We have already said that the book of Acts could be summarised as ‘the continuing word and deeds of Jesus by His Spirit through His apostles.’ (John Stott) In this book, we see how the Godhead (Father, Son and Spirit) work in perfect unity and harmony to fulfil God’s purposes.
This unity runs throughout the whole Bible. At creation, we see how the Spirit of God was hovering above the waters (Gen 1:2) and are told that nothing was made without Jesus (John 1:3, Col 1:16). Throughout the gospels, we see how Jesus only did what He saw the Father doing (John 5:19) and how He promised His disciples ‘another comforter’ (or advocate) after He left earth (John 14:16).
Jesus was conceived when the Holy Spirit came upon Mary (Matt 1:18, 20; Luke 1:35) and throughout His earthly ministry, we see the importance of the Holy Spirit: how He descended on Jesus like a dove at His baptism (Mark 1:10), how Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil (Matt 4:1), how His ministry was performed by the Spirit of God (Matt 12:28). He taught about the Holy Spirit to Nicodemus (John 3:5-8) and reminded us that we need to worship God by the Spirit and in truth (John 4:23-24). This emphasis on truth is further affirmed when teaching the disciples about the Holy Spirit in John 14-16; Jesus says that the Spirit of truth will guide us into all the truth (John 16:13).
Jesus lived and taught while on earth in the power of the Holy Spirit. In this way, he demonstrated to us what a Spirit-filled life looks like. He did not do miracles or works because of his deity; He worked in his humanity through the power of the Holy Spirit, as we are called to do. We may feel this is impossible, but the promises of Jesus (John 14:12) and the evidence of Acts show us that this Spirit-filled, Spirit-led life is indeed possible and should be the norm for those who are following Jesus.
