Influences of the Spirit Archives

Three Requirements (3)

By Andrew YoungOctober 11, 2012Influences of the Spirit

In this the last of our Reflections on the influences of the Holy Spirit we consider the Puritan theologian John Owen’s third requirement for securing the Spirit’s help. In brief, it is a readiness to respond to the Spirit as he works within us. If Christians are to receive the help of the Spirit, Owen says, particularly as it relates to knowing the mind of God in his Word, they must not only (a) recognise their dependence upon him and (b) use the means of prayer, meditation and study he has provided, but they must also (c) “endeavour a conformity in their whole […]

Three Requirements (2)

By Andrew YoungSeptember 20, 2012Influences of the Spirit

In these concluding Reflections on the influences of the Holy Spirit we are considering the all-important question of how we can obtain these influences. Last time we noted that the Puritan theologian John Owen gave three requirements for receiving the Spirit’s help in making the Bible effective in our lives. The first of these – which we considered then – is a meek and humble attitude; the second is “continual prayer, meditation, and study in the Word day and night.”1 In this second requirement Owen is in effect saying that there is something for us to do when it comes to receiving […]

Three Requirements (1)

By Andrew YoungAugust 31, 2012Influences of the Spirit

If these Reflections on the influences of the Holy Spirit have accomplished anything over the weeks, I hope they have stirred up a desire to know more of the Spirit’s activity in your own life. And if that is the case the question arises, “What can I do to have more of these influences?” The Puritan theologian John Owen (1616-1683) has some practical advice on this subject. Like Jonathan Edwards, Owen understood the influences of the Spirit to be primarily connected with the Scriptures. He believed that we can only understand the Scriptures and experience their power through a definite action of the Holy […]

Jonathan Edwards on the Divine Light (3)

By Andrew YoungAugust 16, 2012Influences of the Spirit

Jonathan Edwards closes his sermon on the “Divine light” the Holy Spirit sheds in the human heart by urging his hearers to seek this blessing. He does so by highlighting several of its unique and desirable qualities. First of all he contends that the knowledge the Spirit imparts as he shines light upon God’s Word is to be sought because it is “the most excellent and divine wisdom that any creature is capable of.” It far excels the knowledge we can gain through human learning and outstrips the wisdom of the greatest philosophers and statesmen. It “does more to exalt […]

Jonathan Edwards on the Divine Light (2)

By Andrew YoungJuly 26, 2012Influences of the Spirit

If it is true, as Jonathan Edwards affirms, that the Holy Spirit sheds a “divine light” on God’s Word enabling us to see its meaning and worth, we might expect that the knowledge gained in this way has a special quality about it. Edwards speaks of this quality as “a conviction of the truth and reality” of the things the Spirit shows us. The Holy Spirit not only helps us to understand and see the glory of the things God reveals; he also imparts a certainty that they exist and are sure. He does this, Edwards says, partly by “removing […]

Jonathan Edwards on the Divine Light (1)

By Andrew YoungJune 25, 2012Influences of the Spirit

Few people have thought more deeply on the subject of the influences of the Holy Spirit than the eighteenth century American theologian and pastor Jonathan Edwards (1703-58). Edwards was a major force in what is known as the First Great Awakening in the American colonies, a sweeping movement of the Holy Spirit in the 1730’s and 40’s associated with powerful preaching, radical conversion and revitalized spirituality. During much of this time Edwards served as a Congregational minister in Northampton, Massachusetts. In 1734 he preached a sermon on Matthew 16:17 to his congregation which was subsequently published under the title “A […]

Three Aproaches

By Andrew YoungJune 8, 2012Influences of the Spirit

Over the past month of layoff from writing I have often wondered if I should “pull the plug” on this series of Reflections on the Influences of the Spirit. “People will have lost interest or forgotten what you have been writing about,” I have said to myself. “Use this break as an excuse to move on to something else.” While one part of me has wanted to do that, another has urged me to continue and complete the series as I had originally planned. “The subject is too important to be left hanging in the air,” it has argued. “You must carry […]

Recognising the Spirit

By Andrew YoungMay 7, 2012Influences of the Spirit

The fact that the Holy Spirit honours our human nature and works closely with it creates two contrasting possibilities. On the one hand it makes it possible for us to miss his workings in us, and on the other, it makes it possible for us to be aware of them. Clement Vaughan hints at the first of these in the summary statement quoted in an earlier Reflection.[1] Since the Spirit “does not interfere with the ordinary laws that regulate mental action,” he says, his influences “are not distinguishable usually” from “the operations of ordinary thought and feeling.”[2] In effect, he can be working […]

Contrasting Possibilities

By Andrew YoungMay 7, 2012Influences of the Spirit

The Spirit and Humanity

By Andrew YoungApril 24, 2012Influences of the Spirit

Clement Vaughan describes the action of the Holy Spirit on the human heart as a “secret touch upon the soul.” We noted that it is “secret” in the sense of not being able to be seen, fully understood, or controlled. What we need to consider further is the fact that this action is exerted “on the soul.” Vaughanuses the term “soul” in a comprehensive way to include all that belongs to our inward life (Romans 7:22; 2 Corinthians 4:16; Ephesians 3:16). Throughout his book, The Gifts of the Holy Spirit, the terms “soul” and “heart” are used interchangeably. In both cases […]