The Importance Of Omniscience In The Holy Spirit

In 8:11 Paul refers to the "Spirit" as God. He is saying that if we believe that it was God who raised Jesus from the dead, then we will be given an everlasting life within us. This passage in 8:11 is one of Paul 's main points he tries to make throughout all his letters. His central focus on the resurrection of Jesus is what Paul wants us to identify with. Jesus ' resurrection marked a change from an era under the wrath of God to an era of grace. In Paul 's point of view, this reality changed everything. In I Corinthians 15:21-22 Paul draws our attention to the second Adam in Christ which everybody was made alive through. This is the "good news" and the cornerstone of Christianity that God raised Jesus from the dead and started a new era.

In this paper, I will review Robert Gromacki’s book The Holy Spirit: Who He is, What He Does I will detail what I feel the book is about. I will emphasize various points given by the author that stood out to me. Finally, I will give my personal evaluation of the book.

Though Jesus was sinless and undeserving of death, he offered himself as a sacrifice in atonement for all sin (Invitation to World Religions, pg.418). Paul was always emphatic in maintaining that salvation cannot be earned by “works”, whether humans’ effort to obey the commandments in the Torah or excellent work in general. Instead, he taught that the salvation made possible by Christ’s sacrifice is a gift, the ultimate expression of God’s love and grace. Salvation is given to those who respond to God’s grace in faith, the conviction that God has acted through Jesus Christ to amend for human sin. Although Paul was very clear in teaching that salvation depends on God’s grace and the individual’s turning to God in faith, he did not dismiss the importance of works (Invitation to World Religions, pg.419). For Paul, faith does more than bringing salvation; it unites the believers with Christ in a “newness of life”. He believed that the spirit lives in believers and brings them into union with God. As a divine presence within, the spirit encourages the growth of spiritual virtues, the greatest which is love and makes all Christians one in the church often called “the body of Christ”.

The idea of predestination is not one that is so easily grasped. Many people have different ideas and understandings of what predestination is and what it looks like. Predestination is merely the concept that God already knows every decision a person makes before they make it, and that they are following a path laid before them. This is hard for people to accept, especially those who do not believe in any supreme ruler or being. John Boykin, Baylor graduate with his masters in Divinity and professor at all six Southern Baptist Seminary Extension Centers, puts the view

Predestination, in the dictionary, is said to be "the doctrine that God in consequence of his foreknowledge of all events infallibly guides those who are destined for salvation." Scripture has 2 very good passages for defining what predestination is: Jeremiah 1:5 which says "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." God is talking about Jeremiah in this passage and how God chose him before time; he was predestined for his job. Romans 8:28-30 "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed

The Holy Spirit, as a member of the Trinity, has eternally existed and worked with the Father and the Son to bring about the plan for our salvation (CCC 686). In a similar vein, the Holy Spirit, along with the Word of God, “are at the origin of the being and life of every creature” (CCC 703). The Holy Spirit is present with humanity from the beginning of time and the beginning of our individual lives, for as the Gospel writer John says, “he abides with you, and he will be in you” (John 14:17).

Philosophy has been a subject with many views, and has been a topic of many scientists and philosophers for thousands of years. One of the vital concepts in philosophy is the idea of God and what kind of being he is. Christians believe that God is an omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, and omnibenevolent. If God is an omniscient, all knowing being, to what extent does his knowledge reach? If God is an all knowing being, does he know everything a person will do every day for the rest of their life? And if he does know everything, do people truly have free will? There are four major views on divine foreknowledge that attempt to explain the extent to which God’s knowledge of the future reaches; Open Theism, Simple Foreknowledge, Molinism, and Calvinism. These four views are explained throughout the book “Divine Foreknowledge” written by Gregory A. Boyd- Open Theism, David Hunt- Simple Foreknowledge, William Lane Craig- Molinism, and Paul Helm- Calvinism.

When an individual comes to faith in Christ he or she is not left alone to battle the struggles of sin, lead people to Jesus, experience heartache and sorrow, find God’s will, or live a life that is pleasing and honoring to the Lord. No, Christians are given an awesome gift that cannot be purchased or earned. Believers are blessed with the gift of a relationship with the Holy Spirit. Jesus said in John 14:16, “ And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever.”(ESV) Sadly, many believers do not have a correct understanding of who the Holy Spirit is, or what He does. The purpose of this paper is define the person and work of the Holy Spirit.

A supporting story to clarify would be infamous Adam and Eve story. Adam and Eve were the first human beings created and the first to disobey God by falling into temptation by the snake to eat the apple from the tree that God warned them they could not touch. If God foresaw the future of Adam and Eve’s disobedience then the reasonable answer to why he did not try to stop them was because he had given them the free will to choose their desire. A desire that led to the first sin and first evil committed by the human being. We can either retain a good will or a bad will, and God can foresee this decision. However, even with this power of freedom we often choose to commit wrong, which is what God foresaw with Adam and Eve.

The Holy Spirit of God is the active force or power in one’s life, which most certainly includes spiritual formation (Pettit, 2008, p. 46). When Jesus was speaking with his disciples he made it clear – by using the analogy of a vine and branches – that apart from him they could do nothing (John 15:5). Only if one is connected to Christ will they have the ability to bear fruit and the way Jesus empowers those connected to him is through the Holy Spirt that that father will send in his name (John 14:26). The fact is that the triune God dwells in the Christian in and through the Holy Spirit. One sees this when they place multiple passages together to gain a full understanding of this concept. For example, Jesus made it clear that he and the father would come and make their home with the disciple (John 14:23). In 1 Corinthians 6:19 Paul reminds the Corinthians that their bodies are the very temple of God because the Holy Spirit dwells in them which is similar to what Jesus said would happen when he sent the Holy Spirit after his resurrection and ascension (John 14:17, 16:7).

The Holy Spirit also acts in non-believers as well. The Holy Spirit makes people feel guilty about the things that they have done and helps them to ask for God forgiveness on their sin. (John 16:8-11). The Holy Spirit pulls on our hearts and minds asking us to repent and turn to God for forgiveness and a new life. When the Apostle Paul was planting church in his missionary journey, he preached lots about the duty of the Holy Spirit, and the role that he plays in our lives for example in Roman 8:1-8. In view of this scripture, there is a very distinct difference between the human flesh and the Holy Spirit. The Apostle Paul said that as long we become Christian, the Spirit of Jesus Christ has set us free from the worldly law of sin. Whatever the flesh could not do Jesus Christ has come to paid it all and to set us free from condemnation.

The various gifts of the Holy Spirit as listed in Scripture are conveyed according to the will of the Holy Spirit to every man for the eventual purpose of the edification and building up the church body.

In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit is the source of life and creation. The Holy Spirit worked in the lives of men that God placed His Spirit upon such as prophets and kings to perform His service. Therefore, the Holy Spirit was not given universally in the Old Testament but selectively and temporarily for service. However, in the New Testament, the Spirit grants life to God’s people and believers are brought to faith, in Jesus, through the sovereign work of the Spirit.

Another quotation that supports what I believe is the general view of many Christians around the world is the idea that God has already planned out our life and knows when the right time to die is. This is shown in the bible saying “He set the time for birth, and the time for death.” (Ecclesiastes 3:2)

The Holy Spirit plays a very vital role in the lives of each and every believer; He can strengthen us with a strength that we cannot even begin to muster up in ourselves. He can bring us joy that we cannot even begin to find in the things of this world. He can bring peace to our lives more than anything that we can ever find on this earth. “The Holy Spirit which is primarily an energizing process, is also a revealing, refining, consuming, illuminating process, and one by which we are made to glow with love to God, and love to man, and love to souls.”