Roho Mtakatifu Ni Nani: Roho Ndani ya UtatuWho the Holy Spirit Is: The Spirit in the Trinity
Utangulizi: jinsi tunavyomjua Roho, nafasi yake ndani ya Uungu wa Utatu, na kazi yake kuu ya kumtukuza KristoAn orientation: how we know the Spirit, His place in the triune Godhead, and His central work of glorifying Christ
1. Nafsi Iliyosahaulika ya Uungu1. The Forgotten Person of the Godhead
Kwa muda mrefu ilionekana kwamba Roho Mtakatifu alikuwa nafsi iliyosahaulika ya Utatu. Tuliimba kwa uhuru juu ya Baba aliyetuumba na juu ya Mwana aliyetuokoa, lakini Roho alitajwa mara chache, na alieleweka mara chache zaidi. Hali hiyo imebadilika katika siku zetu. Fungua kipindi chochote cha dini redioni au kwenye runinga, na karibu kwa hakika utamsikia Roho akitajwa. Wakarismatiki, madhehebu potofu, na madhehebu ya zamani vilevile, sasa wote wanazungumza mengi kuhusu nafsi yake na kazi yake. Lakini maneno mengi hayajaleta nuru zaidi kila mara. Mengi ya yanayosemwa kuhusu Roho yamechanganyika, na baadhi yake ni makosa waziwazi. Yeye bado ndiye Nafsi ya Uungu isiyoeleweka kuliko zote. Sababu si kwamba somo hili si muhimu, bali ni kwamba ni mojawapo ya masomo magumu kuliko yote katika Biblia nzima, na mambo magumu hukosewa kwa urahisi. Kwa hiyo mahali pa kuanzia si uzoefu wetu wala hisia zetu, bali Neno la Mungu. Yesu alisema juu ya Roho, "atawaongoza awatie kwenye kweli yote" (Yohana 16:13), na hilo ndilo hasa tutakalomwomba afanye kupitia sura hizi.For a long time it seemed that the Holy Spirit was the forgotten member of the Trinity. We sang freely of the Father who made us and of the Son who saved us, but the Spirit was seldom named and even more seldom understood. That has changed in our day. Turn on a religious broadcast and you will almost certainly hear the Spirit mentioned. Charismatics, cultists, and the older denominations alike now speak much of His person and His work. But more talk has not always meant more light. A great deal of what is said about the Spirit is confused, and some of it is plainly wrong. He remains the most misunderstood Person of the Godhead. The reason is not that the subject is unimportant but that it is one of the most difficult in all the Bible, and difficult things are easily mishandled. So the place to begin is not with our experiences or our feelings, but with the Word of God. Jesus said of the Spirit, "He will guide you into all truth" (John 16:13), and that is exactly what we will ask Him to do through these chapters.
2. Jinsi Tunavyomjua Kila Nafsi ya Utatu2. How We Know Each Person of the Trinity
Kuna mpangilio rahisi unaofaa kuuweka akilini mwako tangu mwanzo kabisa, kwa sababu unaeleza jinsi kozi hii yote ilivyojengwa. Tunamjua Mungu Baba hasa kupitia sifa zake. Tunasema kwamba yeye ni mtakatifu, wa milele, mwenyezi, na mjuzi wa yote, na kwa kuziweka pamoja sifa hizo kuu tunapata wazo fulani la yeye ni nani. Tunamjua Mungu Mwana hasa kupitia matukio ya kihistoria. Alichukuliwa mimba, akazaliwa, akabatizwa, akajaribiwa, akasulubiwa, akafufuliwa, na akachukuliwa juu; unaweza kuyapanga maisha yake kwenye kalenda na kuyapitia hatua kwa hatua. Lakini tunamjua Mungu Roho Mtakatifu hasa kupitia kazi zake, yaani kupitia anachofanya kati yetu na ndani yetu. Ndiyo sababu, Biblia inaposema juu ya Roho, mara nyingi zaidi inaeleza kazi yake. Yeye humshuhudia Kristo; huuhakikishia ulimwengu habari ya dhambi; huwafundisha watu wa Mungu; hutusaidia tusipoweza kuomba; huzaa tunda katika tabia ya waumini; hugawa karama kwa kanisa. Kila moja ya kazi hizo ni kama dirisha, na ni kupitia madirisha hayo tutakapoiona Nafsi yenyewe. Ukitaka kumjua Roho, lazima umtazame akifanya kazi.There is a simple pattern worth fixing in your mind at the very start, because it explains how this whole course is built. We come to know God the Father chiefly through His attributes. We say that He is holy, eternal, almighty, and all-knowing, and by stacking up those great qualities we form some idea of who He is. We come to know God the Son chiefly through historical events. He was conceived, born, baptized, tempted, crucified, raised, and taken up; you can lay His life out on a calendar and walk through it. But we come to know God the Holy Spirit chiefly through His activities, through what He does among us and within us. That is why, when the Bible speaks of the Spirit, it most often describes His work. He testifies of Christ; He convicts the world of sin; He teaches the people of God; He helps us when we cannot pray; He produces fruit in the character of believers; He distributes gifts to the church. Each of those activities is like a window, and it is through the windows that we will come to see the Person. If you want to know the Spirit, you must watch Him work.
