 he emotions that exist within us follow
the pattern of the emotions of God. But God is more than
emotions: God is the infinitely deep love and relationships
shared among the Three in One. In a number of ways, the
process of living a godly life is designed to make the believing
heart aware of the Trinity. We are called to relate to God as
a Father; the Son is the one who saves and protects us. The
Father sent Jesus Christ from Heaven to earth. After the
departure of Jesus Christ to Heaven, He sent another comforter who
would live in believers. Those first two persons, in a real
sense, are external to the life and consciousness of the believer.
The third member of the Trinity is the one who emphasizes God’s
ministry to our inner life. Far more so than any other member
of the Trinity, the ministry of the Spirit of God is uniquely
connected to the emotional life of the believer.
It is
the Spirit who directly influences our inner life. Jesus
outside a believer is not as effective as the Spirit of God inside a
believer. This one conforms those who have trusted Christ to
the character of Christ. Such character has a richly emotional
component.
It is
fascinating that not only does the Spirit of God address our inner
life with its never ending stream of emotions, but the Holy Spirit’s
experience within us is deeply emotional. Not only is the work
of the Spirit emotional; the New Testament emphasizes His emotions.
One can see by various portions in the New Testament that His
existence among us involves deep responses. This is indicated
by His personal reactions:
- Deep Pain.
Ephesians 4:25-32 contains Paul’s admonitions
about effective and godly communication, and the abandonment of
poor patterns of communication. As he gave his advice, he
taught how to deal with strong and powerful emotions. He
gave a long list of things that should not be done and one of
those is “paining the Holy Spirit. . . .” The Holy Spirit
is pained by when Christians negatively communicate to each
other and when they refuse to forgive each other. Lupeo
is the Greek term for deep pain that the Spirit experiences.
It occurs in the description of Christ’s suffering in the Garden
(Matthew 26:37), “ . . . He
began to be pained (lupeo) and grieved.” In
a sense, we can say that Jesus the Messiah had His passion in
the Garden and the Cross, but the Holy Spirit has His continual
Passion within us.
- Desire. In
James 4, the author is contrasting the life lived
for the flesh and the life that needs to be lived for God.
In verse 4, James forcefully tells believers that friendship
with the world is a form of adultery. I would understand
the next verse as a question and an observation: “Or do
you think that the Scripture speaks for no purpose? The
Spirit that He has made to dwell within us jealously desires
us (James 4:5).” The
Holy Spirit has a strong longing (epipotheo) to
control the believer’s life. The term is used often for
the longing of one person for a person who is absent (Romans 1:11;
Philippians 1:8; 2 Timothy
1:4). Even though the Holy Spirit is present in
our lives, we sometimes go into the dark world of the flesh far
from His fellowship.
- Jealousy. In
James 4:5, the Holy Spirit
experiences jealousy pros pthonon as He sees how the
believer is caught up with the world. This is striking
because that is the same word occurring in the list of the works
of the flesh in Galatians 5:21.
Jealousy is an intensely painful and powerful emotion that the
conduct of the believer elicits from the Spirit of God.
- Unutterable Groaning. Chapter
eight of Romans is the peak of Paul’s development of the
Trinity’s ministry within a believer. In this fascinating
chapter, spiritual life is described as that which bears the
believers through the weakness and sorrow of a fallen world.
Romans 8:14 describes what
it means to be a Spirit-led individual: the mature
believer in Christ is identified by her or his ability to
respond to the prompting of the Spirit. This prompting
might be emotional inclinations and insights. Over time
the believer learns the ability to surrender calmly and
expectantly to these promptings. After describing that
aspect of maturity, Paul goes on to describe how believers will
have to endure sufferings in this life. A large part of
maturity will be the challenge of going on in the face of the
hurts, harms, and damage caused by others. In doing this,
Paul points out that a vast symphony of affliction is going on
and the Spirit of God also is involved in this symphony of
expectant pain.
Romans 8 8:22
“the whole creation groans” because it has been made pointless and
ineffectual due to the rebellion of man and the Universe.
Romans 8 8:23
“we ourselves groan . . .” as we expectantly await the glorification
of our bodies so that we indeed are liberated from the limitations
and weaknesses of this life.
Romans 8 8:26
“the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groaning too deep for
words” One of our weaknesses is that we do not know how to
pray. So, to help us out, the Spirit of God intercedes for us.
This intercession is unspoken because the Holy Spirit is in deep
pain. The same term is used in Acts
7:34 for the children of Israel groaning under the
oppression of the Egyptians. The word is the noun form of the
verb found in verses 22 and 23. These groanings of the Spirit
are voiceless so that the one who continually searches the hearts
(God) has to know what is the perspective of the Spirit. Verse
8:28 gives the result of this process that all things are worked
together for the benefit of the child of God who loves His Father.
As He
listens to our prayers the pain is so intense for the Spirit of God
that He is reduced to voiceless pain. This again is the
Passion of the Spirit of God. With great emotion, He who is
among us suffers because of us.
These
biblical realities remind us of two great truths: (1) God is richly
emotional, and (2) God is among us in the Person of the Spirit.
This should be a source of rich comfort.
Learn more about the Holy Spirit in chapter five of
the
Becoming What God Intended
workbook.
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