The

Christian’s God

DON FLEMING

BASIC CHRISTIANITY SERIES

BRIDGEWAY
© Don Fleming 1985, 1991

First published 1985

Reprinted 1986
This edition 1991
Reprinted 1996, 1998, 2001

ISBN 0 947342 13 3
ISBN 0 947342 10 9 (set)

All Rights Reserved

Bridgeway Publications
GPO Box 2547
Brisbane 4001
Australia

Biblical quotations are from the Good News Bible and are used
by permission.

Printed in Australia by McPherson’s Printing Group

 CONTENTS

1. A personal God 5

2. A triune God 10

3. God in human form 14

4. God within his people 19

 1

A personal God

Getting the right idea

As people think about the physical world around them, they
may conclude that there is a Creator-God who is intelligent and
powerful. As they think about their own awareness of right and
wrong, they may conclude that there is a moral God to whom
they are answerable. But God has not left people with only this
vague or general knowledge of himself. He made himself more
fully known through events that took place in history, and that
revelation is recorded in the Bible. Through the Bible people
most clearly learn what God is like.
Although he is invisible, God is not some impersonal ‘force’
or abstract ‘principle’. He is a personal God; that is, he has
personal awareness, knowledge, power, will and feelings. Men
and women also have these characteristics, because they are
made in God’s image. The difference is that in men and women
they have been spoiled by sin, whereas in God they exist in
perfection.
God’s love and anger, for example, show something of the
character of the personal God, but they are not the same as the
love and anger that people in general display. Human language is
inadequate when used of God, because it cannot properly
describe a person who exists eternally and has no physical form.
To help overcome this inadequacy, the Bible may at times speak
of God as if he had human features such as arms, ears and eyes,
but it does not expect readers to understand such statements
literally.
Knowing a person
Human beings may not be able to understand everything
about God, but that should not stop them from enjoying a

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6 THE CHRISTIAN’S GOD

relationship with him. Young children have only a limited

understanding of the business and social matters that concern
their parents, but that does not stop them from enjoying a
relationship with them. The parents may use simple language to
try to explain such things to their children, in spite of the
children’s inability to understand them fully. Likewise God
graciously tells people about himself through the Bible; but
much has to remain untold, because the human mind does not
have the capacity to understand it.
The Bible therefore does not attempt to give a complete
description of God. Also, it prohibits the use of anything in
nature or anything of human creation as a physical representation
of God. Such things lead only to a wrong understanding of God,
and this in turn produces wrong attitudes and behaviour in those
who worship him.
What sort of God
At the beginning of ancient Israel’s existence as God’s
people, Moses asked for a name of God that would give the
people an idea of his character. The name that God gave was ‘I
am who I am’ (sometimes shortened to ‘I am’), or ‘I will be what
I will be’ (Exodus 3:14).
In giving this mysterious name, God taught his people more
about himself. He showed that although he would not satisfy
mere curiosity about him, he would never fail them. They could
always depend on him to do what he, in his perfect wisdom,
knew to be best. He was independent, eternal, unchangeable,
always active and always present. He would be to his people
whatever he chose to be, and they were to trust him.
Israel’s language was Hebrew, and in that language the word
translated ‘I am’ is related to the word ‘Yahweh’, the name by
which Israelites already knew God. God’s ‘I am’ statement was
an explanation of what the name ‘Yahweh’ should have meant to
his people. The ancient Israelites developed such a reverence for
this name that they never spoke it. They used another word
A personal God 7

