Who is the Holy Ghost? or Who is the Holy Spirit?
I. The Holy Ghost is a real and distinct person in the Godhead.
1. Personal powers of rational understanding and will are ascribed to him,
1 Cor. 2:10,11. Yet to us God has unveiled and revealed them by and through His Spirit, for the [Holy] Spirit searches diligently, exploring and examining everything, even sounding the profound and bottomless things of God [the divine counsels and things hidden and beyond man's scrutiny]. For what person perceives (knows and understands) what passes through a man's thoughts except the man's own spirit within him? Just so no one discerns (comes to know and comprehend) the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
1 Cor. 12:11. All these [gifts, achievements, abilities] are inspired and brought to pass by one and the same [Holy] Spirit, Who apportions to each person individually [exactly] as He chooses.
Eph. 4:3. Be eager and strive earnestly to guard and keep the harmony and oneness of [and produced by] the Spirit in the binding power of peace.
2. He is joined with the other two divine persons, as the object of divine worship and fountain of blessings,
Matt. 28:19. Go then and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
2 Cor. 13:14. The grace (favor and spiritual blessing) of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the presence and fellowship (the communion and sharing together and participation) in the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen (so be it).
3. In the Greek, a masculine article or epithet is joined to his name, Pneuma, which is naturally of the neuter gender,
3. In the Greek, a masculine article or epithet is joined to his name, Pneuma, which is naturally of the neuter gender,
John 14:26. But the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, Standby), the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My name [in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf]. He will teach you all things. And H will cause you to recall (will remind you of, bring to your remembrance) everything I have told you.
John 15:26. But when the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Advocate, Intercessor, Strengthener, Standby) comes, Whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth Who comes (proceeds) from the Father. He [Himself} will testify regarding Me.
John 16:13. But when He, the Spirit of Truth (the Truth-giving Spirit) comes, He will guide you into all the Truth (the whole, full Truth). For He will not speak His own message [on His own authority]: but He will announce and declare to you the things that are to come [that will happen in the future].
Eph. 1:13. In Him you also who have heard the Word of Truth, the glad tidings (Gospel) of your salvation, and have believed in and adhered to and relied on Him, were stamped with the seal of the long-promised Holy Spirit.
4. He appeared under the emblem of a dove, and of cloven tongues of fire,
4. He appeared under the emblem of a dove, and of cloven tongues of fire,
Matt. 3:16 And when Jesus was baptized, He went up at once out of the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he [John] saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on Him.
Acts 2: 1,2,3,4 And when the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all assembled together in one place. When suddenly there came a sound from heaven like the rushing of a violent tempest blast, and it filled the whole house in which they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues resembling fire, which were separated and distributed and which settled on each one of them. And they were all filled (diffused throughout their souls) with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other (different, foreign) languages (tongues), as the Spirit kept giving them clear and loud expression [in each tongue in appropriate words].
5. Personal offices of an intercessor belong to him,
5. Personal offices of an intercessor belong to him,
Rom. 8:26. So too the [Holy] Spirit comes to our aid and bears us up in our weakness; for we do not know what prayer to offer nor how to offer it worthily as we ought, but the Spirit Himself goes to meet our supplication and pleads in our behalf with unspeakable yearnings and groanings too deep for utterance.
6. He is represented as performing a multitude of personal acts,--as teaching, speaking, witnessing, &c.,
Mark 13:11. Now when they take you [to court] and put you under arrest, do not be anxious beforehand about what you are to say nor [even] meditate about it; but say whatever is given you in that hour and at the moment, for it is not you who will be speaking, but the Holy Spirit.
Acts 20:23. Except that the Holy Spirit clearly and emphatically affirms to me in city after city that imprisonment and suffering await me.
Rom. 8:15,16. For [the Spirit which] you have now received [is] not a spirit of slavery to put you once more in bondage to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption [the Spirit producing sonship] in [the bliss of] which, we cry, Abba (Father)! Father! The Spirit Himself [thus] testifies together with our own spirit, [assuring us] that we are children of God.
1 Cor. 6:19, Do you know that your body is the temple (the very sanctuary) of the Holy Spirit Who lives within you, Whom you have received [as a Gift] from God? You are not your own.
Acts 15:28. For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to lay upon you any greater burden than these indispensable requirements: . . .
Acts 16::6,7 &c, &c. And Paul and Silas passed through the territory of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to proclaim the Word in [the province of] Asia. And when they had come opposite Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them.
next page, Part II
third page, Part III
return to index
next page, Part II
third page, Part III
return to index