After Sunday's sermon, I was asked how I could say, "Jesus sent his Spirit to believers." It is best to say Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to believers. Saying “his Spirit” may confuse the nature of the Holy Spirit, yet it is true that the same Spirit that filled Jesus fills us. The Trinity or Godhead is best defined as God in three persons; each person is fully God, and there is one God. Yet, we cannot comprehend this fully. If we could, we would be God.
Jesus, while he was on earth, submitted to his Father in heaven and said: “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me.” (John 7:16) “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.” (John 5:19)
The Son was also filled with the Holy Spirit, and God’s Spirit led Jesus and empowered him to do ministry. “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness.” (Luke 4:1) “He (Jesus) unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.” (Luke 14:17-18)
God's Spirit that filled Jesus was also called the Spirit of Jesus. The Apostle Paul writes, “I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance” (Philippians 1:19). While Paul is in prison, the Philippians are praying for him. And Gordon Fee states, "He (Paul) assumes that their praying, and with that God's gracious supply of the Spirit of his Son, will be the means God uses to bring glory to himself through Paul and Paul's defense of the Gospel."
John the Apostle also states that the Holy Spirit does not speak on his own authority. “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.” (John 16:13) The Holy Spirit is not originating something radically new but leading people through the teaching already given by the Father and the Son.
When we are full of the Holy Spirit, we are full of the presence, comfort, and truth of Jesus dwelling within us. This truth can give us strong encouragement as we face the day's trials and temptations.
