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NASB | 2 Timothy 1:14 Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 2 Timothy 1:14 Guard [with greatest care] and keep unchanged, the treasure [that precious truth] which has been entrusted to you [that is, the good news about salvation through personal faith in Christ Jesus], through [the help of] the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. |
Subject: Evidence of holy spirit in a Christian? |
Bible Note: O, Makarios, my dear brother, I’m just not sure. I’m just not sure. It might be the issue of practical vs. positional sanctification again. When a person is saved, does his behavior change, automatically? He is changed. He is a new creature. But those new behaviors have to be learned, I think. The issues in Ephesians in Ephesians 4 are commands, exhortations, encouragements. “Let him that stole steal no more”. Paul is not saying, “Look at yourselves and notice that you are not stealing anymore”. He is saying, “You are saved now, so make sure there is no more stealing”. My point is that I think these new behaviors do not appear automatically. They have to be taught. The teaching requires awareness, explanation, modeling, practice, and reinforcement. I do not think we can say that these behaviors appear automatically. It is only if they did appear without the volition of the believer that we could point to them as evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit. When a person is saved, he finds himself with joy of salvation, the peace of God may flood his heart. But it seems to me that other attributes such as patience and longsuffering have to be developed. “Tribulation worketh patience”, etc. It seems to me that a desire for patience is an evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit, not the patience itself. Again, the things Paul is mentioning are things the believer has to do, not just things to look for. He might have said, as Peter said, “Giving all diligence, add to your faith …”. If the question is what evidences exist, I think they would have to be things we simply look and see, like joy and peace, not things we have to give diligence to put on or put off. What do you think? |