Who or what is the Holy Spirit? Many Christians have vague and woolly ideas; the Jehovah's Witnesses view the holy spirit as a mere force emanating from God and don't use capital letters, the Church proclaims that the Holy Spirit is God - but they didn't get around to declaring the fact until 381 AD. So is the Holy Spirit a thing or a person, how does the Spirit fit in with God and Jesus, what does the Holy Spirit have to do with our lives as Christians. Our only way of knowing for sure is to look in the scriptures, because that is the only place we'll find the answers.

There are lots of references in the New Testament to "the Spirit" or the "Holy Spirit", but there are a number of other titles which we also need to consider.

• Spirit of God - Matthew 3:16, Romans 8:9,14, 1 Corinthians 2:11,14, 6:11, 7:40, 12:3, 1 John 4:2
  
• Spirit of the Living God - 2 Corinthians 3:3
  
• Spirit of the Lord - Luke 4:18, Acts 5:9, 8:39, 2 Corinthians 3:17
  
• Spirit of Christ/Jesus Christ - Romans 8:9, Philippians 1:19, 1 Peter 1:11
  
• Spirit of His (God's) Son - Galatians 4:6
  
• Spirit of truth - Luke 4:18, Acts 5:9, 8:39, 2 Corinthians 3:17
  
• Spirit of holiness - Romans 1:4
  
• Spirit of life - Romans 8:2
  
• Spirit of grace - Hebrews 10:29
  
• Counsellor - John 14:16,26, 15:26, 16:7
  

An examination of the texts reveals these to be the same Spirit. Romans 8:9 refers to "Spirit", "Spirit of God" and "Spirit of Christ" as synonymous. John 14:26 equates the "Holy Spirit" with the "Counsellor" and in John 15:26 the "Counsellor" is the "Spirit of truth".

The Holy Spirit is both the "Spirit of God" and the "Spirit of Christ", but is spoken of as distinct from both (Romans 8:11). In Matthew 3:16-17 the Spirit is coming upon Christ and God is speaking from heaven. The Spirit then is distinct from both the Father and the Son, but is the Spirit a mere force sent by God, or a distinct person?

Let us look at some of the qualities and functions seen associated with the Holy Spirit in the New Testament. The Spirit is seen to:

• impel people - Matthew 4:1, Mark 1:12
  
• constrain people - Acts 16:6,7
  
• empower people to perform signs & wonders and cast out demons - Luke 4:14, Matthew 12:28, Acts 1:8, 10:38, Romans 15:19, 1 Corinthians 2:4
  
• inspire people to speak and teaches them what to say - Mark 12:36, 13:11, Luke 12:12, Acts 2:4, 6:10, 21:11, 28:25, 1 Corinthians 2:13, 12:3, 2 Peter 1:21
  
• reveals things unknown - Luke 2:27, John 14:26, 16:13, Acts 11:28, 1 Corinthians 2:10, Ephesians 3:5
  
• speak to people - Acts 8:29, 10:19, 11:12, 13:2, 15:28. 20:23, 1 Timothy 4:1, Hebrews 3:7, 1 John 4:2, Revelation 2:7,11,17,29, 3:6,16,22, 14:13, 22:17
  
• be put to the test by men - Acts 5:9
  
• be lied to - Acts 5:3
  
• be resisted - Acts 7:51
  
• be blasphemed against - Matthew 12:31. Mark 3:29, Luke 12:10
  
• be grieved - Ephesians 4:30 be stifled or quenched - 1 Thessalonians 5:19
  
• be insulted - Hebrews 10:29
  
• dwell in Christians - Romans 8:9,11, 1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19, 2 Timothy 1:14, 1 John 3:24
  
• rest upon Christians - 1 Peter 4:14
  
• witness events - Acts 5:32
  
• comfort - Acts 9:31
  
• appoint to positions - Acts 20:28
  
• enable people to change their lifestyle - Romans 8:13, Galatians 5:16,22-23
  
• intercede for people - Romans 8:27
  
• search out and know things - 1 Corinthians 2:10
  
• impart supernatural abilities - 1 Corinthians 12:4-11, Hebrews 2:4
  
• clean and make holy - Romans 15:16, 1 Peter 1:2
  

Many of these qualities are personal characteristics which could not apply to an inanimate object or to a force - to speak, to comfort, to be insulted and grieved, to be lied to and blasphemed against; these all imply a definite personal nature, though that is not necessarily physical bodily nature. While there is one physical manifestation of the Spirit recorded (Matthew 3:16, Mark 1:10, Luke3:22, John 1:32), in all other instances the Holy Spirit is unseen, compared with the wind (John 3:8) and often spoken of as being like a fluid - the Spirit is poured, cleans, fills and people are immersed in the Spirit. When Jesus refers to the Spirit as the Counsellor, the Greek of John's gospel changes the normal neuter word for a masculine variant, and emphasizes the choice of gender by the repeated use of the masculine pronoun, accentuating the personal attributes and nature of the Holy Spirit. When speaking of the Holy Spirit we are very definitely talking of a someone, not a something.

So the Holy Spirit is a person, but in what way is He related to God. The Bible speaks of other beings with a personal nature, who God uses to accomplish His will, but who are very definitely part of the created order and so less than God Himself. What would make us regard the Holy Spirit as being anything more than a created being?

