The Holy Spirit and the Information Theory

That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Romans 8:4.

            Christians need not fear true science, for “All Truth is God’s Truth.”  This was the title of a 1977 book by A. F. Holmes.  Not only should we be unafraid, science can actually enhance our spiritual knowledge.  For example, consider a major scientific development in the modern era called the Information Theory.  Simply put, this theory is the science of operations on data such as compression, storage, and communication.  Ordered life would be impossible without the transfer of information in organic systems.  A closer look at this concept yields amazing insight to the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and lends further support to the need for the leadership of the Spirit of God in our lives.

            God created man as a tripartite creature:  body, soul and spirit.  The body is the flesh, the physical aspect of existence.  The soul is the unique, eternal part of us that will live forever.  All moral decisions made in life register upon the soul, making the soul accountable to the laws of God. The spirit is the life activity that energizes the body and makes the entire organic system work.  At creation, God breathed into man the breath of life and man became a living soul.  Man had a body and a soul, but the spirit gave him life.  The spirit, however, is more than just electricity or some form of energy. 

            As a long ago student in ninth grade biology class, I studied the composition of the cell and how it got its energy to live, function and reproduce itself.  Our class put the little one-cell organisms, paramecia, under a microscope and identified the parts of the cell. The mitochondria, we were told, was the powerhouse of the cell, which, at the time, was an important discovery.  Today, however, researchers pay much more attention to the information transmitted to and within the cell than they do its energy.  Scientists now focus on the complex DNA molecule which informs the cell—and the entire organism—on how to look, how to behave and how to carry out all the functions of life.  The thing that I find fascinating now, as opposed to my impressions as an immature, acne-faced junior high student, is that the spirit (or life activity) is more than raw, impersonal power.  It is actually the source of spiritual and moral information for us and connects us to the entire universe of spiritual activity.

            Narrowing this vast subject down, what does the Information Theory mean for us in terms of created beings and the born again experience?  Well, consider the Bible’s teaching about spirits.  A spirit is not just a unit of energy.  A spirit has personality and character and exudes a body of information (whether good or bad).  There are evil spirits, lying spirits, spirits of infirmity, and others, all having specific traits.  When a spirit joins itself to a person, it interacts with the spirit of that person and influences his or her direction, behavior and sometimes even appearance.   When mankind sinned, it was because an evil informant attached itself to his spirit, body and soul.  It is clear, therefore, that the human race fell under the control of an interloper, the spiritual intruder that we call Satan.

            But it is this juncture that the beauty and the efficacy of the new birth may be best seen.  The corrupt bond between mankind and Satan had to be broken.  We needed deliverance from the illegitimate master so that we could be placed under the direction and influence of the Spirit.  Note that it was not just the Ghost of God; it was the Holy Ghost!   Holy refers to the nature of the information imparted by the Spirit of God.  When we are born again, it’s not so much that we get raw power from the Holy Spirit, although we certainly get that according to Acts 1:8.  Rather, we have a new informant, a new set of instructions, a new controller with a new nature directing our lives.  The new covenant, through the baptism of the Holy Ghost, places the law in the heart.  “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people. Hebrews 8:10.

            This is divine information, a heavenly DNA if you will, to which we had no previous access.  How is this new information going to become a part of the mind of man and written in his heart?  It happens by God’s Spirit indwelling mankind!  It is so powerful that the scripture puts it in terms of an interpersonal relationship with God.  “I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people!” Moreover, we are morally and spiritually impacted by this transmission of information.  “Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.” 2 Corinthians 3:3. 

            It is abundantly clear then, that the method by which new information, new direction and new influence comes to man is by the introduction of the Divine Spirit into a person’s heart and life.  That is a perfect description of the baptism of the Holy Ghost!  “That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love.”  Ephesians 3:16-17. 

            Jesus’ mission was incomplete until He went away.  His physical departure signaled the beginning of His spiritual mode of operation.  “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you”. John 14:18-20.  We have no confidence in the flesh or in man’s unregenerated nature.  Indeed, the supremacy of the Spirit means that the flesh cannot be saved.  (Romans 8:5-11).  God’s entire plan for the functioning of church hinges upon the leadership of His Spirit.

            The Apostolic church has a greater reason today to proclaim the infilling of the Holy Ghost than ever before.  The motivation for our message has not lessened.  Our only hope is to be filled with, under the influence of and controlled by the Holy Spirit of God!  “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 8:11.

            Information scientists need to make a further discovery: the best mode of compression, storage and communication is the Spirit of God!  To me, it’s just another example of God’s genius at work!