The Spirit in the Synoptics

By Senior Pastor Neil Earle

Renowned evangelical scholar J.I. Packer calls for more attention to the Holy Spirit among churches.
Knowing God – chock full of good information on the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit has been called along with the Trinity, the “Cinderella Doctrine” of the Christian faith. According to the respected evangelical thinker James I. Packer, ”the average Christian, deep down, is in a complete fog as to what work the Holy Spirit does.” And yet, such absolutely foundational truths as Christ’s becoming man, his incarnation and resurrection, were impossible without the mighty action and activity of the Holy Spirit (Romans 1:4).

That should make us think and so we have launched this series of sermons to show the importance of the Holy Spirit. We began with the Old Testament and now we trace the work of the Spirit across the three synoptic gospels.

Matthew, Mark and Luke are called “synoptic” because they take a “similar view” (synchronize/optics) of the life and ministry of Jesus. Luke follows Mark closely so we can cover Mark briefly. But the subject of the Holy Spirit, as we saw last week, is well introduced in the OT, of course. Even there the Spirit possesses Intellect (Isaiah 11:2), Will (Micah 3:8), and Activity (Zechariah 4:6) – characteristics of a living person.

Now let’s look at His indispensible work and guiding activity in the first three gospels.

St. Matthew penning his gospel according to the monks at Lindisfarne (NE England) who preserved these beautiful manuscripts in the face of Viking raids and devastations. The first Gospel is crucial for the link between Holy Spirit and Incarnation.

MATTHEW: Jesus is conceived by the Holy Spirit (1:18, 20) – this is the Incarnation being described. Notice that as in Genesis the Spirit is mentioned as a creating presence from the very beginning of the Gospel

Matthew 3:11 – Jesus will baptize people with the Holy Spirit

Matthew 3:16 – all three elements of the Godhead are active at Jesus’ baptism, the Son is immersed, the Spirit falls on him, the Father’s voice seals the deal. 1,2,3=1

Matthew 12:28 – Jesus drives out demons by the power of the Spirit

Matthew 12:31-32 – Blasphemy is denying the activity of the Holy Spirit

Matthew 28:19:20 – we are baptized in the name of Father, Son, Holy Spirit, our identity as Christians flows from this.

MARK: Mark 1:10-11 Spirit descended like a dove (an allusion to the successful deliverance of Noah’s family at the Flood, perhaps). With the voice from heaven Word and Spirit are linked, a big theme in John’s writings.

Mark 1:12 The Spirit “sends” Jesus into the desert – Jesus has taken a lowly position as a human and submits to the special direction of God concerning his fleshly side (Hebrews 5:8 – he learned obedience).

Mark 13:11 “Not you that speak but the Spirit” – the Spirit allows Christians to achieve success in witness as they go out to build and strengthen the church.

Many churches use the Dove as the symbol of the Holy Spirit but he appeared as fire on the first Pentecost (Acts 2).

LUKE: Mentions the Holy Spirit 13 times where it is a powerful spirit of witness and evangelism.

Luke 1:35 Holy Spirit, God’s power, overshadows Mary to bring about Jesus’ conception.

Luke 1:41, 67 Elizabeth, Mary’s cousin and wife of Zechariah are both “filled with the Spirit” and give testimony to Gods work among them. Note how women are considered equal partners in receiving the Spirit, which we don’t see so much in the OT.

Luke 1:25-27 Aged Simeon “is moved by the Spirit” to proclaim Jesus Messiah.

Luke 3:21 Heaven opens, Spirit descends on Jesus at his baptism, a recall of Elisha receiving twice Elijah’s spirit no doubt.

Luke 4:16-18 Jesus’ “Nazareth Manifesto” – he directly quotes Isaiah 61’s references to the Spirit as he begins his healing ministry.

Luke 11:13 a beautiful promise from Jesus – the Father will give the Spirit to those who ask (a threefold work again).

Luke 12:12 Holy Spirit teaches us what to say when in trouble.

Luke 24:49 “You will be clothed with power from on high” Jesus predicts and this is fulfilled in Acts 2:33 as the Holy Spirit falls upon the disciples giving them the power to go out and raise up the Church through powerful preaching. This makes a nice transition to the Book of Acts otherwise known as the Acts of the Holy Spirit!

Truly, there is no incarnation, no resurrection, no power to raise up a body of believers without the Holy Spirit. Next time we will look at John and Acts and let’s thank God for his Spirit and ask him for more of it.