February 25 – LD 8, Day 7: Faith in God the Holy Spirit
by Rev J. Kortering

John 14:16,17, “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.”

The third Person of the holy trinity is designated, God the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost.

We must exercise some caution and precision when we speak of spirits or ghosts within our culture. These are common terms used within the heathen context. They refer to either humans as spirits or ghosts (the spirits of the deceased ancestors for example) or spirits and ghosts from the realm of the evil spirit world.

It is quite different to speak of our God as being Personally, the Holy Spirit.

The Bible does speak of our God as a spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth, John 4:24. Here we reflect upon the Person of the Spirit within the Godhead. He is called Spirit which means literally, “breath”. The idea is that the Holy Spirit is the breath of God, the One who enables God to be the living God. He is the One Who realizes a relationship of friendship between the Father, Son, and Himself as Holy Spirit. When the Father speaks to the Son, He does so through the Person of the Holy Spirit. He is called the third Person of the trinity not because He is lower in rank to the Father and Son, but rather because He completes the work of the three Persons within the Godhead.

The same thing applies to the work which the triune God does outside of Himself. He is the creator God, the Savior God, the God Who brings all His plans to its consummation and He does this through the third Person of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit breathes the creation into existence. The Spirit comes upon the virgin Mary to conceive the promised Son. The Spirit gathers the church from all nations. The Spirit ultimately will destroy this present world and create a new one in which righteousness will dwell.

He is a Divine Person. This explains His efficacy and power. He always gets done what must be done.

Our faith is in Him as we think about our salvation. It is sure and steadfast in the Holy Spirit.