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Here is an article from the Paul Ellis that the OP mentioned .
How Does the Holy Spirit Convict Us?
Through the law,” says the mixed-grace preacher. “It is by God’s law that we are convicted. When you sin, the Holy Spirit will remind you of God’s holy commands and show you the way to go.”
The Bible says you are not under law, but grace. But if we get rid of the law, how will we know how to please the Lord? How will the Holy Spirit set us on the straight and narrow? Or to use a recent example I read on Charisma News, how will we know it’s a bad idea to steal from Walmart?
The mixed-grace preacher says the law shows us the way of life. Yet the hyper-grace preacher Paul said the law ministers death (2 Cor. 3:7). Something doesn’t add up.
The mixed-grace preacher describes the Holy Spirit as a Spirit of law, but the writer of Hebrews said he is the Spirit of grace (Heb 10:29). Again, something doesn’t add up.
I have heard people say they were convicted of sin while reading the law and that this caused them to run to God in repentance. These experiences testify to the true ministry of the law—it helps us recognize sin and our need for grace. But the law is not the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Grace does not minister to you through the law.
The ministry that brought death, … was engraved in letters on stone… If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! (2 Cor 3:7-9)
Look into the mirror of the law and you will feel condemned, every time. That’s what the law does. It points out your faults and failings. But that is not what the Holy Spirit does. That is not the more glorious ministry that brings righteousness.
When you sin it takes no faith to look into the mirror of the law and agree that you made a mess. It takes faith to listen to the Holy Spirit and agree that in Christ you are as righteous and holy as he is! This is the good news that turns sinners into saints. This is the startling revelation that empowers you to go and sin no more.
How does the Spirit of grace convict us?
A law-conscious preacher will define conviction (elegcho in John 16:8) as fault-finding and rebuke. But an interpretation of conviction which is more consistent with the Holy Spirit’s gracious character is expose, or bring into the light. (More here.)
How does the Holy Spirit convict us? He does it by turning on the lights, not to shame you (Jesus carried your shame), but to show you the way to life. Ian Thomas describes it like this:
The Holy Spirit is like a man with a lamp entering a dark and dirty room, and what you have learned to live with in the dark becomes repugnant in the light.
Think of Saul on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:3). By his own account he was chief of sinners. Then the lights went on and he became a different man.
I have written elsewhere about the need for a new covenant definition of conviction, one that does not emphasize your badness but God’s goodness and grace.
But the simple fact is the Holy Spirit will never convict you of your sin. When you sin, your conscience may condemn you, the law will condemn you, the judge and jury may condemn you, the religious may condemn you, and the devil will certainly condemn you, but against the chorus of condemners stands the sweet Holy Spirit who defends you and draws you to grace.
The Holy Spirit’s conviction has nothing to do with your sin and everything to do with God’s grace. It’s not about the bad thing you’ve done but the good thing he wants to do in you right now.
https://escapetoreality.org/2014/09/25/how-the-holy-spirit-convicts/
How Does the Holy Spirit Convict Us?
Through the law,” says the mixed-grace preacher. “It is by God’s law that we are convicted. When you sin, the Holy Spirit will remind you of God’s holy commands and show you the way to go.”
The Bible says you are not under law, but grace. But if we get rid of the law, how will we know how to please the Lord? How will the Holy Spirit set us on the straight and narrow? Or to use a recent example I read on Charisma News, how will we know it’s a bad idea to steal from Walmart?
The mixed-grace preacher says the law shows us the way of life. Yet the hyper-grace preacher Paul said the law ministers death (2 Cor. 3:7). Something doesn’t add up.
The mixed-grace preacher describes the Holy Spirit as a Spirit of law, but the writer of Hebrews said he is the Spirit of grace (Heb 10:29). Again, something doesn’t add up.
I have heard people say they were convicted of sin while reading the law and that this caused them to run to God in repentance. These experiences testify to the true ministry of the law—it helps us recognize sin and our need for grace. But the law is not the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Grace does not minister to you through the law.
The ministry that brought death, … was engraved in letters on stone… If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! (2 Cor 3:7-9)
Look into the mirror of the law and you will feel condemned, every time. That’s what the law does. It points out your faults and failings. But that is not what the Holy Spirit does. That is not the more glorious ministry that brings righteousness.
