Utu wa Roho: Yeye, Si KituThe Personality of the Spirit: He, Not It
Kosa la pili linasahihishwa: Roho si nguvu isiyo na nafsi bali ni Nafsi, mwenye jina, akili, moyo, na mapenziThe second misunderstanding corrected: the Spirit is not an impersonal force but a Person, with a name, a mind, a heart, and a will
1. Si "Kitu" bali "Yeye"1. Not an "It" but a "He"
Kosa la msingi kuliko yote ambalo watu hufanya kuhusu Roho Mtakatifu ni kumfikiria kama kitu badala ya Nafsi, nguvu au mvuto usio dhahiri, uwezo unaotoka kwa Mungu kama joto linavyotoka kwa moto. Baadhi ya matumizi ya zamani ya Kiingereza yalichochea kosa hili. Tumemwita "Holy Ghost," jina ambalo kwa masikio ya wengi linadokeza mzimu au kivuli cha mtu aliyekufa, na wakati mwingine tumemtaja Roho kama "kitu." Lakini Roho si "kitu." Yeye si nguvu inayotoka kwa Mungu, na kwa hakika si mzimu wala pepo. Yeye ni Yeye, Nafsi, na kama tutakavyothibitisha katika sehemu inayofuata, yeye ni Mungu. Hili si jambo dogo la sarufi. Huwezi kuipenda nguvu, wala kuuhuzunisha mvuto, wala kuufuata uwezo; lakini unaweza kumpenda, kumtii, kumhuzunisha, na kumfuata Nafsi. Maisha yote ya Kikristo pamoja na Roho yanategemea kama yeye ni mtu fulani au ni kitu fulani. Biblia inajibu waziwazi kwamba yeye ni Mtu fulani, na inaonyesha jambo hili kwa njia nne: ana jina, ana akili, ana moyo, na ana mapenzi.The most basic mistake people make about the Holy Spirit is to think of Him as a thing rather than a Person, a vague force or influence, a power that flows out from God the way heat flows from a fire. Some older English usage encouraged the error. We have spoken of the "Holy Ghost," which to many ears suggests a spook or a phantom, and we have sometimes referred to the Spirit as "it." But the Spirit is not an "it." He is not a force emanating from God, and He is certainly no ghost or goblin. He is a He, a Person, and as we will prove in the next unit, He is God. This is no small point of grammar. You cannot love a force, or grieve an influence, or follow a power; but you can love, obey, grieve, and follow a Person. The whole of the Christian life with the Spirit hangs on whether He is a someone or a something. The Bible answers plainly that He is a someone, and it shows this in four ways: He has a name, He has a mind, He has a heart, and He has a will.
2. Ana Jina2. He Has a Name
Alama ya kwanza ya unafsi wake ni matumizi ya jina lake. Ni kweli kwamba Roho hana jina la binafsi kama Yesu alivyo nalo, au kama Baba anavyoitwa Yahweh. Hata hivyo ana jina, na angalia jina hilo linaambatana na majina gani. Tunapombatiza muumini, tunambatiza "kwa jina la Baba, na Mwana, na Roho Mtakatifu" (Mathayo 28:19). Jina lake limewekwa kando kwa kando na majina mawili makuu kuliko yote yaliyopo, jina la Mungu na jina la Kristo. Kamwe tusingeunganisha mvuto tu na majina hayo. Hatubatizi kwa jina la Baba, Mwana, na upendo wa Mungu, wala kwa jina la Baba, Mwana, na nguvu ya Mungu, kwa maana upendo na nguvu si nafsi. Tunaliunganisha jina la Roho na yale mengine kwa sababu yeye, kama wao, ni Nafsi. Kuna jambo jingine la kina linalofaa kuangaliwa hapa. Yesu hakutuambia tubatize kwa majina, wingi, ya Baba na Mwana na Roho Mtakatifu, bali kwa jina, umoja, la hao watatu. Jina moja linashirikiwa kati yao, jambo linalosema mara moja kwamba wao ni Mungu mmoja na kwamba Roho yumo kikamilifu ndani ya jina hilo moja, si Nafsi pungufu kuliko Baba au Mwana. Mpangilio wenyewe wa ubatizo wetu unalikiri jambo hili.The first mark of His personhood is the use of His name. It is true that the Spirit does not bear a personal name as Jesus does, or as the Father is named Yahweh. Yet a name He has, and notice the company that name keeps. When we baptize a believer, we baptize "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19). His name is set right alongside the two greatest names there are, the name of God and the name of Christ. We would never join a mere influence to those names. We do not baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the love of God, or in the name of the Father, the Son, and the power of God, for love and power are not persons. We join the Spirit's name to the others because He, like them, is a Person. There is a further fineness here worth noticing. Jesus did not tell us to baptize in the names, plural, of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, but in the name, singular, of the three. One name is shared among them, which says at once that they are one God and that the Spirit belongs fully within that one name, no less a Person than the Father or the Son. The very pattern of our baptism confesses it.
