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πνεῦμα (Pneuma): Spirit, Breath, and Life · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to the Deep Dive. This audio brief is put together
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for you, the listener who's serious about reformed thinking.
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Today we're doing something a little different.
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We're taking on a single Greek word.
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Just one word. One word, but its meaning?
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Well, it expanded so much across different texts that it ended up
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defining the very presence of God with his people.
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And that word is panella or pneuma.
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Our mission today is to really analyze this term.
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It starts out describing something simple, something
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physical like wind or breath, and it finishes as the proper
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name for the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit.
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And for this, we're drawing on a lot of lexical material, looking
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at how it was used in Greek philosophy, its Old Testament
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context, the word rue, and then of course its central place in
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the New Testament. The goal here is clarity.
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We want to trace this semantic range, this spectrum of meaning,
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so that when you come across pneuma in Scripture, you're
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equipped. You can grasp what's being said
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about the Spirit's work, especially as it released to the
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New Covenant. It's really about understanding
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how a simple physical concept was, you could say, taken over
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and redefined by divine revelation.
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Commandeered is a good word for. It OK, so let's get into this.
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Let's start right at the beginning, with the concrete
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physical roots of pneuma. The very beginning.
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So when we talk about the most basic definition of pneuma,
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we're just talking about something we can all observe.
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It's air in movement, the act of blowing.
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It is. The literal meaning is just that
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air moving. It could be a breeze, it could
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be a gust of wind. And you find this usage all over
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the place in ancient sources, from classical Greek writers all
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the way through to the New Testament itself.
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It's used in that plain descriptive sense.
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And Christ himself uses it that way.
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In the Gospel of John chapter 3, when he's talking to Nicodemus,
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he says the wind blows Daphema. He's using a natural phenomenon,
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the wind, which you can't see but you know it's there from its
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effects, to illustrate an invisible spiritual reality.
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The physical world provides the starting point, the linguistic
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hook for a concept that is going to become highly theological.
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And that literal meaning creates an immediate link to the Hebrew
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scriptures. It does because numa was the
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Greek word chosen to translate the Hebrew ruete.
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Both of them share that core meaning of wind or breeze.
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So that connection is there from the very start.
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Genesis 1.2. The Ruth of God is moving over
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the face of the waters, a divine, dynamic, invisible
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agent. Right there a creation.
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And I think it's critical that even on this physical level, the
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sources we have connect pneuma to beings in the celestial
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realm. Hebrews 1.7 quotes the
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Septuagint, the Greek Old Testament, and it describes God
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as the one who makes his angels, winds, or pachitza.
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That's a telling citation. By calling angels NUMA or winds,
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the text is linking them to these dynamic, non physical
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active agents of God's will. So their spirits in their
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capacity as messengers, as ministering beings.
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Yes, and it just shows that the term, even when it's physical,
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it's just an invisible, forceful action.
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So we're already moving from something as common as a breeze
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to something that can animate life.
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Which is the perfect bridge. That dynamic nature of wind
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leads us to the next big step in meaning numa as the principle of
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life. Right, the breath.
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This is where numa becomes the breath that animates a body, and
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the transition is just so natural.
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What's external air becomes the internal breath that we need to.
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Live, and the language for dying captures it perfectly.
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The phrase Evina Torpiama literally means to give up one's
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spirit. We'd say to breathe one's last.
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Matthew 27.50 uses that phrasing when describing Christ's death
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on the cross, that he yielded up his spirit.
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John uses a similar phrase. It reinforces this idea that
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life in the body depends on the presence of pneuma.
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James makes it about as clear as it can be.
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In chapter 2 he says the body without Pneuma is dead.
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It's just a statement of fact. Pneuma is the vital force, the
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animating breath. Without it, the physical form is
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lifeless. And you see it work in the other
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direction too, in stories of resuscitation.
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When Jesus raises Jairus's daughter in Luke 8, the text
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says her spirit returned 2:00 PM.
