Growing up, the Holy Spirit was commonly referred to as the Holy Ghost. Because of that, I’m sure you can imagine how a child could misinterpret that - picturing a cartoon-style ghost with a sheet over it! The Holy Spirit was one of those things that was never explained to me well (that I remember) in all of my religious education as a child. Looking back, I think the reason for that was that the Spirit was - and still is - very difficult to explain and understand!
The Holy Spirit is one of the persons of the Trinity. The Trinity is how we mere humans attempt to explain God - three persons in one God. The persons are the Father, Son (Jesus), and Holy Spirit. They are not three Gods; they are totally and completely one God, yet there are three distinct persons within that God. There is no earthly analogy that perfectly describes the Trinity or how the three persons relate with one another, though a few come close. For example, one popular analogy is that the Trinity can be compared to an egg. There are three parts to an egg (yolk, white, and shell) and together they make up an egg. However, that analogy falls short in that those parts can be separated, and God can never be separated.
But enough talk about that... the word for this week is Holy Spirit, not Trinity. Who or what is this Spirit that is so hard to comprehend?
In the Bible, the Spirit is expressed in terms of various images, including life-breath (Genesis 2:7), wind (Genesis 8:1, Acts 2:1-4), fire (Matthew 3:11-12), water (Isaiah 44:3), cloud (Exodus 24:15-18), dove (Matthew 3:16), and advocate (John 14:16). The Spirit can also be identified as the power of God. The Spirit is the power that is within all created life, as in Genesis 1. In the book of Acts, the Spirit is expressed as having power to facilitate salvation. In Luke 4:18-19, Jesus himself says the Spirit is on him. We also know that the Bible was inspired by the Spirit, as recorded in 2 Timothy 3:16. Throughout the Bible, the Holy Spirit is shown as playing a crucial role in salvation, providing spiritual gifts, and essential for spiritual transformation. The Spirit gives power and gifts to the people, such as leaders and warriors in the Old Testament and the apostles and others in the early church, especially leaders and missionaries.
As a former teacher of mine used to say, that’s clear as mud, right? We really cannot define the Holy Spirit in a nice, easy way. The Spirit has many roles in our lives. It is important that we recognize the Spirit’s presence in our lives as Christians, even if we don’t fully understand how that works. The Spirit is always present in our lives to help us further our own faith and to share that faith with others.
2 comments:
Good ol' Kathryn, lol, "as clear as mud." I think that's who you were referring to :) Good post Katie! I'm glad you're addressing this issue this week bc I'm going to be mentioning this topic in a future post of mine. Blessings!
Thanks Bill! :) My 8th grade teacher was the first one who I heard "clear as mud" from, but yes Kathryn sure said that a lot too! Glad my post could help you out! Watch for Logan's on Thursday too, it's gonna be a good one!
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