“How Will You Know You Have the Holy Spirit?” and “What Is the Influence of the Holy Spirit Today?”

Two related questions received are, “How will you know you have the Holy Spirit?” and “What is the influence of the Holy Spirit today?” The Holy Spirit no longer manifests Himself in miraculous ways—since the close of the first century. The purpose of miracles in the first century was to validate the New Testament prophets (i.e., the Christ, apostles, other disciples) and validate their messages (Mark 16:17-18, 20). Miracles, according to their purpose, did confirm the New Testament or the Gospel (Hebrews 2:3-4). Therefore, once “the faith which once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3) had been declared to humanity, the purpose of miracles was concluded. Accordingly, the inspired prediction that miracles would end (1 Corinthians 13:8-13) came to pass.

Therefore, no one living today can ascertain that the Holy Spirit is in him or her merely by observance. Without miraculous confirmation of the Spirit’s presence, one must turn to another source to determine if the Holy Spirit is in him or her. In our time, the only way a person can know that the Holy Spirit is in him or her is because the Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit is in the child of God. “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16 NKJV). “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:19). The apostle Paul told first century Christians that the Holy Spirit resides in them. Therefore, Christians today—not non-Christians—have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them.

Consequently, since the Holy Spirit does not operate openly and miraculously today, the influence of the Holy Spirit presently is through the Word of God. The Word of God—especially the New Testament or the Gospel—is the means by which today that a child of God can know the Holy Spirit dwells in him or her. In addition, through the Word of God only does the Holy Spirit exercise Himself in these contemporary times. Any other and conflicting proposition relies on one’s own subjectivity and emotional desire.