of the Trinity. The doctrine of the Trinity says that God is one and yet eternally exists in three persons.
Now, there are many who have a hard time wrapping their head around this doctrine, thinking it to be irrational and impossible. But the Trinity is neither irrational nor impossible. It may be beyond the reach and scope of our understanding, but how can finite human beings with limited brain capacity understand an infinite God with unlimited capability?
Even the Lord tells us about our shortcoming in this area.
“‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ says the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.’” (Isaiah 55:8-9)
Understanding God’s nature goes beyond our ability to understand, and that’s because we know of no other being like God.
And it is from this doctrine, or what we read in the Bible, from which this doctrine or teaching comes from, that we find that the Holy Spirit is God, and that God is Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
The Oneness of God
The Bible makes it clear there is only one God. We see the oneness of God in His own statements.
“That you may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, nor shall there be after Me.” (Isaiah 43:10)
“Who has told it from that time? Have not I, the Lord? And there is no other God besides Me, a just God and a Savior; there is none besides Me.” (Isaiah 45:21)
We also see this oneness in the very heart of the Jewish faith.
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!” (Deuteronomy 6:4)
Yet, within this declaration of God’s oneness, we see the plurality of the one God. We see it in the Hebrew word used for “one.” It is the Hebrew word, “echad.”
There are two words in the Hebrew language for the word “one.” They are “echad,” and “yahid.” “Yahid” means absolute oneness or singleness, leaving no room for any meaning other than one and one alone. But “echad” brings with it the idea of many that make up one, or a composite unity.
There are several instances seen within the Bible.
The first is God’s plan for marriages where the husband and wife will be one, or “echad,” flesh (Genesis 2:24). Here are two distinct individuals comprising a unity of one in marriage.
The creation account is another place where we find a composite unity when it says that one-day comprises two distinct parts, evening and morning (Genesis 1:5).
And when the spies returned from spying out the land of Canaan, between them they carried one, “echad,” cluster of grapes, or many grapes that make up a single or one cluster (Numbers 13:23).
Next, we see this plurality in oneness in the plural language used by God, like when the Lord recounts His creation of humanity.
“Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.” (Genesis 1:26a)
Plural language is being used, but whom is God speaking to? God is not speaking to or getting advice from the angels or any other created being. Because God made no other being in His image or likeness.
In another example, the Lord addresses Himself when He destroys the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.
“Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens.” (Genesis 19:24)
The Lord, who was upon the earth, rained down fire and brimstone upon Sodom and Gomorrah from the Lord, who was up in heaven! Two individuals who are both described as “Lord.”
And so, in our passage of God’s creation of humanity, God is speaking amongst Himself in unity, which is the whole idea behind the Godhead. But how can we be sure that the one true God exists in the three personages: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?
The Apostle John reveals the Godhead as being Father, Son, and Holy in His first letter.
“For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one.” (1 John 5:7)
The designation, “the Word,” is a name given to Jesus by the Apostle John. In John’s gospel, it says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). And then later, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)
The Godhead being Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is also in the Great Commission given by Jesus.
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 28:19)
Now, what many people miss when giving this as a proof text of the Trinity, or one God in three persons, is that Jesus didn’t say to baptize in the “names of,” or the plural, which would mean that they are each separate and distinct from each other, and thus, not one. Instead, Jesus said, “In the name of,” or the singular. Therefore, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one.
But this idea of Trinity, God existing in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is not a New Testament concept only. We also see the Godhead through what the prophet Isaiah said in the Old Testament, where the Father sends the Messiah and the Holy Spirit.
“Listen to Me, O Jacob, and Israel, My called: I am He, I am the First, I am also the Last. Indeed, My hand has laid the foundation of the earth, and My right hand has stretched out the heavens; when I call to them, they stand up together.” (Isaiah 48:12-13)
It is clear the Lord is speaking by His reference to the creation account, where it says, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1)
Further, the Lord wants to make sure we know this isn’t the prophet Isaiah or anyone else speaking as He says, “I, even I, have spoken.” (Isaiah 48:15a)
And then comes this statement made by the Messiah revealing the Trinity; one God manifested in three persons.
“Come near to Me, hear this: I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, I was there. And now the Lord God and His Spirit have sent Me.” (Isaiah 48:16)
In the Hebrew language, this last sentence says, “The Lord God has sent Me and His Spirit.”
