What is the Holy Spirit?

On the last night before he died, Jesus kept coming back to one word. Four times in John's account of that evening he calls the Spirit the paraklētos, literally someone called to your side: the word for a defense advocate in court, and for a friend who stands with you when things go badly (John 14:16, John 14:26, John 15:26, John 16:7). The only other place the New Testament uses it, it describes Jesus himself (1 John 2:1). So when Jesus promised his friends another helper, he was telling them that someone like him was coming.

For many people the Holy Spirit is the blur at the edge of the picture, a phrase heard at baptisms or something associated with loud churches. Jesus spoke about the Spirit as very good news.

A person, not a force

The word the Bible uses for spirit, in both Hebrew and Greek, also means breath or wind. That already says something: the Spirit is the life-giving breath of God. In the very first scene of the Bible, the Spirit of God is moving over the dark waters before creation takes shape (Genesis 1:2).

But Jesus did not describe the Spirit as an energy to be tapped. He described someone who would teach, remind, guide and speak (John 14:26, John 16:13). The New Testament says the Spirit can be grieved, like a friend who is hurt (Ephesians 4:30). That is why Christians say he rather than it.

Historic Christian teaching, shared by Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant churches, is that there is one God who exists as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This is called the Trinity. It is a mystery Christians hold rather than a puzzle they have solved, but it rests on passages like Jesus' instruction to baptize in the one name of the Father, the Son and the Spirit (Matthew 28:19).

The promise Jesus made

On the night he was arrested, Jesus told his friends he was leaving, and they were devastated. His answer was surprising: it was better for them that he go, because then the Spirit would come (John 16:7). And he promised that this helper would not just be with them but within them (John 14:16).

In other words, the presence of Jesus was not going to be limited to one body in one village any more. Through the Spirit, anyone, anywhere, could know God near.

The Spirit in the life of Jesus

The Gospels show the Spirit at every turn in Jesus' own story. When Jesus was baptized, the Spirit came on him in a form like a dove (Luke 3:21). He began his public work by reading from the prophet Isaiah in his hometown synagogue, a passage about the Spirit of the Lord sending someone to bring good news to the poor and freedom to prisoners, and said that it was being fulfilled that day (Luke 4:16).

Jesus also spoke of the Spirit to a religious teacher named Nicodemus, who came to see him at night. People need to be born again, Jesus said, born of the Spirit, and he compared this to the wind: you cannot see it, but you can hear it and see what it does (John 3:5).

The day the Spirit came

The prophets of Israel had looked forward to a time when God would give people new hearts and put his own Spirit within them (Ezekiel 36:26), and when the Spirit would be poured out on everyone, young and old, men and women (Joel 2:28).

Seven weeks after the Passover at which Jesus died, during the Jewish harvest festival of Pentecost (the name means fiftieth), Jesus' followers were gathered in Jerusalem. The book of Acts describes a sound like a rushing wind, flames resting on each person, and the disciples suddenly speaking in languages they had never learned, so that visitors from many nations heard about God in their own tongues (Acts 2:1). Peter stood up and explained that this was the promise of the prophets coming true, and he told the crowd that anyone who turned to God and was baptized would receive the same gift (Acts 2:38).

What the Spirit does

The New Testament describes the Spirit's work in several ways.

He draws people to God. Jesus said the Spirit would show the world the truth about sin, about what is right, and about judgment (John 16:8). Many Christians say their first hunger for God was the Spirit at work before they had a name for it.

He makes God feel like family. Paul writes that the Spirit assures believers deep inside that they are God's children, so that they can call God Abba, the Aramaic family word for father that Jesus himself used when he prayed (Romans 8:15).

He helps when we cannot pray. When people do not know what to say to God, the Spirit prays for them with longings deeper than words (Romans 8:26).

He changes character. Paul calls it the fruit of the Spirit and names nine qualities, beginning with love, joy and peace and ending with self-control (Galatians 5:22). Notice the word: fruit, not achievements. Fruit grows slowly and naturally. This is not self-improvement by willpower but a life slowly reshaped from the inside.

He gives gifts. Every believer receives some gift from the Spirit, such as teaching, wisdom, healing, encouragement or generosity, and these gifts are meant for the good of others, not for status (1 Corinthians 12:4).

Where Christians differ

Christians agree on the heart of this teaching, but they differ on some questions. Pentecostal and charismatic churches expect gifts such as speaking in tongues, prophecy and healing to be common today, and many speak of a baptism in the Spirit as a distinct experience after conversion. Other churches believe the most dramatic gifts were especially tied to the church's first generation, or emphasize the Spirit's quieter work through Scripture, prayer, the sacraments and a changed life. Most Christians on every side agree that the clearest sign of the Spirit is love (1 Corinthians 13:1).

Can I receive the Spirit?

Jesus once asked his listeners whether any parent would hand a child a snake when the child asked for a fish. If ordinary parents give good things, he said, how much more will the Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask (Luke 11:11).

Christians believe the Spirit comes to live in everyone who trusts Jesus. You do not need a special feeling, a certain church, or the right words. You can simply ask God, honestly, to make himself known to you. If you would like to go further, the reading plan below spends a week with what the Bible says about the Spirit's power and presence.