For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit. (1 Thes. 1:5)
And you...having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Spirit. (v. 6)
In the term the Holy Spirit mentioned in the two verses quoted above, the word Holy is an emphasized word. These two verses say that the preaching of the gospel is in the Holy Spirit and that the receiving of the word, the receiving of the gospel, is also in the Holy Spirit. The Thessalonians received the gospel with joy of the Holy Spirit. The history of a Christian begins with the receiving of the gospel in the Holy Spirit.
Consequently, he who rejects, rejects not man but God, who also gives His Holy Spirit to you. (4:8)
The Holy Spirit mentioned in this verse is a term with very strong emphasis in Greek. A better rendering of this term is the Spirit the Holy.
Do not quench the Spirit. (5:19)
The Spirit here refers to the Spirit of the Lord who is in us and who is joined with our spirit as one spirit.
But we ought to thank God always concerning you, brothers beloved of the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning unto salvation in sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. (2 Thes. 2:13)
These are the only places in 1 and 2 Thessalonians that mention the Spirit, but they all are very meaningful. In these verses the apostle was saying to the Thessalonians, “The gospel was preached to you in the Holy Spirit, and you received the gospel in the joy of the Holy Spirit. After you received the gospel in this way, God has given to you ‘the Spirit the Holy,’ that is, His Holy Spirit. You should not quench this Holy Spirit who has entered into you and has mingled with your spirit to be one spirit-two spirits having become one spirit. And what kind of work is this Spirit doing in you? He is doing the work of sanctification to sanctify you over and over again.”
And the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who calls you, who also will do it. (1 Thes 5:23-24)
So that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints. (3:13)
For the sake of some brothers and sisters who are not clear concerning certain titles, such as the Spirit of God and the Holy Spirit, let us have a brief review. In the Old Testament, especially in the books of Isaiah and Jeremiah, the Spirit of God is always called the Spirit of Jehovah. Jehovah is God, and the Spirit of Jehovah is the Spirit of God. In the Chinese Union Version, there are two or three places in the Old Testament which use the title the Holy Spirit, but that is an inaccuracy in translation. Strictly speaking, such a title is not used in the Old Testament. This title did not exist until Mary became pregnant and was about to give birth to the Lord Jesus. It was not formally used until the mention in Luke 1 and Matthew 1 concerning the Lord Jesus’ incarnation and His being conceived in a virgin.
The title the Holy Spirit means that the Spirit of God is “the Holy”; He is the Spirit the Holy of God. In the universe only God Himself is holy, and only God Himself is holiness itself. Everything else, all of creation, is not holy. Now God was to be incarnated through this Spirit that He might make the unholy created men holy and bring them into holiness. You must not have the concept that being unholy is bad or evil. Actually, being unholy does not mean being evil; rather, it means being void of God’s nature. This is similar to saying that just because a certain object is not gold does not mean that it is dirty or useless. In man’s religious mind there is an incorrect concept; whenever we hear that something is not holy, we automatically think it refers to defilement. This concept needs to be corrected. Holiness is God Himself; it is the nature of God. As we have said before, love is God’s heart, righteousness is God’s way of doing things, God’s procedure, and holiness is God’s nature, God’s substance. Therefore, being unholy means being void of God’s nature or essence. You may remember that in the Old Testament, the boards in the tabernacle were made of acacia wood overlaid with gold. Wood equals humanity, and gold equals divinity. Originally, we had only humanity but no divinity; we were like wood without gold. This does not mean that the wood is decayed or defiled. This is also what we mean when we refer to being unholy.
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