“There’s a loyalty that’s deeper than mere sentiments, and a music higher than the songs that I can sing. The stuff of Earth competes for the allegiance I owe only to the Giver of all good things.” Rich Mullins
What if the Holy Spirit were allowed free reign in our lives? What if we knew that deeper loyalty and shrugged off all competing voices? What a day that would be.
When we read, “The Holy Spirit is a Person” we can pretty easily pass it over as trite, odd, or—beautiful.[1] This critical point in Chan’s list of theological declarations concerning the Holy Spirit is not a trivial one. The Christian teaching is that the Holy Spirit is a person not an “it.” And we understand person to be an expression of distinctiveness within the Trinity.
The Father is not the Son or the Spirit.
The Son is not the Father or the Spirit.
The Spirit is not the Son or the Father.
Each member of the Trinity is distinct and each is God.
There is only one God.
The Holy Spirit is not simply an idea or a force. “He is not an indistinct ‘power’ or ‘thing.’”[2] The Holy Spirit is a person, and the Holy Spirit is God.
This is an essential part of Christian theology, and an essential part of the Christian life. The personhood of the Holy Spirit is essential to Christian spirituality because it is the Holy Spirit who works in us through relationship. Chan wrote, “The Holy Spirit is a Person who has personal relationships with not only believers …. but also with the Father and the Son.”[3]
Since the Holy Spirit relates to the Father and the Son AND to US, it is our blessing to be loved by Him. The entire edifice of Christianity, based as it is on relationship, is established through our “relationship” with Christ, and brokered by the Holy Spirit. The foundation is the sacrifice of Christ, but that is not relational. The pillars are the apostles, but they are not in constant relationship with us. It is the Spirit of God, the Person of God with whom we are intimately related, that draws us to the Father through the Son.
Since the Father, the Spirit, and the Son are one in essence—thus One God—we are, through the Holy Spirit, drawn into relationship with the Triune God. We do not become God or Gods, but our lives should be marked by the remarkable, transforming presence of the Spirit of God in our lives. Thus, Jesus could say to his disciples, “I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.”[4]
Only under these circumstances can we say it was “good” for Jesus to leave us. Now that He has gone “[w]e, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2Cor. 3:18).
If you want to be in a relationship with God it is through the relational Holy Spirit. This privilege is purchased by the sacrifice of Christ, and lived out in us through His Holy Spirit. Thanks be to God.
[1] Pg. 70. See John 14:17, Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] John 16:7