What does it mean that God’s love is poured out through the Holy Spirit?

Explanation:

Paul writes that the love of God has been poured into our hearts through [διὰ] the Holy Spirit. To understand what he means, it is important to understand the meaning of the preposition διά. The object of the preposition, namely, the Holy Spirit, is in the genitive case. When διά takes a noun in the genitive case, it typically means through in the sense of agency.⁴ Thus, Paul is saying that the love of God is poured into our hearts through the agency of the Holy Spirit.⁵

Counterargument:

The preposition διά carries a number of senses, even when the object is in the genitive case. For instance, the preposition can mean marker of instrumentality or circumstance whereby something is accomplished or effected.⁶ If we take διά in this sense, then God being poured into our hearts is the event of the Holy Spirit being given to us.⁷ In other words, Paul is not saying that the Holy Spirit pours the love of God the Father into our hearts. Rather, he is saying that the Holy Spirit has been given to us, and this is the pouring of God’s love into our hearts. God’s love is poured into our hearts in the sense that the Holy Spirit is given to us.

Response to counterargument:

There is no real difference between these views. ⁸ We contend that God’s love is poured into the believer’s heart through the agency of the Holy Spirit. According to the counterargument, the very act of the Holy Spirit being given to the believer is the sharing of God’s love to the believer. In other words, when the Holy Spirit is given to the believer, the believer comes to understand that God loves him. Thus, the Holy Spirit is the instrument and the agent through whom believers come to know that God loves them.

Explanation:

When Paul writes that God pours his love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, he means that the Holy Spirit is the agent who affirms to us that God loves us. We can deduce this is Paul’s meaning because he makes similar statements in other passages. ⁹ For example, in Ephesians 3:16–19 he prays that the Ephesians would be strengthened by the Spirit in them, so that Christ would dwell in their hearts by faith, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. Likewise, in 2 Thessalonians 3:5 he asks that the Lord direct the hearts of the Thessalonians to the love of God and the steadfastness of Christ. Similarly, Paul seems to be saying in Romans 5:5 that the Holy Spirit affirms to believers that God loves them. 

Counterargument:

The trouble here is that while Paul might be saying that the Holy Spirit affirms to believers that God loves them, the passages offered to support this view are not relevant. First, in Ephesians 3:16–19, Paul’s prayer is not that the Spirit affirm to believers that God loves them, but that the Spirit give them power that they may have the strength to comprehend the love of Christ. Being empowered by the Spirit to comprehend the love of Christ is not quite the same as the Holy Spirit affirming to believers that God loves them.

Second, the emphasis in 2 Thessalonians 3:5 is that the Lord direct the believers to the love of God. In other words, Paul asks the Lord to direct the believers to love God, not that the Holy Spirit affirms God’s love to believers.

Response to counterargument:

Ephesians 3:16–19 is highly relevant to Romans 5:5. For, as this counterargument admits, Paul’s prayer is that the Spirit strengthen the Ephesians to comprehend the love of Christ. In other words, his prayer is that the Holy Spirit would affirm to the Ephesians that God, that is, Jesus Christ, loves them. Now, it may be that 2 Thessalonians 3:5 is not directly relevant to the notion that the Holy Spirit affirms to believers that God loves them. Still, given that Ephesians 3:16–19 supports this view, we can rightly say there are other passages where Paul states that the Holy Spirit affirms God’s love for us.

Explanation:

Paul writes that God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. What he means is that the love of God has been poured into our hearts, and the outward form that confirms this is the activity of the Holy Spirit.¹⁰ We can deduce this is Paul’s meaning because there was an expectation from Old Testament prophets that the new covenant would be marked by the activity of the Holy Spirit (Isaiah 32:15; Isaiah 34:16; Isaiah 44:3; Ezekiel 11:19; Ezekiel 36:26–27; Ezekiel 37:4–14; Joel 2:28–32).

Counterargument:

The problem with this argument is that Paul is not saying that the new covenant has been initiated through the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. Rather, Paul says that the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. Now, that the Old Testament prophets expected the activity of the Holy Spirit to confirm the establishment of the new covenant is not relevant to God’s love being poured into our hearts. For establishing the new covenant and God’s love being poured into our hearts are not the same thing.

Response to counterargument:

In fact, God’s love being poured into the believers’ hearts is initiated by the establishment of the new covenant. That is, given Christ’s death and resurrection, the new covenant has been initiated, so we are justified by faith. As part of being justified by faith God’s love is being poured into our hearts. Now, a sign that confirms that the new covenant has been initiated, which is when God’s love is poured into believers’ hearts, is the activity of the Holy Spirit. Since the Holy Spirit was active through believers in the church, this signified that the new covenant was initiated, and God’s love had been poured into believers’ hearts.

Explanation:

From Romans 3:21 on, Paul has been explaining that the new covenant has been ushered in by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.¹¹ We know from the Old Testament prophets, and especially Jeremiah 31:31–34 and Joel 2:28–29, that the activity of the Holy Spirit would mark the new covenant. Now, Paul finally says in Romans 5:5 that God’s love, as initiated by the new covenant, is affirmed by the activity of the Holy Spirit who has been given. So Paul is saying that the activity of the Holy Spirit affirms what he has been saying since Romans 3:21, that Christ has ushered in the new covenant.

Counterargument:

It is true that Paul has been alluding to the fact that the new covenant has been ushered in by Christ. Further, we know from the prophets that an aspect of the new covenant is the pouring out of the Spirit. Still, our interpretation ought to make sense in light of the grammar, and unfortunately, this interpretation does not. For Paul does not say anything about the new covenant or the activity of the Spirit in Romans 5:5. Rather, he refers to God’s love being poured through the Holy Spirit. The most natural way to take the grammar is for Paul to be saying that God’s love is poured out through the agency of the Holy Spirit. This implies not that the activity of the Spirit was not manifest among believers, but that Paul does not have the charismatic activities of the Spirit in mind in Romans 5:5.

While this interpretation is consistent with the theology of Scripture, including the Old Testament expectation that the Holy Spirit would affirm the new covenant, this view does not align with the natural meaning of the text. Unfortunately for this view, one of the most important principles of interpretation is that it make sense in light of the natural meaning of a text.