What Three Things Do We Need to Know About the Holy Spirit?

Today, I want to layout three important truths about the Holy Spirit. There reason I believe it is necessary to address them is that there is so much confusion and misinformation about the Spirit. For example, the Jehovah’s Witnesses at the door will say, “The holy spirit is God’s power in action, his active force,” and “the holy spirit is not a person.”¹ Christian Science folks will say that Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of their denomination, wrote in her book entitled Science and Health with Keys to the Scriptures that the “Holy Ghost” is “Divine Science; the development of eternal Life, Truth, and Love”² or a “spiritual idea.”³ In both instances, the Holy Spirit is something impersonal, either some sort of energy or a mental concept. What they are presenting are very deficient portraits of the Holy Spirit. I find the Scriptures revealing something far more dynamic about the Holy Spirit. Let me explain what I mean.

The Holy Spirit is a Person.

Humans are people who possess intelligence, will and emotion. The Holy Spirit, likewise, demonstrates intelligence, will and emotion. Jesus Christ said, “the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (Jn. 14:26). ⁴ This is an example of the Spirit possessing intelligence. He possesses knowledge and passes that knowledge to others via teaching and reminding. Along the same line, we are taught that “no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God” and that “we have received…the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God” (1 Cor. 2:11-12). The Spirit even knows how to pray for those who are so distraught they are unable to even know how they ought to pray for themselves (Rom. 8:26-27). A force is without intelligence. More than just an idea within a mind of a person, the Spirit is a person with an intelligent mind that shares knowledge, wisdom and ideas to other people.

The Spirit possesses a will. Out of His own volition He apportions spiritual gifts to each Christian (1 Cor. 12:11). Ideas and forces are without volition.

The Spirit even possesses emotions. For example, the Apostle Paul writes, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God” (Eph. 4:30; cf. Isa. 63:10). One can never really offend an impersonal force or idea. Electricity never grieves over being resisted by rubber insulation. Ideas never grieve about anything. Only a person grieves when offended. When a person commits an offense against God, the Spirit grieves on account of the sin.

The Holy Spirit is Divine.

Paul writes, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:17-18). Here we are told that the source of spiritual transformation in the Christian life is the Spirit and the Spirit is none other than the Lord.

Simon Peter also equates the Holy Spirit with God. This is implied in the rebuke: “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God” (Acts 5:3-4).⁵ The lying to the Holy Spirit is tantamount to lying to God.

The first Christians were convinced that the Holy Spirit that filled the Church was in fact the God of the universe.

The Holy Spirit is the Third Person of the Trinity.

Now, there is only one God (Deut. 6:4); however, the one God is three in person. The Father is divine (Matt. 5:16; 6:9; Jas. 1:17), the Son is divine (John 1:1-3, 14; Col. 1:15-20; Heb. 1:1-4), and the Holy Spirit is divine (See above). Moreover, the Father, Son and Spirit are distinct from one another, which is evident from their interactions together. For example, the Son asks the Father to give the Spirit, and the Father sends the Spirit (Jn. 14:16-17, 26). The Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Paraclete bears witness to the Son (Jn. 15:26). The advantage of the Son’s leaving is the coming of the Spirit (Jn. 16:7-11). Spirit speaks on behalf of the Son and the Son is glorified by the Paraclete (Jn. 16:13-14).

The interactions of the three persons are even witnessed at the baptism of Jesus Christ. The Son goes through water baptism, the Holy Spirit descends upon the Son in bodily form and the Father says, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased” (Mk. 1:9-10; cf. Matt. 3:13-17; Lk. 3:21-22). John the Baptist, likewise, testifies to baptizing the Son, witnessing the Spirit like a dove descending upon the Son, and remembering the message given from the Sender: “He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit” (Jn. 1:29-31).

