Week 37: The Holy Spirit  

• Key verses: Acts 1:8; Galatians 5:22-23
• The indwelling Spirit of God
• Every Christian, all the time
• Gifts with a purpose
• Parting thoughts

Key verses

Acts of the Apostles 1:8 (NLT)

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

Galatians 5:22-23 (NLT)

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

Romans 12:6a (NLT)

In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well.

1 Corinthians 12:4-7 (NLT)

There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us. A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other.

1 Corinthians 12:11 (NLT)

It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.

The indwelling Spirit of God

When we trust Jesus for salvation, the Holy Spirit takes up residence in us. This is truly one of the greatest mysteries of the Bible! That God himself would choose to dwell in us is absolutely incredible! But this is why Jesus said it was better for him to leave the earth. Jesus lived among us, the Spirit lives in us. He is always there.

I find it interesting that Jesus called the Holy Spirit the comforter. Jesus said we would not have it easy in this world. So, the Spirit indwells our lives and helps us live each day. This is the personal impact of the Spirit.

But that is not the only purpose of the indwelling. The Spirit of God also enables us to show the grace of God to each other and the world around us. He will bring those who need him to himself and build up those who follow him already. How does he do this through us? The fruit and gifts of the Spirit.

Every Christian, all the time

The fruit of the Spirit are the living evidence of the Holy Spirit indwelling us. Every Christian will exhibit the Spirit by the fruit of the Spirit in our lives each day. Here’s a couple of important thoughts about the fruit of the Spirit before we look closer at the fruit.

• Fruit implies growth. We won’t exhibit everything all at once. We have the capacity to do so. As we continue to grow spiritually, the fruit of the Spirit will shine through more and more.
• Fruit is singular. Paul gives a list of characteristics that are evidence of the Holy Spirit working in your life. We exhibit these visible traits because of the Spirit.

Here is the list of the fruit of the Spirit which I worked with Claude to create. The information comes from the teachings of John MacArthur. *

• Love (agapē) — Selfless, sacrificial love that seeks another’s highest good regardless of merit or reciprocation; foundational, since the other eight flow out of it. Daily walk: serving someone who can’t repay you; choosing another’s good over your own comfort in a small decision no one will notice.
• Joy (chara) — Gladness and delight rooted in God, independent of circumstances. Daily walk: giving thanks in a genuinely hard season; worship that isn’t contingent on things going well.
• Peace (eirēnē) — Inner tranquility and wholeness, reconciliation with God and others. Daily walk: staying steady under pressure instead of anxious; being the one who de-escalates a conflict rather than fuels it.
• Patience (makrothymia, “longsuffering”) — Forbearance with people, slowness to anger even under provocation. Daily walk: not retaliating when wronged; staying kind through a difficult coworker or a trying season with a child.
• Kindness (chrēstotēs) — Benevolence expressed in action toward others. Daily walk: the small unprompted thoughtfulness — checking in on someone, being gentle with a stranger having a hard day.
• Goodness (agathōsynē) — Moral excellence expressed actively; sometimes firm, not merely pleasant. Daily walk: doing what’s right even when it’s costly or unpopular; generosity that actively pursues someone else’s good, not just their comfort.
• Faithfulness (pistis) — Reliability and loyalty; being someone whose word and presence can be counted on. Daily walk: keeping commitments even when it’s inconvenient; consistency over time rather than sporadic devotion.
• Gentleness (prautēs, “meekness”) — Strength under control; humility in how power or correction is exercised. Daily walk: correcting someone’s fault without crushing them; receiving criticism without becoming defensive.
• Self-control (egkrateia) — Mastery over one’s own desires and impulses. Daily walk: resisting temptation in the small, unglamorous moments — diet, speech, screen time, sexual purity — rather than being ruled by appetite.

I encourage you to examine your life and see the fruit of the Spirit shining through it.

Gifts with a purpose

The gifts from the Holy Spirit are distinct from the fruit of the Spirit. They have been a source of controversy since the early church. Let’s look at the two primary reasons for the Holy Spirit giving you a gift.

1. Evangelizing the world. Jesus makes it clear before he returns to heaven that the Holy Spirit will empower us to reach the world with the good news. This is made very clear in the book of Acts. We see the gifts of the Holy Spirit directly resulting in the growth of the church.
2. Edifying the saints. When Paul calls out the various gifts, he emphasized the value and impact to fellow believers.

I think the most important thing to understand is that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are not for personal use and in no way provide evidence that you are a believer. The Holy Spirit uses these gifts for others not ourselves. Whether the gift is given in the moment or long term doesn’t matter as much as the reason he gives you the gift. If it doesn’t serve others, is it from him?

I worked with Claude to break down the lists of gifts. The list combines teaching from John MacArthur and John Piper. I will add my thoughts when I diverge from their teaching.

