Catechesis · Inquirer
God the Holy Spirit
Catechesis · Inquirer
God the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Holy Trinity — not a force, not an influence, not a spiritual energy. He is a Person: He speaks, He intercedes, He can be grieved, He se…
Question
Who is the Holy Spirit?
The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Holy Trinity — not a force, not an influence, not a spiritual energy. He is a Person: He speaks, He intercedes, He can be grieved, He searches the depths of God. He proceeds from the Father and is worshipped and glorified together with the Father and the Son.
The teaching
The Lord and Life-giver — present, personal, divine
The Creed names the Holy Spirit as "the Lord and Life-giver, who proceeds from the Father, who together with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets." Each phrase was chosen to secure the Spirit's full divinity.
The Spirit is the presence of God within creation, within the Church, and within each believer. He makes the sacraments effective. He enables prayer. He transforms us. Without the Spirit, nothing in the Christian life works. Everything we call "spiritual" is, technically, the work of a Person.
The Spirit is not something communicated to us from outside. He is the very presence of God dwelling within us, making us participants in the divine life.
This is what distinguishes Christian spirituality from every form of self-improvement. We are not trying to become better versions of ourselves. We are being transformed from within by the presence of the living God. The Holy Spirit is not an aid to our efforts. He is the source of everything that matters in the Christian life.
After St. Basil the Great
On the Holy Spirit · c. 375 AD
Holy Scripture
"Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?"
1 Corinthians 3:16
"God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."
Romans 5:5
The Spirit and theosis
The Holy Spirit as the gift who is divine life itself
The Holy Spirit is not a benefit that God sends us. He is God giving Himself. When the Spirit dwells within a person, God Himself is present — not a representative or a messenger, but the third Person of the Trinity. This is why the Christian life is not self-improvement. It is participation in divine life from within.