WHAT'S IN THE BIBLE ABOUT THE HOLY SPIRIT?
by Alex Joyner
Copyright © 2008 by Abingdon Press
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted in the 1976 Copyright Act or in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission should be addressed in writing to Permissions Office, P. O. Box 801, 201 Eighth Avenue, South, Nashville, Tennessee 37202-0801, or call (615) 749-6421.
Scripture quotations in this publication unless otherwise indicated, are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America, and are used by permission. All rights reserved.
ISBN-13: 978-0-687-65284-6
Manufactured in the United States of America
08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17—10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
ABOUT THE WRITER
Alex Joyner is a United Methodist pastor serving on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, one of the last undeveloped coastal regions on the Eastern seaboard. Alex serves Franktown Church, a vibrant congregation representing the diversity of the region. In previous roles, he has worked in inner-city Dallas, Texas, as a youth director; as an associate pastor in a bilingual Latino congregation; as a pastor in England and Virginia; and as a campus minister at the University of Virginia. His experience with college students and young adults led him to write Restless Hearts: Where Do I Go Now, God? (Abingdon Press), a resource for discovering your vocation.
Alex has been a featured preacher on the former Protestant Hour radio broadcast (now Day One) and began his career as a radio news director. He is summer adjunct lecturer at Southern Methodist University, where he has taught Bible and theology courses since 1996. He has a great interest in missions and has led work teams domestically and in Mexico. He has also led a student group to two places of Christian pilgrimage—Taize, France, and Iona, Scotland.
Alex is an avid kayaker who is often found paddling in the marshes and bays near his home. He is married to Suzanne and has two children, Joel and Rachel.
A WORD FROM THE EDITOR
About This Bible Study Serie s
Have you ever wondered what the Bible is all about? What's in it? Why is it so important for Christians? Is it relevant for people in the 21st century? Should I care about what's in the Bible? Why? What difference will it make in my life? The study series What's in the Bible, and Why Should I Care? offers opportunities for you to explore these questions and others by opening the Bible, reading it, prayerfully reflecting on what the Bible readings say, and making connections between the readings and your daily life. The series title points to the two essential features of meaningful Bible study: reading the Bible and applying it to your life. This unique and exciting Bible study series is designed to help you accomplish this two-fold purpose.
The books in What's in the Bible, and Why Should I Care? are designed to help you find relevance, hope, and meaning for your life even if you have little or no experience with the Bible. You will discover ways the Bible can help you with major questions you may have about the nature of God, how God relates to us, and how we can relate to God. Such questions continue to be relevant whether you are new to church life, a longtime member of church, or a seeker who is curious and wants to know more.
Whether you read a study book from this series on your own or with others in a Bible study group, you will experience benefits. You will gain confidence in reading the Bible as you learn how to use and study it. You will find meaning and hope in the people and teachings of the Bible. More importantly, you will discover more about who God is and how God relates to you personally through the Bible.
What's in the Bible?
Obviously, we answer the question "What's in the Bible?" by reading it. As Christians, we understand that the stories of our faith come to us through this holy book. We view the Bible as the central document for all we believe and profess about God. It contains stories about those who came before us in the Christian faith, but it is more than a book of stories about them. The Bible tells us about God. It tells how a particular group of people in a particular part of the world over an extended period of time, inspired by God, understood and wrote about who God is and how God acted among them. The Bible also tells what God expected from them. Its value and meaning reach to all people across all time—past, present, and future.
Why Should I Care?
Meaningful Bible study inspires people to live their lives according to God's will and way. As you read through the stories collected in the Bible, you will see again and again a just and merciful God who creates, loves, saves, and heals. You will see that God expects people, who are created in the image of God (Genesis 1), to live their lives as just and merciful people of God. You will discover that God empowers people to live according to God's way. You will learn that in spite of our sin, of our tendency to turn away from God and God's ways, God continues to love and save us. This theme emerges from and unifies all the books that have been brought together in the Holy Bible.
Christians believe that God's work of love and salvation finds confirmation and completion through the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We accept God's free gift of love and salvation through Jesus Christ; and out of gratitude, we commit our lives to following him and living as he taught us to live. Empowered by God's Holy Spirit, we grow in faith, service, and love toward God and neighbor. I pray that this Bible study series will help you experience God's love and power in your daily life. I pray that it will help you grow in your faith and commitment to Jesus Christ.
Pamela Dilmore
They were tumultuous times. An empire many thought would never fall had retreated from the scene, leaving behind a world of uncertain alliances and economic turmoil. However, as the Romans left the British Isles in 405, a flicker of a new age remained. On the margins of Ireland, a group of Celtic monks was listening for God's voice and miraculous things were happening. The faith the Romans had brought was being reborn.
These Celtic Christians had incorporated the story of Jesus into their culture with unique images. One of them was the use of the wild goose as a symbol for the Holy Spirit, in contrast to the traditional symbol of the dove. With its awkward bearing and obnoxious honk, a goose seems a strange sign of the Spirit, God's continuing presence in the world. However, as Ron Ferguson noted in his study of the Iona Community, a contemporary Celtic Christian network, the wild goose is "a turbulent sign which is more appropriate to living the faith in our day than is the gentle dove. We live on a rollercoaster. "1
One of the biblical phrases associated with the Holy Spirit, the third of the primary names by which Christians talk about God, is the Comforter. However, while Christians take comfort in knowing that the presence