Who is the Holy Spirit?
The Holy Spirit is God, the third member of the Triune Godhead (see the section Questions about God for further notes on the Trinity). The Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit is a person, not an “it” or a thing. Throughout Scripture, the Spirit makes God’s presence known in the world, being involved in creation, salvation, the building of the Church, implementing every aspect of the divine plan for the ages.
The Spirit in the Old Testament:
The Spirit was vitally involved in creation (Genesis 1:2; Job 26:13; Isaiah 32:15), even breathing life into the first human beings (Genesis 2:7). The Spirit empowered individuals like Joshua (Numbers 27:18); Othniel (Judges 3:10); Gideon, (Judges 6:34); and Samson (Judges 13:25; 14:6) to accomplish specific tasks related to God’s redemptive plan.
The Spirit inspired the biblical authors to record God’s truth in their writings (2 Sam. 23:2, Ezek. 2:2, 2 Peter 2:1:20-21). The Spirit was promised to indwell God’s people, to motivate them to walk in God’s statutes (Ezek. 36:27).
The Spirit abided on the Messiah, giving him wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge, fear of the Lord, righteousness, and faithfulness. (Isaiah 11:2; 42:1).
The Spirit in the New Testament:
The Spirit plays an important role in preparing for the coming of the Messiah. He blessed Elizabeth so she could bear John the Baptist. The Spirit overshadowed Mary so that the Son she would bear was said to be “conceived by the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 1:20, Luke 1:15, 35, 41).
The Spirit appears as a dove at the baptism of Jesus (Matt. 3:16–17; Mark 1:9–11; Luke 3:21–22; John 1:33) and empowers Jesus to deal with the temptations in the wilderness (Luke 4:1). Jesus is said to be anointed by the Spirit of the Lord, fulfilling Old Testament prophecy (Isaiah 61:1; Luke 4:18–19). The Spirit enables Jesus to cast out demons and perform miracles (Matthew 12:28-29; Luke 11:20).
The Holy Spirit is the source of the new birth (John 3:6) and leads Jesus’ disciples into all truth (John 15:26). He convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgment (John 16:8). The Spirit is called the Comforter or the Helper and he is promised by Jesus to his disciples to be God‘s ministering presence after Jesus ascends to his throne (John 14:16; 26)
On the day of Pentecost, the disciples were baptized by the Holy Spirit into the Body of Christ at the inauguration of the Church. It was the Spirit who empowered the disciples and believers today to be witnesses of the Gospel to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1:4-6; 2:1-4). The entire book of Acts is sometimes called the “Acts of the Holy Spirit” because He enabled, strengthened, encouraged, guided, and filled the disciples in their work of evangelism and church planting.
In his Epistles, Paul refers to the Holy Spirit as the indwelling presence of God in the believer, powerfully working to promote obedience and holiness in the individual (Romans 6, 8), to bear the “fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22-23) and to build up the Body in love, unity and coordination (I Corinthians 12:4-27). He is called the down payment on and the guarantee of our future inheritance in the kingdom of God (Ephesians 1:14).
As we can see from Scripture, the Holy Spirit has a multifaceted ministry of manifesting God’s presence in the world, in the individual, and in the Church to accomplish God’s saving purposes in Christ.