What is even more mind-boggling about this passage, which is something that has confounded the skeptics of the Trinity doctrine, is that the Lord who is speaking identifies Himself as the First and the Last, the Creator of heaven and earth. Therefore, this is the Messiah, Jesus, whom the Lord God sends along with the Holy Spirit (John 1:3).
Third Person of the Godhead
There are two verses that declare the Holy Spirit as being God.
The first is when Peter assesses the actions of two church members, Ananias and Sapphira, who lied about a piece of property they sold and declared they had given the entire amount to the church.
Peter says, “Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? … You have not lied to men but to God.” (Acts 5:3-4)
We find the second place in two verses found in 1 Corinthians. The first talks about our bodies being God’s holy temple (1 Corinthians 3:16), and then in the other, it says our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19).
We also see the three key attributes of God being attributed to the Holy Spirit.
Omnipresent: everywhere present
“Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?” (Psalm 139:7)
Omnipotence: all powerful
“This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts.” (Zechariah 4:6)
Omniscience: all knowing
“But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. … no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:10-11)
The Economy of the Trinity
The last area to explore the truth of the Holy Spirit as God is “The Economy of the Trinity,” that is, the ordering of activities within the Godhead. While the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one in their nature and attributes, they differ in their function.
Let’s look at the one area of humanity’s redemption.
Father: The Father planned our redemption and sent His Son, Jesus, to accomplish it.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)
Jesus Christ: Jesus obeyed and accomplished the Father’s plan of redemption.
“For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” (John 6:38)
Holy Spirit: Both the Father and the Son sent the Holy Spirit to maintain, bring to completion, and forever seal what the Father planned and what Jesus accomplish upon the cross. We could say that the Holy Spirit seals the deal.
“Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.” (2 Corinthians 1:21-22)
“In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.” (Ephesians 1:13-14)
And so, while the Father, Son (Jesus Christ), and Holy Spirit are equally God, and there is only one God, each has a specific function within the Godhead.
Conclusion
What can we conclude about the Holy Spirit?
First, the teaching, or doctrine, of the Holy Spirit has for far too long been neglected and ignored, or over-hyped and over-emphasized, both of which has been both harmful, and detrimental to the overall operation and effectiveness of today’s church.
Next, the Holy Spirit isn’t an inanimate force, nor is the Holy Spirit the internal spirit of the Father and the Son. Rather, the Holy Spirit has all the attributes of a person the same as both the Father and the Son.
And, the Holy Spirit is no one less than the Lord God and is in unity with both the Father and the Son, or what we know within church doctrine as the Trinity. He is the third person of the Godhead, and while He has the same nature and attributes of the Father and Son, His functions within the Godhead differ, just as the functions of the Father and the Son differ within Godhead.
Therefore, the conclusion is that we need to work and be in harmony with the Holy Spirit, both in our lives and in the church.
Therefore, may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you (2 Corinthians 13:14 paraphrase).
Appendix A
Receiving the Holy Spirit
Our living in the fullness of the Holy Spirit rests upon being willing to receive the Holy Spirit and being open to God pouring His Spirit within us, filling us to overflowing.
Explaining why he was baptizing unto repentance, John the Baptist said, “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Matthew 3:11)
Concerning Jesus, the Apostle John said we’ve not only received His fullness but the additional grace of one blessing after another.
“And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.” (John 1:16)
This is what every believer in Jesus Christ can expect, grace stacked upon grace. It’s where believers can expect to receive this fullness in an ever-increasing degree.
This is God’s moment-by-moment provision for vitality, strength, courage, boldness, victory, and an abundant life.
We see this fullness through the following ways in which the Holy Spirit moves within a believer’s life.
Being Filled
We become filled with the Holy Spirit when we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord. After Jesus’s resurrection, He showed Himself to the disciples.
“When Jesus appeared to the disciples, He breathed on them saying, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’” (John 20:22)
When we come to believe in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit enters, and we become His dwelling place.
“Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? … Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19)
Being filled with the Holy Spirit is an important part of our spiritual life, because then we’ll discover a source of supernatural power able to help us throughout this journey of faith until we enter heaven.
Setting all controversy aside, this is our greatest need.
