Why does God
Allow Evil? Click here: /Apologeticshtml/Why Does
God Allow Evil 0908.htm
Should God’s
existence be proven? /Apologeticshtml/Should the
Bible and God Be Proven Fideism vs WCG.htm
Does the Bible teach blind faith? Click here: /doctrinalhtml/Gospel of John Theory of Knowledge.htm
What Does It Mean to Grieve the Holy
Spirit?
In Ephesians 4:30, Paul wrote:
"And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the
day of redemption." Now the Greek word here is "lupeo,"
which means "to cause pain," "to distress," "to be
sad," "to become sorrowful," and "to grieve."
According to the Bauer-Arndt-Gingrich Greek-English lexicon (p. 481), they
think the word means in this context, "vex, irritate, offend,
insult." So then, how can we insult or offend the Holy
Spirit? Consider what Christ taught concerning insulting the
Holy Spirit in Matt. 12:31-32: "Therefore I tell you, every sin
and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will
not be forgiven. And whoever says a word against the Son of man [Jesus]
will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be
forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come." Now this leads
to another question, of course: Why does God regard
insults against the Holy Spirit as worse than insults against
Jesus? Maybe that's because the Holy Spirit is the means by
which saved Christians are granted eternal life
conditionally. The continued, conditional presence of the
Holy Spirit is necessary for salvation (II Cor. 5:5). Paul told us that
(Col. 1:27) "Christ in you [is] the hope of glory [final
salvation]." So then, if someone insults the means by which he
or she would gain eternal life, there's no way for such a person to be saved.
Now Matthew Henry, the classic Bible
commentator had an interesting and detailed explanation for Eph.
4:30. He said that what grieves the Holy Spirit are all the unlawful,
immoral activities that Paul had condemned in the immediately preceding
verses in the same chapter. In this case, the first
word beginning verse 30, "And do not
grieve . . ." implies a relationship with what was discussed earlier, that
Paul now has an additional thought about why these immoral actions should
be avoided. Matthew Henry also observes that we can't make the Holy
Spirit grieve in the way we can make other people grieve. That's because
God's emotions are far above our own, yet they still have some similarity
to ours. (This is technically known as "analogical
predication.") This doesn't prove that the Holy Spirit is a person
who has a separate center of consciousness that's distinct from the Father and
Son's, but rather that God is present everywhere in the universe
by His Spirit. After all, the Book of Revelation never describes the
Holy Spirit in heaven as occupying a throne or
standing near the Father as Jesus does. Instead, note that
Jesus is present in us by His Spirit, as Col. 1:27 shows. Furthermore, II
Cor. 3:17 says, "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the
Lord is, there is freedom." So if Jesus is in us through us having
the Spirit, then we're really grieving (or insulting) Jesus by
engaging in these immoral actions mentioned earlier in Eph. 4.
Eric Snow
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Why does God
Allow Evil? Click here: /Apologeticshtml/Why
Does God Allow Evil 0908.htm
May Christians
work on Saturdays? Click here: /doctrinalhtml/Protestant
Rhetoric vs Sabbath Refuted.htm
Should
Christians obey the Old Testament law? /doctrinalhtml/Does
the New Covenant Abolish the OT Law.htm
Do you have an
immortal soul? Click here: /doctrinalhtml/Here
and Hereafter.htm
Does the
ministry have authority? Click here: /doctrinalhtml/Is
There an Ordained Ministry vs Edwards.html
Is the United
States the Beast? Click here: /doctrinalhtml/Are
We the Beast vs Collins.htm
Should you give
10% of your income to your church? Click here: /doctrinalhtml/Does
the Argument from Silence Abolish the Old Testament Law of Tithing 0205 Mokarow
rebuttal.htm
Is Jesus God?
Click here: /doctrinalhtml/Is
Jesus God.htm
Will there be a
third resurrection? Click here: /doctrinalhtml/Will
There Be a Third Resurrection.htm
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