There are passages in the Old Testament which are ascribed to God, which in the New Testament are ascribed to the Holy Spirit (Isaiah 6:8ff and Acts 28:25ff, Jeremiah31:31 and Hebrews 10:15-16). Lying to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3) is lying to God (Acts 5:4). The Holy Spirit is omniscient (1 Corinthians 2:10-11) for one can only fully know one who is omniscient by being omniscient. Though not freely poured out before Pentecost the Holy Spirit was present all through the Old Testament, speaking through the prophets, and was even then regarded as omnipresent (Psalm139:7ff). The Spirit has supernatural power (Romans 8:11), raising Jesus from the dead and giving spiritual life to mortal bodies. Though Jesus was God, He did not do His works by His own power, rather it was by the power of the Holy Spirit He cast out demons (Matthew 12:28), preached (Luke 4:18) and healed the sick (Acts 10:38). It is no coincidence that the ministry of Jesus did not commence until after the descent of the Holy Spirit at His baptism. With Christians too all supernatural manifestations are by the power of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:9-11), and their salvation comes from the regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5). The Spirit is treated as divine by being named with God and Christ in the benediction of 2 Corinthians 13:14, and by the baptismal formula (Matthew 28:19) , where there is but one name into which people are baptised (the baptism is not into the names of Father, Son and Holy Spirit), but that one name has a threefold dimension. The way Jesus regarded blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:31, Mark 3:29, Luke 12:10), and what happened to those who lied to Him (Acts5:1-10) also strongly suggest that the Holy Spirit be regarded as fully God and no less. Thus we can see why Christians have viewed it a serious heresy to ascribe any status lower than fully God to one who is in no way less than God, and since that is the clear position of the Scriptures they should continue to endorse that position vigorously.

The Holy Spirit had been promised by God in the Old Testament (Joel 2:28), and many in Israel who knew their scriptures will have been expecting His future outpouring. That promise was fulfilled at Pentecost (Acts 2:16ff) after Jesus' ascension. He had explained that the Spirit could not be sent freely upon mankind until that time (John 7:39, John 16:7). The Spirit was sent to men as a gift (Acts2:38), but though He came from the Father (John 15:26), He was sent by Jesus (John 16:7), or He was sent by the Father in Jesus' name (John 14:26), and testified to Jesus (John 15:26). The coming of the Spirit on people is described as falling (Acts 10:44) or pouring out (Acts 10:45). People are filled with the Spirit on many occasions in Acts (Acts 2:4, 4:8,31, 9:17, 13:9,52), and they can be said to be full of the Spirit (Acts 6:3,5, 7:55, 11:24), but it is clear that people need to keep being filled with the Spirit - many of those who were filled with the Spirit in Acts 2 were filled again in Acts 4. This filling can also be described as baptism or immersion in the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5). Paul commands that believers be filled with, or continue to be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians5:18).

In the New Testament one thing that marks the Christian from the non-Christian is the presence of the Spirit of God within them (Ephesians 4:30). It is not a vague concept, but a dynamic, tangible reality which brings about victory over their earthly nature (Romans 8:4), giving a new mind (Romans 8:5 cf. 12:2). The gift of the Spirit is the first instalment of what is to come (Romans 8:23, 2 Corinthians 5:5), a guarantee of the truth of the gospel (2 Corinthians 1:22), a foretaste of heaven with a promise of more to come. The Spirit is given permanently to a believer (John 14:16), but unbelievers cannot know the Spirit (John 14:17) or see His effects or works, and talk of spiritual matters seems foolish and ridiculous to them (1 Corinthians 2:14). The presence of God, through the Holy Spirit indwelling a person, enables them to do supernatural works through the power of the Spirit within them, though it is not the person but God who is actually doing the work (Romans 15:19). The fruit of the life of a spiritual person (Galatians 5:22f) sets them apart as a different kind of person. It is through believers that the Spirit speaks God's word to the Church and to the world in this new dispensation, for the Spirit, which is the Spirit of prophecy is poured out on all who believe without limit (John 3:34). The Spirit (if we use one possible interpretation of the text) directs the destiny of believers and makes everything work harmoniously for good (Romans 8:28). Believers can see God's love within them and active in their lives through the Spirit (Romans 5:5).

The qualification to be ministers of the new covenant instituted by the blood of Jesus is not in any written code, but in the Spirit of God in the lives of people (2 Corinthians 3:6). Where the Spirit is present within a person, then all the gifts of God are potentially present. 1 Corinthians 12-14 describes various manifestations which will be seen in the lives of those in whom the Spirit dwells, particularly in the context of when they gather together for a Christian meeting (1 Corinthians 11:20, 14:19,23,26). Though the gift of the Spirit comes from the Father in Jesus' name (John 14:26), the spiritual gifts come from the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:4). All these gifts will be present in proportion in the Church, the body of Christ. Not all believers have all of the gifts, and there is no one gift which every believer must have (1 Corinthians 12:4). In the rankings of 1Corinthians 12:28, it would be expected that in the church there would be fewer apostles than prophets, and that most will be tongues speakers, but an apostle can also speak in tongues (1 Corinthians 12:30), and exercise other spiritual gifts (Acts 3:1-9, 11:8-10). Christians are commanded to seek the higher gifts such as prophecy (1 Corinthians 12:31, 14:1,39). The purpose of these gifts and ministries is to train the church for the work of ministry, and to build the people up until they achieve maturity and unity (Ephesians 4:11-13). The gifts are given not in an ecstatic way, where the Spirit takes control over a person and forces them to manifest a gift, but a Christian is able to control the gifts. Paul gives advice on such control within a church service (1 Corinthians 14:1-40) to prevent any excesses, making it clear that the prophet can choose not to prophesy in a meeting - he is not compelled to do so (1 Corinthians 14:32).