Discerning the Logos, Part Five

The giving and receiving of the Holy Spirit

Four-minute read. KJV used unless otherwise noted.

The fifth step in discerning the Logos is internalizing the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit brings the law of love into our hearts,1 that enables us to discern the love of the Logos in others.

Remember last week when I said that the Logos must open our minds? In a similar fashion, the Holy Spirit must open our hearts.

Our job, whether it is the Logos opening our minds or the Spirit opening our hearts, is to have faith and to follow where our minds and hearts lead. Our minds must remain open, and our hearts must remain soft if we wish to follow Christ.

Here’s the Thing: The resurrected Christ and the Holy Spirit perform the same work as John the Baptist�"to prepare the hearers and seekers for their coming encounter with God.

Opening minds and hearts to the fullness of God is the “making paths straights.”2 Needless to say, minds and hearts often mislead us if not properly aligned with the Logos. This requires the give and take of Bible study within community of fellow believers.

The disciples were gathered in community when they encountered the Holy Spirit. This passage has been often overlooked. You might believe, as I once did, that they received the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. I was wrong. Let’s read the passage to see when their encounter actually happened.

Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her. Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord. Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost. ~John 20:18-22, emphasis mine

This was the day of Christ’s resurrection, fifty days before Pentecost. The Logos opened their minds and then breathed out the Holy Spirit.

Here’s the Kicker: The Holy Spirit immediately went to work.

In Chapter One of Acts, we read, “Until the day in which (Jesus) was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen (Acts 1:2, emphasis mine).”

Not only had Jesus given the disciples the Holy Spirit, but he also commanded them through the Spirit before He ascended into heaven. We often miss this because it was such a quiet thing, more of a whisper from God than thunder.

I know, I know. This is not normally how we see the baptism of the Holy Spirit, but this was the Way it happened to the disciples, not loudly but quietly. Not with the fanfare of tongue speaking and prophesy making and tongues of fire but with the quiet understanding of the words of the Logos guiding them as they waited patiently in the upper room in Jerusalem.

What’s the purpose of receiving the Spirit? The Holy Spirit brings to our remembrance the things we have learned about Christ.3 This will keep us from being led astray by false prophets who are devoid of the Word when we go into the world. When Jesus gave them the Spirit, He prefaced the giving with the words: “as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.”4 The Spirit is the giving for the going.

And, yes, I’m aware that many verses seem to indicate that the disciples’ baptism of the Spirit was on the Day of Pentecost. More on that soon, Lord willing. I won’t end this series on a cliff hanger, and, hopefully, we will agree with what happened in Acts Chapter Two in a couple of weeks as our study continues.

For now, I hope your takeaway is that the Holy Spirit is needed to bring to our remembrance the words of the Logos, to guide us into truth, and to give us comfort as we are sent into the world.

All of us have that God-shaped hole in our heart that aches until it is filled. The Holy Spirit fits perfectly in our hearts if we allow Him to enter. May we all internalize the Spirit, not blocking, not grieving, not quenching His work. Let’s enter the Holy of Holies where the veil has been split and the shroud removed, where we breathe deeply of the sweet aroma of our Comforter.

May it be so.

Amen.

Here’s a list of the steps in Discerning the Logos:

1. Realize God became Man

2. Familiarize ourselves with the Manna, the Eternal Spring, and the Fire

3. Revise our view of Christ and our view of self. Recognize our inadequacy and complete dependence on God

4. Conceptualize that the Logos harmonizes all knowledge and all experience as the Story of the Bible. Conceptualize that the Logos dwells within us and brings us to an understanding of Scripture.

5. Internalize the Holy Spirit to guide us as we are sent.

6. Visualize

7. Dramatize

Footnotes:

1 Romans 5:5

2 Matthew 3:3

3 John 14:26

4 John 20:21