Lesson 6: Who is the Holy Spirit? (part 1)

Read: John 16:5-15 - www.bible.com/bible/59/joh.16.esv

In next few lessons we will take a non-emotional look at who the Holy Spirit is, and what His ministry is in our lives. We will treat Him as He is – God. The Holy Spirit is just as much God as is the Father and as is the Son. He is eternal, all-knowing, all-powerful, everywhere-present-at-once, and all the other attributes we have already discussed as belonging to God.

The distinction, however, is just as clear as between the Father and the Son. “When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak, and He will declare to you the things which are to come”(John 16:13). In other words, the Holy Spirit has placed Himself in subjection to the Father just as the Son has done – see John 4:34, 5:30, and 6:39. He is a Person with intelligence (1Corinthians 2:10-13; Romans 8:27), with feelings (Ephesians 4:30), and with a will (Acts 16:6-11; 1 Corinthians 12:11).

Something to understand about the Holy Spirit is how His ministry was different in the Old Testament from what it is now. He took part in creation as we see in Genesis 1 – the Spirit "moving on the face of the deep." Also, the Holy Spirit gave direction to the prophets for what they should say – see 2 Samuel 23:2 and Micah 3:8. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit would come on people for specific reasons. Not all believers had the presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives. Prophets had His presence for short periods of time when He would move them to speak His words, kings would have His presence for the life of their duties. But He would also leave them, either when the job was done or if they disobeyed His will (see David's prayer in Psalm 51:11).


In the New Testament He is credited with giving us all Scripture (2 Peter 1:21). Hebrews 13:5 promises us He will never leave or forsake us. So why is this different for us as Christians today? Do we need to fear we will lose the Holy Spirit out of our lives? Jesus told His disciples in John 14 the Holy Spirit, whom He would give to them, would remain with them forever. This was a promise not based on a condition of obedience, only on the condition of being a believer. Once Jesus had been with His people He knew they would never be able to get along without Him. Even though He was going away (because as a human He could only be in one place at a time) He promised He would never leave them alone. His promise was kept by Him sending the Holy Spirit to take His place in believers.

The Holy Spirit has been working on the earth in believers since the beginning of time. The difference between Old Testament and New Testament times was the Holy Spirit then had His home in heaven with God the Father. On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit “packed His bags” and moved His residence to the earth to live in the Christians until the end of this age. This is where He will remain in residence until the time comes when the Father removes Him and all believers from this earth.