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

(4) The illumination given by the Holy Spirit must come to a person before they can respond to God in repentance and faith. (a) The natural person cannot “receive the things of God” without the help of the Holy Spirit, John 15.26; 1 Cor. 2.14. (b) Throughout his writings, Paul is clear that when he declares God’s Word to people, he is not speaking to a neutral audience. Sin has dramatically affected the ability of human beings to see and accept the truth. In Paul’s words, they have a veil over their hearts (2 Cor. 3.14-15), they have been blinded by the god of this world (2 Cor. 4.4), they have ears that will not ear (Rom. 11.8), they are being held in slavery by sin (Rom. 3.9, Rom. 6.17; Eph. 5.8), and they are captives of the spiritual powers that rule the dominion of darkness (Eph. 6.12, Col. 1.13). For Paul, it is foolish to believe that just because the truth has been spoken, people will be able to hear, understand, and believe it. Repentance can only come through the work of the Holy Spirit. (c) No one can truly say “Jesus is Lord” apart from the work of the Holy Spirit, 1 Cor. 12.3. (d) Repentance is a gracious gift, not a consequence of human effort. One further word about repentance: it is a gift from God. . . . Repentance, accordingly is not doing penance by which we may hope to receive a relationship with God. We may be forever grateful that such is not the case, for we could never be sure that we had done enough. Repentance, rather stems fromGod’s gracious deed in Jesus Christ, whereby our eyes are enlightened, our hearts convicted, and our wills enabled to turn away from sin and bondage to eternal life and liberty. Thanks be unto God!

The second century theologian Clement of Alexandria described the Holy Spirit’s work as being like a magnet that draws men toward God.

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[Repentance] is in a very real sense a moral miracle, a gift of grace. ~ Roy Kearsley. New Dictionary of Theology . p. 581.

~ J. Rodman Williams. Renewal Theology , Vol. 2. p. 49.