By now you have read about the Holy Spirit more than once. Let us learn more about Him. We are about to discover one of the greatest blessings that God gives a believer.

The one, living God reveals Himself to us in the Bible as the Trinity (Three-unity).

• God the Father is called God (Romans 1:7).
• God the Son is called God (Colossians 2:9; Hebrews 1:8)
• God the Holy Spirit is called God (Acts 5:3-4; 2 Corinthians 3:17-18)
• God is one (Mark 12:29).

The Holy Spirit is God, and therefore eternal, without beginning or end. In the Bible we first read of the Holy Spirit in the second verse (Genesis 1:2) and we last read of Him in the fourth last verse (Revelation 22:17). Throughout the whole Bible we read of His work in the hearts and minds of the believers. Because He is Spirit, He can be everywhere at all times and even live within all believers to guide and teach them.

Read John 14:15-17.

• Is the Holy Spirit a thing or a Person?
• By which two names is He described in verse 16-17?
• Who cannot receive Him?
• Where will He live? (Verse 17.)

The Muslim reader will immediately see that Jesus speaks here of a) a Spirit and not a prophet, and b) that this Spirit would live in the disciples.

It is therefore impossible that this reference could be to Muhammad, as some people seem to suggest.

The Names of the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is called by several names in the Bible:

• The Spirit of God (Genesis 1:2; Ephesians 4:30).
• The Spirit of the Lord (Luke 4:18).
• The Spirit of His Son (Galatians 4:6).
• The Spirit of Christ (Romans 8:9).
• The Spirit of holiness (Romans 1:4).
• The Spirit of grace and supplication (Zechariah 12:10).
• The Spirit of wisdom and revelation (Ephesians 1:17; Proverbs 8).
• The Spirit of understanding, counsel, power, knowledge and the fear of the Lord (Isaiah 11:2).
• The Spirit of truth (John 14:17; 15:26).
• The Spirit of love, power and self discipline (2 Timothy 1:7).
• The Spirit of sonship (Romans 8:15).
• The Counsellor (John 14:16).
• The Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5, 8; 2:1-4).

The Coming of the Holy Spirit

Although the Holy Spirit is always present everywhere we often read in the Old Testament that He filled a certain person in order to enable him to do a special task (e.g. Exodus 31:3; Numbers 11:17; 24:2; 1 Samuel 10:6; 1 Chronicles 28:12; Nehemiah 9:30; Isaiah 42:1; Ezekiel 11:5; etc.).

In the New Testament, however, you read that Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would come to live in every believer. This began on the day of Pentecost when the Christians were together and “all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:4). This happened again and again, as we read in Acts 4:31 and 10:44-46.

The Holy Spirit also comes to live in every individual believer, as He came to Saul (Paul) at his conversion (Acts 9:17-19). The Bible says,

“. . . if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.” (Romans 8:9.)

This special working of the Holy Spirit has been foretold in the Old Testament (Ezekiel 36:26:27). And when Paul writes to the believers in Corinth, he has to remind them,

“Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16.)

However, it is possible to have the Holy Spirit living in you without being filled with the Holy Spirit. As long as a believer tries to control his own life, he cannot be filled with the Spirit. The Spirit will only fill the believer when he comes to a complete surrender to God (Romans 12:1-2; Ephesians 5:18).

How to be Filled by the Holy Spirit

1. Believe in the crucified and resurrected Christ (Galatians 3:1-5).

2. Obey God (Acts 5:32).

3. Ask God (Luke 11:13).

4. Trust God to fulfill his promises (1 John 5:14-15).

In our next lesson we will learn what the Holy Spirit does in the believer.

Test Yourself No. 15

Answer the following questions, and compare your answers to the correct ones.

• 1. How many Gods are worshipped by Christians?
• 2. How do we know that the Holy Spirit is not another prophet?
• 3. On which day did the Holy Spirit come to live in all true believers?
• 4. What word describes God as He reveals Himself in the Bible?
• 5. Why did the Holy Spirit fill a person in the time of the Old Testament?