Holy Spirit The Hebrew ruach and Greek pneuma mean ‘breath’ or ‘wind’ and are translated by ‘spirit’, denoting an unseen life-giving force. United with ‘holy’, the force is said to be divine, though the combination of the two words occurs only three times in the OT: (Isa. 63: 10, 11; Ps. 51: 11).

The spirit in Gen. 1: 2 is the power of God by which he creates the universe. It is the spirit which enlivens the community with hope for the future (Ezek. 11: 14–21) and which breathes life into the dry bones in the vision of the valley (Ezek. 37: 1–10). It is prophesied that the future messianic era will be marked by the gift of God's spirit on all people regardless of age or gender (Joel 2: 28).

There is little in the synoptic gospels about the Holy Spirit, except at the birth of Jesus (Matt. 1: 18; Luke 1: 35) and his baptism (Mark 1: 8), and it is said that the Spirit operates in the ministry of Jesus against the forces of evil (Matt. 12: 28). The paucity of references may be due to the belief that the work of the Holy Spirit was only apparent after Jesus' resurrection (John 7: 39).

After the resurrection the Spirit is said to be the agent of the missionary zeal of the Church (Acts 1: 8) as Jesus had promised (Luke 24: 49); fifty days after Easter (Acts 2: 1) or on Easter evening (John 20: 22) the Spirit was given, the Spirit of Christ (Rom. 8: 4; 2 Cor. 3: 18). Paul does not identify Christ and the Spirit, even in 2 Cor. 3: 17, but there is an identity of function in the work of redemption. The Spirit works through the Church, and the Acts of the Apostles is largely the story of the guidance by the Spirit of apostles and evangelists. In the gospel of John the Spirit is five times called the ‘Paraclete’, meaning a defending counsel. He is to promote the disciples' understanding of the truth concerning Christ.

Just as the Spirit fills the Church (Eph. 4: 4), it is also the power which guides individual believers and endows them with a diversity of gifts for the service of the whole Body (1 Cor. 12: 7), not to be confused with evil spirits (Rom. 8: 15) which foment dissension (1 Tim. 4: 1). ‘Spirit’ is therefore contrasted with ‘flesh’, characteristics respectively of the life of the new age and the former age.

In later Christian theology, the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity— not a doctrine explicitly discernible in the NT, but it is maintained that the NT writers were feeling their way to what the Fathers in due course, operating in a Greek philosophical climate, were to define. They used the terminology of their times to draw out the metaphysical implications of the NT data.

Holy Spirit. In Christian theology, the Third Person of the Trinity, distinct from, but consubstantial, coequal, and coeternal with, the Father and the Son, and in the fullest sense God.

Christian theologians point to a gradual unfolding of the doctrine in the OT, where the notion of ‘Spirit’ plays a large part as an instrument of Divine action. The Spirit of God is already operative at the Creation. He was bestowed on those appointed to convey Divine truth, and in the future times of fulfilled hope there would be an extension of the Spirit's activities and powers. Although Jesus said little about the Spirit, the Resurrection faith of His disciples was strongly marked by the experience of the Spirit and they interpreted this as God's gift at the dawn of the coming age. This conviction is epitomized in the quotation of Joel 2: 28–32 in the Acts account of St Peter's speech on the day of Pentecost after the dramatic outpouring of the Spirit on the disciples. On occasion the Apostles convey the Spirit by the laying on of hands. The Gospels present Jesus as empowered by the Spirit at His baptism and driven by the Spirit into the wilderness, as well as claiming the operation of the Spirit at His conception.

The OT view of this intermittently active but impersonal power of God undergoes two developments in the NT. The Spirit is held to be given to all members at their Baptism, and in the epistles of St Paul and in Jn. the concept is personalized and given ethical content. In Jn. 14–16 the Spirit is ‘another Comforter’, distinct from Jesus, but performing similar works and making present what Jesus said and did. Paul can associate the Spirit so closely with Jesus that they are almost identified. Possessing the Spirit unites believers with the Lord and has moral implications.

Though implicit in the NT, the doctrine of the Spirit was not fully elaborated for some centuries. From 360 it became a matter of controversy. The Macedonians, while maintaining the Divinity of the Son, denied that of the Spirit. At the Council of Constantinople in 381 this heresy was finally repudiated and the full doctrine of the Spirit received authoritative acceptance in the Church. For differences between E. and W. doctrines, see DOUBLE PROCESSION and FILIOQUE. See also CHARISMATIC RENEWAL MOVEMENT and PENTECOSTALISM.

Holy Spirit

Judaism

In Tanach (Jewish scripture), ruaḥ ha-Qodesh/Kodesh is the breath of God, and thus the effective and inspiring consequence of God at work in his creation. The Holy Spirit is also known as ruaḥ Elohim and ruaḥ Adonai, indicating that no separate ‘person’ in relation to God is intended, but rather that this is the way in which God enables humans to do or say particular things.

Christianity

Formally, the Holy Spirit (or ‘Holy Ghost’, especially in liturgical use) is the third person of the Holy Trinity. The Spirit is distinct from but coequal with the Father and the Son, and is in the fullest sense God. This understanding was canonized in the 4th cent.

In the fathers before the 4th cent., the Holy Spirit is variously identified with the Son, or with the Logos, or with God's wisdom. No particular activity of God is consistently said to be that of the Spirit, although Origen held that the characteristic sphere of the Spirit's operation was the Church, as contrasted with the whole creation which was that of the Logos. But from 360 CE onwards the doctrine of the Spirit became a matter of controversy when the Pneumatomach(o)i (‘spirit-fighters’) denied the full divinity of the Spirit. The Cappadocian fathers argued against them, e.g. Basil in his On the Holy Spirit, and were victorious at the Council of Constantinople (381). In the West this doctrine was elaborated by Augustine in his On the Trinity, especially in his understanding of the Spirit as the bond of unity in the Trinity. For the later divergence between Western and Orthodox language about the Holy Spirit, see FILIOQUE.

Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost [ ghost, i.e., spirit, a translation of Gr. pneuma =breath, air], in Christian doctrine, the third person of the Trinity . The Holy Spirit is sometimes defined as the aspect of God immanent in this world, in human beings, and in the church. Jesus' promise to his disciples of a Comforter (or Paraclete, i.e., advocate), in John 14, is considered his principal reference to the Holy Spirit, and the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles and the communication of the gift of tongues, as recounted in Acts 2, is thought to be an example of the work of the Holy Spirit in time. This incident is commemorated on Pentecost (Whitsunday). Certain Christian groups, such as the Montanists and the Society of Friends, have attributed utterances of their members to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The dove is the symbol of the Holy Spirit. For the controversy over the procession of the Holy Spirit, see creed .

Holy Spirit (Holy Ghost) Third Person of the Trinity in Christian theology. The Holy Spirit represents the spiritual agent through whom God's grace is given. The New Testament contains many references to the Holy Spirit, firstly as the agent by whom Mary conceived Jesus Christ and later as the divine power imparted to the church.

Ho·ly Spir·it • n. (in Christianity) the third person of the Trinity; God as spiritually active in the world.