Lesson 3-1 - Who is the Holy Spirit, and Why Did He Come?

Objective: To experience the Spirit-filled life as a moment-by-moment reality.
Read: Acts chapter 10
Memorize:
John 14:21 21 Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.
John 15:10 10 When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.

Who is the Holy Spirit?
Why Did He Come?
Life Application

While there is a degree of divine mystery to the nature of the Holy Spirit, He definitely is not a bundle of warm feelings or good memories. Neither is He a vague cosmic force.
In this lesson, you will study biblical evidence proving that the Holy Spirit is a real person who loves and cares for you. You will also discover why He came and how He can make a difference in your life.

1. Who is the Holy Spirit?

The Holy Spirit is a person, the third person of the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He is not a vague, ethereal shadow, nor an impersonal force. He is a person equal in every way with the Father and the Son. All the divine attributes ascribed to the Father and the Son are equally ascribed to the Holy Spirit.

1. Personality (a person) is composed of intellect, emotions, and will. In I Corinthians 2:11, what indicates that the Holy Spirit has intellect?

11 No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit.

What evidence do you observe in Romans 15:30 that the Holy Spirit has emotions?

30 Dear brothers and sisters, I urge you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to join in my struggle by praying to God for me. Do this because of your love for me, given to you by the Holy Spirit.

How does the Holy Spirit exercise His will as recorded in I Corinthians 12:11?

11 It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.

2. Find the word that describes the nature of the Holy Spirit in each of the following references.

John 16:13 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future.

Romans 8:2 2 And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.

Hebrews 10:29 29 Just think how much worse the punishment will be for those who have trampled on the Son of God, and have treated the blood of the covenant, which made us holy, as if it were common and unholy, and have insulted and disdained the Holy Spirit who brings God’s mercy to us.

Romans 1:4 4 and he was shown to be the Son of God when he was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. He is Jesus Christ our Lord

3. What is His function, or role?

John:14:16, 26 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate (Or Comforter, or Encourager, or Counselor), who will never leave you. 26 But when the Father sends the

Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.

I Corinthians 3:16 16 Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you?

John 16:13-14 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. 14 He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me.

Acts 1:8 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

4. What specific actions does the Holy Spirit perform?

Acts 13:2 2 One day as these men were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Dedicate Barnabas and Saul for the special work to which I have called them.”

Acts 8:29 29 The Holy Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and walk along beside the carriage.”

Romans 8:14 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God

John 16:7-8 7 But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment.

Romans 8:26 26 And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.

II Thessalonians 2:13 13 As for us, we can’t help but thank God for you, dear brothers and sisters loved by the Lord. We are always thankful that God chose you to be among the first to experience salvation—a salvation that came through the Spirit who makes you holy and through your belief in the truth

5. What are His attributes?

Hebrews 9:14 14 Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins.

Psalm 139:7 7 I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence!

I Corinthians 2:10-11 10 But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. 11 No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit.

Life Application

Write one new insight you have gained from this lesson concerning the Holy Spirit:
In what area of your life do you believe the Holy Spirit needs to be more in control?
What will be the result when He is in control?

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