Download The LORD created me at the beginning of his wo

May 22|1
Sermon – Bethlehem Lutheran, Kalispell MT
Mark Gravrock
22 May 2016
Trinity Sunday
Proverbs 8.1-4,22-31, John 16.12-15
Grace and peace . . . .
Let’s begin with that intriguing reading from Proverbs:
The LORD created me at the beginning of his work,
the first of his acts of long ago.1
There are thorny debates about exactly how to translate that verse.
Here’s my attempt:
Yahweh got me, the beginning of his way,
before his deeds from long ago.
Who is this?
Did God create this person,
or did God get him, or beget him?
Is this person the start of creation,
or does this person come before creation?
Yahweh got me, the beginning of his way,
before his deeds from long ago.
The poem goes on to tell how this person was “set up,” established
before the earth,
before the deeps and springs,
before the mountains and hills,
before the soil and the fields.2
This person was there, present with God
when God drew the horizon on the water,
when God formed the bowl of the sky,
set the foundations of the earth
and marked out the boundary between land and sea.3
And then these lines:
1
Prov 8.22:
Vv. 22-26
3
Vv. 27-29
2
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Then I was beside him, like a master worker;
and I was daily his delight,
rejoicing before him always,
rejoicing in his inhabited world
and delighting in the human race.4
This person is there, beside God as God creates.
Who is this?
And once again, translation problems:
First, that word, “master worker” –
depending on how you read the vowels,
it can read “architect”
or “master craftsman”
or “little child,” “foster child.”
The “architect” or “master craftsman” version –
that fits the poem if you think of this person
as the designer and project manager for God’s creation work.
The “little child” version –
that makes more sense of the lines that come next.
The language of delight and rejoicing is nice,
but it’s not vivid enough.
What the Hebrew actually says is:
And day by day I was God’s playfulness,
laughing always in God’s presence,
playing in his created world
and laughing in the children of man.
Whenever I read these verses,
the picture I have is of Winnie the Pooh and Piglet:
Pooh is standing still there
and Piglet is skipping and dancing next to Pooh,
totally unable to stand still.
Who is this?
Who is this person,
skipping and cavorting next to God as God creates?
I used the pronoun “he” earlier,
4
Vv. 30-31:
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but it was the wrong pronoun.
It should have been “she.”
The beginning of the poem names this person:
Does not wisdom call,
and does not understanding lift up her voice?5
This is Wisdom – God’s Wisdom –
and she is a she.
The opening chapters of Proverbs give us several poems like this,6
poems that depict Wisdom as a woman,
calling us, inviting us to her banquet,
calling us into a life that is healthy and focused.
She is a metaphor, a picture.
She is God’s own wisdom personified, portrayed as a person.
She is involved in creation –
which tells us that the creation itself
is filled with God’s purposeful design.
She helps those who govern to govern well:
By me kings reign, and rulers work for justice.7
She is here among us to teach us all,
to guide and shape our lives.
And she calls us, day by day:
You who are simple, who lack understanding,
come, let me teach you.8
So here’s a question:
Why would the Bible risk a picture like this?
What I mean is this:
The Bible makes it clear, over and over, that there is only one God:
Israel’s daily creed, the Shema:
Shema, Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu Adonai ehad:
Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord,
And you shall love the Lord your God
with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
There is only one God.
5
Prov 8.1
1.20-33, 3.13-18, 4.3-9, chap 8, 9.1-6
7
8. 15-16
8
Vv. 2-11
6
May 22|4
So why this risky portrayal of God’s wisdom?
Why depict Wisdom as a separate person,
this architect who assists God in his design,
this little girl who skips and laughs alongside God – Piglet-style –
while God creates?
Do we have two Gods after all – God and Wisdom?
This is Trinity Sunday.
Every year, right after Pentecost,
right after we’ve introduced the Holy Spirit into the equation,
we pause for one Sunday to ponder the Trinity.
The Trinity is there every Sunday, of course:
How often does the Prayer of the Day end
with that same cumbersome formula:
Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever --?
That’s a Sunday-after-Sunday trinitarian stamp on our prayer,
a Sunday-after-Sunday affirmation
that we belong to this world-wide fellowship
that acknowledges Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
It’s precisely this – this Three-in-One God that we claim –
it’s precisely this that forms the biggest barrier with our siblings,
our sister religions, Judaism and Islam,
all of us children of Abraham.
It’s precisely this claim that stops our sisters in their tracks,
that makes them say, “Sorry – we can’t go there.
