The Wonder of the Holy Spirit: Who He Is

We’ve talked before in a previous article about who the Holy Spirit is in regards to being one of the three Persons of the Triune God. If you missed that, you can check out that article here. Today, I want us to dive in a little deeper to what we know about who He is. We know these things from Scripture, so there will be a lot of verses that we will be looking at in today’s article. So, who is the Holy Spirit?the-wonder-of-the-holy-spirit.html

Let’s start with this. We know that the Holy Spirit is given to us by God and sent by Jesus. Now, you might be saying, wait a second, I thought He was God so how can He be given by God? That’s a great question and the answer to the first part is you are right the Holy Spirit is one of the Persons of the Triune God. My answer to the second part would be in much of the same way as I ended the article on that. My answer is: I don’t really know. I don’t fully understand how one Person of the Triune God gives us another Person of the Triune God and honestly when I spend a lot of time thinking about it my head often ends up hurting, but through faith I believe it’s true. Logically (but also through an element of faith), I also know that we’ve seen it before if we believe as John 3:16 says that “God so love the world, that He gave His only begotten Son” the same Son who is also a part of the Triune God. Ultimately, if we trust God’s Word to be true we are shown beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Holy Spirit is given to us by God.

“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”
(Luke 11:13)

“And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
(Luke 24:49)

“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.”
(John 14:16-17)

“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 said to you.”
(John 14:26)

“And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”
(Romans 5:5)
    
Just as it’s important for us to understand that the Holy Spirit is a gift from God, it is also important for us to know that He is for all believers. We see this in Peter’s sermon at Pentecost and in the falling of the Holy Spirit on the Gentiles in the home of Cornelius. We also see this clearly explained by Paul in Ephesians 1:13-14:

“In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.”

Paul also helps us understand in Romans 8:6 that the Holy Spirit is life and peace.
“For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace”

Jesus taught His disciples that the Holy Spirit would be Truth and a Helper.

“But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.”
(John 16:7-15)

And as Isaiah prophesied about Him, he helped us understand that the Holy Spirit would also embody wisdom, understanding, counsel, strength, knowledge and fear of the Lord. He said in Isaiah 11:12 that:

“The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.”

The Holy Spirit, like each person of the Triune God, is pretty amazing. He is life, peace, truth, wisdom, understanding, counsel, strength, knowledge & fear of the Lord, and a helper. What is even more amazing is that He has been given by God as a gift to all of us who believe! Let’s thank God for that amazing gift today!