The
exact identity of the Holy Spirit is clothed in misconceptions and
misunderstandings.
Some
people think that the Holy Spirit is some kind of mystical and magical
force/energy.
Other
people perceive the Holy Spirit as being a kind of impersonal power that God
has given to those that follow Christ Jesus.
Let
us look, for a moment, at what the Bible has to say about who or what the Holy
Spirit is.
Careful
study of the Bible will reveal that the Holy Spirit is part of the Trinity of
God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
And
the Bible also reveals to us that the Holy Spirit is a divine person, who has a
mind, emotions and a will, all to himself.
Many
scriptures make it abundantly clear that the Holy Spirit is God including Acts
5: 3-4 when Peter takes Ananias to task for lying to the Holy Spirit and tells
him:-
“You
have not lied to man but to God”.
We
can also clearly see and understand that the Holy Spirit must be God because he
possesses the same traits and characteristics as God.
God’s
omnipresence is also to be found in Psalm 139: 7-8:-
Where
shall I go from your spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in the depths, you are there!
And
again, in 1 Corinthians 2: 10-11, we see God’s omnipresence:-
These
things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches
everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except
the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the
thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
And, as we have already discovered, the Holy Spirit must be a divine person
because he possesses a mind, has emotions and a will.
The
Holy Spirit thinks and knows:-
These
things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches
everything, even the depths of God
(1
Corinthians 2:10).
The
Holy Spirit can grieve:-
And
do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of
redemption.
(Ephesians 4:30)
The
Holy Spirit intercedes for us:-
Likewise
the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we
ought, but the Spirit intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
And
he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit
intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
(Romans 8: 26-27)
The
Holy Spirit makes decisions according to His will:-
To
each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
For
to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the
utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit.
To
another faith by the same Spirit, to another the gifts of healing by the one
Spirit.
To
another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to
distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another
the interpretation of tongues.
All
these are empowered by one and the same spirit, who apportions to each one
individually as He wills.
(1 Corinthians 12: 7-11)
Therefore, the
Holy Spirit must be God, the third person of the Trinity (the Father, Son
and Holy Spirit).
As God,
as well as being the Holy Spirit, He can easily function as the Comforter and
Counsellor that Jesus promised that He would be:-
And
I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper to be with you
forever.
But
the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will
teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
But
when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of
truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.
(John
14: 16, John 14: 26, John 15:26)