The Spirit of Promise

The Gift of the Spirit is one of the blessings of Abraham promised by God for the nations and the children of the Patriarch.

The Apostle Paul refers to “the Promise of the Spirit” in his Letter to the Galatians, and he equates the Gift of the Spirit with “the Blessing of Abraham.” Jesus subjected himself to the “curse” of the Law to redeem believers so that “the Blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the Promise of the Spirit through faith.”

[Norway - Photo by Hanlin Sun (Stockholm) on Unsplash]

Paul wrote elsewhere that we are sealed with the promised Spirit, the earnest of our inheritance. The Gift of the Spirit is the down payment and the guarantee of our coming full possession of the inheritance, and this reassurance is for all men and women who respond positively to “the faith of Jesus Christ”:

• “In whom you also, having heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom, having also believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, for the redemption of the purchased possession, for the praise of his glory” - (Ephesians 1:13-14).

• “And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your seed after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God for you and to your seed after you.  And I will give you and your seed after you the land of your travels, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God” - (Genesis 17:8).

The Greek term translated as “purchased possession” in the preceding passage echoes the promise of land made to Abraham. God gave the Land of Canaan to the Patriarch and his seed for an “everlasting possession.” And so, Paul links the Gift of the Spirit to the covenant promises, including the promise of territory.

Jesus called the Gift of the Spirit “the Promise of the Father.” Before his Ascension, he commanded his disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they received this promise. It was granted to the Church on the Day of Pentecost when the promised Age of the Spirit began, the time known as “the Last Days”:

• “Thus, it is written that the Christ should suffer, and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I send forth the Promise of my Father upon you. But wait in the city until you are clothed with power from on high” - (Luke 24:47-49).

• “This is that which has been spoken through the prophet Joel: And it will be in the last days, says God, I will pour forth of my Spirit upon all flesh…” – (Acts 2:16-17).

The Promise of the Spirit was never limited to that first group of believers gathered near the Temple, the events of the Day of Pentecost, or the biological descendants of Abraham. The gift is for “your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God will call,” and the disciples of Jesus are summoned to proclaim this Good News to all nations until the day of his return, “to the uttermost parts of the Earth” – (Psalm 2:8, Acts 1:8, 2:39).

• “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole habitable earth, for a testimony to all the nations, and then the end come” – (Matthew 24:14).

Chapter 10 of the Book of Acts describes the opening of the Gospel to the Gentiles. During Peter's sermon, the Spirit fell on the Gentiles, and they “began to speak in tongues.” The Jews who accompanied Peter were amazed since the Spirit fell on uncircumcised Gentiles “just as on us at the beginning,” referring to the earlier outpouring on the Day of Pentecost:

• “Can any man forbid the water, that these should not be baptized, who have received the Holy Spirit as well as we? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days” - (Acts 10:47-48).

• “And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them, even as on us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, John indeed baptized with water. But you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit. If, then, God gave to them the like gift as he did also to us, when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I, that I could resist God?” - (Acts 11:15-17).

And so, Peter pointed to the receipt of the Gift of the Spirit as indisputable evidence that God had accepted believing Gentiles into His one covenant community without the rite of circumcision.

On that day in Caesarea, the Gentiles received the same Gift as the one received earlier by circumcised and Torah-observant Jewish believers. So, how could anyone insist that Gentiles must also be circumcised?

This direct act by God demonstrates conclusively that justification before Him and inclusion in the covenant is based neither on the deeds and rituals required by the Mosaic Legislation nor on biological descent from Abraham.

IN GALATIA

In his first argument in the third chapter of the Letter to the Galatians, Paul applies the same logic as Peter did. Since the members of the largely Gentile churches of Galatia had received the Spirit from faith and not from the deeds of the Law, even though they were uncircumcised, why were they now contemplating the addition of circumcision and other “works of the Law” to complete their faith?

• “O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was presented as a crucified one?  This only do I wish to learn from you! Did you receive the Spirit from the works of the law or from the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having started in the Spirit, are you now made complete in the flesh?” – (Galatians 3:1-4).

