THE HOLY SPIRIT (PART 1)

When it comes time to understand the Holy Spirit (or Holy Ghost, as some prefer), we are posed with some different problems. It was no great challenge to understand the Father and the Son. These are ideas within our own experience. Not so the Holy Spirit. This is the closest thing to a mystery in the study of God.

Once again, we find ourselves struggling with the meaning of words; and this time, poetry and imagery are involved. First, consider the difference in the way these ideas are presented to us. Father and son are concepts we easily understand. They are persons. We are like them. We are made in their image. Every revelation of God allows us, even encourages us, to think of Him in human terms.

Not so with the Holy Spirit. In the first place, the Greek word for it suggests something other than a person. “Spirit” in the Greek is pneuma, from which we derive the word “pneumatic.” The word roughly means air, wind or breath. If you speak Greek, the wind that moves the leaves on your tree is pneuma. One source called the Holy Spirit “the Breath of Jehovah.”

To get a feeling for the word, read the following passage, and substitute “wind” for “spirit.” That is the way the passage would read to someone reading it in the original language, for the word pneuma is translated both as “spirit” and as “wind” in this passage.

Read John 3:1-8

60. In suggesting that a rebirth is required, is Jesus saying that it is a different kind of birth?

61. How does one who is born of the Spirit differ from one who is born of the flesh?

62. Is the Spirit presented as more like a person, or more like an amorphous (i.e. without body) essence?

Note: When we consider this, we can begin to understand why some translators use the phrase, “Holy Ghost.” Which gender gives birth? Do males give "birth"? They saw the Spirit in rather different terms from the Father and the Son—more like an amorphous vapor. A vapor is an element that is not in its SOLID state. In order to be a ghost or a spirit you HAD to had died. How did the Holy Ghost die?

63. Visible manifestations of the Spirit are rare. When it does happen, how is the Holy Spirit presented? (Matthew 3:16, Acts 2:1-4)

Note: The Spirit is presented, not as a person, but “like a dove.” Keep in mind the dove is a "feminine" bird. The latter passage once again uses “wind” and says the disciples were “filled” with the spirit—the figure of speech calls to mind, not a person, but a fluid. “Fire” is another image of the Spirit.

Traditionally, as we have seen, God has been viewed as a Trinity. According to this view, God is one being, composed of three persons. These persons must relate to one another in special ways—Father and Son, for example.

64. Who is the Father of Jesus? (Matthew 1:18)

65. If the Holy Spirit is a person, why is it not the father of Jesus? (Luke 1:35)

Note: The Holy Spirit is called “the Power of the Highest.” He is introduced as a distinct person as are the Father and the Son. (S)He is the power of God emanating from the Father and the Son, and is God’s active agent in the world. It is the agency of God Himself. Agency is defined as a means of exerting power or influence—an instrumentality.