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The life principle re entered her body.
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So it's seen as this the separable thing.
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It can leave and it can return. And that's where you see the
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philosophical thinking start to kick in.
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Even before the New Testament, the ancient Greeks were already
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thinking hard about the separation of the physical and
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the immaterial. Oh, constantly.
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Euripides, for instance, talked about how at death the pneuma
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goes up to the ether, the pure upper air, and the body goes
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back to the earth. The breath returns to where it
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came from. A kind of elemental return a.
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Basic idea of survival? Sure, but Scripture takes that
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idea and gives it a moral and asycatological dimension.
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The body returns to dust, yes, but Hugh Bruce, 12, talks about
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the spirits of the righteous made perfect being in heaven.
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So it's not just air returning to the ether, it's an
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independent, conscious moral entity that survives death and
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awaits the final redemption. And that whole progression from
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wind to breath to a life principle that survives the
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body, that was the perfect setup for the philosophers to take the
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term and make it truly cosmic. Right.
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And this is where the word NUMA picks up a lot of intellectual
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baggage that the New Testament writers then had to deal with
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that either reject it or redefine it.
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They certainly did. Early Greek thought, especially
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in medicine, started defining Numa with a lot more precision.
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They made a clear distinction between it and just, you know,
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regular outside air. So it's not just the air we
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breathe in. No, for them, pneuma became a
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physiological term. It was an internal gas, a life
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force that circulated through the body.
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The sources point to Hippocrates, the father of
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medicine, who saw this as central to health and
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consciousness. So for Hippocrates, pneuma was
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the key element for physical health, but also for the mind,
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for both. He saw a crucial difference
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between pneuma, the internal spirit, and AR, the external
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air. He thought the brain used this
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internal pneuma to process all sensory information.
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If you had the right amount circulating correctly, you were
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sharp and healthy if it was blocked.
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You'd get sick or lose consciousness.
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That's the idea, and this concept of an internal rational
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life giving pneuma is the exact jumping off point for the
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Stoics. This is where it goes from
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Physiology to really a universal theology.
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OK, So what did the Stoics do with?
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It they expanded it, yeah, exponentially.
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They defined Numa as the cosmic rational soul, the psycha, and
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the life principle that runs through the entire world.
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So it's their grand unifying theory.
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It is the Stoic Pneuma was the cohesive force, the tonos that
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held everything together, from a rock to a fire to the whole
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cosmos. It was a motive force giving
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shape and life to everything. So they basically synthesize
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matter, energy and spirit into one single concept.
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Yes, they saw it as the first 'cause of all things and they
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were explicit about it. They define deity itself with
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this term. God for them was come in an
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intelligent and fiery Nima. An intelligent and fiery Nima.
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OK, but when you hear intelligent and divine spirit,
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that sounds a bit like the New Testament concept.
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Where's the fundamental difference?
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The difference is everything. For the Stoics, their pneuma was
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always a thing. It was a material substance, a
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very fine, subtle one, like a cosmic vapor, but it was
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physical. It was part of creation it.
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Was creation. In a sense, it was a pantheistic
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view where God is the world's material, rational substance.
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Their philosophy has no room for a transcendent God who creates
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matter out of nothing. So the Stoic pneuma is physical
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and imminent, while the Holy Spirit of the New Testament is
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personal, transcendent, and the Creator.
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In absolute contrast, and you can see the challenge this posed
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for the early Christian writers, they had to use the word pneuma
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while at the same time rejecting this philosophical idea that
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salvation was just about having some indestructible material
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substance inside you. An idea that some of the
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Gnostics would later pick up. They did, but for the New
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Testament, the Spirit is defined by relationship to a person,
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Jesus Christ, and by his sovereign will, not by
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substance. OK, that makes the distinction
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very clear. So we've gone from a physical
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reality to this speculative cosmic force.