3. Ana Akili3. He Has a Mind
Alama ya pili ya unafsi wake ni akili yake. Roho hufundisha, na ni kiumbe mwenye akili pekee anayeweza kufundisha. Usiku ule kabla ya msalaba Yesu aliahidi, "huyo Msaidizi, huyo Roho Mtakatifu, ambaye Baba atampeleka kwa jina langu, yeye atawafundisha yote, na kuwakumbusha yote niliyowaambia" (Yohana 14:26). Yeye huongoza kwenye kweli, kwa maana Yesu pia alisema, "atawaongoza awatie kwenye kweli yote" (Yohana 16:13). Hata anaijua akili iliyofichika ya Mungu, kwa maana Paulo anaandika kwamba "Roho huchunguza yote, hata mafumbo ya Mungu" (1 Wakorintho 2:10). Katika ahadi ile ile Yesu aliongeza kwamba Roho "hatanena kwa shauri lake mwenyewe; lakini yote atakayoyasikia atayanena; na mambo yajayo atawapasha habari yake" (Yohana 16:13). Angalia vitenzi: anasikia, ananena, anapasha habari. Nguvu haifundishi; mkondo wa nguvu haukumbuki, wala hauongozi, wala hausikii, wala haunena, wala hauchunguzi mafumbo ya Mungu. Hizi ni kazi za akili, na Roho huzifanya zote. Anafikiri, anajua, na anajulisha. Hiyo ndiyo shughuli ya Nafsi.The second mark of His personhood is His intelligence. The Spirit teaches, and only a being with a mind can teach. On the night before the cross Jesus promised, "the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you" (John 14:26). He guides into truth, for Jesus also said, "He will guide you into all truth" (John 16:13). He even knows the hidden mind of God, for Paul writes that "the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God" (1 Corinthians 2:10). In that same promise Jesus added that the Spirit "will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come" (John 16:13). Mark the verbs: He hears, He speaks, He tells. A force does not teach; a current of power does not remember, or guide, or hear, or speak, or search out the deep things of God. These are the works of a mind, and the Spirit does them all. He thinks, He knows, and He makes known. That is the activity of a Person.
4. Ana Moyo4. He Has a Heart
Alama ya tatu ya unafsi wake ni uwezo wake wa kuhisi. Biblia inatuambia kwamba Roho anaweza kuhuzunishwa: "Wala msimhuzunishe yule Roho Mtakatifu wa Mungu; ambaye kwa yeye mlitiwa muhuri hata siku ya ukombozi" (Waefeso 4:30). Kuhuzunisha ni neno la upole, neno la upendo. Halielezi itikio baridi la mashine bali kujeruhiwa kwa moyo unaojali. Tunaweza kumhuzunisha tu mtu anayetupenda; hatuwezi kuihuzunisha nguvu kama vile hatuwezi kuumiza hisia za upepo. Paulo anatuambia pia kwamba tusipojua kuomba jinsi itupasavyo, Roho mwenyewe "hutuombea kwa kuugua kusikoweza kutamkwa" (Warumi 8:26). Kuugua huko ni ishara ya Yule anayehisi pamoja nasi na kwa ajili yetu. Mvuto hauwezi kuwa na huzuni, na nguvu haiwezi kuomba kwa shauku. Roho hufanya yote mawili, kwa sababu ana moyo. Hili si wazo jipya lililoletwa na Agano Jipya peke yake; zamani sana, Isaya aliutazama nyuma uasi wa Israeli akasema kwamba "waliasi, wakamhuzunisha Roho wake Mtakatifu" (Isaya 63:10). Tangu mwanzo, basi, Roho amekuwa Yule anayeweza kujeruhiwa na dhambi ya wale anaowapenda. Tutaangalia kwa karibu zaidi katika sehemu inayokuja baadaye maana ya kumhuzunisha; hapa inatosha kuona kwamba Yule anayeweza kuhuzunishwa lazima awe Nafsi.The third mark of His personhood is His capacity for feeling. The Bible tells us that the Spirit can be grieved: "do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption" (Ephesians 4:30). Grieve is a tender word, a love word. It does not describe the cold reaction of a machine but the wounding of a heart that cares. We can grieve only someone who loves us; we cannot grieve a force any more than we can hurt the feelings of the wind. Paul tells us as well that when we do not know how to pray as we ought, the Spirit Himself "makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered" (Romans 8:26). Those groanings are the expression of One who feels with us and for us. An influence cannot be sorrowful, and a power cannot intercede with longing. The Spirit does both, because He has a heart. This is no new idea brought in only by the New Testament; long before, Isaiah looked back on Israel's rebellion and said that "they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit" (Isaiah 63:10). From the beginning, then, the Spirit has been One who can be wounded by the sin of those He loves. We will look more closely in a later unit at what it means to grieve Him; here it is enough to see that One who can be grieved must be a Person.