instead, with the result that English-speaking people took some

time to find the right pronunciation of the word. It has
traditionally been translated ‘Jehovah’, though many English
Bibles avoid the pronunciation problem by using the word
LORD (in capital letters).
But people are not dependent solely on mysterious names for
their understanding of God. The Bible is full of statements and
stories that clearly show the sort of person God is.
God is the source of all things, yet he himself has no source.
He is without beginning and without end. Nothing can add to
him or take away from him. He is under obligation to no one, he
needs no one, he depends on no one and he is answerable to no
one. Whatever he does, he does because he chooses to, not
because he is required to; though he always acts in a way that is
consistent with his character of perfect goodness.
Responsive to human behaviour
Although God is great beyond the limits of a world of time
and space, he is involved in the day-to-day affairs of that world.
He is interested in the lives of ordinary men and women. He has
given them freedom to make their own decisions, but he
maintains his absolute authority and directs human history
towards its final destiny.
People rebel against God, but their rebellion does not destroy
his authority. God allows evil to happen, though he never allows
it to go beyond the limits that he has determined. Even if he uses
people’s wrongdoing to bring about certain events, the
wrongdoers are not excused. They are still responsible for their
actions. Peter blamed the rebellious Jerusalem Jews for Jesus’
death, saying, ‘You killed him by letting sinful people crucify
him’. But in the same sentence he says that this was ‘in
accordance with God’s own plan’ (Acts 2:23). God is always in
ultimate control.
The world is in a state of constant change, and God is
responsive to its changing circumstances. He may be moved to
8 THE CHRISTIAN’S GOD

compassion when he sees suffering, or moved to anger when he

sees evil. He may change his treatment of people from blessing
to judgment when they defy him, or from judgment to blessing
when they turn to him. This does not mean that events take God
by surprise so that he has to revise his plans. He always knows
the end from the beginning, and he always bases his plans on his
perfect knowledge and wisdom.
When, therefore, the Bible says that God does not change, it
does not mean that he is a giant robot driven on according to
fixed laws. It means that in his character he does not change. His
qualities and values do not change. He can neither increase nor
decrease in power, knowledge, love, wisdom or justice, because
he possesses all these things in perfection. God is consistent in
all that he is and all that he does. People can trust him fully,
knowing that he will always be true to his perfect character. He
will do only what is right.
God as Father
When people respond to God’s love by receiving the for
giveness and life he offers through Jesus Christ, they find that
they come into a special relationship with him. The almighty
God is now their Father.
In a general sense God is the Father of all humankind,
because he is the source of all life, the Father of the universe.
But this is not the usual meaning when the Bible speaks of God
as Father. Rather he is Father only to his own people. In the
Christian era this means that he is Father especially to those who
have turned from their sins to him and accepted the salvation he
offers through Jesus. (An even higher sense in which God is
Father is as Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, but this will be
discussed in the next chapter.)
To illustrate that God was their Father, the early Christians
used the picture of a common first century practice known as
adoption (which was not the same as adoption today). A wealthy
man without children would carefully choose someone and make
A personal God 9

him his son, so that this son could become the next head of the
family, receive the family inheritance and carry on the family
name. A person was very privileged if someone chose him in this
way and gave him the status of a true son.
This pictures what God has done for those who have trusted
in Jesus Christ. He has made them his sons and daughters, giving
them the status and dignity of responsible people who can share
his interests.
Another illustration used by the early Christians was that of
new birth. People are sinners and therefore are spiritually dead,
unable to give themselves spiritual life. God, however, can save
them from this hopeless condition by forgiving their sins and
giving them the life that he desires for them. The Bible says of
those early Christians that their spiritual new birth occurred
when they ‘received Jesus and believed in him’. They became
God’s children because God was the one who gave them life.
God himself was their Father (John 1:12-13).
 2

A triune God

Three-in-one and one-in-three

Although there is only one God, that God is a trinity. The
word ‘trinity’ comes from the word for ‘three’, but any attempt
to define it in relation to God is difficult and dangerous. This is
because human language is not capable of explaining the unique
ness of the divine trinity fully or exactly. Within the one personal
God there are three personal distinctions, which, for lack of a
better word, are called persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Each of these persons is fully God, yet there is only one God, not
three. He is a triune God – three-in-one and one-in-three.
Our understanding of the Trinity is tied in with the Bible’s
record of God’s dealings with the human race. God did not make
known his truth to humankind in one great initial revelation, nor
did he reveal it in the form of abstract teachings. He revealed it
stage by stage and in a way that was related to people’s needs. At
each stage the truth he made known was relevant to circum
stances in the lives of those who received it. In this way God
developed his plan of salvation and brought it to finality in Jesus.
In Old Testament times, however, Jesus had not yet come,
and therefore there was no immediate need to teach people about
the Trinity. The emphasis in Old Testament times was on the
oneness of God. Because the Israelites lived among nations who
believed there were many gods, they were reminded constantly
that there is in fact only one God, and he is a unity. With the
fuller knowledge we now have through the New Testament, we
may look back and see suggestions of the Trinity in the Old
Testament. But our clearer knowledge of the Trinity comes
mainly through the life and work of Jesus Christ.
This does not mean that the God of the Old Testament was
different from the God of the New. It does not mean that a God