3. Mungu Mmoja katika Nafsi Tatu3. One God in Three Persons
Tunamwabudu Mungu mmoja, na hata hivyo yeye ni Nafsi tatu, Baba, Mwana, na Roho Mtakatifu. Hatutaweza kamwe kulipima fumbo hili kikamilifu, lakini tunaweza kulieleza waziwazi na tunaweza kulilinda kwa uangalifu. Hao watatu si miungu watatu; hilo lingekuwa kosa la kuamini miungu wengi, na Biblia hairuhusu jambo hilo. "Sikiza, Ee Israeli; BWANA, Mungu wetu, BWANA ndiye mmoja" (Kumbukumbu la Torati 6:4). Wala hao watatu si vinyago vitatu tu au majukumu matatu ambayo Nafsi moja huvaa kwa zamu, mara akionekana kama Baba, mara kama Mwana, mara kama Roho. Baba si Mwana, na Mwana si Roho; wao ni Nafsi tatu tofauti ambao kwa pamoja ndio Mungu mmoja wa kweli. Angalia jinsi Bwana Yesu anavyoyaweka majina yao kando kwa kando kama walio sawa. Anaamuru wanafunzi wabatizwe "kwa jina la Baba, na Mwana, na Roho Mtakatifu" (Mathayo 28:19); ni jina moja, linaloshirikiwa na Nafsi tatu. Mtume Paulo anafunga waraka kwa baraka ile ile ya sehemu tatu: "Neema ya Bwana Yesu Kristo, na pendo la Mungu, na ushirika wa Roho Mtakatifu, ukae nanyi nyote" (2 Wakorintho 13:14). Tena Roho si mgeni aliyechelewa kuingia katika Uungu. Alikuwepo hapo mwanzo, kwa maana "Roho wa Mungu alikuwa akitulia juu ya uso wa maji" (Mwanzo 1:2) kabla kiumbe chochote hakijavuta pumzi. Yeye ni wa milele, sawa, na Mungu kikamilifu; tutauthibitisha uungu wake kwa ukamilifu zaidi katika sura inayokuja baadaye. Kwa sasa inatosha kumweka mahali pake panapostahili, kamili na sawa ndani ya Uungu mmoja.We worship one God, and yet He is three Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We will never fully take the measure of this mystery, but we can state it plainly and we can guard it carefully. The three are not three gods; that would be the error of polytheism, and the Bible will not allow it. "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one" (Deuteronomy 6:4). Neither are the three merely three masks or three roles that one Person wears in turn, now appearing as Father, now as Son, now as Spirit. The Father is not the Son, and the Son is not the Spirit; they are three distinct Persons who together are the one true God. Watch how the Lord Jesus sets their names side by side as equals. He commands that disciples be baptized "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19); it is one name, shared by three Persons. The apostle Paul closes a letter with the same threefold blessing: "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all" (2 Corinthians 13:14). And the Spirit is no latecomer to the Godhead. He was there in the beginning, for "the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters" (Genesis 1:2) before ever a creature drew breath. He is eternal, equal, and fully God; we will prove His deity more fully in a later chapter. For now it is enough to set Him in His rightful place, full and equal within the one Godhead.
