The traditional Christian view of the Holy Spirit presents it not only as the power of God, but also as a third person with the Father and Son in a Trinity. But the Bible is clear that it’s never presented as a separate person. It’s always presented as an attribute or the power of God.
There are many scriptures demonstrating the Holy Spirit is not a divine person. For example, the Holy Spirit is referred to as a gift (Acts 10:45; 1 Timothy 4:14). We are told it can be quenched (1 Thessalonians 5:19), that it can be poured out (Acts 2:17 and 10:45), and that we are baptized with it (Matthew 3:11). It must be stirred up within us (2 Timothy 1:6), and it also renews us (Titus 3:5).
Speaking of the Holy Spirit, which would be given to His followers after His death, Jesus told them, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you” (Acts 1:8). The Holy Spirit is associated with the power through which Jesus Christ performed mighty miracles during His earthly ministry. Peter relates “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, [and Jesus] went about doing good and healing…for God was with Him” (Acts 10:38).
Paul told Timothy that it is the “spirit of…power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). After he had received God’s Spirit, Paul described his new outlook on life: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20, KJV). He urged other believers to “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1), and tells us, “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5, NRSV).
None of us can overcome our sins and shortcomings without God’s divine help. Only God can change our hearts. The Holy Spirit is the power God uses to transform our lives and renew our minds. We must ask God for help, through His Spirit, so we can bring our thoughts, attitudes and actions in line with His. Romans 8:14 states that “as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”
Paul states in Romans 8:9 that if you do not have God’s Spirit, also referred to here as Christ’s Spirit, dwelling in you, you are “not His.” It is vital Christians repent, be baptized and have hands laid on them—so we can surrender to God and receive the gift of His Spirit to transform our lives. God’s Spirit will not prevent us from sinning, nor will it force us to do what is right. It leads us, but we must be willing to follow. When Jesus promised the Apostles He would send the Spirit to them, He said it would “guide [them] into all truth” (John 16:13).
The Holy Spirit keeps us in contact with God’s mind, helping us come to a deeper comprehension of His truth, as 1 Corinthians 2:11 tells us: “For what man knows the things of a man except [by] the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except [by] the Spirit of God.” Without God’s Spirit a person cannot understand God’s divinely expressed Word and will, “because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14).
In speaking of the Holy Spirit, Jesus said it would “convict the world of sin” (John 16:8). God’s Spirit within us, working with our conscience, helps us to recognize and avoid sin. It also gives us the assurance that whatever happens will work out for the good “to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). Paul lists the fruit of the Spirit that should be evident in those who are led by God’s Spirit as “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23, NIV).
