The Holy Spirit - Part 1
Who is the Holy Spirit?
There are times when one single factor makes all the difference.
On a cold, winter day in Chicago, sunshine can make all the difference.
On a groggy Monday morning, a cup of coffee can make all the difference.
When pursuing a dream, one encouraging word can make all the difference.
When celebrating an important life event, one beloved person’s presence can make all the difference.
There are times when one single factor makes all the difference. And when it comes to following Jesus, that factor is the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is the difference-maker. And yet, too many Christians try to follow Jesus without the Spirit.
Let me ask you: Do you live in daily awareness of the Spirit’s presence and activity in your life? In my three decades serving as a pastor, I’ve found that most people still lack an understanding of who the Spirit is and what the Spirit does. Yet trying to live life in the Kingdom of God without the Spirit is like trying to drive a car without gas. You won’t get very far.
So, in a two-part series of posts, I thought I would do my best to share a theological and practical understanding of the Holy Spirit. We’ll start by answering the question, “Who is the Holy Spirit?” and then in a couple days, “How do we live by the Spirit?”
Who is the Holy Spirit?
Sometimes I wish the Holy Spirit had a proper name in Scripture like Yahweh or Jesus. I think that might help us better grasp that the Holy Spirit isn’t an it or some kind of impersonal force. We more naturally think of Jesus or the Father as relational beings, but the Holy Spirit is also a relational being. The writers of Scripture use various images to describe the activity of the Spirit such as a dove in flight (Matthew 3:16) or tongues of fire (Acts 2:3-4) or even as a wind (John 3:8); but the Holy Spirit isn’t a dove or a fire or a wind. The Holy Spirit is not an it. The Holy Spirit is a relational being.
Throughout Scripture, we see the Spirit demonstrate the capacity to relate to human beings in a personal way. For example, the Holy Spirit can communicate with people. When describing the church at Antioch, Luke tells us: “While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’” (Acts 13:2) The Holy Spirit spoke in a way that this gathered church was able to understand. They received guidance from the Spirit.
The Holy Spirit has the personal agency of a relational being. The Spirit can make choices and take action. The Spirit is “the subject of a large number of verbs that demand a personal agent.” (Gordon Fee, Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God) For example, the Spirit searches all things (1 Corinthians 2:10), accomplishes all things (1 Corinthians 12:11), helps us in our weakness (Romans 8:25), leads us in the ways of God (Romans 8:14), and intercedes on our behalf (Romans 8:26-27). Like all relational beings, the Holy Spirit has a will and acts according to that will.
As a relational being, the Holy Spirit can also feel emotions. In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul writes: “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” (Ephesians 4:30) If the Holy Spirit can be grieved, would we not also expect the Spirit to have the capacity for joy, sadness, compassion, and every other emotion?
The Holy Spirit is a relational being, and not just any being. The Holy Spirit is God.
The Father is God.
Jesus is God.
And the Holy Spirit is God.
This is the mystery known as the Trinity, the God who is three in one. Sometimes we think of the Spirit as a less prominent person in the story in comparison to the Father or Jesus. It’s like we put the Spirit in the “Supporting Actor” category at the Oscars. Author Francis Chan goes even further and calls the Spirit “the forgotten God.” But the Holy Spirit is as central to the story as the Father and Jesus. For just like the Father and the Son, the Spirit has always been.
The Spirit in the Old Testament
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” (Genesis 1:1-2)
Right at the beginning of the story, in the very first paragraph of Scripture, we see that the Spirit was present “hovering over the waters.” The Holy Spirit is not a created being. The Spirit has always been.
If we look at the full arc of the Old Testament, we learn a number of fascinating things about the Spirit. Listen to what the prophet Haggai says: “’Be strong, all you people of the land,’ declares the LORD, ‘and work. For I am with you,’ declares the LORD Almighty. ‘This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear.’” (Haggai 2:4b-5) Here the prophet reminds us that the Holy Spirit isn’t some ethereal force, but the person and presence of God sent specifically to dwell with his people.
During the time of the Old Testament prophets, priests, and kings, the Spirit often came upon specific individuals at specific times for specific purposes.
The Spirit gave Joseph the ability to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams (Genesis 41:38).
The Spirit gave Samson the supernatural strength to defeat Israel’s enemies (Judges 15:14-15).
The Spirit gave King David specific plans for building the temple (1 Chronicles 28:12).
The Holy Spirit was present and active in the Old Testament, and the Spirit plays an enormous role in the New Testament as well. For when Jesus walked among us, he lived dependent on the Holy Spirit.
Jesus Lived by the Spirit
Jesus was also present at creation. John, one of Jesus’ first followers, calls him the Word who gave life to everything that was created (John 1:1-3). But then look what happened: “…the Word became human and made his home among us.” (John 1:14) Jesus, the living Word, left his throne in heaven, took on human form, and, as Eugene Peterson put it, “…moved into the neighborhood.”