10
A triune God 11

who was previously ‘one’ now divided into three. God has
always existed as a Trinity. The new element in the New
Testament is the revelation of the Trinity, not the Trinity itself.
Made clear through Jesus
Jesus Christ not only made God known to the human race;
he himself became one of the human race. When people saw
Jesus, they saw God. Yet there was a mystery, because although
God was physically present in the world in the person of Jesus,
in another sense God was not physically present in the world.
Jesus explained this apparent contradiction by pointing out that
he was God the Son, and the one from whom he came was God
the Father. The two were distinct, yet they were inseparably
united. ‘The Father and I are one,’ said Jesus (John 10:30).
There is no suggestion that God the Father existed first and
God the Son came into existence later. Both are God, and
therefore both have existed eternally, but they have existed in
this relationship of Father and Son. The Son began his human
existence at a certain time in history, but as God he has always
existed. Because he is both divine and human, he is the only one
who can truly make God known to humankind, and the only one
through whom humankind can be brought back to God.
Having become one of the human race, Jesus then gave the
additional revelation that there was a third person in the
Godhead, the Holy Spirit. As his crucifixion drew near, Jesus
explained to his disciples that after his resurrection he would
return to his Father. But he told them also that, although he no
longer would be physically in the world, he would still be with
them. His Spirit would come to dwell in them, and give them the
sort of help and teaching that he had given them. They had
known God as the Father, they had seen him as the Son, and now
they would have him living in them as the Holy Spirit.
No change in God
Before he returned to his Father, Jesus told his disciples to
go and make more disciples, and to baptize those new disciples
12 THE CHRISTIAN’S GOD

‘in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit’
(Matthew 28:19). By this statement Jesus showed his disciples
that the God they were beginning to understand as ‘three-in-one
and one-in-three’ was the same God as their ancestors
worshipped as ‘one’. The disciples were Jews, and in Jewish
thought the name represented the person. Jesus here spoke of
‘the name’ (singular), indicating one God, but at the same time
he showed that this God existed as three personal distinctions.
As a God-fearing Jew, Jesus gave his total allegiance to the
one and only true God, and he taught his followers to do
likewise. In Old Testament times God’s people worshipped him
under the name ‘Yahweh’; in New Testament times they wor
shipped him under the name ‘Father, Son and Holy Spirit’. The
God who is ‘one’ is also a Trinity.
What the early Christians understood
The New Testament writers seem to have had no difficulty
with Jesus’ teaching. They accepted both the Old Testament
revelation of the oneness of God and Jesus’ revelation of the
Trinity. They never tried to define or prove the Trinity, but
assumed it always. Since the God they worshipped had given his
Son to die for them and given his Spirit to indwell them, the only
way they thought of God was as a Trinity.
In keeping with the teachings of Jesus, the New Testament
writers show that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are fully
and equally God. No one is inferior to, or superior to, the other.
But in their operations there is a difference. The Son is willingly
subject to the Father, as seen in Jesus’ obedience to his Father.
The Spirit is willingly subject to the Son, as seen in his work of
reminding the disciples of the things Jesus taught them.
Nevertheless, there is no suggestion that the work of God is
divided among three persons. The unity between Father, Son and
Spirit means that all three are active in all the work of God. The
New Testament writers may not have understood fully the divine
activity within the Trinity, but they knew the character of the
A triune God 13

