God the Holy Spirit, Mentor's Guide, MG14

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G O D T H E H O L Y S P I R I T

motivated by Christ’s own attitudes and values is only a “noisy gong or a clanging cymbal “ who amounts to nothing (1 Cor. 13) ]. The “fruit of the Spirit” is the term that Paul uses for these inner attitudes of Christlikeness. It is the very opposite of “fleshly” passions and desires.

Thus, as R. E. O. White says:

Sanctification is not primarily negative in the NT, “keeping oneself unspotted,” not mainly self-discipline. It is chiefly the outflow of an overflowing life within the soul, the “fruit” of the Spirit in all manner of Christian graces (Gal. 5.22-23), summed up as “sanctification” (Rom. 6.22 lit.). Justification–the privileged status of acceptance–is achieved through the cross; sanctification–the ongoing process of conformity to Christ–is achieved by the Spirit.

~ “Sanctification.” Evangelical Dictionary of Theology . Walter A. Elwell, ed. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1984. p. 970.

The Old Testament sees the work of the Messiah as one who ushers in a new age of the Spirit through which God’s people are empowered for holiness. Ezekiel describes the Messianic Age in the following manner: Ezek. 36.26-27 - And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. [27] And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. The result of this psychological transplant will be that Israel will experience a real “change of heart” and will become, by God’s gracious initiative, the kind of people that they have in the past so signally failed to be. The implanting of God’s Spirit within them will transform their motive and empower them to live according to God’s statutes and judgments . . . . The enduement with the Spirit was a sign of the Messianic age (cf. Isa. 42.1; 44.3; 59.21; Joel 2.28f.), and Ezekiel was aware of this and Commenting on this text, John B. Taylor says:

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