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Let's move inward now to how this word defines human
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personality and the struggle with spiritual realities.
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The anthropological side of it. Yes.
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When pneuma is applied to human beings, it almost always refers
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to the immaterial part of us. It's contrasted with the
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physical body. This sets up that great
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scriptural antithesis, pneuma versus sarcs, spirit versus
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flesh, or pneuma versus summa, spirit versus body.
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Paul uses this all the time in Second Corinthians.
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He talks about cleansing from the defilement of flesh and
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spirit, covering the whole person, outer and inner.
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In Colossians, he says he's absent in body but present in
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spirit. That contrast is always there,
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and it leads to these more detailed discussions in the
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early church about what a human being is actually made of.
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Sometimes Pneuma the spirit is distinguished from Psycho the
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soul. Like in Hebrews 4.12 where the
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word of God penetrates to divide soul and spirit.
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Which is a very technical distinction, and we have to be
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careful with it. In popular language, and
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sometimes even in the Gospels, soul and spirit can be used
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almost as synonyms, but they do have different shades of
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meaning. Psyche soul often refers to,
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well, the individual self, the principle of animal life.
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Newman can refer to that animating breath all living
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things have, but it tends to point to the higher capacity for
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relationship with God. And sometimes the distinction
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gets even more detailed. You get the tripartite view in
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First Thessalonians 5.23. May your spirit and soul and
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body be kept complete. Right, which suggests 3 distinct
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parts of a person. And that raises all sorts of
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ongoing theological questions. But whether you hold to a
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two-part or three-part view, the key point for an writer like
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Paul is theological. Pneuma can mean the inner eye,
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yourself, awareness. He says in First Corinthians 2.
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Who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of the man
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that is in him, but that's not his main interest.
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What is his main interest then, for the human pneuma?
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His focus is on what he calls the spiritual man, the
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pneumaticos, and this person is not defined by their natural,
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inborn human spirit. The spirit they were born with.
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Right. The spiritual man is defined
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entirely by his active, living relationship to God's Spirit.
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Your natural human pneuma, even though it's from God, can be
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alienated from him. The spiritual man is the one who
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has received the Spirit of God, and through that reception he
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can now understand God's saving work.
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He stands in total contrast to the sight Chicos, the natural
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person who's blind to these things.
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That sets the stage perfectly for the spiritual conflict we
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see all through the New Testament, where Numa is also
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used for hostile evil forces. It's actually striking how often
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the word Numa in the New Testament refers to evil and
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material beings, especially in the Synoptic Gospels where so
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much of Christ's ministry involves exorcisms.
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And the language is quite specific.
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We see the phrase Tokyo matatata and the unclean spirit over and
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over again. And the sources are clear that
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this is basically a synonym for a demon daimonian.
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It describes A malevolent entity.
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Beyond just unclean, you get other descriptions that tell you
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what the spirit is doing to its victim.
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An evil spirit, Pneuma Poneron, a dumb spirit, Pneuma Avalon, or
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a spirit of infirmity. These are presented as real
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supernatural beings, hostile to God, whose aim is to inflict
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damage, either physical or moral.
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They can tempt people, but very often in the Gospels their work
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is focused on physical sickness and oppression.
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So you have these hostile spirits, but we have to be clear
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that not every non human pneuma is evil.
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The sources also mentioned that angels are called ministering
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spirits, pneumata in Hebrews. And that contrast is critical.
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You have good, obedient spirits, angels, and you have evil,
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rebellious spirits, demons. The existence of these opposing
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forces meant the early church had to be incredibly careful.
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They had to exercise discernment.
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Which is why first John gives that very practical command
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quote. Test the spirits to determine if
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they are from God. Exactly.
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It shows that everyone understood they were immaterial
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beings constantly at work trying to influence speech and doctrine
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and behavior. You needed the gift of
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discerning spirits, Diacrasis numatin that Paul talks about in
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First Corinthians. The spiritual environment was
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just saturated and figuring out the source of an inspiration was
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that God's spirit or a demonic pneuma was a matter of life and
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death. It was.
