Forming Faith Blog

Holy Spirit, Gift of Life (Acts 2, Galatians 4 & 5)

Posted on May 27 2025 by Gregory Rawn

Though the Holy Spirit has always been here, God gave Jesus-followers the gift of the Spirit’s indwelling on the Jewish festival of Shavuot. Living by the Spirit is to serve others. Living contrary to the Spirit is to serve only ourselves.

A young girl blowing dandelion seeds. The Holy Spirit is like the wind and a breath.
Acts of the Holy Spirit

This week is the final reading of the main Narrative Lectionary year. Unlike the year-round Revised Common Lectionary, the Narrative Lectionary only goes from September (the first Sunday after Labor Day (US)) to Pentecost Sunday. So, we always begin with a story of creation and end with the story of the Spirit.

While God’s Spirit is never absent from the story of Israel, it is at this point in Luke’s narrative (Gospel of Luke Part 2: Acts) that the Spirit takes center stage, even if she remains invisible. As I’ve mentioned before, this book is indeed the Acts of the Apostles (as the official long name states), but it is more so the Acts of the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit, there are no apostles and no Church.

The Spirit Is a Gift

The Book of Acts begins with Luke’s recounting of Jesus’ ascension with the promise of the Holy Spirit. There is a bit of housekeeping taken care of (the election of Matthias as the twelfth apostle, never to be heard from again), but then the book really starts. Jesus’ promise is fulfilled at the Jewish Festival of Shavuot, which takes place 50 days after Passover, thus the Greek name Pentecost. [Note: Please point out to your faith formation participants that Pentecost is not originally a Christian festival but a Jewish one.]

Here—and in every other mention of the appearance of the Holy Spirit—the Spirit is a gift. She is a gift from God, specifically. People or actions may be the conduits for this gift, but they do not make the Spirit ours to give or take away. Thank God, too, because if the very power of God is ours to control… well, a quick look at Christian history makes it clear that would be bad.

A Gift of Life (and Love)

It’s a bit hard to see the connection in English, but in Hebrew (Ruach), Greek (Pneuma), and even Latin (Spiritus), the word we read as Spirit also means breath and wind. These are beautiful metaphors. Jesus speaks of the Spirit as wind in John 3. The Spirit is given with a sound like a rush of a violent wind here in Acts 2. Wind is a powerful, invisible force that is only seen based on its effects on the world around it.

Breath is a quieter thing, though. For us, breath is life. Most multicellular life requires air, and taking in this air is called respiration (notice the “-spir-” there?). The Spirit of God is the Breath of God, the Life of God. So, the gift of the Holy Spirit is the gift of God’s Life.

Children of God

God gives us (regular) life, and God gives us (divine) Life. Not that we become gods, but that God dwells within us. This gift gives us many things, including occasionally miraculous things (Acts 2:4). But most importantly of all, God gives us the Spirit of adoption. The Spirit makes us children of God (Galatians 4:5-7). We are made children of God through an undeserved, unconditional, unending gift, a gift of grace.

Live by the Spirit

But the Spirit doesn’t control us like a hand within a sock puppet. Instead, it gives us the choice to live contrary to the Spirit or live by the Spirit. This is what our optional reading explains for us (Galatians 5:16-26). Simply put, living contrary to the Spirit is to serve yourself and your desires. Living by the Spirit is to serve others (God and your neighbor).

For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.

Galatians 5:14-15

Blessings,

Gregory Rawn (Publisher)

This post has been adapted from the original, written for May 23, 2021.

Download a FREE activity for 6/8/2025
Free Resource

During the main Narrative Lectionary year (September 8 to June 8), we provide a free resource download from one of our products to help you in your faith formation ministry. This week, download the activity “Calming Chaos” from our Living the Word: Cross+Gen Worship (NL, 2025-2026) curriculum.

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Planning for the 2025-2026 program year? Our Narrative Lectionary (Year 4, 2025-2026) and Revised Common Lectionary (Years C & A, 2025-2026), not to mention our non-lectionary Living the Word: Classroom (PK-2nd, 3rd-6th) resources are online and ready to order, with the Fall (and some Winter) lessons available for immediate download! If you don’t have much time for full-length children’s Christian education, then check out our Kids Mini Lessons for the NL and RCL.

Are you looking for resources for VBS, family/intergenerational events, or Sunday school? Check out our newest Learning Together unit: Celebrations!

Celebrations is a recommended VBS curriculum by Building Faith (and the only curriculum they reviewed from a small, independent publisher)!!!

Learning Together is a series of five-lesson units on a variety of topics. You can read outside reviews on both our Do Justice and Created to Care units! Our faith formation resources are easy to use, theologically sound, and inclusive.

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