Who is the Holy Spirit?

Short answer

The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Trinity: truly God and a Person, not an impersonal force. Jesus promised Him as another Helper who lives in believers, guides them into the truth and helps them in their weakness.

Many people think of the Holy Spirit as a mysterious power or an influence from God. The Bible says more than that. It speaks of the Spirit as someone who speaks, teaches, helps and can be grieved, and Jesus spoke about Him most warmly on the night before He died.

Another Helper, sent by Jesus

And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
John 14:16–17 · King James Version (1769)

Jesus tells His troubled disciples that He is going away, but they will not be left alone. The Greek word for “Helper” (often “Comforter” or “Advocate”) means someone called to stand beside you. Matthew Henry notes that the Spirit’s name and the way Scripture speaks of Him plainly denote a person.

John MacArthur points out that “another” means another of the same kind: someone like Jesus Himself, who takes His place and continues His work. William MacDonald adds that the word Jesus uses for asking the Father is not that of an inferior pleading with a superior, but of one who speaks as an equal. The Spirit is also sent by both: the New Geneva Study Bible notes that He is called the Spirit of the Father and the Spirit of the Son.

The last words of the promise are “with you and in you.” MacDonald explains that in the Old Testament the Spirit came upon people at certain times and might leave them, while after Pentecost He stays with every believer for good. MacArthur reads these words as a sign that something new begins in His ministry. For the day itself, see What is Pentecost?.

Albert Barnes explains why this was good news. Jesus could not be bodily present with all believers in every place, but the Spirit can reach them all.

He guides into the truth

Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come.
John 16:13 · King James Version (1769)

The Spirit does not speak on His own, but passes on what the Father and the Son give Him. MacArthur understands the promise of “all the truth” first of all as the revelation that became the inspired writings of the New Testament. MacDonald adds that the Spirit still leads God’s children into the truth today, and He does it through Scripture.

Matthew Henry describes another side of His work: He first convinces of sin, and then comforts. A person who feels that his sin is real and serious is often feeling the Spirit’s work (John 16:8).

The Spirit is God

If the Spirit were only a force, He could not be lied to. Yet this is exactly what happened in the early church, when Ananias and Sapphira pretended to give all the money from a sale while keeping part back.

But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? While it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.
Acts 5:3–4 · King James Version (1769)

Peter says first that Ananias lied to the Holy Spirit and then that he lied to God. The New Geneva Study Bible sees here a pointer to the deity of the Spirit. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown say that these words imply “both the distinct Personality and the proper divinity of the Holy Spirit.” MacArthur adds that the Spirit lived in the church, and that is why the lie was a lie to Him.

Other passages say the same. At the baptism of Jesus the Father, the Son and the Spirit are seen together (Matthew 3:16–17), and Jesus sends His disciples to baptize in the one name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19). Christians call this the Trinity: one God in three Persons. See What is the Trinity?.

He helps us in our weakness

The Spirit is not far away. Paul writes that He stands beside believers in their weakness, especially when they pray.

Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
Rom 8:26 · King James Version (1769)

MacDonald notes that our requests are often selfish, ignorant or narrow, and that the groanings here are the Spirit’s, not ours. The New Geneva Study Bible says that every Christian knows this uncertainty about how to pray. The wish to pray rightly shows that the Spirit is already at work in us. Matthew Henry says that the Spirit teaches us what to pray for, stirs up our desire to pray and quiets our fears.

The Spirit also assures believers that they are God’s children (Romans 8:16) and grows in them what Paul calls His fruit: love, joy, peace and the rest (Galatians 5:22–23). See What is the fruit of the Spirit?.

So the Holy Spirit is not a distant power to be earned, but God Himself, given to those who trust in Christ. If you want to know Him better, read the last talks of Jesus in John 14 to 16 and ask God to help you understand them.