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And that leads us to one of the most serious warnings that Jesus
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ever gave. The blasphemy of the Holy
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Spirit, the context for that in Mark chapter 3 comes right out
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of this conflict. Jesus's opponents see his
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exorcisms. They see an undeniable display
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of God's operation. They see God's work and they
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maliciously attribute it to Beelzebel to the devil.
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And that's the offense. That is the offense.
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The blasphemy was committed by people who consciously saw the
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Spirit of God bringing in the Kingdom through Christ's actions
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and out of a hard and malicious heart called it demonic.
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They were denying the self attesting presence of God.
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It's really interesting to see how this idea gets refined later
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on, particularly in Luke's writings.
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He seems to shift the focus of the Spirit's primary work away
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from just these miraculous acts of power.
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Luke 12 is a great example of this shift.
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Luke tends to separate the spirit's manifestation from the
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context of exorcisms and link it instead to the inspired speech
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of witnesses. So the promise of the Spirit's
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help is for when the disciples are dragged before the
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authorities. Right.
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The Spirit will give them the words to say.
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It enables an authoritative defense and proclamation of the
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Gospel. That's a telling adjustment.
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While the spirit certainly worked through miracles, Luke
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seems to prioritize the spirits work and proclamation and the
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supernaturally powerful preaching of the gospel.
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He's focused on continuing the prophetic ministry in the age of
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the Church, not just on the unique charismatic acts that
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define parts of Christ's earthly ministry.
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It connects right back to that Jewish understanding of the
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Spirit as the agent of prophecy. And before we can really
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appreciate the Holy Spirit in the New Testament, we have to
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understand where that concept came from in the rue of the Old
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Testament. Absolutely, the foundation is
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there. To get the New Testament Numa,
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you have to grasp the Hebrew rue in its relationship with God,
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with YHWH. This wasn't just a natural
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force, it was a unique manifestation of divine power.
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Isaiah 31.3 gives us a perfect definition.
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By contrast, it says the Egyptians are man and not God,
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and their horses are flesh and not spirit, not rue.
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That sets up the whole contrast. It does.
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God is rue, absolute life, giving power.
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Humanity apart from God is busher flesh, earthly, frail,
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weak. The Rue YHWH is defined by its
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sheer dynamism and its sovereignty.
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And the sources show the Rue acting as this mysterious agent
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of God's will, usually showing up as a temporary empowerment
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for a specific purpose. You see it coming on individuals
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to give them unusual abilities. Think of the judges like Samson.
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The Spirit rushed upon him, giving him this incredible
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temporary physical strength. Momentary endowments to get a
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divine job done. Precisely, and it also induces
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specific religious states, which ties into its later role as the
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Spirit of prophecy. The ruler falls on people and
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they start prophesying like the 70 elders in Numbers or Ezekiel.
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And beyond the physical and the prophetic, it also gave the
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charisma needed for leadership. It came upon judges to give them
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authority. And of course it came upon David
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when Samuel anointed him king. And the fact that the Spirit
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then left Saul shows how temporary and conditional this
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Old Testament empowerment was. It wasn't a permanent
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indwelling. It's also worth noting that the
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Ruth wasn't limited to working through people.
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It carried out God's will in the natural world, showing its
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creative and ethical side. Isaiah 32 is a great picture of
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this. The Spirit is poured out and
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turns a desert into a paradise, bringing justice and peace to
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the land. And even more personally, the
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rue is promised as the agent that will create a new moral and
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religious reality for God's people.
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Ezekiel 36 promises a new heart, a new spirit.
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The ethical side becomes so critical there.
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The transformation from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh is
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tied directly to the saving power of the roof.
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In later Jewish thought after the exile, the role of the roof
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gets a bit more streamlined. It becomes very strongly
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identified as the Spirit of Prophecy.
