Last time we looked at the work of the Holy Spirit in transforming us from sinners to saints (‘sanctification’). It is important to understand, however, that sanctification is not the reason that we are in right relationship with God; rather it is a sign, a symptom if you will, that we already are.

But what about that first step, of entering into relationship with God. How does that happen? Does the Holy Spirit have a role there too? The Apostle Paul certainly thought so.

Writing to the Corinthian church, Paul starts out by challenging those who were contending amongst themselves how genuine their Christianity was: some argued that, because they followed Paul, the guy who planted their church, they were the purest; others that, because they listened to Apollos, the latest preaching sensation, they were the most up-to-date; still others tried to convince their fellows that because they followed Cephas (Peter), Jesus’ own apostle, they were the most authentic; and, of course, some claimed that they only followed Christ, not requiring the intervention of any man or woman.

But Paul wouldn’t have a bar of such petty squabbles. “Is Christ divided?” he asks,

Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul?… For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel – not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

- 1 Corinthians 1:13, 17-18

The message is clear – we don’t become Christians because of the ‘wisdom’ of those who preach, nor by our own ‘wisdom’, for human wisdom would consider the message of Christ to be foolishness: who could accept God becoming man, let alone dying on a cross as a sacrifice for us? Just in case we miss the point, Paul goes on to drive it home for the next chapter and a half!

The kind of wisdom that we need to understand Christ’s message of salvation comes only from the Spirit. “We speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began… but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit” (1 Corinthians 2:7, 10). Before we can believe on Christ and be saved, the Spirit must work in our hearts and our minds, and so allow us to understand God’s wisdom.

Paul illustrates this idea with a beautiful metaphor:

I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.

- 1 Corinthians 3:6-9

I believe that there are two important principles here. Firstly, faith in Jesus is not something we have to do in order to be a Christian; rather it is the gift of God, delivered by his Spirit, that allows us to believe on Christ. This is sometimes referred to as ‘regeneration’. Don’t be fooled into thinking that you require some Pentecost-like experience of the Spirit in order to be a ‘real’ Christian, or even to experience the Spirit’s work first-hand in your life; the fact is that, if you are a Christian, you have experienced the single most powerful work of the Spirit that you can or will ever experience… it is his signature work.

The second principle is this: when we share the gospel, our ‘success’ or ‘failure’ has nothing to do with us. Respected theologian J. I. Packer puts it like this:

It is not for us to imagine that we can prove the truth of Christianity by our own arguments; nobody can prove the truth of Christianity save the Holy Spirit, by his own almighty work of renewing the blinded heart. It is the sovereign prerogative of Christ’s Spirit to convince men’s consciences of the truth of Christ’s gospel; and Christ’s human witnesses must learn to ground their hopes of success, not on clever presentation of the truth by man, but on powerful demonstration of the truth by the Spirit.

- J. I. Packer, Knowing God

We can plant and water the seeds of the gospel, but unless God causes them to grow there is nothing more we can do. No amount of doing will bring your friends, family and co-workers into the kingdom; we must pray, therefore, that God will act through his Spirit to bring regeneration to their hearts.