Nov 15 2023

The Holy Spirit

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God the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Godhead.  

God exists in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial (substance) divine persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The One God is three distinct persons that share one essence, substance and nature. God the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Triune God. There is cohesive unity in the existence, nature, attributes and works of God. Although they are distinct and known in different fundamental being, each maintains perfect adhesion, unity, substance, power and attribute of the nature of God. What may be said of God the Father can be said of God the Son and the Holy Spirit. The attributes of God are not parts of the essence of God. The whole essence of God is revealed in each attribute, and the entire attributes are manifest in the essence.

What does that mean?

Everything that is an attribute or nature of God cannot be separated from the essence or person of God. Consider the attributes of God are fully evident and present in God in every place where God is present.

The attributes are the essential qualities of God.

All of the absolute and moral attributes of God are shared equally in the Divine Trinity.

  • Blessedness — absolute perfection
  • Compassion — tender mercy and pity for humanity
  • Eternity — without beginning and free from all succession of time, not limited by time, He is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.
  • Faithfulness — perfectly fulfills all His promise and purpose
  • Glory — splendor and brightness that is inseparable from His virtues, nature, and grace
  • Goodness — is related to all of His perfections (kindness, mercy, grace, love…)
  • Grace — the goodness of God manifest through forbearance, longsuffering, and patience
  • Holiness — self-affirming purity and moral excellence in being and character, 
  • Immensity – God’s nature is not increased by space, but is the source of space, He is transcendent above all space and usual limits of man
  • Immutability / unchangeableness — God is unchangeable in essence, will, consciousness, and attributes, never increases, decreases, improves, deteriorates, gets better, or gets worse
  • Infinity — never increases, decreases, improves, deteriorates, gets better, or gets worse, eternal, self-existent
  • Justice — God is free from selfish ambition, motivation and emotion in judgment
  • Love — God is love. Love is the very nature of God. His love is revealed in His dealings with His creations and His salvation.
  • Mercy — the goodness in response to the need of man
  • Omnipresence — He is everywhere present in the infinitude of His being. He is immanent throughout the universe and is represented equally and totally in every place He is present.
  • Omnipotence — God is all powerful, He can do everything and anything that is not in opposition to Himself. The greatness of His power is witnessed in His creation.
  • Omniscience — God knows all things everywhere perfectly, instantly, exhaustively, thoroughly, and accurately. He knows all things from beginning to end.
  • Patience — is God’s self-control
  • Perfection — God is absolutely complete, flawless, pure, holy, truth, kindness, love, joy…..
  • Righteous — God is morally perfect, upright, just. God cannot change. All of His acts conform to His nature.
  • Self-existence — He possessed the ground and essence of His existence within Himself. God has life within Himself. He is the energy and source of being, and possesses within Himself independence.
  • Sovereignty — God always accomplishes His will.
  • Spirituality — God is immaterial, invisible, and powerful in the nature of His being and essence, yet, God can reveal Himself in any number of ways that are knowable to man.
  • Supremacy — God has absolute rule over everything. He is supreme, Romans 8:28.
  • Truth — God is the substance of all truth, as a result His word is true, reliable, unfailing.
  • Unity — God is not subject to division, the Lord our God is One God. The trinity of God is not in contradiction to the unity of God.
  • Volitional / Sovereign — God’s will is the exercise of His supremacy. God possesses the power that is necessary to accomplish and effect/cause His will to come to completion.
  • Wisdom — the wisdom of God is related to His knowledge. Wisdom is the controlling power of God that makes all things work together for good

Each person of the Trinity is involved in God’s work and plans. From the creation to the culmination of all things, the omniscient and omnipotent God is sovereignly in control. His purpose will be fulfilled. This is the providence and preservation of Almighty God. God has not merely created all things, He sustains all things by His sovereign power.

Who or What is the Holy Spirit?

The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Triune Godhead. He is endowed with all the personality, power, and attributes of God. He possesses the virtues of individuality and all of the ability that is coequal to the Father and Son. He is very God of very God. The Holy Spirit is more than impersonal force, energy, power, wind, anointing, fire, breath, water, tongues, or any number of other forms of expression of His works and manifestation. Throughout Scriptures He is referred to by the works He is known for.

His personal activities are described with impersonal pronouns.

  • water — John 7:38,39
  • wind  — John 3:8, Acts 2:2
  • fire  — Acts 2:3
  • oil  — Acts 10:38
  • a dove  — Luke 3:22
  • power  — Acts 1:8, Luke 24:49
  • seal  — Ephesians 1:13, 2 Timothy 2:19

Yet, He is definitely a personal individual Deity in the Trinity. He is God. When Jesus said He would ask the Father to send another Helper/Comforter, He was indicating One Who was co-equal in the Divine Trinity, (John 14:16). The Holy Spirit is God. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit in believers does not diminish any of His attributes, characteristics or nature. Rather, the entrance of the Holy Spirit into the lives of believers has a transformative power in all who receive Him.

The names of the Holy Spirit 

The names of God portray His character. The names of the Holy Spirit are not just identifiers or designations, they reveal His nature, character, works, and attributes. There are over three hundred references in scripture to the Holy Spirit. In those, more than fifty names or titles are used in reference to the Spirit of God.

