In the Bible, the word spiritual isn’t a generic word used to refer to the nonphysical world or to a “religious” person. Rather, spiritual means specifically something that is related to the work of the Holy Spirit. For example, the Bible refers to people who make up the church as “a spiritual house” (1 Peter 2:5) since the Spirit dwells in the church (1 Corinthians 3:16), salvation is a “spiritual blessing” (Romans 15:27) because a person is born again by the Holy Spirit (John 3:6-8), and one can sing “spiritual songs” as they are “filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18-19 ESV). Again, spiritual simply means having to do with the work of the Holy Spirit.
This definition of spiritual implies that to be Spirit-filled is not the same as being emotional. Certainly, the Spirit may be experienced in a way that stirs the emotions and leads a person to exclaim, “God is really among you!” (1 Corinthians 14:25). Nevertheless, when the Bible mentions experiencing the Spirit, it rarely discusses what the experience was like or the emotions it might have aroused. Instead, the focus is placed on the life-changing results of the experience.
Biblical spirituality refers first and foremost to the ways in which the Spirit shapes us to become more like Jesus Christ.
After the Spirit descended upon Jesus at His baptism, Jesus was “full of the Holy Spirit” (Luke 4:1), even “without limit” (John 3:34). As a result, Jesus cast out demons “by the Spirit of God” (Matthew 12:28), and He engaged in all kinds of ministry “in the power of the Spirit” (Luke 4:14).
All Jesus was and did when He walked on earth, then, indicates what it means to be spiritual.
~From Simply Spirit-Filled by Andrew Gabriel
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