There is only One God.”
So why do we go there?
Why do we so insist on this nonsensical teaching?
The word “trinity” is not a biblical word.
The doctrine of the trinity is not clearly spelled out in scripture.
It’s a human doctrine –
the best we’ve ever been able to come up with.
So why do we go there?
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What’s at stake?
Trinity Sunday:
Here’s what this day is not:
This is not a time to explain the Trinity:
Just try! Good luck with that!
And this is not a time to urge each other to sign on,
to defend the doctrine of the trinity at all costs.
What Trinity Sunday is is a time to stop and ponder,
to marvel at the mystery and the richness of our God,
and celebrate all the gifts of our God.
Here’s what the doctrine of the trinity is:
The community of Jesus walks with Jesus and his story,
and as we do, we struggle to understand just what’s going on:
Who is this that we’re walking with?
So let’s walk it.
And as we walk it,
maybe we’ll start to catch the “so what” of Trinity Sunday.
It starts with Proverbs.
It starts with God’s willingness to portray his own wisdom
as this Woman,
this other Person who attends God in creation,
assisting God in the design,
and then dancing and skipping in delight alongside God
as God creates.
Who is she?
And why does God – who insists that there is only one God –
why does God take this risk of being seen as two Gods?
It would be easy just to say, God’s wisdom shapes all creation.
It would be easy to say that
without picturing this Piglet alongside Pooh.
But notice what the picture gives us:
a sense that God is relational from the very beginning,
a sense that God’s very nature is conversational,
sharing,
collaborating,
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that, before God creates anything,
God is already all about community -Let us make man in our own image!9 -that, from before the very beginning,
God is all about joy and delight and play –
and joy and delight and play are not solitary activities!
Israel never seemed too comfortable with this picture of Lady Wisdom.
They needed to interpret it –
Wisdom is God’s Torah, God’s law, God’s teaching.
Or Wisdom is God’s Spirit –
God as God shows up in our lives.
Well, then along comes Jesus,
Jesus the proclaimer of God’s kingdom,
Jesus the teacher,
Jesus the healer,
and as long as we kept Jesus in that category –
preacher, teacher, healer –
as long as we kept Jesus in that category,
we could keep the lines clear:
There is God, and God alone is God.
And here is Jesus,
the prophet and teacher who represents God.
And most of the time,
Jesus stays safely on the human side of the line:
He honors God.
He prays to God.
He directs our attention to God.
But then, every now and then,
Jesus does things that only God is supposed to do:
He forgives sins.
He overturns God’s commandments.
He raises the dead.
And he makes scandalous claims,
claims that put him across the line on the God-side:
9
Gen 1.26
May 22|7
My Father is working [on Sabbath], so I am working too.10
Philip, if you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father.11
The Father and I are one.12
We keep walking with Jesus,
and we listen to what he says
about his own relationship with the Father:13
 The Father loves the Son and has placed all things in his hands.14
 Indeed, just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life,
so also the Son gives life to whomever he wishes.
The Father judges no one
but has given all judgment to the Son,
so that all may honor the Son
just as they honor the Father.15
 For just as the Father has life in himself,
so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.16
 Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me,
may be with me where I am,
to see my glory, which you gave me
before the foundation of the world
because you loved me.17
God gives everything to the Son, to Jesus,
keeping nothing back for himself!
And the Son returns the compliment,
giving everything back to the Father:
 I do as the Father has commanded me,
so that the world may know that I love the Father.18
 Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own,
but only what he sees the Father doing;
10
John 5.17
John 14.9-10
12
John 10.30
13
I’ve attached a full list of John passages to the end of this sermon.
14
John 3.35
15
John 5.21-23
16
John 5.26
17
John 17.24
18
John 14.31
11
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for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise.19
 The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own;
but the Father who dwells in me does his works.
Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.20
 Father, the hour [for the cross] has come;
glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you.21
The Son is here only to show us the Father,
to give all glory to the Father.
Who is this Jesus?
Is he, in fact, Wisdom,
who has been skipping and dancing beside God
from before the beginning?
In the beginning was Wisdom,
and Wisdom was with God, and Wisdom was God.
This one was in the beginning with God.
All things were made through him.22
The Father and the Son, God and Wisdom,
a two-some from the beginning,
a community of love and sharing and joy from the beginning.
And then, as we continue to walk with Jesus,
then Jesus says,
I have to return to the Father now,
but I won’t abandon you.
I’ll ask the Father to send you another Companion,
another Me,
to be with you forever.23
Jesus leaves. He returns to the Father.