God who was at work. He was a triune God and he was

changing people’s lives through the message they preached.
Why the subject is important
The reason Christians try to understand the Trinity is not to
satisfy their curiosity or work out a scheme to explain how God
exists or operates. The New Testament writers never attempted a
theoretical analysis of God, though they constantly sought to
understand more of his character and activity. Christians should
always want to learn about God, because their new life in Christ
depends on God being the sort of person he is.
Only because God is the sort of God he is (a Trinity), is the
salvation of men and women possible. The word ‘father’ has to
do with origins, and salvation comes from the Father. But the
Father works through the Son. God made himself known to the
world through Jesus, who carried out God’s work of salvation.
The Spirit, through whom God’s power works in the world,
applies the benefits of Jesus’ work to people’s lives.
Paul, a leading teacher in the early church, summarizes this
in Titus 3:4-7. Salvation, he points out, originated with God the
Father: ‘When the kindness and love of God was revealed, he
saved us’. He goes on to say that it was ‘through Jesus Christ our
saviour’, through the Son, that God carried out this work. And
the benefits of that work are applied to believers ‘through the
Holy Spirit, who gives us new birth and new life.’
Just as God’s salvation comes to people because God is a
Trinity, so people can come to God because he is a Trinity. Their
approach to God is by the Spirit, through the Son, to the Father
(Ephesians 2:18). Even the most basic of all Christian exercises,
prayer, is possible only because God is a Trinity. The Holy Spirit
within believers helps them to pray, the Father in heaven is the
one to whom they pray, and the Son is the heavenly mediator
who supports their requests.
 3

God in human form

The greatest miracle

Central to Christian faith and practice is the fact that in Jesus
Christ the eternal God became a human being. This must surely
be the miracle of all miracles. Little wonder, therefore, that the
way it came about also involved a miracle – the supernatural
work of God within the body of the virgin Mary, so that the child
born to her, though having no human father, was fully human.
Jesus was not just an ordinary person whom God adopted as
his Son, but also a unique person who was actually God’s Son.
He himself was God, and as the Son he existed in a relation with
the Father that no other creature could share.
Like others, yet different
In becoming a human being, the Son of God willingly
sacrificed the supreme glory of heaven and took instead a
humble place among God’s creatures on earth. In doing so, he
accepted the limitations of such an existence. This means not
that his divinity was in any way reduced, but that he accepted the
limitations of living like other people in a world of imperfection
and suffering. Yet there was no imperfection in Jesus himself.
The human nature common to people in general is infected by
sin from birth, but Jesus’ human nature was not.
Though a man, Jesus was also God. In him the human and
divine natures existed together, without either one lessening the
other. They were complete, united and inseparable. He still had
divine power and knowledge, and he exercised those rights of
forgiveness and judgment that belong to God alone. At the same
time he was fully human. He experienced tiredness, hunger and
thirst. He showed normal human emotions and reactions such as
astonishment, joy, disappointment, pity, sorrow and anger.

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God in human form 15

There was no element of magic in the way Jesus lived. He

never used his divine powers to avoid the inconveniences and
difficulties of life. If he wanted to go from one place to another,
he travelled the same as others and put up with the weariness of
the journey. If he wanted information, he asked questions. He
used his super-natural powers only as his Father permitted and
always to help others, never to benefit himself.
Jesus experienced the same sorts of troubles and temptations
as other people, but he never sinned. He was therefore not under
God’s judgment and so was able to be the substitute for those
who were. Peter, looking back on the life of Jesus, said, ‘He
committed no sin . . . He himself carried our sins in his body on
the cross’ (1Peter 2:22-24).
Jesus Christ the Lord
The early Christians were very clear in their understanding
that the purpose of Jesus’ coming was to die, and the purpose of
his death was to save sinners. An early Christian summary of
belief was, ‘Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners’
(1Timothy 1:15). This fact had been revealed before Jesus’ birth,
through the name God chose for the child. ‘Jesus’, though a
common Jewish name, had its origins in the Hebrew expression,
‘Yahweh saves’. It was therefore a fitting name for the person
whom God sent as his saviour for the world.
From Old Testament times the Jews had looked for a great
king, one like David, who would lead Israel to national glory.
Israelite kings were often referred to as ‘the anointed’, because
they were officially appointed to their position by the ceremony
of anointing. Because the Hebrew word for ‘anointed’ was
‘messiah’, this longed-for kingly descendant of David was called
the Messiah. In New Testament times Greek was the common
language, and the Greek word equivalent to ‘Messiah’ was
‘Christ’. The word was later used as a personal name for Jesus.
Jesus was the promised Messiah, but he rarely referred to
this aspect of his mission. Most Jews had a wrong understanding
16 THE CHRISTIAN’S GOD

