1: Who Is the Holy Spirit

He is the ruach (breath) of God. The breath that made Adam alive. So Eliphaz, that terrible friend and counselor to Job, yet rightly said,

The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life. (Job 33:4)

And so Job himself says, “…as long as my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils, my lips will not speak falsehood” (Job 27:3,4). This does not mean, however, that every time we see “breath of God” we are immediately talking about the Holy Spirit. And “breath” might give the wrong impression that the Holy Spirit is an impersonal force.

In the New Testament He is called the pneuma (breath, wind, spirit), but is definitely spoken of as a personal being, with personal pronouns used of Him:

^{John 14:16} And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, ¹⁷ even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

^{John 15:26} “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.

^{John 16:7} if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. ⁸ And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.

In fact, being the ruach or pneuma of God, He is equal to God, and is referred to as God:

^{Acts 5:3} But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? ⁴ …You have not lied to man but to God.”

The Holy Spirit is thus the third person of the Trinity. For this reason He is often associated with the tri-personal God:

^{Matthew 28:19} Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

^{1 Corinthians 13:14} The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

^{Matthew 3:16} And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; ¹⁷ and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

^{Ephesians 2:18} For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

^{1 Peter 1:2} according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood

^{Jude 20} But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹ keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.

The Holy Spirit is the spiritual fire in the life of the Christian who makes us all that Jesus wants us to be.