Years ago, I completed a comprehensive study of the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament (NT) . Instead of engaging topics of interest (in-dwelling, for example), I simply located every usage of the Greek word, “pneuma,” or Spirit with a capital S…that referred to the Holy Spirit.

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After logging each instance, I then set out to provide a brief summary of the context in which this usage occurred. For Luke 11:13, in example:

“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”

I wrote: Jesus, speaking to His Disciples, immediately following His giving of the Model Prayer.

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After doing this for each reference (approximately 254 instances), I then set out to identify & explain what activity the Holy Spirit was identified with in each case. My goal with this approach was to rely on the inspiration of Scripture to provide an accurate and full (God intended) image of the Holy Spirit’s work. There are so many opinions, doctrines, traditions, etc., that I wanted to get down to bedrock.

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In the end, I identified what I’ve come to call 8 Categories of Ministry of the Holy Spirit. The number is less important than the activities documented. Someone else, reviewing the data might come up with 6, or 9. What does matter is what we see the Holy Spirit doing/associated with in the inspired pages of NT Scripture.

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In churches today, there is a fair amount of division regarding the work of the Holy Spirit. Entire denominations are split as to “the baptism of the Holy Spirit,” “speaking in tongues,” the question of whether miraculous healing and the so-called “sign gifts” are still in operation today. Before diving headlong into these debates, I think it’s helpful to just simply let Scripture speak. And of course there is so much more to the divinely revealed ministry of the Holy Spirit than these “lightning rod” topics.

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A prime example being Romans chapter 8. Despite the varying opinions on topics relating to those in 1 Corinthians chapters 12-14 (some of which I mention above), by far the NT’s most extensive discussion of the Holy Spirit’s work in the believer’s life appears in the 8th chapter of Romans—a book on doctrine. And, this discussion sits as proverbial “cherry on top” of Paul’s presentation of the Gospel. Walking in the Spirit, having one’s mind set on the Spirit, even praying in the Spirit are shown to be integral aspects, load-bearing walls, of the believer’s new life in Christ...

"For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit (Rom. 8:3-4)."

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I hope you can join us as we walk the road to Pentecost this year. Over the next 5 weeks, I will be presenting topics from my 8 Categories of Holy Spirit ministry study. Then, on Pentecost Sunday, we will join together in joyful celebration of what God has made ours in His Promise realized. “And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high” (Lk. 24:49).

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-Pastor Brett