April 30, 2023

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

In this series, we’re talking about some of the images and metaphors that are used to describe the Holy Spirit in Scripture. What comes to your mind when you hear the phrase “Holy Spirit”? Sometimes the Holy Spirit is called the “forgotten” member of the Trinity; do you think that your own experience of Christian faith has involved an adequate emphasis on the person of the Holy Spirit? Why or why not?
The Hebrew and Greek words that we translate into English as “Spirit” can also be used to refer to “wind” or “breath.” How does thinking of the Holy Spirit as the breath of God help you to understand something about they Spirit?
Jesse talked about Ezekiel’s vision of the dry bones in Ezekiel 37 as recalling and building upon the creation of Adam in Genesis 2. What is different between these two passages? What is the same? Ezekiel is prophesying about the restoration of the people of Israel as they were exiled in Babylon; what, if anything, does this mean for us today? What does it mean that God promises to send his Spirit when he restores the people?
John 3 has a lot to say about the Holy Spirit, and how the Spirit allows for new life in believers. In John 3:10, Jesus seems to think that Nicodemus should have understood his teaching about being born of the Spirit, but Nicodemus struggles with the teaching. What would you have thought if you were in Nicodemus’ position? Why does Jesus think Nicodemus should have understood this teaching?
Jesse talked about the idea of life with the Spirit as a kind of “conspiring” (literally, “breathing-with). In Romans 8, we read a lot about what life with God’s Spirit is like, including the idea that the Spirit prays when we do not have the words to pray ourselves (Romans 8:26). Similarly, Ephesians 6:18 tells us to “pray in the Spirit on all occasions.” What does it mean to pray in or with the Spirit of God? How does this idea impact the way that we pray?