The Holy Spirit Works in Us to Bring About Growth

Christians are called to a maturity and transformation beyond the ability to enact themselves.¹ We wait for the hope of righteousness through the Spirit (Galatians 5:5). Only through the Spirit is it possible to overcome the flesh and produce righteous fruit (Galatians 5:16-25). Only through the Spirit can we reject the flesh and embrace Christ (Romans 8:6-9). We cannot grow without the assistance of the Spirit.

Paul unveils an interesting tension within us when he writes, “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12-13). So we are to work it out while God also is at work within us. He works within us through the Holy Spirit. Yet, the Spirit can only work to bring about growth through our cooperation with the Spirit (Colossians 1:3-11).

Paul emphasizes our continued cooperation with the Holy Spirit in Romans 8:2-17:

² For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. ³ For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. ⁵ For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. ⁶ For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, ⁷ because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, ⁸ and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. ⁹ However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. ¹⁰ If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. ¹¹ But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. ¹² So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— ¹³ for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.¹⁴ For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. ¹⁵ For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” ¹⁶ The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, ¹⁷ and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

In this passage in Romans, Paul directs us to “set” our minds on “the things of the Spirit.” The Spirit is active in giving direction as we submit to his guidance. The “things of the Spirit” are in direct opposition to the “things of the flesh.” Walking according to the Spirit enables us to grow more into the likeness of Christ.

Still another important aspect of the Spirit’s work is found in the list of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” These qualities are evidence of the Holy Spirit working in our lives to produce growth.

Scripture teaches that the Spirit works within us to transform us, to give us gifts, and to develop character. So the qualities of character that make up the fruit of the Spirit are formed in us as we cooperate with the Holy Spirit. When “Christ is formed” in us (Galatians 4:19), our lives will be marked by the fruit of the Spirit.

The fruit of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit (Ephesians 4; Romans 12; 1 Corinthians 12-14) are two significant parts of Paul’s description of the function of the Spirit. R. P. Meye writes,

The exercise of the gifts of the Spirit is subject to the control of the righteous fruit of the Spirit. And the fruit of the Spirit is caused to flourish and grow within the community wherein the gifts of the sanctifying Spirit are exercised. This symbiotic relationship between fruit and gift fosters the fulfillment of the divine intention that the gifts of the Spirit should sanctify and upbuild the church. Pauline spirituality, the practice of the Spirit, is the believer’s “Yes to God,” whose righteous fruit and gifts are to be sought, embraced and lived out in the community of the Spirit and in the world.²

Only as the body of Christ recognizes the great value of each gift, and all the gifts of the Spirit are working together, is the church built up (1 Corinthians 12:1-14:4). When Christians exercise their Spirit-given gifts, there is fertile ground for the fruit of the Spirit to flourish.     

As believers, we may never fully grasp how the Holy Spirit works. Yet, Christians are called to live in community with others who love and support one another to live like Jesus (Philippians 2:5-11). It is within the community of faith that the Holy Spirit operates, empowering spiritual formation.

¹Susanne Johnson, Christian Spiritual Formation in the Church and Classroom, (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1989), 110.

²R. P. Meye, “Spirituality”, The Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, ed. Gerald F. Hawthorne, Ralph P. Martin, and Daniel G. Reid, (Downers Grove, Illinois: Intervarsity Press, 1993), 913.