And now the Holy Spirit comes –
to live in us, to empower us,
to keep reminding us of Jesus.
Now what?
Now we have Three?
19
John 5.19
John 14.10-11
21
John 17.1
22
John 1 (which says “the Word” rather than “Wisdom”)
23
John 14.16,26, 15.26, 16.7
20
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And then comes the most fun verse of all,
the one that makes our heads spin,
the one that really shows us the dance of the trinity,
today’s gospel reading:
When the Spirit of truth comes,
he will guide you into all the truth . . . .
He will glorify me,
because he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
All that the Father has is mine.
For this reason I said
that [the Spirit] will take what is mine
and declare it to you.24
Here’s the dance:
The Father loves the Son,
and gives everything to the Son.
The Father sends the Son to us, to give everything to us.
The Son loves and honors the Father,
and constantly gives everything back to the Father.
The Father sends the Spirit in the Son’s name.
The Spirit reminds us of the Son,
directs our attention to the Son.
None of the Three ever keep anything for themselves.
They constantly give everything to each other.
And they do it all for our sake.
They do it all for our sake!
That’s why this matters!
Trinity Sunday is not an exercise in crazy divine math.
Trinity Sunday is not an exercise in logical bafflement.
Trinity Sunday is a time to get caught up in the love of God,
to get caught up in a God who is Love:
Father giving to Son,
Son giving to Father,
Father giving the Spirit in the Son’s name,
24
John 16.13-15
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the Spirit giving us the Son –
God’s love poured into our hearts25 -Jesus telling us,
The Father is in me, and I am in the Father.
And then,
We will come – Father, Son, and Spirit,
and make our home in you.26
Here is where it all gets crazy-wonderful:
This loving giving community that is the Trinity,
each of the Three constantly giving it all to the others,
Jesus opens the door to us:
Jesus draws us into the Fellowship of the Trinity:
On that day you will know that I am in my Father,
and you in me, and I in you.27
Father, I pray for these friends,
that they may all be one,
just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you,
that they also may be in us . . . ,
I in them and you in me . . . ,
so that the world may know that you have loved them
even as you have loved me.28
This is not math anymore.
This is love.
Why does the trinity matter?
Why does Trinity Sunday matter?
Trinity matters because
whatever god we serve – that’s what we become.
Whatever god we serve shapes us and forms us.
In Jesus Christ, we are being shaped
in the image of the God who has Wisdom
dancing and cavorting alongside him.
In Jesus Christ, we are being shaped
in the image of the God
25
Romans 5.5
John 14.23
27
John 14.20
28
John 17.20-23
26
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who by definition is the dance of love.
Dance. Skip. Love. Enjoy.
Amen
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Father and Son – relationship
John 1.14:
And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of
a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.
John 5.18:
For this reason the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because he was not only breaking
the sabbath, but was also calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God.
John 8.19:
Then they said to him, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor
my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”
John 10.30:
The Father and I are one.”
John 10.38:
But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may know
and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”
John 14.6-7:
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except
through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and
have seen him.”
John 14.9-10a:
Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me?
Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not
believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?
John 14.11:
Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me
because of the works themselves.
John 14.20:
On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
John 14.28:
You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I am coming to you.’ If you loved me, you
would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I.
John 15.23-24:
Whoever hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them the works that no one
else did, they would not have sin. But now they have seen and hated both me and my Father.
John 16.3:
And they will do this because they have not known the Father or me.
John 16.32:
The hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each one to his home, and
you will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me.
John 17.21:
that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so
that the world may believe that you have sent me.
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Son knows the Father
John 6.46:
Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father.
John 10.15:
just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep.
John 17.25:
“Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have
sent me.
Father loves and honors the Son
John 3.35:
The Father loves the Son and has placed all things in his hands.
John 5.20:
The Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing; and he will show him
greater works than these, so that you will be astonished.
John 6.27:
Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the
Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.”
John 8.54:
Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, he of
whom you say, ‘He is our God,’
John 10.17:
For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again.
John 15.9-10:
As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my
commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and
abide in his love.
Father loves and honors those who love and honor the Son
John 14.21:
They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love
me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.”
John 14.23:
Jesus answered him, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and
we will come to them and make our home with them.
John 17.5:
So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence
before the world existed.
John 17.24:
Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see
my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.
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John 12.26:
Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever
serves me, the Father will honor.
Father sends Son
John 5.26b:
But I have a testimony greater than John’s. The works that the Father has given me to
complete, the very works that I am doing, testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me.