of the Messiah and his kingdom, and Jesus did not want to attract
the wrong kind of following. People wanted a political leader
who would overthrow Roman power and bring in an independent
Israelite kingdom of peace and prosperity. Jesus was concerned
with releasing people from the power of sin and bringing them
into the kingdom of God. There they would come under God’s
rule and authority of God, exercised through Jesus Christ.
The title that the early Christians most commonly used of
Jesus was ‘Lord’. This indicated the sovereign power of Jesus
Christ as God and King. It was also the equivalent of the Hebrew
word ‘Yahweh’, the ancient Israelites’ special name for God.
The King and his kingdom
Jesus’ work of preaching, teaching and helping the needy
was connected with the coming of God’s kingdom. That king
dom was concerned with God’s rule in people’s lives, not with
political revolution.
The miracles of Jesus showed that the power of God’s
kingdom was working through him to conquer evil and free
people from its power. His preaching urged people to enter
God’s kingdom by turning from their sin and humbly submitting
to God’s rule. In this way they would receive the kingdom’s
benefits in forgiveness of sin and new life. Many of Jesus’
parables showed that although the kingdom of God had in one
sense arrived, in another sense it had not. It had not yet been
forced upon the world with irresistible power.
During Jesus’ lifetime his disciples found his teaching on the
kingdom hard to understand. They did not realize that the king
had first to fulfil the role of a servant. Jesus had to do, perfectly
and completely, the work that God had given him to do; and that
work involved suffering and death.
Only by the sacrifice of himself could Jesus deal with sin
conclusively and so release people from its power. His devotion
to his task was total, even to death; and for this reason God
‘raised him from death and gave him glory’ (1Peter 1:21). The
God in human form 17

resurrection of Jesus proved that he had finished perfectly the

work he had come to do. He was the triumphant Lord, Messiah,
King and Saviour.
With the resurrection of Jesus, the previously confused
disciples became clear-sighted and confident. They knew that the
resurrected Jesus was more than just a dead man come back to
life. Although he was still a man, his human existence was now
beyond the reach of death. It was no longer bound by former
limitations. In a way beyond human understanding, Jesus was
glorified in his Father’s presence. Even when he disappeared
from his disciples for the last time, they knew he was still alive
and helping them, and one day would return.
In raising Jesus to the place of highest honour, God showed
him to be King. He also gave the assurance that one day ‘all
beings in heaven, on earth, and in the world below will fall on
their knees and openly proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord’
(Philippians 2:10-11). The day will come when God will impose
his rule upon a rebellious world through his King, Jesus, but first
he gives people the opportunity to repent. That is why Christians
proclaim the good news of his kingdom. The repentant can enter
that kingdom now and begin immediately to receive its blessings.
Final victory
The New Testament writers are of one mind in asserting that
at some time known only to God, Jesus will return. Their
assurance is based on the clear promises of Jesus himself.
Although Jesus’ return will be spectacular, we must not
think of it as something unrelated to the events of his life
recorded in the Bible. On the contrary it is the event that will
bring to a climax all that Jesus achieved through his life, death
and resurrection – the judgment of sin, the conquest of death, the
giving of eternal life, the healing of the physical world and
the establishment of God’s kingdom.
Jesus’ coming will bring the present world’s history to an
end and introduce a new age, the age of the kingdom of God.
18 THE CHRISTIAN’S GOD

The Bible does not satisfy our curiosity by giving a timetable of

events, but it leaves us in no doubt of certain things that will take
place. Among those things will be the resurrection of the dead
and final judgment.
In the days of his earthly life, Jesus had refused to seek the
kingship of the world by violent or political means. But, because
he sacrificed himself to save the world, that kingship will now be
his. Through him God will rule, for judgment and for blessing. If
people have refused to accept the salvation Jesus made available,
they will find no way of escaping the penalty of sin. But if they
have trusted in Jesus as the bearer of sin’s penalty for them, they
will face the day of judgment with confidence. This does not
mean, however, that they will escape all judgment; for they are
still answerable to God for their behaviour as believers.
Therefore, while Christians look forward to meeting Jesus,
their expectation of that meeting causes them to be careful the
way they live now. Since Jesus will reappear when least
expected, they should be ready always.
Arising out of Jesus’ return will be a new age, a new world,
a whole new kind of existence, where God’s people will live
with him in the full enjoyment of the life Jesus made possible for
them. As the Son, Jesus had been entrusted by the Father with
the task of restoring all things to a state of perfect submission to
the sovereign God. With the conquest of evil and the restoration
of all things to God, the Son’s work will be finally fulfilled. God
will be everything to everyone.
 4