Jesus became one of us. And yet, because we know he is God, many of us have a hard time believing that Jesus is really like us. As New Testament scholar Craig Evans said: “It’s almost as though a lot of Christians think of Jesus as God wearing a human mask. He’s sort of faking it, pretending to be human. He pretends to perspire, his stomach only appears to gurgle because, of course, he’s not really hungry. In fact, he doesn’t need to eat. So Jesus is the bionic Son of God who isn’t really human.”
It is interesting to ponder that for Jesus’ disciples, his humanity was a given, but his divinity was not. His divinity was a truth they had to grow into believing. But for most of us, it’s the opposite.
It is common for American Christians to have a superhuman view of Jesus’ humanity. However, there is a real problem with seeing Jesus that way. How could it be fair for Jesus to expect us to follow him if he had so many advantages we don’t have? How could it be realistic for us to become like him and do the things he did if he was holding the “God-card” in his back pocket the whole time he walked on this earth? As author Greg Haugh writes: “It would be like Superman asking us to follow him and fly like he does, but without giving us any superpowers.”
The New Testament doesn’t actually teach this superhuman view of Jesus’ humanity. Instead, what we find in the Gospels and the teachings of Paul is what is called the kenotic view. This view takes its name from the Greek word (kenosis) Paul uses in Philippians 2 for “made himself nothing” (NIV) or “emptied himself” (NRSV). In this powerful passage from Philippians 2:5-11, we learn that while still in his nature divine, Jesus emptied himself of his divine glory, knowledge, and power to become one of us. Again, from Greg Haugh: “The Almighty God chose to become a vulnerable, weak, fully-dependent newborn who didn’t even know how to walk, talk, or do basic addition or subtraction!” Jesus took on humanity with all of its limitations.
After he was born, he had to learn from his parents how to walk and talk. He spent time in the Temple learning and growing his mind. Luke, the historian, describes Jesus’ early years saying: “Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.” (Luke 2:52) He had to grow and learn just like we do. He experienced everything that comes with being a human being.
Jesus had human emotions, struggling at times, like we do, with sorrow and grief and loneliness (Matthew 26:38).
His human mind had limitations, just like ours. He said there were things he didn’t know (Mark 13:32).
Jesus had a human will. In the garden on the eve of his death, he knew what it was like to desire something different than his Father’s will (Matthew 26:39).
Yes, Jesus is God, but he wasn’t superhuman. He was a human being just like us with human limitations, realities, and challenges.
And yet, we know that Jesus was able to do something that none of us has been able to do. Jesus lived a life without sin. Over and over again, the writers of the New Testament remind us that Jesus lived a perfect life (1 Peter 2:22, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Hebrews 4:15, 1 John 3:5). And not only that, Jesus did extraordinary things. He lived a life of purpose and was able to transcend normal human limitations. He modeled the “life and life to the full” that he came to bring. Jesus flourished as a human being.
So, how did he do it? Jesus lived his human life fully dependent on the Holy Spirit.
The late Wheaton college professor Gerald Hawthorne explains: “The Holy Spirit was the divine power by which Jesus overcame his human limitations [such as being limited in knowledge and bound by physical space and human strength], rose above his human weakness, and won out over his human mortality.”
All four Gospel writers describe the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus at his baptism (Matthew 3:16-17, Mark 1:9-11, Luke 3:21-22, John 1:32-34). Matthew tells us at the moment Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens opened, and the Spirit of God descended on him like a dove. And John adds that the Spirit remains on him. Jesus is filled with the Holy Spirit, and through the Spirit’s power, his earthly ministry gets underway.
After a brief time of preparation in the desert, Luke tells us that “Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit…” (Luke 4:14) Jesus himself is aware that he is operating in the power of the Spirit. As he stands up in the synagogue for his first public address, he chooses the scroll of Isaiah and declares, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me…” (Luke 4:18a) Peter, who was right beside him witnessing everything Jesus did and said over his three-year ministry, said this about him:
“You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached— how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.” (Acts 10:37-38)
How was Jesus able to live the way he lived? How was Jesus able to do the things he did?
The Holy Spirit.
Jesus lived his human life dependent on the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. New Testament scholar Scot McKnight observes: “Jesus was a Spirit-drenched man. Jesus did what he did because he was wide open to the Spirit, more open to the Spirit than any human in history.”
Jesus is our model for what it looks like to flourish as human beings because while being God, he is also fully human; and while he lived among us, he modeled how to live in God’s Kingdom through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. And here is where everything gets really mind-blowing: The same Holy Spirit who empowered Jesus is present and available to you and to me.
So, how do we live by the Spirit like Jesus lived by the Spirit? Stay tuned for Part 2…
