The Holy Spirit—Who He Is

Hello friends, and welcome to our brand new series on the Holy Spirit! For the remainder of this calendar year, you and I will be studying all the things about the Holy Spirit…who He is, what He does, and how we respond to His work. Are you excited?

I hope this thrills you as much as it does me, because I think we could use some understanding on the role and work of the Spirit. I don’t know about you and your background or upbringing as it relates to the church, but in my experience, there seems to be an imbalance when it comes to teaching on and understanding of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We hear A LOT about God and Jesus yet so much less about this equal and third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. Am I right?

While I can’t presume to cover all there is to know and understand about the Holy Spirit within the next three months, I will tell you this: We are going to pursue the Holy Spirit. We are going to study God’s Word on what it has to say about the Spirit, and we are going to have some fun doing it!

The next several weeks in this series will be spent discovering and understanding the many different roles of the Spirit, seeking to understand who He is through how He works, so in this introductory post, I want to lay a few foundational truths.

First, we must understand that the Holy Spirit IS God. Just as Jesus is God, so is the Spirit. The doctrine of the Trinity states that we have one God in three persons, all equal with distinct roles. I just love how my ESV Study Bible articulates this:

“The Holy Spirit is a fully and completely divine person who possesses all of the divine attributes. God the Spirit applies the work of God the Son. The Spirit’s distinct role is to accomplish the unified will of the Father and the Son and to be in personal relationship with both of them.”

I love that description: “God the Spirit applies the work of God the Son.” Christ’s death rescued, pardoned, and saved us. The Spirit’s work sanctifies us. It’s beautiful, isn’t it? I hope this makes so much more sense to you all after just finishing our series on the Fruit of the Spirit…each fruit, each virtue produced in us is a work of the Spirit in us as we abide in Christ.

Secondly, the Holy Spirit is God’s ongoing and indwelling presence with us. What does that mean? God chooses to take up residence within every believer! Incredible! Before Christ came, God’s presence was held within the temple. When Christ came, the world beheld the very presence of God in flesh and blood. When Christ ascended, He left us with the promise of the coming Holy Spirit, a promise that God would forever remain with His people.

“And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for he lives with you and will be in you.” John 14:16-17

“The reality of God’s presence is brought to God’s people by God’s Spirit.”

I hope this has whet your appetite for so much more. We’ve only just scratched the surface, but I pray that through this study, we come to know, understand, and truly love the Spirit and begin to see Him at work so clearly in us and around us.

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” 2 Corinthians 3:17

Holy Spirit, come! Bring your freedom!