The Spirit Is A Person

The Holy Spirit is a person. A person with whom we can have a relationship. He is the third person of the Trinity, the word that Christians use to refer to the reality of God existing as three persons in one ‘being.’ The Holy Spirit is therefore God. He (I will use the traditional pronoun ‘he’ though the Spirit is neither male nor female) is often spoken of in the Bible in ways that might make you think of him as simply a force or power – he is likened to breath, to strong winds, to flowing water and to fire. This is because he is God’s empowering presence with us and among us. He is God present with us to enable and empower us, to inspire and to transform us.

The Spirit Desires A Community to Live Among

In the Old Testament, we read about the Spirit coming powerfully upon individuals as they were ‘anointed’ – such as prophets, priests, kings and judges. But the desire of the Father was to pour out his Spirit on all people (Joel 2:28-29) and to create a community infused by his Spirit. The Holy Spirit desires a people who live as one ‘body’ and who are built together into a dwelling place for his presence. This begins to happen in the New Testament church and we can learn to be part of that wonderful reality now too (Acts 2:42-47; 1 Cor.12:12-13; Eph.2:19-22; 1 Peter 2:4-6).

Born of and Living By the Spirit

To be a Christian means to be born of the Spirit (John 3:1-8). We are to live not simply by our own natural life, but by the life of the Spirit within us. This indwelling Spirit is what distinguishes us from all other people. We are not only born of the flesh (naturally) but also born of the Spirit (spiritually). We are now learning to live by, and be led by, the Spirit in the whole of life (Rom.8:14; Gal. 5:25). As we do so, we increasingly bear the fruit of the Spirit as our lives are changed from the inside out (Gal.5:16-26). We don’t serve God in the old way of keeping the letter of the law (as in any list of dos and don’ts, or markers of religious pedigree). We serve him in the new way of the Spirit (Rom.7:6) and so fulfil the greater law of love as we are gradually transformed by the Holy Spirit (2 Cor.3:6, 16-18).

Baptised In the Spirit.

As well as being born of the Spirit, the Bible speaks of being baptised in the Spirit (Acts 1:4-5). This experience equips us for service and witness, and is distinct from the new birth. The ideal is that this baptism is experienced when a person first commits their life to Christ. It is part of the whole package of beginning the Christian life, along with repentance, faith and baptism in water (Acts 2:38). Poor teaching and human tradition, however, have often prevented this from happening. That is why some people who have been Christians for a long time (and so are born of the Spirit) can go on to experience a new receiving the Holy Spirit subsequently.

The baptism in the Holy Spirit is a powerful and dramatic experience that causes us to overflow in praise as rivers of living water flow from within us (John 7:37-39). Often people will speak in tongues as part of the overflow of this experience (Acts 2:4; 10:44-46; 19:6). This baptism in the Spirit does not make us perfect Christians overnight. We have to go on being filled with the Spirit everyday (Eph.5:18-21) and to be led by the Spirit daily (Gal.5:25). It also introduces us more fully to the gifts of the Spirit (1 Cor.12:1-11) and to be more open to the Spirit’s power in healings and miracles. Most of all it empowers us to be effective witnesses to Jesus (Acts 1:8).