People have fulfillment in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the Church. That is why we are talking about the role of the Holy Spirit in the Church. The Church is most closely connected with the mystery of the redemptive work of the Triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God wants all people to be saved. (cf. 1 Tim 2: 4). The fullness of the Holy Spirit creates a new people, the messianic people. In him, all the promises of the prophets are fulfilled.
Those Who Believe in Christ Know the God Because He Remains With Them
As for God, no one knows but the Spirit of God. (1 Corinthians 2:11) His Spirit, who reveals God to us, enables us to know Christ, his Word, the living Word of God but does not utter himself. He who “spoke through the prophets” lets us hear the Word of the Father, but we do not hear him. We know Him only in the impulses with which He reveals the Word to us and prepares us to accept it in faith. The Spirit of truth, who “reveals” Christ to us, “does not speak of himself” (John 16:13). God’s very step into the background explains why “the world cannot receive him because it does not see him and does not know him,” while those who believe in Christ know him because he remains with them. (John 14:17) (CCC, 687)
The Role of the Holy Spirit in the Church
The Church, the living communion in the faith of the apostles which she passes on, is the place of our knowledge of the Holy Spirit: – in the Bible which inspired him; – in a tradition always witnessed by the Church Fathers; – in the church teaching, which stands by his side; – in the sacramental liturgy, through its words and symbols, where the Holy Spirit unites us with Christ; – in the prayer in which he intercedes for us; – in the charisms and services with which the Church is built; – in the signs of apostolic and missionary life; – in the testimony of the saints, where he reveals his holiness and continues the work of salvation. (CCC, 688).
In ancient times, the temple was a place of God’s active presence in the world. The Israelites did not have a temple for a long time. King Solomon built it in the 10th century BC. But God was always in the middle of them and already accompanied them on the desert journey. He also resides in the New Testament among us. Therefore, the Bible of the New Testament can speak of the Church. It can talk about concrete communion as a temple, about the place of the presence of God and Jesus Christ. For “where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” (Matthew 18:20). The Church does not mean, first of all, a building made of inanimate stones, but a spiritual building made of living stones (Christians), the cornerstone of which is Jesus Christ.
You Are Living Stones
Step to him, to the living stone, i.e., the risen Christ, who was rejected by the people but is chosen and precious by God. But you are living stones. You, too, are built into the spiritual building because the Holy Spirit dwells in it so that you will be a holy priesthood and offer spiritual offerings that will be pleasing to God through Jesus Christ. ” (1 Peter 2:4-5)
But the Spirit of God Dwells in You
The presence of God and Jesus Christ is realized in the Holy Spirit. We become God’s people of the new covenant through the Holy Spirit. By one Spirit, we also become one body in Christ. Sv. Paul teaches that the Christian community is the true temple of the New Testament, taking on the role of the Jerusalem temple. The Spirit dwells in her and inappropriately realizes more fully what the presence of the Glory of God in the temple has done. “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? But if anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, and it is you.” (1 Corinthians 12: 13-14) “We are the sanctuary of the living God, as God said, “I will dwell among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, my people. “(2 Corinthians 6: 15-16)” You are built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. You are building up God’s dwelling place in the Spirit. “(Ephesians 2: 20-22)