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So much so that there was this idea that the Spirit had been
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withdrawn after the last prophets, Malachi and the
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others. Which led to this intense
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eschatological hope. Prophecy had foretold that the
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Messiah would be uniquely anointed with the Spirit and
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that there would be a massive outpouring of the Spirit in the
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age to come. That expectation was a huge
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deal, and in Rabbinic Judaism the Spirit was seen almost
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entirely as the prophetic agent that spoke throughout the whole
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Old Testament. The canonicity of a book could
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even depend on whether the rabbi's thought it was written
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in the Holy Spirit. They developed these detailed
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ways of reading texts to show this.
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They might say one person in a narrative is speaking, but then
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the very next line is attributed directly to the Holy Spirit as
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God's authoritative comment on the situation.
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It all confirmed the Spirit's identity as the source of
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authoritative divine speech. OK, this next point is really
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crucial, especially for our listeners.
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The Jewish tradition use personal language for the
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spirit. It speaks, it comforts, it
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grieves, but it was very careful not to present the spirit as a
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separate person or an angelic being.
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That restraint is key. We can't read our Trinitarian
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theology back into these texts, even though the Spirit is
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described with personal characteristics.
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The intention was not to present the Roux as a separate
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hypothesis, an independent divine person alongside God.
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So if it wasn't about defining a separate person, why use all
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that personal language? What was the goal?
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The personal language was meant to show that the Spirit is an
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objective, divine reality that meets a person and makes a claim
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on them. It's the active presence of God
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at work in the world. The Spirit's action is God's
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autonomous work. But the term Roux wasn't meant
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to describe another divine person in the way the New
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Testament would. It was about God acting.
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Not God subsisting in three persons.
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Exactly. And that careful distinction, an
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objective divine reality but not a distinct person, sets up the
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massive theological development we get in the New Testament,
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where this Jewish concept gets merged with the fulfillment of
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all things in the Messiah. And this is where we see the
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Greek term Numa get totally redefined.
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We get a new phrase that you just don't find in Greek
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philosophy or Pagan religion. Numa Hagion, the Holy Spirit.
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This is a huge linguistic step and it was necessary because of
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revelation. Greek thought just didn't have a
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category for the spirits distinct character outside of
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those materialistic ideas we talked about.
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Biblical Greek had to create a new phrase to describe something
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totally different from the Stoics fiery gas.
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By adding the word Higgin, holy or set apart, the New Testament
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writers make sure the term wouldn't be confused with all
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that Pagan baggage. It wasn't just any spirit, it
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was a set apart divine person. And the term holy also signals
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moral perfection, a total distinction from creation.
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It marks the Spirit as transcendent, not imminent.
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In that Stoic, material way, it anchors the Spirit and the Old
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Testament understanding of God's moral purity.
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So let's look at the relationship between Christ and
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this Holy Spirit, starting with the Gospels.
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His unique identity is defined from the very beginning with the
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miraculous conception in Matthew.
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The Spirit is the creative power of God intervening directly.
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The Spirit's action here is sovereign, creative.
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It brings about the life of this unique child without any human
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father. And the narrative makes it clear
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this isn't like the Pagan myths of gods or wind conceiving
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children. This is God's unique,
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transcendent act in history. And that unique relationship is
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then publicly confirmed at his baptism, when the Spirit
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descends like a dove. It's a confirmation, not a
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cause. The descent of the Spirit
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confirms Jesus's divine sonship and anoints him for his
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messianic work. And this event is so significant
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because it signals the start of the new age.
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The Spirit, which was thought to have been silent for centuries,
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has returned. It's also worth noting the
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restraint of the Gospels here. There could have been a
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temptation to portray Jesus as this pneumatic figure,
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constantly having ecstatic experiences to make him look
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like other charismatic figures of the day.
