Chapter 32: His Love, Comfort, and Fellowship

Love and Comfort

The Holy Spirit—the Spirit of Jesus within us—pours out upon us His love, His comfort, and His compassion, and draws us into fellowship with Himself. Because Christ lives in me, my spirit is made alive by the righteousness He provides:

And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you (Romans 8:10–11).

The very Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead now lives in the believer—and that same resurrection life flows into us. Little wonder the early church, for all its trials, walked “in the comfort of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 9:31). He is called the Comforter, and He comforts indeed.

And the Spirit bears fruit in the life He indwells—the very character of Christ growing within us:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law (Galatians 5:22–23).

Notice that Paul calls it fruit, not works—for it is not something we manufacture by effort, but something the Spirit grows in us as we abide in Christ, as naturally as a branch bears fruit when it stays joined to the vine (John 15:4–5). And notice it is love that heads the list, for love is the sum and crown of all the rest. This is how the world will know we belong to Him—not chiefly by our gifts, but by the fruit of His Spirit ripening in our lives.³²⁷

The Spirit also helps us in our weakness, most tenderly in prayer, when we do not even know what to ask:

• “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered” (Romans 8:26–27).

• “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God” (Romans 8:16).

• “If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit… fulfil ye my joy” (Philippians 2:1–2).

When we cannot find the words, the Spirit prays within us; when we doubt, He assures us we are God’s children; when we are weak, He is our strength. And through it all we come to know experientially what Scripture declares: “God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:16). One of the great attributes of God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God—because the God of love now abides in him by His Spirit.

Fellowship

The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, delights to have fellowship with us—to commune with us, and to guide and teach us in all truth. Think back to the garden of Eden, where God came to walk with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day, for the joy of fellowship. That same God, revealing His heart for family and communion, now fellowships with us—but with a wonderful difference. With Adam and Eve, He came to visit at a certain time of day; with us, by His indwelling Spirit, He is present always. It remains only for us to yield to Him and enjoy the fellowship He offers. He is always available, always present; when we call on Him, He answers.

• “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen” (2 Corinthians 13:14).

• “The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost… shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you” (John 14:26).

• “When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth… and he will shew you things to come” (John 16:13).

Note the beautiful trinitarian shape of that benediction in 2 Corinthians 13:14: the grace of the Son, the love of the Father, and the fellowship of the Spirit—one God, met in three ways, all given to us. To have fellowship with the Holy Spirit is to have fellowship with Jesus Christ, the Word who became flesh, by whom all things were made and in whom all things hold together. It is the one God, revealing His character and His attributes to us in the persons of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

• “That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:3).

• “God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:9).

• “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life” (1 John 5:12).

And so we arrive where the whole book has been leading. God loves us, and He has always desired fellowship with us—from the garden of Eden, through the tabernacle and temple, through the coming of the Son, to the indwelling of His Spirit. The barrier of separation that entered the world with sin has been taken away by the blood of the cross, and God has come, at last, to make His home in us. All that remains is our response: to repent of our sins, to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and receive Him as Lord and Saviour, to welcome Him into our lives, and to receive His gift of the Holy Spirit. Then the God who came the whole long distance to find us will dwell within us—and we shall know Him, not from afar, but as a Father known and loved by His own dear children. He who has the Son has life. And he who has the Son has the Spirit of the Son, crying within him, “Abba, Father.”