Who Is the Holy Spirit?

Who Is the Holy Spirit?

Christian tradition starts speaking of the Holy Spirit by saying that the Holy Spirit is God, based on the Bible.

The Holy Spirit has the attributes of God:

• eternal, having neither beginning nor end (Hebrews 9:14),
• omni-potent, having all power (Luke 1:35);
• omni-present, being everywhere at the same time (Psalm 139:7);
• omni-scient, understanding all matters(1 Corinthians 2:10,11).

Scripture shows that the Holy Spirit is a Person and is God:

1. the fact that the Holy Spirit's work in the Old Testament is closely identified with the Word of YHWH spoken by the prophets (this was affirmed by the early church in 2 Peter 1:21);
2. the close ties between Jesus' mission and the work of the Holy Spirit.
3. the close ties between the mission of the apostles and the work of the Holy Spirit(1 Peter 1:12);
4. The episode with Hananiah(Ananias) in Acts 5, where first, Peter says that Hananiah lied to the Holy Spirit, then later says that he lied not to men but to God;
5. The trinitarian baptismal formula found in Scripture (Matt 28:19): "in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit". It dates to the church's earliest days;
6. Jesus made a habit of confronting traditions with "box-breaking" actions. He ate with tax collectors and sinners, He turned over the tables of the money changers in the temple, He talked to the woman at the well, He healed the occupier-centurion's daughter. The Holy Spirit does the same kind of thing in Acts, and ever since.

The Holy Spirit as a Person

The Holy Spirit is not a symbol of anything. Symbols don't:

• communicates ('speaks') (Acts 13:2),
• intercedes (steps in on behalf of someone) (Romans 8:26),
• testifies (John 15:26)
• guides (John 16:13),
• commands (Acts 16:6,7),
• appoints (Acts 20:28),
• leads (Romans 8:14),
• reveals to someone how wrong, foolish, or sinful he/she was (John 16:8).
• seals God's promise in believers' hearts (Ephesians 1:13-14)
• shapes the life of each person and community to Christ's (Romans 8:1-17)

In Scripture, the Holy Spirit has intellect, emotions, and will, and can be grieved. This gives the Holy Spirit a personality.

The key way of giving the Holy Spirit grief is malice, which is shown as bitterness, rage, anger, clamor (making lots of noise and disruption) and slander. Paul follows this description by what makes for a happy Holy Spirit: forgiving others as in Christ God forgave you.

Who Is the Holy Spirit?

Christian tradition starts speaking of the Holy Spirit by saying that the Holy Spirit is God, based on the Bible.

The Holy Spirit has the attributes of God:

• eternal, having neither beginning nor end (Hebrews 9:14),
• omni-potent, having all power (Luke 1:35);
• omni-present, being everywhere at the same time (Psalm 139:7);
• omni-scient, understanding all matters(1 Corinthians 2:10,11).

Scripture shows that the Holy Spirit is a Person and is God:

1. the fact that the Holy Spirit's work in the Old Testament is closely identified with the Word of YHWH spoken by the prophets (this was affirmed by the early church in 2 Peter 1:21);

4. The episode with Hananiah(Ananias) in Acts 5, where first, Peter says that Hananiah lied to the Holy Spirit, then later says that he lied not to men but to God;

5. The trinitarian baptismal formula found in Scripture (Matt 28:19): "in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit". It dates to the church's earliest days;

6. Jesus made a habit of confronting traditions with "box-breaking" actions. He ate with tax collectors and sinners, He turned over the tables of the money changers in the temple, He talked to the woman at the well, He healed the occupier-centurion's daughter. The Holy Spirit does the same kind of thing in Acts, and ever since.

The Holy Spirit as a Person

The Holy Spirit is not a symbol of anything. Symbols don't:

• communicates ('speaks') (Acts 13:2),
• intercedes (steps in on behalf of someone) (Romans 8:26),
• testifies (John 15:26)
• guides (John 16:13),
• commands (Acts 16:6,7),
• appoints (Acts 20:28),
• leads (Romans 8:14),
• reveals to someone how wrong, foolish, or sinful he/she was (John 16:8).
• seals God's promise in believers' hearts (Ephesians 1:13-14)
• shapes the life of each person and community to Christ's (Romans 8:1-17)

In Scripture, the Holy Spirit has intellect, emotions, and will, and can be grieved. This gives the Holy Spirit a personality.

The key way of giving the Holy Spirit grief is malice, which is shown as bitterness, rage, anger, clamor (making lots of noise and disruption) and slander. Paul follows this description by what makes for a happy Holy Spirit: forgiving others as in Christ God forgave you.

The Holy Spirit can act in whatever manner the Holy Spirit wants to act. The Holy Spirit generally acts through the church, but doesn't have to; the wind blows where it will. The Holy Spirit also doesn't have to always be seriously focused on those purposes; the Holy Spirit got a playful side.

