The Sovereignty of the Spirit of God

The Sovereignty of the Spirit of God See PBtop: THE DEITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT A Brief Study See PBtop: WILL, MIND, WAY, PLEASING of the HOLY TRINITY

I will here present my view of the application of God’s Sovereignty as that each Triune Person does, in fact, relate sovereignly to all of creation.

Therefore, to specifically define the view that I give concerning the Sovereignty of God according to my understanding of the Scriptures, let me briefly present the following: There is a Trinity of Persons in the Godhead:

1. THE FATHER: The Father is God.

2. THE WORD (or SON): The Word (or Son) is God.

3. THE HOLY SPIRIT: The Holy Spirit is God.

There are NOT three Gods, but ONE only true and living God, composed of three separate and distinct Persons as they are named above. {cf.1 John 5:7} These three distinct Persons make One in the “Unity” of the Godhead; therefore, One God. “These Three are One.” In various Scriptures of Holy Writ, each of the Three Persons (Father, Word, and Holy Spirit) is referred to as being God. Thus, each Person bears the same characteristics as do the other two; i.e. as each bears relationship to the other, they are co-essential, co-eternal, and co-equal in ALL attributes. That is to say, that all attributes that belong to the one Person in the Trinity also belong reciprocally to each of the other Persons; albeit that each, in agreement with the Covenant provisions, performs different acts as pertaining to the salvation of the elect (e.g., The Father chose, The Son redeemed, and the Holy Spirit applies). If the attributable properties and characteristics of the Godhead are not realistic and do not reside as an essence in each Person therein, then all three Persons are not co-essential or co-equal, and the Unity of the Godhead would not agree as to the virtues of each constituent Party. And, consequently, these Three could not then be “One”.This is to say that if any or all of the distinct Persons of the Godhead are without the attribute of sovereignty (for instance), then neither can the “Unity”of the Godhead possess that essence of sovereignty and be One God. Even so, consummately, as is each Person in essence and substance, so is the “Unity”or “Oneness”of the Godhead. Consequently, as regarding the attribute of “Sovereignty”, we conclude the following:

1. God the Father is Sovereign.

2. God the Word is Sovereign.

3. God the Holy Spirit is Sovereign. This is to say that, individually and distinguishably, if the Father is not sovereign, and the Word is not sovereign, and the Holy Spirit is not sovereign co-essentially and co-equally, neither can be the consummate “Unity” of the Godhead. In the absence of this individual “essentiality” and “equality,” the Trinity could not be in Oneness. The essential nature of the Godhead in “Unity” cannot consist of any qualities of which any or all of the individual Persons that make up the Godhead may be lacking. So far as my limited knowledge extends, the composite of anything, essence-wise, cannot be more or less than the total substance of its constituent parts. I know this to be true mathematically, and I assume this principle to be true psychologically. Applying this concept to the Godhead, we conclude, then, that because the Father is sovereign, and the Word is sovereign, and the Spirit is sovereign, the oneness of the True Living God is sovereign. However, any one individual Person in the Godhead is not sovereign at the expense, either more or less, of any other of the remaining Persons.

So, the attribute of the Sovereignty of God is not asserted in the sense as one Person in the Godhead may relate competitively to any other of those Persons; but as the Sovereignty of God, whether in His Oneness or in the distinctive offices and intrinsic characteristics of the Three Persons of the Trinity, is of such essence and magnitude that God is both eminently and inherently in absolute, supreme, and permanent control over all of creation. Therefore, the contextual application of Scripture, when dealing with the principle of God’s Sovereignty, should be such as God, in fact, relates sovereignly to all of creation.

John 3:8gives the sense in which Jesus applies the paradigm of the wind as it relates to creatures, not as the wind relates to the Spirit as its prototype. Jesus is not using the wind as a metaphor to designate the Spirit of God, for the one is only natural with its natural qualities, but the other is supernatural with the Divine qualities possessed of the very wisdom of God. The former is but an element of the earth’s created atmosphere; whereas the latter is the very God of the Universe Who created the wind. The Apostle Paul, with this same inspired knowledge, would retreat within the inadequate asylum of man’s wisdom and proclaim in pondering astonishment at the manifold wisdom of God, as he did inRomans 11:33, “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” With inspiration of Spiritual Wisdom, Paul teaches that the preaching of the Gospel is to proclaim these great truths: “For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” {1 Corinthians 1:19-21} In what sense, then, is Jesus using the paradigm of the wind inJohn 3:8? Jesus is using the wind as a symbol of power, authority, and, consequently, as exercising its forces "sovereignly" over the creatures of the earth. Creatures of the earth cannot control the wind. They cannot start it, stop it, change its direction, or dominate influence over it in any way. The wind blows where it desires, where it wills, where it pleases; i.e., where it "listeth." In this context, the wind appears and functions sovereignly as it relates to living creatures. Just as creatures of the earth cannot usurp authority and control over the blowings, the comings, and goings of the wind; even so, the elect of God, who are being regenerated by the Holy Ghost, have absolutely no authority or control over the operations of the Spirit of God to cause His comings, to induce or attract His activities, or to entice His goings. Consequently, the Spirit is "sovereign" over His elect creatures so that He might change their nature by regenerating them, notwithstanding their particular or individual depraved conditions and circumstances. In this manner, the new birth is immediate (without any external means of any creature), instantaneous (occurring without a process or delay), irresistible (having an overpowering authority, impossible to resist), and perpetual (ceaseless and enduring for eternity). This is the precise context ofJohn 3:8.

So, we conclude, contextually, that this sovereign quality of the Spirit speaks not of that feature as it relates to the metaphor of the wind, but rather speaks of that Divine attribute of the Spirit as it relates to the creature who is being born again. In this manner,John 3:8teaches that just as creatures of the air and earth cannot direct or control the wind, neither can the creatures of God’s elect direct or control the Spirit of God. Just as the wind is "sovereign" in its relationship and view to man and beast, so is the Spirit of God "sovereign" in His relationship and view to God’s elect in regenerating them.

"The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit."John 3:8

Every one that is born of the Spirit canst not tell whence the Spirit of God cometh and whither He goeth, because His functionality is “Sovereign”.Nevertheless, in one’s new birth, the elect hears the sound of the Spirit. He then responds and answers that effectual call. Thus, God’s elect are made “willing”in the day of His power. {Psalms 110:3} The “eternity,” the “omnipresence,” the “omniscience,” and the “omnipotence”of the Holy Spirit of God are all, individually and collectively, indicative of His Sovereignty. All one has to do to believe this is to read with alert comprehension the passage of Scripture found inPsalms 139:7-10:

"Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me."