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But they consciously avoid that. The statements about the Spirit
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in Jesus are very measured. They highlight his uniqueness,
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his eschatological role, and the fact that in him God is present
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in a way he is nowhere else. He's the one who will dispense
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the Spirit, not just another temporary recipient like an Old
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Testament judge. And that restraint then sets up
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what Luke does, because he takes that idea of dispensing the
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Spirit and applies it to the entire church.
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Yes, Luke X gives us this distinct theological framework
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where the spirits work explodes beyond Christ's personal
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ministry into the life of the Church.
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Luke is careful to avoid the idea that the Spirit is a force
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over Jesus, like in Mark where the Spirit drives him into the
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wilderness. Instead, Luke emphasizes that
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Jesus is full of the Holy Spirit, and after the Ascension,
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he is the sovereign Lord who pours out the Spirit on his
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followers. For Luke, the Old Testament
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prophecies like the one from Joel are now fulfilled.
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In Christ, the Spirit is given permanently and to all members
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of the community. That's what distinguishes the
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new covenant age from the old. It's not sporadic or just for a
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few prophets anymore. It's the defining mark of new
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community. It is, and Pentecost in Acts 2
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is the dramatic inauguration of this new era.
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It's a visible, perceptible event, wind and fire, marking
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the start of the church's age and its mission to the world.
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And consistent with that Jewish heritage, Luke still sees the
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Spirit's main work as prophetic action.
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Authoritative preaching, inspired witness.
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That's central to his whole narrative.
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That is a key point to see. Miracles happen all through
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Acts, of course, but Luke usually attributes them to the
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name of Jesus or the power of the apostles, not just
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explicitly to the Spirit. The Spirit's primary job in Luke
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is to empower the proclamation of the gospel.
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So for Luke, the Spirit is the agent of proclamation, the
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source of the community's life. But this is still tied to some
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extent to external, visible things.
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Paul and John take this concept even further inward.
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They use it to define the very nature of Christian existence.
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Paul starts a radical redefinition.
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He moves beyond seeing the Spirit as only a supplementary
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power for miracles or prophecy. For Paul, the Spirit is the
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actual reality of the new creation, and it's tied directly
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to Christ's resurrection. He even calls Christ himself a
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life giving spirit, a new Mizuchopuan in First Corinthians
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15. The idea there is that Christ in
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his resurrection entered fully into the Spirit, fear of the
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Spirit, and became the one through whom this new life is
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given out. So for Paul, being united to
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Christ means entering into the spiritual body.
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And that spiritual body isn't defined by its physical
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substance. Not at all.
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It's defined by being controlled by the pneuma.
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And this is where Paul is so careful.
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The spiritual body isn't some hidden substance you possess
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now. It's an existence defined by the
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spirit, something that's fully realized in the future at the
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resurrection. And to fight that Hellenistic
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idea that salvation is a substance you already have, Paul
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uses two really important words, a Robin, a pledge or guarantee,
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and a part she the firstfruits. This is a brilliant theological
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correction. If the Spirit were just a
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substance you possessed, salvation would be automatic.
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It wouldn't depend on faith or holiness.
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That was the Gnostic error. But by calling the Spirit of
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Pledge or the firstfruits, Paul anchors our present experience
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of the Spirit to the future resurrection.
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So the Spirit guarantees what's coming, but it's not the final
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possession. It requires us to persevere.
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It demands perseverance and obedience, yes.
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So what does the Spirit do for the believer Now?
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Paul says it's main effect is to give us knowledge, specifically
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knowledge of Christ crucified. The true miracle of the Spirit
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for Paul isn't speaking in tongues or some ecstatic
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display. The central miracle is faith.
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Feastus, the Spirit enables the natural person who is blind to
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understand and accept what God has done on the cross.
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And receiving the Spirit redefines everything about
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Christian existence. It becomes the new rule for
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life. Galatians 5.25 is the mandate.
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If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.
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And that life in the Spirit is defined first by what it's not.
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It's renouncing the sarks, the flesh.
