Who Is the Holy Spirit? His Presence, Power, and Purpose
Who Is the Holy Spirit? His Presence, Power, and Purpose
Few subjects within the Christian faith bring such different experiences into the same room as the Holy Spirit. Some people grew up hearing about Him regularly, surrounded by conversations about spiritual gifts and the power of God. Others knew His name but received little teaching about His involvement in their lives. Still others have witnessed things attributed to the Holy Spirit that left them confused or uncomfortable. When those experiences become associated with division between Christians, it can feel easier to leave the subject alone.
Yet the Holy Spirit is someone Jesus wanted His followers to know. Understanding who He is and what He does matters to our relationship with God. Whatever our background, we have an opportunity to bring our assumptions, experiences, and questions to Scripture and allow God’s Word to shape our understanding. We can acknowledge what we have experienced while remaining willing to learn. Familiarity does not mean we have discovered everything, and uncertainty does not have to keep us at a distance.
At LEV, that approach includes being clear about what Scripture states and where we are drawing conclusions from what it describes. Both deserve careful consideration, but they should not be treated as interchangeable. We want to include what Scripture includes, approach interpretation honestly, and avoid placing requirements on people that God’s Word does not establish. This allows us to pursue understanding with conviction while extending grace to fellow believers who reach different conclusions.
Our starting point is the identity of the Holy Spirit. He is the eternal third Person of the Trinity, distinct from the Father and the Son, yet fully God. He has no beginning and no end. Genesis 1:2 introduces the Spirit of God hovering over the waters at creation, revealing His presence from the opening pages of Scripture. Before we encounter Pentecost or questions about spiritual gifts, we encounter the Holy Spirit at work in creation. Knowing Him begins with recognizing who He has always been.
Throughout the Old Testament, the Spirit comes upon people to equip them for God’s purposes. Kings, judges, and others receive His help to fulfill particular responsibilities. As the New Testament opens, His activity surrounds the coming of Jesus. Luke records that John the Baptist would be filled with the Holy Spirit even before his birth and would prepare people for the Lord, turning their hearts toward God (Luke 1:15–17). The Spirit’s work was connected to repentance, restored relationships, and readiness to receive the coming Messiah.
The same chapter describes the angel’s announcement to Mary that the Holy Spirit would come upon her and the power of the Most High would overshadow her. The child she would bear would be holy, the Son of God (Luke 1:35). Later, when Mary visited Elizabeth, Elizabeth’s baby leaped within her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:41). These accounts reveal His involvement in the lives of people through whom God was accomplishing His promises. His activity was already unfolding before the events we often associate with the beginning of the church.
The Holy Spirit’s presence is also evident throughout the ministry of Jesus. At His baptism, the Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and the Father affirmed Him as His beloved Son. Luke then describes Jesus as full of the Holy Spirit and led by the Spirit into the wilderness. Afterward, He returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit (Luke 3:21–22; 4:1, 14). Acts 10:38 describes how God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit and power, and how He went about doing good and healing those oppressed by the devil. Together, these passages show the Spirit’s anointing, leading, and empowering work in the life of Jesus.
When Jesus spoke about the Holy Spirit’s coming to His followers, He described a promise that would reach into their lives. In John 7:37–39, He invited the thirsty to come to Him and drink, speaking of rivers of living water flowing from within those who believed. John explains that Jesus was speaking about the Spirit whom believers would receive. Later, Jesus promised another Advocate who would remain with His disciples. He identified Him as the Spirit of truth and told them that the One who was with them would be in them (John 14:15–17). They were being invited into a continuing relationship with God’s presence.
After His resurrection, Jesus met the disciples in a room where they had gathered behind closed doors in fear. He spoke peace to them, showed them His hands and side, and commissioned them to go as the Father had sent Him. Then He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:19–22). The language of His breathing recalls Genesis 2:7, where God breathed life into Adam. In this encounter, the risen Jesus was bringing life to His followers and preparing them for what lay ahead.
At LEV, we understand this as a real reception of the Holy Spirit, followed by the promise Jesus gave in Acts 1 that they would be baptized with the Holy Spirit. We believe there is a distinction between the Spirit’s work of bringing new life at salvation and His empowering work in the baptism of the Holy Spirit. At salvation, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within every believer. We also believe His empowering work is something believers should welcome. This distinction does not mean the two must always occur at separate times or that everyone’s experience must follow an identical sequence.
Jesus clearly identified the purpose of the power He promised. In Acts 1:8, He told His followers they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them and would be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. When the day of Pentecost arrived, the gathered believers were filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other tongues as He enabled them. People from many nations heard them declaring the wonderful works of God in their own languages (Acts 2:1–11). The Spirit was empowering people to make God known, just as Jesus had promised.
The gift of tongues deserves thoughtful discussion because it appears in Scripture and remains a point of disagreement among sincere Christians. At LEV, we believe this gift remains available today, and we value its place in the life of believers. Its presence in several accounts of people receiving the Holy Spirit gives us reason to expect that God continues to work in this way. We want to remain open to what the Spirit gives and careful in how we describe what others must experience.
Our conviction is that Scripture does not establish tongues as the necessary initial evidence for every person who receives the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We understand why some Christians draw that conclusion from accounts in Acts, and we respect believers who hold that position. However, we believe making it a requirement for every recipient goes beyond what Scripture explicitly establishes. We therefore would not tell someone that the absence of tongues proves they have never been baptized with the Holy Spirit. We can value the gift deeply without making it a universal requirement.
How we handle these differences matters. Ephesians 4:1–6 calls believers to humility, gentleness, patience, and a commitment to preserving the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. That requires us to listen carefully, study honestly, and bear with one another in love. We stand firmly on the essential truths of the gospel while recognizing that faithful Christians can disagree about aspects of the Spirit’s work. Those disagreements should not cause us to lose sight of our shared calling to make Jesus known.
The Holy Spirit’s work reaches throughout the believer’s life. He convicts the world of sin, brings new life to those who believe, and unites us with Christ. He dwells within us, seals us for redemption, and assures us that we are God’s children. He teaches us through God’s Word, produces spiritual fruit, and transforms us into the likeness of Jesus. He also equips the church with spiritual gifts and empowers believers to proclaim Christ, bear witness to His resurrection, and carry the gospel into the world. Knowing Him involves welcoming the fullness of what Scripture reveals about Him.
Whatever your starting point, there is room to continue learning. You may have questions that require patient study or experiences you are still trying to understand. You may discover that some of your assumptions need to be reconsidered in light of Scripture. We can enter that process with reverence and humility, trusting the Holy Spirit to glorify Jesus as He works among us. As we grow in understanding, our desire is to remain rooted in God’s Word, united in love, and receptive to the One Jesus promised.