The Holy Spirit and Emotions

We only have 1 1/2 hours - not long enough!

1. Introductions and questions




2. Some hard things about emotions

a. Emotions are not a Biblical category great care is needed


b. The danger of chasing emotions; and of following emotions; instead we chase God; and
follow him


c. Emotions are common to Christians and non-Christians alike



3. Affections

a. Emotions and Affections - two ways of thinking
emotions (mad/glad/sad - found in us)


affections (mad/glad/sad - found in us, evoked by something that our mind
apprehends, outside of ourselves, and our will is set on that object)



b. Our life in God is full of living affections love for God, delight in him, peace from him
etc.



c. Godly and ungodly affections



d. Some affections seem more spiritual than others, but this a false path





( Aside what is wrong with the following that was used as the key verse CD booklet of a famous Christian music label:
14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face, then will I hear from heaven and will
forgive their sin and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14) )
4. The Holy Spirit and Affections

Affections of the Holy Spirit

29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building
up, as ts the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. 30 And do not grieve
the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all
bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and slander be put away from you, along with
all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in
Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4:29-32)


How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has
trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which
he was sanctied, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? (Hebrews 10:29)


Affections of Christ

9 You, however, are not in the esh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God
dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10
But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of
righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he
who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his
Spirit who dwells in you.
12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the esh, to live according to the
esh. 13 For if you live according to the esh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to
death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are
sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you
have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, Abba! Father! 16 The
Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children,
then heirsheirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order
that we may also be gloried with him. (Romans 8:9-17)


Matthew 9:36; 14:14; 15:32; 20:34; Mark 1:41; 6:34; 8:2; Luke 7:13* (10:33; 15:20)

Mark 3:5; 10:14 (same word: Matthew 20:24); Matthew 9:30

John 14:31; 15:13; 13:1

John 15:11

Mark 10:14

John 11:33, 38

John 11:35

John 12:27; 13:21; Matthew 26:37; 27:46

Isaiah 11:1-5;

Hebrews 5:7; 12:2

The affections of the writers of the Psalms (led by the Holy Spirit; Acts 1:16; Hebrews
3:7; 2 Timothy 3:16)

Trust and
Abandonment (Psalm 22)

Joy (Psalm 33)

Longing (Psalm 42)

Fear and terror (Psalm 55)

Rest and condence (Psalm 62)

Confusion (Psalm 79)

Despair (Psalm 88)

Disappointment (Psalm 107)

Gratefulness (Psalm 136)

Sorrow and outrage (Psalm 137)

Praise (Psalm 150)


Affections and the Spirit of Christ in believers

Rom. 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of
righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Rom. 15:13 May the God of hope ll you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the
power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

Gal. 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, goodness, gentleness, self-control;

Eph. 4:3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body
and one Spiritjust as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call

Phil. 2:1 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any
participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the
same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

Col. 1:8 and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.

1Th. 1:5 because lour gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the
Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you
for your sake. 6 And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word
in much afiction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit,

2Tim. 1:7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.



Love - the fountain of the affections

Perhaps nothing is mentioned so frequently as the holy affection of love (among the
multitude of texts, consider Matthew 22:27-40; Romans 13:8; Galatians 5:14; I Timothy 1:5;
I Corinthians 13). Now although it be true, that the love thus spoken of, includes the whole
of a sincerely benevolent propensity of the soul, towards God and man; yet it may be
considered, that it is evident from what has been before observed, that this propensity or
inclination of the soul, when in sensible and vigorous exercise, becomes affection, and is
no other than affectionate love. And surely it is such vigorous and fervent love which Christ
speaks of, as the sum of all religion, when he speaks of loving God with all our hearts, with
all our souls, and with all our minds, and our neighbour as ourselves, as the sum of all that
was taught and prescribed in the law and the prophets.

But love is not simply one of many affections: it is the rst and chief and fountain of all the
affections. From love arises hatred of those things which are contrary to what we love, or
which oppose and thwart us in those things that we delight in. It is from the various
exercises of love and hatred, according to the circumstances of the objects of these
affections, as present or absent, certain or uncertain, probable or improbable, that arise all
those other affections of desire, hope, fear, joy, grief, gratitude, anger, etc.
#
Out of vigorous, fervent, affectionate love for God arise an intense hatred and abhorrence
of sin, a dread of God's displeasure, gratitude for his goodness, delight in God when we
sense his gracious presence, and grief when he seems distant. (Storms, 48)

5. The affections of the Christian


a. imperfect


b. set on the right object; set them on the right object


c. a work of the Spirit of Jesus


d. every day affection - not just at church!


e. deal with emotions, focus affections


f. dont chase affections! love God; love neighbour


Edwards, J, A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections. (1746)
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/edwards/affections.i.html

Spurgeon, When the Preacher is Downcast
http://www.haventoday.org/spurgeon-on-depression-gd-434.html

Storms, S, Signs of the Spirit: An Interpretation of Jonathan Edwards Religious Affections. (Wheaton: Crossway, 2007)
$10.

Wareld, B.B., The Emotional Life Of the Lord (1912)
http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/onsite/emotionallife.html