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And for Paul, sarks is more than just the body.
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It's the whole principle of self-reliance, of trying to
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achieve righteousness through your own deeds or by the law.
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The contrast is between God's grace and human inability.
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And positively, the life of the Spirit produces carpos fruit,
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and the chief evidence of the Spirit's work is agape love.
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Paul consistently puts gifts that build up the community,
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especially love, above the more dramatic individual ones.
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So Paul's doctrine of the Spirit is fundamentally Christ
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centered. The spirits work is to reveal
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Christ's saving death and enable the believer to live a justified
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and sanctified life that matches that new reality.
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John comes at it from a slightly different angle, but he also
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uses that spirit flesh contrast to define things in absolute
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terms. John 4.24 is one of the most
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significant statements anywhere. Numa Healtheos, God is spirit.
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For John, Numa and Sark's aren't just parts of a person, they are
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opposing spheres of existence. So to worship God in spirit and
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truth means to worship in the reality of God as he has
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revealed himself in Jesus. It's not about geography, and
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it's not about your own internal spirituality.
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It's about recognizing that God's sovereign act in Jesus has
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created the only true place for worship.
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And John is very clear about how life is given.
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He says the Spirit gives life Zupoy through the word of Jesus.
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The flesh, he says, profits nothing.
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And he's directly addressing the scandal of the incarnation
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there. Many of Jesus's followers saw
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only his physical sarks, this man from a humble background,
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and they were offended and they left him.
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John is confirming that if you only focus on the physical human
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aspect, you gain nothing. So the Spirit's job, then is to
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overcome that earthly focus. It is the Spirit enables A
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believer to see past the outward sarks and through the
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authoritative words of Jesus, to see the Doxa, the glory of the
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Father and the Son. And only when the Spirit makes
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that possible does the life giving happen.
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Yes, the Spirit grants spiritual life by connecting the believer
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to the Incarnate Word of God. So this brings us to a final
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synthesis, drawing from both Paul and John, which really
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establishes the Reformed view of the Spirit's work.
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For both of them, Numa is the sovereign reality of God that
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brings a person to faith, to pistas in the finished work of
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Christ. It's not a sporadic gift or a
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natural substance. It's the principle that defines
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the new life of faith. It establishes our
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justification, our ongoing sanctification, and our
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fellowship as the Church. So after all that, what does
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this whole analysis mean for you, the listener?
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We followed pneuma from its origin as the sound of the wind
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and the simple act of breathing, all the way to its definition as
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the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity.
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We've seen a revolutionary shift.
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A word for wind was deliberately taken and redefined to describe
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the presence of the transcendent God.
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It was set in absolute distinction from Pagan ideas of
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a material substance and from the Old Testament concept of
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temporary ecstatic power. And this redefined spirit is the
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essential part of the New Covenant.
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The core of the Holy Spirit's work is to unite the believer to
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Christ, securing our justification and giving us the
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means for sanctification. This is why the new covenant is
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contrasted with the old, the contrast between the grandma,
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the letter of the law, and the pneuma, the spirit of grace.
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The ministry of the old covenant of the letter brought
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condemnation. The law is holy, but it can only
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show us our sin. It couldn't give us the ability
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to obey. But the new covenant is a
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ministry of the Spirit that grants righteousness.
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The Spirit works in US so that the righteous requirement of the
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Law is fulfilled in US, not by our own weak fleshly efforts,
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but by His indwelling strength. And that new life in the Spirit,
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that life defined by grace, is what we are called to live out
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every day. Paul said the Spirit is the
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agency that makes God's righteous standard possible in
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our lives. So, given that Paul prioritized
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agape love as the supreme sign of the Spirit's work, even over
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dramatic gifts, we'll leave you with this final thought.
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How might you recognize the daily sovereign operation of the
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Spirit in your conduct and your choices this week, knowing his
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primary goal is to produce the fruit of love in you?