The Holy Spirit Brings Fullness to Our Emptiness (Genesis 1)

John Calvin - the theologian of the Holy Spirit

John Owen - theologian of the Holy Spirit

Sinclair Ferguson - theologian of the Holy Spirit

John Owen

The figure of John Owen (1616–1683) towers above — almost head and shoulders above — the galaxy of writers we know collectively as the English Puritans. His theological learning and acumen was unrivalled; his sense of the importance of doctrine for living was profound. David Clarkson, Owen’s assistant in his latter years, and himself no mean theologian and pastor, well summarized it in his funeral sermon: “It was his great design to promote holiness in the life and exercise of it among you.”

Throughout his work, Owen employed, what was to him, a very significant distinction between the conviction of the truth that is vital to, but not necessarily the same thing as, the experience of the power of the truth. Even in his most erudite and polemical works, the power of the truth in his own and others’ lives was his great concern. Doctrine is taught with a view to godliness.

Several things characterize the way Owen encouraged a lasting marriage between conviction of truth and experience of its power. First, the whole of the Christian life is rooted and grounded in the whole of the Godhead. The Trinity, therefore, is not the most speculative and least practical of doctrines. In fact, the reverse is the case; all right understanding depends on the Trinity, and all Christian experience involves communion with the Trinity.

In his magnificent, but neglected work, Communion with God (Works, vol. 2), Owen expounds the privileges of believers in terms of the distinctive fellowship they have with each person of the Trinity. The triune engagement that runs through our Lord’s teaching in the Upper Room, and also in Paul’s epistles, is here spread like a spiritual feast as we are invited to realize to the full that, in the Spirit, “our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:3). Rather than be alienated by the doctrine of the Trinity, the reality expressed by it is the very lifeblood of Christian living: communion with the Father in love, with the Son in grace, with the Spirit in his multi-faceted ministry as the indwelling God.

Second, the godly life is empowered by the Spirit of the Son who is also the Spirit of adoption. He impresses upon us the privileges of divine adoption, and transforms us into the likeness of Christ. This being the eschatological goal, notes Owen: “What better preparation can there be for it than in a constant previous contemplation of that glory in the revelation that is made in the gospel, unto this very end, that by a view of it we may be gradually transformed into the same glory” (Works, vol. 1, p. 275). Thus, in 1679, towards the end of his life, he published his exposition of the person of Christ (Works, vol. 1).

Order from Chaos

John 16:5–17 ESV

5 But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. 12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 16 “A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.” 17 So some of his disciples said to one another, “What is this that he says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’; and, ‘because I am going to the Father’?”

It is good that I’m going away (v 7). Would we rather have Jesus the way he was than to have the Holy Spirit? Jesus we understand but Holy Ghost? How can Jesus leaving be an advantage?

Our focus is not on the miracles or the gifts but on the identity and person of the Spirit.

It is not that the Spirit has been forgotten but that we do not know who the Spirit is.

2 Corinthians 13:14 ESV

14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

What does Paul mean by the fellowship or communion we have with the Holy Spirit?

Who is the Holy Spirit? Spirit in English and in Hebrew and in Greek help us. The words are onomatopoeic: Pneuma, Ruach, Spirit have a sense of driving force coming from us in order to communicate with someone else. A wind, a gale, an expression of power or energy. A power of great effectiveness.

What are the characteristics of the Spirit? God’s Spirit is the way in which God personally expresses himself, his power, his character.

The Father who plans, the Son who brings it to pass and the Spirit who expresses and communicates God to us. God is in himself as he reveals himself to be.

John Calvin: when God reveals himself he accommodates our capacity to bring it in. The Spirit is infinite but God makes himself known in ways that we can understand so that we may have communion with the Spirit. The Bible is a story about the Holy Spirit. The first veses and the last verses are pointed to the ministry of the Spirit. We must study the word in order to know the Spirit. We bounce from one person of the Trinity to another. It is hard to keep a trinitarian nature to our belief.

The Spirit’s Role in Creation

Genesis 1:1- The Ruach hovered over the waters. Wind or Spirit but the rest of the OT assumes that this is not a natural wind but the power of the person of God hovering over the waters. Gen 1:2 - why is the Spirit hovering? The verb is significant because it helps us understand that the Father is speaking and the Spirit is doing. The world is formless and empty and the Spirit is bringing form and order out of the shapeless, formless chaos. The Spirit brings fullness into the emptiness. When the cosmos was created it didn’t have form and fullness. This was the ministry of the Spirit. To give form to our formlessness. To give fullness to our emptiness. The two things that the Spirit does every time he works. He has done this in those who have come to Christ. Our lives were formless and empty - going nowhere and empty. He brings order and purpose and form and marvelously gives us fullness of life (John 10). He hovers over the water to bring form and fullness. This is the kind of ministry he has.

The Spirit is not just hovering but creating a temple, a meeting place for God to meet with and fellowship with His creation and in which man can happily meet with God and have communion with Him. The Spirit is creating a temple in which God and Adam may meet. Man might be brought to know God, to love God to trust God, to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever (question 1, the shorter catechism).

The Spirit comes to bring form to our formlessness and fullness to our emptiness and to restore us to the place where we can fellowship with the Lord. He does this in creation. The whole creation is a temple created for the worship of God. Psalm 19:1 - the heavens declare the glory of God… This is a church service. The declaration of the glory of God, the proclamation of his handiwork , the outpouring of speech, a revelation of knowledge. God through the Spirit has brought order and fullness so that we might come to worship him. It is a pointer to the fullness of God and an arena in which to praise him.

Gen 1:26 - man in our image. Who is this US? The word God has spoken and the Spirit who is hovering. Through the power of the Spirit. God gives man ruach. He wants man to proclaim his glory, to be a worship leader. To lead all creation in worshiping God. In the exodus the Spirit allows man to make the tabernacle beautiful. In the desert there is beauty. A place to approach him and meet with him. In the Lord Jesus the Spirit comes and forms the humanity of Jesus in Mary and he becomes the temple of God in whom we can meet. Paul, We become the temple of the Spirit. The Spirit dwells in the whole church and he dwells in the new world and makes all things new. He is given to us to bring fullness to our emptiness and order to our chaos and to bring us to the place where we worship and glorify the Lord.

His work in creation

He brings order to creation

2 Corinthians 13:14 ESV

14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.