The first two articles of this review of the manner in which the Holy Spirit convicts have primarily refuted the idea that the Holy Spirit works directly upon the sinner (as presented by Jonathan Jones at Freed-Hardeman’s 2014 lectures). He also advocated that the Holy Spirit works directly upon the Christian as well, a position held by Mac Deaver, also.
What makes Jones’ errors so difficult to discern is that he surrounds them with snippets of truth. He spends a considerable amount of time arguing what Christians already believe—that the Holy Spirit works providentially. Yes, the Spirit can use situations and circumstances to provide opportunities for the non-Christian to draw closer to God and make the decision to obey the gospel. He can also arrange opportunities for the Christian to re-evaluate his life and repent of various sins he has been committing.
But neither of these does the Holy Spirit do directly. As Jones comes to the subtopic of the Spirit’s work in regeneration, he makes the following statement (from his on-line notes):
Once a person is convicted of the Holy Spirit and instructed with the Word and has arrived at belief and repentance…the Holy Spirit subsequently moves the human heart to submit to his [sic] direct work of regeneration within the heart of a person.
What do these words mean? One is instructed by the Word, which is capable of bringing one to faith and repentance, but then the Holy Spirit must take over and perform a direct work of regeneration. The Holy Spirit, after one comes to a level of understanding through being taught the Word, must then move the human heart to submit. Jones takes issue with Calvinism but fails to see that the Spirit moving the heart to submit to the gospel is Arminianism (Calvinism’s poor cousin).
The difference between these two isms is that Calvinism teaches that God does everything—without any compliance on the part of man. God selects the person He wants saved and operates directly on his heart so that he can receive the Word and obey. Arminianism teaches that man must be taught by the Word of God, but he still must have a direct operation of the Spirit in addition to being taught the Word. Sometimes the way this arrangement is phrased is that the Spirit is working in conjunction with the Word. Jones seems to be in favor of the Arminian view. Since he holds a Master of Divinity, is it possible that he does not know he is articulating the doctrine of Arminius?
Conversion
Apparently, the Holy Spirit must perform some sort of direct operation in the heart of a sinner between the time he repents and the time he is baptized because Jones continues in his notes:
In the event of baptism, the Holy Spirit is poured into the heart to regenerate and spiritually renew the believer (Acts 2:38; 5:32; 1 Cor. 12:13).
The reader may be familiar with these verses; if so, he knows that they do not substantiate the claim. Acts 2:38 has Peter declaring what the Jews on Pentecost needed to do in order to be forgiven of sins: repent and be baptized. Nothing is said about the Holy Spirit being poured into their hearts to regenerate them. Peter does promise them, after they are baptized, the gift of the Holy Spirit, which some think is a miraculous gift while others would argue that it is another way of referring to salvation. Even those who believe the gift is the literal Holy Spirit, however, would disagree with Jones’ strange claim here.
Acts 5:32 does not say a word about the Holy Spirit being poured into the heart to regenerate a sinner. It simply records that God has given the Holy Spirit to those who obey Him. Citing 1 Corinthians 12:13 is a huge blunder to try to establish his case; Jones disagrees with most faithful brethren in doing so. Paul wrote: “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.” The baptism the apostle refers to is baptism in water, which all must submit to in order to have their sins cleansed and to become Christians. It is by the teaching of the Holy Spirit that we come to that knowledge. It is through the agency of the Spirit (His teaching, to be precise) that we are baptized into the one body, the one church (Eph. 1:22-23; 4:4). Nothing is said about the Spirit being poured into the heart to regenerate it.
Hendiadys
Next Jones cites Titus 3:5-7. Paul does teach that we are not saved by works of righteousness (baptism, however, is the working of God—Col. 2:12). He writes that God saves us “through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.” Jones thinks that these descriptions are referring to two different actions, but these are two expressions for the same thing, which constitutes the figure of speech called hendiadys. Not only did the inspired writers use this figure of speech; so do we. The word hendiadys literally means “one through two.” We use expressions such as “big and fat” or “sick and tired.” The two expressions may not be identical, but they are closely related.
We undergo the renewing of the Spirit when we undergo the washing of regeneration. Baptism is the way the Holy Spirit renews us. Another example might make it clearer. Paul writes in 2 Thessalonians 2:13:
But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.
Are these two totally different concepts? Is sanctification of the Spirit something that the Holy Spirit does personally and directly? Is it entirely different from belief in the truth? No, the two concepts are related, and John 17:17 shows that connection clearly: “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your Word is truth.” People are not sanctified because the Holy Spirit operates directly on the human heart. We are sanctified by learning, believing, and obeying the truth. These two thoughts then are expressed, but the one operates through the other. It does not mean that the two descriptions are isolated and separate in meaning.
An even simpler example is found in Ephesians 1:1b, as part of Paul’s greeting: “To the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus.” Are the saints and the faithful two different groups of individuals? Likewise, Paul writes: “To the saints and faithful brethren who are in Colosse” (Col. 1:2a). Two expressions are often used to describe one basic idea.
The “Pouring Out”
The one passage that mentions the “pouring out” concept is Titus 3:6, but nothing is said about the heart. After referring to the “renewing of the Holy Spirit,” Paul added, “whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior.” One might make a case for Paul referring here to the Day of Pentecost, where Peter quotes Joel as saying, “I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh” (Acts 2:17b) and, “I will pour out My Spirit in those days” (Acts 2:18b). But even if one disagrees with that view, Jones has not proved his own contention at all.
Jones claims the Spirit‘s direct impact upon our hearts (in conversion) is a “spiritual heart transplant.” And he cites Ezekiel 36:26-27!
“And I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep my judgments and do them.”
