Is the Holy Spirit a universal force or a person? Who is the Holy Spirit? What is His work? What does He do in the world today? A Greek word for spirit is p?e?µa (pneuma) and so a study of the Holy Spirit is called Pneumatology.
Is the Holy Spirit a Person?
He has a will and makes choices. We read that the giving of spiritual gifts is a decision made by the Holy Spirit.
It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have. (1 Corinthians 12:11 NLT)
The Holy Spirit taught and reminded the Apostles what to write in the New Testament.
But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative--that is, the Holy Spirit--he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you. (John 14:26 NLT)
The Holy Spirit guides people into truth loyally passing on what He received from Jesus.
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me. (John 16:13-14 NLT)
The Holy Spirit glorifies and reveals Jesus.
He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. (John 16:14 NASB)
The Holy Spirit reproves or convicts of sin.
And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment (John 16:8 KJV)
The Holy Spirit anointed or commissioned us, placed a seal or impression upon believers and is a guarantee.
Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. (2 Corinthians 1:21-22 NKJV)
The Holy Spirit can be grieved or brought to sorrow.
Don’t make God’s Spirit sad. The Spirit makes you sure that someday you will be free from your sins. (Ephesians 4:30 CEV)
The Holy Spirit can be blasphemed.
So I tell you, every sin and blasphemy can be forgiven--except blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which will never be forgiven. (Matthew 12:31 NLT)
The Holy Spirit possesses a rational mind, helping and interceding for us, even giving us the right words to say, like He inspired the apostles to preach and write the Bible.
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. (Romans 8:26-27 NIV)
For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. (1 Corinthians 2:11-13 NIV)
The Holy Spirit can be lied to.
Then Peter said, “Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit…” (Acts 5:3-4 NLT)
The Holy Spirit can be stifled or thwarted.
Do not quench the Spirit. (1 Thessalonians 5:19 KJV)
The Holy Spirit can be resisted.
You stubborn people! You are heathen at heart and deaf to the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit? That's what your ancestors did, and so do you! (Acts 7:51 NLT)
The Holy Spirit is distinguished from yet related to the Father and the Son.
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. (Matthew 28:19-20 NIV)
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. (2 Corinthians 13:14 NKJV)
Is the Holy Spirit God?
As we just read, the Holy Spirit is neither the Father nor the Son, and He is treated equally with the Father and the Son.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. (2 Corinthians 13:14 NASB)
The Holy Spirit performs the works of God. For instance, he inspired Scripture.
And so we have the prophetic word confirmed… for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:2-21 NKJV)
The Holy Spirit regenerates or gives new birth to us.
He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5 NASB)
The Holy Spirit creates, sustains, and gives life to all things.
The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. (Genesis 1:2 NKJV)
His Spirit made the heavens beautiful… (Job 26:13 NLT)
If it were his intention and he withdrew his spirit and breath, all humanity would perish together and mankind would return to the dust. (Job 34:14-15 NIV)
You hide Your face, they are troubled; You take away their breath, they die and return to their dust. You send forth Your Spirit, they are created; And You renew the face of the earth. (Psalm 104:29-30 NKJV)
The Holy Spirit raised Christ from the dead.
And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you. (Romans 8:11 NIV)
The Holy Spirit is regarded as God. For instance, He is eternal.
How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Hebrews 9:14 KJV)
The Holy Spirit is omniscient, knowing everything, exactly like God.
For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. (1 Corinthians 2:10-11 NASB)
Lying to the Holy Spirit is lying to God.
Then Peter said, “Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit… You weren’t lying to us but to God!” (Acts 5:3-4 NLT)
We are God’s temple because God’s spirit lives in us.
Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? (1 Corinthians 3:16 NIV)
Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NIV)
Pictures of the Holy Spirit
Wind
The Holy Spirit is like the wind. We cannot physically see where He comes from or where He will go next in a person’s life.
The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit. (John 3:8 NASB)
Water
The Holy Spirit is like living waters flowing from within a person.
He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit (John 7:37-39 NKJV)
With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. (Isaiah 12:3 NIV)
until at last the Spirit is poured out on us from heaven (Isaiah 32:15 NLT)
I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. (Isaiah 44:3 NIV)
I will pour out my Spirit on the people of Israel (Ezekiel 39:29 NIV)
I will pour out my Spirit upon all people (Joel 2:28-32 NLT)
Dove
The Holy Spirit was like a dove descending on Jesus.
And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him (Matthew 3:16 ESV)
Power
The Holy Spirit is a source of spiritual power.
But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. (Acts 1:8 KJV)
Guarantee
The Holy Spirit is like a guarantee or a pledge.
The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him. (Ephesians 1:14 NLT)
Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. (2 Corinthians 1:21-22 NIV)
Fire
The Holy Spirit is like fire, as at Pentecost.
Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. (Acts 2:3 NLT)
God is often pictured in fire.
So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.” When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.” “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” (Exodus 3:3-5 NIV)
By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people. (Exodus 13:21-22 NIV)
To the Israelites the glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain. (Exodus 24:17 NIV)
More in Part 2 to come.
