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Like the Greeks of Saint Paul's day, Christians today have an unknown God. In a sermon preached in Athens, Paul called attention to an altar he saw with the inscription "To an unknown god" (Acts 17:23). If Paul could preach to our generation, he would probably identify this unknown god as the Holy Spirit. He would find many in today's church like those he found in Ephesus. When he asked the people whether they received the Holy Spirit, they replied, "No, we have never heard that there is a Holy Spirit."

The Holy Spirit is clouded with mystery. We do not know whether we should refer to the Spirit as "he," "she," or "it." For many the Spirit is a ghost: "Holy Ghost." It is not only mysterious but scary. It is a mystery whether or not we have the Spirit. Do we have the Spirit? We really don't know. If we do have the Spirit, what kind of spirit do we have? Everyone has a spirit; otherwise we would be dead. Do we have a good or bad, a holy or an unholy spirit? Before we can answer, we must get to know the Holy Spirit. How can we say in the Apostles' Creed, "I believe in the Holy Spirit," if we do not know the Spirit?

What is the subject of the third paragraph of the creed? Does it consist of one or several subjects? Is it about the Spirit only or is it about other subjects: church, saints, forgiveness, resurrection, and everlasting life? In the first paragraph of the creed, we have God the Father; in the second, we have God the Son -- no other subject than the Father and the Son. Since the creed is based upon the Trinity, the third article deals with God the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit that produces the church, the saints, forgiveness of sins, resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. The Holy Spirit can be compared to an antenna which has extensions. See the following diagram:

(This diagram is only available in the printed version of this book.)

Consider now the relation of the Spirit to the Trinity. With the three articles in place, we have the answer to the basic question, "Who am I?" By virtue of God the Father's creation, I am a creature of God. "I am fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139:14). Because of the work of redemption by God the Son, I am a child of God. I have been redeemed and accepted by virtue of Christ's sacrificial death on the cross. "But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God" (John 1:12). By the spirit's work of sanctification, I am becoming what I am. Why am I becoming a child of God? In essence I am a child of God by grace through faith but in practice I do not live like one. This means I am at the same time a saint and a sinner, simul iustis et peccator. I have a dual nature. There is a conflict between what I am and what I ought to be. In Romans 7:15-25 Paul describes this conflict in himself. It means that the Christian life is a process of growth. We are saved but, as Paul wrote, we must work out our salvation (Philippians 2:12). How then do I become what I am? It is by the possession of the Holy Spirit and allowing the Spirit to work in you.

The Spirit Is God
Who is the Holy Spirit? He is God, the third person of the Trinity. Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well, "God is spirit" (John 4:24). Since God is spirit, the Holy Spirit is God. The Athanasian Creed puts it simply: "The Father is God; the Son is God; and the Holy Spirit is God." Since the Spirit is God, we refer to the Spirit as "He."

What is the meaning of "spirit"? The word for "spirit" in Hebrew is ruach, in Greek it is pneuma, in Latin spiritus, in German geist. In all these languages the word means "breath" or "wind." In his conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus referred to the Spirit as "wind" (John 3:8). One time a father helped his little boy launch a kite. As soon as the boy got the kite up, the wind died down. "Oh, please, dear God," he prayed, "no matter what you do, don't stop breathing now."

The Spirit is associated with breathing. Since God is Spirit, he breathed into Adam and he became a living being (Genesis 2:7). He was made in "the image of God," meaning he was like God in that he had a spiritual quality, a soul. Likewise, on Easter night Jesus gave the disciples the Spirit when "he breathed on them" (John 20:22).

What does it mean then to possess the Holy Spirit? To have the Spirit is to have:
* God the Father -- "God is Spirit" (John 4:24).
* God the Son -- "The Lord is the Spirit" (2 Corinthians 3:17).
* Life -- "The Spirit gives life" (John 6:63).
* Love -- "The fruit of the Spirit is love ..." (Galatians 5:22).
* Power -- "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you" (Acts 1:8).
* Wisdom -- "To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom" (1 Corinthians 12:8).
* New creation -- "So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation" (2 Corinthians 5:17).