The distinction between the three persons is also witnessed in each of their respective functions. For example, “in Ephesians 1:3-14…election is referred to the Father (vv. 4, 5, 11), redemption to the Son (3, 7, 8) and ‘sealing’ to the Spirit (13, 14).”⁶ Elsewhere Paul writes that God “saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior” (Titus 3:5-6). Put it another way: “God effected our salvation by changing our lives through the work of the Holy Spirit (v. 5), whom Jesus Christ ‘poured out on us’ (v. 6).”⁷

Keep in mind that there are not three Gods but only one God.

The best way to express what the Scriptures reveal is to maintain that there is one God who is three in person. More precisely, God is one ousia and three hypostases. The Greek term “Ousia refers to the nature or essence of a thing” whereas “hypostasis…indicates an individual or particular subject.” In other words, “the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three distinct individuals or subjects who share a common nature, namely the nature God.”⁸ This is the essence of Nicene Trinitarianism. The biblical teaching about God being one in essence (ousia) and three in person (hypostases) is imbued in the term “Trinity.” Although the word never appears on the pages of Scriptures, Trinity by definition encompasses what the Word reveals about the one God and the three persons — Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

To believe the Holy Spirit is an active force or a spiritual idea or some other kind of impersonal energy is a gross misunderstanding of the one true God of the universe. The very idea of the Holy Spirit being some impersonal force or idea constitutes heresy. Heresy is the “doctrinal deviation from the fundamental truths taught by Scripture and the orthodox Christian church, and active propagation of the same.”⁹

The Holy Spirit plays a vital role in the authentic Christian life. He regenerates us from our fallen state in sin and death. He brings to remembrance the all that Christ taught us. He brings us into fellowship with Father and the Son. He seals us for the day of our final redemption when we are resurrected into eternal life.

— WGN

---

1. Jehovah’s Witnesses.org, “What is the Holy Spirit?” https://www.jw.org/en/bible-teachings/questions/what-is-the-holy-spirit/
2. Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Keys to the Scriptures (Boston, MA: Christian Science Publishing Society), 588.
3. Ibid., 496. According to Christian Science the Holy Ghost is synonymous with Divine Science. Cf. Richard C. Bergenheim, “The Holy Ghost and Healing,” Christian Science Journal, August, 1995, https://journal.christianscience.com/shared/view/pp63a9bvh8
4. All Scripture cited from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), unless noted.
5. Ananias with his wife Sapphira conspired to sell a piece of property, hold back a portion of the money for themselves, give the remainder to the apostles, but declare under false pretense their gift was for the full value of the sold property (Acts. 5:1-2, 7-8). Ananias and Sapphira defiled the practice of charitable giving being observed in the fledging Christian community (Acts 2:45; 4:32-37). Something very sacred was all of a sudden profaned. Their deception not only was an offence to the fledgling Christian Church, but also to the Holy Spirit indwelling the community. Ananias and Sapphira did what evil in the sight of God, and they perished in their sin (Acts 5:5-6, 10). Those who commit similar kinds of deceptions as Ananias and Sapphira truly defile the sacredness of Christ’s community. Experience tells us that others who sin in the likeness of Ananias and Sapphira are never immediately struck down. What they do is nonetheless abhorred by God. God shows patience with sinners and gives them every opportunity to repent (2 Pet. 3:8-9). Nevertheless, God is not to be trifled. Judgment Day will come when all things are set to right (Rev. 20:11-13; Dan. 12:1-2; Matt. 25:1-46). Today is the day for salvation (Rom. 13:11-12).
6. Bruce Milne, Know the Truth: A Handbook of Christian Belief (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1982, 1988), 76
7. George W. III Knight, “1-2 Timothy/Titus,” in Evangelical Commentary on the Bible, vol. 3, Baker Reference Library (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1995), 1117.
8. Nathan Jacobs, “Understanding Nicene Trinitarianism, Christian Research Journal, 41, 4 [2018]: 23-24.
9. B. Demarest, “Heresy,” New Dictionary of Theology, ed. Sinclair B. Ferguson and J.I. Packer (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000), 291–292.