God within his people

More than an impersonal power

After Jesus’ resurrection and return to the Father, the early
Christians experienced a number of significant changes. One of
these was that God’s Spirit now indwelt them in a way they had
not known previously.
Jesus had promised that his physical departure from the
world would not disadvantage God’s work. Quite the opposite.
Through the Holy Spirit, the same Jesus would now live within
his people – not just those who had lived with him in Palestine,
but every person in every era and every place who turned to
him in faith and repentance. Jesus’ presence in the world had
previously been limited to first century Palestine, but through the
Holy Spirit that presence would now become timeless and
worldwide.
Through Jesus, people began to have a new understanding of
the Spirit of God. In former times, when people spoke of the
Spirit of God they were probably thinking of God’s living and
active power, not of a specific person within a triune Godhead.
They probably had no understanding of the Spirit of God as a
person within the Trinity, just as they had no understanding of
the Son of God as a person within the Trinity. But when on
occasions they saw God’s power working through selected
people for certain tasks, they rightly saw this as God’s Spirit, not
as some merely human ability.
With the coming of Jesus Christ, things became clearer.
Jesus talked about the Spirit and demonstrated the Spirit’s
power. He lived his daily life by the unceasing work of the Spirit
through him. People began to see that the Spirit was more than
a power; he was a person. He could teach, hear, comfort and
help. Jesus explained that the unique relation between the Father

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20 THE CHRISTIAN’S GOD

and the Son extended to include the Spirit. There was a unity
between Father, Son and Spirit, but at the same time a
distinction.
Jesus’ provision for his people
Although the New Testament era may have brought a change
in people’s understanding of the Spirit, the Spirit himself did not
change. He had always been fully God and fully personal. But
when God physically entered the world in the person of Jesus
Christ, the relation between God and the people of the world
could never be the same again.
Those who lived with Jesus could receive God’s help and
teaching easily: they only had to ask Jesus. Soon, however, Jesus
was to leave them. Therefore, to ensure that they continued to
receive God’s help, Jesus promised them ‘another Helper, who
will stay with you for ever, namely, the Spirit’ (John 14:16-17).
A sentence or two later he said, ‘You will not be left all alone; I
will come back to you’ (John 14:18). Jesus would come to his
people in the person of the Holy Spirit; or, to put it another way,
the Holy Spirit would represent the presence of Jesus to his
people. The Spirit would give them the same help as Jesus had
given them when he was physically present with them.
Again we see the mystery of the relationships within the
Trinity. Although there is a distinction, there is an inseparable
unity. On a previous occasion Jesus had said that when people
know the Son they know the Father; now he says that when
people have the Spirit they have the Son. The Holy Spirit is the
Spirit of Jesus. He bears the stamp of Jesus’ character just as
Jesus bore the stamp of the Father’s character.
The disciples who had lived with Jesus Christ in Palestine
received the Spirit in unique circumstances. They knew that the
gift of the Spirit would come only after Jesus had returned to
the Father, and therefore they had to wait till he had physically
left the world. But for others there are no such special
circumstances. They receive the Spirit when by faith they receive
God within his people 21

Christ. It is impossible for a person to have one without the

other. Life ‘in Christ’ is life ‘in the Spirit’.
The Spirit of Jesus at work
The early Christians had no doubt that Jesus lived in them
and worked through them by the Holy Spirit whom he had given
them. This did not make them superhuman, but it did make them
more like Jesus in their attitudes and behaviour.
Examples from the New Testament show that the Holy Spirit
worked through the early Christians in both spectacular and
unspectacular ways. He gave them extraordinary boldness in the
face of opposition, yet the quiet ability to organize church affairs
smoothly. On some occasions he directed them through inner
promptings and visions, on others through reasoned discussion.
He taught them through the spontaneous comments of some, and
through the carefully prepared arguments of others.
Christians today naturally do not have the same sense of
personal acquaintance with Jesus as had those who talked, ate,
worked and travelled with him in Palestine. But they are equally
certain of Jesus’ presence with them through the Spirit. This
does not give them a sort of magical power that enables them to
do successfully whatever they want to do. Nor does it guarantee
them freedom from sorrow, disappointment and hardship. Jesus
suffered, and his followers can expect to suffer also, but the
Spirit of Jesus within them gives them strength, calmness and
even joy through their sufferings.
The character the Spirit produces
At times the Holy Spirit’s presence within Christians seems
to make life more difficult for them. This is because of the
natural tendency to sin which they, like others, are born with.
That tendency is not removed when they become Christians, and
will, in fact, create problems when they resist it.
Whether Jesus’ followers realize it or not, the Holy Spirit
was the one who awakened them to their sin, led them to Jesus
22 THE CHRISTIAN’S GOD

