Ninth Sunday After Pentecost
The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit
Ninth Sunday After Pentecost
Light of Christ Anglican Church
The Rev. Michael Moffitt August 10th, 2025
The Person And Work Of The Holy Spirit- Part 6
I can vividly remember the day that Teresa and I brought our daughter Amy home from the hospital. I was 21 years old, and I was terrified. As I looked down at our beautiful new daughter I felt the need to go ahead and apologize in advance because I was pretty sure I didn’t know how to be a father. On the other hand Teresa, even while she was pregnant, read books on nutrition, vitamins, and other assorted information on how she could make sure that her baby was being given the proper nutrition while in the womb. It paid off because both our kids were very healthy from birth. The author of many of those books was Adele Davis, her patron saint of good nutrition. Teresa knew that just because we were having a baby didn’t mean that we automatically knew how to adequately provide for the child. So she went looking for information from credible sources, I was relieved because somebody had to do it.
The truth is that in every period of growth in our lives and certainly in our vocations there is the given that there will be a need for training and education in our field of choice.
Becoming a follower of Jesus Christ is certainly no different. As a matter of fact knowing what it means to be a Christ follower is very important because that is the most important decision that you will ever make. The great news is that God, the Creator and sustainer of all things has given His written Word to us that we might know who He is and how we are to respond to His word and live before Him both now and in the age to come. The word of God is an amazing gift that is given by the Holy Spirit to those who come to God by faith, and in repentance for their sins. However, it also serves as a warning to those who reject it. The sad part is that it’s likely that the majority of people in this country have a Bible in their home- somewhere but know very little if anything about its content. I’ve often wondered how many people who attend church actually feed upon the word of God during the week.
Most every Confession of Faith, Catechism, or Articles of Faith declare the essential importance of faithfully following God throughout this life if you hope to be with God for all eternity.
To reject the free gift of eternal life through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ forfeits living in the presence of God both now and throughout eternity. Those who spend time reading and meditating on the Word of God pick up on that truth fairly quickly.
How we are to live for the glory of God is clearly laid out for us through the Bible, as the only rule of faith and practice. It’s not a matter of peoples opinions about who God is and how He should act. The Scriptures clearly teach us who God is and how we should act. The Word of God, the Bible is the only reliable source for this. Self help books or books about the Bible are not a substitute for the Word. It’s easy to be led astray unless you know what the Bible actually teaches.
The Thirty-nine Articles of Religion of the Anglican Church make it very clear that what we believe, and follow is built upon the solid foundation of the Word of God. This is made clear in articles 6 and 7 found in The Book of Common Prayer pp. 772-775, I hope you’ll look it up.
The Anglican Church of North America in its Fundamental Declaration of the Province makes their stance clear in declaration one, “We confess the canonical books of the Old and New Testaments to be the inspired Word of God, containing all things necessary for salvation, and to be the final authority and unchangeable standard for Christian faith and practice.”
The Westminster Confession of Faith itself and both the Larger and Shorter Catechisms begin with affirming that the Holy Scriptures are the foundation upon which all things must be built. Listen to the opening statement of The Confession, “ Although the light of nature, and the works of creation and providence, do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom, and power of God, as to leave men inexcusable; yet are they not sufficient to give that knowledge of God, and of his will, which is necessary unto salvation; therefore it pleased the Lord, at sundry times, and in divers manners, to reveal himself, and to declare that his will unto his Church; and afterwards, for the better preserving and propagating of the truth, and for the more sure establishment and comfort of the Church against the corruption of the flesh, and the malice of Satan and of the world, to commit the same wholly unto writing; which maketh the holy Scripture to be most necessary; those former ways of God’s revealing his will unto his people being now ceased.”
In other words the Holy Scriptures given to us are not going to change because God doesn’t change. What He has declared through is word is HIS final word and will not be amended nor added too.
The Heidelberg Catechism, The Belgic Confession, The Canons of Dort and many more all appeal to the revealed Word of God found in the Holy Scriptures as the foundation of every question and answer they presented as the standards of faith and practice.
So why is understanding this so important? As you remember this is a series on the person and work of the Holy Spirit. For our purposes today I’ll suggest two reasons that a proper understanding of God’s Word and its authority over all is essential.
2 Peter 1:19-21, “And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”
The apostle is writing as he is being taught (carried along) by the Holy Spirit so that the reader can understand the importance of learning and submitting to the Word of God. Without the Word we will remain those who stumble about in darkness unaware of the only real hope that we have is in Jesus Christ alone.
Last week we talked how God shows Common Grace to all people, whether they are believers or not. Matthew 5:44-45, “But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”
For those who have come to faith in Jesus Christ that He alone is the only way to the Father must recognize that we were in fact moved by the Holy Spirit to embrace Jesus as Savior and Lord. Last week we considered the difference between Common and Special grace. Common grace is given to all men and women whereas Special grace is given to those who believe. The Word of God is a gift to us given by the Holy Spirit who opened our eyes to see it for the invaluable treasure that it is. This is God’s special grace to those who believe and must be upheld as the standard by which we live.