5. Ana Mapenzi5. He Has a Will
Alama ya nne ya unafsi wake ni mapenzi yake, kwa maana Roho huchagua, huongoza, na hukataza. Paulo anapoandika juu ya kugawanywa kwa karama za Roho, anasema Roho yule mmoja, yeye yule, hufanya kazi hizi zote, "akimgawia kila mtu peke yake kama apendavyo" (1 Wakorintho 12:11). Hagawi karama zake kimashine, kama maji yanavyotiririka kuteremka mlimani, bali kwa makusudi, kama anavyochagua. Tunaona mapenzi hayo hayo yakitenda kazi katika kitabu cha Matendo. Katika safari ya pili ya Paulo yeye na wenzake "walizuiliwa na Roho Mtakatifu wasilihubiri lile neno katika Asia" (Matendo 16:6), na walipojaribu kugeuka kuelekea kaskazini, "Roho hakuwaruhusu" kuingia Bithinia (Matendo 16:7). Huyu ni Yule mwenye mipango yake mwenyewe, anayefungua milango fulani na kufunga mingine, anayewaongoza watumishi wake anakotaka. Nguvu haiwezi kukataza; mvuto hauwezi kuruhusu wala kukataa. Ni Nafsi pekee anayeweza kuongoza hatua za mmisionari na kuzitawala karama za kanisa. Tunasikia sauti ile ile inayotawala wakati kanisa la Antiokia lilipokuwa likiabudu na "Roho Mtakatifu akasema, Nitengeeni Barnaba na Sauli kwa kazi ile niliyowaitia" (Matendo 13:2). Ananena kwa nafsi ya kwanza, anawadai watu hao kuwa wake, na anawaita kwa kazi aliyoichagua. Baadaye, baraza la Yerusalemu lilipotatua swali gumu, waliweza kuandika, "imempendeza Roho Mtakatifu na sisi" (Matendo 15:28), wakiuweka uamuzi wake kando ya uamuzi wao wenyewe. Yule anayeita, anayetuma, na anayeamua si nguvu bali ni Nafsi mwenye mapenzi.The fourth mark of His personhood is His will, for the Spirit chooses, directs, and forbids. When Paul writes of the distribution of spiritual gifts, he says the one and same Spirit works all these things, "distributing to each one individually as He wills" (1 Corinthians 12:11). He does not dispense His gifts mechanically, the way water runs downhill, but deliberately, as He chooses. We see the same will at work in the book of Acts. On Paul's second journey he and his companions were "forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia" (Acts 16:6), and when they tried to turn north, "the Spirit did not permit them" to go into Bithynia (Acts 16:7). Here is One who has plans of His own, who opens some doors and closes others, who leads His servants where He wills. A force cannot forbid; an influence cannot permit or refuse. Only a Person can direct the steps of a missionary and govern the gifts of a church. We hear that same governing voice when the church at Antioch worshiped and "the Holy Spirit said, 'Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them'" (Acts 13:2). He speaks in the first person, He claims the men as His own, and He calls them to a work He has chosen. Later, when the Jerusalem council settled a hard question, they could write, "it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us" (Acts 15:28), setting His decision beside their own. One who calls, commissions, and decides is not a power but a Person with a will.