and gave them new life. The same Spirit comes to live within
them permanently, and this is what causes the conflict. The old
sinful human nature (sometimes called ‘the flesh’) fights against
the Spirit, and the Spirit fights against the sinful nature.
Although Jesus’ human nature was not infected by sin, he
still experienced the normal temptations of human life. Even for
him, victory over those temptations required self-discipline and
effort. Christians, indwelt by the Spirit, can face the temptations
of life with confidence, but they must not expect victory to come
easily. The conflict strengthens character. That is not to say that
Christians will become stern and grim. On the contrary they will
find life more enjoyable than ever, for it will now have more
meaning. If the Spirit of Jesus Christ is directing their efforts, the
result will be a quality of character that reflects the character of
Jesus Christ.
When they allow God’s Spirit to do this work in their lives,
Christians are said to be filled with the Spirit. That is, they allow
the Spirit to have full control. This is not a once-for-all
experience, nor necessarily a highly emotional experience.
Certainly, they will on occasions be more strongly aware of the
Spirit’s presence or help, but in general the Spirit’s work will be
the quiet and steady work of making them more like Jesus.
Being like Jesus does not mean that Christians become
religious fanatics or submit to laws that make life dull and
boring. Jesus did not live like that. He came to free people not
only from bondage to sin, but also from bondage to those rules
and regulations that people mistakenly think will make them
‘holy’. The Spirit of Christ likewise brings life and freedom. He
wants people to enjoy life through enjoying those right
relationships that God intended from the beginning, whether
relationships with other people or with God himself.
Not merely private
The Spirit’s work in the lives of Christ’s people is concerned
with more than their own personal development. It is concerned
God within his people 23

also with their responsibility to take the good news of Jesus to an

unbelieving world.
Before Jesus died, his followers learnt that part of the
Spirit’s work was to convince people that Jesus is Lord. When
their faith in Jesus’ lordship was confirmed through the
resurrection, Jesus promised that the Spirit would empower them
to witness to this fact everywhere. In a sense people in any era
who know Jesus as Lord are his witnesses. Through their
witness, the Spirit makes known the truth of Jesus Christ to
others.
As people believe in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit introduces
them into that vast international community known as the
church. The Spirit, besides living in Christians as individuals,
lives in the church as a whole. As he helps individual believers
in their private prayers, so he helps the church in its public
worship. Whether privately or publicly, individually or
collectively, Christians are helped by the Spirit when they want
to speak to God. Likewise they are helped by the Spirit when
they want to hear God speaking to them; for the Spirit enables
them to understand the Scriptures. He helps in their individual
reading of the Bible and he helps in the teaching given in the
church.
People differ from each other in their personalities and
abilities, and when the Holy Spirit comes into their lives he does
not remove the differences. He may change the character and
behaviour of people so that they are more the sorts of people
they should be, but he does not remove the variety that exists
among them.
The church is likened to the human body, where different
parts have different purposes, yet there is unity. The Holy Spirit
has given abilities to all God’s people, and the church functions
properly when all the people work together by using their Spirit-
given abilities for the common good.
However, the abilities that people display in their church
work are not in themselves an indication of the Spirit’s control in
24 THE CHRISTIAN’S GOD

their lives. A better indication is the development of Christian

character. Abilities depend on the particular functions that the
Spirit has fitted people for in the church, but character depends
on the control that people allow the Spirit in their lives. The
Spirit ‘transforms us into Christ’s likeness’. He produces ‘love,
joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility
and self-control’ (2 Corinthians 3:18; Galatians 5:22-23).