Rather than completing their faith, adopting circumcision would obligate the Galatians to keep the entire Mosaic Law. Inevitably, they would fall under the Law’s “curse” because of the failure to do all that the Law required. Yet God had given them the Spirit already, and through the hearing of faith:

• “For as many as are from the works of the law are under a curse: for it is written, Cursed is everyone who continues not in all things that are written in the book of the law, to do them” – (Galatians 3:5-10. See also Deuteronomy 27:26).

• “Behold, I, Paul, declare to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will profit you nothing. Yea, I testify again to every man that receives circumcision, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified from the law; you have fallen away from grace” – (Galatians 5:2-4).

• “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that lives, but Christ lives in me. And that life which I now live in the flesh, I live in faith, the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me. I do not make void the grace of God: for if righteousness is through the law, then Christ died for nothing” – (Galatians 2:20-21).

Next, Paul presents an argument from the life of Abraham. The underlying issue in the Galatian churches was circumcision, the “sign of the covenant” that God gave to Abraham. Nevertheless, God declared the Patriarch righteous from his faith even before the rite of circumcision was given - (“Even as Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness”).

• “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangs on a tree; that upon the Gentiles might come the blessing of Abraham in Christ Jesus; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith” – (Galatians 3:13-14).

Since Jesus has redeemed us from the curse of the law, we receive the Gift of the Spirit through faith. The Spirit is not acquired through the deeds and rituals of the Mosaic Law but through “the faith of Jesus Christ,” and this is true for both Jewish and Gentile believers.

• “Knowing that a man is not justified from the works of the law but through the faith of Jesus Christ, even we believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified from faith in Christ, and not from the works of the law, because from the works of the law no flesh will be justified” – (Galatians 2:16).

The promises were for Abraham and “his seed, Christ,” and “the inheritance” was from “promise,” not “from the Law,” otherwise, the promise would be voided. Since the Law came after the covenant confirmed by God to Abraham, it could not add to, subtract from, or otherwise “disannul the promise” – (Galatians 3:15-21).

The Law was added to deal with “transgressions,” not to justify anyone or undo the promises, and only “until the seed came.” The time element is pivotal to Paul’s argument. The previous administration under the Mosaic Legislation was in force from Mount Sinai until the arrival of the Messiah – (Galatians 3:22-25).

Since the “faith” has arrived in Jesus Christ, the true “seed of Abraham,” believers are no longer “under the custodian,” that is, the jurisdiction of the Law.

[Daybreak - Photo by Red Zeppelin (Exeter, UK) on Unsplash]

All believers become “sons of God through the faith of Christ Jesus,” both Jews and Gentiles; therefore, the old ethnic distinctions between Jew and Gentile no longer apply. Jews and Gentiles alike are justified before God and receive the Gift of the Spirit through the faith of Jesus Christ:

• “For you are all sons of God through the faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There can be neither Jew nor Greek, there can be neither bond nor free, there can be no male and female, for you all are one man in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, heirs according to promise” – (Galatians 3:26-29).

The Gift of the Spirit given on the Day of Pentecost was not unforeseen or something made necessary by later events. The “Promise of the Spirit” was always part of “the Blessings of Abraham” for the nations, including the nation of Israel, and all men who receive the Spirit become the children and heirs of Abraham, and therefore inherit the covenant promises.

The New Covenant inaugurated by Jesus was never intended to replace the Abrahamic Covenant. Instead, Jesus brings the covenant and its promises to their intended completion, including “the Promise of the Father,” the Gift of the Spirit.

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SEE ALSO:

• The Circumcised Heart - (The promise of the Spirit is vital to the redemption of humanity and the Covenant of God with His people, the Church of Jesus Christ)

• The Spirit and our Inheritance - (The New Covenant includes the Gift of the Spirit, the first fruits of the New Creation, and the gathering of the nations)

• The  Promise of the Father - (With the outpouring of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, the blessings for all nations promised to Abraham commenced)

• L'Esprit de Promesse - (Le Don de l'Esprit est l'une des bénédictions d'Abraham promises par Dieu pour les nations et les enfants du Patriarche)