问题36：关于圣灵，我们相信什么？
答：祂是神，与父和子永远同在，并且神将祂不可撤销地赐给一切相信的人。
儿童版：祂是神，与父和子永远同在。

Question 36: What Do We Believe About the Holy Spirit?
Answer: That he is God, coeternal with the Father and the Son, and that God grants him irrevocably to all who believe.
For Kids: That he is God, coeternal with the Father and the Son.


歌谱 Lead Sheet

经文

《约翰福音》14 章16 节至17 节：

　　我要求父，父就另外赐给你们一位保惠师，叫祂永远与你们同在，就是真理的圣灵，乃世人不能接受的。因为不见祂，也不认识祂；你们却认识祂，因祂常与你们同在，也要在你们里面。

注解

奥古斯丁

　　当我们的主向祂的门徒吹一口气，说：「你们受圣灵」时，祂当然希望人们明白，圣灵不仅是父的灵，也是父独生子的灵。因为这同一个灵确实是父和子的灵，父、子、圣灵是三位一体的创造主，而非受造物。

默想

萨姆·斯托姆斯

　　基督徒把神当作父很容易。将神想象为子，对许多人来说也不是问题。这些名称我们都很容易接受，因为我们在地上的生活和关系中不可避免地要与父子们打交道。但作为圣灵的神往往却是另一回事。戈登·菲（Gordon Fee）说到他的一个学生讲过这样一段话，「父神对我来说非常好明白，子神我也很能理解，但圣灵却是灰蒙蒙的一团。」

　　这与我们实际从圣经上读到的是如此不同。圣经里所描写的圣灵不是在神的位格中排列第三，而是与父和子同等，一样存到永远，与他们共享三一真神的荣耀与尊贵。圣灵不是一种非位格性的力量，也不是一种超凡抽象的能量。圣灵在任何意义上都是有位格的。祂有头脑能够思考（参见赛11:2 ；罗8:27）；祂能够体验深情和感觉（参见罗8:26，15:30）；圣灵有意志，会做选择，目的是让神的百姓得着最大的益处，也最荣耀子。（参见徒16:7 ；林前2:11）

　　当圣经描写圣灵因我们犯罪而忧伤（参见弗4:30），我们就看到了祂更具位格性的一面。圣灵不亚于父和子，祂与有圣灵内住的人之间，是一种充满活力的亲密关系（参见林后13:14）。圣灵会说话（参见可13:11 ；启2:7），会作见证（参见约15:26，16:13），会安慰人（参见徒9:31），会使人刚强（参见弗3:16），会指教我们，尤其是在我们灵性软弱的情况下（参见路12:12）。圣灵的位格性还体现在人可以对祂撒谎（参见徒5:3）, 亵慢祂（参见来10:29），甚至亵渎祂（参见太12:31-32）。

　　不过，最重要的，圣灵是「基督的灵」（罗8:9）。圣灵居住在我们里面，我们是主的圣殿（参见弗2:21-22）。祂的主要职责是将我们的注意力转向基督的位格，并唤醒我们对这位救主由衷的爱和忠诚（参见约14:26，16:12-15）。圣灵最喜悦的莫过于像聚光灯一样站在我们身后（当然祂是住在我们里面的），使我们的心思和意念聚焦于基督的美，以及在基督里向我们显明的神。

　　当我们在祷告中默想圣灵的位格和祂的工作，并为祂在我们生命中大能的运行而献上感恩的时候，可别忘了思考陶然士（Thomas Torrance）的话，他提醒我们：「圣灵不仅是神，还是从神而来，祂不是某种远处的作用力或来自神的某种恩赐，因为神在圣灵里亲自直接作用于我们，神赐给我们祂的圣灵，其实就是赐下祂自己。」

祷告

　　帮助我们的神，感谢祢差遣祢的灵住在我们里面。祂惩戒、管教我们，也坚固、安慰我们。求祢让我们靠着祂的大能来过信心的生活，而不是出于我们自己的能力；使我们满有从圣灵而来的喜乐，走顺服的道路。阿们。

Scripture

JOHN 14:16–17

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

Commentary

AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

Wherefore, when our Lord breathed on His disciples, and said, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost,” He certainly wished it to be understood that the Holy Ghost was not only the Spirit of the Father, but of the only begotten Son Himself. For the same Spirit is, indeed, the Spirit of the Father and of the Son, making with them the trinity of Father, Son, and Spirit, not a creature, but the Creator.

Devotional

SAM STORMS

Rarely does a Christian struggle to think of God as Father. And to envision God as Son is not a problem for many. These personal names come easily to us because our lives and relationships are inescapably intertwined with fathers and sons here on earth. But God as Holy Spirit is often a different matter. Gordon Fee tells of one of his students who remarked, “God the Father makes perfectly good sense to me, and God the Son I can quite understand; but the Holy Spirit is a gray, oblong blur.”

How different this is from what we actually read in Scripture. There we see that the Spirit is not third in rank in the Godhead but is coequal and coeternal with the Father and Son, sharing with them all the glory and honor due unto our triune God. The Holy Spirit is not an impersonal power or an ethereal, abstract energy. The Spirit is personal in every sense of the term. He has a mind and thinks (Isa. 11:2; Rom. 8:27). He is capable of experiencing deep affections and feelings (Rom. 8:26; 15:30). The Spirit has a will and makes choices regarding what is best for God’s people and what will most glorify the Son (Acts 16:7; 1 Cor. 2:11).

We see even more of the Spirit’s personality when he is described as being grieved when we sin (Eph. 4:30). The Spirit, no less so than the Father and the Son, enters into a vibrant and intimate relationship with all whom he indwells (2 Cor. 13:14). The Spirit talks (Mark 13:11; Rev. 2:7), testifies (John 15:26; 16:13) encourages (Acts 9:31), strengthens (Eph. 3:16), and teaches us, especially in times of spiritual emergency (Luke 12:12). That the Spirit is personal is seen in that he can be lied to (Acts 5:3), insulted (Heb. 10:29), and even blasphemed (Matt. 12:31–32).

Above all else, though, the Holy Spirit is the “Spirit of Christ” (Rom. 8:9). His primary role in us, the temple of God in whom he dwells (Eph. 2:21–22), is other-directed or other-oriented as he ministers to direct our attention to the person of Christ and to awaken in us heartfelt affection for and devotion to the Savior (John 14:26; 16:12–15). The Holy Spirit delights above all else in serving as a spotlight, standing behind us (although certainly dwelling within us) to focus our thoughts and meditation on the beauty of Christ and all that God is for us in and through him.

As we prayerfully meditate on the person and work of the Spirit and give thanks for his powerful presence in our lives, we would do well to consider the words of Thomas Torrance, who reminds us that “the Spirit is not just something divine or something akin to God emanating from him, not some sort of action at a distance or some kind of gift detachable from himself, for in the Holy Spirit God acts directly upon us himself, and in giving us his Holy Spirit God gives us nothing less than himself.”

Prayer

God Our Help, we thank you for sending your Spirit to live in us. Thank you that he chastens and disciplines, strengthens and comforts us. Let us live the life of faith in his power, not our own. Let us walk the path of obedience, filled with his joy. Amen.