This is all stuff that can't be true of a mere (or even 'The') Force. That is usually how we experience the Holy Spirit and know of the Holy Spirit's presence, but that is not what the Holy Spirit is. As God, the Holy Spirit is cause, and that cause has effect. Yet, there are those in the Christian churches who reduce the Holy Spirit to a force. Or, to a collective will or a living memory of the gathered believers or the force of emotion or conscience within a person. Those people, fine as they may be, are describing a different spirit than the Holy Spirit as viewed by a Christian. The Holy Spirit works in all of these ways and more, yet against all of them at times. The Holy Spirit works in whatever ways are needed to do what needs to be done, except by way of forceable control of actions.

THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

The Holy Spirit shows up in the Old Testament(OT), especially in the prophets' books.

• The OT does not use nepesh(soul of earthly beings) to describe God. It uses ruach.
• The OT does not present ruach as the mediator between God and humans. The Holy Spirit is God at work, not a go-between. The word ruach is a movement of air (wind, breath)
• There are 'general' references to the Holy Spirit of God, such as in Gen 44:38 on the lips of a non-believer. When that happens, the term may have been used to mean 'divine spirit', a recognition that a god (whomever the god is) is at work, that some sort of power or authority beyond the usual is rather obviously causing things to happen.
• The Messiah is said by Isaiah to be specially endowed with the Holy Spirit: Isaiah 11:2; 42:1; 61:1.
• The Holy Spirit is seen as God's presence in the hearts of each believer: Psalm 51:11; Psalm 139:7.
• In Ezekiel (37:9) and Isaiah (34:16; 48:16; 63:10), there is a hint of personality, unlike in the rest of the Hebrew Scriptures.

In the main OT Jewish way of looking at it, the Holy Spirit was a life force or energy of God, the operational side of what a Christian would term "the Father", rather than a Person in the Trinitarian sense. A psalmist speaks of God's 'Holy Spirit' acting in a personal way (Psalm 143:10), but the use of 'Holy Spirit' there is probably another way to say 'God' (Hebrew poetry uses many ways to say the same or similar things). Isaiah and Ezekiel give hints toward envisioning the person-ness of the Holy Spirit, but it is not until the writings between the testaments that this vision takes on a clearer shape, and not until Christ that it is given its full dimension.

Fruits of the Holy Spirit: "charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control and chastity."

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The Holy Spirit can act in whatever manner the Holy Spirit wants to act. The Holy Spirit generally acts through the church, but doesn't have to; the wind blows where it will. The Holy Spirit also doesn't have to always be seriously focused on those purposes; the Holy Spirit got a playful side.

This is all stuff that can't be true of a mere (or even 'The') Force. That is usually how we experience the Holy Spirit and know of the Holy Spirit's presence, but that is not what the Holy Spirit is. As God, the Holy Spirit is cause, and that cause has effect. Yet, there are those in the Christian churches who reduce the Holy Spirit to a force. Or, to a collective will or a living memory of the gathered believers or the force of emotion or conscience within a person. Those people, fine as they may be, are describing a different spirit than the Holy Spirit as viewed by a Christian. The Holy Spirit works in all of these ways and more, yet against all of them at times. The Holy Spirit works in whatever ways are needed to do what needs to be done, except by way of forceable control of actions.

THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

The Holy Spirit shows up in the Old Testament(OT), especially in the prophets' books.

• The OT does not use nepesh(soul of earthly beings) to describe God. It uses ruach.
• The OT does not present ruach as the mediator between God and humans. The Holy Spirit is God at work, not a go-between. The word ruach is a movement of air (wind, breath)
• There are 'general' references to the Holy Spirit of God, such as in Gen 44:38 on the lips of a non-believer. When that happens, the term may have been used to mean 'divine spirit', a recognition that a god (whomever the god is) is at work, that some sort of power or authority beyond the usual is rather obviously causing things to happen.
• The Messiah is said by Isaiah to be specially endowed with the Holy Spirit: Isaiah 11:2; 42:1; 61:1.
• The Holy Spirit is seen as God's presence in the hearts of each believer: Psalm 51:11; Psalm 139:7.
• In Ezekiel (37:9) and Isaiah (34:16; 48:16; 63:10), there is a hint of personality, unlike in the rest of the Hebrew Scriptures.

In the main OT Jewish way of looking at it, the Holy Spirit was a life force or energy of God, the operational side of what a Christian would term "the Father", rather than a Person in the Trinitarian sense. A psalmist speaks of God's 'Holy Spirit' acting in a personal way (Psalm 143:10), but the use of 'Holy Spirit' there is probably another way to say 'God' (Hebrew poetry uses many ways to say the same or similar things). Isaiah and Ezekiel give hints toward envisioning the person-ness of the Holy Spirit, but it is not until the writings between the testaments that this vision takes on a clearer shape, and not until Christ that it is given its full dimension.

Fruits of the Holy Spirit: "charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control and chastity."

Visit us online at http://www.uecf.net