The Apostles' Creed: The Holy SpiritНамуна

 Personal Renewal by the Holy Spirit: Titus 3:5

Scripture teaches that human beings are born in a state of spiritual death. As Romans 5:12-19 indicate, we are guilty of Adam’s sin, and liable unto death as a result. So, in order to save us from this predicament, the Holy Spirit creates new life in us by making our spirits live before God. The Bible talks about this new life in terms of regeneration and being born again. We read about this rebirth in John 3:3-8, Titus 3:5, 1 John 5:1-18, and several other places. As just one example, consider Paul’s words in Titus 3:5:

He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5).

After we are regenerated, the Holy Spirit continues to work in us to change our thoughts, feelings and actions, in order to make us the kind of people that love and obey the Lord. The New Testament speaks of this in passages like Romans 8:1-16, 1 Corinthians 12:3, Galatians 5:16-25, and Philippians 2:13. Perhaps the most well-known discussion of the Holy Spirit’s transformative power is Paul’s description of the fruit that the Holy Spirit creates in the lives of believers. Consider what Paul wrote in Galatians 5:22-23:

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).

All these changes in our character result from the active, creative power of the Holy Spirit as he conforms us to the image of Jesus Christ.

And of course, on the last day, the Holy Spirit will use his creative power to resurrect the physical bodies of all faithful Christians, giving us perfect, incorruptible bodies like the one Jesus already has. Consider what Paul said about this in Romans 8:23:

We ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies (Romans 8:23).

When Paul said that followers of Christ have the firstfruits of the Spirit, he drew his language from the Old Testament practice of bringing offerings from the first harvest as representative of the entire harvest of that year. In much the same way, the Holy Spirit’s current work in believers is just the firstfruits of something much greater to come. The Holy Spirit’s work won’t be finished until he completely re-creates us, removing our curse and corruption, and restoring us to a pristine, sinless state. So far, the Spirit has given our spirit’s new life. But he will eventually re-create our bodies, too.