4. Nafsi Tatu katika Tukio Moja4. The Three Persons in One Scene
Hakuna mahali ambapo Utatu unaonekana waziwazi zaidi kuliko katika ubatizo wa Yesu. Mwana alipanda kutoka katika Yordani, na "akamwona Roho wa Mungu akishuka kama hua, akija juu yake" (Mathayo 3:16), huku kutoka mbinguni sauti ya Baba ikitangaza, "Huyu ni Mwanangu, mpendwa wangu, ninayependezwa naye" (Mathayo 3:17). Katika wakati huo mmoja Nafsi zote tatu zipo na zinatenda kwa pamoja: Mwana ndani ya maji, Roho juu yake, Baba akinena juu yake. Hakuna Nafsi moja inayowasukuma wengine kando, na hakuna hata mmoja wao aliye vazi tu linalovaliwa na mwingine. Huyu ndiye Mungu aliye hai tunayemwabudu, Nafsi tatu zikifanya kazi pamoja kwa upatanifu kamili, na Roho anachukua nafasi yake mwenyewe katika tukio hilo kwa hakika kama vile Baba na Mwana wanavyochukua zao.Nowhere does the Trinity stand out more clearly than at the baptism of Jesus. The Son came up out of the Jordan, and "the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him" (Matthew 3:16), while from heaven the Father's voice declared, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17). In that single moment all three Persons are present and active at once: the Son in the water, the Spirit upon Him, the Father speaking over Him. No one Person crowds out the others, and no one of them is merely a costume worn by another. Here is the living God we worship, three Persons working together in perfect harmony, and the Spirit takes His own place in the scene as surely as the Father and the Son take theirs.
5. Kwa Nini Ni Vigumu Kumsoma Roho5. Why the Spirit Is Hard to Study
Kati ya mafundisho yote ya Maandiko, hili ni mojawapo ya magumu zaidi, na tunapaswa kukiri hivyo kwa uaminifu badala ya kujifanya vinginevyo. Sehemu ya ugumu iko ndani yetu. Sisi si viumbe wa kiroho peke yake; Roho ndiye wa kiroho. Tunapojaribu kusema juu yake, kwa kadiri tuwezavyo tunatafuta picha zinazolingana, tukimshusha karibu na kitu kilicho karibu na uzoefu wetu wenyewe, na hata hapo hatuwezi kumshika kwa kidole kikamilifu. Kumsoma Roho Mtakatifu ni kama kujaribu kulitazama jua moja kwa moja. Jua hutupofusha kwa mwanga wake lenyewe, kwa maana macho yetu hayakuumbwa kulikodolea. Hata hivyo katika mwanga wa jua tunaweza kuona kila kitu kingine; tusingeona kitu chochote kabisa bila mwanga ule ule tusioweza kuutazama. Ndivyo ilivyo kwa Roho. Yeye hajioneshi mwenyewe. Badala yake, kama Yesu alivyoahidi, "Yeye atanitukuza mimi, kwa kuwa atatwaa katika yaliyo yangu na kuwapasha habari" (Yohana 16:14). Hatuwezi kumkodolea Roho macho moja kwa moja, lakini yeye hujaza chumba kwa mwanga, na katika nuru yake tunamwona Yesu waziwazi.Of all the doctrines of Scripture, this is one of the hardest, and we ought to admit it honestly rather than pretend otherwise. Part of the difficulty lies in us. We are not purely spiritual beings; the Spirit is. When we try to speak of Him, the best we can do is reach for parallel pictures, bringing Him down to something near our own experience, and even then we cannot quite lay a finger on Him. Studying the Holy Spirit is something like trying to look straight at the sun. The sun blinds us with its own light, for our eyes were never made to gaze upon it. Yet in the light of the sun we are able to see everything else; we could see nothing at all without the very light we cannot look upon. So it is with the Spirit. He does not put Himself on display. Instead, as Jesus promised, "He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you" (John 16:14). We cannot stare at the Spirit directly, but He floods the room, and in His light we see Jesus clearly.
6. Roho Ndiye Roho wa Kristo6. The Spirit Is the Spirit of Christ
Usiku ule kabla ya msalaba, Yesu aliwafariji wanafunzi wake waliofadhaika kwa ahadi. "Nami nitamwomba Baba, naye atawapa Msaidizi mwingine, ili akae nanyi hata milele" (Yohana 14:16). Neno dogo "mwingine" lina uzito mkubwa kuliko linavyoonekana. Katika Kigiriki kuna maneno mawili yanayoweza kutafsiriwa "mwingine": moja lina maana ya mwingine wa aina tofauti, na lingine lina maana ya mwingine wa aina ile ile kabisa. Yesu kwa makusudi alichagua neno la pili. Msaidizi ambaye angemtuma ni Nafsi wa aina ile ile kama Yeye mwenyewe, ndiyo sababu Roho anaweza kuitwa kwa haki Roho wa Kristo. Fikiri maana ya jambo hili. Kama Bwana angebaki kimwili pamoja na wanafunzi wake, angeweza kuwa mahali pamoja tu kwa wakati mmoja. Lakini Roho anayemtuma anaweza kuwajaza waumini katika kila nchi kwa wakati mmoja. Ametumwa na Baba na Mwana, na anaendeleza kazi ya Kristo popote watu wa Kristo walipo. Yeye hajivutii macho kamwe. Kazi yake ya pekee kuliko zote ni kumtukuza Mwana na kumfanya awe halisi na karibu nasi.On the night before the cross, Jesus comforted His troubled disciples with a promise. "I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever" (John 14:16). The little word "another" carries more weight than it appears to. In the Greek there are two words that may be translated "another": one of them means another of a different kind, while the other means another of the very same kind. Jesus deliberately chose the second. The Helper He would send is the same kind of Person as Himself, which is why the Spirit can rightly be called the Spirit of Christ. Consider what this means. Had the Lord remained bodily with His disciples, He could be in only one place at a time. But the Spirit He sends can fill believers in every land at once. He is sent by the Father and by the Son, and He carries on the work of Christ wherever the people of Christ are found. He never draws attention to Himself. His most distinctive labor is to glorify the Son and to make Him real and near to us.
