Hello, brothers and sisters, welcome to the fifth lesson of the series. Today, let’s talk about the Holy Spirit – the Spirit of God who is present in our lives and lives within us.

In the history of the church, there are innumerable accounts of the Creator God and the Redeemer Jesus Christ. However, the knowledge of the presence of the Holy Spirit is often limited, and there are even incorrect views about who He is.

The Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit – The Triune God

The Triune God is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We do not believe in three gods but that there is one God with three different personalities.

The Father has His personality, so does the Son, and so does the Holy Spirit. Therefore the Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is not the Father. Rather, the Father is the Father, the Son is the Son, and the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit. Still there is only One God, not three gods; one in three persons. In mathematics, 1 + 1 + 1 equals 3, yet the Bible shows us that the Triune God is 1 x 1 x 1 which equals 1.

The most obvious revelation of the Bible in this regard is found in Matthew 28:19, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of The Father and The Son and The Holy Spirit.” The original text says “In the Name of The Father, of The Son, and of The Holy Spirit”. The English translation of the original text is very appropriate, that is, there are three different Persons under the name. “The” is an article indicating that He is different. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. However, it is not “In the names.” The Greek and English expressions are the same. It is obvious, “In The Names” is plural, but the original text states “In The Name” that is singular. In other words, there are three different persons appearing under one name.

From a grammatical perspective, this is wrong; nonetheless, it is what is recorded in the original text. It means that the God who we believe is One God, yet in three persons. The original text truly means: We believe in only One God, yet with three different personalities.

We thank God, this is the object of our faith – the work of creation completed by the Father, the work of redemption accomplished by the Son who came into the world; but the work of redemption is given to us by the Holy Spirit, who lives deep within our lives; this is the Holy Spirit. There is only one God in our faith, not three gods, and this is the Triune God.

Who is Holy Spirit truly?

The Holy Spirit is the life of the church; without the Holy Spirit, the salvation completed by Jesus Christ in history will have nothing to do with us, nor can we enjoy the wonderful grace that God has given us. In other words, the church cannot disregard the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit plays a critical role in the church. Without the Holy Spirit, the church cannot function and have vitality. The church will not be able to reveal who Jesus is and the people will not know God. Thus we implore our Heavenly Father to help the church to understand in a deeper manner who the Holy Spirit truly is.

First of all, we need to find out who is the Holy Spirit? According to the Bible, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, also known as the Spirit of Jesus Christ; He is not merely the power of God or Jesus, in essence, He has personality. How do we prove that the Holy Spirit has personality? The so-called personality is a kind of self-consciousness, self-knowledge, self-awareness, which is independent.

The Personality of the Holy Spirit

How do we know His personality? First, Ephesians 4:30 says, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” That fact that God’s spirit can grieve, this is a manifestation of personality. For instance, if the child next door is on drugs, we say “What hapless parents living next door! How could they rear such a child?” However, if that is your child, you will be depressed and down. Why? Because there is love in you. In other words, God’s Holy Spirit grieves because He cares about you, He loves you, and He doesn’t want you to sin. Therefore the Bible says “do not grieve the Holy Spirit”. The possibility of grief displays the personality of the Holy Spirit.

Second, Romans 15:30 says, “I urge you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me.” There is love in the Spirit. My parents love me, this is a kind of personality expressed; the dead will not love me because life has ended. The Holy Spirit has life, and this life is the life of love, and such is the expression of personality.  

Third, 1 Corinthians 12:11 says, “All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.” The Holy Spirit has willpower. He will decide to distribute different gifts to different people according to His autonomy. This is also an expression of personality.

Fourth, Acts 13:2 says, “While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’” He will assign. The Holy Spirit will speak to the people, and by His sovereignty, He assigns people to complete His appointed work. This is also an expression of personality.

The Divinity of the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit, apart from having personality, He is also equal in honour and glory with the Father and the Son; He is Lord with divinity. In what ways can the divinity of the Holy Spirit be explained? I would like to re-emphasize that the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. And it is the divine expression of the Holy Spirit.

First, we shall explore from His divinity. 1 Corinthians 2:10-12 state, “These are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us.” Friends, we see “Omniscience” as an attribute of the Holy Spirit. As mentioned in these verses, the Spirit knows everything about God. No one knows anything of God except the Spirit of God. Therefore the Holy Spirit understands everything of God, He is the Omniscient God. All-Knowing and omniscience are attributes of God; the Holy Spirit possesses such attributes because He is God.

Hebrews 9:14 says, “How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!” This verse calls the Holy Spirit as the eternal Spirit. The eternity of the Holy Spirit is not our eternity; our eternity is to eternalise our brevity. Our infinity is to make our finite infinite, thus our infinity is finite infinity. As a result, it still comes out of finiteness, not the infinite itself. But the Holy Spirit carries the characteristic of eternity, and His eternity belongs to Himself; which is from eternity to eternity, this is the attribute of God.

Second, we further understand the divinity of the Holy Spirit by His designation with honour. Acts 5:3-4 say, “Then Peter said, ‘Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.’” In verse 3, Peter said: “Ananias, bring over the money.” He further justifies about the handling of the money.... which is a lie. Therefore, Peter said: “What made you think of lying to the Holy Spirit?” In verse 4, Peter also said: “What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.” Lying to the Holy Spirit is lying to God. In other words, the Holy Spirit is God.

Similarly, in 1 Corinthians 3:16, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?” And 1 Corinthians 6:19 also said “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own.” Clearly, our bodies are “God’s temple” which is also “temples of the Holy Spirit”. In other words, the temple of God is the temple of the Holy Spirit, the temple of the Holy Spirit is the temple of God; the Holy Spirit is God, and God is the Holy Spirit. This is to understand from the designation with honour.

We thank God, the Holy Spirit that we worship today - the Spirit of Jesus Christ who lives deep within our lives - is the Holy Spirit. He is the Spirit of God, and He is God Himself. Therefore we thank God because God lives in us, which is, the Holy Spirit lives in us; the Holy Spirit lives in us, which is, Jesus Christ lives in us. It is with such a faith that causes us to be very confident because we belong to God and God is willing to live in our hearts.

Please join us next week on The Faith of Contemporary Believers again. Stay tuned and have a blessed weekend.