Who is the Holy Spirit?

A correct understanding concerning the truth about God’s identity opens up the door to understanding other truths outlined in the Bible. An understanding of who or what the Holy Spirit is, is also an integral part of the truth about God. In this study, I intend to clear up some doubts and misconceptions that one might have concerning the issues pertaining to the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit of Man One of the key doctrines of Adventism is the mortality of the soul, which means that once a person is dead, he is truly dead and no part of his being continues to exist in a conscious state in heaven or on earth. Once a person dies he ceases to know anything. He does not see, feel, walk, talk and the like. In fact, the Bible supports this teaching.

Ecclesiastes 9:5,6 “For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything, neither have they anymore a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. (6) Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in anything that is done under the sun.”

In their efforts to try and remain consistent with this teaching, Adventists ignore and reject the teaching that man is both body and spirit. These include the physical and the spiritual aspects of man. They say that man’s spirit is simply air that is breathed into the nostrils of Adam when he was created by God. By doing this, they try to explain their way around the teaching of the Bible that says that when a man dies his body returns to the ground from where it came, and the spirit goes to God who gave it. (Ecclesiastes 12:7)

However, majority of Christians agree that man is both body and spirit. But at the same time, they say that when a man dies, the body returns to the dust whereas, the spirit continues to exist in a conscious state. As per this understanding, the dead are not really dead but they still take part in the affairs of this world. We have seen that this is not biblical.

Both these ideas are not cent per cent accurate. The Bible clearly teaches us that man is both body and spirit. When these two meet, or are tied one to another, man becomes a living soul.

Genesis 2:7 “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, (physical/body) and breathed into his nostrils the breadth of life (spirit); and man became a living soul. (living being).

Here are three more verses in the Bible that confirm that man has a spirit.

Job 32:8 “But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth him understanding.”

Zechariah 12:1 “The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.”

1 Corinthians 2:11 “For what man knoweth the things of man, save the spirit of man which is in him? ...”

The above passages confirm that man has a spirit within him. It is not referring to air that is breathed into Adam’s nostrils. If it was simply air that was breathed, man would have simply been a breathing dust. Besides, all the air in the world cannot bring a dead person back to life. Man’s spirit is not the air that he breathes, it is an energy that God had put in him. It also includes man’s identity, wisdom, memories, character, thoughts and anything that is non-physical and non-tangible aspect of his being. As long as the body and the spirit remain intact, man continues to be a living being. To sum up the matter, this body is just a vessel designed to accommodate the spirit. What makes me, me and you, you is not this body but the spirit which is in you and I. When the spirit ceases to dwell in this body, we cease to be living beings and both the body and the spirit die.

Ecclesiastes 12:7 “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return to God who gave it.”

James also declared, “For the body without the spirit is dead..” (James 2:26). The opposite is also true. In passing, Christ also has His own spirit, and so do the angels. The animals also have their own spirits.

The Spirit of God Now that we have understood what the spirit of man is, we shall take a look at the Spirit of God. There is a grave misunderstanding within Christendom that the Holy Spirit, which is sometimes referred to as the Spirit of God, is a separate entity from the Father and the Son. The reason for this misunderstanding comes from the fact that the Bible tells us that the Spirit can be grieved, be made to feel happy, it can speak, admonish, listen and so on. But at the same time, it may come as a surprise that the Bible teaches that the spirit of man can also be like this. When king Nebuchadnezzar lost all memory of the dream he had, he was troubled and sleep left him. The Bible tells us that that it was his spirit that was troubled.

Daniel 2:1 “… Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep brake from him.”

It is illogical to conclude that it is another person, other that Nebuchadnezzar, who was troubled and who caused this Babylonian monarch to lose sleep. Maybe you might argue that the same cannot be true with God. But then again, the Bible draws a parallelism between the spirit of man and the Holy Spirit. Notice what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2:11: “For what man knoweth the things of man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.” Here Paul uses the phrase “even so” which means “in the same way”. What I know, perceive or think remains with me as long as I do not choose to reveal it to others. In the same way, what lies in the mind of God, are kept secret until He reveals them to His people.

Paul continues to say in verses 12 and 13, “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. (13) Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.” (1 Corinthians 2:12,13)

Believers receive the Holy Spirit so that they could know and understand the things that are of God which are spiritual in nature. And Paul also tells us in verses 14 and 15 that it is only those who have a spiritual mind can discern these things that are of God which are spiritual.

How can one receive this spiritual mind? What is Paul trying to tell here? To understand this, we shall take a look at two verses in the Bible. The first one is Isaiah 40:13

“Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counsellor hath taught him?” (Isaiah 40:13)

Now let us take a look at what the Holy Spirit led Paul to understand this verse in Isaiah. Paul quoted this verse in his letter to the Romans.

“For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been his counsellor?” (Romans 11:34)

What is the Spirit of the Lord, according to the understanding of Paul? It is the mind of God. What resides in the mind of God are His thoughts, perceptions, knowledge, wisdom and the like. This pretty much explains what it means when the Bible says that the Holy Spirit can be grieved, be happy etc. This also explains how no one knows the secret things of God. It is until man receives the Spirit that he has the spiritual mind that can discern the things that are of God.

The mind or the Spirit of God is part of God’s inner being. So, the Spirit of God or the Holy Spirit is primarily and essentially God the Father. Christ confirms it for us when He says “Even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father.” (John 15:26). It is therefore, safe to say that when we receive the Holy Spirit, we receive the Father’s wisdom, knowledge, character etc. In fact, we receive God Himself. What we do not receive is the power to overcome sin. This will be thoroughly explained in the article The Spirit That Was Not Yet Given, which will be printed in the next issue of The Loins of Truth.

One more aspect about the Holy Spirit is that, it is the presence of God. God is in every place present by His Spirit. He is not confined only to the throne in which He sits. In the dedication of the first temple in Jerusalem, king Solomon declares this truth in his prayer:

“But will God of indeed dwell on the earth? Behold the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?” (1 Kings 8:27)

The words of Solomon clearly indicate that there is much more to God than His physical part, in so much that heaven itself cannot fully accommodate Him. This points to the fact that He is everywhere present in the universe simultaneously. There are more verses in the Bible that speaks of this truth. Here are two of them:

Psalms 139:7 “Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall Iflee from thy presence?"

Psalms 51:11 “Cast me not away from thy presence O LORD; and take not thy Holy Spirit from me.”

In both these Psalms, the presence of God is equated to His Spirit. The writers of the Old Testament have this style of writing in which they say the same thing twice but in different words. This is also true in both these cases. One more example of this style of writing in the Old Testament is found in Psalm 51:10 where the Psalmist equates his heart to his spirit.

In conclusion, the Spirit of God or the Holy Spirit is essentially the presence, wisdom, knowledge, thoughts, mind and any non-physical or non-tangible aspects of Him. When we understand the Holy Spirit from the biblical point of view, we cannot conclude that it is a separate entity from the Father.

*******

Related articles:

• Who is the Comforter?

• The Unpardonable Sin