A Personal God
A common mistake in thinking about the Holy Spirit is to think of him in impersonal terms. This is expressed when we refer to him as "It." The Spirit is not an idea, ideal, or a principle. He is a person, the third person of the Trinity. As a person he has his own individuality along with the Father and the Son. In his final discourse with the disciples, Jesus promised to send them "another counselor" (John 14:16). The Greek word for "another" is not heteros, meaning different as in "heterosexual," but allos, meaning the "same." The promised Spirit is not another or different person from Jesus. He would come to them in terms of the Spirit. To have the Holy Spirit is to have Christ. As Paul says, "God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying 'Abba! Father!' "

The Holy Spirit is a person who dwells in persons. The area of God the Father is the universe: invisible, infinite, and incomprehensible. The area of God the Son is Jesus of Nazareth in whom the Spirit fully dwelt. The area of God the Spirit is the believer. Paul asks, "Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?" (1 Corinthians 3:16). Here we have the immanence of God. God the Spirit is in our hearts. He is an internal reality, a personal possession. In Jesus God is with us. In the Holy Spirit, God is in us. To have God in us, we must have the Holy Spirit. Do we? When did we receive the Holy Spirit? How does the Spirit come to a believer?

How To Get The Holy Spirit
Is the Holy Spirit a natural endowment? Do we have the Spirit by virtue of our creation? One of today's heresies is the belief that God is born in you because you are a human. Shirley MacLaine of the New Age says, "Anybody can find God by getting in touch with the inner self." In a letter to me from a woman: "People don't go to church to find or see God per se, but to share the God within themselves with others." A student says, "I was converted three weeks ago and I received the Holy Spirit yesterday." A pastor reports, "Six people were converted to Christ in our church last Sunday, and two others received the Holy Spirit." A rancher confesses, "Now that I am a Christian, I'm praying that he will give me his Holy Spirit." What is wrong about the above statements? The Spirit does not necessarily come from an intense emotional experience. It is not required that one roll on the floor, froth at the mouth, hear angels sing or bells ring. The Spirit usually comes regularly and quietly without fanfare when he comes in his Word.

The Holy Spirit comes to us in and through the Word of God contained in the scriptures. The Spirit and the Word are inseparable. The Word is like a wet sponge. Touch or squeeze it and water is felt. Squeeze the sponge of the Word and the Spirit is received. In Ephesians Paul urges us to take "the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God." Martin Luther agreed with Paul: "For God will not give you his Spirit without the external Word." In the Augsburg Confession, the church affirmed this truth: "For through Word and Sacraments, as through instruments, the Holy Spirit is given, and the Holy Spirit produces faith, where and when it pleases God, in those who hear the gospel." Paul makes the Spirit and the Word synonymous. He writes, "Be filled with the Spirit" (Ephesians 5:18), and again, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly" (Colossians 3:16).

How does the Word come that we may receive the Spirit? First, there is the audible Word. We receive the Spirit when the oral Word is heard in preaching, teaching, and witnessing. The Spirit came to Cornelius and his group while Peter preached the Word (Acts 10:44). This is at least one very good reason for going to worship: to hear the Word proclaimed.

Second, there is the legible Word. The Spirit can come to one who is reading the Word in the Bible. In the quiet of his garden, Augustine heard a voice saying, "Teke, lege," "Take, read." He opened his Bible and read, "Put on the Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 13:14). The Spirit came and called him to faith. It changed his life from a profligate to a prophet. It still can happen to Bible readers today.

Third, there is the visible Word. The Word comes in and through the Sacraments, Baptism, and Holy Communion. This is possible because a sacrament is the Word accompanied by an external sign such as water and wine. At his baptism, Jesus received the Holy Spirit symbolized by the descending dove. Jesus instructed Nicodemus that "you must be born from above" (John 3:7). A Christian is a twice-born person, physically and spiritually. The spiritual birth takes place at baptism. On Pentecost Peter told the new believers to repent and be baptized to receive the Holy Spirit. When infants or adults are baptized, they receive the Spirit. Likewise, in Holy Communion the Spirit is renewed with fresh outpourings of the Spirit. The Word in the Lord's Supper is Christ who comes in the forms of bread and wine.

Fourth, there is the physical Word. The Spirit comes with the laying on of hands. The hands seem to be the physical connection or conductor for the Spirit to come from God to the believer. The people in Samaria received the Spirit when the apostles laid their hands on them (Acts 8:17). Today the church practices the laying on of hands for the Spirit to come. In baptism, the pastor's hands are placed on the head of a confirmand while he says, "The Father in heaven, for Jesus' sake, renew and increase in you the gift of the Holy Spirit." When a minister is ordained into the gospel ministry, a bishop lays his hands on the head of the ordinand for the gift of the Spirit and for the setting apart to preach the Word and administer the sacraments.

It is clear from the above that the Holy Spirit is a gift of God and not human achievement. The Spirit cannot be earned nor bought at any price. In the days of the apostles, Simon learned that lesson. Read about it: Acts 8:18-24.