Last week we also saw that God has always made Covenants with those in relationship with Him. We used the Westminster Confession of Faiths definition of a covenant as “an agreement between two or more persons”, and we’ll continue with that.
When speaking of Covenants that God made with men we recognize His covenants with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and Jesus. It’s important to recognize that Scripture wasn’t revealed to humanity at large. It was given particularly to God’s covenant community — which even then was the church. The Holy Spirit chose people from his covenant community as Scripture’s divinely inspired human authors. And in both the Old and the New Testaments, they delivered their writings to the church. Some might question this but remember that God initially made a covenant with Abraham that he would be the Father of many nations. This was the covenant that began God’s revelation to a people that He set apart to bring to the nations of the whole world the knowledge of the one true and living God.
This week we’ll focus on just two aspects of Scripture that help us see the Holy Spirit’s work in the church. First, we’ll talk about the Spirit’s inspiration of Scripture. Second, we’ll look at the Spirit's unified message in Scripture. Then we’ll briefly discuss a third aspect, God’s covenant purpose for the church in Scripture. Let’s start with the Spirit’s inspiration.
The word “inspire” means “breathe into.” So, when we say that the Holy Spirit inspired human authors, we mean that he breathed his words into them. This is why 2 Timothy 3:16 says:
“All Scripture is God-breathed.” This is one of the most important expressions in the New Testament on the doctrine of divine inspiration of Scripture. It has been breathed out by God. He is the source and ultimate author of Scripture, though written by human authors. Because through the Holy Spirit the word is breathed out, so it carries the full weight of His authority.
Scholars have different ideas of how the Holy Spirit inspired the writing of Scripture, and of what roles the Holy Spirit and human authors played. But in general, these views fall into three categories.
Most critical interpreters embrace a view we might call “romantic inspiration.” They believe that the Holy Spirit simply motivated the human authors to write, much like an artist might be “inspired” or motivated by a great idea or a beautiful landscape. In this sense, the Holy Spirit didn’t actually control or supervise the words of Scripture. So, Scripture was really written only by its human authors.
Other more conservative Christians hold to a view we might call “mechanical inspiration.” In this perspective, the Holy Spirit so controlled the human authors that these men had little to no creative input into Scripture. This views the human authors simply as scribes who wrote down the exact words the Spirit told them.
In contrast with romantic and mechanical inspiration, the Bible promotes a view that many call “organic inspiration.” This view is called “organic” because it appeals to the natural writing process of Scripture’s human authors, using their own ideas, words and personalities. So, it’s far from mechanical. But it’s also distinct from romantic inspiration because it says that the Holy Spirit superintended their writings in ways that ensured they would say what he wanted them to say, and that prevented them from falling into error. We just read from 2 Peter 1:21 “No prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”
Peter didn’t deny the role or even the will of Scripture’s human authors. He simply insisted that Scripture originated with the Holy Spirit, and that the Holy Spirit superintended their writing.
In this sense, the Holy Spirit really is the author of Scripture, and not just its motivator. A great example from the Old Testament is 2 Samuel 23:2-4, “The Spirit of the Lord speaks by me; his word is on my tongue. The God of Israel has spoken; the Rock of Israel has said to me: When one rules justly over men, ruling in the fear of God, he dawns on them like the morning light, like the sun shining forth on a cloudless morning, like rain that makes grass to sprout from the earth.” (Acts 1:16,4:25, Hebrews 3:7)
On the other hand, other biblical authors indicated their own personal involvement in, and contributions to, their writings. Listen to how the gospel writer Luke described his work in Luke 1:3
“Since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account.”
Luke didn’t deny the Holy Spirit’s involvement in his writing. He simply made it clear that he wrote according to his own understanding, and that he recorded things he himself had researched. He essentially made the same claim in the first chapter of the Book of Acts, also penned by Luke. In this sense, Luke and Scripture’s other human writers really were authors, and not just secretaries taking dictation.
Even though all Scripture was organically inspired, we have to admit that the Spirit worked with human authors in a range of ways. Some parts of the Bible come close to dictation, such as when God told Isaiah what to say in Isaiah 6:9, 10. And Moses said that God himself wrote the Ten Commandments with his own finger, in Exodus 31:18. Still, we have to remember that the books of Scripture are reports of the things God said and did. They are books written by human authors to record these events. We don’t have a single book of Scripture that consists entirely of quotations from God.
Other parts of Scripture seem to be closer to romantic inspiration, such as the books of wisdom where the authors considered earthly concerns. For example, Proverbs 30:25-28 reflects on the daily lives of ants, rock badgers, locusts and lizards. Even though Solomon may have observed these tendencies I would guess that the Holy Spirit likely granted him the knowledge that ants store up food in the summer!
