Who Is The Holy Spirit?

     Much misinformation is being disseminated in the religious world about the Holy
Spirit. Denominationalists are not the only ones who often entertain erroneous ideas
about "who" the Holy Spirit is. There are preachers, elders, deacons, bible class
teachers and others who believe and teach falsely about the identity of the Spirit of
God.

     It seems that many have been wrongly influenced by (1) the emotion based
teaching of the so-called charismatics who would rather adhere to "better felt than
told" religion than to be confined to "words on the pages of a book" as is sometimes
stated. (2) books that are written and published by "popular" authors , but have very
little substantive teaching from God's word. They are high on catchy phrasing and
charming stories but low on sound doctrinal content. (3) traditional teaching of the
"fathers" whose insight was not always true to the book. We accepts no human's
teaching intoto. No one is beyond question. (cf. Acts 17:11)

     A question that has not been asked very often is, "Why is he called the Holy
Spirit? The adjective "holy" (Grk. hagios) is used in scripture to describe both
God the Father (Jno. 17:11) and Jesus the Father's Son (Acts 4:27). In the case
of the "Holy" Spirit, the word indicates that he infinitely and perfectly possesses
the qualities of purity, goodness, and holiness. In the days of Christ and the apostles,
there were unholy, unclean, and impure spirits. (Matt. 10:1; 12:43; Mk. 1:23;
Lk. 4:33) The Holy Spirit is the opposite of what they were.

     The word "Spirit" provides evidence that he does not have a physical, fleshly,
or tangible body. The Son who was the "Word" before coming to earth did take
on a human body (Jno. 1:14; Heb. 10:5,10), but such is not the case with the
Holy Spirit. He has no fleshly body. (Lk. 24:37-39) God the Father is a "Holy
Spirit" in that he is holy (Jn. 17:11) and  a supreme spirit being who has no fleshly
body (Jn. 4:24), yet it is the third person in the Godhead who is specifically designated
the Holy Spirit. This descriptive phrase serves to distinguish him from the Father and
the Son in numerous texts. (Mat. 12:32; 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14)

     Some refer to the Holy Spirit as "it." The Holy Spirit is not an "it" in the sense
of being a lifeless impersonal thing. In the KJV the word "itself" is used with reference
to the Holy Spirit in Romans 8:16. The translators were seeking grammatical agreement
between "itself" and the noun "Spirit." The same word is rendered "himself" in the ASV,
NIV, RSV, NRSV, ESV, TNIV, etc. The Holy Spirit is a person, not an impersonal
"it."

     The Holy Spirit is not a "ghost." One reason for the misunderstandings that some
entertain regarding the nature and identity of  the Holy Spirit is due to the mysticism
surrounding the KJV's translation "Holy Ghost." In 1611 "ghost" in such a reference
meant "spirit," a nonhuman, unseen being, but in our culture "ghost" usually denotes
the soul of a dead person believed to be an inhabitant of the unseen world, who is
allowed to appear to the earthly living in bodily likeness. Some people call them
haunts or hants. When Jesus' disciples saw him walking on the water, they thought
he was a ghost (phantasma). (Mat. 14:26) The Holy Spirit is not a ghost or
apparition. He is a personal being.

     The Holy Spirit is not some mysterious influence, mighty wind, divine energy, or
merely an active force. He is a member of the Godhead. He possesses all the
divine attributes of deity to the same extent and in the same way as the Father and
the Son. He "hovered" over the waters at creation. (Gen. 1:2; Job 33:4).  He wields
influence. He "moved" or influenced God's prophets in their work of proclaiming
and writing. (2 Sam. 23:2; Neh. 9:30; 2 Pet. 1:20-21)  He taught, reminded, guided,
and bore witness through the apostles. (Jno. 14:25-26; 15:25-26; 16:13) He also
brought salvation to sinners in the age of the apostles and  in our age, and will
continue to do so till time is no more. He does this work through the written and
spoken word of Sovereign Yahweh. (Acts 8:4,5,12,14,35; Rom. 1:16; 1 Cor. 1:21;
Jas. 1:18,21)

     It is important that we know who the Holy Spirit is so that we will not misrepresent
his nature, mission, and means of operation in the lives of men and women. May we
never ascribe actions to the Spirit of God that are foreign to New Testament teaching.
                 
                                                                                                                     RD

Copyright 2011