The disciple soon learns that God is at once Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Function and purpose are the same. We see all Three in John 3:1-14. Jesus said, "Unless one is born of water and Spirit (Greek: pneuma ), he cannot enter the Kingdom of God". The Holy Spirit draws the repentant to Christ. Christ is the Mediator between God and man.1 It is futile to attempt to separate the working of One God in Three.
However, the chief function of the Holy Spirit is to illumine the teaching and glorify the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ. When God is 'bearing fruit' both of these functions are obviously in progress in the repentant heart. It is clear that the Spirit for confirmation through Christ takes our witness to the Father. The Spirit "bears witness of the Son".2 We bear witness of the Son.
"By this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit which He has given us".3 "By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit which confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God."4 "And the Spirit is the witness because the Spirit is the Truth".5 God is Spirit, and the Spirit draws that which is drawn to Him.6 Nothing else is appropriate.
Our witness must always be of the Spirit and never of the flesh. If it were flesh drawing flesh we could in fact populate the kingdom by drawing men through methods, cleverness and logic. God draws men to Him, by Him, and for Him through the Spirit whom He has sent.7
Our prayer for the lost is even taken over by the intervention of the Spirit as He "intercedes for the saints (holy ones) according to the will of God".8 God is drawing men to Him to give them new life, and that life is in His Son. Romans 8:9 shows us the process:
1. "You (man) are in the Spirit"
2. "if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you"
3. "anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him" 9
Romans 8:11-14 shows the system of the Spirit drawing men to God through Christ: "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God".10 This verse truly helps us to see that we are to maintain a holy witness, which God can take at His pleasure and use for His purpose. All else is futile and void.
Additional Scripture References:
John 3:1-14, John 6:51, John 16:1-26
1 John 3:24, 1 John 4:2, 1 John 5:6
Romans 8
Galatians 4:6
1 Corinthians 2:10-16
1. 1 Timothy 2:5, 1 John 2:1
2. John 15:26
3. 1 John 3:24
4. 1 John 4:2
5. 1 John 5:7
6. John 4:24
7. Romans 8:4-8
8. Romans 8:27
9. Romans 8:9
10. Romans 8:11-14