This passage is not a prophecy of the individual Christian; it is a prophecy of the nation of Israel. A quick perusal of verse 25 and verses 28-29 will dem-onstrate that fact. In the LXX, the pronouns translated “you” are in the plural. The Pulpit Commentary applies the passage to Israel and even says specifically that verses 28-31 “describe the results which should follow in Israel’s experience when God should have thus gathered, cleansed, and renewed them” (12:2: 241). Several other commentaries could be cited to show that most scholars understand this passage in Ezekiel to be describing the restoration of Israel—not what God is going to do to the obedient in the New Testament in the conversion or sanctification process.
Moral Power
Jones asserted that the Holy Spirit gives the Christian direct, Divine help. He said:
Rather, the Spirit works to provide ‘moral power’ to assist the Christian in resisting temptation and living a holy life. The Spirit’s work is one of sanctification in our lives. Listen to Ephesians 3:16.
Mac Deaver, in his debate with Jerry Moffitt, said essentially the same thing—that the Holy Spirit provided extra help for the Christian to overcome sin, but no one could get him to tell us how much more help the Christian received? Does the child of God get twice as much help in resisting evil? Or perhaps it is only 75% more—or 50% more. Could it be as low as only 10% more help? Of course, such questions are absurd—because the doctrine of extra help is absurd. Asking such questions serves to heighten the absurdity. The reader should also see that Jones has advanced a hypothesis which he can in no way prove—only allege.
In Ephesians 3:16 (the same verse cited by Mac Deaver when he attempted to prove the theory), Paul desires that God would grant brethren “to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man.” Does this mean that God is going to reach into the human heart and crank up the moral courage button? No. We know the means by which God will accomplish this goal—and that is through His Word. Who is not familiar with the oft-quoted verse from Psalm 119:11: “Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You” (v. 11)? Internalizing the Scriptures in our minds will provide the power to resist sin and temptation.
Another problem for Jones is that, if the Spirit is providing moral power for Christians to overcome sin, then whose fault is it when the Christian falls prey to sin? Deaver always answered that the extra power does not override someone’s free will—which leads us back to the absurdity of asking, “Well, then, just how much “extra help” do we get?”
Romans 8:13
For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live (Rom. 8:13).
Remember that this entire passage involves a contrast between walking according to the flesh and walking according to the Spirit (Rom. 8:1). Those who set their minds on the things of the flesh live according to the flesh, and those who set their minds on the things of the Spirit live according to the Spirit (Rom. 8:5). Verse 13 simply continues this line of thought. Nothing in the verse hints that the Spirit is providing special power, but Jones says:
Our own willpower alone will never be able to produce a sanctified holy life. Paul makes that clear. Listen to Romans 8:13.
Apparently Jones is reading into the text something that he wants there (eisegesis). Nothing is said there about extra power from the Holy Spirit being present to aid the Christian in putting to death the deeds of the flesh. But Jones continues:
Now think about this: You can load your dishwasher full of dishes, and you can shut the door, and you can start it. And that dishwasher can work just as hard as that little dishwasher works, but those dishes probably won’t get clean if you don’t put any soap in there.”
Really? But we already have a sin-fighting agent—the Word of God. Knowing and abiding by the Word of God is sufficient to let us “be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season…” (Ps. 1:3). Even under the old covenant, God’s followers had the ability to restrain their feet from every evil way (Ps. 119:101). God’s Word has always provided light (Ps. 119:130, cf. 105). Yet Jones says:
Romans 8:13 indicates there are two things at work—my own force of will but also the work of the Holy Spirit in me. If I, by the Spirit, put to death the deeds of the body, I will live. Sanctification does not occur through believing the truth alone. The Holy Spirit must do His sanctifying work within us.
In John 17:17, Jesus called upon the Father to sanctify the disciples through the truth. The Father may use the Holy Spirit to accomplish that, but the Holy Spirit uses the Word He inspired—the truth. Romans 8:13 does not teach that the Spirit must act independently of His Word. Jones is reading into the text what is not in it. He cites J. W. McGarvey (Standard Commentary) on Romans 8:13 to help bolster his interpretation:
“The testimony of Christian experience is that the aid of the Holy Spirit, though real and effectual, is not so obtrusive as to enable the one aided to take sensible notice of it. To all appearances and sensation, the victory over the flesh, is entirely the Christian’s own, and he recognizes the aid of the Spirit—not because his burdens are sensibly lightened—but because of the fact that in his efforts to do right, he now succeeds where lately he failed.”
This statement may agree with Jones, but it is not necessarily true because McGarvey (though we have tremendous respect for him) said it. However, can Jones prove that these are McGarvey’s words? The Commentary on Thessalonians, Corinthians, Galatians and Romans (also known as the third volume of the Standard Bible Commentary), was written by McGarvey and Pendleton. Jones omitted mentioning the co-author both in his speech and in the notes he has made available. The date of publication which Jones cited is 1916, which was five years after McGarvey’s death. The introduction to the book is written only by Philip Y. Pendelton. If Pendleton edited the final version of the book, and it was published five years after McGarvey’s death, these comments may more reflect Pendelton’s thinking than McGarvey’s.
Conclusion
We are living in an age in which the religious world craves the personal, direct touch of the Holy Spirit, in what might be viewed as the desire to exalt Self. Most brethren have not been willing to venture into the realm of tongue-speaking and Holy Spirit baptism—but they are headed in that direction. They are trying to pry open the door that leads to Pentecostalism, but if they never enter that realm themselves, their followers will.
Even in the time of miracles, it was written that Christians had been begotten by the gospel (1 Cor. 4:15) and brought forth by the Word of truth (James 1:18). Sinners were born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible—through the Word of God which lives and abides forever (1 Peter 1:23). This is the means by which the Holy Spirit operates in conversion and in sanctification.
1 or. 4:15, 1 Peter 1:23, James 1:18.