Keeping in Step with the Spirit: Who is He and What Does He Do?
There’s a lot of confusion about the Holy Spirit today.
A fishing friend of mine recently complimented me as being “spiritual”. I took it as evidence of the Holy Spirit working in and through my life. I suspect my friend meant something different. The word “spiritual” can mean anything and everything in today’s religious environment. It has little or nothing to do with the Holy Spirit.
Now consider the results of the 2025 State of Theology survey co-produced by Ligonier Ministries and Lifeway Research. More than half (53%) of professing evangelicals agree with the statement, “The Holy Spirit is a force but is not a personal being”.
There’s also much controversy concerning what the Holy Spirit does.
Jonathan Edwards, 18th century American Congregationalist pastor and theologian, observed such excesses attributed to the Holy Spirit during the First Great Awakening, a revival that took place during the 1730s and 1740s in the American colonies.
He conceded that the excesses should not deny the existence of the genuine works of the Holy Spirit. In his treatise, Thoughts on Revival in New England, he writes:
“It’s true, a distinction must be made in affections or passions. There is a great difference between high affections, and raised affections, which must be distinguished by the skill of the observer. Some are much more solid than others. There are many exercises of the affections that are very flashy, and little to be depended on. Often there is a great deal that pertains to them, or rather that is the effect of them, that has its seat in the animal nature, and is very much owing to the constitution and frame of the body; and what sometimes gets the special name of passion, is nothing solid or substantial. But it is false philosophy to suppose that this is the case with all exercises of affection in the soul, or with all great and high affections. And it is false divinity to suppose that religious affections don’t pertain to the substance and essence of Christianity. On the contrary, it seems to me that the very life and soul of all true religion consists in them.” (emphasis mine)
In other words, just because something generates heat doesn’t mean that it sheds much light. But light is shed nonetheless.
I like what Wayne Grudem says on p.634 in his Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. The work of the Holy Spirit “is to manifest the active presence of God in the world and especially in his church.”
Grudem further states the Holy Spirit “empowers… purifies…reveals…unifies”.
Theologically, the Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Trinity who indwells believers (Romans 8:11).
Experientially, both personally and corporately as a church, we’ve probably had one of those “ah ha” moments where you recognize the active presence of God through the Holy Spirit.
Let’s consider biblically who the Holy Spirit is and some of what he does:
The Spirit is personal and not an impersonal force (the Hebrew word ruach is feminine in gender and the Greek word pneuma is neuter but the Holy Spirit is referred to as “he” in passages like John 14:17). We don’t plug into the Holy Spirit like we would plug in a lamp into an electric socket! The Holy Spirit is not an impersonal force but a living Person.
The Holy Spirit is equal in nature to the Father and Son and therefore deity (Isaiah 48:16; 61:1-2; Acts 5:1-11; 2 Cor.4:17; 13:14) We don’t lie to an impersonal force, but to a person. Peter equates Ananias’s deception in lying to the Holy Spirit the same as lying to God (Acts 5:1-4).
The Holy Spirit revealed his presence in creation of both the universe (Gen.1:2) and the church (Acts 2:1-11). The Holy Spirit was the instrumental entity in both, creating something out of nothing.
The Holy Spirit is counselor/helper/comforter (Gk. parakletos Jn.16:7). I like the phrase, “one who comes alongside to help” to capture the meaning of the word in the original. It personalizes the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives.
The Holy Spirit helps, guides, reveals, and grieves (Rom.8:26; Acts 8:29; Jn.16:13; Eph.4:30)
The Holy Spirit in the OT temporarily empowered people for a task (read about Samson in Judges 14:6; 16:20)
The Holy Spirit in the OT inspired prophets (Ezek.2:2), foretold the Messiah (Isa.9:2-7), and inspired writers of Scripture (2 Peter 1:21)
The Holy Spirit is foretold to be poured on all kinds and classes of people who believe in Messiah Jesus (Joel 2:28-32; Isa.44:3; Ezek.36:26; cf. John 7:38-39; Acts 2:1-13) and therefore unifies us as believers. We all have the indwelling Holy Spirit in common.
The Holy Spirit convicts people of sin (Jn.16:8), regenerates us (Titus 3:5), illumines Scripture (1 Cor.2:10-16), and makes us more like Christ (Gal.3:3; 1 Peter 1:2; 1 Cor.6:11).
The Holy Spirit distributes spiritual gifts (Gk. charismata, Rom.12:4; 1 Cor.12:1-11)
The Holy Spirit produces spiritual fruit (Gal.5:22-23). The emphasis is on character. We may not all have the same spiritual gifts, but we can exhibit the same spiritual fruit.
The Holy Spirit indwells and seals every believer (Jn.14:17; Rom.8:11; Eph.1:13-14; 1 Cor.12:13)
The Holy Spirit can fill every believer (Eph.5:18). This means we yield to the Holy Spirit’s influence and control.
Supremely, the Holy Spirit bears witness to Jesus (John 15:26) and seeks to glorify him (John 16:14)
My take on two controversial topics regarding the Holy Spirit:
The more spectacular gifts of the Holy Spirit (e.g. speaking in tongues, prophecy, healing, miracles) can become the focus instead of the confirmation of the Holy Spirit’s work. They’re controversial in that they are often praised at the expense of character and often practiced unscripturally, (e.g. speaking in tongues in public without someone to interpret, prophesying without mature believers present to evaluate it, see 1 Cor.14:26ff. about orderly worship). These gifts can be divisive and breed a sense of superiority and the cult of personality. They are often found farther down on the gift lists in 1 Cor.12–14, suggesting a lesser importance than what some give them. Yet they can, when exercised properly, demonstrate the active presence of God. My concern is that we can become so rational that we fail to see the active presence of God in the exercise of these more spectacular gifts. Even Jesus in his hometown of Nazareth “did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief” (Matt.13:58, NASB).
The “leading” of the Holy Spirit must never be contrary to Scripture. It should never be used to elevate someone as more spiritual (“God told me…”). The Holy Spirit’s leading more often than not consists of a gentle nudge, a tap on the shoulder, a sense that something is the right thing to do. It’s not infallible, however. It never rises to the authority of Scripture. Consider how the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15:28 sensed the Spirit’s leading in issuing its letter regarding Gentile believers: “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us…”. I suspect most of us have had divine coincidences where the Holy Spirit leads into circumstances which confirm his active presence in our lives
Using Google, I discovered that there are approximately 644 million Pentecostal Christians in the world, representing 26% of the world’s Christians and 8% of the world’s population. Despite the excesses of this movement, can’t we discern something of the active presence of God in it? I believe we can.
Pastor and theologian Bruce Milne provides a good summary about the Holy Spirit on p.249 of his book, Know the Truth: A Handbook of Christian Belief:
“The Holy Spirit is therefore none other than the member of the eternal Godhead who brings to bear in the life of God’s people the fruits of the victory won by Christ in his life, death, and glorification.”
Hopefully this article has cleared away some of the haze regarding the Holy Spirit. If so, we can then follow the apostle Paul’s command in Galatians 5:25:
“Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.”