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The Work of the Holy Spirit: Regeneration and Sanctification
Introduction
The presence and work of the Holy Spirit in the counseling process is vital in meeting the
needs that led to the counselee seeking pastoral counseling and is necessary for spiritual growth.
The Holy Spirit is the chief operator in regeneration and sanctification and is suited to
accomplish the will of the Father in a believer’s life. Jay Adams stated that human beings may be
more accurately described as “human becomings” (Adams, 1970. p. 74). God, through the
working of His Holy Spirit, is continually shaping and growing His people. Therefore, the
pastoral counselor must help the counselee engage more with the Holy Spirit. Skill and education
are indeed important when it comes to counseling, but the presence of the Holy Spirit working in
both the counselor and the care seeker is necessary to have successful outcomes in counseling.
Biblical/Exegetical Studies Supporting the Work of the Holy Spirit: Regeneration and
Sanctification
The Holy Spirit
Jesus Christ attempted to prepare His disciples during His ministry for His departure by
giving them the promise that it is beneficial to them if He leave. He gives this promise in John 14
by telling them that He would ask the Father to send “another advocate” who will help and be
with them forever, the Spirit of truth (John 14:16-17. KJV). The word “another” used by Christ
affirms that this One sent was like Him, and the work begun by Christ would be continued by the
Spirit of truth. The Holy Spirit now resides in every believer, empowering them in profound
ways to live a life that is pleasing to God and magnifies the Lord.
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All throughout Scripture the work and activity of the Holy Spirit can be seen as He was
leading and guiding His people. As David calls on the Lord in his distress, he asks God not to
remove His Holy Spirit from him (Psalm 51:10-12). Ezekiel prophesied to Babylonian exiles as
he foretold that the Holy Spirit would work in the hearts of God’s people, removing their heart of
stone and giving them a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 11:19-20 & 36:26-28). As seen in the Scriptures,
one of the primary workings of the Holy Spirit is the sanctifying process within the believer
(Erickson, 2013).
Regeneration
Before the sanctifying process can begin by the Holy Spirit, regeneration must take place,
which is the supernatural process by which a person is made spiritually alive (Erickson, 2013).
Without the working of the Holy Spirit to enlighten an individual, that person is unaware of
spiritual matters and is unable to understand them (Erickson, 2013). This is made clear when the
Apostle Paul wrote that man is not able to know the things of God unless the Holy Spirit reveals
it (1 Corinthians 2:10). It is the working of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer that gives
them the wisdom to understand spiritual matters and makes them spiritually aware (Adams,
1970).
Paul also states that the natural man does not receive the things of God because they are
seen as foolish (1 Corinthians 2:14). Therefore, in regeneration, the Holy Spirit, as John Adams
puts it, “reestablishes connection with God” (Adams, 1970. p. 74). The heart and mind are
regenerated by the Holy Spirit and the person can accept the truth of the Gospel they were once
blinded to. This process is the fulfillment of Ezekiel’s prophesy and is referred to in Romans as
the circumcision of the heart (Romans 2:29). The Holy Spirit transforms the life of the believer
and reorients one’s desire from fleshly things to a desire to please God and honor Him with their
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lives. Erickson states that regeneration is “an infusion of a positive spiritual energy” (Erickson,
2013. p. 840). When the person believes, they immediately go from being enemies of God to
children of God and are brought into right legal standing before Him because of the atonement
provided by the sacrifice of Christ (Erickson, 2013).
There is a realization that mankind is separated from God and without the intervention of
the Holy Spirit, are not able to change the situation. The Holy Spirit intervenes by first revealing
to the individual, as the Apostle Paul wrote, that they are dead in their sins (Ephesians 2:1). Then,
the Holy Spirit opens the person up to the truth that in coming to life in Christ, that person must
dye to their flesh. The Apostle Paul also made this clear when he wrote that those who belong to
Christ have crucified the flesh, and if believers live by the Spirit, let them walk in the Spirit also
(Galatians 5:24-25). Through the Holy Spirit, God regenerates the believer by taking what was
ravaged by sin and causes what was once destroyed to reflect His image for His glory (Erickson,
2013). When Nicodemus came to Christ in John 3, the Lord told him that one must be born
again, and the term Jesus used in verse 7 can be translated as “from above” and “anew”
(Erickson, 2013). Therefore, through regeneration, the believer is made anew, born again, and
returns to the state God originally intended (Erickson, 2013).
Sanctification
Sanctification is the progression of regeneration and justification and is defined as “the
process of making holy” in order for a person to be used by God as they dedicate themselves to
serving Him (Barrick, 2010, p. 179). God is morally perfect, Holy, and set apart from all His
creation, and God sanctifies the believer and sets them apart unto Himself. An individual is
sanctified, set apart instantly when they place their faith in Christ, but as Barrick puts it,
sanctification is a progressive process and is “the demonstration of an outward and progressive
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holiness in the life of the saint" (Barrick, 2010. p. 180). A change in the character of the
individual takes place through the working of the Holy Spirit when they unite with the Lord.
Christ states in John 15, “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him,
the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing” (John 15:5. KJV). Daily
reading of God’s word is vital to the process of sanctification but there is more to this process
than just simply reading Scriptures. God, through His Holy Spirit, illuminates His word in the
life of the believer and uses it to both sanctify and mature them. In his second letter to Timothy,
Paul teaches him and the reader that the Scriptures are able to equip the believer to live a life
pleasing to God. Therefore, applying God’s word to change actions and thoughts is involved in
the process of sanctification as the believer pursues holy living.
