4. The Personality of the Holy Spirit – Discussion Starters
- Jesus describes the Holy Spirit. Which of the following descriptions of the Holy Spirit have special meaning for you? Share your experience with a Holy Spirit who guides, speaks, hears, discloses, glorifies, teaches and reminds us, dwells in us, testifies and convicts. How do these actions of the Holy Spirit define Him as a Person? As God?
- Personal aspects of the Holy Spirit. Why is it important to see the Holy Spirit
as a Person rather than as an abstract spiritual force? What are some of the attributes of the Holy Spirit that point to Him as a Person rather than as a spiritual influence? Do you accept the belief that the Holy Spirit is a divine Person? If so, how does that belief affect your relationship with Him? - More about the personal aspects of the Holy Spirit. Is there something about the actions of the Holy Spirit that makes it harder for us to comprehend Him and relate to Him? What is that? “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us.” What does that comment (from Acts 15:28) say about the Holy Spirit as a person? Is it possible to talk to the Holy Spirit in a person-to-person manner?
- The Spirit of Truth. Try to describe “truth” as specific and real. Hint: Jesus said (John 14:6) “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” How can truth be a person? How can the Holy Spirit help us develop a deep and personal relationship with Jesus, our Creator and Redeemer? What should we do to receive such a blessing?
- Why does it matter? Two questions are posed in this week’s lesson: (1) How can I as a Christian have more of the Holy Spirit? and (2) How can the Holy Spirit have more of me? Which question comes closer to identifying the Holy Spirit as a divine Person? Can we use the Holy Spirit to help us solve our problems? Be careful with your answer…
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Why is it so important that the Holy Spirit is a person. The Holy Spirit is a force that we have no comprehension of. And Ellen White says "“It is not essential for us to be able to define just what the Holy Spirit is. . . . The nature of the Holy Spirit is a mystery. Men cannot explain it, because the Lord has not revealed it to them. This lesson keeps trying to convince me that I have to believe the Holy Spirit is a person. I believe in the Holy Spirit but I cannot define Him in any human language.
She also writes:
There are three living persons of the heavenly trio; in the name of these three great powers—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—those who receive Christ by living faith are baptized, and these powers will co-operate with the obedient subjects of heaven in their efforts to live the new life in Christ.—Evangelism, 615.
And:
We need to realize that the Holy Spirit, who is as much a person as God is a person, is walking through these grounds.—Manuscript 66, 1899 (From a talk to the students at the Avondale School.)
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But we need to be oh so careful not to stray beyond that which has been revealed.
On the other hand, to view the Holy Spirit as nothing more than a disembodied tool is empty. Calling the Holy Spirit a Person gives a sense of companionship and understanding.
I made the comment in another thread, that our perception of another person is based as much if not more on our interaction with than person than their physical presence. And as an example I used the illustration of people in this Sabbath School Net Blog. I look forward to hearing from, and enjoy interacting with the participants of this Blog. I regard you as my friends, but the only things I really know about you are from what you write and the way you communicate with me and others on the blog. The same goes for me. How many of you know me only from what I write here on the Sabbath School Net Blog? If we were to meet one another in the street we would not recognize each other. Does the fact that we only know one another from communication make us less real. I suggest that we probably know one another pretty well because of our communication - and a lot better than other people we know by sight.
The Holy Spirit is a being that can, and should, be well known to us because of our communication and interaction. Just because we do not have a physical representation, does not make the Holy Spirit any less real.
I have just read all the verses in the New Testament that include the words Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit. The overall sense that I get from reading these texts is not who the Holy Spirit is, but what the Holy Spirit does. The Holy Spirit is the ultimate communicator and in that sense is a very real being.
Jesus introduces the Holy Spirit as below : \" ....the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.\" (Jn 14;17).
He made it clear that HS has the look of a man because He is referred to as a He/Him and yet can be represented \"like a dove\" (Mk 1:10); sometimes as a \" rushing mighty wind\"(Acts 2:2); and yet He can take the form of
\"cloven tongues like as of fire\" (Acts 2:3)!
Can someone help me with this question? I would like to know what it means to have the holy spirit living in me, and that my body is the temple of God. Does God physically live in our bodies when we accept him? We have seen in the Bible and present-day examples of spirit beings possessing people. Is God living inside of us anything like that or the idea that he lives in us simply symbolic?
Much more than symbolic...but spiritual. When you ask the Lord to dwell in you, He will guide you and direct you through a spiritual process that absolves you from sin and leads you to a spirit-led dedicated life in Him.