6. "Mwingine" wa Aina Ile Ile Kabisa6. "Another" of the Very Same Kind
Tayari tumeona, katika sehemu ya kwanza, kwamba usiku ule aliposalitiwa Yesu aliahidi "Msaidizi mwingine" (Yohana 14:16), na kwamba neno alilochagua kwa "mwingine" lina maana ya mwingine wa aina ile ile kabisa. Inafaa kulirudia neno hilo sasa, kwa maana linathibitisha kabisa hoja ya unafsi wa Roho. Yule ambaye Roho anasemekana kuwa sawa kabisa naye ni Bwana Yesu Kristo mwenyewe, na hakuna mtu anayetilia shaka kwamba Yesu ni Nafsi. Ikiwa Msaidizi anayekuja ni wa aina ile ile kama Mwana anayeondoka, basi Msaidizi naye ni Nafsi, si nguvu iliyotumwa kujaza pengo lililoachwa na Nafsi aliyeondoka. Yeye ni Roho wa Kristo, mwenye unafsi kama Kristo alivyo na unafsi, akiendeleza kazi ile ile ya Kristo kati yetu. Neno "mwingine" lingekuwa tupu kama Yule aliyeahidiwa angekuwa tu nguvu isiyo na nafsi.We have already seen, in the first unit, that on the night of His betrayal Jesus promised "another Helper" (John 14:16), and that the word He chose for "another" means another of the very same kind. It is worth returning to that word now, for it seals the case for the Spirit's personhood. The One the Spirit is said to be just like is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and no one doubts that Jesus is a Person. If the Helper who comes is the same kind as the Son who goes, then the Helper is a Person too, not a force sent to fill the gap left by a departed Person. He is the Spirit of Christ, as personal as Christ is personal, carrying on the very work of Christ among us. The word "another" would be empty if the One promised were merely an impersonal power.
7. Nafsi wa Kujulikana, Si Nguvu ya Kutumiwa7. A Person to Be Known, Not a Power to Be Used
Kwa nini mambo haya yote ni muhimu? Kwa sababu jinsi tunavyomfikiria Roho itaamua jinsi tunavyomtendea. Kama angekuwa nguvu tu, tungejaribu kumtawala, kumwasha tunapotaka matokeo na kumzima tusipotaka, kama mtu anavyoendesha mashine asiyoielewa. Watu wengi humtendea Roho hivyo hasa, wakizitafuta nguvu zake huku wakiipuuza Nafsi yake. Lakini huwezi kumwongoza Nafsi kama unavyoiongoza mashine; unakuja kumjua. Kwa sababu Roho ni Nafsi, maisha ya Kikristo ni uhusiano na si mbinu. Hatumtumii; tunajitoa kwake. Mtu anaweza kuendesha mashine bila kuijali hata kidogo, lakini hawezi kumjua rafiki kweli kwa namna hiyo. Ndivyo ilivyo kwa Roho: haombi kuendeshwa bali kutiiwa na kupendwa. Tunasikiliza anapofundisha, tunafuata anakoongoza, na tunahuzunika tunapofikiri kwamba kwa dhambi yetu tumemhuzunisha. "Wala msimhuzunishe yule Roho Mtakatifu wa Mungu" (Waefeso 4:30) ni amri yenye maana tu kati ya nafsi zinazopendana. Jifunze kumjua Roho kama Nafsi alivyo, nawe utagundua kwamba yeye si nguvu ya kutumiwa hata kidogo, bali ni Rafiki na Msaidizi aliyekuja kumfanya Kristo awe halisi kwako.Why does all of this matter? Because how we think of the Spirit will shape how we treat Him. If He were only a force, we would try to harness Him, to switch Him on when we wanted results and off when we did not, the way a man operates a machine he does not understand. Many people treat the Spirit in exactly that way, reaching for His power while ignoring His Person. But you do not manage a Person as you manage a machine; you come to know Him. Because the Spirit is a Person, the Christian life is a relationship and not a technique. We do not use Him; we yield to Him. A man may run a machine without caring for it in the least, but he cannot truly know a friend that way. So it is with the Spirit: He asks not to be operated but to be obeyed and loved. We listen when He teaches, we follow where He leads, and we are grieved to think that by our sin we have grieved Him. "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God" (Ephesians 4:30) is a command that makes sense only between persons who love each other. Learn to know the Spirit as the Person He is, and you will find that He is not a power to be used at all, but a Friend and Helper who has come to make Christ real to you.