Category: Theology 101
The Work of the Holy Spirit
Introduction
The Christian formula for the Trinity--our feeble attempt to capture the state of being of God--is that God is three persons and one essence. There are not three Gods, but one God; but that one God is manifest in three distinctions: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. These three are not distinct gods, they are one God; yet they are not one person, they are three distinct persons. Attempts to 'define' the Godhead further will no doubt have us knocking on heresy's door.
The concept of person is a fairly easy one for us to grasp when speaking of the Father or the Son because these represent persons with whom we deal every day. We understand what fathers do and how they relate to others. And likewise, we know sons. It is slightly more difficult to think of the Holy Spirit in terms of person-hood. In our experience, spirits are less familiar to us than father and son, and they want to be placed into a different category.
Nonetheless, the Scripture clearly presents the Holy Spirit in terms which communicate no less person-hood than the other two members. Most obviously, the Spirit is referred to, not as it, but as he. Speaking of the Helper (i.e. the Spirit), Jesus says, "I will send Him to you" (John 16:7, emphasis mine). Also, many characteristics of personality are attributed to the Spirit. He baptizes, leads, speaks, teaches, snatches, positions, circumcises, empowers, gives life, intercedes, bears witness, gives hope, searches, sanctifies, opposes, fellowships, can be grieved, seals, vindicates, partakes, confesses, and inspires. Such things seem very personal to our minds.
When one performs a search on Spirit in a concordance or Bible software program and glances at the manifold activities of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament, it is astounding (to this writer at least) to observe how intricately involved He is in all of God's work in the world, the church, and the individual believer. It seems that the Spirit of God is the operating force (to use a very impersonal description) of everything that is happening around us, in us, and through us. Perhaps our (my?) awareness of the role of the Holy Spirit needs to be greatly enhanced.
This series of posts hopes to serve that purpose--to survey the work of the Holy Spirit as recorded on the pages of the New Testament so that we may give more careful attention to His existence and impact.