And while being filled is important, there’s a greater filling available, and that is being filled to overflowing. It’s called the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Being Baptized
Remember, they already received the Holy Spirit when Jesus breathed on them. Now Jesus is telling them of a further filling that is required, known as the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Many Christians aren’t experiencing being filled to overflowing because they haven’t received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. They haven’t experienced the fullness and have yet to be empowered.
Of being baptized with the Holy Spirit, Jesus said, “For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” (Acts 1:5)
There’s a special anointing, a special empowerment of the Holy Spirit that awaits all who come to faith in Jesus Christ.
The word “baptism” gives us this understanding. It’s a special anointing. The word means something that is immersed. It’s as if Jesus is saying, “I want to immerse you in the power of the Holy Spirit, flooding every compartment of your life.”
We see this same meaning in what Jesus said in Luke 24:49.
“I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”
The word “endued” means to cover or to clothe oneself in. Jesus is saying He wants us to be clothed in the Holy Spirit’s power.
This isn’t some academic exercise that sounds good in church but has no application in real life. Rather, it’s the one thing that we as believers need above and beyond everything else, which is why Jesus told His disciples prior to His accession to wait for it.
We need this baptism of the Holy Spirit if we’re ever going to make an impact upon this present generation. We need the baptism of the Holy Spirit so we can be like a river of living water, allowing the Holy Spirit to overflow our lives so we can overflow God’s mercy and grace in the lives of everyone we meet.
But there’s still another step in this filling process, and that’s the constant fill up we need along the way.
Being Refilled
After being filled and baptized in the Holy Spirit, the disciples found it necessary to be refilled as well. After the Jewish authorities punished Peter and John by telling them not to preach or teach in the name of Jesus, they went to the local church and prayed.
“The place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.” (Acts 4:31)
The Holy Spirit refilled them.
When full-service gas stations were around, we used to go in and say, “Fill’er up,” and the attendant knew this meant two things. First, the gas in the car was getting close to empty, and second, we wanted our gas tank filled.
As believers, once we get filled and baptized, we need to be refilled regularly.
We need a fresh anointing and refilling of the Holy Spirit to meet the new complexities and challenges of life. This was something God’s people knew and wanted from the very beginning.
I love the way the prophet Isaiah calls out for this fresh anointing.
“Oh, that You would rend the heavens! That You would come down! That the mountains might shake at Your presence … When You did awesome things for which we did not look, You came down, the mountains shook at Your presence.” (Isaiah 64:1, 3)
We always need to be yielding ourselves to the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit wants to be working within us, filling us, controlling us, and directing our lives so that we can be everything God has created for us to be.
Living in the fullness of the Holy Spirit is not some holy suggestion, nor is it optional by believers. Rather, it’s a command Jesus gives in order for us to be filled to overflowing with the Holy Spirit.
This is not something we can work up on our own; rather, it is a work of God in our lives. We need to be not only open to the inward work of the Holy Spirit, but available to God to do His fantastic work within us.
Appendix B
Quench, Grieve, and Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit
Those who desire to experience the fullness of the Holy Spirit. There are certain things that we, as individuals and as a church, must avoid.
Quenching the Holy Spirit
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-22)
To “quench” means to dampen, to fight against, and to discourage. We use this word of extinguishing lights or fires. Literally translated, this passage it would read, “Do not put out the Holy Spirit’s fire.”
One way we quench the Holy Spirit is by not allowing Him to work within and amongst us, as He desires.
Some question whether the Holy Spirit is moving if they don’t see the gifts of tongues, prophecies, or other overt manifestations. This sort of requirement quenches the Spirit, because people force the Spirit and act out in the flesh, where the flesh is fighting against the Spirit.
And who says the Spirit isn’t moving? How about when He opens up the truth of God’s word within our hearts, or when we experience the wonder and majesty of God in worship? And then there is the greatest move of the Holy Spirit, and that is the conviction of sin, where salvation comes to those that are lost in their sin.
But there is the other side of this equation where we quench the Holy Spirit by not allowing Him to move in the power gifts. It’s where we exclude Him and prevent Him from moving in the miraculous, because of our denominational stances that these were needed back when the church was founded, but not today. Who are we to say how and when God moves?
