The Third Person in the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, is an often overlooked part of our Triune God. Because the Holy Spirit is the point at which our relationship with God connects personally, it is interesting that much of Christianity today seems to only give passing acknowledgment to pneumatology, or the study of the Holy Spirit.
Yet, as Millard Erickson well writes “the Holy Spirit is the point at which the Trinity becomes personal to the believer.”[1] The Old Testament Scriptures are filled with the work of God the Father. Then Jesus arrives for the work of the gospel early in the New Testament. However, from the time of the birth of the church at Pentecost until the closing of canon, we see the Holy Spirit occupying center stage…right on throughout church history. So why then are many Christians unfamiliar or unsure of the Spirit’s role?
Well, some of our avoidance comes from less explicit revelation in the Bible about the person of the Holy Spirit, than that of the Father or Son. Another reason might be that part of the Holy Spirit’s role and ministry is to declare and glorify the Son. The Holy Spirit also willing takes on a role of serving both Father and Son. This, however, must not be confused with a lesser role, as the Spirit is completely divine and equal in rank. We must be careful not to make the same heretical mistakes as the Arians, by allowing any person of the Trinity to be considered unequal to the others.
Another problem for us is that it is also difficult for us to imagine or comprehend the Holy Spirit. Jesus is humanly-relatable, the idea of the Father is somewhat tangible, at least in that which He has revealed. However, the Holy Spirit is more difficult to depict as a person as we understand material so much better. Yet, we know that the Holy Spirit plays a vital role in our interaction and understanding of God.
It was the Holy Spirit who penned the Bible through men. It was the Holy Spirit who walked with Jesus. It was the Holy Spirit who empowered the early church, advanced the gospel through the apostles, and who protects the advancment of the church and the gospel still today. It is the Holy Spirit who draws men to the Father through Jesus, it is the Holy Spirit who enables the sanctification and growth of all believers, and it is the Spirit, who continually petitions the Father on our behalf.
Because of theological abuses, confusion, and fear, many Christians have avoided studying and understanding the person of the Holy Spirit. Yet, might I encourage you to dig deeper into the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit? It is the Spirit which provides you with strength for the Christian journey and the ability to love, have joy, peace, understanding, self-control, and all the fruits that Paul recorded (as he wrote through the Spirit by the way) in Galations 5. For the believer today, the Holy Spirit is truly our “Immanuel,” God with us. I’d like to encourage you to pick up a great book on the Holy Spirit…something like “The Mystery of the Holy Spirit” by RC Sproul or “Forgotten God” by Francis Chan…or maybe “The Holy Spirit” by Sinclair Ferguson. Pick a well-trusted author and dig into knowing The Holy Spirit of God better.
[1] Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology, 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013), 772–773.
