What Is the Holy Spirit?

Understanding John 14:26

The Holy Spirit is one of the most misunderstood persons in the Christian faith. Some treat the Spirit as a vague force — like spiritual electricity. Others reduce the Spirit to an emotional experience. But the Bible presents the Holy Spirit as a full divine person — the third member of the Trinity — who thinks, feels, speaks, acts, and can be grieved. Understanding the Holy Spirit is essential to understanding how God works in the world today.

The Holy Spirit is God

The Bible identifies the Holy Spirit as fully divine:

• Acts 5:3-4: Peter tells Ananias, 'You have lied to the Holy Spirit... You have not lied just to human beings but to God.' Lying to the Spirit = lying to God. Peter equates them.
• 2 Corinthians 3:17: 'Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.'
• Matthew 28:19: Jesus commands baptism 'in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit' — one name, three persons, co-equal.
• The Spirit possesses divine attributes: omniscience (1 Corinthians 2:10-11), omnipresence (Psalm 139:7-8), and the power to create (Genesis 1:2, Job 33:4).

The Holy Spirit is a person, not a force

The Spirit is described with personal characteristics throughout Scripture:

• Mind: 'The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God' (1 Corinthians 2:10)
• Will: 'He distributes [gifts] to each one, just as he determines' (1 Corinthians 12:11)
• Emotions: 'Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God' (Ephesians 4:30) — you cannot grieve an impersonal force
• Speech: 'The Spirit told Philip, "Go to that chariot and stay near it"' (Acts 8:29)
• Intercession: 'The Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans' (Romans 8:26)

Jesus consistently used personal pronouns for the Spirit. In John 14-16, Jesus called the Spirit 'he' (Greek: ekeinos, masculine pronoun) and named Him the 'Advocate' (paraklētos) — a personal title meaning counselor, helper, and comforter.

The Spirit in the Old Testament

The Spirit was active from the very beginning:

• Creation: 'The Spirit of God was hovering over the waters' (Genesis 1:2)
• Empowerment: The Spirit came upon specific people for specific tasks — judges like Samson (Judges 14:6), kings like David (1 Samuel 16:13), prophets like Ezekiel (Ezekiel 2:2)
• Prophecy: 'Men and women spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit' (2 Peter 1:21)

But in the Old Testament, the Spirit's presence was selective and often temporary. The Spirit came upon leaders and could depart (1 Samuel 16:14 — 'the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul'). David's desperate prayer after his sin with Bathsheba was: 'Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me' (Psalm 51:11).

The prophets looked forward to a day when this would change — when the Spirit would be poured out on all people, not just select leaders:

• Joel 2:28-29: '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.'
• Ezekiel 36:26-27: 'I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees.'

Pentecost — the fulfillment

Acts 2 records the fulfillment of these prophecies. On the day of Pentecost, fifty days after Jesus' resurrection:

'Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them' (Acts 2:2-4).

Peter immediately identified this as the fulfillment of Joel's prophecy (Acts 2:16-21). The promise had come true: the Spirit was now available to all believers — not just prophets, priests, and kings.

What the Holy Spirit does in believers

1. Convicts of sin: 'When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment' (John 16:8). The Spirit makes us aware of our need for God.

2. Regenerates: 'No one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit' (John 3:5). The new birth is the Spirit's work.

3. Indwells: 'Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you?' (1 Corinthians 6:19). Every believer has the Spirit living within them.

4. Seals: 'You were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance' (Ephesians 1:13-14). The Spirit is God's guarantee of future salvation.

5. Teaches: 'The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things' (John 14:26).

6. Guides: 'When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth' (John 16:13).

7. Empowers: 'You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses' (Acts 1:8).

8. Produces fruit: 'The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control' (Galatians 5:22-23). Character transformation is the Spirit's signature work.

9. Distributes gifts: Spiritual gifts — prophecy, teaching, healing, tongues, administration, and others — are given by the Spirit 'for the common good' (1 Corinthians 12:7-11).

10. Intercedes: 'The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us' (Romans 8:26).

Where Christians disagree

The Holy Spirit is the person of the Trinity over whom Christians have the most disagreement:

Baptism in the Holy Spirit: Pentecostals and charismatics teach that there is a subsequent experience after conversion — a 'baptism in the Holy Spirit' — often evidenced by speaking in tongues. Reformed and many evangelical traditions teach that Spirit baptism occurs at conversion (1 Corinthians 12:13) and that there is no required second experience.

Spiritual gifts: Cessationists believe that miraculous gifts (tongues, prophecy, healing) ceased after the apostolic era. Continuationists believe all gifts remain active today. Both camps affirm the Spirit's ongoing work in believers' lives.

The Filioque: The ancient theological debate about whether the Spirit proceeds 'from the Father' (Eastern Orthodox position) or 'from the Father and the Son' (Western/Catholic/Protestant position — the Latin word 'filioque' means 'and the Son'). This was a major factor in the Great Schism of 1054.

The bottom line

The Holy Spirit is not optional equipment for the Christian life — He is the Christian life. Without the Spirit, there is no new birth, no transformation, no power, no guidance, no assurance, no fruit. Jesus told His disciples it was better for them that He go away — because then the Spirit would come (John 16:7). The physical presence of Jesus in one location was replaced by the spiritual presence of God in every believer everywhere. The Holy Spirit is how God is present with His people right now.