Do you have the Holy Spirit? How can you be sure you do? There are several signs that the Holy Spirit possesses a person. Do you have faith in Christ? It is a gift of the Spirit. Do you belong to a church? The Holy Spirit brought you into the fellowship. Do you love God and your neighbor? Love is the greatest fruit of the Spirit.

Keeping The Spirit
Once having the Spirit does not mean always having the Spirit. The Spirit may not only come but go from us. In the Church of the Redeemer, Atlanta, there is a baptismal font with an elaborate font cover consisting of hand-carved woodwork in which there is a dove to symbolize the Holy Spirit received at baptism. The only mistake in the symbolism of the entire church is that the dove is shown ascending rather than descending. At baptism, the Spirit is to come down, not up. Yet, there is a lesson in the mistake: the Spirit can leave a person.

When Samson's hair was cut, "He did not know that the Lord [Spirit] had left him" (Judges 16:20). The Spirit can leave us when we, like Samson, break our relationship with him. Samson's long hair was a symbol of the covenant he had with God. The cutting of the hair was the breaking of the relationship, and as a result the Spirit left him.

We are ever in danger of losing the Spirit. We can resist the Holy Spirit as the persecutors of Stephen did (Acts 7:51). The consequence was the martyrdom of Stephen. Also, we can lie to the Spirit as Ananias and Sapphira did, when they kept back money from the sale of their property. In this case, lying to the Spirit resulted in the death of the couple. Moreover, we are not to grieve the Holy Spirit by indulging in wickedness (Ephesians 4:30). It is possible to quench, to kill the Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19). Whatever we do against the Spirit constitutes the unpardonable sin (Matthew 12:31-32). Since the Spirit convinces us of sin, calls us to believe, and draws us to Christ, opposition to the Spirit results in our not coming to Christ for forgiveness. If any person worries if he/she has committed the unpardonable sin, he/she can be assured that if the question is asked, the sin has not been committed. The person who sins against the Holy Spirit is not concerned about sin.

How does one lose the Spirit? It is by neglect of receiving the Word of God. If Bible reading, worship, prayer, and Christian fellowship are neglected, the Spirit is probably on the way out of your life. The reception of the Spirit is not a one-time experience. A person is never "full of the Spirit." The Spirit needs to be renewed and replenished every time the Word is proclaimed and received.



Study Guide

The Christian's Unknown God

Try This For Thought
Consider the following questions for individual or group discussion:

1. Does the Holy Spirit come with a second blessing?

2. Is the coming of the Holy Spirit the second coming of Christ?

3. Can one get the Holy Spirit without a Pentecost experience?

4. To be a genuine Christian, must one speak in tongues?

5. Did the Holy Spirit originate on Pentecost?

6. Can one have the Holy Spirit without being a Charismatic?

7. How can one be sure he/she has the Holy Spirit?

8. Who or what is the Holy Spirit?

9. What is the work of the Holy Spirit?

10. Is it wrong to be baptized a second time?

Who Is The Spirit?
Fill in the blanks below by reading the Bible reference:
1. The Spirit is ____________. (Leviticus 11:44)

2. The Spirit is the spirit of ____________. (2 Corinthians 3:17)

3. The Spirit is ____________. (John 6:63)

5. The Spirit is ____________. (Acts 1:8)

Where Does The Spirit Dwell?
God the Father dwells in the universe. God the Son dwells in Jesus of Nazareth. Where does the Spirit dwell? Which of the following statements are true or false? Circle your answer:

T F 1. The Holy Spirit is the possession of all people.

T F 2. The Holy Spirit is possessed by believers in Christ.

T F 3. The Spirit comes naturally when we are physically born.

T F 4. The Spirit causes a person to be born anew.

T F 5. Repentance and faith are preconditions to possessing the Spirit.

Do You Have The Holy Spirit?
To test whether or not you have the Spirit, check the following evidence of the Spirit.
1. ___ Have you been baptized?

2. ___ Do you have faith to say Jesus is your Lord?

3. ___ Are you an active member of a church?

4. ___ Do you love God and people?

5. ___ Do you witness for Jesus Christ?

Coming And Going
The Holy Spirit comes and goes. Is it possible for the Spirit to leave and us not to know it? Read about Samson (Judges 16:20).

What can cause the going of the Spirit from us?

1. Resist -- Read Acts 7:51.

2. Lie to the Holy Spirit -- Read Acts 5:3.

3. Grieve the Holy Spirit -- Read Ephesians 4:30.

4. Quench the Spirit -- Read 1 Thessalonians 5:19.

5. Commit the unpardonable sin -- Read Matthew 12:31-32.