Nevertheless, Scripture demonstrates at least two things: One, the human authors of Scripture weren’t just secretaries writing words dictated by the Spirit. And two, regardless of the occasional resemblance to romantic inspiration, the Holy Spirit was always intimately involved in revealing God’s word to the church, and in recording it for the church through his inspired human authors.
Having looked at the Holy Spirit’s inspiration of Scripture, let’s talk about his primary message in the Bible.
We can describe Scripture’s central message in different ways. For one, we might see it as the history of humanity’s creation, fall into sin, redemption, and ultimate glorification. Or we might follow a more systematic approach by speaking of humanity’s belief in and duty to God. As the Westminster Shorter Catechism’s answer 3 says: The Scriptures principally teach, what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man.
Much like we recite in our weekly liturgy, we could summarize the Bible’s central message as Jesus did in terms of love for God and love for neighbor in Matthew 22:37-40.
When Jesus said “on these two commands depend all the Law and the Prophets,” he meant all of the Old Testament Scriptures, the New Testament had yet to be written. But still it’s accurate to say that both the Old and the New Testaments reflect how we should live out those two commands to love God and our neighbor.
I pointed out last week that I believe that the overall theme of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, or as theologians like to call “the Meta Narrative” is the Kingdom of God.
But when we talk about the Holy Spirit’s primary message in Scripture, we have something else in mind — something that incorporates all of these summaries. What modern readers often miss is that these summaries are entirely covenantal. And this is the Holy Spirit’s foremost message to his church. Scripture is fundamentally a covenant document. It reveals God to his covenant people in ways that define and explain our relationship with him. It records his covenant benevolence toward us. It explains the human loyalty he requires from us. And it outlines the consequences of our obedience or disobedience — including our ultimate salvation or condemnation. In one way or another, every passage of Scripture serves these basic covenant functions.
For example, when theologians tell the story of the creation, fall, redemption and glorification of humanity, they typically do so through the various covenant administrations associated with each period. So, if we describe Scripture’s message in these terms, we generally consider the covenant administrations of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David and Jesus. And each of these administrations teaches us what it means to be in covenant with God.
I love the answer in the Westminster Shorter Catechism’s question #3: What does the Scripture principally teach? Answer: “The Scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man.”
It’s such a simple summary of Scripture’s message, we see that it focuses on God himself, including his benevolence, and on the human loyalty he requires — both characteristics of a covenant relationship. And if we choose to summarize the Bible’s message as Jesus did in Matthew 22, we can’t help but recognize its covenantal nature. The commandment to love God comes from Deuteronomy 6:5, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”
That chapter presents a tremendous summary of God’s covenant relationship with his people. First, it reminds Israel that they are God’s covenant people, according to the promises he made to them. Second, it recalls God’s divine benevolence in freeing Israel from slavery in Egypt. Third, it emphasizes the need for human loyalty in obeying all of God’s laws with a sincere and loving heart. And fourth, it explains the great blessings his people will receive if they keep his law, and the terrible curses they’ll suffer if they rebel against him. So, when we get to Deuteronomy 6:5, we’re to understand that the commandment to love God includes all of these ideas. The commandment to love our neighbors is also fundamentally covenantal. The verse Jesus specifically quoted is Leviticus 19:18 “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.”
Like Deuteronomy 6, Leviticus 19 emphasizes the covenant relationship between God and Israel. We see this especially in the repeated phrase, “I am the Lord your God.” Yh bjAs Israel’s God, his covenant extended to the whole community. So, Jesus reinforced loving our neighbors as fellow citizens in God’s kingdom. We are to bless one another and avoid things like revenge and abuse because this is what God established as the basis of a covenantal society.
The entire message of Scripture relates to God’s covenant. And this is true whether we see it as history, or systematic theology, or as a practical matter of living in fellowship with God and humanity. All Scripture is based on the covenant relationship between God and his people. And the Holy Spirit, in inspired Scripture, repeatedly emphasized this message of God’s commitment.
I believe that if we can really understand the basic premise that GOD wants an intimate relationship with us and has in Jesus Christ removed any and all barriers blocking that from happening. It’s then that everything changes. I believe that unbelief comes from not really getting the offer that God has made.
In closing let me share with you what was a turning point with me. This happened back in the early to mid-90’s. I had grown tired of my tepid relationship with God which led me to some pretty intense times of personal prayer and worship. I was spending a lot of time in the scriptures hoping to get a greater understanding of what it would mean to grow deeper into my walk with Him. I was on my knees crying out to God and an amazing peace washed over me. I stood up and a profound thought entered into my mind, “I’m going see God face to face, I’m going to hear His voice and see Him in His glory.” I was convinced of that truth, and it has carried me for over 30 years of anticipation. I believe it just as strong today, and I know it to be true. “That God” has assured me of that promise. I can hardly wait. Let’s pray.