He is called:

  • The Holy Spirit, Luke 11:13
  • The Spirit of Grace, Hebrews 10:29
  • The Spirit of Jehovah, Isaiah 11:1-2
  • The Eternal Spirit, Hebrews 9:14
  • The Spirit of Burning, Isaiah 4:4
  • “Baptize with Holy Spirit and with Fire”, Matthew 3:11,12
  • Spirit of Truth, John 14:17; 15:26; 16:13
  • Spirit of Life, Romans 8:2 “For the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus…”
  • The Spirit of Wisdom and Knowledge, Isaiah 11:2; 61:1,2; Luke 4:18. 
  • The Spirit of Promise, Ephesians 1:13 “Sealed with that Holy Spirit of Promise”
  • The Spirit of Glory, 1 Peter 4:14 “The Spirit of Glory and of God rests upon you.”
  • The Spirit of Holiness, Romans 1:4
  • The Spirit of God, 1 Corinthians 3:16 “The Spirit of God dwells in you.”
  • The Spirit of Christ, Romans 8:9 “Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.”
  • The Spirit of His Son, Galatians 4:6
  • The Spirit of Jesus Christ, Philippians 1:19
  • The Comforter, Helper, John 14:16; 16:7
  • The Spirit of Adoption, Romans 8:15,23 “But you received the Spirit of Adoption…” (Galatians 4:6,7; Romans 8:19)
  • The Spirit of Supplications (Prayer), Zechariah 12:10; 1 Corinthians 14:2,14,15

Personality of the Holy Spirit

Designations that are attributed to personality are given to the Holy Spirit. The Divine Parakletos is the Comforter, Counselor, Advocate, and Helper.

John 14:26 NKJV But 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 things that I said to you.

John 15:26 NKJV “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.

John 16:7 NKJV Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.

  • The NIV and the HCSV calls Him the Counselor.
  • The KJV says He is the Comforter.
  • The NLT and NRSV says He is the Advocate.
  • The ESV and the NASB calls Him the Helper.

The Holy Spirit possess the characteristics of a person.

  • He has intelligence and is able to teach and bear witness with our spirit — John 14:26, Romans 8:16
  • The Holy Spirit has a will and directs as He determines —   Acts 16:7, 1 Corinthians 12:11 ( The Spirit directed the Apostle Paul’s journey and ministry. He also distributes the gifts according to His will.) 
  • He has affections and may be grieved — Isaiah 63:10, Ephesians 4:30 (Isaiah said they rebelled against and grieved the Holy Spirit.)

The Holy Spirit performs acts proper to personality.

The Holy Spirit has a diversified ministry and work. He has been active throughout eternity and has been present whenever and wherever God has been revealed. It is impossible to define all of the works or activities of God the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit. No one was present to see or instruct God when He created all things. Who can know the mind of the Lord? (Romans 11:34; 1 Corinthians 2:16)

All of the Divine works originate with the Father, are carried out by the Son, and are brought to fruition by the Holy Spirit. All three Persons of the Divine Trinity work together to accomplish the Divine will. We observe their combined activity in the creation, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”

The Spirit of God was hovering over the waters generating life, (Genesis 1:2).

Job 26:13 NIV By His breath the skies became fair

Psalm 33:6, 9 NIV By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth. 9For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.

The plant and animal life was created by the work of God.

Take a look at Psalms 104:11-26, 30. From verse 11 to verse 26 we are shown how God renews the face of the earth. Then in verse 30, the Lord God sent His Spirit and they were created and renewed.

The Holy Spirit is active with regard to all humanity.

He searches, speaks, testifies, commands, repeals, strives, creates, makes intercession, raises the dead, etc. (Genesis 1:2; 6:3; Luke 12:12; John 14:26; 15:26; 16:8; Acts 9:29; 13:2; Romans 8:11; 1 Corinthians 2:10,11; etc). He is active in relation to all of God’s creation, the world of the unsaved, the Lord Jesus Christ and His ministry, and the lives of believers.

The Holy Spirit was active in the creation of man 

Genesis 1:26-27 NIV 26Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” 27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

The plural words “us” and “our” refer to the Triune God.

Genesis 2:7 NIV The LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

Job 33:4 NIV The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life.

Jesus spoke about the ministry of the Holy Spirit

John 16:8-11 NIV84 When He comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.

Manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament.

We need a clear understanding that the Holy Spirit has always been active. There are numerous statements of the Holy Spirit’s activity in the Old Testament.

He came upon men. 

  • Numbers 11:17, 25 — the Spirit that rested on Moses was put upon the seventy elders of Israel.
  • Numbers 24:2 — the Spirit of God came upon Balaam
  • Judges 3:10 — the Spirit of the LORD came upon Othniel and empowered him to overcome the king of Aram.
  • Judges 6:34 — the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon and he blew a trumpet
  • The Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, (Judges 11:29), and upon Sampson, (Judges 13:25, 14:6).
  • Saul prophesied when the Spirit of the LORD came upon him in power, and he was changed into a different person, (1 Samuel 10:6,10).

He was promised to be poured out upon men. 

Isaiah 32:15 … the Spirit is poured upon us from on high

Isaiah 44:3 NIV For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.

Ezekiel 39:29 I will pour out my Spirit on the house of Israel, declares the Sovereign LORD.

Joel 2:28-29 NIV 28‘And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. 29Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.

He rested upon men. 

When the Holy Spirit came upon the seventy elders of Israel Numbers 11:25-26 says: “the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but they did not do so again.”

He never abided within individuals.

In the eighty-eight times the Holy Spirit is mentioned in the Old Testament, He never indwelled individuals. He would come upon them and would leave as He willed. He would give them special anointing, power, and words from God. He would enable them to do special work and ministry.

A future outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Israel

The Old Testament contains prophecies of a future out pouring of the Holy Spirit upon Israel when God would put His Spirit in them.

Ezekiel 37:14 NIV I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.

Ezekiel 39:29 NIV I will no longer hide my face from them, for I will pour out my Spirit on the house of Israel, declares the Sovereign LORD.

Upon all flesh 

Joel 2:28-29 NIV And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.

These prophecies lead us to the Promise of the Father for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

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