• Prophecy (Romans 12:6) — For MacArthur, this is preaching/proclaiming God’s already-revealed Word with clarity and conviction, not new revelation. Examples: speaking biblical truth into a situation — a parent explaining Scripture to a child, a friend confronting sin with a specific verse — rather than claiming a new message from God. **
• Teaching (Romans 12:7; 1 Corinthians 12:28) — The ability to study, understand, and clearly explain Scripture so others grasp it accurately. Examples: leading a Bible study, patiently answering a coworker’s theological question, or simply explaining why a passage means what it means rather than just what it says. **
• Exhortation (Romans 12:8) — Coming alongside someone to encourage, comfort, or urge them toward obedience and perseverance. Examples: the text message sent to a discouraged friend with a specific promise from Scripture; sitting with someone through a hard decision and pointing them back to faithfulness. **
• Giving (Romans 12:8) — Generosity marked by simplicity of motive, not seeking recognition. Examples: quietly covering a need — a bill, a mission trip, a struggling family’s groceries — without announcing it. **
• Leadership/Administration (Romans 12:8; 1 Corinthians 12:28) — The capacity to organize people and resources toward a shared goal with diligence. Examples: running a ministry team, organizing a meal chain for a sick family, keeping a small group functioning smoothly. **
• Mercy (Romans 12:8) — Compassion for the suffering, exercised cheerfully rather than grudgingly. Examples: visiting the sick or grieving, caring for the elderly, sitting with someone in pain without trying to fix it — and doing it gladly. **
• Service/Helps (Romans 12:7; 1 Corinthians 12:28) — Meeting practical needs, often behind the scenes. Examples: setting up chairs before church, driving someone to an appointment, doing the unglamorous logistical work that keeps a body of believers functioning. **
• Faith (1 Corinthians 12:9) — An unusual, Spirit-given confidence to trust God for the improbable, beyond ordinary saving faith. Examples: the person who prays boldly for the seemingly impossible and steadies everyone else’s confidence in the process. **
• Discernment / Distinguishing Spirits (1 Corinthians 12:10) — The ability to test teaching and character against Scripture and recognize error or deception. Examples: the person in a small group who notices when a popular teaching subtly departs from Scripture, and says so. **
• Word of Wisdom / Word of Knowledge (1 Corinthians 12:8) — For MacArthur, not mystical insight but Spirit-given skill in applying biblical truth (wisdom) and grasping biblical truth (knowledge) with unusual clarity. Examples: someone others instinctively come to for counsel because they consistently apply Scripture well to messy, real situations. **
• Evangelism (Ephesians 4:11) — An unusual effectiveness and boldness in presenting the gospel to unbelievers. Examples: the person who turns ordinary conversations toward Christ naturally and comfortably, and does it often. **
• Pastor-Teacher (Ephesians 4:11) — A shepherding office combining teaching with ongoing spiritual oversight of a flock. Examples: not just Sunday preaching but the weekday phone calls, hospital visits, and long-term discipleship of specific people. **
• Tongues (1 Corinthians 12:10) — Piper is notably restrained here: tongues isn’t “the mark or sign of anything,” any more than teaching or helps is. In his own pastoral ministry he treated it primarily as a private prayer language rather than a required or normative public sign. Examples: private, Spirit-enabled prayer for those given the gift — not a badge of “Spirit baptism,” not expected of every believer, and not a focus of public worship unless interpreted (1 Corinthians 14:27-28). ***

I’m not in agreement with Piper on this being a private prayer language. The gifts of the Spirit should evangelize or edify. I come to this conclusion watching Baptists restrict the Spirit and Pentecostals abuse speaking in tongues. I firmly believe that the Spirit still uses the gift of tongues. The most miraculous and important usage is in evangelism. I have heard of missionaries suddenly able to share the story of Jesus with someone in their native tongue. God used this gift to break through the language barrier created at Babel due to sin and make the gospel message clear. Now that is awesome!

• Interpretation of Tongues (1 Corinthians 12:10) — Follows directly from tongues; without it, tongues has no edifying function in a gathered assembly. Examples: rarely relevant outside a gathered context where tongues is exercised publicly and needs translation for the church’s benefit. ***
• Healing (1 Corinthians 12:9) — An “occasional or circumstantial gift,” not a permanent personal ability someone carries “in their back pocket.” A person might be used by God to pray effectively for healing once without that meaning they can perform it at will thereafter. Examples: praying boldly for the sick, expecting God can heal, without presuming on it or treating an individual as a professional “healer.” ***
• Miracles (1 Corinthians 12:10) — Same logic as healing: given by God’s sovereign discretion for a specific need in a specific moment, “usually in response to prayer and crying out to God,” not a standing personal power. Examples: approaching genuinely desperate situations with expectant prayer rather than either presumption or fatalism. ***
• Apostleship (Ephesians 4:11) —Neither MacArthur nor Piper generally claim the foundational apostolic office (Ephesians 2:20) continues, distinguishing it from the gifts above.

If you read much of the context around Paul’s teaching about the gifts, you will see how he uses the imagery of the church as a body. No one has all the gifts. They are handed out for a specific purpose or function, internally edifying and externally evangelizing.

Parting thoughts

The presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives is truly transformational. He comforts us, changes us, and empowers us. Embrace him today.

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References

The following references were used to explore the topic today.

* For the fruit of the Spirit, John MacArthur’s Galatians commentary treats Galatians 5:22-23 with a word-by-word approach, working through the underlying Greek term for each fruit. This lines up with the standard evangelical exegetical consensus on these words (Barclay, Stott, and others land on essentially the same definitions), so the substance below isn’t idiosyncratic to MacArthur — it’s the shared reading, just delivered in his systematic style.

** John MacArthur’s commentaries on 1 Corinthians 12–14 and Romans 12, along with his teaching on spiritual gifts at Grace Community Church, work through the New Testament’s gift lists systematically and sort them into two categories: gifts that continue in the church today, and “sign gifts” he holds ceased with the apostolic age.

*** John Piper has given this topic dedicated treatment (Desiring God’s “Are Prophecy and Tongues Alive Today?”, his public response to MacArthur at the Strange Fire conference, and a recorded panel discussion specifically on tongues, healing, and miracles), and unlike MacArthur — who can’t describe daily exhibition for gifts he holds ceased — Piper actually addresses how each one is meant to function now.