The Holy Spirit

                  The Deity of the Holy Spirit

                  Jesus likened the Holy Spirit to the wind (John 3:8). This famous image of the Spirit signals mystery. Indeed, the Hebrew word ruakh can be translated “spirit” or “wind,” as can the Greek word pneuma. Yet the Spirit is no mere impersonal force or influence. The Spirit prays (Rom. 8:26–27)—only persons can pray. Indeed, the Holy Spirit is God, the third person of the Holy Trinity. The baptismal formula at the end of Matthew’s Gospel makes this plain. According to Jesus himself, baptism is to be practiced in the one name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:18–20). This text would be incoherent if the Spirit were not personal and as much God as the Father and Son are.

                  The book of Acts provides further evidence for the deity of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit can be lied to, and to lie to the Spirit is to lie to God (Acts 5:3–5). Furthermore, the Holy Spirit is the searcher of the depths of God (1 Cor. 2:9–11) and knows the mind of God. Only God can know God, as Basil of Caesarea pointed out in the fourth century (On the Holy Spirit 16.40, 24.56). Only omniscience can know omniscience. The early church judged regarding the one God that the Spirit is to be worshiped and glorified along with the Father and Son, as the Nicene Creed says. Only God is to be worshiped.

                    The Holy Spirit in the OT

                  In the very first chapter of Genesis, God is the great worker who accomplishes his will by his word and Spirit. The Spirit implements the divine purposes in both nature and history (Gen. 1:2; Zech. 4:6). The Spirit sustains life in God’s creatures (Ps. 104:30). Sadly, sin is at work in God’s good creation (Genesis 3). But God has a project to reclaim creation and end its spoiling. The nation of Israel is vital to that project. As Jesus said, “Salvation is from the Jews” (John 4:22).

                  Again working by his word and Spirit, God has created a people for himself, with the whole world ultimately in mind (Gen. 12:1–3; Ex. 19:5–6). The Spirit was involved in the work of leaders like Moses (Num. 11:17), artisans like Bezalel (Ex. 31:1–5), judges like Gideon (Judg. 6:34), prophets like Elijah (1 Kings 18:12), and kings like David (Ps. 51:11).

                  Like Adam before it, however, Israel failed to image God. But the God who makes and keeps promises is not defeated by human failure. Israel’s prophets speak of a future day in which God will give his people a new heart and put a new spirit within them (Ezek. 18:31; 36:26–27). All of God’s people will experience this, not just a few (Joel 2:28–32). And it will be a Spirit-anointed servant (messiah) of the divine will who will be the key agent accomplishing this mission (Isa. 42:1–4; 48:16; 61:1–3).

                  The Holy Spirit in the NT

                  In the NT, Jesus proves to be the promised Spirit-anointed Messiah. In relation to Christ’s mission, the Spirit’s person and work come into far greater prominence than in the OT era (John 7:39). The Messiah’s ministry cannot be understood apart from the Spirit’s empowering. And so we find the Spirit involved in Christ’s miraculous conception (Luke 1:35), baptism (Luke 3:21–22), temptations (Luke 4:1–2), preaching (Luke 4:14–15), mighty works (Matt. 12:28), death (Heb. 9:14), and resurrection (Rom. 8:11).

                    With the day of Pentecost, a great reversal takes place. The bearer of the Spirit under the direction of the Spirit in Luke 4:16–21 becomes the giver of the Spirit in Acts 2:1–36. The ascended and glorified Jesus, as the Lord and Christ at the right hand of the Father, pours out the Spirit promised in the OT (Acts 2:33). Thus Jesus fulfills the prophecy of John the Baptist. John baptized with water; Jesus baptizes with the Spirit (Luke 3:16; Acts 1:4–5).

                  Moreover, according to Jesus, the Spirit is the Paraclete (paraklētos, translated as “advocate,” “comforter,” “champion,” or “counselor” depending on the context). As the Paraclete, the Spirit continues the work of Christ through his disciples as the gospel spreads from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth, even to Rome itself (John 14–16; Acts 28). Indeed, in Acts we see Pentecost extended as different groups get caught up in the Spirit’s eschatological outpouring (Jews in 2:5, Samaritans in 8:14–17, Gentiles in 10:44–47, and John the Baptist’s disciples in 19:1–7). Significantly, after Pentecost the Holy Spirit is not merely on the believer, as in OT times, but in the believer, as Jesus promised (John 14:17). The Spirit is the source of new life (Rom. 8:11). In fact, through the Spirit and baptism, the risen Christ incorporates believers into his body (1 Cor. 12:13).

                  The Holy Spirit’s Work in Believers

                  In the sixteenth century, John Calvin was right to argue that as long as Christ is outside of us, all his achievement provides us with no benefit; but if we are united with him, all that is his becomes ours. The Holy Spirit is the one who brings such a union about by his secret working (Institutes 3.1.1). The rule of salvation is the rule of real estate: location, location, location. The Spirit relocates us from being in Adam to being in Christ. Indeed, the same Spirit that animated Christ’s humanity animates our own if we are members of his body, united to him.

                  NT faith is unintelligible apart from the Spirit’s work in and through the church, the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12). The Spirit endows Christ’s ecclesial body with gifts to be exercised for the common good (1 Cor. 12:7). Debate continues as to whether all the gifts of the Spirit continue into the present era (i.e., the sign gifts, especially speaking in tongues) or whether some were only for the establishment of the church at the very beginning. Importantly, the church can be described not only as the body of Christ but also as God’s temple, the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 3:16–17). What a difference it makes to think of the Christian gathering as a living temple of the Spirit rather than a concert auditorium or lecture hall.

                    The Holy Spirit can be sinned against. The Spirit may be grieved (Eph. 4:30), quenched (1 Thess. 5:19), and even blasphemed (Mark 3:20–30). This blasphemy against the Spirit—an unpardonable sin—appears to be settled unbelief concerning the Christ to whom the Spirit bears witness. The Spirit fills believers, so that they speak, act, and display godly virtues (Eph. 5:18–21). Significantly, the indwelling Spirit is the believer’s seal and guarantee of a place with God in the new heavens and earth (Eph. 1:13–14). In fact, without the Spirit there is no real knowledge of God (1 Cor. 2:9–12). Unsurprisingly, then, the Holy Spirit’s work as the Spirit of prophecy is vital to the story of Scripture and its inspiration (2 Tim. 3:14–17; 2 Pet. 1:20–21).

                  The Spirit also plays a key role in the believer’s assurance that he or she really is an adopted child of God and heir of the good things God has in store for his family (Rom. 8:14–17). The Spirit enables believers to enter into the abba communion of the Son and Father (Gal. 4:4–7). If we cannot find the words for our anguished prayers, the Spirit becomes our intercessor (Rom. 8:26–27). Without the Spirit, we are left with no authentic Christian faith (Rom. 8:9) and cannot truly confess Jesus as Lord (1 Cor. 12:3). Importantly, the Spirit enables access to the Father through the Son for both Jewish and Gentile believers who together form the temple of God in which God lives by the Holy Spirit (Eph. 2:18–22). The person and work of the Spirit are cause for Christian celebration.