Theological Implications of The Work of the Holy Spirit: Regeneration and Sanctification
for Pastoral Counseling
The Counselor
The pastoral counselor must align themselves with the Holy Spirit and allow Him to be
the guide in every counseling session, for counseling is the work of the Holy Spirit (Adams,
1970). The Holy Spirit leads the people of God into all truth, and the pastoral counselor must
remain aware of the fact they are human as well and need the same grace as those who seek their
help (Gutherie, 1979). Education and skill are necessary for successful outcomes in counseling,
but for the pastoral counselor to be effective, they must not only know God’s word, but they
must also rightly apply it to their own lives consistently (Adams, 1970). The pastoral counselor
must also see the counselee as someone uniquely created by God who needs to be restored to His
image (Gutherie, 1979).
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Humanity is broken and whether it was personal sin or the sin of someone else that
caused the individual to seek out counsel, sin is at the heart of each counseling need (Lambert,
2016). Each person requires the grace of God, and the Gospel does show that God’s love is
complete, but it shines light on the sin of the person as well while leading them to seek
forgiveness in Christ (Gutherie, 1979). With this, the pastoral counselor must be able to point out
sin when necessary while also providing comfort to the counselee (Lambert, 2016). This,
however, can only be achieved by relying on the Holy Spirit to move and work in the heart of the
believer to effect change that leads to sanctification (Adams, 1970).
The Counselee
Paul makes it clear in 1 Corinthians 3 that spiritual immaturity is the cause of many
difficulties in the life of the believer. Again, it could be the sin of someone else that led the
individual to seek counsel, but the spiritual maturity of that care-seeker will determine how they
respond and cope with the challenges they face. The Holy Spirit can only work to mature those
who have been justified by Christ, so if the person has not been justified and regenerated by the
Lord, then this must be the first concern to address (Adams, 1970). When a believer stops
cooperating with the Holy Spirit, that believer fails to mature spiritually. Just like with any
relationship, the believer must have a desire to interact with the Holy Spirit in order for change to
occur in their life (Porter, 2019).
Both the pastoral counselor and the counselee must keep in mind that spiritual maturity is
a process that takes place over a lifetime. When the believer engages in spiritual disciplines and
increases their communion with the Holy Spirit, change takes place as they grow daily and
mature in the Lord. As the believer learns to rely more and more on the leadership of the Holy
Spirit, their lives will reflect His influence. However, it is unfortunate that believers can be rather
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lazy in daily devotion to God, and even have high confidence in their wisdom which causes them
to miss the leading of the Spirit (Portor, 2019). In Galatians 5, Paul teaches that those who “walk
in the Spirit” do not fulfill the desires of the flesh (Galatians 5:16-17). Therefore, the counselee
may need to be reminded that they must walk by the leading of the Holy Spirit and not rely on
their wisdom as they continue their journey toward spiritual maturity. The believer must be
mindful of the need to die to the flesh daily, and they must acknowledge that they do not possess
the power to accomplish sanctification but rely on the power of the Holy Spirit. As the care
seeker partners with the pastoral counselor, they must both agree to submit to the Holy Spirit as
He leads the conversation to help bring growth to the life of the believer.
Conclusion
For counseling to be God-centered, effective, and successful, it must involve the presence
of the Holy Spirit. As the great Counselor, the activity of the Holy Spirit is indispensable as He
works as only He can in the counseling process. The unbeliever would never be able to grasp or
experience the love of God with the Holy Spirit's work in regeneration. Once an individual
comes to faith in Christ, the believer would not be able to mature spiritually without submitting
and relying on the power of the Holy Spirit to work in them through sanctification. There must
be discipline in the life of the believer as they read God’s word, pray, and apply God’s word to
their life as the Holy Spirit continues to work in their life. As the Apostle wrote, “But we all, with
open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from
glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18. KJV). It is the same Spirit
that brings regeneration and sanctification to the believers and makes them more Christlike. It is
the privilege of the pastoral counselor to be able to work with the Holy Spirit in the counseling
process to bring the believer to a place of peace and joy that is promised to them by God.
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References
Adams, J., (1970). Competent to counsel: Introduction to nouthetic counseling. Zondervan
Publishing House.
Adams, J., (1973). The Christian counselor's manual. Zondervan.
Barrick, W. D.,(2010). Sanctification: The work of the Holy Spirit and Scripture. Master's
Seminary Journal, 21, 179–191. https://tms.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/tmsj21h.pdf
Erickson, M.J., (2013). Christian theology. (3ed.). Baker Academics. (Original work published
1983)
Guthrie, S. C., (1979). Pastoral counseling, trinitarian theology, and Christian anthropology.
Interpretation, 33(2), 130-143.
Lambert, H., (2016). A theology of biblical counseling: The doctrinal foundations of counseling
ministry. Zondervan Academic.
Porter, S. L., (2019). The evidential force of spiritual maturity and the Christian doctrine of
sanctification. Religious Studies, 55(1), 111-129.
Porter, S. L., Hall, M. E., & Wang, D. C. (2017). Losing my religion: Spiritual discouragement
amongst Christian therapists due to spiritual immaturity in Christian clients. Journal of
Psychology and Theology, 45(2), 133-143.
Thiselton, A. C., (2016). A shorter guide to the Holy Spirit: Bible, doctrine, experience. (pp.116-
124). William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
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