In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. (Genesis 1:1-2)

The Holy Spirit: A Member Of The Godhead

The Bible is the mind of God, revealing the goodness and severity of the Lord. It begins with declaring God as the Creator and ends with the promise of seeing God face to face. Jesus said the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and Psalms declared His glory, and man finds in the new revelation the life of Jesus, the propagation of His teachings, and the applications of God’s law in the hearts of believers. God and Jesus are central characters of the Bible from Genesis to the Revelation. Lost in the shuffle of truth seekers is the other part of the divine nature known as the Holy Spirit.

Moses begins the creation story with the Spirit of God hovering over the face of the waters. The Holy Spirit continues to hover over the message of God’s word throughout the Old Testament and is fully revealed in the New Testament. Denying the story of the Spirit of God neglects the greater part of the divine Revelation. A student of scripture cannot understand God the Father and Jesus the Son without knowing the one Jesus called the “Finger of God.” The Holy Spirit is as much a vital part of Revelation as the Father and the Son. He has His place in the divine record to glory the Father as Jesus glorified the Father.

The Holy Spirit is not just an influence or impersonal power or emanation. He is alive and divine and powerful and full of personality. Possessing attributes of divinity, the Holy Spirit is an essential part of man’s salvation. His place in the scheme of redemption is preserved throughout scripture as the agency of the revelation and the incarnation of God’s Son on earth. Jesus and the Holy Spirit shared a special bond in their work of the earthly mission of the Christ. When the church was established, it began with the Holy Spirit. As the church spread throughout the world in the early days, the Holy Spirit was the fuel driving the engine of God’s divine will. Through His special gifts given to men, the Holy Spirit affirmed and confirmed the word of God as true. The joy of the Christian was found in the gift of the Holy Spirit shared by all those who were baptized into the body of Christ. Without the work of the Holy Spirit, the divine word could not have been completed. The work of the Holy Spirit continues today. He is the way to spiritual fulfillment for those who come to the blood of Jesus Christ.

Throughout the scriptures, God the Father is always magnified as the one true God. Jesus was also God but He was not the Father. Like Jesus, the Holy Spirit is God but not the Father nor the Son. He has His own divine attributes that show Him to be divine but separate from the Father and Son. The Holy Spirit is part of the Godhead or the Divine Nature. Paul refers to the Godhead in his sermon to the Athenians (Acts 17:29) and in two of his epistles (Romans 1:20; Colossians 2:9). The Greek words “theotes” and “theiotes” translate “Godhead” as being “deity, the state of being God; divinity; the divine nature or essence.” Moses begins Genesis with God (Elohim) in the plural, yet it is used in the singular (Genesis 1:1). When God makes man in His image, He declares a plurality in the Godhead when He says, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” (Genesis 1:26).

There are three persons identified who possess the divine nature or deity and constitute the plurality of the Godhead. The three were present at creation (Genesis 1) and the baptism of Jesus (Matthew 3:16-17). Matthew records the words of Jesus that all men should be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:18-20). On the night Jesus was betrayed, He tells the eleven the Father will send the Comforter after He (Jesus) leaves (John 14:16-18; 15:26; 17:3-5). Peter said in his sermon to the household of Cornelius that “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 10:28). Paul mentions the Godhead in Romans 15:30, 1 Corinthians 12:4-6, 2 Corinthians 13:14, and Ephesians 2:18; 4:4-6.

The relationship of the Godhead is seen when the nature of God is viewed as divine. God the Father is divine, but He is not the Son nor the Holy Spirit. Jesus is divine, but He is not the Father nor the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is also divine but is not the Father nor the Son. Each one of the Godhead is divine (deity, God) but possesses personalities that distinguish them one from another. The Holy Spirit is vital to the Godhead, a divine being. Throughout Biblical history, his work is essential to God’s eternal plan. Get to know the Holy Spirit.