One of the great debates about the Holy Spirit is how He does His work. That the Holy Spirit works today is indisputable. It would be a very odd position to conclude that a member of the godhead was idle, rather than contributing to God’s scheme of redemption. Surely, such is not the case. This begs the question, however, “what is the work of the Spirit?” Well, for one, the Spirit has a major role in the saving of our souls, including both salvation and sanctification. We are washed, sanctified, and justified by the Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:11). Of course, we are all aware of the famous words of our Savoir in John 3:3-5:

John 3:3-5 (ESV)
³ Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the king-dom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

Could there be a greater work than this? Clearly, we could not have been made new spiritually apart from the Spirit of God. Now, the next question is, how does the Spirit save and sanctify us? Is the action taken by the Spirit direct and miraculous? No, the Spirit works through the medium of the Word. In regard to being born again, the Bible (not only says that we are born of the water and of the Spirit) says we are born of the Word.

1 Peter 1:23 (ESV)
²³ Since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;

How is it that we are born of three different things? It is simple—we are born of the Spirit, when we obey His Word that teaches us to be baptized in water (1 Peter 3:21). This is also why the Bible can teach that we are saved by both the Spirit and the Word without contradicting itself. The Spirit works through and by the Word of God. The Spirit is God’s sword bearer.

Ephesians 6:17 (ESV)
¹⁷ And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,

The Word of God is the instrument that the Spirit uses to accomplish His word. This is why every-thing the Bible says the Spirit does in regard to man, it also attributes to the Word of God. For example, the Spirit instructs (Nehemiah 9:20), convicts (John 16:7), comforts (Acts 9:31), calls (Revelation 21:17), strengthens (Ephesians 3:16), and sets free (2 Corinthians 3:17). Would it surprise you to know that the Bible says that the Word of God does all these things too? Read 2 Timothy 3:17, Titus 2:11-12, Romans 15:4, 2 Thessalonians 2:14, Acts 20:32, and John 8:32). No wonder Paul calls the Word of God the sword of the Spirit.

Carefully consider the list of things that the Spirit does in the paragraph above. We need them all to be saved and go to heaven after a while. We need to start giving the Holy Spirit more credit for our salvation and sanctification. If it were not for Him, we would all still be in our sins.

As you wind down for the night, think on these things.