Exactly What Is the Holy Spirit?

Next Part Reasons the Holy Spirit Is Given

We have seen many examples demonstrating that the Holy Spirit is neither one-third of a single, amorphous god-being, nor a separate entity of a triune god. But, we may ask further, what is it?

The Holy Spirit is the life (and very mind) of God. Jesus Christ lived by the Spirit of the Father dwelling within Him. Just as the Father dwelled within Christ through the Holy Spirit and gave Him life, Christ lives within His followers through the Spirit and gives them life—eternal life. Notice Christ’s description of His relationship with the Father:

“As the living Father has sent Me, and I live by the Father: so he that eats Me, even he shall live by Me” (John 6:57).

“For as the Father has life in Himself; so has He given to the Son to have life in Himself” (John 5:26).

With this eternal life (the Holy Spirit) dwelling inside God’s people, they can also become one with Christ and the Father. As the Father and Son are of the same mind and of the same accord, so are Christians to be (Phil. 2:2).

Becoming one with the Father and Christ is only possible through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Take time to really ponder the following scriptures:

“I and My Father are one” (John 10:30).

“But if I do, though you believe not Me, believe the works: that you may know, and believe, that the Father is in Me, and I in Him” (John 10:38).

“At that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you” (John 14:20).

“And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your own name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one, as We are” (John 17:11).

“That they all may be one; as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that You have sent Me” (John 17:21).

Now answer the following: Are these verses in any way referring to the trinity? And if they are, how is this reconciled with the fact that Christians are to become one with the Father and Christ, with no mention of the Holy Spirit—particularly when the Holy Spirit is supposedly the only one of the three persons that is in us? As explained, it is silly to think that Christians could become one with each other in the same manner of the Father and Christ—if they are two-thirds of the trinity. Yet, if the above-mentioned verses are taken at face value, that is exactly what one must conclude. It is obvious that Christ is talking about being of the same mind with He and the Father.

But, again, the Holy Spirit is also the power of God. When the term “power” is used today (for instance: “By the power vested in me…”), it never implies that that power does something of and by its own accord. It is understood that someone is using that power, wielding it—exercising it—distributing it—to accomplish a defined objective. Does electricity have a mind of its own? Does nuclear energy? Does solar power? These and other sources of power are used to do various kinds of work and must be continually replenished. It is the same with God’s Spirit.

Notice an example of this power flowing from Christ in Mark 5:25-30: “And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, and had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse, when she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched His garment. For she said, If I may touch but His clothes, I shall be whole. And straight way the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that virtue [Greek: dunamis, meaning power] had gone out of Him, turned Him about in the press, and said, Who touched My clothes?”

Consider the following analogy: When you work hard and perspire, your body loses vital nutrients, which must be replenished. In a sense, this is what happened to Christ. The Holy Spirit was indeed a “vital nutrient” that flowed from Him, and it had to be replaced. Also take notice of the following verses, and think about them in the context mentioned above:

“Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 15:13).

“But you shall receive power, after that the Holy [Spirit] is come upon you: and you shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

It is this very power that allowed Christ to perform the many miracles that He did. The Father was with Christ through the Spirit dwelling in Him. Christ had no power in and of Himself to do anything:

“I can of Mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and My judgment is just; because I seek not Mine own will, but the will of the Father which has sent Me” (John 5:30).

“Then said Jesus unto them, When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall you know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father has taught Me, I speak these things” (John 8:28).

Having emptied Himself from the Godhead to become a human being, Christ needed the Holy Spirit, and so do you and I. If He could not do anything in and of Himself, how much can we do of ourselves? Absolutely nothing.