Another way we quench the spirit is by not testing all things, as Paul tells us to (1 John 4:1). There are those who think that we must put our intellect on hold and stop thinking and examining.
But this is not scriptural, and it has produced some rotten fruit within the church. People just start doing whatever they want with no basis in Scripture. Paul tells us to put all these things to the test, and to hold on to what is good. But that which is bad, which doesn’t match with Scriptures, we are to reject.
We must be careful not to quench the Spirit by going beyond the Bible’s teaching, or ignoring what the Bible says because it goes against our sensibilities.
Grieving the Holy Spirit
“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” (Ephesians 4:30)
To “grieve” means to cause sorrow or sadness, so how do we grieve the Holy Spirit? The most obvious way is to continue in our sins. It causes Him deep distress and sorrow.
Another way we grieve the Holy Spirit is not to do what He tells us in the Scripture.
And then there’s becoming more interested in experiences than having a relationship. Nothing is more insulting than being more interested in what you can get out of a person than in the person. When all we want is to see and experience His power and not His presence, this grieves the Holy Spirit.
And there are plenty of other ways. Like forgetting or ignoring Him. Neglecting His word. Doubting, not believing His purposes and desire for us. Our wanting control of our life. But the most serious is not having Jesus Christ at the center of our lives.
Not being obedient to God’s word. Failing to forgive others as God has forgiven us, and promoting disunity, this all grieves and quenches the Holy Spirit.
However, many think that if they quench or grieve the Holy Spirit, it removes God’s seal and guarantee. But that is not the case. Yes, we lose the joy of our salvation and the fullness of the Spirit’s blessing, but we don’t lose our salvation.
Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit
“Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.” (Matthew 12:31-32)
There are many explanations what this unforgivable sin is, and what the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit entails. But, within the context of the passage, Jesus is referring to what the Pharisees said about how Jesus cast out demons by the power of Beelzebub, or Satan (Matthew 12:24).
This accusation would then be a direct affront to the Holy Spirit because Jesus said that it was in the power of the Holy Spirit that cast out the demon (Matthew 12:28).
They saw Jesus deliver the man from Satan’s clutches, but attributed the work to Satan, and not to the Holy Spirit. This was indeed slanderous, as well as being defamatory.
To blasphemy in the Greek language means to speak against, to slander, and to defame.
This is what Jesus says happened. The Pharisees spoke against and slandered the Holy Spirit.
What we should also understand is that forgiveness is for everyone and for every offence, even slanderous language, against Jesus (Matthew 12:32), which, in our pre-Christian days, we were guilty. But these Pharisees should have known better. They weren’t ignorant of God or of His workings. It is then for attributing the work of the Holy Spirit to Satan that is blasphemous and not forgiven.
It also mentioned this in one other area where something is unforgivable and where the Holy Spirit is an integral part of.
We find it in Hebrews 6:4-6. “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.”
Now, while the Pharisees were not believers in Jesus Christ, this verse references believers.
There are, however, those who say it doesn’t apply to believers. They say these people tasted, but never partook. The unfortunate truth, however, is that the word used for “tasted” used in Hebrews 2:9, and shows that tasting is partaking.
It says, “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.” (Hebrews 2:9)
Jesus didn’t kind of die; He died, and they buried Him. He died for all of us. Therefore, what this means in Hebrews 6:4-6 is that these people were followers of Jesus Christ, being filled with the Holy Spirit, and experienced the reality of God’s word of truth, which includes the gospel message of Jesus Christ.
These individuals then fell away. They no longer believed, even to the point of saying, Jesus didn’t die for our sins, which goes against the witness of the Holy Spirit in their life.
In Romans 8:16, it says, “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”
Paul is saying that the Holy Spirit witnesses to the world that we are children of God, and thus believers.
Therefore, as believers, to turn away from God and to call the sacrifice Jesus made upon the cross useless, and the blood He shed as some unclean thing, insults the Holy Spirit (Hebrews 10:29). They slander and defame the Holy Spirit. This, according to the writer of Hebrews, makes this sin unforgiveable, and now it is impossible to renew them unto repentance.
[1] To find out more regarding the person and work of the Holy Spirit, visit Living Waters Fellowship webpage and under “Sermons” read or listen to the series on “The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit.” You can find them at