John 5.37:
And the Father who sent me has himself testified on my behalf. You have never heard his voice
or seen his form,
John 6.57:
Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live
because of me.
John 8.18:
I testify on my own behalf, and the Father who sent me testifies on my behalf.”
John 10.36:
can you say that the one whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world is
blaspheming because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’?
John 20.21:
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”
Father gives to (and through) the Son
all things
John 3.35:
The Father loves the Son and has placed all things in his hands.
John 10.29:
What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of
the Father’s hand.
works
John 5.20:
The Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing; and he will show him
greater works than these, so that you will be astonished.
John 5.26b:
But I have a testimony greater than John’s. The works that the Father has given me to
complete, the very works that I am doing, testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me.
judgment and life
John 5.21-23:
Indeed, just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to
whomever he wishes. The Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son, so that
all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son does
not honor the Father who sent him.
John 5.26a:
For just as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself;
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giving to Son’s friends
John 15.16:
You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will
last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name.
John 16.23:
On that day you will ask nothing of me. Very truly, I tell you, if you ask anything of the Father in
my name, he will give it to you.
John 16.26-27:
On that day you will ask in my name. I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your
behalf; for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I
came from God.
John 17.11:
And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you.
Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we
are one.
Father draws people to the Son
John 6.37:
Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never
drive away;
John 6.40:
This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have
eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day.”
John 6.44:
No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up
on the last day.
John 6.45:
It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and
learned from the Father comes to me.
John 6.65:
And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by
the Father.”
John 10.29:
What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of
the Father’s hand.
Son loves and honors the Father
John 8.49:
Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon; but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me.
John 14.13:
I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
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John 14.31:
but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father.
Rise, let us be on our way.
John 15.8:
My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.
John 17.1:
After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has
come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you,
Son reveals the Father
John 1.18:
No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has
made him known.
John 8.38:
I declare what I have seen in the Father’s presence; as for you, you should do what you have
heard from the Father.”
Son comes in Father’s name, and returns to the Father
John 5.43:
I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; if another comes in his own name,
you will accept him.
John 14.28:
You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I am coming to you.’ If you loved me, you
would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I.
John 16.10:
about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer;
John 16.28:
I came from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and am
going to the Father.”
John 20.17:
Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go
to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and
your God.’”
Son does the Father’s stuff
in general
John 5.19:
Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he
sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise.
John 14.31:
but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father.
Rise, let us be on our way.
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John 15.9-10:
As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my
commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and
abide in his love.
John 15.15:
I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is
doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have
heard from my Father.
words
John 8.28:
So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I am he, and
that I do nothing on my own, but I speak these things as the Father instructed me.
John 12.49:
for I have not spoken on my own, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a
commandment about what to say and what to speak.
John 12.50:
And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I speak, therefore, I speak just as
the Father has told me.”
John 14.10b-11:
The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his
works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then
believe me because of the works themselves.
John 14.24:
Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine,
but is from the Father who sent me.
works
John 5.17:
But Jesus answered them, “My Father is still working, and I also am working.”
John 10.25:
Jesus answered, “I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s
name testify to me;
John 10.32:
Jesus replied, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these are you
going to stone me?”
John 10.37:
If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me.
John 14.10b-11:
The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his
works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then
believe me because of the works themselves.
John 14.12:
Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will
do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.
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the cross
John 10.17-18:
For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No
one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I
have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”
John 12.27-28:
“Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for
this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from
heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”
John 18.11:
Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword back into its sheath. Am I not to drink the cup that
the Father has given me?”
Spirit and Father
John 3.34:
He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure.
John 14.16:
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.
John 14.26:
But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you
everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.
John 15.26:
”When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who
comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf.
Spirit and Son
John 1.32-33:
And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on
him. I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He
on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’
John 3.34:
He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure.
John 6.63:
It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you
are spirit and life.
John 7.39:
Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was
no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
John 14.26:
But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you
everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.
M a y 2 2 | 19
John 15.26:
”When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who
comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf.
John 16.7:
Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away,
the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.
John 16.15:
All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it
to you.
Spirit and Believer
John 1.32-33:
And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on
him. I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He
on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’
John 3.5:
Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born
of water and Spirit.
John 3.6:
What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.
John 3.8:
The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it
comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
John 4.23-24:
But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father
in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those
who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
John 6.63:
It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you
are spirit and life.
John 7.39:
Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was
no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
John 14.17:
This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor
knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.
John 16.13:
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his
own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
John 20.22:
When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.