Engaging with the Holy Spirit

From an interview with Graham Cole, author of Engaging with the Holy Spirit:

Several times in Scripture we’re told of negative actions directed against the Holy Spirit. Stephen said the Israelites were resisting the Holy Spirit (Acts 7:51), and Paul warned the Church not to grieve or quench the Spirit (Eph. 4:30; 1 Thess. 5:19). What does those actions entail?

To resist the Spirit is to set oneself against the Word of God whether heard or read. In Acts 7 it is a sin of the outsider. Those who heard Stephen were furious at what he said and gnashed their teeth against him. What a contrast with the crowd at Pentecost in Acts 2. When they heard Peter they were cut to the heart and asked Peter, “What shall we do?”

To grieve the Spirit quite simply in the argument of Ephesians 4 is to act like a pagan. The Spirit’s sorrow at this is real. The living God is no frozen absolute but is perfectly personal. Persons grieve when appropriate. Such grief is a sign of divine perfection and not divine weakness.

To quench the Spirit is a sin of the insider. It is to despise the word of God. Disregarding how that Word is engaging our conscience is an example of such quenching. As Calvin has taught us, the Lord relates to us by his Word and Spirit. How do we hear that Word today? We hear when the Scriptures are read publicly in the church, faithfully expounded from the pulpit, and privately read in our homes. To be biblically illiterate or unexposed to faithful Bible preaching and teaching is a tragedy for God’s people.