When you sin it takes no faith to look into the mirror of the law and agree that you made a mess. It takes faith to listen to the Holy Spirit and agree that in Christ you are as righteous and holy as he is! This is the good news that turns sinners into saints. This is the startling revelation that empowers you to go and sin no more.
How does the Spirit of grace convict us?
A law-conscious preacher will define conviction (elegcho in John 16:8) as fault-finding and rebuke. But an interpretation of conviction which is more consistent with the Holy Spirit’s gracious character is expose, or bring into the light. (More here.)
How does the Holy Spirit convict us? He does it by turning on the lights, not to shame you (Jesus carried your shame), but to show you the way to life. Ian Thomas describes it like this:
The Holy Spirit is like a man with a lamp entering a dark and dirty room, and what you have learned to live with in the dark becomes repugnant in the light.
Think of Saul on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:3). By his own account he was chief of sinners. Then the lights went on and he became a different man.
I have written elsewhere about the need for a new covenant definition of conviction, one that does not emphasize your badness but God’s goodness and grace.
But the simple fact is the Holy Spirit will never convict you of your sin. When you sin, your conscience may condemn you, the law will condemn you, the judge and jury may condemn you, the religious may condemn you, and the devil will certainly condemn you, but against the chorus of condemners stands the sweet Holy Spirit who defends you and draws you to grace.
The Holy Spirit’s conviction has nothing to do with your sin and everything to do with God’s grace. It’s not about the bad thing you’ve done but the good thing he wants to do in you right now.
https://escapetoreality.org/2014/09/25/how-the-holy-spirit-convicts/
I like these simple illustrations you put up. Not sure why they are not appreciated for their simplicity lol. It is sort of funny in a way how once a person has been familiar with their idea of God, it is so difficult to put our limited human ideas aside and allow the true God of the Bible come through to take place of the human perspective we have had of God since we first heard of Him.
This does in fact happen in many people's lives once they go through a major tragic or horrific time in life. We are forced to re evaluate ALL we once knew as truth and fact about many many things in our life. We have no choice if we want to stay sane and function on some level.
We either change our ways OR go down the drain yelling we are right even as we get engulfed down the drain screaming "I AM RIGHT! I AM RIGHT! I HAVE TO BE RIGHT!!!!" (can you hear the water sucking the guy down the drain?) and there he goes.....
OR we can CHANGE before the drain sucks us down. Oh wow, change is so hard to do. We humans are not good at change. We build our lives around the familiar and the secure. We are made that way by God. It is how we survive. It is only when our survival is threatened that we will even open a door to the possibility of changing. That is why human pride is so dangerous and probably why God hates it so much. It will kill you one way or the other. Either now or later at the end of your life. A prideful person is an angry person and one who will fight to the death to prove their point. Why? because their way of life is at stake.
That is the reason our life has to be IN Christ or it is always subject to our own personal kind of defenses that comes out in anger and pride. I have found since being on both sides of this issue., that it (used to be) when someone says something so outrageous or does something so shocking to attack me, my first inclination is to put up walls of defenses. They are strong and high walls of my own making that were learned from years of experience. Then I shoot from the top of the walls of safety my own bullets of demolition at the perceived enemy. (this is so outrageous of us humans especially Christians)
But now, since Jesus is my defense and my shield I can actually see those walls going up as a natural human defense. They just go up like a turtle shell or any other defense we see in nature like fish changing color in the ocean to blend into the scenery or octopuses with the ink. All forms of defense.
Then the next part of defense begins to form., the part where I shoot my enemy from a top of my defense point. (this was the next natural defense) That is where the Holy Spirit has reminded me Jesus is my defense and my strong hold. I am no longer required to defend myself anymore. He will do it. I can also slowly allow the walls to go down because I realize I'm not in danger. The Holy Spirit directs me to Psalm 91 in my mind and reminds me I am a righteous daughter who has a shield and defender now.
Unless we are willing to change and allow God to be God in our lives the way He really is., we will never actually experience the joy of being defended by Him or the awesome sweet conviction of our righteousness in Christ by the Holy Spirit.
