“But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” [1 Cor. 12:7]
The Holy Spirit of God plays a vital role in the proper functioning of the Church. The Holy Spirit baptizes individuals into the body of Christ, “makes” men overseers of the flock, manifests spiritual gifts in the lives of individual believers, and divinely unites Jew and Gentile together with the risen Lord Jesus in a new body.
In order to understand the role of the Holy Spirit, a review of the beginning of the Holy Spirit’s working in the Church is essential.
Baptism of the Spirit
The Holy Spirit was poured out on the people of God in a new way on the day of Pentecost. Indeed, it was the Lord Jesus Himself who announced this dramatic change in the role of the Holy Spirit. Shortly following the Lord Jesus’ ascension, the Holy Spirit was given by God in a miraculous manner. In essence, the Holy Spirit came in a way that He had never come before.
The Spirit’s ministry for this dispensation involves regenerating, baptizing into the body of Christ, indwelling perpetually, and eternally sealing each new believer. Additionally, each believer is given the opportunity—even the responsibility—of being continuously filled with the Holy Spirit. Since these roles are primarily related to the individual in contrast to the local church, they will be left for another article.
Beginning in Acts 2, it is evident that one of the distinctive roles that the Holy Spirit would play is in the baptism of believers into the Church. The word “baptized” is a transliteration of the word baptismos which depicts one element being submersed into a different element. The Lord baptizes believers (cf. Jn. 1:33; Acts 1:5) into the Church by taking them and “immersing” them in the Holy Spirit. The main reference to this is found in Acts 2. This marked the birthday of the Church (universal and local).
Other references throughout the book of Acts involve the Spirit validating the salvation of the Samaritans and the Gentiles. In 1 Corinthians 12:13, the Apostle Paul writes that “by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body.” From the day of Pentecost until today, believers have been placed into the body of Christ through the
baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Elders
One of the other functions of the Holy Spirit in relation to the local church is found in Acts 20:28-32. In this section of Scripture, the Holy Spirit is given the credit for “making” certain men overseers over the local churches and giving them the responsibility of shepherding and protecting the flock. The Word of God does not detail how the Spirit “makes” one an overseer. However, His sanctifying work is revealed in Acts 13 where it is recorded that the Holy Spirit said, “set apart for Me Barnabus and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Certainly the development of elders by the Holy Spirit is related to His role in the manifestation of the spiritual gifts within the sphere of the local assembly.
Spiritual Gifts
Paul writes in his letter to the Corinthian church that “each one [believer] is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” (1 Cor. 12:7). In this passage, the Spirit is the One seen giving the spiritual gifts to believers. Paul summarizes the section by writing that “one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills” (v. 12). One can hardly imagine the local church without the sovereign distribution of spiritual gifts by the Spirit.
In Ephesians 4, the ascended Lord Jesus is depicted as the Giver of the gifts to the church, but the emphasis in 1 Corinthians 12 is the manifestation of the gifts and the use of the gift by the individual believers. Simply put, the Holy Spirit gives spiritual gifts to each believer for the common good of the local church and the ascended Lord Jesus gives these gifted individuals for the building up of the body of believers (His own body!).
Unity
The Holy Spirit is also responsible for creating unity and fellowship out of individuals who were once enemies, both of God and of each other. In Ephesians 4:3, the apostle Paul exhorts believers to be “diligent and to preserve the unity of the Spirit.” This exhortation follows Paul’s challenge to each of us that we walk a walk worthy of our calling. In other words, as many have said before “our practice should match our position.” Part of our worthy walk is maintaining the unity of the Spirit.
Verse 2 tells us how to maintain spiritual unity: “With all lowliness and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love.” But it is not the “how to” that we are interested in at this moment, but rather the “what is” of this spiritual unity.
Paul reminds us in verses 11-13 that the purpose for which the Lord Jesus gave gifts is that we would all attain to the “unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God.” An important difference will be detected if one carefully examines verses 3 and 13. In verse 3 we are told to maintain unity but in verse 13 we are told to attain unity. The reason for this is not that there are two kinds of Christian unity but that Christian unity has in one sense already been accomplished and in another sense is in the process of being accomplished. In Ephesians 2:13-16 we see a decisive act of propitiation and reconciliation—Christ has already made us one. What He has accomplished at Calvary is eternally settled. But in another sense the unity Christ purchased and guaranteed with His blood must now be manifested.
John Piper writes:
It’s the Holy Spirit who frees our hearts from irrational, self-defensive prejudices so that we are willing to own up to true convictions about Christ. It’s the Holy Spirit who enables us to have faith in Christ and to cry out to God with confidence, “Abba, Father” (Rom. 8:15-16). And it is the Holy Spirit who bears the fruit of love in our lives and gives us a common care for each other (Gal. 5:22). So our common convictions and confidence and care are all from the Holy Spirit. Therefore Paul calls it the “unity of the Spirit” (v. 3).
It is safe to say that the Holy Spirit has created the unity of the Spirit, but it is our responsibility to maintain it. Ah, but before we get too excited about our role, it is good to be reminded that the only way by which we can maintain the unity of the Spirit is by abiding in Christ and allowing His Spirit to produce the fruit of the Spirit in our lives so that we might live “with all lowliness and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love.”
Our responsibility to maintain the unity of the Spirit cannot be overemphasized. In the high priestly prayer of the Lord Jesus, recorded for us in John 17, He asks the Father “that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.” If the world is to know that the Lord Jesus is the Sent One, then we must maintain the unity of the Spirit—this unity that is the result of the sending of the Saviour and His vicarious death on the cross of Calvary.
In summary, the Holy Spirit’s role in the local church begins with the baptizing of a new believer into the body of Christ and continues in a manner that enables the new believer to live a life that is consistent with the position into which he has been placed.
It is the Holy Spirit who bears the fruit of love in our lives and gives us a common care for each other.