7. Kipimo: Yeye Humshuhudia Kristo7. The Test: He Testifies of Christ
Ukichukua sentensi moja tu kutoka katika kozi hii nzima, iwe hii. Yesu alisema juu ya Roho, "yeye atanishuhudia" (Yohana 15:26). Hiyo ndiyo kazi ya msingi ya Roho Mtakatifu katika kizazi hiki cha sasa: humshuhudia Kristo. Huduma yake inamlenga Kristo kikamilifu, kwa maana daima anaelekeza mbali na nafsi yake mwenyewe na kuelekea kwa Mwana. Jambo hili linatupa kipimo cha kutegemewa kwa kila dai linalofanywa kwa jina la Roho. Neno, vuguvugu, hisia, au fundisho linalowavuta watu kwa Kristo na kuwainamisha mbele yake kama Bwana lina alama za Roho wa Mungu. Neno linalomwinua mwanadamu, au mbinu, au hata uzoefu wa kidini juu ya Kristo halina alama hizo, hata likionekana kwa sauti kubwa au la kuvutia namna gani. "Wala hakuna mtu awezaye kusema, Yesu ni Bwana, isipokuwa kwa Roho Mtakatifu" (1 Wakorintho 12:3). Kaza macho yako juu ya kile ambacho Roho hufanya kwa kweli, nawe hutadanganywa kwa urahisi kuhusu yeye ni nani au ni kazi ipi iliyo yake kweli.If you carry away one sentence from this entire course, let it be this one. Jesus said of the Spirit, "He will testify of Me" (John 15:26). That is the primary work of the Holy Spirit in this present age: He testifies of Christ. His ministry is Christ-centered through and through, for He always points away from Himself and toward the Son. This gives us a reliable test for every claim made in the Spirit's name. A word, a movement, a feeling, or a teaching that draws people to Christ and bows them before Him as Lord bears the marks of the Spirit of God. A word that exalts a man, or a method, or even a religious experience above Christ does not bear those marks, however loud or impressive it may seem. "No one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit" (1 Corinthians 12:3). Keep your eye on what the Spirit actually does, and you will not be easily fooled about who He is or what is truly His work.
8. Jitoe Kwake8. Yield to Him
Hatuwezi kutengeneza kazi ya Roho, wala hatuthubutu kuidharau. Yuko tayari kuhakikisha, kufundisha, kufariji, na kuongoza, lakini hatalazimisha mlango; hata Mungu hatauvunja moyo unaomfungia nje. Mkristo anayetamani Mungu amtwae kikamilifu hujifunza kufuata uongozi wa Roho kwa furaha. Ikiwa huna uhakika uamini nini, mwache Roho akufundishe; ikiwa huna uhakika uende wapi, mwache akuongoze, "kwa kuwa wote wanaoongozwa na Roho wa Mungu, hao ndio wana wa Mungu" (Warumi 8:14). Lengo la sura zinazokuja si kukufanya mtaalamu kuhusu Roho, kana kwamba yeye ni somo la kujifunza kikamilifu kisha kuwekwa kando. Lengo ni kukuleta kwa furaha chini ya uongozi wake wenye neema, ili afanye ndani yako lile jambo moja analofurahia kufanya kuliko yote, yaani kukuonyesha Yesu.We cannot manufacture the Spirit's work, and we dare not despise it. He stands ready to convict, to teach, to comfort, and to lead, but He will not force the door; even God will not override the heart that bolts Him out. The Christian who longs for God to possess him completely learns to follow the Spirit's leading gladly. If you are unsure what to believe, let the Spirit teach you; if you are unsure where to go, let Him guide you, "for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God" (Romans 8:14). The aim of the chapters ahead is not to make you an expert about the Spirit, as though He were a subject to be mastered and set aside. The aim is to bring you gladly under His gracious influence, that He might do in you the one thing He most delights to do, which is to show you Jesus.