Key Verse:
“Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” —Ephesians 4:30
When it comes to relating to the Most Holy God who is, by His very nature, triune; it is critical to keep in mind that “one size does not fit all.” What I mean by this is that we do not relate to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in identical ways as they are distinct Persons of the Godhead who relate to us in distinct manners pertaining to our salvation and walk with God. Let me make this clear: since all are divine, we are to worship, adore, trust, etc. all of them equally; however, the Scriptures are clear as to how we ought to understand and relate to each of the members of the Trinity in ways that honor and please them.
When Jesus gave instructions for how believers ought to pray in Matthew 6:9-13, He clearly commanded that the Father be the Person of the triune Godhead to whom we address (v. 9). It is no coincidence that the Scriptures are consistently replete with examples of prayers to the Father (see: John 17:1, 5, 11, 21, 24, Ephesians 1:17; Colossians 1:3; 3:17; 2 Peter 1:17) and how the Father is the Person to whom we pray. It is through the Son, meaning by His authority, that we come to the Father. It is through Him and His finished work that we have peace with God the Father (Romans 5:1); we are recipients of God’s redeeming love through Jesus Christ (Romans 6:23) and we have access to God by the power of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 2:18). The Son was not the Sender, the Father did not die on the cross for us and the Spirit is not at the right hand of the Father making intercession for us (Hebrews 7:25).
Among the various commands we are given in Scripture regarding our relationship to each member of the Trinity, the principle word that relates to our relationship to the Holy Spirit would be submission. That our interaction with the Spirit of God, who is Himself our Lord (2 Corinthians 3:17) is personal and dynamic – we are not dealing with a diving THING or POWER but a divine PERSON who cares that we acknowledge Him in the manner His Word (remember that the Scripture is inspired by God the Holy Spirit – 2 Peter 1:21; 2 Timothy 3:16) commands. The apostle Paul warned:
“Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”
Ephesians 4:30
How do we grieve the Spirit of God? How do we cause the Almighty in the third Person, and because of the doctrine of Perichoresis or mutual indwelling, (because God is a single Being, each Person envelops and is permanently enveloped by the other – they are “in” one another as John 14-17 reveals) the entirety of the Godhead in Him? When we refuse to submit to His Lordship and power by yielding to Him in His filling us continually (Ephesians 5:18) we grieve Him and fail to worship Him in the manner He commands.
It was Stephen who rebuked his fellow Jews in that they continually resisted the Holy Spirit: both they and their ancestors before them (Acts 7:51); the very essence of failing to relate to the Holy Spirit as He desires is to resist Him – to refuse to give in to His leading and His calling for us to yield to His control instead of ours.
When we live in a God-honoring manner as believers, we live a life the Scriptures depict as the Spirit-filled life – one yielded to the control of our God the Holy Spirit. More than singing praise songs to Him or talking about His Lordship, we worship the Spirit most when we do not grieve Him by resisting Him: when we yield to Him consistently by being filled (controlled) with Him so that His character (shown by His fruit in us: Galatians 5:22, 23) as well as by His power (demonstrated by the gifts He gives us: Romans 12:16; 1 Corinthians 12:4).
What difference does the Trinity make? In understanding the nature of our Lord, we better understand how to relate to each of the Persons of the Godhead in the manner they have commanded us and which pleases them, rather than in ignorance and insensitivity to what the Father, Son and Holy Spirit deserve.
—Larry Carrino
Post By: Dr. Larry Carrino, Educational Director of The Omega Institute. ©2007 The Omega Institute
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