- Mystery
- Love
- Power (excerpt 1)
- Power (excerpt 2)
- Knowledge (excerpt 1)
- Knowledge (excerpt 2)
- Presence (excerpt 1)
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The New Testament goes further. While in the Old Testament, it might not be entirely clear that the Holy Spirit is a distinct person, the New Testament begins to talk about the Holy Spirit in those terms. In a famous blessing, Paul prays for the Corinthians that “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Cor. 13:13). The Great Commission instructs the disciples to baptize “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:19). In these and other places, the Holy Spirit is treated as a distinct person from God the Father and Jesus.
Perhaps the most striking references are in the Gospel of John, where masculine pronouns are used in relation to the Holy Spirit. The word for spirit in Greek is a neuter word, pneuma. Accordingly, neuter pronouns are normal to refer to spirit: “it.” But more than once John uses masculine pronouns: “he.” “That one [masculine] will teach you all things” (14:26). “That one [masculine] will witness concerning me” (15:26). “I will send him to you” (16:7). “That one [masculine] will convict the world” (16:8). “Whenever that one [masculine] comes… that one [masculine] will glorify me” (16:13, 14).
The point is not that the Spirit has male anatomy. And someone might rightly point out that the word “advocate” is masculine, so the masculine pronouns, more than anything, are referring to the Spirit as the advocate. That is all true. But it does not change the fact that the Spirit in these passages is discussed in strikingly personal terms.
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